The Clock (1945) is a good-natured comedy-drama starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker as a couple who fall in love and (mistakenly) quickly marry during soldier Walker’s two-day leave. Although some of the humor is feeble, the cast is appealing, and the film is acceptably plotless. It was directed by Fred Zinneman, who was forced to give way to Vincente Minnelli, the credited director of the flick. His work here is as inspired as it was in Meet Me in St. Louis.

The Clock reminds me of a Whit Stillman film, though with less comedy. The moviemakers warm to American institutions and values, especially marriage. Minnelli, wedding Garland in ’45, doesn’t ignore its sanctity.

The 2026 Hamlet, on film, is smashing. Technically accomplished, cleverly directed by Aneil Karia, it presents a British Indian Hamlet in modern London and is a rich chronicle of agony. Riz Ahmed is interesting and distinguished—not at all standard-issue—in the title role. He exudes intelligence, no less so than the gripping Joe Alwyn as Laertes. Art Malik and Sheeba Chaddha are a perfect Claudius and Gertrude, and Morfydd Clark a true and touching Ophelia. Timothy Spall is a human curio as Polonius.

Karia’s film may be Shakespearean cinema at its most exciting. Music and dancing—don’t worry; it’s limited in quantity—add to the fascination.

No sympathy is extended (no, sir) to the criminal convincingly played by Mickey Rooney in Don Siegel‘s Baby Face Nelson, a 1957 flick set in the Thirties. Nelson is a serial murderer who betrays his buddies and respects only his fictional lover, Sue (Carolyn Jones). The film is tenuous about Nelson’s personality—why is he so brutish?—but not about violent action. Siegel directs supplely from beginning to end, and Leon Barsha knows how to edit. A well-cast thriller, it’s a minor success. I saw it on YouTube.

Liane, the protag of the 2024 French picture Wild Diamond, by Agathe Riedinger, aspires to be beautiful in what is Cheap France of the 21st century. She strives to be a cast member of a TV reality show called Miracle Island. But she lacks patience and perforce gets disconsolate. Reckless too: Liane is a “wild diamond.”

WD reminds me of French films of the Eighties. It’s sober and candid, and has no #MeToo timidity (often okay) about female nudity. Malou Khebizi knows how to enact Liane. She moves well and is rather unconventionally pretty, with sublime uncovered breasts, but are they real? In the movie, they aren’t. Yes, the film has its faults, but I must also commend the sturdy acting of Andrea Bescond as Liane’s mother.

Some notable stuff here. (In French with English subtitles. Available right now on Tubi.)