actionscript fade in/out effect

[harryz]

i just need a simple snippet of code to fade a movie clip and then a snippet to fade it out. i'v searched all over and it doesnt seem to be working. im using MX not 2004.

heres the little code i have, i first set the _alpha to 10, which seems to work and then i wanted to fade it, but it just directly jumps to that alpha.

		function fadeIn(MC){
		with (MC){
		_alpha += _alpha/2;
		}
	}
	loadMovie( somemovie.swf, "mcImage" );
		mcImage._alpha= 10;
		fadeIn(mcImage);{

hope someone can help