Category Archives: 1946

No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)

Posted on January 15, 2015 | Leave a comment

No Regrets for Our Youth
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Eijirô Hisaita
1946/Japan
Tojo Company
First viewing/Hulu Plus

[box] “Anyone who fights for the future, lives in it today.” ― Ayn Rand[/box]

Kurosawa’s genius made manifest after several trial efforts. Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring) is a revelation as a young woman who matures from indifference to commitment.

Yukie Yagihara (Hara) is the daughter of a liberal professor at Kyoto University who has written about the dangers of militarism at a very inopportune time in Japan. A group of students idolizes the professor, who is under fire by the government. Two of the students are interested in Yukie. Noge is constantly haranging the group about academic freedom. Itokawa is quieter. Yukie is afraid for her father and does everything possible to avoid any talk about political matters.

Finally, the professor is forced to resign and the students start to organize a protest. Noge is the ringleader but Itokawa backs out to please his mother. Noge is arrested and Itokawa goes on to become a public prosecutor. After Noge has spent several years in prison, he returns to visit the professor and Yukie in the company of Itokawa, who secured his release after being convinced that Noge had changed his opinions. Itokawa has also secured a job for Noge in China. Yukie is so shook up by this development that she packs up that very day to move to Tokyo. Her father tells her she must be ready to suffer for her freedom.

Yukie has a series of uninspiring jobs in Tokyo. She then meets Itokawa on the street and finds out from him that Nobe is now working as a researcher in the city. Longing for meaning in her life, she gradually works up the courage to see Nobe. She quickly senses that he is still fighting for the old causes, now to keep Japan out of the war. She has always been half in love with him and they marry.

Their happiness is marred by a sense of impending doom but their motto is “no regrets in my life.” Nobe is again arrested and Yukie is jailed for some time for refusing to answer questions about Nobe’s activities. Yukie is eventually released through Itokawa’s intervention but Nobe dies in jail. Yukie sets out to visit Nobe’s estranged peasant parents and seeks redemption through hard work in the fields amid peasants who believe the entire family to be traitors and spies.

I admire Setsuko in the many Ozu films she made but this performance is really something different. She plays a modern woman with a core of iron here and is sensational. She is really the reason to watch this movie but the story is quite moving too. Who said Kurosawa couldn’t create multi-dimensional women? Recommended.

Fan Tribute

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Posted on January 12, 2015 | 2 comments

My Darling Clementine
Directed by John Ford
Written by Samuel G. Engel and Winston Miller from a story by Sam Hellman based on a book by Stuart N. Lake
1945/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#204 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box]Wyatt Earp: Mac, you ever been in love?
Mac: No, I’ve been a bartender all me life.[/box]

If you are not looking for action, this is about as close to perfection as a Western comes.

Although Ford claimed that Wyatt Earp explained the whole thing to him, this is a highly fictionalized account of the events leading up to the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers are driving a herd of cattle to California when they meet up with Old Man Clanton (a truly scary Walter Brennan) and his sons. Clanton offers to buy the herd at rock-bottom prices. Earp refuses to sell. That night, while Wyatt and two of his brothers go to nearby Tombstone to get cleaned up, the Clantons help themselves to the herd and kill the youngest Earp boy.

Wyatt has no proof and accepts the very dangerous job as Marshall of Tombstone to get it and his revenge. He makes friends with legendary gunslinger Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), a big deal around town. His relations are not so good with Holliday’s girl, the fiery Chihuahua (Linda Darnell).

Then Clementine, Holliday’s lady love from older, better times comes looking for him. Doc cannot bear to have her see what has become of him. Wyatt takes an instantaneous liking to the pretty, refined Easterner. The rest of the movie follows the love triangle, or is that quadrangle?, and the events leading up to the final confrontation with the Clantons. With Ward Bond as an Earp and Alan Mowbray as a boozy itinerant actor.

Take away the plot and leave only the characters and scenery and you still have one fantastic movie. With Ford it’s the little things that count. I love the shots of Mature’s face as he listens to Hamlet’s soliloquy, Fonda’s stiff-legged dancing, and so much more. The whole thing has a lonely, elegiac feeling befitting another time when the good guys won but at a terrible cost.

