Henry Fonda

On April 18, 1942, during World War II, a squadron (16 planes) of B-25 bombers (The Doolittle Raid) from the USS Hornet launches a lightning raid on Tokyo. The strike stuns the Imperial Japanese Navy and its commander Admiral Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune). With hard evidence of the threat posed by the carriers of the American Pacific Fleet to the Japanese home islands, Yamamoto devises a plan to lure out the American fleet and destroy it once and for all by forcing it to sortie against the invasion of Midway Island. At Pearl Harbor, Captain Matt Garth (Charlton Heston) is tasked with gauging the progress of decryption efforts at Station HYPO, headed by Commander Joseph Rochefort (Hal Holbrook), which has partially cracked the Japanese Navy's JN-25 code (they have cracked 10% of the code), indicating that a major operation will soon take place at a location the Japanese refer to as "AF". The US only have 4 carriers and need time to build more. They are concerned that Yamamoto will strike back, due to the Doolittle raid. Rochefort says the Japanese are planning an attack in Coral Sea and give Garth a list of ships they will be using for the attack. Garth is also asked by his son, naval aviator Ensign Tom Garth (Edward Albert), to help free his girlfriend Haruko Sakura, an American-born daughter of Japanese immigrants, who has been interned with her parents, by calling in favors to have the charges against the family dropped. Yamamoto and his staff present their plans for Midway to the commanders (on his flagship battleship Yamato) who have been chosen to lead the attack - Admirals Nagumo (James Shigeta) and Yamaguchi (John Fujioka) of the Japanese carrier force and Admiral Kondo (Conrad Yama) of the invasion force. Kondo is not happy with the plan devised by strategist Captain Kameto Kuroshima (Seth Sakai). The plan calls for Nagumo's carrier-based planes to destroy Midway's US defenses, before Kondo can land his invasion forces there. But the land-based carriers of the US at Midway have a range of 400 miles more than the carrier based planes that Nagumo has. The Jap carriers will be destroyed, if they are spotted. Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya (Dale Ishimoto) wants more time to study the plan and suggests postponing the decision till after Coral Sea. Yamamoto is convinced that the only way to defeat US is to strike now when they are weak. After the inconclusive Battle of the Coral Sea (US lost one ship and sunk one Jap light carrier and some smaller ships. Carrier Yorktown was heavily damaged), Rochefort uses a simple ruse to confirm that "AF" is Midway (He gets the Midway unit to transmit a fake message, which he knows will be picked by the Japanese. Once the Japanese transmit over their radio, they identify the location as "AF", thus confirming that its Midway). Now knowing the location and roughly the date of the attack, Admiral Nimitz (Henry Fonda) and his staff prepare a trap of their own. Captain Vinton Maddox (James Coburn) is the US naval strategist who says that the midway plan is a Jap ruse to divert forces from Hawaii. Maddox says that the safe play is to defend Hawai and give up Midway. Rochefort informs Nimitz that the Japanese have changed the JN-25 code. it will take 2 months to break it. US is now blind. Yamamoto lays out the plan. Hosogaya will attack the Altusian Islands to divert Nimitz's attention away from Midway. 24 hours later, Nagumo will attack Midway and Kondo will move in with his invasion force. Vice Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey Jr. (Robert Mitchum) would be leading the US fleet, but it would take them 48 hours to get there. By which time, Nagumo would be ready for them. Unknown to them Halsey was injured at Coral Sea and is hospitalized in Hawaii. Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (Glenn Ford) is the replacements, and the Japanese are unfamiliar with his battle tactics (Ray is a cruiser commander and he got the job only because Halsey was asked to recommend his own replacement). Yamamoto is aboard the Akagi (Rear Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka (Pat Morita) is Yamamoto's COS). Lieutenant Joichi Tomonaga (Sab Shimono) is the air commander filling in for Fushida (who led the air raid on Hawaii), as he is in sick bay with a flu. The carriers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet, augmented by a hastily repaired USS Yorktown that had been damaged at Coral Sea, will sail to a point north of Midway and lie in wait for the Japanese fleet (Raymond plans for a contingency just in case the Japanese are going for Hawaii again). Meanwhile, Matt has been unsuccessful in freeing the Sakuras, infuriating Tom, who ships out on his carrier. The Japanese had sent 2 scout planes to check for the US fleet at Pearl Harbor, but it could not complete the mission as it could not be refueled due to the presence of an enemy ship at the rendezvous point. Yamamoto is advised not to break radio silence to speak with Nagumo and continue as planned. Meanwhile Nagumo is unaware of the failure of the scout planes and since he didn't hear from Yamamoto, he assumes that the US fleet is still at Pearl Harbor. The battle begins on June 4 as Nagumo's carrier force launches its air attack on Midway Island. Nagumo is not sure of the position of the US fleet and holds back half his planes and the best pilots. Kusaka protests, but Nagumo is adamant. The American base is attacked, but the airstrip remains usable, meaning Midway can still launch aircraft. The Japanese carriers are then spotted by American scouts (The US ships had spotted Kondo's invasion force but had still no clue of Nagumo's carrier strike force. So, Raymond launches a second strike of seaplanes to look for the carrier behind a storm front that was hitting Midway). A massive aerial force is launched from the American carriers. Meanwhile Nagumo is elated that the first strike on Midway is a success and Kusaks convinces him to launch the 2nd strike by arming them with contact bombs instead of having them armed with torpedoes against enemy carriers. Meanwhile, Nagumo is shocked to learn of a sighting by a scout plane of an American carrier, throwing his plans into disarray as he orders that the next strike wave (which was being rearmed with bombs for an attack on Midway) be rapidly re-armed for an attack on the carrier. He has to wait more as the returning planes from the first strike on Midway are near empty on fuel, and Nagumo orders them to be recovered before launching the strike against the US carriers. Raymond has intel on only 2 enemy carriers and knows 2 are still missing. He takes a gamble and launches 114 aircraft against the 2 knows carriers. But due to Enterprise and Yorktown waiting to recover their scouts, only the torpedo planes are launched, and the fighters and bombers are delayed by a few minutes. Torpedo bombers from Hornet are the first American planes to locate the Japanese fleet. With fuel running low, they attack without fighter protection and are slaughtered by the Japanese Combat Air Patrol. Tom is severely burned when gunfire starts a fire in his cockpit. The Japanese fighters, however, are drawn down to wave-top altitude by the low-flying torpedo planes, leaving them out of position when dive-bombers & fighters from Enterprise and Yorktown arrive. As the Japanese are preparing to launch their second wave, the American bombers attack and reduce three of the Japanese carriers - Akagi, Kaga and Soryu - to burning wrecks within minutes. The remaining Japanese carrier Hiryu immediately launches aircraft. Following the returning American bombers, they soon discover Yorktown and inflict severe damage. The crew manages to bring the fires under control as a scout plane reports that Hiryu has been spotted. Below decks, Matt meets Tom and reconciles with him. Due to a shortage of pilots, Matt joins the counterattack against the Japanese carrier just before its second wave of aircraft strikes. Yorktown is soon burning, and the order is given to abandon ship. But the Japanese think they have sunk a 2nd carrier, not knowing that they just hit the Yorktown once again. Hiryu is sunk, dealing a fatal blow to the invasion. The American planes return to Enterprise and Hornet, but Matt, his plane badly damaged, is killed during landing. Yamamoto receives news of the loss of all his carriers. The admiral orders a general withdrawal as he contemplates how he will apologize for his failure to the Emperor.

