Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

The 1940s

Westerns 

    I might have mentioned that I’m not a big fan of Westerns (see blog post of 6/12/16) and I think probably the best of the genre were made in the 1950s. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t iconic ones from the 40s. So here are my twenty picks in no particular order.

First, some Henry Fonda films:

My Darling Clementine (1946, John Ford)

Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp, Victor Mature as Doc Holliday in the best film realization of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.

Ox-Bow Incident (1943, William A. Wellman)

With Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews, Harry Morgan.  Is this really a Western?  Haunting, tragic morality tale with moving performances especially from Dana Andrews.

Some John Wayne films:

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949, John Ford)

John Wayne  plays an aging cavalry captain in what is many people's favorite John Ford film. Winton C. Hoch won an Oscar for his Technicolor photography around Ford's favorite Monument Valley location.

Angel and the Badman (1947, James Edward

Grant)

John Wayne is the badman. Gail Russell is the good woman and nurses his wounds. Guess what happens?

Red River (1948, Howard Hawks)

With John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, and Joanne Dru. I've written about this film before, that I admire Hawks' work, but that I find the generational conflict here contrived and Wayne's character unpleasant, but what do I know?

Tall in the Saddle (1944, Edward L. Marin)

With John Wayne, Ella Raines, Audrey Long.

More interesting than the usual Western plot, enlivened by good chemistry between Wayne and Raines as a tough rancher.  Audrey Long plays a rival love interest.

Three Godfathers (1948, John Ford)

With John Wayne, Pedro Armendarez, Harry Carey, Jr.

The Christmas parable in New Jerusalem, Arizona, as the three men devote themselves to a baby's survival.

And a Henry Fonda and John Wayne film:

Fort Apache (1948, John Ford)

Fonda playing against type as a glory seeking commander and John Wayne as the honorable veteran who opposes his betrayal of an agreement with an Indian tribe.

Two Gary Cooper films:

Unconquered (1947, Cecil B. DeMille)

With Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, Howard Da Silva, in technicolor.

She is a bondservant. He rescues her from Da Silva while fighting Indians in pre-Revolutionary America.

The Westerner (1940, William Wyler)

With Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Forrest Tucker.

Top-notch Western with Brennan as Judge Roy Bean, and one of Cooper's best performances.

Two Gregory Pecks:

Duel in the Sun (1946, King Vidor)

With Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones.

David O. Selznick tried to make a Western as big as Gone With the Wind.  So this is big -- visually, musically, and dramatically, way over the top.

Yellow Sky (1948, William Wellman)

With Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark.

Greed for gold divides a gang of outlaws in a tale elevated by strong performances by all.

One with Robert Mitchum:

Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh)

Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, and Dean Jagger.

The hero deals with childhood trauma and real enemies in a beautifully photographed, noir Western.

One with William Holden:

The Streets of Laredo (1949, Leslie Fenton)

William Holden, William Bendix, MacDonald Carey.

The lives of three bandits evolve onto different paths when one goes straight.

One with Robert Mitchum and William Holden:

Rachel and the Stranger (1948, Norman Foster)

William Holden, Robert Mitchum, and Loretta Young.

Widower, Holden, buys Young, a  bondservant, to help on his farm.  Then old friend, Mitchum, turns up.

The Mark of Zorro (1940,  Rouben Mamoulian)

With Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone.

Young aristocrat in 19th century Spanish California fights injustice behind a mask and the sign of the "Z". Good swashbuckler.

Northwest Passage  (1940, King Vidor)

With Spencer Tracy, Robert Young.

Rogers' Rangers fighting Indians in the French and Indian War.  Based on the novel by Kenneth Roberts, good-looking production filmed on location in actual forests.

  

They Died with Their Boots On (1941,  Raoul Walsh)

With Errol Flynn, Olivia deHaviland.

There was a General George Custer and there was a Battle of the Little Big Horn.  Otherwise almost everything else in this account of the General's career is wildly inaccurate, but entertaining.

Colorado Territory  (1949, Raoul Walsh)

With Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo.

A loose reworking of Walsh's earlier High Sierra.  The result being a kind of noir western with good performances by McCrea and Mayo.

The Outlaw (1943, Howard Hughes)

With Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell. Jack Buetel, and John Huston.

Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Doc Holliday are in the story that is an excuse for Howard Hughes to show off Jane Russell. A film made to be mocked by Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Jane Russell's poses make this awfully (and I do mean awfully) iconic.

Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

The 1940s

Musicals

     The penultimate category of this survey of the decade's iconic films --  20 films you should know: American Musicals.

Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940, Directed by Norman Taurog)

The last of the 'Broadway Melody' franchise, it boasts a Cole Porter score, and dancing by the great Eleanor Powell and the great Fred Astaire, together for the one and only time. The grande finale is the pair dancing alone to Begin the Beguine, against a sparkling, mirrored background. Non pareil! If you watch nothing else...

