Favourable First Viewings of 2014
Movies seen for the first time this past year which I would rewatch and recommend. Listed in order seen.
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- DirectorNorman FosterStarsPeter LorreJoseph SchildkrautLionel AtwillDisguised as an Austrian archaeologist, Moto helps unearth the priceless crown of the legendary Queen of Sheba and sans disguise defends it from a variety of thugs and criminals.
- DirectorJohn Lee HancockStarsEmma ThompsonTom HanksAnnie Rose BuckleyAuthor P.L. Travers reflects on her childhood after reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsLee TracyMadge EvansFrank MorganAn ambulance-chasing lawyer gets tangled up with a female investigator out to end his shyster ways.
- DirectorBretaigne WindustStarsDennis MorganBetsy DrakeZachary ScottA working girl rises in an ad agency after impressing a baby-food client with her lifelike dolls.
- DirectorJan LachauerMax LangStarsSimon PeggGillian AndersonRob BrydonTo the annoyance of her cat a kindly witch allows a dog, a bird and a frog who have helped her retrieve things she has lost to ride on her broomstick, making it top heavy. The broom is destroyed by a fire-breathing dragon who threatens to eat the witch but the creatures band together to impersonate a monster and save her. As a result she fashions a luxurious new broom with seats on which they can all ride comfortably.
- DirectorRanald MacDougallStarsHarry BelafonteInger StevensMel FerrerA miner trapped in a cave-in resurfaces, and upon discovering mankind has been wiped out in a nuclear holocaust, sets out to find other survivors.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsJane WithersThe Ritz BrothersLynn BariOut of work vaudevillians join the army in WWI and head for France where they encounter an American girl (Withers) whose father (Schildkraut) is a French officer. Lots of slapstick.
- DirectorHenry SelickStarsDakota FanningTeri HatcherJohn HodgmanWandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsRentarô MikuniShôji YasuiTatsuya MihashiA conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsSean ConneryGert FröbeHonor BlackmanWhile investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.
- DirectorLouis KingStarsJohn BarrymoreJohn HowardLouise CampbellCaptain Drummond travels to Switzerland in order to marry his girlfriend but the disappearance of a dangerous cargo of explosives makes him delay his plans.
- DirectorArnold LavenStarsBroderick CrawfordRuth RomanMartha HyerAn FBI agent investigates the murder of his partner by taking over the 3 cases he was working on, determined to find his killer.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsGeorge RaftClaire DoddEdward ArnoldEd Beaumont is the personal friend, advisor and bodyguard to Paul Madvig, the political boss of a large city. When a mysterious murder is committed---the son of a Madvig political opponent---Madvig's enemies try to pin the crime on him because he is waging a clean-up campaign they oppose. Ed risks his life and his reputation to find the killer and clear his friend.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsFredric MarchDan DuryeaEdmond O'BrienThis 'prequel' to The Little Foxes tells how the ruthless members of the old-South Hubbard family got that way.
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsJoan BlondellMelvyn DouglasMary AstorAn investigator for the district attorney and his amateur-sleuth wife compete to solve a murder mystery.
- DirectorJohn S. RobertsonStarsJohn BarrymoreMartha MansfieldBrandon HurstDr. Henry Jekyll experiments with scientific means of revealing the hidden, dark side of man and releases a murderer from within himself.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsRobert TaylorKay KendallRobert MorleyA Scottish knight in France to facilitate a marriage between a rich and beautiful countess and his aging uncle becomes involved in court intrigue.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLon ChaneyLionel BarrymoreMary NolanA magician seeks vengeance upon the man who paralyzed him and the illegitimate daughter he sired with the magician's wife.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydJobyna RalstonRichard DanielsA shy young man who can't talk to women ventures out to publish a book full of fictional conquests, but finds true love along the way.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsBette DavisErnest BorgnineDebbie ReynoldsWhen Jane tells her parents that she is getting married to Ralph Halloran, her mother Agnes starts planning an elaborate wedding, even though Jane does not wish it.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsAnthony HopkinsEmma ThompsonJohn HaycraftA butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years leading up to World War II realizes too late how misguided his loyalty was to his lordly employer.
