A Woman's Face

 

This is one of Joan Crawford's best movies and it's a stellar performance. She plays a scarred woman. Once she gets plastic surgery she is hired to kill an innocent child but is she as hard as people think she is? The movie takes place in a courtroom. Melvyn Douglas plays the man who says she has no soul but really is in love with her. There's a reason why Joan Crawford still has a following today. Maybe she wasn't all that great of a person but she was a dynamic actress.

Drunken Angel

 

Apparently, this was the first movie Kurosawa did that he was proud of. It's an excellent film about a relationship between a gangster and his doctor. The patient has tuberculosis but it's his brutal nature that brings about his downfall more than his health. Toshiro Mifune and Kurosawa made around a billion movies together. They still remain one of the best pairings in the history of cinema. 

Strike up the Band

 

This was a mediocre Judy Garland movie with Mickey Rooney. It's about some teenagers who want to enter an orchestra competition. Busby Berkeley, Judy Garland, and Mickey Rooney have all done better work. Judy Garland definitely had appeal and could sing well but MGM didn't always put her in the best movies. Pass.

No Regrets for our Youth

 

I love the actress Setsuko Hara. I loved her in Ozu's later movies where she always played a spinster. I didn't know that she worked with even more Japanese directors like Akira Kurosawa. She is at her prettiest in this movie. In No Regrets for our Youth, she plays a daughter whose father is fired for his political beliefs. She falls for a man as well who has been imprisoned for his beliefs and dies a tragic death. If this isn't enough the woman goes to live with her lover's parents. They are going through the nightmare of having their crops destroyed by local people and being called spies. Setsuko remains brave through all these experiences. I liked Hara's performance but I think that she became an even better actress later on. She was more subtle later. Kurosawa made better movies but this was all right.