The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

An ongoing project to survey the best films of individual decades, genres, and filmmakers.
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ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#501 Post by ntnon » Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:14 am

Porky and Lions were both on my Sergeant York disc, which faltered and stuttered but ultimately made it. I had never seen this, presumed it was a full-on patriotic war romp about an All-American Hero, and while that assumption was fairly accurate, the actual film was much better and different than I'd expected. Half of it veing pre-enlistment/drafting was unexpected and smart; Gary Cooper being a religious pacifist was very unexpected; the heroics were barely believable but genuinely rousing, and the whole story was broadly TRUE! All of which made for a thoroughly enjoyable take on war: a grim necessity to be suffered, not fun for all. The capture instead of killing was exceptional - and while the 'evil Nazi''s handgrenade seemed like a stock villain action, it was also both plausible and almost sympathetic in depiction.

Hitchock's Lifeboat reminded me that I must have seen it before, because so much was familiar even as almost as much wasn't. The interplay between classes and the mob mentality was fascinating - I just wish the Kapitan had actually been innocent of plotting and conniving... I think the film would have been much stronger had the moral ambiguity been weighted entirely differently: if they were picking on him for completely-unfounded racist/war reasons, and then had been plotting actual murder rather than defensible self-preservation/revenge.... what a great film that could have been. This isn't bad (and for the time, they gave the Germans a fair bit of benefit-of-the-doubt), but I feel that it could have been great.

To Have and Have Not (I do not understand the title) is phenomenally enjoyable. Dark Passage seems so like Casablanca as to make me wonder why one is SO elevated (obviously the cast and dialogue is better, but is it THAT much better..? I guess I'll check soon...) in the public's memory.

I certainly enjoyed both of these a lot more than the quintessential Bogart/Bacall The Big Sleep which - perhaps because of Warner's rubbish discs, perhaps because of timing or ordering - did not stand out to me at all. Equally, Key Largo, which I enjoyed more last time, seemed fairly static and subdued. Edward G Robinson was great, Bogart was almost as great, Barrymore was there, and Bacall was barely even there. Very disappointing. Perhaps my opinion was again (re)shaped by non-film circumstance..

My The Bride Came C.O.D. disc gave out completely, and I had to resort to The Internet to watch the second half. And, given the title, the ending was not much of a surprise. Nor was the journey much cop.

I think I enjoyed All Through the Night, but I'm blanking on specifics....

ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#502 Post by ntnon » Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:28 am

I bought a copy of the next film specifically so I could watch a call-and-response doublebill: Where Do We Go From Here? ...I Know Where I'm Going. It amused me, anyway. Much like the utterly barmy time travelling genie army farce that seesawed wildly between fish-out-of-water anachronistic commentary, ahistorical radical changes and bafflingly-drawn conclusions about possible romances from their centuries-ago doppelganger counterparts. With music. By Kurt Weill... It's either a complete travesty or an utter madcap masterpiece. Possibly both, mashed together with 'in retrospect' racism and casual sexism. And, again, wildly unsubstantiated logical deductions about then-modern women drawn from Completely Different People.

Unsurprisingly, the Scottish realism of I (don't actually) Know Where I'm Going was a jarring shift. The brief opening montage, with its comical newsreel "she Knew Where She Was Going!" narration quickly gave way to the rehabilitation of a golddigger into... well, either "just" a selfish social climber, or maybe someone who finally had genuine feelings. And was lucky they were still for someone in a position of power, authority and whatnot. The messaging would have been clearer if she'd been swayed by a fisherman and not a Laird, surely..

Elsewhere, the Ghost and Mrs. Muir is very odd (and MUCH odder still, thanks to the final reel childhood confessional about the daughter's identical "dreams" of Rex Harrison watching her sleep...) but quite nice in a very weird way. I was amused by the critic was suggested it as a Blithe Spirit continuation, and couldn't decide if I liked the biographical writing conceit or not.

ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#503 Post by ntnon » Tue Oct 01, 2019 12:48 am

Nightmare Alley REALLY was. Wow... geeks and tarot and fraudulent cultists; death by alcohol, cold reading and moral collapse... there was a lot going on, and all of it Noiry and pulpy and grimy and seedy. The ending could not have been telegraphed clearer if they'd tried, but... they tried. I liked it.

The Street With No Name was another good propaganda-piece for the FBI, this time with fewer Nazis and a lot less death. They even mamaged to resurrect the hero's handler after he was fatally killed by a gangster knifethrower, and everybody had Stormtrooper syndrome when shooting, until the villains stepped into the frame: join the FBI - your life will never be in danger, despite being surrounded by killers who will invariably find out who you are... I was particularly taken by the work taken to create a persona for the undercover hero, that apparently stopped short of swapping his fingerprints, labelled "HE WORKS FOR THE FBI!" with a card that said "somewhat criminal" which would have surely been easier than asking anyone who pulled an agents' fingerprints to report through several levels of bureaucracy to someone who could physically replace files...

I saw The More the Merrier on somebody's list and boight it too. And then discovered I'd already seen it. And thoroughly enjoyed it both times. How could anyone not, when it's Jean Arthur over-emoting and Charles Coburn radiating Fieldsian disdain and superiority..? Special mention must be made of the farcical police station sequence and Arthur recounting her fiancee's qualities while Joel McCrea kisses and nuzzles her... the brief pauses are hysterically funny. And then the ending has a definite It Happened One Night-Jericho feeling, while one marvels at the hubris and meddling of Coburn.

