7 Star Films

The Rack (1956) is a somber, intelligent courtroom drama featuring one of Paul Newman’s earliest and most emotionally raw performances. Based on a teleplay by Rod Serling (of The Twilight Zone fame) and adapted for the screen by Stewart Stern, the film grapples with the psychological toll of war and the moral ambiguity surrounding courage and duty.

The Walls of Jericho (1948) is a richly textured post-war melodrama, directed by John M. Stahl, and featuring an ensemble of major studio-era talents including Cornel Wilde, Linda Darnell, Anne Baxter, and a young, rising Kirk Douglas.

A Kind of Loving (1962) is one of the defining films of the British New Wave or "kitchen sink realism" era—a movement in late 1950s and early 1960s British cinema that brought working-class life, unvarnished social themes, and emotional honesty to the screen. Directed by John Schlesinger in his feature debut and starring Alan Bates in one of his earliest leading roles, the film adapts Stan Barstow’s novel with a mixture of grim realism and emotional subtlety.

Bright Eyes (1934) is a beloved showcase for Shirley Temple, the most iconic child star in Hollywood history. Released during the depths of the Great Depression, the film offered audiences a blend of sentimentality, humour, and escapist charm at a time when morale across America was desperately low. Directed by David Butler and written by William M. Conselman, Bright Eyes is most remembered for introducing Temple’s signature song, “On the Good Ship Lollipop,”.

In Harm’s Way (1965) is a sweeping World War II epic that blends intimate human drama with large-scale naval warfare, bringing together a powerhouse cast under the direction of Otto Preminger. With John Wayne and Kirk Douglas headlining, the film explores themes of duty, honor, loss, and redemption against the backdrop of the early years of the Pacific War, particularly around the time of the attack on Pearl Harbour.

Winning (1969) is a racing drama that occupies an intriguing space in the career of Paul Newman and in the pantheon of American sports films. Often overshadowed by Newman’s better-known works like Cool Hand Luke (1967) or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Winning holds significance not only for its portrayal of the high-octane world of professional car racing but also because it sparked Newman’s real-life passion for motorsports.

The Thin Man Comes Home (1945) is the fifth film in the beloved Thin Man series starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as the suave, quick-witted husband-and-wife detective duo, Nick and Nora Charles. Released by MGM during the final years of World War II, this entry diverges slightly from the glamorous, urban settings of earlier films by taking the Charleses to Nick’s hometown for a rare domestic twist on the established formula.

With a fresh setting, a new ensemble of suspects, and a charming addition to the Charles family in the form of their infant son, Another Thin Man offers a delightful blend of mystery, comedy, and domestic hijinks. Though some critics view it as a softer installment than its predecessors, the film remains a thoroughly enjoyable chapter in one of cinema’s most stylish detective franchises.

After the Thin Man (1936) is the sparkling sequel to the smash hit The Thin Man (1934), and it reunites William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, cinema’s most stylish and witty detective couple.

Silent Movie (1976) is one of Mel Brooks’ most daring and delightfully unconventional comedies—a film that pays tribute to the silent era while also brilliantly parodying Hollywood excess, studio politics, and the nature of celebrity.

Released in 1977, Slap Shot is a profane, chaotic, and oddly poignant sports comedy that has aged into cult status over the decades. Directed by George Roy Hill (The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and starring Paul Newman in one of his most uncharacteristically raucous and spirited performances, the film is a unique blend of slapstick violence, blue-collar grit, and dark social satire.

Splash is a landmark film in several respects. Directed by Ron Howard and released in 1984, it marked the debut feature of Disney's newly established Touchstone Pictures label—created to produce more mature fare than the traditional Disney brand allowed.

Room for One More is a heartfelt 1952 comedy-drama that blends warm domestic humor with sincere emotional depth. Directed by veteran filmmaker Norman Taurog, known for his deft touch in light-hearted family fare (Boys Town, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), this film stars real-life husband and wife Cary Grant and Betsy Drake. While not one of Grant’s more flamboyant or iconic vehicles, it provides a gentle, deeply personal look at family life and social responsibility through t

The Defiant Ones is a landmark American film, both socially and cinematically. Released in 1958 and directed by Stanley Kramer, it boldly tackled the subject of racism and human equality during a time when such topics were often diluted or avoided in Hollywood.

The 1936 version of Show Boat is widely regarded as the definitive screen adaptation of the seminal 1927 Broadway musical. A heartfelt and, at times, harrowing portrayal of race, love, loss, and resilience along the Mississippi River, the film is a triumph of performance, music, and direction.

Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (1955) is a brutal, nightmarish film noir that shattered the conventions of its genre while also providing a deeply cynical, subversive reflection of Cold War-era America. Ostensibly based on Mickey Spillane’s pulp novel, the film uses the basic framework of a detective thriller to launch an assault on traditional morality, masculinity, and the very concept of heroism.

Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966) is a landmark of 1960s cinema—a work that simultaneously captures the cultural and aesthetic energy of Swinging London and interrogates the very nature of reality, perception, and meaning. It was Antonioni’s first English-language film, and perhaps his most internationally influential, earning the Palme d’Or at Cannes and launching a new era of art cinema into the mainstream.

The Vanishing (Spoorloos, 1988), directed by George Sluizer, is a psychological thriller that unnerves not through action or gore, but through its cold, clinical exploration of obsession, evil, and the terrifying ambiguity of disappearance. A Dutch-French production based on the novella The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbé, the film is a stark, tightly wound meditation on the unknown—and on the monstrous banality of evil.

Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye (1973) is less a traditional adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s 1953 detective novel than a postmodern riff on it—a revisionist noir, a sun-drenched elegy for the hardboiled genre, and a sly, satirical portrait of 1970s Los Angeles in moral and cultural freefall.

Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud) is a landmark of postwar French cinema—a taut, stylish thriller that bridges the fatalism of American film noir with the existential anxiety and aesthetic innovation of the French New Wave. Released in 1958, when Malle was only 24 years old, the film marked both his feature debut and the beginning of a long, varied, and daring directorial career.