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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 23, 2022 21:17:46 GMT -5
Is Mr. Lucky the one with the dancing caterpillar?
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Post by berkley on Mar 23, 2022 23:06:14 GMT -5
Is Mr. Lucky the one with the dancing caterpillar? Doesn't ring a bell with me but it's been a long time since I've seen it. Can you elaborate? |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 24, 2022 0:14:50 GMT -5
Is Mr. Lucky the one with the dancing caterpillar? Doesn't ring a bell with me but it's been a long time since I've seen it. Can you elaborate? I just double-checked. It’s a different Cary Grant movie from 1944 titled Once Upon a Time. |
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Post by coke & comics on Mar 24, 2022 5:22:08 GMT -5
1944. Laura wins for me hands down. Just rewatched it recently in fact. To me it's the way the painting of Laura haunts the apartment, as the detective is falling in love with the victim of the murder he's investigating. It brings to mind Rebecca in terms of being a non-supernatural ghost story. A haunting presence within a grounded story.
Then the Gaslight that we've been waiting for. Saw this for the very first time not long ago. Haunting is a good word for this film as well.
After that I'll go with Meet Me in St. Louis. This one's tricky because I am lukewarm towards the film as a whole; I think it's less than the sum of its parts. But the best parts are so good. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas being one of the best Christmas scenes and songs. But also fun times at Halloween.
Been too long since I've seen it, but I love the Cat People films, and I think the sequel was perhaps better than the first. So Curse of the Cat People takes the... whatever comes after bronze.
As far as actually supernatural ghost stories, I think The Uninvited is one of the best early spook films.
Can't believe I didn't make room for my favorite director in my top 5. But Lifeboat is also great. Double Indemnity I owe a rewatch. Been too long. I appreciate the extent to which most noir cliches seem to really just be about this film. A Cantebury Tale is a fine little film. Also been too long for To Have and Have Not. I believe it's good though.
Least favorite films at this point are usually going to be the Disney package films. I get there was a war on, but the slump in quality was just so precipitous. Three Caballeros isn't really bad. It's just not good.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 24, 2022 9:48:32 GMT -5
Least favorite films at this point are usually going to be the Disney package films. I get there was a war on, but the slump in quality was just so precipitous. Three Caballeros isn't really bad. It's just not good. and Three Caballeros were partially underwritten by the U.S. government and were produced as part of the U.S.'s Good Neighbor policy toward South and Central America during World War II. The war absolutely killed Disney's box-office by cutting off the European and Asian markets. It took them until almost 1950 to recover from the soft box-office for Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi (along with a lot of labor strife). |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Mar 24, 2022 12:35:10 GMT -5
Playing catch up here, with my favourite films from 1939 to 1944... 1939The Wizard of Oz - No question here. The film's just a masterpiece of cinema, both for its time and nowadays. I love Frank L. Baum's Oz books and have read at least the first 5 or so in the series. Despite the fact that the MGM Oz is a rather different place to Baum's fantasy-land, it's still a magical and appropriately sinister setting. The performances of the central cast (Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, and Margaret Hamilton) are impeccably delivered. This movie enthralled me as a child of the '70s and '80s every bit as much as it must've appealed to people back in 1939 – and it will still be delighting generations of kids for decades to come! Without exaggeration, I must've seen this film a hundred times or more and I still make a point of watching it every year. The Wizard of Oz is simply one of my favourite movies of all time. Honourable mention goes to Gone with the Wind, which I only saw for the first time about a year or so ago. To be honest, it felt overly long to me and even a bit boring in places, but the sweeping romantic majesty of the piece is very seductive and the production values are superb. 1940Fantasia – This is a bit of a default favourite for me because, after consulting Wikipedia, it looks as if this is the only film from 1940 that I've actually seen. I watched it a few times in the early '90s – once or twice when I was in, how shall we say, altered states.  I'm really not a huge Disney fan, but the combination of the classical music by the likes of Stravinsky, Bach and Dukas, along with the masterful (and often rather surreal) Disney animation makes for an audio/visual treat. Is Fantasia a great Disney film? No, not really. Is it a visually impressive work of art? Absolutely! But it's also one that I have no strong desire to re-watch nowadays. 1941The Maltese Falcon – This is another film that I only saw semi-recently, but I really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of Humphrey Bogart generally and the pulpy, crime noir setting of this film is just to die for. Bogart absolutely dominates every scene he's in, but his supporting cast is also top notch, with the likes of Peter Lorre, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet all giving powerful performances. It's a slightly frustrating film, insofar as the twists and turns of the plot are almost impossible to follow (or at least they were for me on first viewing), but it's a testament to the cast, script writer, and director that the film keeps you riveted from start to finish anyway.