A widower with ten children falls for a widow with eight, and they must decide about forming a huge, unconventional family. When a widower with 10 children marries a widow with 8, can the 20 of them ever come together as one big happy family? From finding a house big enough for all of them to learning to make 18 school lunches to coping with a son going off to war and an unexpected new addition to the family, this film attempts to blend two families into one and hopes to answer the question is bigger really better? —April M. Cheek <Aravis2713@aol.com> Widowed nurse Helen North moves to San Francisco with her eight children to work at a naval base. There, she meets Naval Officer Frank Beardsley, who is widowed too. They are immediately attracted to each other and go out on a date. Although they feel their attraction to each other could lead to a more permanent relationship, they decide to call it off when they learn that she has eight children, and he has ten. However, his colleague, Naval Officer Darrell Harrison, who also knows Helen, sees the attraction between them and does whatever he can to push them together. Despite the obstacles of such a large, combined family, and their respective children's dislike of the idea of having a new parent, Frank and Helen decide to get married. They end up having all eighteen children living under one roof with them. Together, the children have a "ours" and "theirs" mentality toward their new family unit. The only real bond that immediately emerges is between Helen's adolescent son, Phillip, who wants so much to be known as a "Beardsley", and Frank's oldest son, Mike, who is Phillip's protector in navigating through the trials and tribulations of the lives of sixteen other siblings. But things change even more in the household when Mike makes a decision about his future, Frank and Helen make a decision about the children, and when it looks as if there will be a new addition to the family, who will not have the burden of being known by any of the other children as one of "them". —Huggo

Comedy western in which a traveler bets more money than he can afford in a poker game, and unusual events follow. A naive couple and a child arrive to the town on the way to San Antonio, Texas to buy a farm there. There is a poker game between the richest men in the region. The man cannot resist it and though he is a very bad poker player, enters the game betting all the money of his family. In the climax of the game he suffers a heart-attack. His wife then takes his place in the table. That's the only way of recovering their savings. But there is a little problem. Can anybody explain to her how to play poker? —Miguel A. Andrade <andrade@gredos.cnb.uam.es> A couple with a young son arrive in the town of Laredo, just as the five richest men of the area are settling down to play the biggest game of poker of the year. When the wife disappears, the husband, after watching a few hands, joins in the game only to lose most of the families savings. As the wife returns, he finds that he has dealt himself a winning hand, but does not have the cash to continue. In the following argument he collapses, and his wife has no choice but to continue with his hand in order to win back their money, the only problem being she can't play poker. —MIKE.WILSON6@BTINTERNET.COM

A dramatization of Nazi Germany's final Western Front counterattack of World War II. In the winter of 1944, the Allied Armies stand ready to invade Germany at the coming of a New Year. To prevent this occurrence, Hitler orders an all out offensive to re-take French territory and capture the major port city of Antwerp. "The Battle of the Bulge" shows this conflict from the perspective of an American intelligence officer as well as from a German Panzer Commander. —Anthony Hughes <husnock31@hotmail.com> This is a novelisation of the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes, Belgium in the last months of the WW II. The German plan consists in a fast attack of a secret panzer division, unknown by the allies, at command of col. Hessler, a brilliant German officer. But as the Germans are short in fuel, a crucial movement in the plan is to capture a huge allied fuel deposit. It seems not to be difficult, but... —Luis Carvacho <lcarvach@lascar.puc.cl> Fictionalized account of the battle of the Ardennes in December 1944. An intelligence officer, Lt. Col. Dan Riley, is convinced that the Germans are amassing tanks and troops for an attack but he can't get anyone to believe him. When the attack is finally launched, he correctly deduces that a shortage of petrol will lead the tanks to a massive Allied fuel depot. Along the way, we encounter a number of characters including a green Lieutenant in his first battle, the grizzled American tank commander who is worried about his black market operation and a group of German soldiers posing as American MP's. —garykmcd

