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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Rayon Vert
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#626 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:29 am

barryconvex wrote:
Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:16 am
Rayon Vert wrote:
Mon Nov 11, 2019 11:55 pm
...and especially saddened at the orphaning of the Becker film, which was my highest-rated among the virgin viewings for this project.
How can I watch the 40s films of Jacques Becker? He's one of my all time favorites.
You definitely need to be Region 2 or have an all-region player. I noted in the write-ups that both the Pathé blu-ray of Goupi Mains Rouges (It Happened at the Inn) and the Gaumont blu of Rendez-vous de juillet (another excellent film) both have English subtitles and both also look great. The Gaumont of Antoine et Antoinette also has them, but the image kind of stinks. The DVD of Falbalas (Paris Frills) that I saw didn't have any.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#627 Post by nitin » Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:35 am

RV, I will try to watch my blu of Goupi before round 2 closes

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#628 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:36 am

Great!

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Toland's Mitchell
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#629 Post by Toland's Mitchell » Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:59 am

Hey everyone, I'm new to the site. Just joined yesterday morning, and stumbled upon this thread this afternoon. I sent a list to swo17, who was kind enough to give it a pass even though it was after the deadline. I won't say which films, but a few of the orphans are no longer orphans thanks to my submission. However there may be some new orphans now.

And Rayon, if trading is allowed, I may be open to adding Dark Passage to my list. It is a very good movie, though I still find it the weakest of the 4 Bogie-Bacall movies, and the other 3 were already on mine. But I don't know who my orphans right now are for the reason mentioned above. We'll find out.

Anyway, looking forward to the results.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#630 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:03 am

Welcome!

Yeah, definitely let me know what your orphans are.

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swo17
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#631 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:41 am

Remember this exercise is supposed to be more about reconsidering and discovering overlooked films than "trading." Though if seeing a film you like rank in the low 200s thrills you that much, I guess I can't stop you.

And yes, I accepted the new list just as I will accept any new list submitted up until the deadline. So if you haven't participated thus far and see some orphans that you would like to help out, you are certainly welcome to do so

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the preacher
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#632 Post by the preacher » Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:17 am

Here are some thoughts:

My fault (they were on my ballot last time)
La perla (Emilio Fernández, 1947) 27
Bad Luck Blackie (Tex Avery, 1949) 10

Sad (I even made Spanish subtitles)
Romanze in Moll (Helmut Käutner, 1943) 38

Sorry, no room (movies that I believe are the greatest of their respective directors)
Impact (Arthur Lubin, 1949) 48
The Captive Heart (Basil Dearden, 1946) 47
Stranger on the Third Floor (Boris Ingster, 1940) 47
La chartreuse de Parme (Christian-Jaque, 1948) 26
Dark Passage (Delmer Daves, 1947) 14
I See a Dark Stranger (Frank Launder, 1946) 34
Der Postmeister (Gustav Ucicky, 1940) 37
Münchhausen (Josef von Báky, 1943) 15
Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942) 5
Pride and Prejudice (Robert Leonard, 1940) 48
The Scar (Steve Sekely, 1948) 40
The Man Who Came to Dinner (William Keighley, 1942) 41
Crows and Sparrows (Zheng Junli, 1948) 47

Top 10s in rough order of preference
Unconquered (Cecil DeMille, 1947) 5
Border Street (Aleksander Ford, 1948) 8
Along Sungari River (Jin Shen, 1947) 9

Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942) 5
Bad Luck Blackie (Tex Avery, 1949) 10
Vigil in the Night (George Stevens, 1940) 9
They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941) 10
Remorques (Jean Grémillon, 1940) 10
Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, 1942) 10
Old Acquaintance (Vincent Sherman, 1943) 8
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Joseph Mankiewicz, 1947) 1
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Sam Wood, 1943) 7
Blood and Sand (Rouben Mamoulian, 1941) 9
Native Land (Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand, 1942) 6
The Strawberry Blonde (Raoul Walsh, 1941) 7
La main du diable (Maurice Tourneur, 1943) 4
Roxie Hart (William Wellman, 1942) 9
The Proud Valley (Pen Tennyson, 1940) 5
Une si jolie petite plage (Yves Allégret, 1949) 5

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TMDaines
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#633 Post by TMDaines » Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:29 am

I agree with Swo. People should be voting for what are their "best" fifty films of the decade, not trying to get a ballot with as few orphans as possible.

