December, 1942 – Tyrone Power stars in this months Twentieth Century-Fox release of The Black Swan. Directed by Henry King and co-starring Maureen O’Hara, Laird Cregar, and a snarling George Sanders this pirate adventure is one of the very best. 

Beautifully filmed in glorious Technicolor, the film provides some spectacular and Oscar worthy action sequences featuring full-size Spanish warships and a handsome, dashing, swashbuckling hero played to perfection by Tyrone Power.

Murder and betrayal sail these seas as the beautiful Lady Denby (Maureen O’Hara), the engaged daughter of Jamaica’s previous Governor, falls for her kidnapper, the handsome pirate Jamie Waring (Tyrone Power).

Sit back and relax as The Black Swan provides all the action, adventure, and romance that make this type of film so much fun.

October, 1942 – Bette Davis’ performance in Now, Voyager proves that there is no limit to the wonderful talent she brings to the screen. Her excellent work in the role of Charlotte Valle in this Warner Brothers production adds to her already impressive character resume. 

Mildred Rogers (Of Human Bondage), Gabrielle Maple (The Petrified Forest), Julie (Jezebel), Judith Traherne (Dark Victory), and Queen Elizabeth (The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex), provide only a sample of her tremendous talent.

The transformation of her character Charlotte Valle in Now, Voyager from a plain, fragile unhappy spinster who is driven to a breakdown only to face her own destiny and re-emerge as a charming and glamorous woman who finally finds romance is another outstanding performance by the enormously talented Bette Davis.

This is a film and a performance to cherish. Bring your hankies.

May, 1042 – Yankee Doodle Dandy tells the story of a man with many hats. George M. Cohan, composer, dancer, playwright, singer, actor and producer, is brilliantly played by James Cagney. When Cohan decided to sell the rights to his story to Warner Brothers, he insisted Cagney play him. It was the perfect choice. 

Cagney’s enthusiastic singing and dancing as the consummate showman begins with Cohan’s family experiences in vaudeville. We see him as part of the Four Cohans, his big break with Peck’s Bad Boy, a long and successful association with producer Sam Harris, continuing right up to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presenting him with a medal for his contributions to the American Musical Theater.

Yankee Doodle Dandy will entertain audiences with its nostalgia and inspire them with its patriotism for many years to come.

January, 1942 – Actress Carole Lombard, beautiful, talented, and far too young to die, was killed in a Sierra, Nevada mountain plane crash last evening. She was 34. All 19 passengers on board were killed. They included the stars mother and press agent. Lombard was returning from a very successful tour promoting the sale of War Bonds. 

In 1937 Carole Lombard was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in the screwbal comedy My Man Godfrey opposite her ex-husband William Powell who received the Best Actor nomination.

At that time, Lombard was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. Her final role was in the now famous Ernst Lubitsch production of To Be or Not To Be, the strong anti-Nazi film completed just after the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

In 1939, after a long courtship, Carole Lombard married fellow Hollywood superstar Clark Gable.

October, 1941 – John Huston, the son of actor Walter Huston, made a stunning directorial debut with the film The Maltese Falcon based on the Dashiell Hammett novel. Previously a screenwriter for both Warner Brothers and Universal, Huston combined an outstanding cast with a sharp script to create one of the all-time great films. 

The lead role of Private Investigator Sam Spade was originally offered to George Raft who rejected the role because he did not want to work with an inexperienced director. Humphrey Bogart, who had gained fame playing gangsters, gladly accepted the role and the rest is movie history.

The relationship between Huston and Bogart developed into a lifelong friendship that led to the two talented film giants working together on other great films that include The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, and The African Queen.

With painstaking detail, first time director John Huston planned every second of the film scene by scene, shot by shot, resulting in a cinematic masterpiece loved every bit as much today as when it was originally released.
 

September, 1941 – Sergeant York, the years highest-grossing motion picture, is a biographical film about World War I's most decorated American soldier, Alvin York. Originally against the making of a movie about his war experiences,

Finally, with the outbreak of war threatening Europe, Producer Jesse Lasky was able to get York to change his mind. However, York would only agree to the film if certain conditions were met. First, any profits that he would be entitled to would go toward the construction costs for a bible school he wanted built. Second, the actress selected to play his wife must be a non-smoker, and finally that actor Gary Cooper would play him.

And play him he did. Gary Cooper turns in an excellent performance in the role of Sergeant Alvin York, pacifist Tennessee farmer turned war hero. Initially, Cooper had refused the role, but agreed to do it after being personally contacted by York.
 

August, 1941 - Lillian Hellman's 1939 stage play The Little Foxes has resulted in an outstanding dramatic transition to the movie screen. Directed by William Wyler, the motion picture version is supported by an excellent cast led by Bette Davis.

Although Tallulah Bankhead was hailed by stage critics for her performance, Director Wyler, who had previously teamed with Davis on Jezebel and The Letter, insisted on hiring Bette Davis for the movie role of cold-hearted Regina Giddens.

In spite of the pairs previous success working together this road to film completion was not a smooth one. Wyler and Davis frequently disagreed and fought over costume design, and Davis' interpretation of her character. Despite the friction, the end result of The Little Foxes is a deliciously sinister drama from Davis' venomous and chilling performance right through the entire cast.

The one casualty was that Director William Wyler and Bette Davis would never team up again.