Warren Black lives in New York City and suffers a recurring nightmare about attending a bullfight that ends in a piercing shrieking noise. The nightmare fills him with doubts about his job as a Brigadier General in the US Air Force who is assigned to nuclear weapons. Walter Groteschele is a professor with some audacious ideas about nuclear warfare - namely that the common conception that any exchange of nuclear weapons will inevitably and imminently lead to an all-out exchange and the annihilation of the world is wrong. He is a civilian advisor to the Defense Department and Defense Secretary Swenson. Frank Bogan is commanding general of Strategic Air Command, the nuclear weapons arm of the Air Force, and he possesses faith in the vast array of high-tech equipment at his disposal, enough that he leads a short-notice tour of a visiting Congressman, Hubert Raskob, of SAC headquarters - though he must roust his executive officer, Colonel Warren Cascio, from an unplanned visit with his elderly father, a drunken hillbilly who lives in a basement apartment and whose alcoholism periodically leads to violence. Jack Grady, a Colonel in the Air Force, leads Group Six, a squadron of Vindicator nuclear bombers, supersonic jet aircraft derived from the B-58 Hustler bombers of the latter 1950s and based near Anchorage, AL. Grady and his wingman Billy Flynn debate the utility of their fellow pilots, young men who seem more like machines than the pilots they flew with in the Second World War. All of these men are soon caught up when a computer malfunction at SAC headquarters results in replacement of a faulty control piece. The replacement is routine but momentarily freezes up SAC's mainframe as the array of computers reboots. It appears of no concern - except the glitch activates the Fail-Safe box aboard Group Six; at the same time all radios aboard Group Six are jammed by Soviet Russia, and when the fail-safe signal aboard the planes is verified, it leaves Grady and his men thinking that nuclear war has broken out and they must execute their final order - penetrate Soviet Russia from the North Pole and launch multi-megaton explosives onto Moscow. The President Of The United States now must become involved as he and his translator, Peter Buck, travel deep underground to the White House command bunker, where a "Hot Line" direct voice communicator with the Soviet Premier awaits, with Buck hearing the Russian's voice and translating his words to the President. The President, the Secretary of Defense, and General Bogan work to try and stop Group Six, but the power of the planes and the crews' unshakable working orders - orders that include disregard of all outside voice communication on the suspicion of enemy disinformation - means that the six bombers penetrate Soviet Russia and overcome the Soviet Empire's vast antiaircraft grid. Making matters worse, when The President innocently asks the Soviet Premier about jamming of Group Six's radios, the Russian initially lies about it, and when he finally tells the truth the President still cannot convince Group Six to disengage. A direct communication link to Soviet air defense headquarters is opened and General Bogan is forced to dragoon one of his technical sergeants into telling the Russians how to detonate nuclear-armed air-to-air missiles, thus blowing up their own planes. With all indications being that the bombers will reach Moscow, the President makes a deal with the Soviets - a deal so stunning as to shake even the Soviet Premier into realizing that the President's pleas that the attack is an accident are manifestly the truth, but with the sickening realization that the President's proposal is the only way to avoid omnicide.

Grand Teton quarryman and family patriarch carefully navigates issues of religion and education in order to eke out a brighter future for his family. Clay Spencer is a hard-working man who loves his wife and large family. He is respected by his neighbors and always ready to give them a helping hand. Although not a churchgoer, he even helps a newly arrived local minister regain his flock after he and Clay get into a bit of trouble. If he has one dream in life it's to build his wife Olivia a beautiful house on a piece of land he inherited on Spencer's mountain. When his eldest son, Clayboy, graduates at the top of his high school class and has the opportunity to go to college, Clay has only one option left to him. —garykmcd Clay Spencer, his