I started the Cary-Cole Porter biopic Night & Day, but that disc too is utterly useless after 45m, and The Internet is lacking. Up to the halfway point, I was enjoying it - despite being baffled by Monty Wooley playing Professor Monty Wooley for no obvious reason..! Maybe the ending explains it..?

The Channel now has a host of Melville films, so I watched the two from the forties: 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown is as sad as one would imagine, and while short still seemed too long. La silence de la mer is much more interesting, and if it is somewhat optimistic and naive, I think it also captures a great slice of a human nuance - people can draw a line, or change or have epiphanies. And people in armies are still people - many of them relatively normal and unradicalised. I doubt I'll prioritise seeing it again any time soon, but I'm glad I've seen it.

ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#504 Post by ntnon » Wed Oct 02, 2019 12:53 am

Suspicion is excellent, if a little dated. I need to remember to watch it alongside Gaslight, because the points of similarity would make for a fascinating comparison... It's all about the intersection of reality and fantasy (or fear), and how the one can easily inform and confuse the other. The short piece on the film notes that the ending was not the intended one, but that the studio wouldn't let Hitchcock make Cary Grant a murderer. Nigel Bruce does a good job as the third wheel, too.

ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#505 Post by ntnon » Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:45 am

I liked Les Enfants.. Children of Paradise, but it was far too long to hold my attention. The staging was fantastic, and the acting good, but.. it just didn't end.

ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#506 Post by ntnon » Thu Oct 03, 2019 12:07 pm

Cary Grant is sublime. I think His Girl Friday remains just-about my favourite of his performances (though The Bishop's Wife is the better film) but I've been revisiting a handful of others.

Suspicion above, is a cogent linear plot about misunderstanding and misinterpretation, but nightclub finale of The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer (and chess-parallelled endgame) is sublime. The dialogue, the setpieces, the characters, their intentions... the choreography and lines and just the whole thing elevates the film considerably. Until the ending, it's a reasonable comedy of psychological manipulation and misconceptions set against a love-pentagon dealing with love, infatuation and age/background differences. It doesn't quite work overall, but the parts that do work better than anything else. Plus it has The Power of Hoodoo call-and-response later sung by David Bowie, so that's a great point in its favour - and when they reprise it as the final words, the ticket-checker's shrug says it all.

Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House is a thin joke spun into a barely-meandering film without much of a point. (I was amused that Grant is, as apparently almost-everyone was back then, an advertising executive. One wonders how there was enough work for them all...) The subtexts - clearly his wife is fonder of the lawyer-friend than Grant; clearly the lawyer is sabotaging Grant while pretending to give advice, etc. - are more intriguing than the film, but I was intrigued to see the fourth-wall demolished (apt for an architectural piece that enjoyed tearing down walls) in the final scene where not only do the stars address the audience, but Grant is reading the novel upon which the film is based. The Warner-accompanying cartoon short is... well... anti-mother-in-law, pro-pandering and then doubles down on its retrospectively-appallingly-sexist moment by blatantly replaying it at the end. Good grief..

And so to My Favorite Wife. Irene Dunne can go toe-to-toe with Grant any day of the week, and here we not only have a fairly-interesting comedy or errors, but the added intrigue of Randolph Scott. There's much speculation over Grant and Scott's friendship, and this film adds a lot to it, particularly when you watch their eyes and body language. Three moments stand out for me from the film as a whole: the musical accompaniment to paging Scott, Grant's new bride's willingness to pay a judicial fine, and the not-even-slightly-subtle romantic finale which involves Grant dressing up.

ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#507 Post by ntnon » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:08 pm

I've just seen my favourite cartoon short. The Merrie Melodie "Stage Fright" (on the WB City for Conquest disc). It's fairly straight forward - two dogs fighting over a bone backstage, and therefore featuring a high wire, see-saw, trained seal and bird-in-a-magician's-top-hat. But within that, it's both reasonably creative and especially good in attention to detail. Particularly, the state of disrepair the hat winds up in, and the physics of the see-saw. The bird is a Tweety-lite character, one of the dogs and the seal have a bark-off and there's even a mirror gag. 7 minutes thoroughly well-spent.

P.S. CoC also has the sublime 'Breakdowns of 1940'... outtakes (and swearing) from the WB stars of 1940! Fantastic.
Last edited by ntnon on Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#508 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:42 pm

Jigsaw: This should be a lot more fun than it is, especially with the tangled conspiracy plot around a potentially sociopolitical motivated cult and a decent body count. Unfortunately it’s not particularly well made, containing strange editing choices that magnify a lack of skill in continuity, a loose script, and some poor acting. As a brief noir programmer it works okay, but this is a film with potential to be an interesting psychological noir that flaunts its ambitions throughout, and this launches it into repetitive notice of its considerable shortcomings.

Command Decision: Sam Wood is a curious filmmaker and I never know exactly what I’m going to get from him. This is one that takes a sharper departure than it appears to from a genre picture, in this case the war drama, and contains arguably the best straight Gable performance. Wood gratefully arranges a moderate and grey take on the political systems of war by framing the actors in typically medium and wide shots and directing Gable to be humble and subtle as one of the many men with a heavy weight on his shoulders who must remain stable externally for the good of the people. Wood is less interested in the systems themselves and instead leans his eye to the people who make the hard decisions, acknowledging the humanity of these people, and thus the difficulty of these choices, as well as the responsibility by assigning agency divorced from the facade of a faceless branch. This is another terrific meditation on the inherent ambiguity in ethics, the necessity of separating logic and emotion, and how they inevitably collide and even inform one another. Most of all this film exemplifies the sheer power and possibilities of consequences from actions, especially the ones we would never want to make, and likely- thankfully- never will.

