Going My Way (released in 1944) - starring Bing Cosby and Barry Fitzgerald

This 1944 blockbuster was directed by Leo McCarey staring Bing Cosby and Barry Fitzgerald. This movie was the biggest hit and cemented the place of Bing Cosby as one of the biggest guaranteed box office draw of the 40's.
This movie is about a young priest who takes over the parish from a veteran and the feelings of displacement and jealousy involved in this take over. Father O'Malley is a young priest who is sent to the parish of St Dominic's in poor neighborhood of New York. He is to take over from Father Fitzgibbon for whom age is not on his side. The parish has nothing much going on for them, except the petty gossip and rivalries. Soon Father O'Malley revamps the entire going on's, reinvigorating the youth.
Father Fitzgibbon feels the parish slipping away from his hands as he watches O'Malley in action. The younger parish priest gets a grip on everything like the parish interludes and youthful capers. And slowly resentment sets in Fitzgibbon's mind. But O'Malley is aware of the confusion in the older man's mind and he is kind and considerate. He slowly chips away the armor and engages him.



O'Malley and his friend Father Timothy "Timmy" O'Dowd take Father Fitzgibbon for golf and he thoroughly enjoys it calling it the great outdoor pool. Soon he opens up about his parish life of past 50 years. He also mentions about his mother who is pushing 90 living in Ireland. O'Malley has his own personal demons to deal with with his interrupted love affairs. Soon pieces start to fall in to the right places. The choir is formed and the youth movement gains momentum with the prime mischief maker young Tony Scaponi comes to the fold.
Then tragedy strikes when the church is damaged in a massive fire on Christmas eve. But the spirit of togetherness kindled by Father O'Malley cannot be extinguished so soon. The newly awakened parish rally against odds and celebrate Christmas as a family in a temporary church. At this momentous occasion, Fitzgibbon's elderly mother reaches him all thanks to O'Malley efforts. But the joyous occasion has a sad tinge with O'Malley being transferred to another parish. But the builder builds for others and the fruits of his creation may not be for his sake but for the restoration of others. As the parish rejuvenates and embraces each other, O'Malley slips away for his new task.

This movie was a monster hit and was nominated for 10 academy awards winning seven. Bing Cosby won the Oscar for Best actor and Barry Fitzgerald won for the best supporting actor. Barry was nominated for the best actor award and lost to Cosby. After this the Oscar committee restricted the nominations to one category. It also won the Oscar for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best song. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's.
In 2004, Going My Way was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A feel good movie worth a watch.

Arsenic and Old Lace (Released in 1944) - Starring Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, and Raymond Massey

Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. It stars Cary Grant along with Josephine Hull, Jean Adir, Raymond Massey and John Alexander.
Cary Grant is Mortimer Brewster who does not believe in love stories and the institution of marriage and has written several books against it. But his views are put to the test when he falls head over heels for his childhood friend Elaine Harper and they get married on Halloween day. So Mortimer and his new bride go visiting relations after their wedding. Mortimer's bizarre relatives live in their family house and consist of his aunts, Ada and Martha and his brother Teddy. Well one hitch is that both Ada and Martha are very eccentric with Teddy crowning the madness streak. Teddy believes himselves to be Teddy Roosevelt and charges at all occasions over the banisters, imitating Roosevelt's famous charge up San Juan Hill.
Sinister and devilish plots and corpses tumble out of his Aunts closets. Both Ada and Martha inform him about their charity of bumping off invalid old members to end their presumed suffering by giving them elderberry wine spiked with arsenic. These corpses are unwittingly buried by Teddy who believes that he is digging locks for the Panama Canal and burying yellow fever victims.



To complicate matters further, Mortimer's more sinister brother Jonathan arrives along with his plastic surgeon friend Dr. Herman Einstein. Jonathan is a psychotic murderer who has his face altered by Dr. Einstein to look like Boris Karloff in his makeup as Frankenstein's monster. Jonathan finds about his aunts secrets and try to bury his latest victim Mr. Spenalzo in the basement. This is vehemently opposed by his aunts who think their victims prestige will be lowered being buried with a lowly Spenalzo. Soon all the crazed deranged relatives turn their attention to Mortimer.
A mortally afraid and mortified Mortimer tries to keep one step ahead of them. He tries to protect Elaine and makes various bumbling attempts to alert the cops and get his aunts and Teddy to an asylum. He is also scared of going insane as his relatives as insanity is galloping through the Brewster's from the days of their arrival aboard the Mayflower.
In the end, he manages to get his relatives booked and locked up. The ultimate redemption comes when he is informed by Ada, that he is not a Brewster, but the son of a chef aboard the ship. A relieved Mortimer walks in to the sunset with Elaine, happy to be a sea cooks son.
This movie is a spoof of the Black widow murders and was well received at the box office. This movie was also the critics favorite and is treated as one of the great 100 laugh riots by the American Film Institute. This macabre movie is a great fun to watch and I would recommend it highly for anybody. Just keep it away from children below eight.