Charles Dickens was one of the most prolific writers of his generation, having written a number of books. Most of his books were on the subject of the society of Great Britain of that time, and he wrote about the horrors, the deprivation, the class challenges, and the poor condition of the poorer classes of that time (Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and many others that contain some pretty grim descriptions of the conditions of most of England of that time). A Christmas Carol is different from many of those books – it also depicts the condition of society, especially the different conditions of the different social classes at that times, but it is also a novel that describes how a person can change himself if shown the right way. It is a book that is written for Christmas, a play on how the spirit of Christmas, of giving, can change even the most hard-nosed person and reform them.

A Christmas Carol was an incredibly successful novel, selling many copies right after release, and being popular ever since. When one thinks of the Christmas Spirit and of reform, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge comes to mind. It is a popular tale, and the concept of the redemption of a person when shown his own faults, and the vision of a horrible future that forces the person to confront his own inner self is a popular tale from the beginning of man.
A Christmas tale is the story of a miserable old miser, unwilling to recognize the suffering around him, unwilling to show pity to those around him. On the Eve of Christmas, he starts seeing various things of a paranormal nature, including visions of his former business partner Jacob Marley (dead for 7 years now). Finally, after all the bells of the house start ringing, and the ghost of Marley enters through the door and warns Scrooge that he has one chance of redemption, else his fate will be horrible – he would be doomed to wander the world after death, unable to make any amends for what he has done. He will see 3 spirits over the next 3 days that will allow him to change his fate.
And thus starts the journey:
He first sees the Ghost of Christmas Past, who shows Scrooge visions from previous Christmas Days, including how Scrooge’s sister saved him from boarding school, and Scrooge does not treat her son Fred properly. The spirit reminds him of how others treated him, and takes him down the painful path of how he lost his love, Belle, due to his love for money. Scrooge gets angry and dismisses the spirit.
Next, he sees the Ghost of Christmas Present in the adjoining room, who takes him through how others are enjoying Christmas. His apprentice Bob Cratchit, with his lame son Tiny Tim are enjoying even though their celebrations are meager. Scrooge’s other friends don’t talk too much good about him either, with only his nephew seeing any good. Overall, the Ghost shows Scrooge how people enjoy the spirit of Christmas, no matter their circumstances. He admonishes Scrooge about 2 major causes of suffering in the world, ‘Ignorance’ and ‘Want’. With that, the spirit vanishes.
Finally, in the most horrific experience, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future, a grim black spectre. The spectre does not speak, only shows Scrooge future suffering, including a death where no one is with him, and even his attendants rob him. Scrooge is shaken by this vision, and promises to turn a new leaf.
With the 3 spirits gone, it is now Christmas morning; and Scrooge changes himself totally, becoming a kind-hearted person who cares for everyone around him. He starts using his wealth to improve the lives of those he touches.

During the early half of the 20th century, in the tension between Germany on the one side, and England on the other side, Africa was an important battle ground. Along with France and Portugal, all of them had empires in the region, and wars ensured that there was intense competition to attack at the territories controlled by the other. This political scenario sits at the background, and catches up with the finale of the movie and the novel on which the movie was based on. The movie was based on a novel of the same name, written by .S. Forester, and published in 1935. The 1935 period was a time when Britain was seemingly in decline, unable to catch up with an economically and politically resurgent Germany under Hitler. The novel, set in 1914 (at the start of the First World War) is also construed as an attempt to show citizens of Britain that the English were on the winning side of the First World War, able to capture the Empire earlier controlled by Germany.

The African Queen was directed by John Huston, and produced by Sam Spiegel (billed as “S.P. Eagle”) and John Woolf. The movie was shot in both Central Africa (at some amount of hardship to the Queen), but since health concerns prevented the lead stars from getting into African river water, the water scenes were shot back in England. The movie revolved around the lead pair of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. Katharine and her brother Samuel Sayer (played by Robert Morley) are British missionaries in a village in German East Africa (now known as Tanzania), who get supplies through a boat (The African Queen) run by the rough Canadian Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart). He warns them that German troops will soon arrive, but they refuse to leave. The Germans dutifully appear, and start forcing the local villagers to serve as soldiers in the war. When Samuel tries to oppose, he is beaten, and dies soon after. Cliff arrives soon after, and helps Rose in burying her brother, and she leaves with him. She wants to go via the lake downriver, and he tells her that the Germans are blocking the entry to the lake with a gunboat, and they will also be in danger.
Cliff is hesitant, but Rose is firm on moving toward the lake, even though it will be a tough journey and there will be 3 rapids on the way, along with all the other dangers about more troops, and wild animals. They have a tough journey with many adventures, but manage to overcome the challenges that they keep on facing. As they approach the lake, Rose proposes to convert the boat into a torpedo boat and sink the gunboat by colliding with it and using explosives to blow up the gunboat. As they attempt this, the African Queen seems to sink, effectively sinking their plan as well. They are caught, and before being executed as spies, Bogart, as a last wish, asks for them to be married. As they are married, in a miracle, the gunboat collided with the sunken African Queen and caused the explosives to blast, sinking the gunboat.

