D: Edward Dmytryk. Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson, Robert Francis, May Wynn, Fred MacMurray, E.G. Marshall, Lee Marvin, Tom Tully, Claude Akins. WW2 Naval officers Johnson and Francis mutiny against paranoid, unpopular Capt. Queeg (Bogart) and are court-martialed in this exciting adaptation (by Stanley Roberts) of Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize novel. Wartime mutiny scene during typhoon still packs a wallop. Followed by a TVM in 1988.

D: Otto Preminger. James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden, Kathryn Grant (Crosby), George C Scott, Orson Bean, Murray Hamilton. Long, exciting courtroom drama; daring when released, tamer now. Sterling cast: O'Connell as drunken lawyer inspired by Stewart, Scott as prosecuting attorney, Joseph Welch as judge (Welch was the famous Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer who later became a judge in real life). Stewart towers over all as witty, easygoing, but cagy defense lawyer. Script by Wendell Mayes, from novel by Robert Traver (Judge John D. Voelker). Duke Ellington composed the score and also appears on-screen.

D: George Cukor. Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton, Gregory Ratoff, Brooks Benedict. Soused movie director Sherman helps waitress Bennett fulfill her ambition to become a movie star--while he sinks into alcoholic ruin. Surprisingly sharp-eyed look at Hollywood-- both comic and dramatic--that served as inspiration for later A STAR IS BORN. From a story by Adela Rogers St. Johns.

D: George Cukor. Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, Charles Starrett, Anita Louise, Alan Mowbray, Minor Watson, Violet Kemble Cooper. Dated but enjoyable film of Somerset Maugham drawing-room comedy about British lord marrying rich American girl. Costars Bennett and Roland later married in real life.

D: Ray Enright. Constance Bennett, Jeffrey Lynn, Regis Toomey, Mona Maris, Hobart Bosworth. Fair cast in routine drama of man discovering his wife is accused murderess. Remake of OIL FOR THE LAMPS OF CHINA.

D: George Cukor. Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, Paul Lukas, Jobyna Howland, Walter Pidgeon, Sterling Holloway. Other than offering a memorable shot of Bennett immersed in balloons, soaper about a morally ambiguous actress's love for her toddler is painful going. A curio for film buffs, but a minor credit for both star and director.

D: George Archainbaud. Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, Edward Ellis, Sam Godfrey, Lucien Prival, Mischa Auer. Russian spy Bennett falls for Austrian captain Roland in this derivative but handsomely mounted WW1 romance in the wake of MATA HARI and DISHONORED. Bennett even sings and does a fan dance! She and Roland later married in real life.