I've never seen Citizen Kane, I'm afraid to say. 1942Casablanca – This is one of my Top 10 favourite films of all time, and by far my favourite old black & white movie. It really is pretty much flawless. I adore its potent blend of exotic locale, romance and wartime noir, as Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman turn in all-time career best performances. Claude Rains is almost their equal, with his magnificent portrayal of the slimy, officious, but charming and oddly noble police captain Renault. Although Casablanca is set in North Africa, the film shows Americans at their most romantically idealistic, with its story of a man and a woman who sacrifice their love and future happiness for a higher, more noble purpose. What can I say, Casablanca is just a terrific film. Bambi should get an honourable mention here too because it was the first film I ever saw, when my mother took me to see it in the late-70s. Of course, everybody knows it's also one of the saddest movies of all time – surprisingly so for a children's film – but it's also beautiful in its almost meditative depictions of fauna that is completely in step with its natural habitat. The story of a young white-tailed fawn growing up to find his place in the world is so, so watchable. I've always felt that Disney kinda tried to pull off the same trick again in the 90s with The Lion King, but that film pales next to the grandeur of Bambi. It's a beautifully charming animated film, with important life lessons that any child would do well to learn early in life. Oh, and the rabbit Thumper damn near steals the show! 1943Air Force – In all honesty, this is pretty blatant, post-Pearl Harbour U.S. propaganda, but its still a damn enjoyable war movie. It follows the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress that arrives at Pearl Harbour in the aftermath of the Japanese attack, and is then sent to Manila to aid the defence of the Philippines. Really, it's probably more of a historical curiosity these days than a true classic, but that said, the crew of the Flying Fortress are all very engaging characters and there are some inspired moments in the film. For example, the landing at Pearl Harbour, with destruction and raging fires seen from above, and the action-packed dog fight sequence are both visually impressive, with very accomplished miniature model work for the era. I also really like the team-building reconstruction of the damaged bomber: it's a bit corny, sure, but its also a mightily satisfying moment in the film. All in all, Air Force is a better and more enjoyable film than you might think, given its WW2 era propaganda origins. 1944Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress – Staying with war-time propaganda and B-17 Flying Fortresses, this is, according to Wikipedia, the only film from 1944 that I've ever seen.  Obviously, its a documentary, following the crew of a Flying Fortress stationed in East Anglia, England as they execute a bombing raid on the submarine pens at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, rather than a fictional tale. But I have a huge interest in the U.S. 8th Army Air Force's time here in England during World War 2 and consider myself something of an armchair expert on the subject, so obviously this film, shot in 16 mm colour film, is a hugely important visual document for folks like me. Of course, its main purpose is in morale-building, but nevertheless, this look at the crew of the Memphis Bell, with actual footage of bombers battling Nazi fighters and avoiding deadly flack, amply illustrates the bravery of the men who manned these bombers. Viewed from our modern era, its a fascinating, poignant and humbling visual document.  |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 24, 2022 12:43:38 GMT -5
Glad you mentioned Air Force, Confessor , whch is indeed a propaganda piece, as so many war movies of the 40s were, but is also a fine piece of filmmaking that can be enjoyed despite the jingoism. Ditto to your choce of Memphis Belle, too. A classic. As for Casablanca, Umberto Eco may have put it best when he said, " Casablanca is not one movie; it is 'movies.'" |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 24, 2022 12:55:46 GMT -5
Agree with so many of the choices listed for 1944:
Double Indemnity
Laura
Gaslight
Meet Me in St. Louis
Lifeboat
To Have and Have Not
Curse of the Cat People
Murder, My Sweet
Arsenic and Old Lace
Especially glad to see the mentions of The Uninvited, a favorite of mine as well. It won't scare the socks off you, and I doubt it did that in 1944, but it is an engaging mix of romance, Gothic, and the supernatural. Great work by Ruth Hussey and Ray Milland as a brother and sister who buy an old haunted mansion and run afoul of its cranky owner, Donald Crisp, who bristles when they ask about the strange goings-on there that invovlve his grandadughter, Gail Russell, who is falling in love with Milland. The mystery is interesting enough, biut made more so because of the lesbian sub-text, a la Rebecca, which is not so sub-, but pretty, pretty obvious for a 40s film.
