Here's a list of my favorite movies from the forties. As with all my other decades lists, this list is in now way meant to represent the most important films of the decade—though, inevitably many of those films are represented here, because I'm pretentious and obvious, apparently—it is merely a list of the 1940s pictures I dig the most. So before you shit on my choices (not that I have any problem with you doing so), keep that in mind.
But, yeah, here's the list (by the way, despite what many of these snarkily/bizarrely written capsules may imply, I do genuinely love these movies):
1940
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
dir. John Ford
California fruit-growers try not to get conned by shifty, cunning Okies.
His Girl Friday (1940)
dir. Howard Hawks
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, there's a spider on your shoulder. Oh my God, don't move."
"What do you think I'm doing?"
Rebecca (1940)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock
A house gets burned down.
1941
Ball of Fire (1941)
dir. Howard Hawks
Smart men do word stuff for to Encyclopedia make.
Citizen Kane (1941)
dir. Orson Welles
A heartwarming children's movie about an anthropomorphized sled's attempt to find its way home, to its original master—the boy who once loved it more than life itself.
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
dir. Preston Sturges
Sturges assuages his guilty conscience for making comedies during some of the most tumultuous years in American history. And then Sturges finds out that Sturges is awesome. He realizes that unemployed drifters want nothing more out of life than to laugh. Sturges is doing a good deed. Good for Sturges.
1942
Casablanca (1942)
dir. Michael Curtiz
A heroic WWII resistance fighter, on his way to America to further help the cause, makes a stop in Morocco. And then the low-life saloon-owner ex-boyfriend of his wife bangs his wife.
Larceny, Inc. (1942)
dir. Lloyd Bacon
Get ready to see a lot more Edward G. Robinson here. I had no idea I had such a fetish for the guy.
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
dir. Preston Sturges
Rudy Vallee is a tool.
1943
Air Force (1943)
dir. Howard Hawks
"Oh shit, I'm cuming, I'm cuming."
"Watch out; don't get any on the..."
"Ahhh. Oh fuck."
"...on the controls."
"Whoa. Hey, are we going down?"
"Yeah."
"Was that cause of my—"
"Yeah."
Guadalcanal Diary (1943)
dir. Lewis Seiler
Quite possibly the greatest filmic depiction of America's unheralded professional wrestling forces of WWII.
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
dir. Jacques Tourneur
"Tim Conway's in this one? Sweet. We gonna get to see some Dorf zombies?"
"No, Tom."
"My name's not Tom."
"No, no, the movie. The guy in the movie—"
"What about the Dorf zombie movie?"
"Just stop talking."
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Joseph Cotten plays an eccentric, misunderstood uncle in Hitchcock's heartwarming family tale.
1944
The Curse of the Cat People (1944)
dir. Robert Wise and Gunther von Fritsch
"Oh, I loved the first Cat People. Sweet, I'm gonna get to see some badass cat people shadows stalking and attacking the—what? That's not what this movie is about? It's a coming of age tale about a young daydreaming girl? What the fuck?"
Double Indemnity (1944)
dir. Billy Wilder
All-American kid Nino Zachetti has the gosh darn swellest girlfriend ever in Lola Dietrichson. But when Phyllis, the MILFy mom of Nino's gal, shows young Nino a bit of gam, the kid goes cuckoo for her. Now he must balance these two relationships, making sure Lola is never the wiser. He's gone ride this crazy love train all the way to the end of the line, and it's a one-way trip and the last stop is boner-town.
Lifeboat (1944)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Never trust a Jerry.
1945
Brief Encounter (1945)
dir. David Lean
A truly chilling Orwellian tale of a dystopic future in which giant disembodied heads watch over everything. They see all, know all.
Detour (1945)
dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
Never trust a dame.
Scarlet Street (1945)
dir. Fritz Lang
In this magical tale, a meek middle-aged man gets a second chance at life. He pursues his art dreams and finds true love.
Spellbound (1945)
dir. Alfred Hitchock
Dali designed a dream sequence for this movie. So yeah, fucking watch it.
1946
The Big Sleep (1946)
dir. Howard Hawks
Um...this movie confusing. My brain hurt.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
dir. Frank Capra
One of the earliest evil-children movies, It's a Wonderful Life depicts George Bailey's struggles against the hellspawn that resulted when he forgot to pull out a bunch of times. The goal of the evil children: destroy any chance George has at happiness by ensuring that the poor man remains tethered to the soul-deadening job located in the constrictive Americana nightmare town of Bedford Falls. A truly chilling tale.
Notorious (1946)
dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Grant and Bergman make lots of kissy kiss in this one.
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
dir. Tay Garnett
"Excuse me, I just gotta get behind you. There's a beer in the fridge with my name on it."
The Stranger (1946)
dir. Orson Welles
Always trust a man with a mustache.
1947
Brute Force (1947)
dir. Jules Dassin
A tale of one chest's struggles against...that is a powerful chest.
The Fugitive (1947)
dir. John Ford
John Ford gets all artsy and shit.
Odd Man Out (1947)
dir. Carol Reed
Spoiler alert: James Mason bleeds for, like, for-fucking-ever in this one.
Out of the Past (1947)
dir. Jacques Tourneur
I can't believe they let Mitchum spark a doobie for this poster.
1948
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
dir. Vittorio De Sica
A bicycle gets stolen.
Fort Apache (1948)
dir. John Ford
A fictionalized account of that time the noble hero Custer whipped Sitting Bull's ass.
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
dir. H.C. Potter
Look, it's a remake of The Money Pit.
Red River (1948)
dir. Howard Hawks
John Wayne has his eye on Monty Clift. The young man is getting too big for his britches. Why, if he don't learn some respect, the Duke is gonna have to help Monty out of those tight britches; he'll have to punish Monty—slow at first, and then faster, harder, stronger and deeper so that the man learns his lesson. And when Monty begs for more, the Duke'll pull back, because always leave them wanting more. Because, holy shit, how did we get here?
Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
dir. Preston Sturges
Rudy Vallee is a tool.
1949
The Set-Up (1949)
dir. Robert Wise
"Mr. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?"
She Shoulda Said 'No'! (1949)
dir. Sam Newfield
That is one classy junkie.
The Third Man (1949)
dir. Carol Reed
Entrepreneur Harry Lime must outsmart the no-good government operatives who try to put the kibosh on his business operation, in this indictment of regulation run amok.
White Heat (1949)
dir. Raoul Walsh
Big Cagney looks really pissed off at little Cagney and woman with little Cagney.
6 comments:
I like that the French title for The Fugitive is God is Dead. The Fugitive, however, is a sack of shit. John Ford trying to get artsy doesn't do it for me. What's that other artsy one that's worse than The Fugitive? The Informer? No, actually, nothing is worse than The Fugitive.
Ha! Nice work, Dave. Love the descriptions on these. (Great selections, too!)
I've only seen three movies out of this list (Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and It's a Wonderful Life)... Alas, the 1940's and earlier are a really weak spot for me. But it's really fun to look at all the posters ;)
I will always dfend The Fugitive. Of course, I happen to like artsy Ford. Of course, I haven't seen this movie in years so I don't know how I'd feel about it now. I don't know what my point is.
I's estimate I've seen about 3/4 of those. There are a lot of good movies there. I'd suggest Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis), if you haven't seen it.
Yeah, Children of Paradise has been on my list forever. I really gotta get around to finally watching it.
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