The Threat: I love a lean mean noir and this delivered in spades. The acting is better than it needs to be, and sets feel as detailed as those out of the big budget noirs most know. The camera work is not only masterful but a weapon of suspense, revealing significant imagery slyly without feeling manipulative (see: an early scene where a character looks up and suddenly two gagged men are there, standing in place and presented in front of him where an empty space was before, like a subjective horror experience). The filmmaker has a terrific sense of physical space and constructs scenes expertly like the best of them. Little moments like the paint crew human heist setpiece are more inspired and amusing than most casual attempts at infusing novelty that crash and burn in this film’s cousins. The script is also quite exceptional by taking a familiar kind of noir baseline and implementing flourishes of character that reveal themselves in reactive bursts at odd times, especially the eccentrically unreadable femme fatale, keeping me slightly more alert and vigilant than the programmers this emulates. Of the many above-average to great noirs from the decade this one comes highly recommended.

I nostri sogni: This hooked me from the very start, reminiscent of those 30s German screwballs in dynamic and the (even) more playful nouvelle vague in spirit, before any substantial plot kicked in. Movies that evoke moods such as this need no rationale why they work. Easily one of the better Italian films I’ve ever seen, certainly one of the best Italian comedies (though I really don’t like them much generally), and a serious late entry contender for my own list.

As for the ending, it didn’t bother me like it did domino, or undo anything that came before. I actually thought there was something kind of powerful about the melancholic acceptance that occurs after a reasonably executed impulsive expression of selfishness as a byproduct of authentic insecurity, with just enough time to slip back into a small bit of the two males’ camaraderie for good measure. The ‘lesson learned’ moment is a bit cheap I suppose, but with a runtime barely over an hour I’ll take that over dragging out the ‘problem’ of the film any longer, and leaving it there sans happy ending for all pleased me because it still gave a reassurance that these people will all be okay following the credits, just not together. I came away thinking of all the people we interact with and make memories with who we eventually fall out with due to an action or happenstance, and how those people still remain significant and play a role in shaping us. Sometimes the ending of a relationship doesn’t beget only cynicism for opportunities lost, but gratitude for moments had, and hope for change and growth moving forward. The realizations our characters have in the end, while isolated from one another, will play important roles in their lives to come. I thought it was a pretty happy ending in its own right and one that was earned, despite a few bumps that almost derailed this opportunity.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#509 Post by Rayon Vert » Sun Oct 06, 2019 12:17 am

On the Town (Kelly & Donen 1949). Like blus who wrote it up earlier, I was pretty wowed at how pretty much perfect this was, for most of the running anyways. Maybe the fact that the screenplay writers are the same as for Good News is what accounts for the tremendous, non-stop energy, especially for those first 40 minutes or so. But the use of real locations here for the musical numbers, at least early on the film, feels like a revelation and adds extra vitality. The songs themselves aren’t all stellar, but every number is designed and performed with tremendous originality and invention. Vera-Allen’s Miss Turnstyles number, Ann Miller’s Prehistoric Man, they’re all extremely witty and vivid. Before the heart strings get tugged and it starts relaxing, this film has the drive of sailors let loose on a day pass on a manic search for sex, with their female wannabe partners just as equally lustful. I do think that once Miss Turnstyles does her disappearing act on Gabey, the film loses a bit of steam for a while, and his fantasy scene of “A Day in New York” recapping the whole film as a dance number is a little superfluous, even though it’s a showcase for Kelly’s dancing abilities. But that’s a small criticism. Overall the script is fairly terrific for such a lightweight storyline and the way the film ends in that last scene just adds to the magic. It looks like the film might just be edged out of my list at this point, but in terms of musicals in general this is easily in my top 10 so far.


The Devil and Daniel Webster (Dieterle 1941). Another classic I hadn’t yet seen. Really solid story and script, even though the premise is familiar as blus said. But it really charms by the way it’s artfully designed and played, and it casts an atmospheric, sometimes almost spooky spell. Huston is really something of course.


Here Comes Mr. Jordan (Hall 1941). From devils to angels… I vaguely remembered the ’78 remake. I wasn’t bowled over by this although there’s nothing really bad about it. Early on the film did feel a bit laborious, following plot points but not generating much in the way of laughs. The latter half was stronger, and James Gleason created an amusing and likeable character in the role of the manager.


Kings Row (Wood 1942). Perhaps my reaction might have been a bit different had I not gone into this so blind on what it was about. The first half of this small town world epic builds up to this quite shocking event that really took me back. One problem though is that the film isn’t content to ride out the consequences of this but instead just keeps piling on one hyper-dramatic event after another, to the point where the story loses believability and therefore a lot of interest, not to mention a cohesive sense (unless there’s something here about young people in an idealized bygone world coming to terms with the harsher reality hidden underneath). This might have been interesting if Sirk or another greater filmmaker was able to tackle this material and add a level of self-awareness.