Down Argentine Way (1940, Directed by Irving Cummings)

Betty Grable and Don Ameche with Carmen Miranda in her American debut, opening the film with South American Way. But although there is a silly plot that surrounds Don and Betty's romance, it is totally entertaining just to watch Carmen Miranda and the fabulous Nicholas Brothers perform.


Buck Privates (1941, Directed by Arthur Lubin)

A look at basic training for the country, newly at war.
This very musical Abbot and Costello comedy also stars Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis, and the Andrew Sisters. Doesn't get more iconic.

Holiday Inn (1942, Directed by Mark Sandrich)

Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby have a great idea -- a hotel where they will sing and dance for the guests to music by Irving Berlin.  What could go wrong?  Too much success?  Classic tunes, including America's favorite holiday song, Bing singing, White Christmas.


Road to Morocco (1942, Directed by David Butler)

I know I have listed Hope/Crosby films elsewhere in the comedy category, they are also musicals, especially this one that features, besides the well-known title song, Bing singing the lovely, Moonlight Becomes You, to Dorothy Lamour.



Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942, Directed by Michael Curtiz)

James, Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Rosemary deCamp in the biography of composer and performer, George S. Cohan.  A classic and Cagney's personal favorite, for which he won his only Academy Award.



You Were Never Lovelier (1942, Directed by William A. Seiter)

Loving Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films as I do, I was not prepared to be so impressed by Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth as dancing partners. Nice tunes as Fred pursues Rita without her father's approval. 







Cabin in the Sky (1943, Directed by Vincente Minnelli)

Ethel Waters, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Lena Horne star in director Minnelli's first film. Many people familiar with the great jazz vocalists may not be aware of the fact that Ethel Waters was a fine singer as well as an equally-fine actress.

Girl Crazy (1943, Directed by Norman Taurog)

Many choices for a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney musical, but this one has the advantage of a Gershwin score with Tommy Dorsey arrangements of But Not For Me, Embraceable You, I Got Rhythm. Judy never sounded better.



Stormy Weather (1943, Directed by Andrew L. Stone)

Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Bill Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers, Fats Waller star in this showcase of legendary performers. Great music and costumes. A rare chance to see some remarkable American talent.


Bathing Beauty (1944, Directed by George Sidney)

In a list of iconic musicals, it is necessary to include at least one Esther Williams film. Even if you don't care for synchronized swimming at the Olympics, you might appreciate this water musical just to know why Williams was a big star. With Red Skelton, Harry James, Xavier Cougat. 


Going My Way (1944, Directed by Leo McCarey)

Bing Crosby plays a younger, more modern priest who wins over the conservative Barry Fitzgerald. At the Academy Awards, it won Best Actor (Crosby), Best Supporting Actor (Fitzgerald), Best Director, Best Picture, Best Writing, Original Story and Screenplay, Best Music - Original Song , Swinging on a Star.  If you're into awards.


Step Lively (1944, Directed by Tim Whelan)

Musical remake of the Marx Brothers' Room Service, where a producer is putting a show together from a hotel, where he and the cast are staying on credit. Worth watching to understand the appeal of the young, skinny heartthrob, Frank Sinatra, singing, As Long As There's Music.



Rhapsody in Blue (1945, Directed by Irving Rapper)

Robert Alda, Alexis Smith, Joan Leslie, Oscar Levant, star in the Hollywood version of the life of George Gershwin. Basically, this is a tribute to the music, and 'who can ask for anything more'?


Wonder Man (1945, Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone)

Although his better-known films are in the 50s, this early Danny Kaye effort illustrates why he became such a big star.  Crazy antics by the multi-talented Kaye abound, who, in this story, is inhabited by the ghost of his brother. With Virginia Mayo and Vera-Ellen. 


Night and Day (1946, Directed by Michael Curtiz)

Very fictional biography of Cole Porter, starring Cary Grant, Alexis  Smith (again, in the role of the composer's love interest), Monty Woolley, Ginny Sims, and Jane Wyman. But, great music and Mary Martin performing her famous rendition of My Heart Belongs to Daddy.


Romance on the High Seas (1948, Directed by Michael Curtiz, Musical Scenes by Busby Berkely)

For those of you who only know Doris Day for the post-PillowTalk comedies, it will be enlightening to see and hear the young singer in her first film. The lovely and poised Doris sings, It's Magic, and a star is born.

Easter Parade (1948, Directed by Charles Walters)

I've watched this over the years without really seeing it, but the more I look at it, the more I appreciate the real quality of this production. Judy Garland must take the place of Ann Miller when Miller leaves Fred Astaire for a solo career. With Peter Lawford. Wonderful singing and dancing to a wonderful score by Irving Berlin. 

