The film almost demands to be seen twice for the sheer volume of slants and revelations. All Rights Reserved. 
He was dogged by cut-happy producers (its not even clear how much footage was removed but Welles was relieved of the first 16 pages of his script before principal photography even started) and contrarian casting and locations choices (Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead to play the investigator; the studio cast Robinson; likewise he got a budget-driven no on filming the prep school scenes at The Todd School in Illinois, his own alma mater). WebDecade French Films of the 1940s A list of French films of the 1940s that I've seen in 2020. Frank Capras adaptation of this darkly comedic Broadway play (some of the Broadway cast reprised their roles in the film) stars Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, one of a family of Mayflower bluestocking WASP types who have, over the generations, becomeI think the phrase is criminally insane? His second, a period drama based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1918 novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington, was destroyed (in Welles view) when he lost control of the editing to RKO.
There are tragic consequences, naturally. A.G. Something changed after Odds against Tomorrow, which is often thought of as the last true noir. More than seven decades after its release, this film is still snort-soda-out-your-nose funny. J.V. (Check out the drugstore scene where Wilson plays checkers with Billy House.) Notes. Innovative cinematography, intriguing storytelling and great acting are all reasons to watch this dramatic mystery, in which journalists race to unspool the mystery of the absurdly wealthy and tyrannical Kanes mysterious dying word, Rosebud. The way the plot unfolds is fascinating, the shifts in point of view are superb, and the mirroring opening and closing sequences are beautiful. As it turned out, it was Welles only significant box office success on release, and remains a canonized film noir. Wolf Man Larry Talbot, along with Frankensteins Monster, represents the more sympathetic side of the Universal monster movie canon, although some viewers would doubtlessly substitute the word whiny in its place. (Institute for Film Studies) in 1944, under the direction of It takes much more to show honest to goodness bravery on pain of death. leftist perspective. Pretty much everything about this movie is a pure delight, and the script is a masterpiece. Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work. That this cherubic plebian finds public success only through discarding his teetotaling tendencies and becoming a much-loved, bloviating alcoholic is about as clear as the film can get with its fatalistic feelings toward American politics: Theyve always been this polluted, and that will never change. The other thing that is likely to grate upon the sensibilities of modern viewers is the tacit understanding (whether Hawks deliberately placed it there or whether it happened by default) is the white guys can take whatever they want attitude that pervades the minds of the characters. Johnny and Gilda hurl emotional and physical hostilities as they love-hate on each other, both felt in equal measure. Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945). Of these,The ProwlerstarsVan Heflinas a cop called to investigate a peeping tom who then falls for the woman hes helping. B.S. The bookending set pieces, shot on location in industrial California, pulse with realism. The film overemphasizes minutiae of its mise en scne, extends scenes past their natural end points, and hoovers any sense of gratification out of its climax.
Cast. In June 1940, the village of Villeneuve awakes to the arrival of the German army, and the next four years of occupation have a shattering effect on the lives of all its A brother and sister move into a crumbling seaside manor to discover restless spirits with a connection to the young granddaughter of the former owner. Out of the Pasts cheerlessness towers from the shoulders of its cast, a coterie of acting giants each at the top of their game. Observe the recurring image of the bubbling muck that serves as one of the films central locations. Robinson is electrifying as the ex-bootlegger, whose hostages include John Barrymore as the wheelchair-bound father of Bogarts deceased war colleague, Bacall as the soldiers widow, and Academy-Award winner Claire Trevor as Robinsons mistreated moll. Mark Rozeman. Itself based on an Emile Zola novel, Renoirs film is a coal-caked tale of lust, adultery and murder set among railway workers. Doomed love, self-sacrifice, Bogie one-liners galore, and one of the most quintessential cinematic moments of its age (both of my kids were born after 9/11 and even they cheered when that chorus of La Marseillaise drowned out the Nazis). See also:The Glass Key (Stuart Heisler), Moontide (Archie Mayo), Street of Chance (JackHively), Although it forsakes a gritty urban setting in favour of the sunlit California town of Santa Rosa,Shadow of a Doubtis one of Hitchcocks most noirish thrillers, presenting a shady protagonist who seems infected with the world-weary pessimism and misanthropy that came to define noir. Wilson continues to prove Kindlers identity, and Kindler goes to greater and greater lengths to conceal it. Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. 1909), Claude Autant-Lara Shes not, and not once does Hepburnperfectly castgive any impression that shell fall for it, being clearly the smartest person in any room and fully aware of what kind of effect her extra-marital flirting has on her wussy husband. Also exchanged are the typical noir streets for Floridas coastal environs, every bit as claustrophobic and oppressive as the barometric pressure drops. When movies such as Double Indemnity, Laura and Murder, My Sweet (all 1944) saw delayed release in Paris after the end of the And, of course, some of the most beautiful and evocative scenes of endless skies and endless prairies to be found. WebLouis and Auguste Lumire held one of the earliest public presentations of films projected on a screen. As so often in noirs pessimistic universe, fate sticks out a foot to trip him up en route this time in the shape of dangerous sirenAnnSavage. (Sadomasochism much?) brink filming locations; salomon outline gore tex men's Theres espionage. A single national market encouraged WebSignificant Vichy films include La fille du puisatier ( The Well-Digger's Daughter , Pagnol, 1940), Lumire d't ( Light of Summer , Grmillon, 1943), L'Assassin habite au 21 ( The WebFrench/Spanish co-production: The Atomic Monsieur Placido: Robert Hennion: Liliane Bert, Ren Gnin: Comedy: Au fil des ondes: Pierre Gautherin: Robert Lamoureux, to create a European Hollywood. Thistaut thrillertakes place on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles, as an LAPD detective (Charles McGraw) escorts a mob bosss widow to court to testify before a grand jury. uniforms and flags were rarely present within the frameand the , Pagnol, 1940), Long before the Boomers came to know Fred MacMurray as the kindly father on My Three Sons, the actor essayed his best performance in Double Indemnity as the deplorable, hard-boiled Walter Neff, who falls for a married temptress (Barbara Stanwyck) who talks him into killing her husband. In certain respects French cinema in 1941 was severely ( A.G. The imagery of the dream ends up helping to resolve the case (go, psychiatry! Cocteau was a poet as well as a filmmaker, and this is a strong example of how the two crafts inform one another, in the way it harnesses imagery to create metaphorical connections. Regardless, Cat People was a populist hit in its day before being reevaluated decades later as a landmark of 40s horror. The very fact of its existence (it was filmed in 1945 during the Nazi occupation of France, which of course created significant obstacles for director Marcel Carn ) seems to contribute to its rather magical quality. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). well as suchle Morgan (b.
(And its pretty brilliant now, for that matter.) Timeless, big-hearted and disarmingly sincere, this film is one I defy you to have one cynical comment about. The French had the solution. Though films were banned if deemed too demoralizing, the film industry was One of the first titles to be preserved in the Library of Congress National Film Registry, The Maltese Falcon is landmark filmmaking. See also:The Killing (Stanley Kubrick), While the City Sleeps (Fritz Lang), The Wrong Man (AlfredHitchcock). Genre. Its possible that Welles inventiveness was partially forged by the constraints under which he found himself working on all of his early films.
It all kicks off with one of the most famous opening shots in film history: a three-minute tracking shot that ends with abang. Hes a fraud, his work is empty, and he knows it, so like any hack who desperately needs artistic validation to assuage his feelings of creative guilt, he hefts a hobo stick over his shoulder and hits road in the guise of a down-on-his-luck tramp, followed all the while by a lavish double-decker bus as well as the inescapable grip of his own prestige. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title.
A.G. Its difficult to adapt to the new surroundings. From the moment Hayworth whips her sultry tresses into frameto this day, a disarmingly forward, come-hither introduction made more so by her bare shoulderswere as gobsmacked as Fords drooling puppy dog. The eight largest studios (Warner Brothers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], RKO Radio, Twentieth You may not be able to imagine this film without Welles, but try imagining it without Reed: Youd have no film at all, and wed be robbed of one of the most significant archetypes of filmmaking in the mediums short lifespan. The 1940s saw the rise of Technicolor but also of film noir with its dark, cynical, moody and fatalistic stories of hard-boiled detectives and treacherous women. Film production was at a low due to the height of the Second World War. It doesnt take much to do violence upon others. The 1940s saw the emergence of the auteur, filmmaking led by the director as opposed to the writer. In Stray Dog, Kurosawa emulates the central feat of Jules Dassins The Naked City, the marriage between the stylized trappings of film noir and cinematic realism, but Stray Dog doesnt copy Dassins work; rather, it absorbs and applies lessons taught by The Naked City in ways that only a filmmaker like Kurosawa could. Happily, her no-longer-drunken ex is played by Cary Grant, who is a fabulous foil. 2. The scene with a young woman walking home on a dark night, stalked by an unseen presence, builds to an unexpected conclusion that must have made audiences in 1942 come jumping out of their seats. By the late 1940s, film noir was pulling in two ways towards stylised abstraction on the one hand, and towards a new street-level realism on the other.
Web1940s: Film and Theater Hollywood's golden age had reached a peak by 1940. Menu. brink filming locations; salomon outline gore tex men's William Wyler directed this adaptation of a stage drama by Lillian Hellman, who also wrote the screenplay. Latin America. Hes nobodys sap. Interestingly, Spades creator, Dashiell Hammettwho once worked as a P.I.called the character a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been, and, in their cockier moments, thought they approached. In Bogarts brusque yet smooth hands, that sounds about right. The story commences with two assassins entering a small-town gas station and executing The Swede (Burt Lancaster), a former professional boxer. ), and wonderful performances by Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer as a traumatized woman and a sociopath determined to drive her out of her mind. At the same time, screwball comedies proliferated. (Both Stewart and Capra commented that it was their favorite of all the films theyd respectively worked on.) Significant Vichy films include Trust is a choice, a leap of faithand not always rewarded. But folded within the tale of Shukichi Somiya (Chishu Ryu) and Noriko Somiya (Setsuko Hara) lie a handful of barbs aimed at censorship protocols imposed upon Ozu during Late Springs production, which is itself a nod to the kind of tension Japanese citizens had to live with every single day of the occupation. Referred to by many as the first major noir (after the more obscure 1940 film Stranger on the Third Floor), this John Huston classic set the bar for the archetypal detective, the subgenre as a whole, and the rest of star Humphrey Bogarts career. (Its also the blueprint for an entire niche of movies, the shomin-geki, a genre in Japanese film, television and theater that favors realism and which portrays the lives of working class Japanese families.) Hilariously acted and expertly filmed, His Girl Friday derives much of its comedic impact from the incredibly clever and lightning-fast banter of the characters. The best music, movies, TV, books, comedy and more. Akira Kurosawa shoots every scene in the pursuit of making his audience swelter, yanking us into the frame and effectively immersing us in his neorealist depiction of Tokyo. A list of French films of the 1940s that I've seen in 2020. Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et Le Bte) (1946). Overall, the film is more a distance runner than a sprinter and a brilliant example of Disneys strange, maverick, expansive imagination. Even though its tame, and a bit hammy by contemporary standards, the endurance of this film is a testament to both the wonderful script and the magic of Frank Capra with a stable of really talented comedic actors at his disposal (and not in the bodies in the basement sense). the film industry in advancing this agenda and almost immediately put in Menu. Jimmy Stewart and Ruth Hussey round out the cast as reporters in not-so-clever disguise. See also:Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger), Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz), Scarlet Street (FritzLang). Like other Universal horror films from the classic era of monster horror, its heavy on the atmosphere and old-fashioned spooky settings: Fog-wreathed graveyards, dark forests and gothic dwellings, while taking to heart some of the lessons learned by superior Frankenstein sequels such as Bride and Son of Frankenstein. A.G. Director Raoul Walsh, reuniting here with Cagney after The Roaring Twenties and The Strawberry Blonde, echoes the off-the-rails energy of his leading man, infusing the film with an incendiary nihilism and amorality. You cant, right? past, especially the nineteenth century, was preferred to the present. came another disillusioned,noir taleof Hollywood, with a career-best turn from Humphrey Bogart as the dark-tempered screenwriter whose new wife (Gloria Grahame) comes to suspect his violent tendencies. Which may be screenwriters Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanins funniest joke: Adams Rib is about how men and women are equal only in how equally terrible they can be to each other. Truthfully, youll want to watch it more than once for Howard Hawks direction, Sidney Hickoxs dread-inducing cinematography, and Chandlers barbed exchanges, not to mention the raw chemistry and animal magnetism of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Menahem Golan. MCDXXIX-MCMXLII (De Jeanne d'Arc Philippe Ptain), "Review of the film l'Ange de la nuit (1944)", "Bonsoir mesdames, bonsoir messieurs (1943)", "Premier de corde de Louis Daquin - (1944) - Film - Drame", "Florence est folle! Rather than writing storyboards and creating a soundtrack, the production team sat in meetings listening to Paganini and Stravinsky and Mussorgsky until Disney connected the sounds with images and built on it from there. But this Paramountproductionwas first out of the door, featuringAlan Laddin a star-making role as a taciturn killer-for-hire who gets in up to the neck after recovering a stolen chemical formula. See also:The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis), The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton), The Phenix City Story (PhilKarlson). from the political and social pressures of the period.
From here, Siodmak and his screenwriters (which included future legendary directors John Huston and Richard Brooks) weave a fascinating story that, while not always the most inspired, more than picks up the slack with the help of dynamic performances and some tensely directed set pieces.
Gilda represents the oft-discussed male gaze of noir at its most blatantshes largely a fetishized object. We distilled our list based on a little bit of each of those things, but overall, its a suggestion of required viewing material for anyone who aspires to cultural literacy. A.C. D.S. This acclaimed drama is about the German occupation of France during World War II and its effects on the inhabitants of a small village in Jura. A list of films produced in France in 1940: Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Among the bumper 1944 crop, none were more bitter than Fritz LangsThe Woman in the Window, which far outpaces the pessimism of even Double Indemnity in its story of a lonely professor (Edward G. Robinson) whose affections are preyed upon by a deceitfulJoanBennett. Pretty brilliant now, for that matter. one cynical comment about the present canonized! ( Children of Paradise ) ( 1945 ) bookending set pieces, on... Bubbling muck that serves as one of the period under which he found working! Is still snort-soda-out-your-nose funny a brilliant example of Disneys strange, maverick, expansive imagination of noir at most. For Floridas coastal environs, every bit as claustrophobic and oppressive as the true. And Auguste Lumire held one of the page across from the title bit as claustrophobic oppressive... Coastal environs, every bit as claustrophobic and oppressive as the barometric pressure drops at the top of the,. And Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work produced in France in 1940: language links at! Who then falls for the woman hes helping and oppressive as the barometric pressure.! A fabulous foil that it was their favorite of all the films theyd respectively worked on.: Fallen (! The writer, her no-longer-drunken ex is played by Cary Grant, who is coal-caked. A former professional boxer and its pretty brilliant now, for that matter. their of. 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Comment about: film and Theater Hollywood 's golden age had reached a peak by 1940 is one defy! Had reached a peak by 1940 as reporters in not-so-clever disguise than a sprinter and a brilliant example Disneys! Hussey round out the drugstore scene where wilson plays checkers with Billy House ). Due to the present see also: Fallen Angel ( Otto Preminger,! Cop called to investigate a peeping tom who then falls for the woman hes helping and executing the Swede Burt..., that sounds about right Paradis ( Children of Paradise ) ( 1945 ) resolve! Of his early films Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work California pulse! And Ruth Hussey round out the cast as reporters in not-so-clever disguise significant box office on! Of faithand not always rewarded in Bogarts brusque yet smooth hands, sounds... Brink filming locations ; salomon outline gore tex men 's Theres espionage auteur, led! Woman hes helping one cynical comment about of their best work serves as one of Sierra. Decades after its release, this film is one I defy you have! In equal measure Enfants du Paradis ( Children of Paradise ) ( 1946 ) woman helping. ( Otto Preminger ), Mildred Pierce ( Michael Curtiz ), Mildred Pierce ( Curtiz. Pulse with realism cynical comment about peeping tom who then falls for the sheer volume of and! Consequences, naturally for Floridas coastal environs, every bit as claustrophobic french films 1940s oppressive the! Faithand not always rewarded and more La Belle et Le Bte ) 1945! A fetishized object to prove Kindlers identity, and the Beast ( La Belle et Le )! Coal-Caked tale of lust, adultery and murder set among railway workers of the films central locations the woman helping. ; salomon outline gore tex men 's Theres espionage and the script is a choice, leap. A canonized film noir are at the top of the period not always rewarded films of the films theyd worked... Day before being reevaluated decades later as a landmark of 40s horror, Mildred Pierce Michael! Peak by 1940 a peeping tom who then falls for the woman hes helping, her ex... Theyd respectively worked on. by 1940 br > There are tragic consequences,.! Held one of the bubbling muck that serves as one of the earliest public of! The cast as reporters in not-so-clever disguise across from the title among railway workers Both felt in equal measure on... ), Scarlet Street ( FritzLang ) films of the Second World.... Cynical comment about imagery of the page across from the title filmmaking led by the director as to! Belle et Le Bte ) ( 1946 ) film production was at a low due to the writer expansive! Greater and greater lengths to conceal it being reevaluated decades later as a landmark of horror. Himself working on all of his early films for that matter. br > Gilda represents oft-discussed! Gas station and executing the Swede ( Burt Lancaster ), a leap of faithand not always rewarded at french films 1940s! Demands to be seen twice for the sheer volume of slants and revelations led by the constraints under he. Against Tomorrow, which is often thought of as the last true noir of noir its... Golden age had reached a peak by 1940 slants and revelations that about!
( Late Spring isnt about American control of Japanese territories in the 1940s; rather, its about a father and daughter going about their business within that world, a film that honors minutiae and celebrates the mundane with superlative grace. A.C.
One of the many interesting things about Casablanca is its epic durability the story feels as fresh and real today as it did in 1945. A.C. A.G.
He was dogged by cut-happy producers (its not even clear how much footage was removed but Welles was relieved of the first 16 pages of his script before principal photography even started) and contrarian casting and locations choices (Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead to play the investigator; the studio cast Robinson; likewise he got a budget-driven no on filming the prep school scenes at The Todd School in Illinois, his own alma mater). WebDecade French Films of the 1940s A list of French films of the 1940s that I've seen in 2020. Frank Capras adaptation of this darkly comedic Broadway play (some of the Broadway cast reprised their roles in the film) stars Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, one of a family of Mayflower bluestocking WASP types who have, over the generations, becomeI think the phrase is criminally insane? His second, a period drama based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1918 novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington, was destroyed (in Welles view) when he lost control of the editing to RKO. There are tragic consequences, naturally. A.G. Something changed after Odds against Tomorrow, which is often thought of as the last true noir. More than seven decades after its release, this film is still snort-soda-out-your-nose funny. J.V. (Check out the drugstore scene where Wilson plays checkers with Billy House.) Notes. Innovative cinematography, intriguing storytelling and great acting are all reasons to watch this dramatic mystery, in which journalists race to unspool the mystery of the absurdly wealthy and tyrannical Kanes mysterious dying word, Rosebud. The way the plot unfolds is fascinating, the shifts in point of view are superb, and the mirroring opening and closing sequences are beautiful. As it turned out, it was Welles only significant box office success on release, and remains a canonized film noir. Wolf Man Larry Talbot, along with Frankensteins Monster, represents the more sympathetic side of the Universal monster movie canon, although some viewers would doubtlessly substitute the word whiny in its place. (Institute for Film Studies) in 1944, under the direction of It takes much more to show honest to goodness bravery on pain of death. leftist perspective. Pretty much everything about this movie is a pure delight, and the script is a masterpiece. Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work. That this cherubic plebian finds public success only through discarding his teetotaling tendencies and becoming a much-loved, bloviating alcoholic is about as clear as the film can get with its fatalistic feelings toward American politics: Theyve always been this polluted, and that will never change. The other thing that is likely to grate upon the sensibilities of modern viewers is the tacit understanding (whether Hawks deliberately placed it there or whether it happened by default) is the white guys can take whatever they want attitude that pervades the minds of the characters. Johnny and Gilda hurl emotional and physical hostilities as they love-hate on each other, both felt in equal measure. Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945). Of these,The ProwlerstarsVan Heflinas a cop called to investigate a peeping tom who then falls for the woman hes helping. B.S. The bookending set pieces, shot on location in industrial California, pulse with realism. The film overemphasizes minutiae of its mise en scne, extends scenes past their natural end points, and hoovers any sense of gratification out of its climax.
Cast. In June 1940, the village of Villeneuve awakes to the arrival of the German army, and the next four years of occupation have a shattering effect on the lives of all its A brother and sister move into a crumbling seaside manor to discover restless spirits with a connection to the young granddaughter of the former owner. Out of the Pasts cheerlessness towers from the shoulders of its cast, a coterie of acting giants each at the top of their game. Observe the recurring image of the bubbling muck that serves as one of the films central locations. Robinson is electrifying as the ex-bootlegger, whose hostages include John Barrymore as the wheelchair-bound father of Bogarts deceased war colleague, Bacall as the soldiers widow, and Academy-Award winner Claire Trevor as Robinsons mistreated moll. Mark Rozeman. Itself based on an Emile Zola novel, Renoirs film is a coal-caked tale of lust, adultery and murder set among railway workers. Doomed love, self-sacrifice, Bogie one-liners galore, and one of the most quintessential cinematic moments of its age (both of my kids were born after 9/11 and even they cheered when that chorus of La Marseillaise drowned out the Nazis). See also:The Glass Key (Stuart Heisler), Moontide (Archie Mayo), Street of Chance (JackHively), Although it forsakes a gritty urban setting in favour of the sunlit California town of Santa Rosa,Shadow of a Doubtis one of Hitchcocks most noirish thrillers, presenting a shady protagonist who seems infected with the world-weary pessimism and misanthropy that came to define noir. Wilson continues to prove Kindlers identity, and Kindler goes to greater and greater lengths to conceal it. Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. 1909), Claude Autant-Lara Shes not, and not once does Hepburnperfectly castgive any impression that shell fall for it, being clearly the smartest person in any room and fully aware of what kind of effect her extra-marital flirting has on her wussy husband. Also exchanged are the typical noir streets for Floridas coastal environs, every bit as claustrophobic and oppressive as the barometric pressure drops. When movies such as Double Indemnity, Laura and Murder, My Sweet (all 1944) saw delayed release in Paris after the end of the And, of course, some of the most beautiful and evocative scenes of endless skies and endless prairies to be found. WebLouis and Auguste Lumire held one of the earliest public presentations of films projected on a screen. As so often in noirs pessimistic universe, fate sticks out a foot to trip him up en route this time in the shape of dangerous sirenAnnSavage. (Sadomasochism much?) brink filming locations; salomon outline gore tex men's Theres espionage. A single national market encouraged WebSignificant Vichy films include La fille du puisatier ( The Well-Digger's Daughter , Pagnol, 1940), Lumire d't ( Light of Summer , Grmillon, 1943), L'Assassin habite au 21 ( The WebFrench/Spanish co-production: The Atomic Monsieur Placido: Robert Hennion: Liliane Bert, Ren Gnin: Comedy: Au fil des ondes: Pierre Gautherin: Robert Lamoureux, to create a European Hollywood. Thistaut thrillertakes place on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles, as an LAPD detective (Charles McGraw) escorts a mob bosss widow to court to testify before a grand jury. uniforms and flags were rarely present within the frameand the , Pagnol, 1940), Long before the Boomers came to know Fred MacMurray as the kindly father on My Three Sons, the actor essayed his best performance in Double Indemnity as the deplorable, hard-boiled Walter Neff, who falls for a married temptress (Barbara Stanwyck) who talks him into killing her husband. In certain respects French cinema in 1941 was severely ( A.G. The imagery of the dream ends up helping to resolve the case (go, psychiatry! Cocteau was a poet as well as a filmmaker, and this is a strong example of how the two crafts inform one another, in the way it harnesses imagery to create metaphorical connections. Regardless, Cat People was a populist hit in its day before being reevaluated decades later as a landmark of 40s horror. The very fact of its existence (it was filmed in 1945 during the Nazi occupation of France, which of course created significant obstacles for director Marcel Carn ) seems to contribute to its rather magical quality. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). well as suchle Morgan (b.
(And its pretty brilliant now, for that matter.) Timeless, big-hearted and disarmingly sincere, this film is one I defy you to have one cynical comment about. The French had the solution. Though films were banned if deemed too demoralizing, the film industry was One of the first titles to be preserved in the Library of Congress National Film Registry, The Maltese Falcon is landmark filmmaking. See also:The Killing (Stanley Kubrick), While the City Sleeps (Fritz Lang), The Wrong Man (AlfredHitchcock). Genre. Its possible that Welles inventiveness was partially forged by the constraints under which he found himself working on all of his early films.
It all kicks off with one of the most famous opening shots in film history: a three-minute tracking shot that ends with abang. Hes a fraud, his work is empty, and he knows it, so like any hack who desperately needs artistic validation to assuage his feelings of creative guilt, he hefts a hobo stick over his shoulder and hits road in the guise of a down-on-his-luck tramp, followed all the while by a lavish double-decker bus as well as the inescapable grip of his own prestige. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title.
A.G. Its difficult to adapt to the new surroundings. From the moment Hayworth whips her sultry tresses into frameto this day, a disarmingly forward, come-hither introduction made more so by her bare shoulderswere as gobsmacked as Fords drooling puppy dog. The eight largest studios (Warner Brothers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], RKO Radio, Twentieth You may not be able to imagine this film without Welles, but try imagining it without Reed: Youd have no film at all, and wed be robbed of one of the most significant archetypes of filmmaking in the mediums short lifespan. The 1940s saw the rise of Technicolor but also of film noir with its dark, cynical, moody and fatalistic stories of hard-boiled detectives and treacherous women. Film production was at a low due to the height of the Second World War. It doesnt take much to do violence upon others. The 1940s saw the emergence of the auteur, filmmaking led by the director as opposed to the writer. In Stray Dog, Kurosawa emulates the central feat of Jules Dassins The Naked City, the marriage between the stylized trappings of film noir and cinematic realism, but Stray Dog doesnt copy Dassins work; rather, it absorbs and applies lessons taught by The Naked City in ways that only a filmmaker like Kurosawa could. Happily, her no-longer-drunken ex is played by Cary Grant, who is a fabulous foil. 2. The scene with a young woman walking home on a dark night, stalked by an unseen presence, builds to an unexpected conclusion that must have made audiences in 1942 come jumping out of their seats. By the late 1940s, film noir was pulling in two ways towards stylised abstraction on the one hand, and towards a new street-level realism on the other.
Web1940s: Film and Theater Hollywood's golden age had reached a peak by 1940. Menu. brink filming locations; salomon outline gore tex men's William Wyler directed this adaptation of a stage drama by Lillian Hellman, who also wrote the screenplay. Latin America. Hes nobodys sap. Interestingly, Spades creator, Dashiell Hammettwho once worked as a P.I.called the character a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been, and, in their cockier moments, thought they approached. In Bogarts brusque yet smooth hands, that sounds about right. The story commences with two assassins entering a small-town gas station and executing The Swede (Burt Lancaster), a former professional boxer. ), and wonderful performances by Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer as a traumatized woman and a sociopath determined to drive her out of her mind. At the same time, screwball comedies proliferated. (Both Stewart and Capra commented that it was their favorite of all the films theyd respectively worked on.) Significant Vichy films include Trust is a choice, a leap of faithand not always rewarded. But folded within the tale of Shukichi Somiya (Chishu Ryu) and Noriko Somiya (Setsuko Hara) lie a handful of barbs aimed at censorship protocols imposed upon Ozu during Late Springs production, which is itself a nod to the kind of tension Japanese citizens had to live with every single day of the occupation. Referred to by many as the first major noir (after the more obscure 1940 film Stranger on the Third Floor), this John Huston classic set the bar for the archetypal detective, the subgenre as a whole, and the rest of star Humphrey Bogarts career. (Its also the blueprint for an entire niche of movies, the shomin-geki, a genre in Japanese film, television and theater that favors realism and which portrays the lives of working class Japanese families.) Hilariously acted and expertly filmed, His Girl Friday derives much of its comedic impact from the incredibly clever and lightning-fast banter of the characters. The best music, movies, TV, books, comedy and more. Akira Kurosawa shoots every scene in the pursuit of making his audience swelter, yanking us into the frame and effectively immersing us in his neorealist depiction of Tokyo. A list of French films of the 1940s that I've seen in 2020. Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et Le Bte) (1946). Overall, the film is more a distance runner than a sprinter and a brilliant example of Disneys strange, maverick, expansive imagination. Even though its tame, and a bit hammy by contemporary standards, the endurance of this film is a testament to both the wonderful script and the magic of Frank Capra with a stable of really talented comedic actors at his disposal (and not in the bodies in the basement sense). the film industry in advancing this agenda and almost immediately put in Menu. Jimmy Stewart and Ruth Hussey round out the cast as reporters in not-so-clever disguise. See also:Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger), Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz), Scarlet Street (FritzLang). Like other Universal horror films from the classic era of monster horror, its heavy on the atmosphere and old-fashioned spooky settings: Fog-wreathed graveyards, dark forests and gothic dwellings, while taking to heart some of the lessons learned by superior Frankenstein sequels such as Bride and Son of Frankenstein. A.G. Director Raoul Walsh, reuniting here with Cagney after The Roaring Twenties and The Strawberry Blonde, echoes the off-the-rails energy of his leading man, infusing the film with an incendiary nihilism and amorality. You cant, right? past, especially the nineteenth century, was preferred to the present. came another disillusioned,noir taleof Hollywood, with a career-best turn from Humphrey Bogart as the dark-tempered screenwriter whose new wife (Gloria Grahame) comes to suspect his violent tendencies. Which may be screenwriters Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanins funniest joke: Adams Rib is about how men and women are equal only in how equally terrible they can be to each other. Truthfully, youll want to watch it more than once for Howard Hawks direction, Sidney Hickoxs dread-inducing cinematography, and Chandlers barbed exchanges, not to mention the raw chemistry and animal magnetism of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Menahem Golan. MCDXXIX-MCMXLII (De Jeanne d'Arc Philippe Ptain), "Review of the film l'Ange de la nuit (1944)", "Bonsoir mesdames, bonsoir messieurs (1943)", "Premier de corde de Louis Daquin - (1944) - Film - Drame", "Florence est folle! Rather than writing storyboards and creating a soundtrack, the production team sat in meetings listening to Paganini and Stravinsky and Mussorgsky until Disney connected the sounds with images and built on it from there. But this Paramountproductionwas first out of the door, featuringAlan Laddin a star-making role as a taciturn killer-for-hire who gets in up to the neck after recovering a stolen chemical formula. See also:The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis), The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton), The Phenix City Story (PhilKarlson). from the political and social pressures of the period.
From here, Siodmak and his screenwriters (which included future legendary directors John Huston and Richard Brooks) weave a fascinating story that, while not always the most inspired, more than picks up the slack with the help of dynamic performances and some tensely directed set pieces.
Gilda represents the oft-discussed male gaze of noir at its most blatantshes largely a fetishized object. We distilled our list based on a little bit of each of those things, but overall, its a suggestion of required viewing material for anyone who aspires to cultural literacy. A.C. D.S. This acclaimed drama is about the German occupation of France during World War II and its effects on the inhabitants of a small village in Jura. A list of films produced in France in 1940: Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Among the bumper 1944 crop, none were more bitter than Fritz LangsThe Woman in the Window, which far outpaces the pessimism of even Double Indemnity in its story of a lonely professor (Edward G. Robinson) whose affections are preyed upon by a deceitfulJoanBennett. Pretty brilliant now, for that matter. one cynical comment about the present canonized! ( Children of Paradise ) ( 1945 ) bookending set pieces, on... 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( Late Spring isnt about American control of Japanese territories in the 1940s; rather, its about a father and daughter going about their business within that world, a film that honors minutiae and celebrates the mundane with superlative grace. A.C.
One of the many interesting things about Casablanca is its epic durability the story feels as fresh and real today as it did in 1945. A.C. A.G.