PS: The haunting theme, "Stella by Starlight," has become a classic. Here's the Itzhak Perlman version:
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Post by chadwilliam on Mar 24, 2022 15:33:42 GMT -5
1941
The Wolf Man - I know that Lon Chaney, Jr. gets a lot of grief but I think that he's excellent as Lawrence Talbot. Add in Claude Rains, who is always great, and some excellent special effects and we have another Universal horror classic. I wouldn't even describe this as "another classic", but the Universal horror classic. I might rank The Invisible Man as my favorite horror, but no one tops Lon Chaney, Junior's performance as Lawrence Talbot despite the stiff competition from Lugosi, Karloff, Reins, and so on. You can actually feel his anguish and torment, his pain and eternal hopelessness. The greatest performance in any horror film anywhere. Kind of fitting that The Wolf-Man has both Claude Reins and Bela Lugosi as his father. |
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Post by badwolf on Mar 28, 2022 9:51:42 GMT -5
Especially glad to see the mentions of The Uninvited, a favorite of mine as well. It won't scare the socks off you, and I doubt it did that in 1944, but it is an engaging mix of romance, Gothic, and the supernatural. Great work by Ruth Hussey and Ray Milland as a brother and sister who buy an old haunted mansion and run afoul of its cranky owner, Donald Crisp, who bristles when they ask about the strange goings-on there that invovlve his grandadughter, Gail Russell, who is falling in love with Milland. The mystery is interesting enough, biut made more so because of the lesbian sub-text, a la Rebecca, which is not so sub-, but pretty, pretty obvious for a 40s film. The Uninvited was a blind buy for me during one of the semiannual Criterion Collection sales, as it was an inexpensive release (there aren't many bonus features). I did not regret. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 29, 2022 0:02:04 GMT -5
I thought of a 1944 film that I saw for the first time a few years ago that would be a contender (with Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Murder My Sweet) for favorite film of 1944 ...
Dead of Night
It’s not really scary but it’s haunting and disturbing, especially after you’ve seen it a few times.
I double-checked. It’s actually a 1945 film. No wonder nobody had brought it up yet.
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Post by berkley on Apr 1, 2022 17:18:49 GMT -5
Cover Girl - watched this the other night: fantastic dance numbers from Gene Kelly but for me the chemistry between Kelly and Hayworth wasn't as strong as between Hayworth and Astaire; also, the technicolor felt a bit garish; in general, I didn't feel it showed off Hayworth's beauty to its fullest. Maybe I need to watch a version with higher-quality video than the one I saw recently. Still a fun movie, though.
Double Indemnity - in many ways the quintessential noir: the set-up, the two main characters and how they interact, the way the story unfolds, the photography, atmosphere, everything. Probably it's the two leads that keep it frm being a personal favourite - not that they do anything wrong, they just don't give it that extra-special something the way certain performers do for me. OTOH, if is was two leads I really like it might not work, as you'd tend to sympathise with them no matter what their characters are doing. I'd say Stanwyck works better here than MacMurray for me, and he isn't bad at all.