Ford always brought out the very best in Fonda and I find Mature to be such a sadly underrated actor. Darnell is in her fake “Jane Russell” mode and not at her best. Brennan reportedly hated working with Ford so much that he never did it again. Despite or because of the animosity, he gives one of his best performances. Highly recommended.

The Criterion DVD has an excellent commentary by a Ford biographer.

Trailer

2 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1946

Great Expectations (1946)

Posted on January 11, 2015 | 8 comments

Great Expectations
Directed by David Lean
Written by David Lean, Ronald Neame, Anthony Havelock-Allen, etc. from the novel by Charles Dickens
1946/UK
Cineguild
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#203 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Mr. Jaggers: Take nothing on its looks, take everything on evidence. There is no better rule.[/box]

The first half of this film is one of the great Dickens adaptations and it is visually gorgeous throughout.

Young orphan Pip (Tony Wager) is being raised by his mean sister and her kind blacksmith husband Jo Gargery (Bernard Miles). One day, as he is visiting his parents’ grave in a cemetery near the river, he chances upon a convict, Magwich (Finlay Curry) who scares the daylights out of him. The convict demands a file and some food on threat that a “young man” will eat Pip’s liver. More out of pity than fear, Pip comes through with the goods.

A little later, Pip is summoned by the rich, eccentric Miss Havesham (Martita Hunt) to come to her house and play. On arrival, Pip is greeted by the dismissive and insulting but beautiful Estella (Jean Simmons). It is lifelong love at first sight for Pip, despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that Estella vocally looks down upon the boy as “common”. Miss Havesham, an aged bride who has not seen the light of day since her jilting, encourages Pip’s longing. Pip continues to visit the house until he needs to start his apprenticeship with Jo. Thereafter, he returns each year to collect a generous birthday present. Estella, by this time, has been sent to finishing school in France.

The pivotal event in Pip’s life occurs when he is in his late teens. An anonymous benefactor has established a fund to allow him to go to London and become a gentleman. Pip, who has been dreaming of finally winning Estella, jumps at the opportunity. In London, he is taken in hand by lawyer Jaggers (Francis L. Sullivan) and is given over to share rooms with one Herbert Pocket (Alec Guinness, in his first credited performance), who teaches him social graces.

Pip is reacquainted with Estella (Valerie Hobson) when she returns from France. She refuses to flirt with him, as she does with all others, and tells him she has no heart. Pip persists in his infatuation. Then a second earthquake turns all Pip’s expectations upside down.

I’m a bit of a Dickens nut and I love the source novel about a boy who has to learn the hard way to take life at face value. Its story about how we need to learn to be grateful for what we have resonates with me.

This film is a feast for the eyes. I especially like the early scenes in the graveyard, which convey so perfectly the terrors of a child but the whole thing is beautiful. As story telling, I find the second half dealing with Pip’s adulthood falls short of the first. This is a fault shared with the novel but the casting didn’t help. For one thing, John Mills is too old for the part and, for another, there is no way Jean Simmons could grow up to be Valerie Hobson and, if she had, Hopkins’s Estella was far too compassionate to be the same person. Still, I looked forward to seeing this and look forward to seeing it again and again.

Great Expectations won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White. It was nominated in the following categories: Best Picture; Best Director; and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Clip – Opening sequence

8 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1946

A New Dawn – 1946

Posted on January 10, 2015 | 14 comments

Post-war movie production began to click into full gear. In movie news, the Cannes Film Festival debuted in France on the French Riviera. Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (1945) was the first Best Picture Oscar-winning film to also win Cannes’ top prize (known now as the Golden Palm or Palme d’Or). The Motion Pictures Code allowed films to show drug trafficking so long as the scenes did not “stimulate curiosity.”

Screen comedian, actor, writer, and juggler W.C. Fields died at the age of 66. Supposedly, he despised the holiday of Christmas, the day on which he died, of an alcohol-related stomach hemorrhage. The last pairing of Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) and Nigel Bruce (as Dr. John Watson) was in Dressed to Kill – the last of 14 Sherlock Holmes films they were teamed in from 1939 to 1946.

Returning G.I.’s were more than ready to get back to normal. The baby boom began in the U.S., heralded by the publication of Dr. Benjamin Spock’s childcare classic. Dissatisfaction with employment conditions and opportunities showed itself in the worst work stoppages since 1919, with coal, electrical, and steel industries hit hardest. The US Atomic Energy Commission was established.

