Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: After a successful career in journalism, Hildy Johnson walks into her newsroom with her new fiancé, Bruce, and tells her editor/ex-husband, Walter Burns, she is quitting the business for good. Walter, however, doesn't want to see her leave and, after convincing her to write one last editorial about soon-to-be executed convicted killer Earl Williams, does his best to sabotage her engagement. Things take an unexpected twist when Williams escapes and Hildy, believing he is mentally ill and shouldn't be executed, hides him in the press room at the courthouse. Who's in it? The movie stars Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy , Gene Lockhart and Porter Hall. Review: I added His Girl Friday to my movie library nearly a year ago but, other than the first couple minutes before getting interrupted, had not taken the time to watch it. I decided to finally correct that this morning and am a bit disappointed I waited so long. I think the thing that really impressed...

Synopsis: The bored wife of a successful theater critic decides to write her own play. She is able to get it produced but a drunken, negative review written by her husband threatens both the show's success and their marriage. Who's in it? The movie stars  Bob Hope , Lucille Ball , Marilyn Maxwell , Jim Backus and Rip Torn . Review: I am taking a bit of a lazy day today and, while my wife and youngest daughter were attending a play at our local high school, I ended up searching for a movie to watch. It had been a while since I last saw Critic's Choice and since it was available, I decided to give it a re-watch. My opinion of it was basically the same one I had the first time I watched it, it was OK but not as good as I had expected. I'll start out by saying the film's premise was a good one, mostly because it created a no-win scenario for the critic, Parker Ballentine (Hope). It was clear he didn't want to review his wife, Angela's (Ball) play because, base...

Synopsis: Struggling to find his way in life after being wrongly imprisoned for murder, Mike teams up with his friend, Dandy, and kidnaps actress Laurel Stevens on the night her new movie The Kidnapped Bride premieres. They have one major problem, however, once the word of the kidnapping gets out, everyone, including the police, think it's just a publicity stunt. Realizing her career will be ruined if people don't believe she was really kidnapped, Laurel tries to help the pair. Adding another complication is she is beginning to fall for Mike and doesn't want to see him go to prison again. Who's in it? The movie stars Jane Russell , Ralph Meeker , Keenan Wynn , Fred Clark and Una Merkel . Review: I added The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown to my movie library a few days ago, mostly because I haven't seen a lot of Jane Russell movies and wanted to give her a try. From the description, I wasn't really expecting much more than a goofball comedy. However, it ended up bein...

Synopsis: Henry Grant is in love with his fiancée, Marcia West. However, their relationship is put in jeopardy when the 20-year-old develops a crush on actor Basil Underwood. Hoping to correct the situation, Henry asks Underwood for help and, seeking to redeem himself for all the times he lied to and cheated on his own fiancée, Joyce Arden, Basil agrees to go Marcia's house and make her fall out of love with him by acting like a cad.  However, as his attempts repeatedly fail, Underwood's loyalties to Joyce are tested when he realizes he is attracted to Marcia's unwavering devotion. Complicating matters is Joyce unexpectedly arriving to see Marcia in Basil's arms. Who's in it? The movie stars Leslie Howard , Olivia de Havilland , Bette Davis , Patric Knowles , Eric Blore and Bonita Granville . Review: While I like classic comedies, I usually avoid watching them first thing in the morning because I'm always afraid my brain won't be awake enough to catch the...

Synopsis: Playboy Ted Brown is disinherited by his father after another drunken bar fight. Homeless and penniless, Ted gets into a drunken stupor and nearly walks off a cliff before being saved by redhead Dale Carter, who reluctantly takes him to her apartment to sober him up. Realizing Dale is also having financial difficulties, Ted comes up with a plan and convinces her to marry him, believing his father would be so upset by the arrangement, he would pay for them to get divorced. Instead, seeing through the ruse, Ted's dad lets them stay married and even secretly offers Dale $10,000 if she can make Ted grow up. She accepts the offer and has success. There's just one problem; she's falling in love with him. Who's in it? The movie stars June Lang , Johnny Downs , Eric Blore , Weldon Heyburn and Frank Jaquet. Review: I've had Redhead in my Amazon Prime Video library for several weeks and finally took the time to watch it this morning. At first, I figured it woul...