Arsenic and Old Lace - we talked about this a few pages back, or was it in the Classic Movie thread? Anyway, I like it a lot: though it isn't a perfect film, its flaws don't seem to matter to me. I like Grant in almost everything, though this is a somewhat odd kind of setting for him.
Cobra Woman - I'm not usually one for the MSTK or whatever it is thing where hipsters sit around making fun of old movies, but that's probably the best way to approach this one. Some really, wild, over-the-top scenes and moments, all of them involving star Maria Montez, whose "snake dance" is out of this world and who delivers some priceless lines. Check out the wiki entry for this film and you'll be able to tell if you want to see it or not. It's only a little over an hour long, so not a huge time investment.
To Have And Have Not - Bogart and Bacall, what more do you want. So many classic bits, it's a must-see for any film fan. The Hoagy Carmichael musical scenes are awesome. I read the Hemingway book a few years ago and from memory this has practically nothing to do with it.
Henry V - talked about this in the Classic Movie thread a few says ago. Must-see for Olivier's performance.
Laura - been a long time since I've seen this, but fascinating scenario and Gene Tierney is so convincing as the beauty who captivates just through her portrait.
Having watched To have and Have Not not long ago, it's fresh in my mind so I'll make that my pick, though I have a feeling I might switch back to Laura if I watched it again.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 5, 2022 12:43:10 GMT -5
Been ridiculously busy at work so 1945 has had to wait. For me, it is again all about film noir. Most of the other big films of the year ( Brief Encounter, Rome, Open City) I either haven't seen or haven't seen in eons. And even a couple of the big films noir Lost Weekend and Spellbound, I haven't seen in so long I don't feel qualified to judge. Mildred Pierce - Based on the James M. Cain novel (him again) this is one of those seminal early films noir. That said, it's not by any means my favorite. Crawford is excellent. But the film itself is a little too much weepie and not enough noir. The significant changes from the novel are almost universally to the bad (though some were surely dictated by the Hayes Code). Still it's an important film and is certainly worth watching for Crawford's performance. Scarlet Street - Excellent film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea. The film was banned in New York, Milwaukee and Atlanta for its dark themes and plot. Robinson is great (as usual) and Bennett shines as the gold-digging femme fatale out to take milquetoast Robinson for all he has. The film is remarkable (for its time) for the its treatment of the ultimate crime, which is surely what led to it being banned. It also makes it shine and truly feel like the type of literary noir that would become even more prominent in the following decade. The film is in the public domain so it's easy to find. Detour - This is, for me, the epitome of what really made the French love film noir. It's a film from a "poverty row" company, a B movie director (Edgar G. Ulmer0 who is largely forgotten and starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage, who are mostly known for this film. The screenplay was by Martin Goldsmith adapting his novel of the same name. This film rises above all those potential barriers to become one of the great films noir. Ann Savage's Vera is simply one of the great film villains. Everything about this movie (except the script) shouldn't work because the production is so slip-shod and the acting amateurish. But it is just a gem that rises above its station. Also in the Public Domain so it's easy to find. Leave Her to Heaven - An interesting movie that generated a cult following in the years after its release. Not a pure film noir (it's in brilliant technicolor) it blurs genres and has significant psychological underpinnings. Where it truly shines is in Gene Tierney's portrayal of Ellen Harland, another of movie history's excellent femmes fatale. Not film noir (or adjacent) The Body Snatcher - Honestly it's been a LONG time since I've seen this one. But I remember loving it in the day and Karloff and Lugosi together are always worth a look. I remember this being an exceptional performance by Karloff. 1945 was a fairly uneventful year in animation (as far as I can tell) with the biggest thing being the premiere of Yosemite Sam in Hare Trigger. So my favorite movie of 1945? At this point I'd probably give it to Detour. It's not a perfect movie, but it's the little movie that could. But I really would like to give a good re-watch to Lost Weekend and to Spellbound. 1945 in film as an assist. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 5, 2022 14:17:12 GMT -5
For some reason, I've seen a lot of fine movies that came out in 1945, so I'm going to post them occasionally, by category.
