My Ten Favorite New-to-Me Movies of 2025

It's that time of year again!  Time to sift through the movies I watched over the past year and figure out just which ones I liked best.

I really like that my list this year has movies spanning 97 years.  It's a pretty fun mix of genres too -- not shocking, as I am an eclectic and omnivorous movie watcher.

Anyway, here's my list!

1. Conagher (1991)  A rough-mannered cowboy (Sam Elliot) keeps crossing paths with a homesteader (Katherine Ross) and her adopted children, often helping them out of some difficulty or other, all while insisting he's going to be leaving the area any day now, he's totally not sticking around to look after her and figure out if her missing husband is ever coming back, nope, he's totally disinterested...  

2. The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)  A former military intelligence officer (George C. Scott) is asked to investigate a list of people, but before he can, the man who made the list dies mysteriously.  And then people on the list start to die, too.  What can the connection be?  Why do so many of these people have very peculiar faces?  How many ways can you disguise Kirk Douglas?  SO many questions!  Also, I've never found George C. Scott particularly attractive, but maybe I've just been watching the wrong movies...

3. Desperate Journey (1942)  A WWII British bomber crew (Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Ronald Sinclair) survive a crash landing behind enemy lines and daringly attempt to sneak their way back to Allied territory.  This movie gallops along, flinging our heroes from one tense and worrisome situation to another, but somehow never feels rushed.  Instead, it feels like an exciting series of adventures, each one making us more and more invested in the characters.

4. Glass Onion (2022)  Quirky and laconic detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) attends a house party thrown by a gazillionaire (Edward Norton) on a private island during the Covid-19 shutdowns.  People die.  Blanc figures out how and why.  There are twists on twists on twists, one of which I loved so much, it bumped this much higher on my list than it would have been otherwise.  This is the first movie I've seen that deliberately included the Covid-19 shutdowns in the storyline, complete with the face masks and the social distancing and the special rules for rich people, which was pretty interesting.  Because I don't have Netflix, I only got to see this because our local theater showed it on the big screen for a couple of days.  So happy that they did!

5. Salty O'Rourke (1945)  A gambler (Alan Ladd) needs to pay off a debt fast, so he buys a race horse and hires a jockey and does some dubious paperwork shuffling and falls in love with a school teacher (Gail Russell) and makes a lot of other bad decisions, but it all works out okay because this is a comedy.  I especially loved the sidekick played by William Demarest, of whom I grow and more fond with every movie I see him in.

6. The Invisible Man (1933)  A scientist (Claude Rains) turns himself invisible and slowly goes mad.  This movie makes no secret of the fact that the special effects are the main star of the film, and I am absolutely here for them.

7. The Pirates of Penzance (1983)  A band of jolly pirates (but are they?) led by a Pirate King (Kevin Kline) bids farewell (but do they?) to their apprentice (Rex Smith) when he comes of age (but does he?) and decides he will stop being a pirate and become a law-abiding citizen (but will he?).  Absolute madcap delightfulness from beginning to end, in the best Gilbert-and-Sullivan-but-make-it-1980s-instead style imaginable.

8. Kim (1950)  A British soldier's orphaned son Kim (Dean Stockwell) passes as a native of India to spy for the British, aided and mentored by the mysterious Mahbub Ali (Errol Flynn).  It's based on the Rudyard Kipling classic, but streamlined, and with a lot more for Errol Flynn to do than his character was granted page time for in the book.

9. Libeled Lady (1936)  A rich young thing (Myrna Loy) is libeled by a newspaper, and the editor (Spencer Tracy) responsible for running the libelous story cooks up a doozy of a plot to convince her not to sue the paper.  It involves his fiancée (Jean Harlow) and a slick-talking writer (William Powell), a sham marriage, and all the screwball hijinks the screenwriters could dream up and toss at the characters.  I will probably enjoy this a lot more the second time I watch it, but I only just watched it for the first time a few days ago and haven't had time for a second viewing.  Still, it wound up on this list, which means I did like it more than most screwball comedies...

10. The Gold Rush (1925)  A hapless but plucky prospector (Charlie Chaplin) tries to find gold in Alaska, but mostly finds problems and trouble and a lot of snow.  We saw this in the theater with my brother and his family, and it was the first silent film my niece and nephew had ever seen.  (My own kids had seen a couple before that, but years ago.)  It took them all about ten minutes to get used to the storytelling style, and then they all had a rollicking good time enjoying all of Chaplin's hijinks.  And, as a bonus, we all went to Alaska about a month later, and my nephew was able to relate historical things we saw regarding the actual Alaskan Gold Rush to things he saw in this movie.  I love it when fiction can bring real history to life for people that way!

