On a recent trip to Europe, we made full use of our flying time to catch up on our film viewing and previewing assignments, including peeks into ?Adam,? ?Cheri,? ?Julia and Julie,? ?Food Inc.? and ?The Soloist.?

Unexpectedly, the best treat we got was an oldie but definitely goodie movie in black-and-white??Bringing Up Baby,? starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.

The ?50s film directed by Howard Hawks was a real lulu, a brisk romantic-comedy in which the lead stars had the time of their lives trying to untangle a complicated plot involving all sorts of wild and wooly characters, including a frisky puppy?and a leopard!

By the time the storytelling dust had settled, we had had ourselves a whale of a good time, despite the fact that the movie was one of the oldest we?d ever viewed.

The young Hepburn turned out to be a perky performer, quite unlike her older and more familiar screen persona, which tended to be all fuss and bother. In ?Bringing Up Baby,? she?s pert and peppy, prattling away a blue streak as she tries to liven up Grant?s dour and bumbling character.

Grant is even more surprisingly effective as the handsome bumbler, because the character is so different from his signature smooth and suave screen persona.

Together, Hepburn and Grant make ?Bringing Up Baby? a bracing delight, and film buffs are well advised to get hold of a copy of the film, so it can make their viewing day.

Eye-opening docu

The full-length documentary, ?Food Inc.,? was also an eye-opener, because it blew the lid off the many nefarious and unhealthy practices of the United States? huge food processing and distribution business. It hit the food industry for bringing production prices down by resorting to dangerous shortcuts that put millions of consumers? health at risk.

Interestingly, aside from the more than 300 American and British movies on view, there were also hundreds of Indian and Asian films, including some Filipino productions. So, if you make good use of the ?movie house in the sky? that some international airlines provide, your next sojourn abroad could turn out to be quite an exciting and informative cinematic trip.

New blockbusters

Watch out for these year-end viewing treats, starring some of the most versatile stars in the biz: ?Sherlock Holmes,? with Robert Downey Jr. as Arthur Conan Doyle?s iconic sleuth, but given a frisky, modern touch that makes his big-screen exploits exhilarating to behold.

?Inception? is Christopher Nolan?s new vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio. The sci-fi actioner is set ?within the architecture of the mind? and also stars Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Ken Watanabe.

?Invictus.? Clint Eastwood directs this inspiring story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa?s rubgy team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country.