Coming up on Saturday at the Described Movies: Chinatown, McQ, and War Babies.

From this Saturday at 12am Eastern, that’s 5pm Saturday in NZ, 3pm in Sydney and 4am in the UK, and repeated every four hours throughout the day, it’s the described Movies Chinatown from 1974, McQ from 1974, and War Babies from 1932.
Chinatown is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery crime thriller film directed by Roman Polanski from a screenplay by Robert Towne, starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
The film was inspired by the California water wars, a series of disputes over southern California water at the beginning of the 20th century, by which Los Angeles interests secured water rights in the Owens Valley.
The Robert Evans production, released by Paramount Pictures, was the director's last film in the United States and features many elements of film noir, particularly a multi-layered story that is part mystery and part psychological drama.
In 1991, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and it is frequently listed as one of the greatest films of all time.
At the 47th Academy Awards, it was nominated for 11 Oscars, with Towne winning Best Original Screenplay.
The Golden Globe Awards honoured it for Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay.
The American Film Institute placed it second among its top ten mystery films in 2008.
A sequel, The Two Jakes, was released in 1990, again starring Nicholson, who also directed, with Robert Towne returning to write the screenplay.
The film failed to match the acclaim of its predecessor.
Directed by: Roman Polanski.
Written by: Robert Towne.
Produced by: Robert Evans.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, and John Huston.
Cinematography: John A. Alonzo.
Edited by: Sam O'Steen.
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith.
Production Companies: Penthouse, Long Road Productions, and Robert Evans Company.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures.
Release date: 20 June 1974.
File Length: 124 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $6 million.
Box office: $29.2 million.
McQ is a 1974 American neo-noir crime action film directed by John Sturges, starring John Wayne, and filmed in Panavision.
The film makes extensive use of locations in Seattle, but the beach scenes were filmed on the Pacific coast at Moclips.
Eddie Albert and Diana Muldaur co-star.
The film also features Roger E. Mosley as a pimp and police snitch, Clu Gulager as a corrupt police detective, Colleen Dewhurst as a waitress who is a cocaine addict and informant, and Al Lettieri in one of his final roles, as the most visible villain of the film, the drug king Santiago.
McQ has a dramatic car chase with Wayne in a green 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am "Green Hornet".
It was influenced by Steve McQueen's chase scene in Bullitt.
One of Wayne's famous lines from this film is delivered after his character is rescued from his car after it has been crushed between two large trucks with him trapped inside.
He says to one of the reporting officers, "I'm up to my butt in gas."
Directed by: John Sturges.
Written by: Lawrence Roman.
Produced by: Jules V. Levy, and Arthur Gardner.
Starring: John Wayne, Eddie Albert, Diana Muldaur, Colleen Dewhurst, Clu Gulager, David Huddleston, and Al Lettieri.
Cinematography: Harry Stradling Jr.
Edited by: William H. Ziegler.
Music by: Elmer Bernstein.
Production Company: Batjac Productions.
Distributed by: Warner Bros.
Release dates: 4 January 1974 ( Seattle) 6 February 1974 (Limited).
File Length: 105 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Box office: $4 million.
War Babies is a 1932 American comedy short film directed by Charles Lamont.
It is the second in a series of eight one-reelers that satirized adult films and themes called Baby Burlesks.
The casts in the series are pre-schoolers dressed in adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with large safety pins on the bottom.
In her autobiography, Shirley Temple Black describes the Baby Burlesks series as "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence," and notes the short films were sometimes racist or sexist.
War Babies is a spoof of the World War I film What Price Glory? and was originally titled What Price Gloria?.
The film is set in Buttermilk Pete's Café where the child performers dance, play music, and drink milk.
The film stars Shirley Temple spoofing Dolores del Río as Charmaine and Georgie Smith and Eugene Butler as soldiers vying for her affection.
Shirley has her first onscreen kiss with Eugene Butler.
Others in the cast are Georgie Billings, Philip Hurlic and Ashley Shepherd.
In 2009, the film was available on DVD.
Directed by: Charles Lamont.
Produced by: Jack Hays.
Starring: Shirley Temple as Gloria, and Georgie Smith.
Distributed by: Educational Film Exchanges.
Release date: 18 September 1932.
File Length: 9 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Any questions, comments, or ideas for future described movies: e-mail me: anthony at mushroomfm dot com (e-mail address written that way to cut down on
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Enjoy the movies,