On the Town (1949, Directed by Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly)

Based on the musical play with music by Leonard Bernstein and  lyrics by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, this is a vehicle for the very talented players, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, Betty Garrett and Jules Munshin to sing and dance to some great tunes in a story of sailors on leave for one day in New York City.


Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Directed by Vincente Minnelli)

Meet Me in St. Louis could be the best musical of all time. Oh, I know there are many equally good in the music or the dance or the glamour department.  This film actually is deceptively simple in its presentation. But it is a drama where the music serves the story, as perfectly integrated as the costumes, sets, and lighting. There are films that have better music or better dance or where the story is something you experience while you wait for the next musical number.  But here, the music comes as a bonus to the story, a tapestry of rich colors and textures -- every scene, a small painting of the world of 1904 St. Louis, the whole masterfully directed by Vincente Minnelli.  And although it has been recorded by a thousand different artists, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas never sounds as poignant as when Judy Garland sings it to Margaret O'Brien.  With Mary Astor and Leon Ames.



OK, watch. Tell me this isn't great.

Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

The 1940s

Mystery!  Crime! Suspense!

     Here we are back in iconic-ville for a survey in the next category of the film classics of the 1940s: Mystery! Crime! Suspense!.  Since I am kind of partial to mysteries, these include some of my favorites. Although I am presenting 20 iconic films in this category, I am only going to discuss my particular favorites in any detail.

    My number one favorite in this category is The Maltese Falcon from 1941.  It is just a perfectly-told tale starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor with a great ensemble of character actors, including Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.  Crisply directed by John Huston who adapted the screenplay from Dashiell Hammett's book, the mood is shady and cynical. But it is Bogart's smart-talking, tough-guy detective who defines the genre in remarking "when someone kills your partner, you're supposed to do something about it".

     My other number one favorite (yes, there are 2) is the noir classic directed by Otto Preminger, Laura, from 1944. I watch this every chance I get.  There is no suspense, I know the plot, scene-by-scene.  I know the script.  I just like watching the interplay of the characters: Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price.  It's all very delicious.  Great black and white photography. 

  The Big Sleep from 1946 is another one of my favorites that has the right kind of mood and a very long and confusing plot. But director, Howard Hawks, infuses it with enough style to keep you interested watching Bogart, this time playing Raymond Chandler's private eye, Philip Marlowe, wooing Lauren Bacall's character while detecting for her father.

^*^*^*^

     The next two films have a similar plot:  an older husband with an insurance policy is on borrowed time when his wife kindles a sizzling romance with a corruptible stranger. Both films are based on novels by James M. Cain. Fred MacMurray is drawn into a deadly plot by Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity from 1944, directed by Billy Wilder, and in 1946, Tay Garnett directs Lana Turner drawing in John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice.  It is worth noting how much smouldering tension can be conveyed working within the production codes of the 1940s. The first appearance of Stanwyck walking down the stairs, ankle bracelet first, and Turner, from her ankles up to her shorts, all in white, including her turban over platinum hair, and we know where this is going. Couldn't get more iconic.                                                        

  Now, the next two are films that I like and I don't like, that is, I really like, but I don't feel comfortable watching. Gaslight from 1944, directed by George Cukor, starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. I really don't like watching Boyer in the role of the villain as the mind of Ingrid's character, Paula, gets more and more feeble.  But I watch it for the ending. Because it has one of the best comeuppances on film.  It is a kind of sisterhood thing -- for all the women who have been belittled and "gaslighted" by a controlling man.  From the scene where Joseph Cotten breaks open Boyer's desk and finds the letters that confirm that Paula is not crazy, and Elizabeth, the maid, says to Boyer, enigmatically, "Yes, sir, I see just how it is", it is a wonderful catharsis and a superb (Academy Award winning) change from a defeated Paula to a redeemed woman, angry enough to toy with Boyer in revenge.

    The other film about which I am similarly ambivalent is Out of the Past from 1947, starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, with Kirk Douglas. Directed masterfully by Jacques Tourneur, this is on everybody's top film noir list. For me, this is almost the opposite experience of Gaslight in that there is no payoff after a very long tale of twists and turns.The ending is nowhere near as satisfying given the investment in time you've made in following the numerous betrayals and double-crosses of the plot, and the fact that none of the characters are in any way likeable.  Mitchum's character is, of course, completely taken in by the amoral but seductive Jane Greer.

Otherwise, he would have had an idyllic life, we are led to believe.  Right.  In spite of this, it's kind of mesmerizing. If it were a book, it would be a page turner.

     The following films round out my top 20 most iconic of this category from the 1940s.    

1940

1941

1942

                                  1943

  

1943

1944

                                                                  1944

1946

1947

1948

1948

1948

1949

(from White Heat)