LISTS

[CineMaven]

"Malicious cosmic fate." Well Brother Rat, that's it in a nutshell. I loved your comparison to whose story is it anyway; sometimes the man's, sometimes the woman. I love your focusing on that. "Brief Encounter" is just heartbreak hotel for me. I mean the pain is palpable.

And I do hope you get your "Need To See", seen.

[Rita Hayworth]

My Top 40 Movies of the 1940's in No Particular Order.


Casablanca - (1942, Michael Curtiz) (Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Peter Lorre)
It's a Wonderful Life - (1946, Frank Capra) (James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore)
The Grapes of Wrath - (1940, John Ford) (Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine)
The Maltese Falcon - (1941, John Huston) (Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre)
Double Indemnity - (1944, Billy Wilder) (Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson)
Notorious - (1946, Alfred Hitchcock) (Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains)
The Great Dictator - (1940, Charles Chaplin) (Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie)
Fantasia - (1940, James Algar) (Disney Animated film, Deems Taylor - Narrator (1940 original)
My Darling Clementine - (1946, John Ford) (Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Walter Brennan)
Red River - (1948, John Ford) (John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru)
Rebecca - (1940, Alfred Hitchcock) (Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders)
Laura - (1944, Otto Preminger) (Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb)
The Ox-Bow Incident - (1943, William Wellman) (Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn)
Shadow of a Doubt - (1943, Alfred Hitchcock) (Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey)
Adam's Rib - (1949, George Cukor) (Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday)
Bambi - (1942, David Hand) (Disney Animated film, Voices - Bobby Stewart,Hardie Albright)
Cat People - (1942, Jacques Tourneur) (Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph)
Key Largo - (1948, John Huston) (Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - (1943, Michael Powell) (Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr)
Miracle on 34th Street - (1947, George Seaton) (Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn)
How Green Was My Valley - (1941, John Ford) (Maureen O'Hara, Roddy McDowall, Walter Pidgeon)
The Postman Always Rings Twice - (1946, Tay Garnett) (Lana Turner, John Garfield)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan - (1941, Alexander Hall) (Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains, Evelyn Keyes)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon - (1949, John Ford) (John Wayne, Joanne Dru, Ben Johnson)
Oliver Twist - (1948, David Lean) (John Howard Davies, Alec Guinness, Anthony Newley)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - (1945, Elia Kazan) (Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn)
Mrs. Miniver - (1942, William Wyler) (Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright)
National Velvet - (1944, Clarence Brown) (Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp)
Mildred Pierce - (1945, Michael Curtiz) (Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott)
To Have and Have Not - (1944, Howard Hawks) (Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan)
The Pride of the Yankees - (1942, Sam Wood) (Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan)
Woman of the Year - (1942, George Stevens) (Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn)
Gaslight - (1944, George Cukor) (Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten)
Sergeant York - (1941, Howard Hawks) (Gary Cooper, Joan Leslie, Walter Brennan)
Sahara - (1943, Zoltan Korda) (Humphrey Bogart, Lloyd Bridges, Bruce Bennett)
The Heiress - (1949, William Wyler) (Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift)
Twelve O'Clock High - (1949, Henry King) (Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill)
Gilda - (1946, Charles Vidor) (Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready)
Spellbound - (1945, Alfred Hitchcock (Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov)
The Bells of St Mary's - (1945, Leo McCarey) (Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Traver

[Rita Hayworth]

