events

Pint-sized dynamo Mickey Rooney, one of the biggest box office stars of the late 1930s and early ’40s, is featured here in three gems that will keep you laughing. In Little Lord Fauntleroy, Rooney assists the titular character. In Love Laughs at Andy Hardy, Andy (Rooney) returns to college after serving in World War II. And in The Big Wheel, Rooney’s a race-car driver who seems to take after his dad … who died on the track!

In this 1934 adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, silent film actress Colleen Moore stars as Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman whose indiscretions force her to wear a flaming red A. Taking advantage of her vulnerable position, a middle-aged man from her past (Henry B. Walthall) preys upon the benevolent pastor (Hardie Albright) who loves Hester, changing both their lives forever. The supporting cast includes Alan Hale.

When wide-eyed orphan Oliver has the colossal nerve to ask for more gruel at his workhouse, his cheekiness gets him shipped off to an apprenticeship with a mortician. Soon Oliver bolts for London, where he falls in with a den of conniving thieves.

Driven from her post at Thornfield House by her love for her brooding employer and his secret past, young governess Jane Eyre reflects on her youth and the events that led her to the misty moors in this artful adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel. George C. Scott stars as the brooding Rochester in Bronte’s classic English tale, with Susannah York as Jane Eyre.

Based on Clarence Day Jr.’s memoirs about growing up with his semi-tyrannical father, this wonderful comedy is truly one of the classics. William Powell stars as Father, a Wall Street broker who likes to think he rules the roost. But when a small crisis over his religious upbringing causes havoc, it becomes clear that it’s really his adoring wife (Irene Dunne) and their enterprising children who pull the strings.

While globe-trotting journalist Harry Street (Gregory Peck) lies wounded and delirious in an African campsite, his wealthy wife (Susan Hayward) keeps vigil. As she sits by his side, Street recalls the events, and the woman (Ava Gardner), who led him to this fate. Screenwriter Casey Robinson expanded Ernest Hemingway’s short story with elements from the author’s other works as well as Hemingway’s own life.

In this family-friendly series based on Louisa May Alcott’s titular novel and its prequel, Little Women, Jo Bhaer (Michelle Burke) faces the tribulations of running the struggling Plumfield School for Boys in 1860s Massachusetts after the death of her husband. Help arrives with the school’s new caretaker (Spencer Rochfort) and teacher (Robin Dunne) — Jo’s nephew — and the three share life lessons with their budding pupils.

Adapted from Ernest Hemingway’s World War I novel, this drama centers on American soldier Lt. Frederick Henry (Rock Hudson). While serving in the Italian Army, Henry has an affair with nurse Catherine Barkley (Jennifer Jones), and she becomes pregnant. The two lose touch, and Catherine is certain Henry’s moved on to greener pastures. But he manages to track her down in Switzerland and arrives at her hospital bedside to find her clinging to life.