Brief Encounter Directed by David Lean Written by Anthony Havelock-Allen, David Lean, and Ronald Neame from the play “Still Life” by Noel Coward (all uncredited) 1945/UK Cineguild Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#191 of 1001 Film You Must See Before You Die
[box] Laura Jesson: I’ve fallen in love. I didn’t think such violent things happened to ordinary people.[/box]
I didn’t realize how brief the encounter really was until I watched this small masterpiece for the umpteenth time.
The story mainly takes place in flashback as Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) sits in her living room and thinks about the man she just said goodbye to while her husband does the crossword. A recording of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is playing in the background.
It’s a simple story. Laura goes to the nearest town every Thursday to do errands and watch a movie. Laura meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) when he removes a piece of grit in her eye in a railway station tearoom. The next Thursday she gives him a seat at her table in a crowded restaurant and they go to the movies together. He asks her to meet him the following week.
After vowing not meet him, Laura is there. The movie is bad so they take an outing on the river instead. It is then that Alec confesses his love and Laura cannot deny hers. The following week Alec has borrowed a friend’s car and they go driving. At the end of the day, Alec says he is going to skip the train and wait for Laura in his friend’s empty apartment. Laura cannot stay away. But the guilt and shame is too much for her and she needs to find the strength to call things quits. With Stanley Holloway as the station master who is flirting with Joyce Carey’s tearoom operator.
Why can’t love be simple? Lean and the actors make you care about these people so much that the very British and restrained sexual tension is palpable. We can understand every move they make and root for their love while at the same time understanding why it is all wrong. The cinematography and frame composition is as beautiful as the story. Most highly recommended.
Brief Encounter was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Directed by Elia Kazan Written by Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis from the novel by Betty Smith 1945/USA Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Johnny Nolan aka The Brooklyn Thrush: Look, God invented time and when He invents something, there’s always plenty of it.[/box]
Elia Kazan’s first film is a moving period domestic drama. It took way too long to catch up with this one and I was not disappointed.
The Nolands are a poor family living in a Brooklyn tenament near the turn of the last century. Father Johnny (James Dunn) is a singing waiter who works only between benders. Mother Katie (Dorothy McGuire) tries to balance out her husband’s dreams and Irish blarney with strict propriety. Daughter Francie is a dreamer too and a lover of knowledge. She is the kind of kid that has to try all the different flavors of soda in alphabetical order. Brother Neeley is all boy and hates school. Katie’s sister Aunt Sissy (Joan Blondell) has just been married for the umpteenth time as the story starts. No one is exactly sure whether the last marriage was ever dissolved. Sissie is full of life and high spirits. Katie, thinking of the children, bans her from the premises early on.
Francie and Johnny are thick as thieves. He tells her many stories of what will happen when their ship comes in. One day, Francie is walking in the neighborhood and passes a fancy school in the more prosperous quarter. Her own school is a nightmare of rote learning and she longs to go to the new one. Johnny sticks up for her and concocts another address and family for her so she can attend school outside her district. This turns out to be a wise move because Francie blossoms there and is encouraged by her teacher to write.
But all is not well. Johnny continues to get blind drunk. Katie discovers she is pregnant. She determines the only way the family can survive is by moving to a smaller place and putting Francie to work. Things get worse before they get better but these people are survivors and all their trials are eased by lots of genuine love. With Lloyd Nolan as a shy policeman and James Gleason as Johnny’s favorite bartender.
This film is surprisingly unsentimental considering the number of times it made me cry. Francie’s relationship with her father was really touching and so was Dorothy McGuire as a hard-working mother who tries to make things right while alienating all around her. Peggy Ann Garner might be the least affected child actor in movie history. But she is outshone by James Dunn as the father. He is so convincingly broken down and yet you fully understand why people fall in love with him completely. Recommended.
James Dunn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The film was also nominated for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Peggy Ann Garner won the Juvenile Award for outstanding child actress of 1945.
Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis) Directed by Marcel Carné Written by Jacques Prévert 1945/France Société Nouvelle Pathé Cinéma Repeat viewing/Criterion Collection DVD
#189 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Baptiste: You were right, Garance. Love is simple.[/box]
This is one of those reviews that is very hard to write. I feel like saying this film is grandly beautiful and perfect in every way. Everyone should see it. The end.
The film was shown in two parts: “The Boulevard of Crime” and “The Man in White.”
The first begins on the titular boulevard in early 19th Century Paris, where the Funambles theater is located. We are in a decidedly working class quarter of town and the theater is forbidden to use dialogue or sound, meaning that all of its productions are pantomimes.
