Is chocolate the way to a person's heart? It seemed that the iconic screen star Cary Grant thought so when he devised a romantic tryst during a stay at the downtown Mayfair Hotel (now the Magnolia St. Louis). Grant would lodge at the hotel after performing at the adjacent Orpheum theatre. When his eyes first set on the18th floor suite, he was charmed by its 1930-40s glamour and style, and it became his designated suite of choice.

Since the release of Sight & Sound magazine’s 2022 Top 100 Greatest Films of All Time critics poll, some of us agreed, others were appalled; in particular with the absence of masterworks by Luis Buñuel, Ernst Lubitsch and Howard Hawks. But the positive is that it opens pathways for lists by other cineastes which keeps the importance of cinema on the front burner. …