wife Olivia Spencer and their nine children are the third and fourth generations of Spencers who have lived on Spencer's Mountain in the Snake River Valley nestled within the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. Like generations before them, they are uneducated and poor but hard working. Despite abhorring religion, Clay has allowed Livie to raise the children as Christians. Clay has long promised Livie a large dream house on the mountain to replace their small house, where they live with Clay's parents. He hopes to build it with the help of his many brothers, for who he has done many favors over the years. Their dreams take a change of focus when their oldest, Clay Jr. - who everyone calls Clayboy - is the first Spencer to ever graduate from high school, not only with honors but at the top of his class. Clayboy wants to continue his education, which he hopes will lead his siblings into a better life than having to work in the quarry like their father. Money becomes the issue. Not only Clay and Livie, but Clayboy's teacher Miss Parker and the newly arrived Preacher Goodman, do whatever they can to help Clayboy achieve this goal. Clayboy's own resolve in this matter is tested by the progressive minded Claris Coleman, who wants to be Mrs. Clay Spencer Jr. sooner than later. —Huggo

A cynical former sheriff turned bounty hunter helps a young, recently appointed acting sheriff with his advice, his experience and his gun. Veteran bounty-hunter Morg Hickman rides into a town in danger. The sheriff has been killed, and young inexperienced Ben Owens named a temporary replacement until a permanent can be found. Ben wants to be that permanent replacement, so needs to impress the townspeople with his skill. When he finds that Morg was a sheriff for a long time before he became a bounty-hunter, he asks the older man to teach him. Morg thinks that being a sheriff is a foolish goal, but agrees to instruct Ben in handling people, more important to a sheriff than handling a gun. —Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net> Despite the townsfolk's disdain towards him, veteran bounty hunter and ex-lawman Morgan Hickman rides into a small town to collect the $500 reward claim after delivering the dead body of a wanted outlaw. Instead, money-oriented Hickman spends the night in the unwelcoming town and finds himself stuck with Ben Owens, the community's temporary novice sheriff. In the meantime, trigger-happy local bully Bart Bogardus terrorises the town, and no one can stop him. Now, Owens' life is hanging by a thread. As Hickman picks sides, determined to prevent the inevitable, the inexperienced law officer finds a mentor. However, how can Owens learn the tricks of the trade in just a few days and summon the courage to survive the murderous mob? —Nick Riganas When the experienced bounty-hunter and former sheriff Morg Hickman arrives in a town to claim his bounty for killing a wanted outlaw, he meets the rookie temporary sheriff Ben Owens. Hickman befriends the boy Kip (Michel Ray) and is lodged by his widow mother Nona Mayfield at home. Meanwhile Ben asks Hickman to teach him to be a sheriff since he wants to be assigned by the residents to the position. Ben faces problem with the scum troublemaker Bart Bogardus and when a prominent dweller is murdered by two criminals, Bogardus organizes a posse to hunt them down. But Ben has decided to capture the killers alive and give a fair trial to them. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Morgan Hickman is a bounty hunter bringing a dead man into a town of people who, as usual, hold him in contempt. He's steeled to the cold reception though, saying in that inimitable Fonda manner, "I don't mind the chill: I'm after money." Ben Owen - the town's young, temporary sheriff - desperately needs the confidence that can only come from knowledge and experience, and though he tries to treat Morgan Hickman with the same disdain as the townspeople, he sees that Hickman - bounty hunter or not - KNOWS how to act, how to handle dangerous situations, how to be the kind of man that Ben wishes to be. When Ben chides Hickman with, "I wouldn't expect no bounty hunter to appreciate this badge," Hickman answers sharply, "I wore one a lot longer than you ever will." At this, Ben's face shows shock, then hope. He suddenly sees Hickman as the man who can teach him to be a sheriff. The rest of the movie offers us a veritable graduate course in Western frontier law enforcement. In teaching the younger man, Hickman is inevitably reminded of why he once wore that Tin Star, and - in so doing - he rediscovers himself. [Cf: "The Outlaw Josey Wales"] —John Withrow <withrow@withrow-software.com>