The other problem, that I had anyway, was that the build-up in that first part had a lot of promise, with the feeling of a dark mystery at its heart, and I felt a bit cheated by the way it tossed off to go into other tangents afterwards, with not much in the way of continuity except that Parris becomes a psychiatrist. These problems don’t make this film unenjoyable though, given the amount of talent in front of and behind the screen (Wong Howe, Cameron Menzies, Korngold, actors like Judith Anderson in small parts). It’s just that it’s a let-down.

First time seeing Reagan in a film here, and he was pretty solid for a role this size.


Prince of Foxes (King 1949). The third Henry King & Tyrone Power swashbuckler, and one that, like Captain from Castile, was shot on locations fitting the historical events, in this case Renaissance Italy. Power is, by all appearance, a noble who’s chosen by Cesare Borgia, played by Orson Welles, to fulfill missions in the service of his aims at conquering Italian domains. It’s a more modest film and production than Castile, shot in B&W, but quite likeable and worth the watch even though it isn’t a great film. Once again the tone is largely serious, which helps, with what we usually associate with ‘buckling at a minimum, and leaving greater place for serious drama (a lot of intrigue) and action. The Oscar-nominated cinematography is quite handsome. Meanwhile Welles - no surprise - is really at home in the role of the cruel tyrant, and the film does flirt with horror near the end.


Madame Bovary (Minnelli 1949). I was never crazy about the novel. Lacking the social commentary that gives the book its purpose, this adaptation just means we’re even more trapped watching this un-self-aware, neurotic character we can’t really care about and seeing the slow but sure dénouement of her tragic “flaw” and the consequences for herself and the others around her. (The presence of Louis Jourdan as Rodolphe brought to mind the Ophuls film of the previous year, also the story of an “obsessed female”.) I didn’t think the filmmaking’s occasional strengths overcame the problems with the material – that ballroom scene was indeed the one that stood out among the rest. There are definitely some good moments and aspects throughout, whether in the sets, performances or framing, but it ended up being a bit tedious. The Renoir version worked instead because it emphasized the satire of the bourgeois world presented.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#510 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:54 am

Alias Nick Beal: It’s surprising there weren’t more noir takes on Faust during this decade, but this film captures the significant beats of the tale in step with the vibe of the genre as best as it can, which turns out to be pretty well. The gloomy fog and darkness of the basement set in Mitchell’s first meeting with Milland is probably as good as it could get in any adaptation, and these two actors are perfectly cast in their respective roles to serve the dynamic the story requires. Overall the film didn’t rise above the excitement of the experiment, but watching the fusion of an old tale, expressionist style, and fatalistic attitude is enough to recommend this one.

Once More, My Darling: A quick-witted farce from Montgomery that seems to fit the screwball template more than most late 40s genre entries. This was far more humorous than I anticipated, and directed with an energetic gusto that was endearing and investing. Montgomery has always shown a tremendous level of creativity and knowledge in his craft behind the camera, and transforms his skills well to fit this fast, light comedy. The interplay between actors is a delight and they deliver their strong lines with an extra joyous intensity. Ann Blyth is a shockingly excellent fit as the quirky screwball femme and she shines next to Montgomery, upending all expectations of the actress and her character of a perfume model that should be vain and cold, but instead is silly and warm. This entire film is turned up to 11 for its duration, and I loved just about every minute of it.

Escape: This film is better than it has any right to be. The crime tries to lend itself to a moral ambiguity that doesn’t really fit as nicely as it would like, and the story and script leave a lot to be desired, though Mank takes the material and chooses to shoot it with a passion that resists the complacency one would expect given all the flags that signal an average programmer. Mank switches gears many times in this brief noir, with majestic flair and optimism one moment only to drive up the stakes into storms of chaos when Harrison runs into trouble, treating any glitch as a life or death moment. Rex really sells the tough but struggling protagonist and he’s a joy to watch, though his character wouldn’t work in another actor’s hands with equal parts suave, abrasive, and anxious. He pulls the compilation off marvelously without the crutch of a runtime affording space for development, showing off all these traits together in each breath of almost every interaction with another, friend or foe. The film lost my interest towards the end but it was probably destined to with the Code in full force as Mank has to end the film in accordance with some rules after breaking so many.

Resisting Enemy Interrogation: I usually find propaganda films interesting at best and nothing more, but this one was excellent as it really digs into the psychological tactics of the enemy, and dares to paint the Nazis as clever and intelligent. It’s a wild choice to leave the audience to be interrogated right with the soldiers and fleshing out the characters of the antagonists more than the protagonists by giving the former more creative space to manipulate literally and figuratively as the plot and the dynamic of interest demands. From a purely psychological vantage point, I enjoyed watching the Nazis utilize some dated and some current therapeutic modalities to elicit more talk from the subject; very briefly we get some use of reflective statements as hidden open-ended questions and the like, interventions similar to Motivational Interviewing which I teach and often use with my own clients - which made me feel pretty weird to identify with these hypothetical movie-Nazis on a level of professional admiration! Still, most of these tactics are either old-fashioned or rooted in the non-clinical, manipulative ‘reverse-psychology’ methods, not relevant today, but still likely used back then and fascinating to see in action as a product of the times and, most importantly, the fear of those times.

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock: The first act of this Sturges/Lloyd collaboration did next to nothing for me, and I was about to call it a failure until the first real gag hit with Lloyd aging 20+ years, getting fired, and off to the races we go. Once the film revealed its true premise, the necessity of the preceding intro became clear, which is helped significantly by a painstakingly funny nonstop sequence of gags that populate the rest of the film. It’s surprising that Sturges reportedly spent most of his writing time on that first third, which barely contain any of the strong comedic moments, though it’s unclear to me how different the finished film is post-Hughes cuts. This also has one of the best drunken blackout setpieces put to film, and only highlights how unnecessary and mistakenly exaggerated modern Frat Pack comedies are in attempting to do the same by overcompensating that which here comes with ease. Lloyd gives an intense, loud performance, showing that he’s still got it all these years later. It’s a charming and wild ride, and a great note for Lloyd to go out on.

The Crystal Ball: Con comedies are hit or miss but this starts off strong from the first scene and hardly lets up in interest, if not necessarily always garnishing actual laughs it’s a very endearing premise and pleasurable execution revolving around a romance that feels worthy of sidelining the focus on gags over story. I liked every character in this, even the sleazy or pompous ones, and found myself rooting for the story itself to deliver the goods vs. aligning with any character in particular, a rare treat few films afford.

A Medal for Benny: This blend of comedic social satire and wartime drama examining economic hardship offers a strong introduction to each member of the community of interest, and develops their personalities quite deeply through comedic banter within each interpersonal relationship before diving into the plot. In a refreshing change of pace, the main characters are specifically non-white and yet tied to America and the war just as much as those dominant groups who tend to get the spotlight in wartime films of this decade. The socioeconomic disparities are felt throughout the picture, and yet there is a push to assimilate race and culture to the point where the script could function with any ethnic group front and center. That’s not meant to be a criticism, though I can see how it could be concerning as viewed today, because stereotypes are barely existent and certainly aren’t as problematic as most other films from the era that attempt to understand groups that the filmmakers don’t actually understand. By taking a broader humanist umbrella vision here, we get a compassionate and relatable portrayal of the effects of wartime on the mezzo-system communities and the micro-system individual stories, special to this group and these characters, but hitting themes that most can relate to: loss, jealousy, inadequacy, hope, longing, and acceptance. The film balances the heavy and the light moments well in a powerful story that feels both cinematic and realistic, as if based on a handful of true stories that we just don’t get the opportunity to see transcribed onto the silver screen often enough.

Brasher Doubloon: This Marlowe story starts off just like The Big Sleep, with sketchy kids and old client in a greenhouse to boot! While I love the Hawks film to death, this is a wild ride in a very short runtime, forming a tight, fun detective-noir that should be mentioned alongside the best of the subgenre- certainly on par with The Maltese Falcon with which this probably shares the most similar fingerprints.

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La Symphonie pastorale: The right kind of spiritual film has the potential to reach the highest peaks of sublime filmmaking in my view, and this gets close to reaching the levels of the best of them. Especially when it comes to the concept of saintliness, this film offers a dark and complex interpretation of what that may look like, the consequences of these actions, and how the natural hypocrisy that occurs when one grapples with morals and emotions equally will infect the relationship systems like a disease, and poison oneself slowly and unconsciously. There is also a more jarring possibility that the action itself of ‘doing good’ may actually become a failure while seemingly succeeding, with those who can physically see acting as cognitively blind to their own destruction by way of creation, while the physically blind may have complete awareness unclouded by the weight of sin- though possibly inhabiting sin in her own peculiar, possibly supernatural, way. The last act of the film initiates that conversation, and offers up Gertrude as a token symbol, a spiritual object, a creation, that mirrors the deepest sins in those around her, triggering obsessions and harm in a social ripple effect, and paints her as potentially indirectly responsible for all of these painful disturbances by simply existing. A demonic presence who has no consciousness or agency in serving this role, Gertrude is a superbly constructed character who essentially is the idea of existential horror in the form of a person-as-object, innocent yet guilty by proxy of others’ sins.

The creation of her transformation from a seemingly antisocial animalistic child to a pure, spiritual being is itself a facade, yet a lifelong saintly act that is troubling because it doubles as a sinful distraction from the church values in family and god, as Gertrude becomes the pastor’s God, but without her consent. Thus this becomes a twofold metaphorical assault on both the flesh of an innocent on earth and on the trust of the governing higher power that the pastor is in service of- as well as a dissolution of his identity that is by nature aimed at modeling that supreme being vs. his own interests. Most shots contain physical objects subtly obstructing the subjects or action of the frame, whether they’re trees outside, walls or table objects inside, or even sometimes- and creatively- the subject’s own hands when the camera shoots from a low angle. I’m not sure if this is intended to evoke thematic blindness of the characters who fail to acknowledge their own emotional and psychological processes, burying them behind layers of reason and faith, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

The film is masterfully executed in form, and edited to a very intriguing pace, but it’s the acting and writing that necessitate the ambiguity of the possible readings and the direction that links this ambiguity to the inherently unknown processes of spirituality so immaculately. This strangely reminded me of The Young Pope in how it seriously handles the hypothetical ramifications stemming from the fallible agency and humanity of a saint. Although the defining qualities of the saint are taken more literally in one than the other, and the films explore different ideas and interests, both works are far denser and more philosophically nebulous than they appear. While this doesn’t have the narrative space to breathe as much as the later work, it tells a full episodic story that ventures across the spectrum from well-rounded altruism to selfish obsession in under two hours. The final lines
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where the pastor says, “Don’t look at me anymore” before shutting Gertrude’s now-dead eyes and carrying her away could symbolize the final break of the devilish spell over him, continuing the suppression of responsibility and finally joining the brigade of projecting this fault too onto her; or perhaps it’s a surrender to facing his own spiritual and moral dissonance and a statement of finally taking responsibility by deeming himself unworthy of being looked upon by the woman he has loved, and harmed, the most in his life. Another stroke of ambiguity to end a perfect film in a perfect way.
I’ll probably be mulling this one over for a long, long time; and it’s a last minute guarantee for my list.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#511 Post by domino harvey » Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:43 am

