The Five Best Natalie Wood Performances

1. Splendor in the Grass (1961) - Natalie Wood gives a heart-wrenching Oscar-nominated performance as the emotionally fragile Deanie in William Inge's potent tale of young love. The scene where Deanie stands in front of her English class and discusses the meaning of William Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality"--as she tries to hold back her emotions--is masterful. Elia Kazan brought out the best in Natalie in this poignant classic.

2. West Side Story (1961) - One can argue that the role of Maria should have gone to a Hispanic actress or that Marni Nixon deserves more credit for dubbing the singing vocals. Neither of those detract from the fact that Natalie Wood provides the heart and soul of West Side Story. Her scenes with Richard Beymer make one believe that Maria and Tony become soulmates as soon as they spot each other on the dance floor. Watch her expressive face during the climax as she throws herself protectively over Tony's corpse and if you don't sniffle, you're not human.

3. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - At age 9, she gives one of the best child performances of Hollywood's Golden Era in this holiday classic. Her incredibly natural acting never comes off as artificially cute and she holds her own in the charming scenes with Edmund Gwenn, one of the great character actors.

4. This Property Is Condemned (1966) - I'm not sure why this film and Natalie's performance aren't better known. She stars as Alva Starr, a Southern belle (of sorts) who lives with her manipulative mother (Kate Reid) and idolizing younger sister (Mary Badham) in a railroad boarding house during the Great Depression. Alva could easily have come off as a shallow character, but Natalie turns her into a hard-edged young woman that strives to hide her dreams and insecurities. (By the way, Mary Badham is as good here as she was as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird).

5. Rebel Without a Cause (1958) - While this is now regarded as, first and foremost, a James Dean film, it launched the "young adult" phase of Natalie Wood's film career. It also earned her the first of her three Oscar nominations for her performance as Judy. Ironically, director Nicholas Ray initially considered Natalie too wholesome and naive for the role. She captures Judy's teen angst beautifully, especially her difficult relationship with her father.

Honorable Mentions: Love With the Proper Stranger (1963), her third Oscar nomination and a fave among her fans; Gypsy (1962); and The Searchers (1956).

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Classic Film & TV Fan (2011 Edition)

One of the Cafe's most popular articles each year is a list of holiday gift ideas from our contributors (click here to read previous recommendations). This year, we're proud to present the third post in this series (hey, it's a trilogy now!). Hopefully, you'll find some gift ideas for the classic film and/or TV lover in your family. Our picks run the gamut from a boxed set from the Master of Suspense to Raymond Burr's Perry Mason TV series to creepy horror films from the 1980s.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (recommended by Rick29). Although this boxed set of 14 Hitchcock classics retails for $120, you can buy it online for less than $75. It's a steal at that price, considering it includes Hitchcock favorites such as Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds. Plus, you get some genuine surprises such as the underrated Marnie and The Trouble With Harry (which improves with subsequent viewings for me). The films have been digitally remastered and come with lots of extra goodies: a 360-page booklet, 14 documentaries, and nine featurettes.

The Brigitte Bardot Classic DVD Collection (recommended by Dawn). One of the silver screen's best-known blonde bombshells sizzles in three stories of love, scandal and betrayal: The Night Heaven Fell (1958); Plucking the Daisy (1956);  and Don Juan (1973). Ms. Bardot's stunning looks often overshadowed that she was a fine light comedienne, as evidenced by Plucking the Daisy. The other two films in this collection were directed by her one-time husband, Roger Vadim.

West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition (recommended by Paul). A must-have for any West Side Story fan, this new three-disc Blu-ray set includes a book, postcards, tribute CD, and much more. For many fans, watching the film in high definition and listening to the remastered songs will be enough! Russ Tamblyn, who played Riff, said: "Fox has made this Blu-ray rendition that is just beautiful and so clear. You see so many things that you missed in the original."

Make your own Rebecca Gift Basket (recommended by TheLadyEve). My holiday gift recommendation this year springs from an idea that came to me a month or so ago when I started thinking about how best to enjoy chilly evenings at home. I spent a few nights reading Daphne du Maurier’s classic modern gothic, Rebecca and watching the classic 1940 film version starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. In the end, I put together a couple of blog posts on the joys of books and the movies made from them – plus warm drink recipe suggestions to accompany…so here’s my 2011 gift idea…A Rebecca gift basket containing: one copy of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel (from $5.98 new on Amazon); one copy of the Oscar-winning Hitchcock/Selznick film (DVD @$14.99 on TCM.com); one 14.5 oz. canister of Godiva Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa mix (from $13.99 on Amazon); 16 oz. Hot & Spicy Winter Toddy Mix (add ice cream, hot water or spirits) available on Amazon.com for $6.95;  one 50 g. canister of loose leaf tea (black, green white or flavored tea of your choice from the Tea Fountain (from $4.95 at http://www.teafountain.com/). Feel free to add or subtract to your gift basket.