Still so much to see. Really enjoying these early sound decades. I'll try and make a beeline for at least some of the following given they are on my shelves or server ready to watch, but I've still got a number of big hitters I'd like to see too:
swo17 wrote:
Mon Nov 11, 2019 12:37 pm
Vénus aveugle (Abel Gance, 1941) 12
Das Herz der Königin (Carl Froelich, 1940) 32
Dark Passage (Delmer Daves, 1947) 14
Lured (Douglas Sirk, 1947) 17
Il lupo della Sila (Duilio Coletti, 1949) 26
Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947) 26
Komödianten (G.W. Pabst, 1941) 42
Kiss of Death (Henry Hathaway, 1947) 50
Pattes blanches (Jean Grémillon, 1949) 37
The Big Clock (John Farrow, 1948) 15
Un colpo di pistola (Renato Castellani, 1942) 40
Die goldene Stadt (Veit Harlan, 1942) 31
Wiener Mädeln (Willi Forst, 1949) 20
Une si jolie petite plage (Yves Allégret, 1949) 5
These were my orphans:
swo17 wrote:
Mon Nov 11, 2019 12:37 pm
4 passi fra le nuvole (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942) 46
Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang, 1944) 21
The Silent Village (Humphrey Jennings, 1943) 50
Remorques (Jean Grémillon, 1940) 10
Ehe im Schatten (Kurt Maetzig, 1947) 38
Anni difficili (Luigi Zampa, 1948) 33
Wohin Johanna? (Peter Pewas, 1946) 24
Berliner Ballade (Robert Stemmle, 1948) 37
Gaslight (Thorold Dickinson, 1940) 44
Most are fairly well know, so will have had a fair shake. I'm surprised Remorques is only getting a vote from me. From these I'd recommend:
  • Anni difficili, which is a neorealist, dark comedic film that looks at the relationship that many more moderate Italians had with fascism before, during and after the war. Zampa did a couple of great films during the 1940s and this is one of them.
  • Berliner Ballade is satirical portrayal of life in Berlin in the years following World War II. I was somewhat amazed at the tone of the film and it felt very much like a work of Kurt Tucholsky.
  • I've not rewatched Wohin Johanna?, an East German propaganda short, for a long time, but I remember it being one of two great discoveries I made with Peter Pewas. Seemed to me to be very effective in compelling women who last their husbands in the war to get out and vote and ensure that they did not just die in vein.
Last edited by TMDaines on Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#634 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Nov 12, 2019 11:33 am

swo17 wrote:
Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:41 am
Remember this exercise is supposed to be more about reconsidering and discovering overlooked films than "trading." Though if seeing a film you like rank in the low 200s thrills you that much, I guess I can't stop you.

And yes, I accepted the new list just as I will accept any new list submitted up until the deadline. So if you haven't participated thus far and see some orphans that you would like to help out, you are certainly welcome to do so
OK thanks for the clarification and I will definitely respect the spirit of the endeavor.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#635 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:25 pm

I've just finished The Man in Grey (1943), and it might find itself on my list now! While I'd seen The Wicked Lady before, I hadn't found it anything especially phenomenal––it reflected the reputation of the Gainsborough melodramas: scandalous, entertaining, and fluff (although that word feels inappropriate for such acidic material). Grey, however, not only felt just, if not more, entertaining than Lady, but also by virtue of its racial and war components, stranger, more unruly. The framing, of an estate sale during the blackout of WWII, at first seems incidental, but as we come around to the end, becomes ironically a means of hope, of uncanny resurrection, not only in terms of the characters, but in terms of England/London itself, with a final shot of a clear London morning, seemingly oblivious to the dangers of war. As for race, between Stewart Granger's plantation's slave revolt, the centerpiece of Othello, and a young white boy playing a black boy in blackface, who repeatedly calls the performer in Othello (Granger) the black-white man, the text is absolutely schizophrenic, but it lends itself to a half-camp surrealism that makes for very entertaining viewing. The melodrama of it, while distinctly less interesting than these two other components, predicated on the whore-madonna complex, is complicated enough not only by class considerations but also by relatively nuanced characterization that gives the whole narrative considerably more weight and emotion. All four leads are excellent, with Mason especially grotesque and Granger especially charming. Definitely might find its way onto my list––and I'll also have to check out Madonna of the Seven Moons!