Well, that's my list!  Have you seen any of these?  Did you make a list of favorite films you watched in 2025 too?  Please share!

I've been collecting my top ten new-to-me movies in posts like this for twelve years now.  You can find all of them at the bottom of this page.

Were They the Best Years of Our Lives?

I picked up The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) off the shelf at the library a dozen or more years ago because I saw it had Myrna Loy in it, and I really like her. I love movies involving WWII, soldiers, and the 1940s, so I figured I’d give it a try. 

At that time, I mostly knew Loy from the Thin Man movies she made with William Powell, which are hilarious and snarky and fun. So I think I kind of expected that this movie would also be a lighthearted way to pass an evening on my night off from work that week. I didn’t expect it to surprise and awe me. I didn’t expect it to be a serious and soul-searching. I didn’t expect it to wow me. 

But, boy, am I glad it wasn’t what I expected. 

The Best Years of Our Lives follows three American servicemen as they return to their hometown after World War Two. Made in 1946, when some GIs were still returning from “over there,” it is an unflinching look at the frustrations, hardships, joys, and fears involved in reuniting fighters with families. 

Former Army sergeant Al Stephenson (Frederic March) comes home to his wife Milly (Myrna Loy) and kids Peggy (Theresa Wright) and Rob (Michael Hall). They welcome him eagerly, if a little awkwardly. It will take some time for them all to readjust to each other, they know. Al gets his old job at a bank back, but he doesn’t feel like he fits in either there or at home anymore. Everyone wants life to go back to being just as it was before, but he’s changed too much to feel that’s possible. He seeks solace in alcohol. Milly sees this and is worried, but stalwartly supports him however she can, helping him to work through his worries and doubts subtly and kindly. 

Former Air Force captain Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) comes home to his parents who live on the poor side of town and idolize him, and to Marie (Virginia Mayo), the wife he acquired during a quickie wartime marriage. She wants him to be the same heroic, charming, fun guy she married two years earlier, but he’s changed. They don’t call it this, but Fred suffers from PTSD. He has horrible nightmares and withdraws from his wife and others around him. Unable to get his old job back, he becomes a lowly salesman at a drug store. Marie constantly berates and demeans him for getting such a lame job, for being boring, for not throwing money and attention at her constantly. 

Former Navy sailor Homer Parrish (Harold Russell) has it the hardest. He returns home to a loving family and his devoted fiancée Wilma (Cathy O’Donnell), the literal girl-next-door… but he returns home without his hands. Fiercely independent, and yet physically dependent on others for so many things, Homer chafes at the love, the pity, the kindness, and the stares that meet him everywhere. He doesn’t want Wilma to marry him because he thinks she deserves better. He even considers taking his own life so he won’t be a bother to those around him anymore. 

Played by real-life double amputee Harold Russell, who lost his hands in an accidental explosion during WWII, Homer Parrish is nothing short of inspiring. He has two artificial limbs with hooks on them that enable him to eat, drink, write, smoke, play the piano… but not stroke Wilma’s hair. Not button buttons. Not tie shoes. Not do a hundred everyday things that Homer thinks are important. 

As their lives and the lives of their loved ones weave together in a myriad tiny ways, Al, Fred, and Homer come to rely on each other for support, understanding, and encouragement. All three of them understand what it was like in the war, what it’s like to come home, what it’s like to want to fit in, but fail. Together, they work to raise each other above their problems and see that maybe the years they spent apart from their families weren’t the best years, but that maybe the years to come will be the best years, if they can only allow themselves to live them.

(This post originally appeared in Femnista magazine on September 7, 2019.)

My Ten Favorite New-to-Me Movies of 2024

Here we are again, ready to reminisce over all the movies we've watched in the past year and figure out which ones we liked best.  If you've done a similar post this year, leave a link in the comments so I can check out what your favorites were!

If you want to see my past lists, I've got ten years' worth at the bottom of this page.  Meanwhile, here are my favorite ten new-to-me movies that I watched last year!