A Free Film! (recommended by ClassicBecky). It may seem mundane, but I would love to receive a gift packet for my favorite movie theatre, good for two shows with popcorn and a Coke for each.  Givers with more pocket money could add more tickets or give enough for prime-time movies.  Those with limited budgets could give a matinee packet.  Considering the high cost of going to the movies, I would be thrilled with such a gift!

Perry Mason (recommended by Rick29). Seasons 1-5 of Raymond Burr's first-rate courtroom TV series are available separately or in a (pricey) boxed set. If you want to go with just one season, I recommend the first, which includes a number of episodes adapted from the Erle Stanley Gardner novels. The mysteries are fun and Burr is fabulous as the clever, sometimes smug super-lawyer. Plus, as you and your friends watch, you can discuss the relationship between Perry and Della...are they more than just co-workers?

Any Horror Fans among your family and friends? (Recommended by Sarkoffagus) This holiday, scare yourself silly and see what terror looks like in high definition. Numerous horror movies have been released on Blu-ray just in time for the festive season. Movies that came out for Halloween but would still make great gifts include the 30th anniversary of the 1981 cult TV movie, Dark Night of the Scarecrow; William Lustig’s Maniac Cop (1988), featuring cinematic icons Bruce Campbell and Richard Roundtree; two impressive outings from famed Italian horror maestro, Lucio Fulci, Zombie (aka Zombi 2/1979) and The House by the Cemetery (1981); and Lon Chaney making horror movie history in the classic 1925 silent version of The Phantom of the Opera. Released this month was the 25th anniversary of Sam Raimi’s horror-comedy sequel, Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987), which also happens to star Bruce Campbell, and the Spanish/UK produced Horror Express (1972), featuring Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas, will make its way onto Blu-ray on Nov. 29th. Tuesday, Dec. 13th, will see two horror gems on hi-def format: The 1989 Intruder, written and directed by Scott Spiegel, who co-wrote Evil Dead II with Sam Raimi, who appears in Spiegel’s film (with appearances from Sam’s brother, actor Ted Raimi, and – one more time – Bruce Campbell); and the popular vampire flick, Fright Night (1985), whose release coincides with the home media debut of its recent 2011 remake. And finally, if you don’t mind dropping an IOU into people’s Christmas stockings, two offbeat classics will sleep through the holidays and sneak onto Blu-ray in late January 2012, The Deadly Spawn (1983) and Night Train Murders (aka L’ultimotrenodellanotte/1975).

Memories of Anastasia Romanov and "West Side Story"

Our month of movie-watching memories continues with a guest post by classic film blogger Jessica Pickens. You can read more reviews by Jessica at her blog Comet Over Hollywood.

I’ve always had a slightly obsessive nature when it came to movies I really liked. This tendency first surfaced in the third grade when my family went to see the animated film Anastasia. It is a cartoon about what could have happened to Russian princess Anastasia Romanov after the massacre of the royal family in 1918. I was hooked by the mysterious story and remember floating home that day in November 1997.

I listened to my cassette tape soundtrack every day, collected Anastasia memorabilia, became interested in Russian history and somehow thought that I could be the lost princess Anastasia--in short I drove my family crazy.

This Romanov obsession continued on and off until the seventh grade. In high school I introduced the movie to a boyfriend who wanted to watch it nearly every time we hung out. After this I got really tired of watching the movie.

We take this stroll down memory lane to 1997 as a prelude to what happened when I was 14 years old. In the summer of 2002 I had become more interested in classic film and was devouring Doris Day and Audrey Hepburn films.

That spring my dad introduced me to West Side Story, because he thought I would enjoy the musical version of a modern Romeo and Juliet. He later said he created a monster--my West Side Story obsession would rival my previous Anastasia craze.

I remember watching the movie awestruck. I thought the dances were amazing (and even tried to learn some) and the music was better than any other musical I had ever seen, though it bugged me that Natalie Wood's singing voice was very obviously dubbed by vocalist Marnie Nixon.

Richard Beymer as Tony was extremely attractive to me and it was weird seeing Russ Tamblyn playing a rough gang member when I was used to seeing him as sweet Gideon in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Above all, the thing that struck me the most was the ending. I knew it was a story based off Romeo and Juliet but somehow I hoped it had a happy ending, Tony's death was a real shock to me.

When the movie ended that night in March 2003, I wondered why Maria had lived and Tony had died. If she had died, maybe they could've been happy in the after-life. Now Maria has to live with her grief.

I understand now how much more powerful it is that Maria lives rather than dies. I think it makes her character stronger and proves more of a point with the racism theme that the film covers.

My obsession with West Side Story irritated my family--loving a three hour tear jerker can be tiring for your mother--but it opened up a lot of doors in the classic film world. It is why I have seen 432 musicals to date and it encouraged me to start seeing other classic films.

I think part of me was looking for another movie that was as moving as West Side Story--daring all other classic films to have the same impact on me.

While Anastasia was the first movie that I really loved, West Side Story made more of an impression on my life and interests.