Well, those are all great movies that could make my list, though all def won’t

Despite her reference-level brat perf in Mildred Pierce, Blyth usually was quite charming. She was (and still is) a huge moral right wing Catholic too, so she eventually bowed out of the industry to be a Good Catholic Wife and Mother, but she ironically had a good run there in the late 40s/early 50s of playing capricious nymphettes. Her last starring role as Helen Morgan is a disaster though

The master stroke of A Medal for Benny is taking J Carrol Naish’s comic relief supporting character and gradually turning him into the sympathetic lead as the film progresses. Naish’s Oscar nom for such a broad perf doesn’t sit well with some modern commentators but I think he shoulda won for being able to take the audience credibly along with this transformation— it’s a harder role than I think he gets credit for now. It’s one of the best and most interesting of Hollywood’s WWII propaganda films, though I think it’s well on its way to being forgotten outside of Naish

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#512 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Oct 07, 2019 11:02 am

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:43 am
Despite her reference-level brat perf in Mildred Pierce, Blyth usually was quite charming. She was (and still is) a huge moral right wing Catholic too, so she eventually bowed out of the industry to be a Good Catholic Wife and Mother, but she ironically had a good run there in the late 40s/early 50s of playing capricious nymphettes. Her last starring role as Helen Morgan is a disaster though
Yeah, I realize that I'm basing my surprised reaction off of that perf, though I think more of the shock came from my own expectations for what a perfume model would be, and how she totally runs amuck all over Montgomery after immediately upending said expectation. That's an interesting fact about her private life in total discord with those free-spirited roles though!

I doubt any of these will make my own list either, except for La Symphonie pastorale, which I'm just realizing now is the only French film on my list! I know that future decades will more than right that wrong, but it feels blasphemous.

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#513 Post by domino harvey » Mon Oct 07, 2019 11:08 am

I wonder if she got blackballed like Hollywood’s most infamous Catholic, Joan Leslie— my guess is Blyth knew what would happen and self-selected out of the industry instead. Leslie certainly suffered the most from her push back against the studios and would be a cautionary tale for anyone else in a similar spot: she was at her height one of the most well-known and popular actresses of the studio era, and WB fucking salted the earth of her fame after she took her moral objections to certain roles public. And it worked, because even now she’s never mentioned in the same breath as the other usual suspects of Hollywood starlets, despite being their contemporary in all respects but legacy

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#514 Post by domino harvey » Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:45 pm

Nunnally Johnson explains what a movie producer does

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ntnon
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#515 Post by ntnon » Mon Oct 07, 2019 8:39 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:45 pm
Nunnally Johnson explains what a movie producer does

Image
Witty, plausible and only the final one or two have probably really changed...

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#516 Post by domino harvey » Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:48 pm

So it turns out John Carradine was a really cool dude:

Image

How can you not love Carradine saying a phrase like "It is a base canard" in real life? How perfect! Also, he once pulled the emergency brake on a freighter train he was riding because his Homburg hat flew off his head, and they angrily kicked him off in the middle of nowhere because doing so cost the line $500 in lost productivity. I want a John Carradine biopic, and I want it now

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#517 Post by ntnon » Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:30 pm

What are you reading?

nitin
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#518 Post by nitin » Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:55 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:48 pm
So it turns out John Carradine was a really cool dude:

Image

How can you not love Carradine saying a phrase like "It is a base canard" in real life? How perfect! Also, he once pulled the emergency brake on a freighter train he was riding because his Homburg hat flew off his head, and they angrily kicked him off in the middle of nowhere because doing so cost the line $500 in lost productivity. I want a John Carradine biopic, and I want it now
What if it starred Ansel Elgort as Carradine?

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#519 Post by domino harvey » Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:58 pm

ntnon wrote:
Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:30 pm
What are you reading?
Hollywood Without Make-Up
nitin wrote:
Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:55 pm
What if it starred Ansel Elgort as Carradine?
We'll need to wait til his voice finally changes

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#520 Post by ntnon » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:29 pm

I was just wondering where my Arsenic & Old Lace is, when I spotted it on the Channel - alongside half-a-dozen Val Lewton films! Excellent timing...

Thoughts when there's time, but meanwhile: Is it known what's missing around the 1h 21m mark, when Cary Grant jumps from the cemetary to the window..?

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#521 Post by swo17 » Thu Oct 10, 2019 11:01 am

Deadline is one month from today--PM me your lists whenever!

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therewillbeblus
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#522 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Oct 11, 2019 12:04 am

The Dark Past: A noir that shifts towards the psychological rather than the existential but lays itself unapologetically transparent, a direction I fear is not necessarily admirable here. Cobb and Holden have some fun chewing on the outlandish material, but this is a very silly film, with Freudian dream analysis saving the day and initiating a cure that undoes social conditioning. I can appreciate that when taken as a product of the time, this was pretty daring to tackle such a bold presentation of the power of psychology as practically a mystical process. Unfortunately it was still tough for me to get on its level and not view it as ridiculous camp, when it’s trying to take itself more seriously than most noirs do even when venturing to brave places.