In 1805, most of Europe is torn apart by Napoleon Bonaparte's (Herbert Lom) drive to conquer more and more territory. Only Russia stood in his way. In Moscow, many young men have joined the army, including Nicholas Rostov (Jeremy Brett), the son of Count Ilya Rostov and his wife Nataly, and the brother of young Petya (Seán Barrett) and the flighty but devoted Natasha (Audrey Hepburn). The Rostovs' (Count Mikhail Rostov (Barry Jones) & Countess Natalya Rostova (Lea Seidl)) friend Count Pierre Bezukhov (Henry Fonda), the illegitimate son of the ailing, wealthy Count Bezukhov, has recently returned from Paris and believes that Napoleon is a "cleansing force" who can establish equality and liberty. Despite his pacifism, Pierre wishes Nicholas well and then visits his friend, army officer Fedor Dolokhov (Helmut Dantine), a notorious rake. There, the comrades indulge in drinking games (Drinking a bottle of rum, balancing self on the ledge of a window) but are interrupted by Prince Andrei Bolkonsky (Mel Ferrer), an officer of much finer character than Dolokhov. Andrei informs Pierre that his estranged father, who is near death, is calling for him. Pierre goes to his father's mansion, where various relatives snub him. Their derision changes to hypocritical concern, however, after the old count dies and it is discovered that he has accepted Pierre as legitimate and named him his sole heir. The scheming Hélène Kuragina (Anita Ekberg) immediately sets her sights on Pierre and soon he falls in love with her, while her father, Prince Vasily Kuragin (Tullio Carminati), insinuates himself as the administrator of Pierre's vast estates. One day, Pierre runs into Andrei in the country as Andrei is escorting his pregnant wife Lise (Milly Vitale) to his father's house. Andrei, who feels trapped by the clinging Lise, had earlier advised Pierre never to marry, and now Pierre refuses to accept his warnings and wants to marry Helene.. Pierre meets Natasha in Moscow, where she is spending time with Petya. Nicholas is serving under Vasily "Vas'ka" Denisov (Patrick Crean) and writes about him often. Natasha learns that Pierre is dating Helene, who is his cousin and intends to marry her. Natasha is heartbroken as she had feelings for Pierre. After Andrei takes Lise to live with his sister Mary (Anna Maria Ferrero) and gruff father, Prince Nicholas Bolkonsky (Wilfrid Lawson), he leaves for the front (Nicholas has warned Andrei that he comes from a long line of military leaders and wants him to distinguish the family name in battle) and is made an adjutant to the commander of the army, Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov (Oskar Homolka). Kutuzov is inept and delays making crucial decisions even in light of known enemy movements. But Kutuzov tells Andrei that his delays are tactical and losing a few battles doesn't mean that he will lose the war. At the Battle of Austerlitz, Andrei attempts to rally the retreating men by grabbing their banner and rushing the enemy, but he is wounded and left for dead. While surveying the battlefield, Napoleon comes across Andrei and, admiring his courage, orders that he be tended to by his personal physician. In Moscow, when Pierre learns that the Russians are suing for peace, Hélène persuades him to return to the country alone so that she can spend the season in the city, welcoming the soldiers. Nicholas comes home safely, much to the delight of Natasha. Meanwhile, Andrei returns to his family, just as Lise goes into labor. Although their son Kolya survives, Lise dies after giving birth, and the grieving Andrei blames himself for not offering her enough comfort and love. As time passes, Hélène begins a flirtation with Dolokhov, and when Pierre learns of the rumors about them, he insults Dolokhov and accepts his challenge of a duel. Although Pierre is woefully unskilled with firearms, he manages to shoot and wound Dolokhov, while the soldier's shot goes wide and Pierre is unharmed. Infuriated that he was provoked into acting in such an uncivilized manner, Pierre separates from Helene and agrees to accompany the Rostovs to their country estate. One day, while they are hunting, they meet Andrei, who is enchanted by Natasha. Andrei is still in mourning and Pierre encourages him to find happiness in his life. Later, Andrei dances with Natasha when she attends her first ball and realizes that he wants to marry her. Prince Bolkonsky urges Andrei to wait a year, as Natasha is so young and the Rostovs are not their social equals, but promises to consent if Andrei still wishes to marry her then. With Natasha's promise to wait for him, Andrei then joins the mission to Prussia, where