Okay I found a load of films on youtube, most of which I've wanted to see for so long it's not even funny so I'll blast through them. First I watched I Remember Mama because it was Irene Dunne's final oscar nomination. This is an extremely old fashioned film (even by 1940s standards) about a poverty-stricken family of Norwegian emigrants struggling to survive in San Francisco. All of the older people are doing accents, Dunne's is ... good for the time (puts Bette Davis and Greer Garson to shame) but it's still a bit uneven. That doesn't really matter though because she gives a very nice turn as the matriarch of the family. A young Barbara Bel Geddes impresses the longer it goes as her daughter, but there is one flat out bad performance by Oskar Homolka as the bombastic uncle. He was the only survivor of the original stage cast and it shows, he just shouts a lot and seems to forget that in film you don't have to try to reach the third tier. So, very dated indeed and not a film which moves freely, but it's interesting if you like the people involved.

After that I chose (and it really was a choice, there are still well over half a dozen ones I *really* want to see) Bell Book and Candle because I was in the mood for something light. It's about local witch Kim Novak who determines to steal her former rival's fiancee (Jimmy Stewart) through magic. So she puts a spell on him and he falls in love with her but she starts ... oh well, you know where this one's going. Stewart sleepwalks through his role, as does a young Jack Lemmon and shockingly, considering the names and levels of acting talent  involved ... Novak is the reason to watch this as she steals the show. It's a very quirky, silly film that doesn't consistently hit, but it's a diverting enough watch.

Rita Hayworth & Fred Astaire

So, continuing in my picking films with stunningly attractive women rather than those with serious acclaim I watched the Rita Hayworth/Fred Astaire musical You Were Never Lovelier, as I'd seen the second half of it a couple of years ago on Film Four. Enjoyed it a lot more in its entirity, there is something rather worrying about the plot of a father sending anonymous love-notes to his own daughter (as a means to get her interested in men) but everyone involved has such appeal they all somehow make it work. Astaire is his usual "character" (i.e. professional, famous dancer on holiday), Hayworth her usual ridiculously appealing self and Adolphe Menjou (who I really enjoy in most things) really came to play as the overbearing father. Amusing throughout, always entertaining, a tad predictable and silly at times but that was the type of entertainment these films were. Liked it a lot.

In a fit of guilt following my choosing Kim and Rita over the traditional oscarbait, I tucked into some classic Italian cinema. I started off with Nights of Cabiria by Federico Fellini. It's the tale of a prostitute (played by the inimitable Giulietta Masina) named Cabiria who, following being pushed in the river by her boyfriend and having all her money stolen, vows never to be "had" in such a way again. What follows is a rather wandering, aimless film, up until the final third there isn't a very strong narrative or constructed dramatic arc. It takes a while to bed into Masina's style of acting but once it settles down she's excellent, showing the combination of outward strength and inner vulnerability. While it is quite obvious what the conclusion of the film will be, that doesn't really matter as it's such a well made, smoothly told story. Not one of my favourite Fellinis but a very good effort.

Finally, having being given a new lease of life with Michaelangelo Antonioni following La Notte, I finally found L'Avventura, which is the one film of his I've always wanted to see (as it has the best reputation). Sadly for me it's rather in the vein of all the others I've seen apart from La Notte. He does images so well, but can't string them together - the opening makes it feel like it's going to be something like Picnic at Hanging Rock (but good ), but as soon as the storyline of the missing friend makes way for an affair between her best friend and her lover it just stretches out and goes on and on and loses all sense of cinematic rhythm. The main redeeming feature of this film is Monica Vitti, she gives a very good performance and looks absolutely phenomenal, but I'm not really sure the film has much more to say other than "look how attractive she is". Watchable for a while, interesting in parts, but maddeningly frustrating. Still willing to give Red Desert a chance if I can find it though.