The Gangster: I was surprised at just how deep this film was, and how wide it expanded its interests. This is a crime noir on the surface but dabbles its focus in the isolated struggles of the players while collectively linking them through a loose narrative. More meditative and kind to it’s characters than I expected given the hard-nosed actions and attitudes, this was a strange beast of a noir, toying with optimism and even transcendental spirituality before venturing into the inevitable fatalism. Some scenes juggle serenity and paranoia in the same breath, highlighting the chaotic state of being torn between two sets of emotional states. This is one of the most obvious and successful depictions of an existential crisis in a noir, and presupposes all the modern depictions of this experience among gangsters, though far more powerful and less romanticized here.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game: RV wrote this up well, though I probably liked it a bit more. After a laughless first 15 minutes, the best gags hit once we are introduced to the new team owner and Kelly repeatedly makes a fool of himself in a series of entertaining scenes. The middle section also worked for me not because of any twist on the clichés, but because they were used well to continue the playful dynamics amongst the characters and elicit amusing exaggerated reactions from the players. Perhaps I just enjoy seeing the faces Kelly and Sinatra make as they are emasculated on screen, but I've always felt that the musical is a safe place to present these moments of ego-deflation and embarrassment in a manner that is relatable and light enough to be fun and self-reflexive to the human social experience. Social dynamics are almost always the name of the game in the musical and this film uses the gender-swapping roles to amplify some of the more interesting vulnerabilities the genre often explores. I agree that Kelly is aggressive at times to the point of uncomfortable harassment that can play problematic today, but he’s also shamed enough times by the object of his affections during those scenes that this aspect didn’t bother me as much by the scenes’ ends as they did when the scenes began. Once the characters settled into rhythm and cooled their jets in the last act I lost interest, but as RV says the film pulls itself together for an exuberant finale that uses the physical space and rules of baseball for one of the more creative endings I’ve seen on screen in a while, even before the last number.

The Sea Wolf: The collaboration here is something to behold. The main cast is mostly top notch, with Garfield the weakest link as a classic stiff who refuses to assimilate. Lupino gives a more layered perf than expected as a desperate fugitive who’s not used to being as helpless as she’s forced to be, and Robinson hams it up as a nasty amoral captain up there with the most brutal pirate characters on page and screen. The whole vibe is that of an adventure noir, with a lot of spy-like conniving and hidden maneuvers under the decks. The sets aren’t clearly defined in the rooms beneath and this creates a maze both claustrophobic and oddly freeing due to a lack of spatial awareness, as one feels like the rooms and passageways may go on forever. This refusal to rigidly define the physical space allows for these opportunities for exploration of private affairs to feel fun and safe to develop. There is a playful energy to these moments and at times characters seem like children playing secret games, and yet the milieu is that of people literally trapped at sea and figuratively trapped under a fascist, unpredictable and evil dictator. Curtiz manipulates his technique with the usual involving tactics, navigating the sets and administering camerawork and lighting with a deep understanding of atmosphere. I particularly enjoyed the shots of the captain becoming ill (in more ways than one) below deck with the camera rocking and swaying with the beat of the waves, mimicking his own nausea and fluctuating mental states, as well as those expressionist shots pairing the man’s shadow against brief pockets of light as he tries to emerge from this violently deteriorating mental state and physical handicaps to no avail.

The only area of the film I really loathed was the arc that took shape once Garfield moved from the background antihero to center stage in the hero role. As a fan of the actor I hate to say that his role here felt poorly developed and forced amidst a collection of interesting and authentic characters, weighing them down a bit and standing out like a sore thumb as an underwritten yet significant part in an otherwise well-written film. Garfield starts off well enough with some entertaining lines and tough guy moments only to be sidelined unexpectedly, but we hardly notice his absence because the new blood entering the story grabs our attention for most of the runtime until he returns as if to demand the promises of his contract. It’s not Garfield’s fault that his character doesn’t fit in, but not even a great actor can make this addition work and the film would be better off without him. However, just as the last act seems like it’s going to fall into classic cat-and-mouse conventions, a few unforeseen variables are inserted to add stress and excitement to spice up the narrative, alleviating the complacency that would soften the film if it solely focused on the inevitable direction the film must, and does, take. The ending includes a bitter psychological reduction spawned from a satisfying shift of roles in a specific dynamic of interest woven throughout the narrative, and feels earned whilst reinforcing the strong writing of human beings sans Garfield’s, sneaking up on the audience in a pleasant surprise for a strong finish.

We Were Strangers: Well no one can argue Garfield’s role isn’t essential to this story! Huston gives us a first-hand experience of hanging out with the resistance in Cuba during one of those critical points in history one often forgets, yet an encouraging reminder of the meaning of heroes as defined by action. I expected Jones to be ill-suited for the part but she sells her character well enough that I honestly forgot it was her for a good chunk of the film. Some particularly tense interactions produce high stakes as thrilling scenes stack and induce a vibrant mood into this harsh but entertaining story.

