CHINATOWN

GENRE:  Crime/ Drama/ Mystery
MADE:  1974
CAST:  Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
DIRECTOR:  Roman Polanski
WRITER:  Robert Towne, Roman Polanski

PLOT:  Approached by the wife of one of the owners of the Los Angeles Water Department detective Gittes agrees to take on an adultery case when the husband is murdered, leading Gittes into investigating a scheme behind the scenes of the people running the water department.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Ghost Writer, L.A. Confidential, Gone Baby Gone

SCORE:

THE BIRDS

GENRE:  Horror/ Thriller
MADE:  1963
CAST:  Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette
DIRECTOR:  Alfred Hitchcock
WRITER:  Daphne Du Maurier, Evan Hunter

PLOT:  In this Hitchcock classic Melanie Daniels is a young woman who follows her love interest to a small town where the birds begin to attack people.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Vertigo, Pyscho, Dial 'M' For Murder

SCORE:

THE GRADUATE

GENRE:  Drama/ Romance
MADE:  1967
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross
DIRECTOR:  Mike Nichols
WRITER:  Calder Willingham, Buck Henry, Charles Webb

PLOT:  Ben has just graduated from university and has come back home with not a clue in the world of what he would like to do in life, thus his mind is when he begins an affair with much older Mrs. Robinson, a long time friend of his parents'.  When Ben meets Mrs. Robinson's daughter he falls madly in love and pursues her as she is the only thing he is sure of.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Man In The Moon, Hannah And Her Sisters, Rumor Has It...

SCORE:

BEN-HUR

GENRE:  Action/ Adventure/ Drama
MADE:  1959
CAST:  Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd
DIRECTOR:  William Wyler
WRITER:  Lew Wallace, Karl Tunberg

PLOT:  Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince who becomes a slave, betrayed by a friend.  This is the story of Ben-Hur of how he regains his freedom and gets his revenge.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Count Of Monte Cristo, Gladiator, Braveheart

SCORE:

TO SIR, WITH LOVE

GENRE:  Drama
MADE:  1967
CAST:  Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts
DIRECTOR:  James Clavell
WRITER:  E.R. Braithwaite, James Clavell

PLOT:  Mark Thackeray is waiting for an engineer job to come through, while he awaits he gets a temporary job as a teacher at a high-school where the majority of the students are troubled and come from low-income homes.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Stand And Deliver, Philadelphia, Lean On Me

SCORE:

GONE WITH THE WIND

GENRE:  Romance/ Drama/ War
MADE:  1939
CAST:  Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell
DIRECTOR:  Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood
WRITER:  Margaret Mitchell, Sidney Howard

PLOT:  Set in the South pre-post Civil War, Scarlett goes through life from wealth to being hungry to finding that she can take care of herself.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Casa Blanca, The Grapes Of Wrath, Doctor Zhivago

SCORE:

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

GENRE:  Drama/ Romance
MADE:  1957
CAST:  Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning
DIRECTOR:  Leo McCarey
WRITER:  Delmer Daves, Leo McCarey, Donald Ogden Stewart, Mildred Cram

PLOT:  Nickie & Terry both promised to other people take a pleasure cruise and have an unplanned affair.  They leave each other with a date at the top of the Empire State Building in 6 months.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Sleepless In Seattle, Roman Holiday, Bringing Up Baby

SCORE:

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

GENRE:  Animation/ Adventure/ Family/ Fantasy
MADE:  1951
CAST:  Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn
DIRECTOR:  Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
WRITER:  Lewis Caroll & others

PLOT:  Little imaginative Alice gets stuck in Wonderland and must find her way home, on the way she meets a variety of very colorful characters.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Alice In Wonderland by Tim Burton, James And The Giant Peach

SCORE:

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

GENRE:  Comedy
MADE:  1944
CAST:  Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey
DIRECTOR:  Frank Capra
WRITER:  Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Joseph Kesselring

PLOT:  Mortimer Brewster just wed Elaine Harper and are about to go off on his honeymoon when he finds out that his much older aunts are practicing euthanasia and burying the bodies in the basement.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  To Catch A Thief, Dial 'M' For Murder, Rear Window

SCORE:

VERTIGO

GENRE:  Crime/ Mystery/ Thriller/ Romance
MADE:  1958
CAST:  James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
DIRECTOR:  Alfred Hitchcock
WRITER:  Alec Coppel, Samuel A. Taylor, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Maxwell Anderson

PLOT:  A detective suffering from acrophobia becomes involved in the investigation of a friend's wife, in the midst becoming obsessed  with her.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Rear Window, To Catch A Thief, Dial "M" For Murder, Wait Until Dark

SCORE:

TO CATCH A THIEF

GENRE:  Crime/ Mystery/ Romance
MADE:  1955
CAST:  Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis
DIRECTOR:  Alfred Hitchcock
WRITER:  John Michael Hayes, David Dodge, Alec Coppel

PLOT:  When John Robie, a reformed jewel thief is suspected of being the jewel thief also known as the Cat, he must find the real thief in order to clear his name.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Rear Window, Vertigo, Dial "M" For Murder

SCORE:

THE WIZARD OF OZ

GENRE:  Adventure/ Family/ Music
MADE:  1939
CAST:  Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley
DIRECTOR:  Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy, King Vidor
WRITER:  Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson

PLOT:  When a tornado hits the rural countryside of Kansas, Dorothy Gale is swept away and lands in a magical land of witches, munchkins and talking Scarecrow, Lion and Tinman.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Alice In Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Labyrinth

SCORE:

SABRINA

GENRE:  Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
MADE:  1954
CAST:  Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
DIRECTOR:  Billy Wilder
WRITER:  Samuel A Taylor, Billy Wilder, Ernest Lehman

PLOT:  The daughter of a chauffer grows up on an estate of an esteemed family, and becomes infatuated with the younger brother.  When she is sent away to France and comes back years later as a beautiful woman both of the brothers find themselves in love.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Breakfast At Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, Love In The Afternoon

SCORE: