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Hostage is a 2025 miniseries starring Suranne Jones as British prime minister Abigail Dalton up against a myriad of problems and being blamed for all of them. The most pressing is a shortage of medication, and for this she is attempting to work with the French President, Vivienne Toussaint (Julia Delpy).

Things go from bad to worse when Dalton's husband, Dr. Alex Anderson (Ashley Thomas) and his medical team at Doctors Without Borders are kidnapped and held hostage, and her resignation is demanded in order to free them.

This was an exciting miniseries, but I admit I lost interest. Plot holes galore. MI5 was not protecting this family? And how is it no one was aware of the protests going on all over London?

This could have been much better with some careful research and attention to detail. I love the occasional mindless entertainment, but this was supposed to be something engrossing and well done. It wasn't.

From 1951, Never Trust a Gambler stars Dane Clark, Cathy O'Donnell, and Tom Drake, directed by Ralph Murphy.

Clark plays a real piece of work, Steve Garry, wanted by the police to testify at a murder trial. His best friend is accused. He's afraid if he tells what he knows, his friend will be convicted, so he's on the run. That's his story anyway.

He goes to the home of his ex-wife Virginia (Cathy O'Donnell) who wants nothing to do with him as he broke her trust by gambling away their savings. He convinces her that he quit gambling and is doing an altruistic thing for his friend, so she lets him stay.

At the grocery store, a drunk detective (Rhys Williams) hits on her and later shows up at her house. When he attempts to assault her, Steve emerges from hiding. A fight ensues, the detective's gun goes off and goes into the ceiling, Steve hits him with something, and he dies.

It was an accident, but Steve can't go to the police until the trial is over. He puts the body in the man's car and pushes it into a ravine.

Of interest, this film appears to have been filmed during a rainy season. It seems to be raining constantly and everyone is wet. At the end, the weather seems to have cleared up.

Mildly entertaining, and I liked the blossoming romance between Drake, an officer investigating, and O'Donnell. My other favorite part was covering the gun hole in the ceiling either soap. I guess they never heard of spackle.

O'Donnell in a way sold out for happiness when she incensed Sam Goldwyn by marrying the son of his enemy, William Wyler. Her career was never quite the same after Goldwyn dumped her. Sadly she died on her 22nd anniversary of cancer, at age 46. She was a lovely actress.

Dane Clark was a poor man's John Garfield and hands in a decent performance. He turned to tv work early and enjoyed a prolific career in both tv and film.

Percy Helton played the store clerk. One of the most recognizable faces and voices in film v and tv.

From 1942, "Mrs. Miniver" is arguably the most famous propaganda film ever made, and it was hugely profitable for MGM. Beautifully directed by William Wyler, it stars Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Teresa Wright.

Winston Churchill stated that it was "more powerful to the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers" or "worth 100 battleships".

The Minivers live in an English village and are upper middle class - not the upper crust like Lady Beldon (May Whitty) and her granddaughter Carol (Wright) whom Vin Miniver falls for. More on Vin later.

The film demonstrates the effects of war in the village and on the family, the air raids, the bombings, Vin becoming a pilot, and tragedy.

Some people feel it's dated because people are so formal with one another. When high schoolers are shown films from this era, that's the first thing they notice. Yes, times have changed, but it's still a powerful story. It will never be as potent as it was in 1942, but for me anyway, it still packs a wallop.

One of the best scenes occurs when the family is in the makeshift bomb shelter in the cellar when the Germans bomb near the house. The look of sheer terror on Greer Garson's face as she holds her screaming children is realistic and full of fear.

Thanks to Pauline Kael's dislike of Garson, her reputation in modern days has suffered. She gives a wonderful performance here, as she did in so many films, earning an Oscar and a total of seven nominations.

This was her seventh teaming with Walter Pidgeon. They made a great team. She complained that she played too many "noble" women, and perhaps nobility, like so much else, has gone out of style.

Teresa Wright is vivacious and lovely as Carol. Henry Travers is on hand as a villager who grows the Mrs. Miniver Rose to compete with Lady Beldon in the Beldon Flower Show - which she's never lost.

In his fourth film, Helmut Dantine plays a wounded German soldier who corners Mrs. Miniver in her kitchen. A short but highly impressive appearance.

Mrs. Miniver is a true classic and deserves to be seen and appreciated for what it represented to people faced with the reality of war on their soil.

Oh, yeah, Vin Miniver. There was a sequel, The Miniver Story, done in 1950. Vin isn't mentioned. Greer Garson married Richard Ney, but they had divorced by The Miniver Story. She asked that the character of Vin be completely eliminated.