Constance Cameron

I see so much of today’s events in Sansom’s novels—an untethered, all-powerful king that portends current threats to our democracy, the treatment of women as second class, and a lawlessness that still appeals to many people in our world. Residents of Tudor England did not enjoy the protections we do today. But a walk back into that dangerous place and time brings home the importance of not giving up what we have, and they did not.

My favorite Christmas film as it’s set in New York and the Connecticut countryside circa the 1940s. That’s when sleighs could still be a common mode of transportation to the village holiday dance. And its plot of a Martha Stewart type writer who doesn’t cook but attracts an attractive man anyway is years ahead of its time. Barbara Stanwyk and Dennis Morgan show real chemistry and the great Sidney Greenstreet shines in a rare good man role.

High school fall play caliber, with most high schools doing a better job than this effort. Costumes are amateurish to match the acting and sets. Only interesting aspect is that the lead actors, Leigh and Curtis, were married at the time. But you’d never know it, given their lack of passion on the screen. Still, she does the better job of the two. The best performance comes from the old pro Herbert Marshall. Curtis doesn’t even pretend to say his lines with a British accent, having committed to speaking as if he just stepped off the boat from Jersey. Yeah, it’s that kind of film.