Synopsis: A spoiled and snobbish heiress, Maggie Richards, gets into an argument with her parents and storms out of the house. While driving, she discovers the car is almost out of gas and fills it up at a service station. When she is unable to pay and tries to drive away, the manager, Bill Davis, forces her to work off the money she owed. Angry and embarrassed, Maggie vows to get back at Davis and when she learns of a business venture Davis is working on, tricks him into seeing her father, Ben Richards, for the money, knowing her dad will give him the runaround. However, her desire for revenge fades when she starts to fall in love with Davis. There's just one problem, telling him the truth might make him hate her. Who's in it? The movie stars Olivia de Havilland , Dick Powell , Charles Winninger , Allen Jenkins and Bonita Granville. Review: I added Hard to Get to my movie library mostly because I have enjoyed most (maybe all) of the Olivia de Havilland movies I've seen...

Synopsis: Lawyers Dana and Mark are happily married and celebrating their seventh anniversary when their respective firms assign them to litigate a divorce between a celebrity reality television couple, Brett and Tabby Noble. While they agree to work together to settle things quickly and as amicably as possible, their clients' refusal to compromise threatens to damage their own marriage. Who's in it? The movie stars Lacey Chabert , Brennan Elliott , Stephanie Bennett , Clayton James and Mariesa Crouse . Review: As I've mentioned before, my wife and I are big fans of Lacey Chabert Hallmark movies and when I saw this new one was coming out, I was sure to record it. We watched it this evening and it unfortunately missed the mark for us. The premise isn't a bad one, especially since there is a bit of a mystery surrounding Gwen (Crouse) the woman Brett (James) is supposedly cheating with and Tabby's (Bennett) former best friend and assistant and what secret she was ...

Synopsis: Accident prone Emily considers her best friend, Phoebe, the best friend anyone could ever have. After all, Phoebe has been there for her through every disaster, including her recent breakup. That's why, with Phoebe preparing to get married on the beach in Costa Rica, Emily wants to use her maid of honor role to make it the best wedding ever. There's just one problem, in addition to being upstaged at every turn by Ryan, the wedding's best man, she also had a monkey steal her bag which, among other things, contained the wedding rings. Determined to make things right and reluctantly accepting Ryan's help, she enters the jungle to find them. Who's in it? The movie stars Rhiannon Fish , Christopher Russell , Brittany Carel , CJ Hammond and Kourtney George . Review: This wasn't our first choice for last night's movie night but neither my wife nor I liked the first film I picked out and, after turning it off five minutes later, I picked this as the bac...

Synopsis: Addy is a former marine biology major who quit school to help her sister, Kate's, fashion design business off the ground. Now in Hawaii as her sister's maid of honor, Addy has the chance to be her sister's equal partner but also would like to return to doing something she loved. When she loses her grandmother's ring in the ocean and enlists help from a scuba instructor, Jack, to dive with her and try to find it, the decision becomes even tougher, especially when her and Jack begin to fall in love. Who's in it? The movie stars Hunter King , Beau Mirchoff , Eliza Hayes Maher , Diane Sargent and Marita de Lara . Review: Hidden Gems , which has been in our library for more than a year, was the second Hallmark movie I picked out to watch with my wife while we had a lazy Saturday today. While the first one was a murder mystery, this was a straight-up romantic comedy and, as such, was pretty much was I was expecting it to be. As is often the case with Hallmar...

Synopsis: Grace McMahon's life isn't going the way she hoped. The book she wrote has been rejected by publishers while her office temp jobs are both unreliable and don't pay the bills. Her only solace is her dreams, which have been featuring Michael Roy, a person she doesn't know but yet seems so familiar to her. However, even that is about to be taken away from her because there was a mix-up at Dream Central and she's actually been experiencing his dreams, something the dream weavers in charge want to correct by erasing him from her memories, even as she locates Michael in real life, and they fall in love. Who's in it? The movie stars Skyler Samuels ,  Kapil Talwalkar , Cecilia Lee , David Rosser and Erica Deutschman. Review: Our daughters were attending a community theater musical yesterday afternoon and since we both needed a break from our weekend projects, my wife and I decided to watch a movie together. It had been a while since we watched a Hallmark fi...