1.  Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter One (2024)  A variety of people have experiences in the Old West, many of them in or around the fictional town of Horizon.  It's a sprawling epic with lots of storylines and little or no closure to any of them, and I'm somewhat obsessed with it.  So much of it pleases me, from the authentic historical details to the filmography to the storytelling.  (I could do without the scene with nudity or the implied sex scene, though.  It's not a family friendly movie.)

2.  The Train (1964)  A bitter and disillusioned member of the French Resistance (Burt Lancaster) helps sabotage a train filled with precious pieces of French artwork that an equally bitter Nazi officer (Paul Scofield) is desperately trying to steal away from Paris before the Allies arrive.  My son is particularly pleased with all the very real train-related details, and I'm pleased by all the cool stunts Lancaster does.

3.  Murder on the Orient Express (1974)  Even though Hercule Poirot is not played by Peter Ustinov or Kenneth Branagh (my two favorite Poirots), but instead by Albert Finney (who gets a bit shouty), this is still such a fun time.  That's mainly thanks to the amazing cast: Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark, Michael York... are you drooling yet?  What a lineup, huh?

4.  The Man from the Alamo (1953)  A Texan (Glenn Ford) is elected to leave the Alamo to warn the people of his town that something bad is about to befall them.  By the time he reaches the town, it's too late, and everyone assumes he ran away from the Alamo because he's a coward.  This makes him angry and vengeful, and the storyline took a few turns that surprised me, which I enjoyed.

5.  Emma (1996 -- Kate Beckinsale)  Yes, it took me this long to finally see this adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel.  I was surprised how much I liked it -- it's never going to rival the other 1996 version that stars Gwyneth Paltrow, but I liked it a lot better than the 2009 and 2020 versions.

6.  The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)  A bunch of military misfits are brought together to stop the Nazis during WWII.  Yes, that premise has been used oodles of times.  But this movie brings some fresh fun to it -- and it's based on a real people and real incidents, which bumps the whole thing up a notch.  I'm particularly fond of how Henry Cavill keeps trading up for better and cooler coats.

7.  Love Crazy (1941) A woman (Myrna Loy) suspects her husband (William Powell) is cheating on her and decides to get a divorce.  Her husband pretends to be mentally ill so she can't divorce him.  I'm not usually a big fan of screwball comedies, but I love Loy and Powell together, and this one never gets daffy enough to annoy me.

8.  Anastasia (1956)  A con artist (Yul Brynner) uses a mentally unstable young woman (Ingrid Bergman) to try to convince the world that the Russian princess Anastasia is still alive.  It's acerbic and twisted and melodramatic... and a lot more like the animated movie Anastasia (1997) than I'd expected.

9.  Christmas in the Air (2017)  A widower (Eric Close) who designs and makes toys hires a professional planner (Catherine Bell) to help him juggle his Christmastime family activities and work commitments so he won't disappoint his kids by forgetting anything important, but will also be able to help his brother land a big contract for their family-owned toy company.  Yes, it's a Hallmark movie.  Yes, I will willingly watch it again.

10. My Cousin Rachel (1952)  A wealthy young man (Richard Burton) becomes obsessed with his cousin's widow (Olivia de Havilland) because he's convinced she killed his cousin.  And then he's convinced she didn't.  And he loves her.  But he hates her.  But she loves him.  But she might be trying to kill him.  Come on, it's a very young and toothsome Richard Burton growling at a middle-aged and gorgeous Olivia de Havilland -- that's all you really need to know.

"Another Thin Man" (1939)

The third movie about Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) is... not one of my favorites in the series, to be honest.  I can never manage to remember the plot of this one even though it's based on a Dashiell Hammett story I've read.  We just get about twenty minutes into it, and then Cowboy and I will look at each other and say, "Oh, yeah!  This is the one with the baby party in it."  And that's all I can really remember about it between viewings!

It's always funny to me how the name "Thin Man" has come to refer to Nick Charles, when really the Thin Man in the title of the first film (1934) and the Dashiell Hammett book it's based on is NOT Nick Charles at all, but the murder victim.  

Anyway, in this particular movie, Nick and Nora are back in New York City, this time with their toddler Nicky Jr. (William A. Poulson) along, as well as their faithful dog Asta.  Where the Charles family goes, trouble is sure to turn up, and aren't we all glad it does?  Without trouble, there would be no movie for us to chuckle our way through.

