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(Alfred Hitchcock, 1944, Eureka!, PG)

This wartime masterwork began when Alfred Hitchcock was invited to work at 20th Century Fox and commissioned novelist John Steinbeck to write an extended scenario set in the mid-Atlantic , where the survivors of a torpedoed ship and a German submariner from the U-boat that sank them debate the value of the second world war.

Hitchcock transformed Steinbeck's brief text into a virtuoso thriller in which nine characters are confined throughout to a lifeboat and the only music is a couple of popular songs sung by the German and some tunes on a flute played by the great Canada Lee as a steward. Significantly, instead of being a caricatured villain, the Nazi intruder becomes a complex figure, which resulted in the liberal columnist Dorothy Thompson absurdly attacking the film for making him too formidable.

An authentic ensemble cast is led by the legendary Tallulah Bankhead who, in her only significant film,...

Fans of classic movies know that "Woman of the Year" marks the beginning of the 25-year partnership, on- and off-screen, between one of film's most beloved and enduring couples: Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Released 70 years ago today (on January 19, 1942), "Woman of the Year" came to define combustible romantic chemistry, thanks to the two fiery, evenly-matched leads. It launched a partnership that lasted until Tracy's death in 1967, a quarter-century union that resulted in nine films and an extramarital affair that was Hollywood's worst kept secret. What fans may not know is how the partnership came to be, who the real-life inspirations were for Hepburn's high-minded columnist and Tracy's earthy sportswriter, or the forgotten screen pairing of the two stars that came four years earlier. Read on for the untold story of "Woman of the Year" and its long afterlife in the realms of Broadway, TV, and magazines. 1. "Woman of the Year...