Edit: I forgot to mention this in the initial write-up but of course "the black-white man" that the little boy calls Granger is in direct opposition to Mason's The Man in Grey. Not subtle at all, but it's one of those nice internally consistent symbols that I love to see.

Edit again: I've started reading Thackeray's Vanity Fair, and it's clearly a bit of an influence on this––primarily as the two women in the film are clearly plucked right out of the novel, in situation and temperaments.
Last edited by HinkyDinkyTruesmith on Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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swo17
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#636 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:37 pm

So I messed up and counted one vote for Thorold Dickinson's Gaslight along with votes for the Cukor version. For the record, the Dickinson version is currently an orphan, placed on one list at #44

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#637 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Tue Nov 12, 2019 2:31 pm

You could've just silently amended it and then actually gaslit us, swo. Golden opportunity, wasted in the name of ethics.

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swo17
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#638 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 2:44 pm

Sorry, I messed that up too

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Shrew
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#639 Post by Shrew » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:20 pm

I've been trying to watch all the top 10 orphans during these last few rounds. This time I've seen most of them (I revisited The Ghost and Mrs. Muir this list, and while I still liked it, I'd cooled enough on it that it dropped off. Sorry.) I can access most of the others I haven't seen yet, but can anyone point me to a source for these two troublesome films:
Border Street (Aleksander Ford, 1948)
Along Sungari River (Jin Shen, 1947)

Unfortunately, my taste continues to be pretty basic (and Anglo-centric, I have 36 US films and 6 UK films on my list), so I only have two orphans of my own.Let There Be Light (John Huston)
Just a reminder that Huston's documentary about US WWII soldiers dealing with (not yet called that) PTSD and other psychic wounds is available on Netflix (thanks Five Came Back). Milestone's also released it on disc and copies are readily available on youtube. As you might expect, it isn't the easiest watch, but manages to be candid without feeling exploitative of the men often breaking down on screen. It helps that we return to the same men throughout as they gradually improve. It's also of interest as a piece of cultural anthropology, depicting early psychiatric treatments that have either since evolved into something familiar or long fallen by the wayside. The group therapy sessions are particularly interesting, since the men talk about far more than just their war experiences, touching on how aspects of their upbringing have contributed to their current trauma or depression. That's doubly interesting because the hospital is integrated--while no one ever comments directly on the subject of race, having white soldiers and black soldiers talk about their issues together in 1946 makes one feel hopeful. The ending is ultimately a tad naive--the implication is that these men have healed as from a minor physical wound and are no longer carrying these traumas with them into the rest of their lives--but such was 1946. It is also, with its images of men playing a baseball game contrasted with how tortured they were when first entering, very sweet.

Crows and Sparrows (Zheng Junli)
This one, unfortunately, is probably impossible to see for most of you. I've found loads of versions on youtube and around the web, but never any English subtitles (I couldn't even find Chinese subtitles, which I might be able to translate, but the prospect of transcribing and translating the Chinese is too much for me). It is a very good, fun movie: the residents of an apartment complex try to stand their ground against their landlord, a corrupt government official who wants to sell the place off before he retreats to Taiwan. With its cast of diverse backgrounds banding together, there's some similarities to Stagecoach's structure. It's an anti-Nationalist(KMD), somewhat pro-(or least hopeful) Communist film, and not being made under the strict doctrines of either government, is able to be much freer in its depiction of human beings being human than what come in future decades. If you somehow have access to English subs (maybe only available on old VHS releases), then see it and enjoy it.

