When are you making an honest-to-goodness piece of art, and when are you just playing a sick game of nostalgie de la boue? The story of a proud, well-off Midwestern family whose position and stability are compromised by the advent of the automobile, The Magnificent Ambersons was itself a victim of the vicissitudes of mass production-but that hasn’t stopped it from being an enduring and masterful Welles classic. One of the first titles to be preserved in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, The Maltese Falcon is landmark filmmaking. [15] Rossellini contrasts Italian fear with Italian heroism, creating opportunities for the movie’s German characters to look inward and realize that force of arms isn’t the same thing as force of courage. As one would expect from any Western of the mid-20th century, there are a lot of violent “Indians” to fend off; Dunson’s love interest is slaughtered along with most of a California-bound wagon train, and in one scene where Dunson and his codger-companion Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan) are in retaliatory combat, Dunson finds one of the Indians is wearing a silver bracelet that had belonged to his own mother. Out of the Past’s cheerlessness towers from the shoulders of its cast, a coterie of acting giants each at the top of their game. The series began with the 1923 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and continued with such movies as The Phantom of the Opera, the Dracula franchise, the Frankenstein saga, The Mummy franchise, The Invisible Man … Bette Davis stars as Regina Giddens, a Southern aristocrat living in a world where only sons were considered legal heirs—Regina’s been subverted by her greedy brothers and there are multiple conniving marriage plots around the consolidation of wealth. Chaos, stampedes, duels, shifting loyalties-and an unfortunately pat ending in which both men are basically chastened by a woman and forced to remember that they love each other. So he shows Bailey visions of his life, progressing from his childhood, showing Bailey all the times he made someone’s live better (or outright saved it). Like most of Hitchcock’s work, what makes it truly spooky are its relatable themes—in this case, living in someone else’s shadow and worrying that a loved one’s hiding something. Though only the film’s opening scenes were shot on location (the rest on the Warner Bros. lot), the exotic setting and meteorological fate render isolation to an extreme degree. Huston uses a light hand to illuminate some pretty dark corners of human instinct, and Humphrey Bogart is marvelous as Fred Dobbs, a man destroyed by lust and paranoia as we watch. But in addition, you might notice that the film remains eerily timely in an age in which the influence and power of the mass media (and the accrual of gauche, pointless wealth) is a topic of constant discourse. (Hawks, though a fan of Hemingway’s, felt that To Have and Have Not was his worst novel, and reportedly told him so.) Creeping in stark contrast to Universal’s monster movies of the same era, it leans on suspense and carefully constructed shots rather than Jack Pierce makeup to make an impression. If you’ve heard Bruce Springsteen’s tribute to the film but you haven’t seen the film yourself, carve out two hours and bask in the undying power of one of the most important movies produced by the American film industry. ), and wonderful performances by Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer as a traumatized woman and a sociopath determined to drive her out of her mind. Frank Capra’s 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, become—I think the phrase is criminally insane? He announces a prize for anyone who succeeds in showing him a ghost, which attracts the greed of the poor hungry peasants, resulting in the accusations of innocent people as haunted and even murders with the hope of producing a ghost. Also exchanged are the typical noir streets for Florida’s coastal environs, every bit as claustrophobic and oppressive as the barometric pressure drops. Regardless, Cat People was a populist hit in its day before being reevaluated decades later as a landmark of ’40s horror. Alvin and the Chipmunks (Bagdasarian/Format Films, 1961) Aqua Man (Filmation, 1968) The Archie Show (Filmation, 1968) Astro Boy (Tezuka, 1952) Casper the Friendly Ghost (Reit-Oriolo/Famous Studios, 1939) Deputy Dawg (Terrytoons, 1962) Droopy (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1943) A prototypical “war of the sexes” comedy in which each side represents the status quo for his or her respective gender, Adam’s Rib transcends its dumbest Mars-vs-Venus trappings by portraying Tracy’s Bonner as a stuffy turd too caught up in his derision of women to do anything about the fact that a famous musician lothario (David Wayne) is getting mighty close to cuckolding him, were Amanda Bonner a dunce susceptible to shameless advances. Then its reputation began to grow. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren, derived almost wholesale from the outsize life of Louisiana governor Huey Long, Robert Rossen’s All the King’s Men, despite its expansive scope, wastes no time in plunging its seemingly idealistic characters into the deep morass of moral gray. But when the businessman—now Johnny’s boss—seems to meet an untimely end, the guilt-stricken employee is determined to cruelly punish both himself and Gilda for their deceit. —A.C. Seven years before his powerhouse turn in The Big Heat, Glenn Ford played second fiddle to Rita Hayworth—how the hell could you not?—in Charles Vidor’s exotic thriller. by Hannah Marder This adaptation of a Broadway hit was a vehicle to get her career back on track after a series of flops. Some are just such a good time that they last decade after decade. Crawford’s face holds multitudes: Even in the beginning of the film, when we briefly court a humble, hardworking Stark, we can see in Crawford’s eyes and jowls the beginnings of something deeply troubling. He becomes aware of his special ability to connect with the souls that haven't crossed over, and sets out on a journey where he assists three souls, in the process learning much about himself. [3] The movie paved the way for Indian gothic fiction. (Both Stewart and Capra commented that it was their favorite of all the films they’d respectively worked on.) Maybe his words read as the wildest of exaggerations back in 1970, but in 2017 they ring as genuinely as John Ford’s 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel. The Argentinean intrigue is marked by crackling dialogue and cast in lush shadows by cinematographer Rudolph Maté, but Vidor wisely recognizes the film belongs to Hayworth, a femme fatale of epic proportions. Yup, it’s a Christmas story. And the agent who’s on call to help them do it is, well, he’s a bit of a temptation. Mutilated