We are cleverly introduced to the characters of Garance (Arletty) and three of the men who love her in the opening sequence. Garance is portraying “Naked Truth” in a side show. After her stint sitting modestly in a bath, she meets Frédérick (Pierre Brasseur), a flirtatious would-be actor. Garance brushes him off and goes to visit her friend the dandy master criminal Lacenaire, who is also an amateur playwright and cynical philosopher. They go to watch the barker in front of the Funambles and Lacenaire takes the opportunity to pick the pocket of a wealthy man who is chatting up Garance. Garance is accused of the crime but is rescued by the mimed testimony of Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault), who witnessed the whole thing. Garance gives Baptiste a rose in thanks and the young dreamer is immediately hopelessly in love with her.
Frédérick goes back stage to ask for a job. He gets nowhere until two of the actors have a fight and both he and Baptiste get their big breaks. Baptiste shows Frédérick his own rooming house and departs for his nightly wander through the streets to observe humanity. He runs into a “blind” beggar and an invitation for drinks at a local tavern leads him again to Garance, who is there with Lacenaire. He ends up taking her to get a room at his place and declaring his undying and passionate love. Although attracted, she cannot respond in kind and he foolishly rejects her advances. So she ends up sharing Frédérick’s bed instead.
The theater turns into a place where Baptiste’s heartbreak is reenacted on stage night after night. Another heart is being broken, that of Natalie who has long pledged herself to Baptiste. Natalie doggedly retains her faith that she and Baptiste were made for each other despite all evidence of his almost suicidal depression over Garance. Garance has obtained work at the Funambles as well and has captivated a haughty count. She spurns him but he asks her to remember him if she should need help or protection. Garance has not been able to get Baptiste out of her mind and the two are about to take things up where they left off when Natalie appears to claim her man and Garance departs.
As the curtain falls on the First Act, events lead Garance to take up the Count on his offer for protection.
Years pass. “The Man in White” shows the success of all our characters in their chosen professions. Frédérick is a celebrated actor on the legitimate stage; Baptiste is still at the Funambles but is an acknowledged genius of the pantomime; Lacenaire’s crimes make the headlines; and Garance returns to Paris a grand lady but an unhappy woman. Baptiste is now married to Nathalie and they have a six-year-old son.
The rest of the story follows the intricate interplay between Garance and the four men who have loved her. With Pierre Renoir as the sinister Rag Man.
The only criticism I have ever heard of this film is that Arletty, who was 45 at the time the film was made, was not as desirable as the film made her character out to be. I’m a straight woman so what do I know? I thought she was quite alluring both physically and for her magnetic personality.
Every element of this lavishly staged film is beautiful – sets, costumes, music. The writing itself is touchingly poetic and I mean that in a good way. I never thought I liked mimes until I saw Barrault do it. What a genius. He’s also quite good with the greasepaint off. The story of the filming of this big-budget extravaganza in Occupied France is almost as interesting as the film.
I always leave this film pondering how the insistence on a certain kind of love dooms real love. But primarily, I think, this is a love letter to the theater. Most highly recommended. The three hours simply fly by.
Jacques Prévért was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay.
The war is over! How could any movie’s pleasures possibly compare? They sure gave it the old college try though. And, at the conclusion of the war, the U.S. Government ended restrictions on the allocation of raw film stock, midnight curfews, and bans on outdoor lighting displays as well as censorship of the export and import of films.
The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), created by major US film studios in 1922 to police the industry, was renamed as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). It was responsible for implementing the voluntary film rating system and continues in that capacity. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an organization created in 1938 with the goal of domestically stopping subversive activities, un-Americanism and communism, was made into a permanent standing committee under Congressman John Rankin (of Mississippi). By 1947, the Hollywood motion picture industry became one of its main targets when the committee initiated an investigation of Communist influence there. Films such as Children of Paradise, Rome, Open City, and The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail hinted at the great renaissance in film making outside Hollywood that would take place after the war.
The ruins of Hiroshima
President Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly on April 12 after beginning a fourth term in office. Vice President Harry S. Truman took office that same day. Rocket scientist Werner von Braun and his team of 120 researchers surrendered to U.S. forces, later providing a foundation for the U.S. space program. World history changed forever when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6. Benito Mussolini was executed on April 28 and Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30. On December 10, the U.S. Senate approved the entry of the U.S. into the United Nations. John Hersey’s A Bell for Adano won the Pulitzer Prize and the rendition of “Sentimental Journey” by Les Brown and Doris Day topped the charts for 28 weeks.
A list of the films I will choose from can be found here and here.
I watched 80 films released in 1944, including some shorts, documentaries, and B movies reviewed only here. I did not revisit the multi-Academy Award nominated Since You Went Away. It was on “very long wait” status on Netflix throughout this exercise and the DVD is out of print. I’ve gotten part way through it twice before and don’t feel missing it on this round impacted on my ten favorites ranking.