Holiday Affair: Another discovery for the holiday pile. This Mitchum change-up started off slow and suspiciously banal before revealing its effectiveness through restraint. A slow burn of observational style, intentionally breeding the development through this natural process of watching slight mannerisms and common behavior to buy in. After about half an hour I realized I not only cared about these characters but knew them better than those which most witty screenwriting could produce, an authenticity not easily found in romantic drama of the era. There are enough coincidences to make this a quintessential ‘movie’ tried and true, but that doesn’t undercut any of the honest characterization that came before. Janet Leigh gives a perf of reserved power in a difficult and realistic role as a woman torn between devoted mother, grieving widow, and object and subject toward two men’s affections; tired, strong, and clinging to her hierarchy of priorities as a means of survival. Some comedic social interaction, including a pretty funny if slightly obnoxious child actor, is very welcome to brighten the mood of this rather grim post-war meditation on domestic life. Mitchum’s performance doesn’t always sell his character’s gut-sourced actions, but when viewing the film as from Leigh and her son’s perspective with this man serving as little more than an enticing yet curious mystery, his monotonous attitude works in allowing them, and us, see through the possible red flags and settle for his concrete actions of kindness, nobility, and love.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#523 Post by nitin » Fri Oct 11, 2019 11:42 pm

Holiday Affair is one of the hidden gems in both Mitchum and Leigh’s filmography. It won’t make my list but it’s a film that totally caught me off guard with its perfectly captured character observation and won me over.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#524 Post by ntnon » Sat Oct 12, 2019 9:51 pm

One of my Christmas favourites, too. I especially liked gis directness both in criticising her parenting and speaking out of turn. The necktie and court dialogue was great, too.

It occurs to me that ALL the best Christmas films are from the 40s..

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#525 Post by Rayon Vert » Sun Oct 13, 2019 12:17 am

Ivan the Terrible Part II (Eisenstein 1946). I liked this a lot more than Part 1. It maintained the highly expressive visuals but without the slow dragginess. Ivan does end up cutting something of a Satanic figure, especially in the red, but the boyars’ nefarious intentions are clear throughout so I had a hard time seeing why Stalin had so much a problem with the film.


The Secret Garden (Wilcox 1949). I wasn’t familiar with this children’s novel or the other adaptations. Margaret O’Brien plays the recently orphaned young girl Mary who is sent from India to her uncle’s in Yorkshire, where the discovery of a secret garden, also associated to loss through death, helps in the recovery of her bedridden cousin. As in Captains Courageous, the young protagonists undergo a process where they shed their arrogance as the narrative unfolds. This was good in places, more so in the earlier parts of the film involving Mary’s discovery of her new gloomy abode, but the transformative dimension didn’t really generate the requisite emotion, perhaps hampered a bit by the uneven acting in the children.


The Quiet Duel (Kurosawa 1949). Another story about a wounded but “saintly” doctor taking care of the miserable. Nice to see Mifune playing that lead, more well-rounded role. There were times when I thought the writing could have been tighter though. There’s a longish patch there early enough on when it feels we’re just watching characters moaning about their (albeit legitimately difficult) predicaments, before new dramatic developments occur. But the characters and the way they are performed holds the interest even when the story line isn’t as captivating as it could be. The fact that this is a story about a doctor struggling with having contracted a socially shameful disease isn’t as shocking as the moment when he expresses the suffering he feels about not having been able to live his desire, and what his trainee nurse proposes. That Miss Minegishi is an appealing character that’s particularly well played. Perhaps because it didn’t have the same generic trapping as Drunken Angel, in the end I actually enjoyed this one more.


The Razor’s Edge (Goulding 1946). I haven’t read the novel so I can’t compare the film but, despite many good elements (movielocke mentioned the beauty of the photography and the strength of the supporting cast, and domino the blocking in the Alt Oscars thread), this ends up lacking in creating a sense of cohesion, not really succeeding in making the theme and plot involving Larry’s spiritual quest, and Isabel’s romantic ambitions, fit in a satisfying way. And the last quarter or so just felt uninspired in the writing and directing, removing much of the interest that been constructed earlier on despite the flaws. Not surprisingly the Indian spirituality that’s at the source of the quest aspect is quite bungled (or intentionally redirected?) by Hollywood - Larry’s conversion to Hinduism instead comes across as vague, Christian-ish devotion to good action and self-sacrifice, and Power’s character is really not an interesting one. Reading in Wikipedia that the novel introduces Advaita Vedanta nondualism, this is totally incongruous with what’s portrayed in Larry here, and the heavily played spiritual scenes in India are especially ridiculous. The film is a lot more successful in creating an interesting and multidimensional character with the selfish (though not evil) person that is Isabel than the saint (although admittedly that's probably an easier thing to do in the first place).

Sarris wrote that the director had a habit of bringing the best out of his actresses, and this is definitely the case with Tierney and Baxter here, especially the former – really as good a performance as I’ve seen from her. Meanwhile Clifton Webb plays another enjoyable aristocratic asshole, and Herbert Marshall has some good moments too. It’s kind of unfortunate to have such good performances residing in a film I won’t be really enthused to watch again.


The Ghost Ship (Robson 1943). [Rewatch] I may be wrong and there may have been examples before this, but this feels relatively new in the horror coming from a deranged human antagonist, rather than a monster, especially so given that the person isn’t an evil caricature like the mad scientist in Murders in the Rue Morgue, for example, but a more everyday, ordinary person - albeit one with pathological narcissism driving him to murderous extremes. The film doesn’t have the many layers or visual imagery of the Lewton predecessors, but it’s scarier and arguably more horrific, with the homicidal maniac much more frightening than the one discovered in The Leopard Man. The treatment of the theme really feels modern in how unflinching and grim it is for the most of the film.

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