This time, Nick and Nora get invited to spend the weekend at a Long Island mansion owned by Colonel MacFay (C. Aubrey Smith), ostensibly so Nick and MacFay can discuss a lot of business things.  MacFay was Nora's father's business partner, and now he's involved in handling the East Coast portions of her fortune. 

MacFay is being threatened and terrorized by a charming (note the sarcasm) fellow named Phil Church (Sheldon Leonard) and his pal Dum-Dum (Abner Biberman).  He assumes that Nick can put a stop to this somehow.  Nick pokes around into various corners, but before he can do much good, MacFay is murdered.

Obviously, Phil Church and Dum-Dum are the prime suspects.  Obviously, they can't be the killers because then the movie would be over too soon.  Disappearing dead bodies, a bunch of Nick's underworld acquaintances, and double lives all help complicate matters.  

One of my favorite parts of the movie involves Nick and Nora both winding up at a night club where Nora is pounced upon by a would-be new boyfriend and dragged out to the dance floor.  

Nora holds her own pretty well with the masher, but eventually, Nick has enough and rescues her.  It's a really funny, fun sequence that makes the most of Powell and Loy's comedic talents and their wonderful chemistry.

Another thing I love about this one is that Lt. Guild (Nat Pendleton) gets to appear again!  He's in The Thin Man too, and having him turn up again lends a wonderful bit of continuity to the series.

The "baby party" that I mentioned earlier is part of the film's climax and involves a whole lot of hoodlums and small-time crooks bringing random babies over to Nick and Nora's hotel suite to have a birthday party for Nicky Jr., with some pretty funny results.

Nick Sr. solves the mystery, as usual, and at the end, he and Nora collapse in their hotel room to get the rest they've been needing ever since they got off the train at the beginning of the film.

Between filming After the Thin Man (1936) and this film, William Powell suffered two pretty serious life events.  His fiancée Jean Harlow died, and he was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery and radiation for that.  I've heard that when he arrived on set to begin filming this movie, the cast and crew gave him a standing ovation.

I don't know if it's a result of those two things, but I think Powell's portrayal of Nick Charles is just a little softer and more loving in this film than in the previous two.  Of course, Nick and Nora still exchange lots of acerbic witticisms between many an onscreen smooch, just like in the first two films, but there seems to be even more affection and kindness laced throughout their interactions.  And Nick is particularly affectionate toward little Nicky Jr. in a way I think an earlier Nick might have not quite managed.

Anyway, Nick and Nora Charles remain one of my absolute favorite on-screen married couples.  I love the way they they are portrayed as playful, happy, and supportive of each other, and still very attracted to each other.  Too many movie and TV married couples show marriage as being unpleasant and a burden, and while it certainly can be, it doesn't have to be (in fact, in my experience, marriage generally is jolly good fun). 

Is this movie family friendly?  Pretty much.  Lots of alcohol use still.  Several murders, but none of them are shown graphically.  There's also a bit of very mild innuendo here and there.

"After the Thin Man" (1936)

After the Thin Man (1936) picks up right after The Thin Man (1934), with Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) getting off the train in California, home again from their jaunt to New York City over the holidays.  

Nora is still filled with exuberance over her husband solving a difficult murder, and now she wants him to take another case.  Her cousin Selma (Elissa Landi) is desperately unhappy, and Nora fears she's in danger of some sort.  Nick is not enchanted with this idea.  Nora's wealthy, snobby family mocks and snubs him.  And he's going to be plenty busy catching up on business matters after spending time away.

But Nick loves Nora as much as Nora loves Nick, so we all know he'll help her cousin.

Poor cousin Selma!  Her feckless husband Robert (Alan Marshal) has disappeared.  Again.  She calls Nora for help because she's the only person Selma knows who might be willing to help her find Robert.  Everyone else in the family would rather he stay lost for good.

Nora convinces Nick to look for Robert, and she also convinces him to take her to her Aunt Katherine's (Jessie Ralph) for New Year's.  That was a good call, since it means Nick gets to dress up and look dapper.

Nora's whole extended family has assembled, a sort of family meeting to decide What To Do About Robert.  But disguised as a dinner party.  They barely tolerate Nick because he's Low Class™ and a Former Detective™.  He amuses himself by mocking them when only Nora is looking.

After dinner, who should drop by but David (James Stewart), Selma's former fiance and faithful friend.  While Nick and Nora head off to try to find Robert, David stays to keep Selma company.