War Movies of 1945
“They Were Expendable”: A John Ford masterpiece, an elegy really, about one of the lowest points of the war, the fall of the Philippines and the last-stand mentality of the navy, particularly the PT-boat crews, and the Army as well. John Wayne is excellent; Robert Montgomery, too. (He had been a PT boat skipper at Normandy, among other places.) Donna Reed glows, and while the battle scenes are superb, it’s the non-action scenes that for my money are the best. There is some MacArthur idolatry, but hey, it was 1945. In the running for my favorite 1945 movie.
“A Walk in the Sun”: Lewis Milestone, who directed the powerful “All Quiet on the Western Front,” returns to the average guy in uniform. Not an “action” movie, but more a study of the boring grind that comprises much of being an infantryman. In that sense, more realistic and unsentimental than most WW2-era war movies.
“Objective, Burma!”: Raoul Walsh never spares the male bonding. Errol Flynn leads the cast in a solid men-in-battle movie that could have just as easily have been a Western.
“The Story of G.I. Joe”: Understated and more adult than most war movies back then. The ending still packs a double jolt.
“Back to Bataan”: Rah-rah stuff; boys adventure movie, but punctuated with moments of relative realism.
“Pride of the Marines”: Only a “war” movie in the middle; it’s the based-on-fact story of Marine Al Schmid, who was blinded at Guadalcanal while winning the Navy Cross and faced many a problem upon his return home. Yes, heavy on the patriotic angle at times, but give it credit for foreshadowing a more realistic kind of war movie that dealt with what happened after the supposed glory of battle. John Garfield is his usual working-class guy with a chip on his shoulder, which means he's good in the part.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 5, 2022 14:36:04 GMT -5
Noirs and Noir-ish Movies of 1945“Mildred Pierce”: Another Michael Curtiz triumph. As Slam_Bradley mentions, the novel is harsher and grittier, but you can read between the frames, too. Crawford was never better. Always liked her more when she wasn’t in a glamour role. “Lost Weekend”: You’ll never want another drink after you’ve seen this one. (Well, for a few minutes anyway.) Milland’s signature role as a boozer in a bottomless pit of dissolution and self-pity. Look for the fight between the rat and the bat when Milland is going through the DT’s. “Leave Her to Heaven”: A Techni-noir with a knockout performance by Gene Tierney as an absolutely frightening narcissist with a father fixation and a sociopathic personality. Brace yourself for the scene in the rowboat; it is still chilling. Over the top with melodramatic trappings and set designs that almost can’t be contained by the screen, but always fun to watch. “Detour”: What Slam_Bradley said. “Scarlet Street”: Ditto again, Slam_Bradley . Such a good movie. Edward G. Robinson is, as always, heartbreakingly good in another cast-against-type role. “Cornered”: Cool noir mystery with Dick Powell out for vengeance in post-war Argentina. And you know what that means. Excellent deep and dark cinematography by Harry J. Wild, who also did 1944's "Murder, My Sweet."
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I'm really not a huge Disney fan, but the combination of the classical music by the likes of Stravinsky, Bach and Dukas, along with the masterful (and often rather surreal) Disney animation makes for an audio/visual treat. Is Fantasia a great Disney film? No, not really. Is it a visually impressive work of art? Absolutely! But it's also one that I have no strong desire to re-watch nowadays.
Obviously, its a documentary, following the crew of a Flying Fortress stationed in East Anglia, England as they execute a bombing raid on the submarine pens at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, rather than a fictional tale. But I have a huge interest in the U.S. 8th Army Air Force's time here in England during World War 2 and consider myself something of an armchair expert on the subject, so obviously this film, shot in 16 mm colour film, is a hugely important visual document for folks like me. Of course, its main purpose is in morale-building, but nevertheless, this look at the crew of the Memphis Bell, with actual footage of bombers battling Nazi fighters and avoiding deadly flack, amply illustrates the bravery of the men who manned these bombers. Viewed from our modern era, its a fascinating, poignant and humbling visual document.