- DirectorÉdouard MolinaroStarsUgo TognazziMichel SerraultClaire MaurierThe manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and his star attraction, are a gay couple. Madness ensues when his straight son brings home a fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents to meet them.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineTom McNamaraStarsMary PickfordRoy StewartMary Louise MillerMolly, the eldest child at a baby farm hidden deep in a swamp, must rescue the others when their cruel master decides that one of them will be disposed of.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsLucille BallJohn HodiakLloyd NolanA fugitive negotiates a 5-year sentence for the theft of half-million dollar worth of bonds but takes a short trip before surrendering, while suspecting that a con-woman, a cop and a former crime-partner are after his hidden bonds.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsJune AllysonVan JohnsonGig YoungEric Wainwright (Van Johnson), a busy impresario, is besieged by hordes of wannabe concert stars, eager for their big break. One of them is Cynthia Potter (June Allyson), a talented pianist... but she can't get in to see him. When she learns that Wainwright is auditioning young musicians for a children's concert tour, Cynthia dons braces and bobby sox and passes herself off as a child prodigy.
- DirectorRobert F. McGowanStarsOliver HardyCharley ChaseJoe CobbThe kids from Our Gang have to attend a wedding, and they bring along their flea collection--which gets loose.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsDaniel L. HaynesNina Mae McKinneyWilliam FountaineA sharecropper decides to become a preacher after falling for a vamp from the city.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsJennifer JonesCharles BickfordWilliam Eythe14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, living in a small town in the south of 1850s France, claims to have seen a divine vision, prompting extreme skepticism, concern from her family, and religious and political turmoil.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsAnn SheridanLew AyresZachary ScottA Los Angeles socialite kills a man while home alone one night and claims he was an intruder she did not know. It seems like a clear case of self defense until the story hits the papers and people connected to the dead man come forward.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJames CagneyDon DubbinsStephen McNallyWith no law within 200 miles horse rancher Jeremy Rodak runs his spread with an iron hand and deals with rustlers even more ruthlessly.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsRobert TaylorEleanor PowellGeorge MurphySteve Raleigh wants to produce a show on Broadway. He finds a backer, Herman Whipple and a leading lady, Sally Lee, however his wife Caroline Whipple forces Steve to use a known star, not a newcomer. Sally purchases a horse she used to train when her parents had a farm before the depression and with two ex-vaudevillians, Sonny Ledford and Peter Trott she trains it to win a race, providing the money Steve needs for his show.
- DirectorRobert ParrishStarsBroderick CrawfordBetty BuehlerRichard KileyJohnny Damico botches a murder case and is suspended from the force. In reality, he is put undercover to identify the mysterious boss of the NY waterfront who has murdered everyone in his way. Will Johnny be next in line?
- DirectorAlbert BandStarsCameron MitchellJames WhitmoreBettye AckermanA local handyman saves a child in a fire, but the burns he receives disfigure his face so much that the townspeople avoid him.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsRosalind RussellAlec GuinnessRay DantonA gentle love story about a Japanese businessman and widower, and a Brooklyn widow. But before a happy ending can ensue, they must learn again the lessons of tolerance, kindness, and forgiveness.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsRock HudsonDana WynterWendy HillerIn British Colonial Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising, Peter and Kimani, who grew up together, find themselves on the opposite sides.
- DirectorPeter UstinovStarsRoger LiveseyKay WalshPetula ClarkPaul is sending his son Dick to boarding school. While holding a magic stone from India, he wishes that he could be young again. His wish is immediately fulfilled and the two change bodies with each other.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraGeorge SandersA mild-mannered school teacher in a German-occupied town during World War II finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsSidney PoitierAnne BancroftTelly SavalasCollege volunteer Alan is working alone at the crisis center one evening when he receives a telephone call from suicidal caller Inga Dyson.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsMae WestRoger PryorJohnny Mack BrownRuby Carter, the American Beauty queen of the night club-sporting world, shifts her operations from St. Louis to New Orleans, mostly to get away from prizefighter Tiger Kid. Installed as the prize attraction of "The Sensation Club", ran by Ace Lamont, she quickly becomes the toast of the town and also marked as personal property by Ace, arousing the fury of Ace's former flame, Molly Brant. The not-overly-bright Tiger comes to town and is set for a title match with the champ by Ace, while the latter also has him steal some of Ruby's jewels. Ruby, no dumb-belle, figuring Ace has the fix in on the fight, uses some of her other jewels to lay a trap for Ace. Tiger confesses, after the fight, to Ruby his role in the jewel robbery while she hints that Ace was the one who slipped him the knock-out drops. Tiger goes after Ace, who, for his own reasons, has Molly locked in a closet.