This is the earliest James Stewart movie I've seen -- isn't he a sweet little choir boy?  Robert is quiet and kind and kind of adorkable, like so many of Stewart's characters, especially in the '30s and '40s.

Anyway, Nick and Nora head off to a nighclub that Robert favors.  There, we get treated to a pretty lengthy song-and-dance number by Polly (Dorothy McNulty, aka Penny Singleton).  Polly is Robert's new gal pal, and we all start to realize that a) Selma is better off without Robert, and b) Robert would be better off without Polly.

Here's Robert, the drip, goggling at Polly and swilling gin or something.

And here's Dancer (Joseph Calleia), owner of this night club and close associate of Polly.  I am getting so fond of Calleia!  He's in lots of Alan Ladd movies, including The Glass Key (1942), Captain Carey, USA (1950), and Branded (1950).  He keeps popping up in noir films for me too lately, like Gilda (1946).  I'm always happy to see him, as he never gets boring, but he doesn't overdo things either.

Well, pretty soon, the plot thickens, along with the fog.  Dear old David pays Robert a bunch of money to stay away from Selma for good.  And then Robert gets himself killed before he can run off with Polly.

Who could have killed Robert?  Was it Selma?  Polly?  David?  Polly's "brother" (a very young Paul Fix)?  Dancer?  Aunt Katherine?  The list of suspects is long, and it takes all of Nick's brains and wits and wisecracking to figure it all out.

Of course, he does.  The movie ends with Nick and Nora on a train again, taking Selma on a long holiday.  There's just one mystery left:  what is Nora knitting?

Why, that looks like a tiny sock just the right size for... a baby!

Oh, Mrs. Charles!  And Mr. Charles!  What a surprise!

I really love this movie series.  This second film might be a little better than the first in some ways -- I think it has fewer red herrings, though it also might be a little less funny.  Still, the dialog zings, the chemistry between Powell and Loy sizzles, and the plot rolls merrily along.  Dashiell Hammett wrote the story for this, though not as a full novel like the first one.  It has the same director (W. S. Van Dyke) and screenwriters (Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett). so it matches the first movie really well.

Is this movie family friendly?  Basically, yes.  No cussing, no racy scenes, no bloody violence.  People do get killed, and there's obviously more going on between Robert and Polly besides patty-cake, but that is all implied.  There's quite a bit of alcohol getting consumed, just like in the first movie.

This is my contribution to the MGM Blogathon hosted by Silver Scenes :-)  It's not as in-depth as I had planned because I'm hampered by this broken arm, but I hope you still get a sense of how fun this movie is!

"The Thin Man" (1934)

This is one of the few movies that my husband willingly rewatches.  Actually, he'll rewatch the whole Thin Man series with me every few years, which puts it in a very special class indeed.  Most movies, he'll watch them once and that's all he wants.  Some, he'll watch again with me with a little grumbling.  But a very rare few, he will actually say, "Let's watch such-and-such again," and this series is one of those.

The Thin Man (1934) is like an ice cream soda.  It's a fizzy and sweet treat, but with a little tangy bite to it too.  The dialog is filled with witty zingers, there are funny reaction shots and the occasional sight gag, and it is altogether a bright and cheerful movie, even though it's also a murder mystery.

The mystery here revolves around a cranky scientist named Clyde Wynant (Edward Ellis) disappears after wishing his daughter Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) well on her engagement and promising to be back from his mysterious trip in time for her wedding after the holidays.

Wynant vacillates between cranky, abrupt, and downright nasty with other people, but he's very sweet to Dorothy, so he can't be all bad, right?

Cut to a hotel bar, where Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy), a wealthy married couple, are knocking back an alarming amount of alcohol.  Don't worry -- Prohibition was repealed in 1933, so all this gin they're swilling is perfectly legal ;-)  

Nick and Nora live in California but are spending Christmas and New Year's in New York.  Nick used to live in NYC and be a private detective, but when he married Nora, he moved to her home in California.  Nora is an heiress who owns lots of things like railroads and factories -- but that's not important, we just need to know that she was born rich, but Nick only became rich when he married her.

Dorothy Wynant finds them there and begs Nick to look for her father.  He once did some sleuthing for her father, back when he was a detective, and she is convinced he can find her dad.  Wynant was supposed to be home for her wedding after New Year's, but it's Christmas Eve and he's not back yet, and she is frantic.