My Top 50 Movies from the 1950's in no Particular Order


On the Waterfront - (1954, Elia Kazan) (Marlon Brando, Carl Malden, Rod Steiger)
Vertigo - (1958, Alfred Hitchcock) (James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes)
The Bridge on the River Kwai - (1957, David Lean) (Alec Guinness, William Holden)
Rear Window - (1954, Alfred Hitchcock) (James Stewart, Grace Kelly)
All About Eve - (1950, Joseph L. Mankiewicz) Bette Davis, Anne Baxter)
Singin' in the Rain - (1952, Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly) Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds)
Some Like It Hot - (1959, Billy Wilder) (Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe)
North by Northwest - (1959, Alfred Hitchcock) (Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint)
Touch of Evil - (1958, Orson Welles) Charlton Heston, Orson Welles)
A Streetcar Named Desire - (1951, Elia Kazan) Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh)
Diabolique - (1954, Henri-Georges Clouzot) (Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot)
Rebel Without a Cause - (1955, Nicholas Ray) (James Dean, Natalie Wood)
The African Queen - (1951, John Huston) (Catherine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart)
The 12 Angry Men - (1957, Sidney Lumet) (Henry Fonda, E.G. Marshall)
Ben-Hur - (1959, William Wyler) (Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd)
The Searchers - (1956, John Ford) (John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Jeffery Hunter)
High Noon - (1952, Fred Zinnemann) (Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges)
The Ten Commandments - (1956, Cecil B. DeMille) (Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner)
Strangers on a Train - (1951, Alfred Hitchcock) (Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll)
From Here to Eternity - (1953, Fred Zinnemann) (Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr)
Mr. Hulot's Holiday - (1953, Jacques Tati) (Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud)
Scrooge (aka A Christmas Carol) - (1951, Brian Desmond Hurst) (Alastair Sim, Meryvn Johns)
The Day the Earth Stood Still - (1951, Robert Wise) (Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe)
Roman Holiday - (1953, William Wyler) (Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert)
Anatomy of a Murder - (1959, Otto Preminger) (James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara)
A Man Escaped - (1956, Robert Bresson) (Francois Leterrier, Charles Le Clainche)
The King and I - (1956, Walter Lang) (Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno)
An American in Paris - (1951, Vincente Minnelli) (Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron)
East of Eden - (1955, Elia Kazan) (James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey)
Father of the Bride - (1950, Vincente Minnelli) (Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor)
Sweet Smell of Success - (1957, Alexander MacKendrick) (Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis)
The Asphalt Jungle - (1950, John Huston) (Sterling Hayden, Marilyn Monroe, James Whitmore)
The Big Heat - (1953, Fritz Lang) (Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin)
Giant - (1956, George Stevens) (Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Rock Hudson)
Marty - (1955, Delbert Mann) (Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti)
Harvey - (1950, Henry Koster) (James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow)
Forbidden Planet - (1956, Fred Wilcox) (Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen)
Rio Bravo - (1959, Howard Hawks) (John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson)
The Thing - (1951, Christian Nyby) (James Arness, Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey)
A Star is Born - (1954, George Cukor) (Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson)
Witness for the Prosecution - (1957, Billy Wilder) (Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich)
The Ladykillers - (1955, Alexander MacKendrick) (Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers)
Julius Ceasar - (1953, Joseph L. Mankiewicz) (Marlon Brando, James Mason, Louis Calhern)
The Seven Year Itch - (1955, Billy Wilder) (Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewel, Robert Strauss)
Around the World in 80 Days - (1956, Micheal Anderson) (David Niven, Cantinflas)
Stalag 17 - (1953, Billy Wilder) (William Holden, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral - (1957, John Sturges) (Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas)
The Defiant Ones - (1958, Stanley Kramer) (Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier)
The Quiet Man - (1952, John Ford) (John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara)
The Lavender Hill Mob - (1951, Charles Crichton) (Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James)

[ChiO]

The year 1946 proved to be momentous. The first international film festival was held in some town in the south of France. A film critic in France used a term -- film noir, I believe it was -- to describe a group of American movies being shown in Paris. And the films -- noir or not -- released that year made this list a very tough choice.

1946

1. A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (Michael Powell) - One of those movies that I can never watch enough. Romance, spirituality, perverse humor. It has it all.
2. CANYON PASSAGE (Jacques Tourneur) - Tourneur distills the Myth of the West to its essence: Community. And has there ever been a better Greek Chorus than Hoagy Carmichael?
3. BLACK ANGEL (Roy William Neill) - Woolrich hated this adaptation, but it's one of the best movies based on his work. And Duryea gets to be a romantic.
4. NOTORIOUS (Alfred Hitchcock) - Grant being Grant, Bergman being Bergman, and Rains being Rains. That's enough.
5. SO DARK THE NIGHT (Joseph H. Lewis) - With Burnett Guffey's cinematography, Lewis plops film noir right back down in France.
6. THE CHASE (Arthur Ripley) - Dark and oppressive. Steve Cochran. Philip Yordan (or someone) adapting Woolrich.
7. THE BIG SLEEP (Howard Hawks) - Still don't know who did what to whom. And I don't care.
8. THE STRANGER (Orson Welles) - One of the Great One's lesser films, which makes it far better than most.
9. SPECTER OF THE ROSE (Ben Hecht)- Can't beat murder and madness in the world of ballet, and then topped off with a poetry spouting Lionel Stander.
10. GREAT EXPECTATIONS (David Lean) - Who said a movie can't be better than the book?

Quite the year for non-English language movies, too: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, SHOESHINE and PAISAN.

[CineMaven]

1946

The war is over and things are still a little dark on my list. I’ve seen thirty-five movies this year, and what a wonderful year for movies. I mean how can I go wrong with a list that contains the gorgeousness of Cary Grant, not to mention The Blonde, The Brunette and The Red Head of the 1940’s?

Let the List begin...

“DECOY”


Edward Norris - Herbert Rudley - Jean Gillie

You see that look on Herb’s face? That’s not the look of love. It’s the look you have when the girl you love is crazy, and the man next to you is a gangster. Yeah, you’re being taken for a ride in this interesting thriller where gangster Robert Armstrong ( years away from his hamstringing King Kong ) has died in the gas chamber, but is revived by Rudley to show Gillie where the money he stole is he buried. Even a mangy old cat knows not to give its nine lives to a money hungry blonde. Jean is wonderful in this, craving...keeping her eye on the prize throughout - she wants that money. ( I love her in “The Macomber Affair” but that’ll have to wait till next year. )

* * * * * * * * * *

“THE STRANGER”


Loretta Young and Orson Welles

I’m new to this movie and this movie is new to me. It’s a new favorite though, especially in conjunction with 1946 and definitely one of my top picks for this year. Young marries Welles and now she and her New England town have a dyed-in-the-wool Nazi on their hands. Since we know more about her husband than she does, we watch with baited breath as Young discovers her professor/hubby is not what he appears to be. Welles and his nemesis, Edward G. Robinson are great in this cat and mouse game. ( I read Agnes Moorhead was considered for the Robinson role. My mind reels at how great THAT would have been. ) I swear Loretta Young is two different women; in the 30’s she was a doe-eyed, pre-code hottie and here in the 40’s her mature quiet beauty screams respectability and reserve. I was impressed by the suspenseful way the story unfolds, and with Young’s acting. Richard Long was very good as the kid brother.

FAVORITE MOMENT: Young screams at Welles not to touch her and hands him a poker to kill her with. ( "Use this!" ) Whew!! Powerful. Don’t worry Loretta, Orson fooled all of us...the old meanie. The hunter gets captured by the game.

* * * * * * * * * *

“THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES”


Teresa Wright - Myrna Loy - Fredric March and Michael Hall

You have to be ready to invest your time with this movie. Wyler covers the waterfront with the depth and breadth of what war does to those who serve and those who stay at home. They may be at home, but time does not stop for them. The film is cast perfectly with us following the story of three soldiers whose assimilation back into society is very different. Thoughtfull, layered, a very well-deserved choice for Academy Award-winning BEST PICTURE.

FAVORITE MOMENT: Dana Andrews walks over to Teresa Wright and kisses her to swelling music. Her hat falls and their kiss goes into the fade-out. < SIgh! > A life-affirming masterpiece.

