NEW YORK (CNS) -- The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies on network and cable television the week of March 15. Please note that televised versions may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations.

Sunday, March 15, 8-10:30 p.m. EDT (TCM) "The Major and the Minor" (1942). Wacky comedy in which a woman (Ginger Rogers) lacking enough money for a full-fare train ticket gets the children's rate by pretending to be an 11-year-old, then has to continue the disguise when she's befriended on the journey by an Army officer (Ray Milland) from a boys' military academy, with increasingly giddy but mostly good-natured results. Director Billy Wilder sustains the humor of the absurd premise until the sentimental ending, abetted by a capable cast gamely going through the antic proceedings. Comic misunderstandings and romantic complications. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-II -- adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.

Thursday, March 19, 8-10 p.m. EDT (TCM) "My Darling Clementine" (1946). Poetic Western follows Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) after he becomes sheriff of Tombstone in 1882, befriends Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) and takes on the Clanton gang (led by Walter Brennan) at the O.K. Corral. Director John Ford builds an evocative picture of a pioneer community and the people who helped build it, largely through a series of vignettes beautifully photographed by Joseph MacDonald. Stylized violence and romantic complications. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-II -- adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.

Saturday, March 21, 6-9 p.m. EDT (AMC) "The Hunger Games" (2012). Dystopian adventure tracking two teens (Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson) as they participate in the titular event, a televised survival tournament in which youthful combatants from oppressed outlying districts are forced to battle one another until only one remains alive for the entertainment of their society's decadent urban elite. Director and co-writer Gary Ross's screen version of the first volume in Suzanne Collins' best-selling trilogy of novels is an effective combination of epic spectacle and emotional drama during which humane values are pitted against Darwinian moral chaos. But sensibilities are not spared in the portrayal of the grim contest, so parents need to weigh carefully whether to allow targeted teens to watch. Possibly acceptable for mature adolescents. Considerable, sometimes gory, hand-to-hand and weapons violence and graphic images of bloody wounds. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (Beginning of a marathon of all four movies in the series, concluding 2:40 a.m. EDT Sunday, March 22.)

Saturday, March 21, 8-9:55 p.m. EDT (HBO) "Dark Phoenix" (2019). Marvel Comics-based sci-fi adventure, set mostly in 1992, in which a member (Sophie Turner) of the X-Men team of mutants comes close to dying during a mission to save the crew of the space shuttle but instead emerges from the experience endowed with cosmic powers she cannot control. As she goes rogue, endangering the lives of her comrades (in particular Jennifer Lawrence), her plight causes tension within the group (led by James McAvoy). With a more relationship-driven story than many similar films, writer-director Simon Kinberg's somber ensemble action picture, which also features Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and Jessica Chastain, elevates forgiveness and solidarity over the desire for revenge. Well-catechized older teens as well as grown-ups will likely be able to cope with the script's celebration of the substitute family to which the most prominent characters have chosen to belong as well as its grandiose but passing attribution of godlike abilities to Turner's enhanced superhero. Pervasive combat violence with some gore, a few profanities and milder oaths, at least one rough term, a single crude expression. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.