Nick reluctantly agrees to look for her father, of course.

Oh, and I can't forget to mention the Charles's dog Asta!  He is a cute little stinker who sometimes helps solve cases, but mostly gets into mischief.

And then there's Wynant's ex-wife Mimi (Minna Gombell), Dorothy's mother.  She is quite a piece of work, always scheming about how to get more money out of Wynant to spend on her new husband.

Mimi's new husband Chris (Cesar Romero) is also a piece of work.  They quite deserve each other.

Nick and Nora spend the holiday season hosting and attending a variety of parties where the alcohol continues to flow freely.  Honestly, it's just astonishing how much liquor gets swilled in this movie.

This next photo is here because I absolutely adore this dress of Nora's.  She has loads of cute ensembles, but this one is my favorite.  It's bias cut and just hangs off her like she was born wearing it.  I adore it.  I want it.

Anyway, Nick spends a lot of time trying to figure out where Wynant has gone, and why.  And whether or not he's committed a murder while he's been gone.  Everyone from Wynant's daughter Dorothy to his ex-wife Mimi to his lawyer try to be helpful, with varying rates of success.  But it's actually Nick and Nora's dog Asta who breaks the case wide open!  Then Nick invites all the people involved in Wynant's life to a dinner party, where he reveals the truth at last.

The whole thing winds up with Nick and Nora on a train, heading back to California for some peace and quiet after the holidays.

Is this movie family friendly?  I vote YES.  No cussing, no racy scenes, no bloody violence.  There are murders, and there's a LOT of drinking, but I consider this a clean movie.  Definitely cleaner than the book by Dashiell Hammett, which I also enjoy, but which is not kid-appropriate.

My Ten Favorite Romantic Dramas

A few years ago, I posted a list of my top ten favorite romantic comedies.  You can read it here.  Today, I'm doing something a little different -- a list of my ten favorite romantic dramas!  I've excluded movies that belong to other specific genres like westerns, musicals, or film noir, simply because... those aren't in the drama section of my movie collection, okay? 

As always, if I've reviewed a film on this list, I've linked the title to my review.

1. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Three veterans (Dana Andrews, Frederic March, Harold Russell) find returning to civilian life much harder than they'd expected.  Bonus: this movie contains THREE love stories!  You get love between a husband and wife getting reacquainted, between childhood sweethearts, and between new acquaintances.

2. Jane Eyre (1983) Strong-spirited governess Jane Eyre (Zelah Clarke) falls in love with her wealthy, secretive employer (Timothy Dalton), but they cannot marry until they both deserve each other.

3. Chocolat (2000) A mysterious woman (Juliette Binoche) opens a chocolate shop in a sedate French village and teaches its inhabitants to reexamine their attitudes and customs.   Also, she falls in love with a gypsy (Johnny Depp).

4. North and South (2004)  A woman (Daniela Denby-Ashe) from the pastoral south of England moves to the industrial north and spends months ignoring the fact that a wealthy manufacturer (Richard Armitage) is in love with her. 

5. And Now Tomorrow (1944) A wealthy young woman (Loretta Young) loses her hearing in an illness. Though her family and fiance (Barry Sullivan) try to convince her she needs to accept her condition, a young doctor (Alan Ladd) with an experimental treatment holds out hope that she could regain her hearing.

6. Pride and Prejudice (2005) Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) and Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) can't fall in love with each other until they both come to understand themselves first.  Bonus: multiple love stories here too!

7. Jane Eyre (2011)  Strong-spirited governess Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) falls in love with her wealthy, secretive employer (Michael Fassbender), but they cannot marry until they both deserve each other.

8. Moran of the Lady Letty (1922)  A wealthy young man (Rudolph Valentino) gets shanghaied onto a smuggling ship, whereupon he falls in love with the only survivor (Dorothy Dalton) of an abandoned vessel the smugglers rob.

9. Sense and Sensibility (1995)  A young woman (Emma Thompson) and her sister (Kate Winslet) both discover that their own particular personality strengths are also weaknesses when it comes to finding a smooth path to true love.  Bonus: this movie also contains three love stories.  Because why not.

10. Return to Me (2000)  A man (David Duchovny) falls in love with the woman (Minnie Driver) who was the heart donor recipient of his wife's heart after she died.