* * * * * * * * * *

“MY REPUTATION”


Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent

Yeah, it’s a woman’s picture. It’s sort of Stanwyck's version of “Now, Voyager.” She’s a widow dominated by her mother, repressed, has no real life of her own but lives through her two sons, and finds a tall handsome soldier who’ll bring her out of her widow’s weeds. Yeah, it’s a ‘Woman’s Picture.’ Wanna make something of it?! One of my favorite Stanwyck roles. She's nice and doesn't have to blow the house down. Good seeing her with her ol’ screen pal, George Brent. They have chemistry.

* * * * * * * * * *

“THE KILLERS”


Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster

“I did something wrong. Once.” Ha! I'll say. A girl...a guy...a heist gone wrong. You start with a smoldering Ava, add a pinch of lovesick Burt Lancaster in a t-shirt, swirl a Hemingway short story into a taut tight mystery. And voila, you have one of the classics of the 40’s. I love this shot in the movie. He can’t look at her, and she’s in control. Don'cha love a girl who can double double cross you?

FAVORITE MOMENTS:

( * ) In a room full of men, Ava tells husband Albert Dekker: "You touch me and you won't live till morning." Come on, admit it. The girl's got moxie. The girl's got chutzpah.

( * ) At the party where Burt sees Ava for the first time, the resigned look his date, Virginia Christine gives as she watches Burt fall for Ava. And later, how she sits on Sam Levene's lap now happily married to him.

( * ) The jig is up and Ava pleads with a dying Dekker for an alibi. I love Levene's line: “Don't ask a dying man to lie his soul into hell!” Askin' ain't gettin', but you can only ask if you look like Ava.

* * * * * * * * * *

“THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE”


John Garfield and Lana Turner

It's not the roll of the dice, but the roll of a lipstick case that gets the uhhh, ball rolling. Who’d have thunk there’d be all this drama in a California roadside diner...with an older man, his young wife, and a young virile drifter in the mix. What could happen? Murder is hatched and baked in the hot California sun. You know, down the road from MILDRED'S. The two leads are never better and for me, the movie goes down like buttered popcorn. ( Don't worry, "OSSESSIONE" is on my list. )

FAVORITE MOMENTS:

( * ) Hume Cronyn sparring with Leon Ames ( my new sugar daddy. ) I love Hume telling Lana and Garfield "I'm handling it." I love that beady eyed rat bastid.

( * ) Audrey Totter...

* * * * * * * * * *

“NOTORIOUS”


Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman

Hitchcock does what Hitchcock does best. Suspense. The crane shot down to the key. The uranium bottle smashing. Evil right in your face. A mother-in-law like Madame Konstantin. And then there’s the rocky romance of two people who you know should be together from the very beginning. What a great story, by a master storyteller. By the end, Grant rescues his lady fair. But not before letting her get mixed up with a pack of Nazis. Hitchcock.

FAVORITE MOMENTS: Grant and Bergman on the balcony. No, not the kissing the scene. These two:

( * ) When he comes back knowing her assignment. Bergman quietly pleads with Grant to tell her how he feels; to tell her what he could not tell them. Awww man Cary, tell her, you dope! I can't quite give you a pass for being a fat-head. ACK! ( Well...maybe...I...can. Cary is hot for all his withholding! )

( * ) Bergman's admonishment: She throws him a look that was real. And she says: “What a little pal you are Dev. Right below the belt every time.” I love the faint lilt of her Swedish accent.

* * * * * * * * * *

“DUEL IN THE SUN”


Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones

Yeah yeah yeah, I know what they dub this movie. “**** ** *** ****.”

I love it. It’s big. It’s sordid. It’s Cain and Abel. And the prize...the lovely luscious Jennifer Jones. Selznick tries to outdo himself and some think he made a mess of it. There were a lot of movies to choose from in 1946. But this one gets me. You’ve got a Gish, a Barrymore, a Houston and a Butterfly in this epic. And Peck is like Cary Grant in “Notorious.” He’s too stubborn to admit that he flat out loves Jones; could have saved himself a lot of trouble. Besides, what woman doesn’t want to have to shoot it out with the man she loves.

* * * * * * * * * *

“GILDA”


Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth

RITA.

FAVORITE MOMENTS:

( * ) The hair toss.

( * ) "Put the Blame On Mame"

( * ) Rita.

* * * * * * * * * *

“THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS”


Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin

This movie is a strong contender for my top ten of my top ten list. This is one of my favorite movies. It’s murder and mystery and blackmail and sick twisted love all rolled into black and white glory. I love love LOVE Stanwyck in this. I think Martha Ivers is just misunderstood. She’s a business woman covering a dark secret in her past. That's got to weigh on her and makes her do the things she does. Van Heflin unknowingly opens a can of worms as the childhood friend who realizes he ‘can’t go home again.’ A husky voiced blonde needs a fresh start but gets entangled in the Ivers web. And a weak-willed husband drowns his sorrows knowing he's married a woman who despises him. Keeping and unlocking secrets. Geee...what’s not to like.

FAVORITE MOMENTS:

( * ) Miklos Rosza's music.

( * ) The first kiss between Stanwyck and Heflin. That great close-up and Heflin's eyes opening to look at Stanwyck. Chilling.

( * ) Stanwyck and Lizabeth Scott's scene in Heflin's hotel room. “If you want me to say anything else to her...”

1946 - This was a very good year for movies.

[ChiO]

1946 - This was a very good year for movies.

It certainly was, CM, at least for my taste. It was my longest list for distilling. After my first cut, I had still had 11 that had to be cut -- three of which made your list (THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS, GILDA and THE KILLERS). Had to also bid a fond farewell to: A SCANDAL IN PARIS (Douglas Sirk), HUMORESQUE (Jean Negulesco), STRANGE IMPERSONATION (Anthony Mann), DEADLINE AT DAWN (Harold Cluman), IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Frank Capra), MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (John Ford), CORNERED (Edward Dmytryk) and BEDLAM (Mark Robson).

Methinks it's only going to get tougher.

P.S. As for GILDA, my favorite moments are each time George Macready does his Bela Lugosi as Dracula imitation. It just had to be intentional.
P.P.S. Yes, Agnes Moorehead was considered for THE STRANGER. Also, about 30 minutes was cut from the working screenplay -- an opening flashback, a Latin American scene, and some other Wellesian magic. <sigh>

[Rita Hayworth]

P.S. As for GILDA, my favorite moments are each time George Macready does his Bela Lugosi as Dracula imitation. It just had to be intentional.

ChiO - I have never thought of that!

[RedRiver]

I'll go with the cine-majority. These are some outstanding choices. "Best Years," whether you like it or not, is one of the most important films of the era. It addresses the most pivotal event of the century, and makes clear that it wasn't over when it was over. What is? THE KILLERS is dark and thrilling, though I'm forced to compare it to the superior CRISS-CROSS. "Postman" is one of our great crime stories. If you consider plot and nothing else, it's the quintessential diabolical murder.

And our old friend, Clementine. One of Mr. Ford's finest, the term poetry comes to mind. How could it not, when Doc Holiday recites Shakespeare? I never watch The Director's Cut (or whatever you call it when the director is long deceased). The version of record is so good, I almost hate to spoil the memory!

[CineMaven]

7. THE BIG SLEEP (Howard Hawks) - Still don't know who did what to whom. And I don't care.

Ha! You said it ChiO - With “The Big Sleep” the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'll go with the cine-majority. These are some outstanding choices. "Best Years," whether you like it or not, is one of the most important films of the era. It addresses the most pivotal event of the century, and makes clear that it wasn't over when it was over.

I love that Red: “...it wasn’t over when it was over.” So very true.

THE KILLERS is dark and thrilling, though I'm forced to compare it to the superior CRISS-CROSS.

I’m CineCurious, Red...why do you find “Criss Cross” superior to “The Killers”?

[RedRiver]

CRISS-CROSS feels a little shiftier to me. More "back-stabby"! Also, while I like THE KILLERS, it starts to lose steam before it all boils to a climax. With CRISS-CROSS, I'm biting my nails all the way through!

[CineMaven]

Ahhh, okay. Thanx!