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swo17
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#640 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:23 pm

Let There Be Light is also an extra on The Master!

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#641 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:23 pm

Suspicion was me, and like other "minor" Hitchcock films, it's a film I've grown to love, including the studio-imposed ending. Hitchcock's intended ending would have been hilarious, but the "new" ending transforms the film into something equally fascinating. And Cary Grant is incredible in this role - Dave Kehr argued that it was "perhaps the finest of his many great performances for Hitchcock: required to play two different, completely contradictory characters simultaneously, he never cheats or flattens out, but plays in magnificent, mysterious depth."

I voted for The Strawberry Blonde too but placed it at 34.

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swo17
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#642 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:25 pm

hearthesilence, I didn't receive a list from you

More generally, to everyone else: If I didn't send you a PM confirming that I received your list, then I didn't receive a list from you

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hearthesilence
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#643 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:45 pm

swo17 wrote:
Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:25 pm
hearthesilence, I didn't receive a list from you

More generally, to everyone else: If I didn't send you a PM confirming that I received your list, then I didn't receive a list from you
No, you confirmed it, but I sent it very early so it was probably forgotten. I can bump it in the inbox.

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

#644 Post by domino harvey » Tue Nov 12, 2019 4:51 pm

I have almost missed your lists many, many times hearthesilence! Part of my process is now to just go back to my PMs from when the project started to grab your list

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swo17
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#645 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:01 pm

Ha sorry, correction: I didn't receive a list from you in the last seven months

Let's see what this does to the results...

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hearthesilence
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#646 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:04 pm

Hah! Apologies but I usually like to do these things early, and it's also easy for me to forget lists projects altogether after a long stretch of time so I figure better to submit early than too late.

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HinkyDinkyTruesmith
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#647 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:12 pm

If you have 75 minutes, and your life is missing a little screwball energy, may I recommend Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944), one of the most bizarre films I have ever seen, an audiciously screwball B-picture that commits to its zaniness to the very end. Simone Simon is a young woman who gets kicked out of the apartment she was planning on sharing with a coworker after the coworker suddenly gets married, and ends up renting out the apartment of a serviceman going to camp––but this coincides with a streak of bad luck she gets after spilling salt, caused by a little gremlin who torments her throughout the film. The serviceman, however, happens to have given keys to his apartment out to quite a few people, who Simone Simon spends the rest of the runtime dealing with. Just filled with bit parts by various actors, including Robert Mitchum, it's the final film by Joe May (best known for Asphalt), who directs this with all the energy one can imagine. This is a MUST WATCH, I think, and is definitely one that I will make room for on my list. Produced and set (mostly) in 1944, it surpasses the lite-surrealism of other films like My Man Godfrey into genuine Marx Brothers-esque insanity, while also being a genuine WWII-era rom com a la The More the Merrier, depicting sharing in all its forms––nickels and dimes, beer, apartments, cigarettes and matches, champagne, love––all in 75 minutes.

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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#648 Post by TMDaines » Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:19 pm

swo17 wrote:
Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:37 pm
So I messed up and counted one vote for Thorold Dickinson's Gaslight along with votes for the Cukor version. For the record, the Dickinson version is currently an orphan, placed on one list at #44
So I have 12 orphans now!

Edit: Make that 9!
Last edited by TMDaines on Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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swo17
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#649 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 7:00 pm

So there was actually another early submitted list that I had missed as well. Which I don't feel terrible about because submitting that early is sort of contrary to the spirit of the thread. In any case, they're all counted now, we have 34 lists, and here are some more new orphans:

Prelude to War (Frank Capra & Anatole Litvak, 1942) 50
The Battle of Russia (Frank Capra & Anatole Litvak, 1943) 43
Adam's Rib (George Cukor, 1949) 35
Woman of the Year (George Stevens, 1942) 41
Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius, 1949) 41
Unfaithfully Yours (Preston Sturges, 1948) 38

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HinkyDinkyTruesmith
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Re: The 1940s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#650 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Tue Nov 12, 2019 7:12 pm

Guess I'm revisiting Unfaithfully Yours! It has been an atrociously long time, after all.

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