Synopsis: After a failed joint business venture results in Anna Vasquez breaking things off with her fiancé, Elliot Barnes, and going to work for her dad as a real estate agent, she is given the task of staging and selling a long-vacant property as her first assignment. Anna quickly discovers the house is still occupied by Ruby Baker, a 1920s socialite who died in a car crash the night of her 25th birthday 100 years earlier. Ruby, who has been unable to crossover and join the man she secretly loved, is determined to keep Anna from selling her home and, even when she starts to warm to the idea, continues to complicate things. Meanwhile, Anna realizes she still has feelings for Elliott, who plans to move away to Boston.  Who's in it? The movie stars  Julie Gonzalo ,  Chris McNally ,  Madeleine Arthur ,  Xavier Sotelo and William Vaughn . Review: I was getting bored with watching reruns of Worst Cooks in America and convinced my wife to watch a movie with me in...

Synopsis: On her 18th birthday, defiant Kay Allyn tries to marry her fiancé Jack Pierson, much to the chagrin of her father, J. C., who is president of an advertising firm and knows his daughter is just trying to get married to spite him. With the help of drifter Bruce "Butch" Baeder, the wedding is broken up and J. C. keeps Baeder around to make it difficult for Kay to sneak off to marry Jack by pretending to be Kay's husband. Kay, in turn, tries to outwit both of them by playing along with the charade. Who's in it? The movie stars Craig Reynolds , Ann Sheridan , William Hopper , Anne Nagel and Hugh O'Connell. Review: I've had this movie in my library for some time now and started watching it once or twice before turning it off after a few minutes. I finally got around to watching it in its entirety and it turned out to be better than expected. I will warn you; this movie is definitely dated. Yeah, most movies from this era are, especially when it comes t...

Synopsis: Despite everyone believing she should open a restaurant; Portland chef Cleo Morelli is content selling sandwiches based on her grandfather's recipes from her food truck. Due to her popularity, Cleo decides to try to enter a food truck competition. However, as she tries to gain enough customer nominations, another chef, Gabe, parks his bacon-based food truck across from her, drawing a bigger crowd. The cordial competition turns into romance, but that romance is threatened when both trucks are nominated for the contest. Who's in it? The movie stars Natalie Hall , Michael Rady , Michael Karl Richards , Rhiannon Fish and Brenda Chrichlow . Review: We had a busy Memorial Day weekend and by yesterday afternoon, my wife and I were ready to crash on the couch. I was getting a bit bored with reruns of The Simpsons and after some contemplation, decided to watch this movie, which has been in our library for a while. It ended up being an OK film. The overall plot is a bit simp...

Synopsis: Still mourning the loss of her archaeologist husband, Loretta Sage reluctantly begins a promotional tour for her latest romance novel only to find her "fans" are much more enamored with Alan Caprison, the model who portrays her main character, Dash, on her novel covers. As she leaves the event in anger, Loretta is kidnapped by eccentric billionaire Abigail Fox, who wants Loretta to use her ancient language deciphering skills to help him locate the real-life treasure she describes in her latest book. Who's in it? The movie stars Sandra Bullock , Channing Tatum , Daniel Radcliffe , Patti Harrison and Brad Pitt . Review : My wife and I saw previews for this movie some time ago and both thought it looked interesting. So, when I came across it on one of our movie channels the other day, I quickly added it to our library. We finally had a chance to watch it last night and, after seeing it, my opinion of it is a bit mixed. I'll start out by saying I think the mov...

Synopsis: When activist Jessica Tartinck took over leadership of the Dembley Walkers, she turned the once casual rambling group into an outlet to attack local landowners over rights of passage through their private property. Her latest target is Sir Charles Fraith despite Sir Charles' willingness to work out a compromise. When Jessica is found murdered on Sir Charles' property, he becomes the primary suspect. However, Deborah Camden, a Dembley Walker who has secretly been dating Sir Charles believes he is innocent and asks Agatha Raisin to investigate. Review: I started reading M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin books right around the same time I actively started reading Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries. Of the two detectives, I found I've enjoyed Agatha Raisin more. Unfortunately, this fourth book in the series was one of the exceptions to that. OK, to be fair, I didn't hate the book. The overall story involving Agatha and her neighbor/would-be boyfriend...