Oscars:
- Best Actor in a Leading Role – Humphrey Bogart (his only Oscar for Best Actor)
- Nominated: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Katharine Hepburn)
- Nominated: Best Adapted Screenplay (James Agee & John Huston)
- Nominated: Best Director (John Huston)

High Noon is a classic Western movie, counted as among the top 100 movies of all time. The movie was released in 1952, and one of the classic devices used in the film was that it almost seemed real time, with the action depicted in the movie happening from a time period of around 10:40 AM to 12 noon (high noon) over the 84 minute time period of the movie. The movie was made in a time of the vicious (and mostly uncontested) anticommunist witch-hunt carried out by Senator Joesph McCarthy, and there is a lot of speculation about whether the scenario of the movie, the hero being abandoned by everybody else in the town under the threat of the killer coming to town was a play on the fact that the Senator’s witch-hunt was not opposed (and in fact, many people actively collaborated on the same theme) by most people. It is only when several careers had been damaged, people had their reputations damaged, that questions and opposition started emerging.

High Noon is a classic tale of the contest between duty vs. love, the question that puts most men, including honorable men in a tizzy. When you have promised something to your love, and yet your duty is pushing you to take a step in the other direction, how does a good and just person decide what to do. You make the choices that duty forces you to make, knowing that you may be losing out on something that you love the most.
The movie is about this Marshall of the town of Hadleyville, Kansas called Will Kane (Gary Cooper); he has managed to clean the town and keeps it clean. However, his new wife Amy (Grace Kelly) is a Quaker, with pacifist tendencies, and he has promised her that he will become the same way, and give up this life of violence, death and law-enforcement. Accordingly, he is all set to give up his badge and become normal citizen, a storekeeper. And then he learns the news that will cause him to go into a moral dilemma. A convict he had captured, Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald), was freed on a technicality; and he has vowed to revenge himself on Will. The good way is for Will to go away from town, this will save the town from violence, and keep the promise he has made to Amy.
At the same time, Will is a honest law-enforcer and knows that Frank will not rest till he has hunted Will down, so he decides to remain and fight. Unfortunately, he finds that he has no support; his new wife is aghast that he has broken his promise and wants to leave on the train, with or without Will; the townspeople want to avoid a confrontation, and in a highly controversial stance, refuse to support Will (this was controversial, that American citizens would refuse to get involved in supporting their Marshall due to cowardice, a stance for which the movie was criticized). In the end, you have the classic scene of Will walking on the empty street, dressed in typical Western Gear, waiting for the train carrying Frank Miller to arrive.
In the fight, Will is against 4 enemies, and in a final situation, his wife helps him by shooting one of the gangsters in the back, and then fighting with Frank when he has held her hostage, till Will manages to kill Frank. In the final epic scene, Will leaves town with his wife, throwing his Marshall’s star in the dirt in sheer contempt of the cowardly attitude of his townspeople.

Oscars won:

- Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gary Cooper)
- Best Film Editing (Elmo Williams and Harry W. Gerstad)
- Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Dimitri Tiomkin)
- Best Music, Song (Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington for “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin”, sung by Tex Ritter).

Nominations:
Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing, Screenplay.

By the 1920’s, violence in Mexico had largely subsided (after the Mexican Revolution). However, Mexico has to contend with a large number of bandits around the countryside, and in a manner of using a blunt weapon, the Mexican authorities relied on the Federal Police, also known as the ‘Federales’ to bring peace to remote areas. Both the bandits and the Federales relied on extreme violence. While getting caught by bandits meant death for travelers, bandits caught by the Federal Police faced a similar fate, often having to dig their own grave before being shot. This is the scenario of the remote areas of Mexico where the book and the movie are set.
With most of the shooting being outside the United States (most of it in Mexico), and some of it in sets in Hollywood, the scenes of the movie totally complement the situation, with some harsh yet beautiful locations.
The movie (directed by John Huston) is based on the 1927 book of the same name by German-English bilingual author B. Traven. It stars the famous Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt in the title roles of the 3 main treasure-hunters; who set out together, find the treasure, and are then beset by greed and wanting to claim the treasure for themeselves, in the end, losing it all.

The movie is about these 3 Americans who get together (with the younger ones being Fred C. Hobbs (played by Bogart), and Bob Curtin (played by Tim Holt) being the younger ones; the 3rd parter is an old grizzled prospector Howard (played by Walter Huston, the director’s father)). When Dobbs decides that his current wage-working job is not likely to lead anywhere, he decides to stake all he has on prospecting for gold. He is joined by his 2 partners, and they set out to the remote Sierra Madre mountains.
They meet trouble enroute, running into bandits, but surviving. Eventually, due to the experience of the older Howard, they strike gold, and managed to extract a fair amount. And this is when the movie turns into a fine study of the extent to which greed can turn a human character, with Dobbs getting increasingly paranoid, and desiring to possess the entire gold for himself. They meet more bandits (pretending to be Federales, with the famous line, “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!”). They manage to beat the bandits off, but soon internal struggles turn more problematic. When Howard has to go away to help some others, Dobbs and Curtin have a confrontation, and Dobbs wins and goes away with the gold. However, he soon is killed in another fight with more bandits, who mistake the gold for sand (a bit hard to accept), and who spread it over the desert.

Oscar Awards:

John Huston won the Academy Award for Directing
John Huston won the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
Walter Huston, John Huston’s father, also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in this film, the first father-son win.
Nominated: Best Picture award, but lost to Laurence Olivier’s film adaptation of Hamlet.