With Kit Kittredge: An American Girl finally opening in limited release on Wednesday, it seemed like a good time to take a look at other films girls in the same age demographic might also enjoy. As a mother of three daughters, I like to seek out films that have strong female characters. So many of the roles for females in Hollywood either fall into blatant stereotypes or position young girls and women as existing on this planet primarily for the pleasures of the male half of the species, and I don't want my girls growing up believing the images of women they're exposed to through the media. Of course, everything in life doesn't have to have a political agenda -- what fun would that be? So some of these are just films my own daughters very much enjoy, that the girl in your life might like also.

Here are seven great films for fans of American Girl books and movies ... let me know what others I've missed that you like; with only seven slots to work with, I had to leave out a lot of films I otherwise would have included ...

Like most people on the internet, we at Cinematical love lists. I love them so much that I wish I could write about everyone I read, but unfortunately there are too many geeks out there making up too many lists, and not enough love to go round (can't you see this is the land of confusion .... ). But since another thing we love around here is Star Wars -- not just the movies but also the fans, the debates, the complaints, etc. -- I figured that these four lists were worth sharing. Because they all mention something related to George Lucas' popular universe. Three of the lists also reference a lot of Star Trek, but with J.J. Abrams rebooting the franchise and all, I think Trekkies have enough love right now. Meanwhile, the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars occurred this year, and we still had to read about things like the Harry Potter franchise out-grossing the Star Wars series and Serenity beating out Star Wars as a best sci-fi film poll. So, thanks to the people at Fark.com, who love lists even more than we do, here are four movie-related lists that give some appropriate props:

• First we have the Times' countdown of the 40 most memorable aliens. Unfortunately, the only Star Wars aliens listed are at #32 and #26, and they're the Ewoks and Max Rebo, respectively. Considering most of the characters in the series can be considered aliens, this is harsh, but since I'm one of the few Ewok fans out there, I appreciate the gesture. Even if ALF is higher up on the list than they are. At least they're still better than the Coneheads. Anyway the top ten here is full of other significant movie aliens, including the arachnids of Starship Troopers, E.T., the Transformers, Superman, The Blob, The Thing and, at the top spot, God.
  
• Next there's Kunochan.com's countdown of the top twenty starship captains. Once again, Star Wars doesn't get the #1, but it's understandable that Star Trek's most famous captains get the first two slots. At #3, though, is Han Solo. However, the list's author does point out that he had to put a Star Wars character in the top five to avoid having his house firebombed. I don't mind the disingenuous comment; Solo deserves to be higher up than Captain Janeway and the dude from Firefly/Serenity. Down the line at #11 we've also got Grand Moff Tarkin.

The 1963 epic Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor in the title role, is often mistaken for being a financial flop. But it was actually one of the highest grossing pictures of its year. It couldn't turn a profit right away because its cost was just too high and so it may have seemed like a disaster originally, but after so many years it eventually made money. If the film were made today for an equivalent cost, it might not be as successful. Its budget would be close to $300 million. Judging from the grosses of other recent epics of this kind, it probably wouldn't come close -- even with international box office -- to making its money back, let alone the original's inflation-adjusted earnings of $442 million.

So, producer Scott Rudin will have to be tighter with the cash when he goes into production on a new Cleopatra film, which will be based on a book by Pulitzer-Prize winner Stacy Schiff due in 2009. Columbia Pictures bought the rights to this unfinished book based on a 10-page proposal for a reported seven figures (that's at least a million bucks, so already the budget is rising). It is expected to spotlight the Egyptian queen's strengths as a ruler as opposed to her reputation as a lover. Hopefully she will be played by someone closer in appearance than Taylor, though I would like to see Taylor have some sort of cameo.

According to Bottlegreen Drinks Co., the most beautiful British woman of all-time is Gone with the Wind star Vivien Leigh. Okay, I imagine you American readers are now wondering, "What is Bottlegreen Drinks Co. and what do they have to do with the movies?" Unfortunately, I can't really give any answers. I'd never heard of Bottlegreen before this news, either, and a quick glance at their website doesn't have me going, "ooooooh, they make _____." As for their expertise on surveys about British celebrity, I can't find a thing.

Nonetheless, the company apparently polled 1,000 men and women, and Leigh, who died nearly forty years ago, topped the list of British beauties. And what about the most handsome British man, you ask? Well, that would be Cary Grant, whose popularity still astounds me (even though he's grown on me, if only because he appears in so many great films), particularly in the looks department (that hair and butt-chin are awful!). If women aren't ignoring his voice when they claim the attraction, then I give up trying to figure out what women want. Unfortunately, the reports of this news don't include a full list of the male runners-up. As for the other nine ladies who followed in the top ten, you can check them out after the jump.

Actor Jimmy Lydon, who was born on this day in 1923, is still with us today. He started appearing in movies in 1937, and became known quickly as the lead in Paramount's Henry Aldrich series of films from 1941-44. Henry was a lot like Andy Hardy (played by the young Mickey Rooney), although the Henry Aldrich films and their stars were never quite as popular as the Andy Hardy crowd. Lydon had replaced Jackie Cooper, who played Henry in the first two films (trivial note: the original Henry Aldrich film, What a Life, was adapted by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett from the popular stage play).

After the Aldrich series faded away, Lydon successfully continued playing wholesome teenage characters for several years. The above still is from the 1947 film Life with Father, which starred William Powell as an exacting head of a large family. The young lady Lydon is romancing in the photo is Elizabeth Taylor. Life with Father was adapted by Donald Odgen Stewart (who also adapted Holiday and The Philadelphia Story) from a stage play, and was directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca). The cast also includes Irene Dunne, Zasu Pitts, and Edmund Gwenn ... I'm tempted to rent the DVD to refresh my memory, since I'm not quite sure whether I saw this movie as a child.

Lydon's career turned out quite differently from his co-star Taylor: he played character roles in film and television through the late 1980s, often credited with the more grown-up name James Lydon. He also moved into producing and directing for TV. Sadly, none of the Henry Aldrich films are available on DVD yet, so it's hard to catch the chance to see the young Lydon at his best on screen.

Martha noted earlier that the James Dean museum in Indiana finally closed for good. The news made me want to look for some images of James Dean, preferably not the same few photos I always seem to find: the long one of him reclining in Giant, the surly one in the jacket from Rebel Without a Cause. You can imagine why I might feel particularly inclined to find a still of Dean in his role as Jett Rink in the 1956 epic Giant: the character's name is so charming. But he looks terrible as the older Jett; the photo would have to be from early in the film. Fortunately, I tracked down the above image.

I'm not a big fan of Giant (it's too long, for one thing), but I remember the little scene above where Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor) visits Jett and he makes her a cup of tea. The idea of a man serving tea could perhaps be viewed as oddly non-masculine to some people, particularly 1950s audiences. But Dean pouring tea, his shirt open practically to the waist, makes you think of his serving you breakfast the morning after some crazed night of passion. You might be tempted to say something like, "That man can strain my tea leaves any day." I'm not sure quite what that means, but ... enjoy the image.

Martha asked me yesterday if I would find and post a photo of Elizabeth Taylor, preferably from A Place in the Sun, to celebrate Taylor's birthday on Feb. 27. I had already posted a Vintage Image of the Day, so I promised I would find and post an appropriate photo today.

George Stevens won a Best Director Oscar for A Place in the Sun, the 1951 drama based loosely on Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy. Stevens would direct Taylor again later in Giant (and would again win Best Director). Montgomery Clift (above) was nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen. Taylor was not nominated, but her role in A Place in the Sun was perhaps the first time critics took her seriously as a grown-up actress.