Czar Alexander and Napoleon sign a peace treaty in June 1807. While Andrei is gone, however, Natasha (who was rebuffed by Mary when Natasha went to see Andrei's father at his estate. This convinced her that the 1 yr wait is just a ruse to not marry her) is seduced by Anatole Kuragin (Vittorio Gassman), Helene's brother, who is as cold-Hearted and debauched as his sister. Even though he is secretly married, Anatole persuades Natasha to elope with him, but their plans are foiled by Natasha's cousin Sonya (May Britt) and Pierre, who threatens Anatole with exposure of his marriage if he ruins Natasha's reputation. Pierre's threats come too late, however, and soon all of Moscow is gossiping about Natasha, who falls ill after Andrei ends their relationship. After several months, she begs Pierre to convey her regret to Andrei, and Pierre, who is in love with her, assures her that she is blameless, and that if he were free, he would ask for her hand. In 1812, Napoleon crosses the River Neman into Russia with 200,000 men, despite the peace treaty. Faced with the superiority of the French Army, Kutuzov orders his men to retreat, and as they fall back, the soldiers and peasants set fire to the countryside so that the French will be without provisions. Although his officers protest his strategy, Kutuzov insists that the only way to save Russia is by letting the French wear themselves out. Soon the city of Smolensk is abandoned and Kutuzov decides to make a stand at Borodino. Determined to see war firsthand, to decide if his hatred of it is valid, Pierre travels to Borodino, where he finds Andrei's camp on the eve of the battle. Although Pierre urges Andrei to forgive Natasha, Andrei states that he cannot. The next morning, Pierre watches with mounting horror as the fighting rages around him and the French slaughter the Russians (The Russian cannons beat back french infantry, when Napoleon orders a cavalry attack just as the Russins run out of ammo for their cannons and their reserves are blown off). Finally realizing that his hero is just a tyrant, Pierre damns Napoleon. Kutuzov then decides to fall back beyond Moscow (he wants French armies to bleed to death), leaving the ancient capital city to the French. In Moscow, the Rostovs are among the many families preparing to flee when some wounded Russian soldiers arrive, hoping to be billeted at their home after their departure. Natasha insists that the men cannot be left behind to be captured, however, and they are loaded into the Rostov wagons (leaving their expensive furniture behind) and taken to a distant village. Napoleon is infuriated to learn that the government has fled, leaving no one behind to surrender to him. He sets the city on fire, which can be seen for miles. Although Pierre lies in wait one day, hoping to assassinate the French emperor, he cannot do it and is taken prisoner. Meanwhile, Natasha has learned that Andrei is among the wounded in their care and reunites with him. While Pierre is befriended by a fellow prisoner, the peasant Platon (John Mills). the Rostovs take Andrei to a monastery to convalesce. Andrei's wounds prove fatal, however, and he dies just after Mary and Kolya arrive to bid him farewell. Napoleon realizes that he has been outmaneuvered by Kutuzov (Food stocks are low and ammunition is being stolen or being sabotaged by resistance forces), and, fearing being trapped in Russia during the winter, orders his men to retreat. The prisoners, including Pierre and Platon, are forced to accompany the soldiers during their 2,000-mile march, and many of them die. The Russian soldiers follow behind the French, allowing them little rest and picking off stragglers. Petya, who has joined the army against his parents' wishes, is sent with a dispatch to Dolokhov, ordering his platoon to join the main regiment. Eager for one last fight, Dolokhov insists on attacking the French the next morning and allows Petya to accompany him. Petya is killed during the engagement, and although Pierre is freed, he is too overcome by the boy's death to rejoice. Dolokhov informs Pierre that Helene has died, and later, joins the other Russian soldiers as they attack the French, who are fleeing back across the Niemen. The Rostovs return to Moscow and find their mansion a burned-out shell, with only one wing remaining intact. Natasha rallies her family to make the best of what they have, however, and as the others settle in, Natasha sadly remembers happier times. She then sees Pierre in the doorway and rushes to embrace him. Telling him that he is like their house, which suffers and shows its wounds but still stands, Natasha kisses Pierre, and they walk together in the garden.