or not, the film continues to be lauded for its inventive mise-en-scène and its superlative performances by Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello and Agnes Moorehead. You might have to watch Stray Dog under cover of air conditioning: It’s a hot film, not in the sense of carnality but in the sense of temperature. By showing its audience the positive side of capitalism in action, the film reminds us of its negative side, too, posturing about Christmas’s true meaning and capturing New York City at the peak of its bustling consumerist culture. The rewrite was strongly influenced by the War (for example, the setting was moved from Cuba to Martinique to avoid provoking ire from the Roosevelt administration) and beyond the beginning of the book, the film veers off in its own direction—specifically in directions that made it resemble Casablanca since it had been so popular. This postwar psychic landscape is subversive as hell—and suburban too, no longer confined to metro limits. Like other Universal horror films from the classic era of monster horror, it’s 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. Also, we just think these are some damned fine films. Her performance as icy heiress Tracy Lord in this “remarriage” comedy is a force of nature. —Amanda Schurr. As is the case with many films of the 1940s, especially those foreign selections made or released in the shadow of World War II occupation—by the Axis or otherwise (see also: Kurosawa’s navigation of American censors during the U.S.’s squatting in Japan)—Le Corbeau is a morally thorny tale, infatuated more with the indelible darkness of all human beings than in exploring any sense of hope that the world need not be a crappy place. at least, it’s the most definitive Crawford performance of all time.) All Rights Reserved, Amy Glynn, Andy Crump, Dom Sinacola, Jim Vorel and Paste Staff. Bicycle Thieves marries sober observations about its time and place with an abiding sense of optimism that’s fully realized in the film’s climax. This is a movie—as are many spy movies—that is essentially about trust. What ended up happening, though, was a really interesting investigation into how music could be represented visually in the animated medium. The violent, stylized set pieces are as visceral as the verbal confrontations. Vittorio de Sica’s vision hits all the notes of the Italian Neorealist style Pioneered by Roberto Rossellini – the story is simple, the characters are relatively simple (some aren’t actors at all; Enzo Staiola, who plays the man’s son and cohort, was plucked off the sidewalk), and there is a focus on the quotidian lives of working class people and the unemployment and poverty that plagued Italy in the postwar years. The film overemphasizes minutiae of its mise en scène, extends scenes past their natural end points, and hoovers any sense of gratification out of its climax. Crawford’s performance as the phony voice of the common “hick” is especially captivating—and not only because he so closely resembles a certain nascent president who espouses the same flimsy schtick, openly lying to the people he supposedly represents. Wilson releases a repentant former associate of Kindler’s, hoping the man will lead him to the fugitive. The film almost demands to be seen twice for the sheer volume of slants and revelations. Before there were Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury voicing animated, animate household items, there was Jean Cocteau. The real Dr. Edwardes is missing and feared dead. Rope is notable for its extremely long takes and for taking place in real time, making it one of Hitchcock’s more experimental movies. Sanjana suddenly finds that her husband is part of the ghostly conspiracy, which she must fix in order to escape. The city is nearly a character more than it is a backdrop, though of course the hero is Murakami (the great Toshiro Mifune, here appearing in the third of his sixteen eventual roles in Kurosawa’s filmography), a coltish young detective who is obsessed to the point of detriment with retrieving his stolen service gun. It’s one of those films that really send you to another dimension. (Check out the drugstore scene where Wilson plays checkers with Billy House.) A film stuck in time, place and temperament, Miracle on 34th Street is one of the two heavy favorites, along ith It’s a Wonderful Life, in the battle for the title of “greatest Christmas movie ever,”. Right. —J.V. Shows sold out across the country, yet Fantasia initially ran at a loss due to the expense of the state-of-the-art Fantasound systems along with theater lease and other production costs. Gilda represents the oft-discussed male gaze of noir at its most blatant—she’s largely a fetishized object. —A.G. The cumulative effect represents a primal deviation—make that devolution—from social conformity and civilization. Developed in Denmark during the Nazi occupation, Day of Wrath was Carl Th. Robinson is electrifying as the ex-bootlegger, whose hostages include John Barrymore as the wheelchair-bound father of Bogart’s deceased war colleague, Bacall as the soldier’s widow, and Academy-Award winner Claire Trevor as Robinson’s mistreated moll. So, yeah­­-come for the psychopathology lesson, but stay for the stunning “God’s-eye” style direction by Cuckor (no unreliable narrators here! With Harold Peary, Marion Martin, Richard LeGrand, Amelita Ward. The Wizard of Oz gets more populist attention, but Meet Me in St. Louis is the best Judy Garland musical by an easy margin. Weird and wonderful and powerful filmmaking. Don Winslow of the Navy (2-DVD) $ 7.98 on Sale. That makes Miracle on 34th Street sound both drier and jaded than it actually is, of course, and more than 70 years on, it’s still one of the most effectively hokey pieces of holiday entertainment the industry has ever produced. The first commercial film-animated or live-action-ever to be shown in stereophonic sound. Clarence is charged with pulling Bailey off the ledge, in return for which he will be granted wings. [21], Some Hollywood movies refer to Bollywood ghost movies. On some level it’s more of a mystery/romance, with the veracity of the ghosts in real doubt—not unlike Guillermo Del Toro’s modern Crimson Peak, without all the visual bluster. More than seven decades after its release, this film is still snort-soda-out-your-nose funny. —A.G. [17], Some Bollywood ghost movies are adapted from Western sources, with varying degrees of success. But at times the framing makes Hayworth’s erotic physicality all the more charged, and dangerous. Good satire can be powerful, and this film was: Released while the United States was still formally at peace with Germany, it stirred greater public attention and condemnation of the Nazis and Mussolini, anti-Semitism and fascism. 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