The first automatic electronic digital computer, ENIAC, was dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania. The average cost of a new house was $5,600 and the average annual wage was $2,500. The number one song of the year was “Prisoner of Love” sung by Perry Como. No Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded.

Juan Peron at his inauguration

Outside the U.S., the world continued to reel from the effects of the war with wartime shortages in food and materials persisting and shortages of housing and jobs exacerbated by the return of soldiers to the workforce.

In world news, Emperor Hirohito announced he was not a god on January 1. The first meeting of United Nations General Assembly was held. The Philippines gained independence from the United States on July 4. Twelve Nazi leaders (including 1 tried in absentia) were sentenced to hang, 7 imprisoned, and 3 acquitted in the Nuremberg trials. Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech warned of Soviet expansion. Juan Perón became president of Argentina.

**************************************

The list of films I will selectively choose from can be found here and here. I have already reviewed the following films on this site: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and . I now see that I was inadvertently cherry-picking some of the great films from the 40’s and 50’s during my Noir Month viewing. Ah, well, there are plenty more where those came from.

I have already seen 20 of the films released in 1946. Just for fun, here are my ten favorites as of now in no particular order: The Best Years of Our Lives; It’s a Wonderful Life; Notorious; The Killers; Beauty and the Beast; The Blue Dahlia; My Darling Clementine; The Big Sleep; Shoeshine; and Great Expectations. It will be interesting to see where they will stand after I have seen a bunch more.

Montage of stills from Oscar winners

Montage of stills from all films nominated for an Oscar

14 Comments

Posted in 1946

The Blue Dahlia (1946)

Posted on July 1, 2014 | Leave a comment

The Blue Dahlia
Directed by George Marshall
Written by Raymond Chandler
1946/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/TCM Dark Crimes DVD

Leo: Just don’t get too complicated, Eddie. When a man gets too complicated, he’s unhappy. And when he’s unhappy, his luck runs out.

Raymond Chandler famously wrote his original screenplay for The Blue Dahlia at home during shooting while he was on a drunken bender. The plot doesn’t make much sense but the hard-boiled dialogue makes it nearly as enjoyable as The Big Sleep, which was released the same year.

Three buddies, ace Navy pilot Lt. Cmdr. Johnny Morrison (Alan Ladd), Buzz Wanchek (William Bendix) and George Copeland (Hugh Beaumont), have just been discharged from the Navy. Buzz is volatile by nature and also has a steel plate in his skull. “Monkey music” (basically any fairly loud music with a beat) causes his head to throb and he goes into a frenzy. Buzz and George head off to a shared bachelor pad and Johnny goes to the apartment of his wife Helen. There, he finds a noisy, drunken party and Helen in the arms of Eddie Harwood (Howard DaSilva) owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub. After taking a slug at Harwood and breaking up the party, Johnny tries to start over with his alcoholic wife but when she admits their son died while she was drunk driving, Johnny pulls a gun on her, then drops it and storms out of the apartment. Their argument is overheard by house detective “Dad” Newell (Will Wright).

After this, the viewer needs a high tolerance for coincidences and a keen state of alertness. Helen calls Buzz and George at their apartment to report that Johnny has left her. Buzz takes off for the apartment where no one is home. He goes to the bar where he meets a lush, who is of course Helen, and who invites him up to her place. While they are in it, Helen calls Harwood to say that Johnny is out of the picture but Harwood wants to call off the relationship.

Johnny leaves the apartment in driving rain and is picked up by good Samaritan Joyce Harwood (Veronica Lake), who naturally just happens to be the estranged wife of the man Helen has been having an affair with. Joyce is immediately smitten with Johnny but he still considers himself a married man. They end up spending the night in the same hotel and in the morning she hears Helen’s murder reported on the radio and sees Johnny behaving suspiciously.

Many double and triple-crosses follow, along with a number of fistfights and shoot-outs. All the characters aside from the military men seem to have their hands out for a bribe. Red herrings abound until the murderer emerges at the very end.

The U.S. Navy vetoed Chandler’s chosen ending so the plot makes even less sense than it would have originally. But The Blue Dahlia illustrates that plot is less important that attitude, dialogue, and strong performances. You don’t get much more hard-boiled than this. And the supporting performances are wonderful. I am more impressed with Bendix with each role I see him in. He is just a volcano of explosive energy. And Howard Da Silva shines as a mild-mannered, self-controlled gangster. Ladd is no Bogart but I think he is even more convincing when it comes to fisticuffs. Recommended.

