Editor’s Note: Christopher Smith’s columns will not appear next Monday and Friday, as he will be on vacation.

In theaters

CHARLOTTE GRAY, directed by Gillian Armstrong, written by Jeremy Brock, 119 minutes, rated PG-13.

Gillian Armstrong’s great-looking World War II drama, “Charlotte Gray,” stars Cate Blanchett as Charlotte Gray, a Scot living in London whose whirlwind romance with Peter (Rupert Penry Jones), a British Royal Air Force pilot, eventually draws her into a life as a spy when Peter’s plane is shot down over France.

Convinced he’s still alive, Charlotte sets out to find him on her own. Undergoing a grueling training regimen by the British Special Operations Executive and an intense psychological examination that tests her mettle, she eventually changes her name to Dominique Gilbert, colors her blond locks brown, and, after parachuting into Nazi-occupied France under the cover of night, begins working for the French Resistance in the small town of Lezignac.

While all of this may sound like a ripe pile of schmaltz from Danielle Steele, the good news is that it’s actually closer to the work of Susan Isaacs – which is to say that in adapting Sebastian Faulks’ best-selling novel for the screen, screenwriter Jeremy Brock and Armstrong have created a romanticized version of history that’s mostly enjoyable in spite of its occasional moments of cheese.

After connecting in Lezignac with her contact, Julian (Billy Crudup), and moving in with his grumpy father, Levade (Michael Gambon), Charlotte unwittingly gets caught in a series of intrigues, some of which are believable, a few of which are a stretch – and none of which can be revealed here.

As always, Blanchett is a wonder, easily one of the best actresses working today, but the rest of the cast is also impressive, especially Gambon, whose memorable performance becomes one of the film’s highlights when the Germans take full control of Lezignac.

Considering the recent wave of hyper-realistic war movies pouring out of Hollywood, it’s become almost sweet and old-fashioned to see someone get shot in the face as opposed to watching their entrails being dragged across the screen. To that end, “Charlotte Gray” will likely come as a relief to those seeking a throwback to the World War II movies of the late 1940s and 1950s, when violence was implied but the battle being waged and the story being told were just as gripping.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

JOY RIDE, directed by John Dahl, written by Clay Tarver and J.J. Abrams, 96 minutes, rated R.

John Dahl’s taut, engrossing thriller, “Joy Ride,” takes place in the present, yet everything about it seems ripped from the 1970s – its sets, its vintage cars, its use of CB radios, its sleazy bit players slumming along the fringes.

Evoking Steven Spielberg’s classic film, “Duel,” the film follows two brothers, the troublemaking Fuller (Steve Zahn) and the easygoing Lewis (Paul Walker), who find themselves cheating death while driving cross-country to pick up Lewis’ friend, Venna (Leelee Sobieski).

All of the problems that ensue stem from Fuller, who convinces Lewis to mimic a woman’s voice and seduce a trucker via their CB radio. The whiskey-voiced trucker, fittingly named Rusty Nail, falls for the prank, drives to a nearby motel for what he hopes will be an amorous evening – and causes one ugly ruckus when he learns he’s been duped.

From its lingering shots of rain-soaked motels that smack of Hitchcock’s “Psycho” to the chill of the American highway lifted straight from “The Hitcher” and “Convoy,” “Joy Ride” evokes a graveyard of images that ignite its noirish tone.

Sobieski barely registers, but Lewis and Zahn are beautifully paired, carrying the bulk of a film that strikes just the right balance been horror, humor, suspense and camp.

Grade: B+

Christopher Smith’s reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, occasionally on Fridays on E! Entertainment’s “E! News Daily,” Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Heist ? B+

Joy Ride ? B+

Zoolander ? C-

A.I. ? B-

The Last Castle ? C-

Sexy Beast ? B+

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

? F

The Musketeer ? D-

The Taste of Others ? A-

Don’t Say a Word ? C-

Hardball ? C+

O ? B+

Hearts in Atlantis ? B

Life Without Dick ? D

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin ? D

Ghost World ? A

Lost & Delirious ? C-

Atlantis: The Lost Empire ? C

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

? B-

Lisa Picard is “Famous” ? B

Kiss of the Dragon ? B-

Rock Star ? B

American Pie 2 ? C+

Bubble Boy ? F

Glitter ? D

Sound and Fury ? A

Jeepers Creepers ? D

The Fast and the Furious ? B

The Glass House ? C

Greenfingers ? B-

What’s the Worse that Could

Happen ? D

The Center of the World ? C

Evolution ? D-

Two Can Play That Game ? C+

Moulin Rouge ? A-

The Princess Diaries ? C+

Scary Movie 2 ? D

Hedwig and the Angry Inch ? A

Jurassic Park III ? B-

Rush Hour 2 ? D

The Score ? B

American Outlaws ? F

Ghost of Mars ? C-

Pearl Harbor ? D

Summer Catch ? C-

Bread and Roses ? A-

Divided We Fall ? A

Made ? B

Pootie Tang ? D+

Osmosis Jones ? C-

Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole

Christmas ? D+

Planet of the Apes ? C-

America’s Sweethearts ? D+

crazy/beautiful ? B

Tomb Raider ? D+

Doctor Zhivago (DVD debut) ?

A-

The Golden Bowl ? C+

Legally Blonde ? B+

Shrek ? A-