I just realized that Judi Dench is in three of these:  Chocolat, Pride and Prejudice, and the 2011 Jane Eyre.  How nifty is that?

This post is a contribution toward Cordy's Lovely Blog Party, which is in full swing and continues all month!  You can read her kick-off post here. 

My Ten Favorite Female On-Screen Characters

A few years ago, I did a list of my ten favorite movie/TV characters.  It didn't occur to me at the time I was making that list, but... they were all men.  So... time to do another list :-)  Here are my ten favorite female characters on screens big and small.

I love some of these characters in print too, but here I'm focusing on their onscreen iterations, okay?

1.  Victoria Barkley (Miss Barbara Stanwyck) from The Big Valley (1965-69).  I wrote a whole post a few years ago about how much I want to be like Victoria when I grow up.  She is smart, compassionate, feisty, stubborn, generous, loyal, and forgiving.  Wonderful woman.

2.  Anne Shirley (Megan Followes) from Anne of Green Gables (1985) and Anne of Avonlea (1987).  She's very unlike me in a lot of ways -- she's as unshy as I am shy, she's got a quick temper and mine is a slower simmer, and she keeps grudges, while I am usually quick to forgive.  But she's also so similar.  Like me, she's an imaginative daydreamer.  A book-lover.  An outsider.  I relate to Anne a lot, both in the books and in these filmed versions.

3.  Jane Eyre (Zelah Clarke) from the 1983 BBC version of Jane Eyre.  Jane is actually my favorite fictional heroine overall, but this list is supposed to be about on-screen characters, so she drops a few slots here.  Anyway, I love Jane because she is so principled, stalwart, and loving.  She spends her whole life insisting she will obey God (and her conscience) rather than men, and standing up to man after man who tries to bend her to their own will instead of God's.  She's an inspiration to me.

4.  Nora Charles (Myrna Loy) from the Thin Man movies.  Nora is the epitome of a spunky, helpful, supportive wife.  She and her husband Nick Charles (William Powell) are #marriagegoals for me because they genuinely enjoy being together.  They make each other laugh, encourage each other, help each other, and keep each other sane.  I adore them, but especially Nora.

5.  Lucy Eleanor Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) from While You Were Sleeping (1995).  Lucy is basically exactly me.  Put me in that situation, parents dead and me unmarried, and I'd be Lucy.  Have a cat, break things with my Christmas tree, create an imaginary life for myself with a handsome stranger, and totally be unable to tell people truths because I'm so lonely I can't bring myself to give them up.

6.  Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander) from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015).  Gaby is extremely competent.  She can fix cars, drive cars, banter, dance, spy, and survive with the best of them.  She is 1/3 of why I love that movie so much.

7.  Beatrice (Emma Thompson) from Much Ado About Nothing (1993).  Oh look, another intelligent, feisty, witty, sarcastic, fierce female character.  Are you sensing a theme here?  Clearly, I have a Type when it comes to female characters I will gravitate toward.  Beatrice also happens to have been written by Shakespeare, so she gets a extra good dialog and some above-par character development.  Thompson manages to blend plenty of wistful in with the prickly so you don't just want her to go away all the time.

8.  Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) from Lost (2004-10).  I'm not into "shipping" and don't go in for "One True Pairings" as a general rule... but Sawyer and Juliet are my Lost OTP.  Also, you'll notice they're a canonical couple.  I get very annoyed with people who want Sawyer to get back with Kate because Juliet is so Right For Him.  She matches him in intelligence and stubbornness, gently guides him to becoming a better person, inspires him, uplifts him, and... it's probably weird for me to be talking so much about a guy on a list that's supposed to be about female characters, but Juliet's patience and perseverance with Sawyer is a big part of why I love her, so... there it is.

9.  Emma Woodhouse (Gwyneth Paltrow) from Emma (1996).  I don't like Emma in Jane Austen's book until the very end, but Paltrow's Emma has a kindness and elegance and sweetness that make the character one I'd love to hang out with, not one I want to kick.  Remarkable achievement, I think.

10.  Dr. Michaela Quinn (Jane Seymour) from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-98).  Smart, stubborn, courageous, kind, helpful, determined, protective, loving, a little bossy... Dr. Mike is everything I like in a woman.  As you may have come to realize while reading this list.

Okay, that's it!  Who are your favorite female screen characters?  Do we share any favorites?