The heroine of HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE, played by platinum beauty Carole Lombard, insists love is bunk and she’s going to marry for money. It’s 1935, after all, and the height of the Depression. But screwball fate has a way of testing such determination. Our resolute gold-digger will indeed win the affections of a man with a fat wallet (the sweetly second best Ralph Bellamy) while—very much against her better judgment—falling hard for the dopey guy who plays hopscotch in the hallway (Fred MacMurray). Turns out he’s just as determined to marry a meal ticket. But can they keep their cool after he moves in with her to fake a Bermuda vacation? Lombard and MacMurry have such natural rapport, you just know these reluctant lovers are made for each other. Now that’s star chemistry! If you love the classic comedies of romantic resistance like BRINGING UP BABY, THE AWFUL TRUTH, MY MAN GODFREY, TOP HAT, or director Mitchell Leisen’s own MIDNIGHT, this is a treat nearly their equal. It’s easily found on the Universal DVD, “Carole Lombard: The Glamour Collection.”

Imagine a man, even the most serious musician, preferring his violin to Elizabeth Taylor! But that’s just what happens in RHAPSODY, a deliriously enjoyable musical melodrama from 1954. Spoiled rich girl Taylor loves violinist Vittorio Gassman but finds herself playing second fiddle to his career. Following a failed suicide attempt, she’s nursed back to health by tenderly doting pianist John Ericson (nearly as pretty and earnest as the young Monty Clift). She marries the boy on the rebound—and soon he’s drowning his sorrows in drink. Director Charles Vidor (GILDA, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME) treats this material with more respect than it likely deserves. Only the Joan Crawford HUMORESQUE or Ken Russell’s THE MUSIC LOVERS are more musically swoony. Though Vidor’s film teeters on the edge of ridiculousness, it’s repeatedly righted by the honestly expressed emotions of an appealing cast. Taylor is at the height of her 1950s beauty—no small asset. Thanks to the Warner Archive Collection for making this piano-pounding romance available again: Click for Rhapsody Link