Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor

This documentary recounts the difficult choice actress Mary Astor had to make after learning her personal, very intimate, diaries had been stolen. The film tells the story of Astor's 1936 child custody case.

Gene Tierney: A Forgotten Star

Martin Scorsese is among those paying tribute to Gene Tierney, the Academy Award-nominated American actress who was a leading lady in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s.

Tension: Who's Guilty Now?

Short documentary on the film noir, Tension.

Decoy: A Map to Nowhere

Documentary on the film noir Decoy, with Dick Cavett and Molly Haskell.

Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel

Historians, biographers and personal friends of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Margaret Mitchell reveal a complex woman who experienced profound identity shifts during her life and struggled with the two great issues of her day: the changing role of women and the liberation of African Americans.

Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties

This documentary was broadcast on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable channel to kick off the presentation of films related to TCM's theme of the month for September 2001. Actors Lee Grant and Paul Mazursky, producer Roger Corman, director John Carpenter, film critic Molly Haskell, and journalist Peter Biskind discuss the issues involved in six films of the 1950s. Topics include teenage loneliness, youth rebellion, changing gender roles, and the beginning of the sexual revolution.

Complicated Women

Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.

Doris Day: It's Magic

When the cameras rolled, Doris Day wore a happy face, never hinting at the pain she endured in her personal life. This documentary brings viewers close to the real Doris Day through the eyes of her friends and family members and with the help of film footage, newsreels and photographs. What surfaces is a complex picture of an equally complicated woman who faced problems far more formidable than her cinematic image revealed.

On Assignment: 'His Girl Friday'

In this documentary short, film historian David Thomson and critic Molly Haskell analyze the themes of Howard Hawks's 1940 film "His Girl Friday."