Synopsis:  High school senior Bianca Piper learns she is the DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) of her social group and, determined to both shake the label and gain the confidence to ask her crush out on a date, she convinces her popular neighbor, Wesley Rush, to assist her in exchange for helping him pass science. However, thanks to a school bully, their efforts wind up making her even less popular. Who's in it? The movie stars Mae Whitman , Robbie Amell , Bella Thorne , Skyler Samuels , Bianca A. Santos , Allison Janney and Ken Jeong . Review: I ended up getting this movie on DVD through Netflix after my wife saw a trailer for it and said she wanted to watch it. We ended up finally seeing the film earlier tonight. I am always a bit skeptical when it comes to romantic comedies. This is because many of them tend to be extremely hypocritical by sharing a message about the importance of women being happy with who they are but, at the same time, telling them their life isn't going...

Synopsis:  Alan, a struggling playwright with a tight deadline, escapes to a remote cabin for some peace and quiet. Instead, a snowstorm traps him inside with his two ex-wives and an ex-girlfriend. Who's in it? The movie stars George Brent , Genevieve Tobin , Glenda Farrell , Patricia Ellis and Frank McHugh. Review: I have had this film in my library for a couple weeks but never could motivate myself to watch it. However, since we are currently having snow and dangerous wind chills outside, it seemed like a good fit this morning so I ended up watching it while everyone else was still in bed. It ended up being an OK film. The plot itself, while a little predictable (as most comedies are) was entertaining. It was fun to watch an otherwise quiet cabin become a madhouse in a matter of a few minutes as Alan (Brent) is forced to confront not only his three exes but a lawyer and deputy sheriff seeking to put him in jail for unpaid alimony. It created just enough chaos to make it seem imp...

Synopsis: Prior to being executed for withcraft in 1672, Jennifer puts a curse on her accuser that will prevent him and his descendents from being lucky in love. When her spirit is freed after more than two centuries, she meets the latest descendent, engaged gubernatorial candidate, Wallace Wooley, and tries to make him fall in love with her the day of his wedding only to have her spell backfire and make her love fall in love with him instead. Who's in it? The movie stars Veronica Lake , Fredric March , Robert Benchley , Susan Hayward and Elizabeth Patterson . Review: I came across this movie a few days ago and added it to my library. I wasn't really sure what to expect from it when I finally took the time to watch it this morning but it turned out to be a fun and entertaining film. There are a couple things that really stood out for me when it came to this film. One of the main ones was the wonderful way Veronica Lake played her witch character with a happy balance between b...

Synopsis: Elle Evans and Lee Flynn have been best friends since birth and, in the background of that relationship has always been Lee's older brother, Noah. As she enters her junior year of high school, Elle, a late bloomer, suddenly begins attracting attention from the guys only to find out Noah has been keeping them from asking her out. When she and Noah share a kiss at the school carnival kissing booth, they realize they have feelings for each other. There's just one problem, one of the "rules" of her friendship with Lee is they can't date each other's relatives and, when he finds out, it puts that friendship in jeopardy. Who's in it? The movie stars Joey King , Joel Courtney , Jacob Elordi , Jessica Sutton and Bianca Bosch . Review: My wife and I ended up putting this movie on last night mostly because it was something she said she was interested in seeing and, while I wasn't as enthused about it, I didn't want to spend half the ni...

Synopsis: Journalist Rebecca Bloomwood dreams of writing for the fashion magazine Alette and, as part of a master plan to land that dream job, applies for and accidentally lands a job at its sister publication, Successful Savings . Her financial advice column is a big hit. There's just one problem, she's secretly a compulsive shopper, has more than $16,000 in credit card debt and is being hunted down by bill collectors. Who's in it? The movie stars Isla Fisher , Hugh Dancy , Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack , John Goodman and Robert Stanton . Review: I had a pretty full day on Saturday, spending most of the day at my youngest daughter's dance recital (she had two shows) before volunteering for a couple hours at the ice rink's open skate. As a result of this, even though I did manage to get a few chores done on Sunday, I was pretty drained and, between that and the weather, wound up spending a good chunk of the day watching movies with my wife. This is a f...