- DirectorBrad BirdStarsEli MarienthalHarry Connick Jr.Jennifer AnistonA young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsMichael RedgraveMargaret LockwoodEdward RigbyIn a small coal-mining village, Bob Fenwick leads a strike over safety standards at the local colliery. Meanwhile, his son David goes off to university with the hope one day to return to help the miners with their working conditions.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsMonty WoolleyGracie FieldsLaird CregarFrom Arnold Bennett's novel "Buried Alive". An artist returning from years abroad takes the identity of his dead valet to escape the attentions of the press.
- DirectorRex IngramStarsRudolph ValentinoAlice TerryPomeroy CannonAn extended family split up in France and Germany find themselves on opposing sides of the battlefield during World War I.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsTyrone PowerMaureen O'HaraLaird CregarAn ex-pirate contends with rowdy buccaneers and a love/hate relationship with an aristocratic woman who's tougher than she seems.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsDolores Del RíoRalph ForbesKarl DaneFortune hunters from all over the country rush to the Klondike in 1897 to seek their fortunes in the gold are tested by hardships of the journey.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsJames CagneyRalph BellamyPatricia EllisEx-convict Danny Kean decides to become honest as a photographer for a paper. He falls in love with Patricia, the daughter of the policeman who arrested him. Mr Nolan, her father, doesn't like that relation at first, but McLean, Kean's boss, convinces him of Kean's good nature. But Kean uses his relation to Patricia to make a photo of an execution. Due to this, Nolan loses his stripes and Kean isn't allowed to see Patricia any longer. But when one of his former friends kills two policemen, Kean sees his chance....
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsVincent PricePeter LorreBoris KarloffDishonest undertaker Waldo Trumbull and his sidekick Felix Gillie are creating their own customers when they cannot find willing ones.
- DirectorDean DeBloisStarsJay BaruchelCate BlanchettGerard ButlerWhen Hiccup and Toothless discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsFred AstaireLucille BremerFrank MorganJohnny Riggs, a con man on the lam, finds himself in a Latin-American country named Patria. There, he overhears a convent-bred rich girl praying to her guardian angel for help in managing her tangled business affairs. Riggs decides to materialize as the girl's "angel", gains her unquestioning confidence, and helps himself to the deluded girl's millions. Just as he and his partner are about to flee Patria with their booty, Riggs realizes he has fallen in love with the girl and returns the money with a note that is part confession and part love letter. But the larcenous duo's escape from Patria turns out to be more difficult than they anticipated.
- DirectorIda LupinoStarsEdmond O'BrienFrank LovejoyWilliam TalmanTwo fishermen pick up a psychopathic escaped convict who tells them that he intends to murder them when the ride is over.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellNed SparksThe managing editor for a newspaper, in hot water with his boss, is demoted to writing the "Nellie Nelson" heart throb column, where he gets the unexpected opportunity to crack a major story.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsPaul MuniAnn DvorakBarton MacLaneA small-town doctor gets roped into helping a notorious bank robber.
- DirectorJames GunnStarsChris PrattVin DieselBradley CooperA group of intergalactic criminals must pull together to stop a fanatical warrior with plans to purge the universe.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsCary GrantNancy CarrollRandolph ScottA pretty but virtuous small-town bank clerk is the victim of a vicious rumor from an unsuccessful suitor that she spent the night with a notorious womanizer.