Raymond Chandler was nominated for an Academy Award for his original screenplay for The Blue Dahlia.

Trailer – cinematography by Lionel Linden

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Posted on June 26, 2013 | 3 comments

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Directed by Lewis Milestone
1946/USA
Hal Wallis Productions
First viewing

Sam Masterson: Don’t look back, baby. Don’t ever look back.

There are some fine performances in this noirish melodrama about childhood secrets.

The film opens in 1928 in Iverstown with rebellious young Martha Ivers and Sam Masterson in a freight car preparing to run away to join the circus. Detectives soon apprehend the girl and return her to her hated aunt (Judith Anderson). The aunt is waiting along with Martha’s tutor and his timid son Walter O’Neill. Sam briefly sneaks into the house to say goodbye to Martha. When the aunt attacks Martha’s cat, Martha grabs a poker out of her hands and strikes her, killing her. Walter is a witness and backs up Martha’s lie about a mysterious intruder. His father does the same and the O’Neills have a lifetime grip on Martha and her money. Martha goes on to marry Walter.

Segue to 1946 and Sam Masterson (Van Heflin) wrecks his car while driving through Iverstown. He must stick around to have it fixed and soon meets sultry ex-con Toni (Lizabeth Scott) who has just been paroled from jail. Sam catches up with District Attorney Walter when Toni is picked up for a parole violation. Walter (Kirk Douglas) is terrified that Sam will blackmail Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) and him for the aunt’s death and is also jealous of his wife’s continued love for Sam. He has Sam roughed up to encourage him to leave town but Sam does not scare easily.

strange love of martha ivers 2

Although I thought the story did not quite hold together, I enjoyed this, largely for the performances. Barbara Stanwyck is my favorite actress of classic Hollywood and she is very good here as the wounded but steely Martha. Van Heflin has more to do than in other films I have seen him in and is excellent. Lizabeth Scott was OK but too obviously a stand-in for Lauren Bacall for her own good. It was Kirk Douglas in his film debut that was the most interesting.

Douglas’s Walter is repeatedly referred to by Sam as looking like “a scared little boy.” He is evidently a chronic alcoholic and spends much of his screen time drunk. I could almost see Douglas smoothing out the lines of his face through sheer willpower as he tried to act weak and cowardly. He couldn’t quite manage it. That aggressive, macho Douglas persona was not to be repressed. This is not to say Douglas was bad, far from it. His star quality shines through and he is compelling. It was just a whole lot of fun to see him play against type and to try to remember that he was supposed to be afraid of Sam and not the other way around.

Trailer

3 Comments

Posted in 1946, Noir Month

Tagged 1945, film noir, Hollywood

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Posted on June 5, 2013 | 4 comments

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Directed by Tay Garnett
1946/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing
#185 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Frank Chambers: With my brains and your looks, we could go places.

It’s back to a studio big-budget glamour noir for this noir month viewing. I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it until today. This was based on the 1934 novel by the same name by James M. Cain. The novel had previously been adapted in the neo-realist style as the Ossessione (1942), Luchino Visconti’s first feature film. I saw Ossessione several years ago and, although I don’t remember it vividly, the story was quite a bit different. I’m now curious to read the novel.

Frank Chambers is a drifter who lands on the door of a roadside diner/gas station run by Nick Smith and his much-younger wife Cora and gets a job as a mechanic. He rapidly falls for the beautiful blonde Cora and she for him. Soon the couple is looking for a way to get the kindly Nick out of the picture. This being a film noir nothing goes smoothly, to say the least. With John Garfield as Frank, Lana Turner as Cora, Cecil Kellaway as Nick, Leon Ames as a district attorney, and Hume Cronyn as a defense attorney.

The Postman Always Rings Twice 1

I liked this film alright but it doesn’t have the bite of my favorite noirs. Part of the problem for me may be Lana Turner’s performance. I have a problem seeing Cora as a proper femme fatale – for one thing she doesn’t seem clever enough. I was surprised to see Cecil Kellaway in the role of the husband. I would never have imagined someone British as Nick. John Garfield is always good. Probably my favorite performance was Hume Cronyn as the sleazy defense attorney.