A trio of classy card sharks targets a socially awkward brewery heir, until one of them falls in love with him. Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike meets con artist Jean Harrington on a ship. They fall in love, but a misunderstanding causes them to split on bad terms. To get back at him, Jean disguises herself as an English lady, and comes back to tease and torment him. —John Oswalt <jao@jao.com> After one year in Amazon researching snakes, the naive ophidiologist Charles Pike returns to the United States in a transatlantic. Charles is the son of the Connecticut's brewery millionaire Mr. Pike and disputed by gold diggers. The swindlers Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), her father "Colonel" Harrington and their friend Gerald plan a confidence trick on Charles, but unexpectedly Jean falls in love with Charles and she calls off the scheme. However Charles's bodyguard Muggsy discovers that Jean is a con-artist and the disappointed Charles leaves Jean. Sometime later, in New York, the trio of con-artists meets their friend "Sir" Alfred McGlennan Keith in the horse races and they learn that "Sir" Alfred belonged to the high-society of Connecticut based on the reputation he had built. Jean sees the opportunity to take revenge at Charles, and she travels to the house of her "aunt" pretending to be the British noble Lady Eve. Mr. Pike promotes a party for Lady Eve and she seduces Charles that proposes her. But her intention is to get even with Charles. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Charles Pike, heir to the Pike brewing fortune, is a shy man who would much rather read a book than interact with people. While returning home from a scientific expedition in South America, he meets the lovely Jean Harrington. Unbeknownst to him however is the fact that Jean is part of a trio of cardsharps who travel on ocean liners looking for men just like him to give up his money. As they spend time together they soon fall in love and she is determined to protect him from her colleagues. Charles' bodyguard smells a rat and when he gets proof that Jean is a con artist, Charles breaks off the relationship. Jean now sets her sights on revenge and once back home, poses as the English Lady Eve to confuse and confound the innocent Charles. —garykmcd

Two innocent men are wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The fiancée of one of them convinces a police detective of their innocence, and together they try to find the real killer before the men's execution date. In Springdale, MA, working class waitress Mary Roberts and cabbie John Tennant - nicknamed Brick - are engaged to be married and are planning what they hope will be a prosperous future, they in the short term having to prioritize their want for Brick to expand business beyond one taxicab against owning a small house in the suburbs. Their short term plan is for Brick to buy that second cab which his friend Joe Linden, with whom he has only recently reconnected, will drive, and that they will move into an apartment in the city while they save their money to buy that suburban house. Their collective lives are thrown into a turmoil on the eve of their wedding when eyewitnesses to the crime finger Brick and Joe as two of the three men who not only robbed the local theater, but shot its watchman dead. Mary knows Brick cannot have committed the crime as he was with her at the time. However in trial when it is her seemingly biased word against the unbiased word of the eyewitnesses, the jury finds both Brick and Joe guilty, they ultimately sentenced to death by the electric chair. Vowing to prove Brick and Joe innocent while finding the real murderers, Mary comes across a small new piece of evidence in at least showing Brick and Joe innocent. However, she is only able to convince one person that matters, Police Lieutenant Everett, who led the investigation into the robbery and murder, of the error in convicting Brick and Joe. As Mary and Lt. Everett go on a search for more evidence, they are in a race against time as once Brick and Joe are executed, any evidence proving their innocence will be somewhat meaningless especially to Brick and Joe.

In 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back. In one of her most renowned roles, Bette Davis portrays Julie Marsden, a spoiled Southern belle who risks losing her suitor with her impetuous behavior. Engaged to successful banker Preston Dillard, Julie pushes him away with her arrogant and contrary ways, leading to a scandalous scene at a major social event and his subsequent departure. When Preston eventually returns and Julie attempts to win him back, she discovers that it may be too late. —Jwelch5742 Set in antebellum New Orleans during the early 1850's, this film follows Julie Marsden through her quest for social redemption on her own terms. Julie is a beautiful and free spirited, rapacious Southern belle who is sure of herself and controlling of her fiancé Preston Dillard, a successful young banker. Julie's sensitive but domineering personality--she does not want so much to hurt as to assert her independence--forces a wedge between Preston and herself. To win him back, she plays North against South amid a deadly epidemic of yellow fever which claims a surprising victim. —Adam Brodsky <adam_brodsky@hotmail.com>