Hollywood continued to operate under war-time restrictions but movie attendance was never higher. Film noir became well and truly entrenched in 1944, although nobody thought it was anything special at the time. The so-called “Havilland decision,” ruled that that Warner Bros. had to release actress Olivia de Havilland after her seven-year contract term expired and could not add time to the term for periods the actress was on suspension. The ruling proved to be of great benefit to the many actors who took a break from their film work to serve in the Armed Forces. Barry Fitzgerald became the first – and only – actor to receive two Academy Award nominations, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, for the same role in the same year – as St. Dominic’s stubborn, yet loveable old priest Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way (1944). Swimmer Esther Williams starred in her first Technicolor aqua-musical in the MGM production of Bathing Beauty (1944).
The war dominated U.S. news in 1944 while the home fires burned. The people decided not to change horses in the middle of the stream and Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected to a fourth term in November. On December 18, 1944, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously declared that loyal citizens of the United States, regardless of cultural descent, could not be detained without cause, paving the way for the release of all internees in January 1945. Tennessee Williams’ play The Glass Menagerie debuted. Bing Crosby’s “Swinging on a Star” was the number one hit single of the year and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The novel that won the Pulitzer Prize was Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin. Smokey the Bear started advising Americans that “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires.”
Hard fighting lay ahead but the news from the front was mostly good. The Allies invaded France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in the largest amphibious operation in history, and had liberated Paris by August 25. General Douglas McArthur made good his promise to return to the Philippines when he waded ashore at Leyte on October 20.
My working list of films for possible viewing can be found here. I reviewed several of the 1944 films noir as part of Noir Months 2013 and 2014. They were: ; ; ; ; and .
Montage of stills from films that won Academy Awards
Montage of stills from all films nominated for Academy Awards