- DirectorDick PowellStarsStephen McNallyAlexis SmithJan SterlingTwo escaped killers take hostages and hide in a Nevada mining ghost town, knowing that an atom bomb is scheduled to be tested there the next morning.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsDan DuryeaHerbert MarshallGale StormThe story of the fight of a small-town newspaper to free an innocent girl of a murder charge, with the publisher of a metropolitan city newspaper heading, by forced circumstances, the opposing forces.
- DirectorRay EnrightBusby BerkeleyStarsJoan BlondellDick PowellRuby KeelerA multimillionaire decides to boycott "filthy" forms of entertainment such as Broadway shows.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsFredric MarchEdmond O'BrienFlorence EldridgeA hard-line judge is tempted toward mercy-killing by his wife's terminal cancer.
- DirectorRupert WyattStarsJames FrancoAndy SerkisFreida PintoA substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsJohn MillsMartha ScottPatricia RocMayor George Boswell recalls events of the previous 25 years in his home town of Browdley. As councilman and newspaper editor George has fought hard to better working and living conditions in the bleak Lancashire mill town.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsKirk DouglasMilly VitalePaul StewartIn 1949, former concentration camp inmate and Berlin native Hans Muller, immigrates to Israel where, due to psychological problems, he can't adjust to peacetime life.
- DirectorLewis SeilerStarsWayne MorrisBrenda MarshallAlexis SmithAn heiress seems to be cursed as each of her intended grooms meets with a horrible end.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsVincent PriceFrank LovejoyPhyllis KirkAn associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.
- DirectorTom HooperStarsColin FirthGeoffrey RushHelena Bonham CarterThe story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.
- DirectorGeorge ShermanStarsDana AndrewsMärta TorénStephen McNallyIn 1947, with only months remaining until the partition of British-administered Palestine, an American freighter captain smuggles European Jewish refugees ashore under the nose of the British authorities.
- DirectorEphraim KishonStarsTopolGeula NuniGila AlmagorThe sharp, often hilarious satire that became the most successful film in Israeli history (until that time) is about new immigrants Sallah and his family, who are left in a shack near their promised apartment and are abandoned for months. A Yemenite Jewish family that was flown to Israel during "Operation Magic Carpet" - a clandestine operation that flew 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel the year after the state was formed - is forced to move to a government settlement camp. The patriarch of the family, portrayed by Chaim Topol, tries to make money and get better housing, in a country that can barely provide for its own and is in the midst absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
- DirectorEdward BuzzellStarsMelvyn DouglasFlorence RiceClaire DoddA husband and wife team who are in rare books and are skillful at recovering stolen volumes for insurance companies become involved in the murder of a fence.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsBarbara StanwyckFred MacMurrayJoan BennettWhen a toy manufacturer feels ignored and unappreciated by his wife and children, he begins to rekindle a past love when a former employee comes back into his life.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsMarsha HuntAlexander KnoxHenry TraversThe career of a German officer shown as flashbacks from his trial as a war criminal.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSusan PetersAlexander KnoxPhyllis ThaxterA jealous, manipulative stepmother confined to a wheelchair interferes with her stepchildren's romances so that they will not get married and leave home.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsEdward G. RobinsonLoretta YoungDudley DiggesA hatchet man is ordered to kill his close friend for the sake of Tong.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsClaudette ColbertJohn PayneShepperd StrudwickElderly schoolteacher Nora Trinell, waiting to meet presidential nominee Dewey Roberts, recalls him as her student back in 1916 and his relation to Dan Hopkins, the man she married and lost.
- DirectorAlfred L. WerkerSidney LanfieldStarsGeorge ArlissBoris KarloffLoretta YoungThe wealthy Rothschild family undergoes prejudice from the anti-Semitic society they live within.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsGlenn FordCharles CoburnGloria DeHavenDr. Michael Corday, a recent graduate of the Harvard Medical School, is the son of Dr. John Corday, an eminent New York City surgeon who has a tendency to continue to direct the lives of his grown children. The daughter, Fabienne, runs away from home and Michael, after first following his father's advice of being callous to the point of cruelty toward patients, changes when he falls in love with a patient, marries her and sets up his practice on the lower East Side in New York. The death of a family member brings most of the family together. A couple of stronger plot incidents than usual for a 1940s film---unwed-pregnancy and botched abortion among them.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsLeon JanneyFrank Coghlan Jr.Cameo the DogNaughty schoolboys Penrod and Sam get in trouble at school all the time. They form a club, which they keep to themselves. The are forced to allow in two stool pigeons and resolve to hold them accountable if they are made to accept them.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergArthur RossonStarsGeorge BancroftClive BrookEvelyn BrentBoisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsNancy ColemanMargaret LindsayPhillip ReedA WWII tale of romance that begins during New Orlean's "Mardi Gras" celebration when a soldier and a girl meet and fall in love. He asks her to marry him but she decides to wait until his next leave. He is sent overseas and she does not receive his letter and feels abandoned, but she does find out she is pregnant. She gives the child to her married sister and does not see her child again for three years. She returns to her sister's home to reclaim the child, and the soldier, who has been searching for her, also turns up. The sister is not interested in giving up the child.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsBob HopePaulette GoddardJohn BealWhen an eccentric family meets in their uncle's remote, decaying mansion on the tenth anniversary of his death for the reading of his will, murder and madness follow.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsBob HopeMadeleine CarrollGale SondergaardKaren Bentley, an English secret agent, links up with Larry Haines and his star penguin Percy in an attempt to outwit German spies.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsFrank LovejoyDorothy HartPhilip CareyIn Pittsburgh, PA, an F.B.I. agent works to undermine the Communist party, but his brothers and his teenage son think he's a real Red.
- DirectorAlan HicksStarsClark TerryJustin KauflinQuincy JonesA documentary that follows jazz legend Clark Terry over four years to document the mentorship between Terry and 23-year-old blind piano prodigy Justin Kauflin as the young man prepares to compete in an elite, international competition.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsRichard DixJanis CarterJeff DonnellA woman uses a deck of cards to predict death within 24 hours for a stranger sitting at a bar, then tries to help him remember who he is based on items in his pockets.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsLionel BarrymoreMiriam HopkinsFranchot ToneA divorcée leaves New York to visit her grandfather's farm and recover in the Midwest, where she unexpectedly falls in love with a married farmer.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsDorothy McGuireRobert MitchumGuy MadisonDrama about former WW2 Marines readjusting to civilian life and dealing with their mental and physical traumas.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsEvelyn BrentWilliam PowellA former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsMarian MarshAnita PageRegis ToomeyA poor seamstress girl sours on her engagement to a grocery deliveryman after seeing her sister's abusive marriage. Trying to help her sister pay for a divorce lawyer, she turns to a rich playboy she met at work.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsWilliam ShatnerFrank MaxwellBeverly LunsfordA charismatic "social reformer" rallies the white populace of a Southern town to oppose school integration, but he soon finds himself in a situation that he cannot control.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsBrian DonlevyAnn RichardsWalter AbelStefan Dangos immigrates to America and works his way up from the iron mines and steel mills to become a great American success story as an industrialist.
- DirectorGeorge ArchainbaudStarsGig YoungLynne RobertsMary AndersonThe suspect in a 12-year-old murder case is finally caught and tried, but the witnesses are a bit hard to track down...
- DirectorPat JacksonStarsAnn SothernZachary ScottGigi PerreauA woman impulsively murders her sister after discovering she has been having an affair with her fiancé, and later plans on killing the little girl who may have witnessed the crime.
- DirectorEdward MontagneStarsJohn MilesPatricia BarryWalter KinsellaThe body of a Jane Doe turns up in an abandoned car in New York and the police's only clue revolves around the tattoo she has on her arm, and the fact that someone tried to destroy the corpse to erase the fingerprints.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerSusan HaywardHugh MarloweA stagecoach stop employee and a stranded woman traveller find themselves at the mercy of four desperate outlaws intent on robbing the next day's gold shipment.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsJim CarreyGary OldmanColin FirthAn animated retelling of Charles Dickens' classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions.
- DirectorKen AnnakinStarsMichael RennieJames MacArthurJanet MunroA boy attempts to realize his father's dream of climbing an alpine peak known as the Citadel.
- DirectorMorten TyldumStarsBenedict CumberbatchKeira KnightleyMatthew GoodeDuring World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.