At different points in my viewing I got to thinking 1944 was a fairly weak year. Now that I look back at it, I find that there were many standouts from the year. Here are my ten favorite feature fiction films. These are my favorites, which change from day to day, and not a list of the “best” or “greatest” films of the year.
One of the very best films I saw from 1944 was a short called Jammin the Blues. I don’t see how it possibly could have been any better. It’s 10 minutes long and easily found on YouTube. I only wish I could find a still that would do it justice.
The Canterville Ghost Directed by Jules Dassin Written by Edwin Blum from the story by Oscar Wilde 1944/USA Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Amazon Instant Video
[box] Sir Simon de Canterville: Excuse me, I really must gibber at the oriole window.[/box]
A film with Charles Laughton and Margaret O’Brien can’t be too bad. This wartime fantasy was a tad too predictable for my tastes though.
Oscar Wilde’s source material has clearly been heavily edited. In the 16th Century, Sir Simon de Canterville pledges to duel on behalf of an injured kinsman then flees in terror when his opponent is changed. Sir Simon’s heartless father bricks him up in the alcove where he takes refuge, cursing him to haunt the house until a kinsman will fight bravely on behalf of Sir Simon. Through the years, all kinsmen have proved as cowardly as Simon himself.
During World War II, a platoon of American Rangers are billeted at the Canterville manse. The head of the Canterville clan at the moment is Lady Jessica (Margaret O’Brien), just six years old. The ghost does his best to scare the wits out of the men but when challenged turns out to be just as cowardly as ever.
The ghost and Lady Jessica get very chummy with GI Cuffy Williams (Robert Young). Lady Jessica deduces that Cuffy is a long lost relative by a characteristic birthmark he bears. Now it is up to Cuffy to break the curse so Sir Simon can at last rest in peace. With Una O’Connor as a housekeeper, Reginald Owen as Lord Canterville, Peter Lawford as a kinsman, and Frank Faylen and Mike Mazurki as American soldiers.
This was kind of a disappointment. Laughton is fine but his relationship with O’Brien and O’Brien herself are somewhat syrupy. The rest of the film contains no surprises, other than my puzzlement about why these soldiers were suddenly sent off to Germany and then returned to England.
When Strangers Marry (AKA “Betrayed”) Directed by William Castle Written by Philip Yordan and Dennis J. Cooper; story by George Moskov 1944/USA King Brothers Productions
First viewing/for rent on YouTube
[box] I’ve still got the same attitude I had when I started. I haven’t changed anything but my underwear. –Robert Mitchum[/box]
What a nifty little B noir from poverty row! The King Brothers got their hands on a great cast early in their careers, including Robert Mitchum in his first leading role.
A face wearing a lion’s mask fills the screen. It belongs to the very drunk Sam Prescott who aims to party all night long and is flashing around a wad of bills. The bartender asks him if he would be willing to let a patron, whose back is facing us, use his room for the night as all the hotels are full up with a convention.
There is a change of scene and Mildred Baxter (Kim Hunter) takes a seat in the compartment of a married couple. We find out she is a naive young newlywed traveling to New York to meet up with her husband, whom she hasn’t seen since their wedding day. She is unable to tell her traveling companions exactly what he does or much else about him because she went on exactly three dates with him before their marriage.
Mildred proceeds to the named hotel but her husband has not checked in. She runs into an old boyfriend, Fred Graham (Mitchum), almost immediately. He keeps her company through many hours during which she does not hear from the husband. When she finally does, he does not come to the hotel but asks her to meet him in the seedy part of town. Graham, although he has been spurned for another man, keeps a watchful eye on Mildred.
When we finally meet Paul Baxter (Dean Jagger), he is living under an assumed name and wants to keep his wife strictly to himself. There is an atmosphere of secrecy over everything he does and eventually Mildred catches him in a series of lies. It would not be fair to continue describing the many twists and turns in the plot.
I did not know quite what to expect from a film directed by schlock-master William Castle but I thought he did a great job. He is a master of the shocker jump cut and it worked quite well with the story line of this shortish film. It is remarkably polished for a low-budget effort. Mitchum was born to play these parts and is already a master at it this early in the game. I enjoyed every minute and would recommend it as a fun minor noir gem.
Dark Waters Directed by André de Toth Written by Joan Harrison, Marian B. Cockerell, and Arthur T. Horman from an original story by Francis and Marian Cockerell 1944/USA Benedict Bogeaus Productions
First viewing/You Tube
[box] “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” — Eleanor Roosevelt (You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life)[/box]
Is this a gothic thriller or a film noir? Whatever, it kept me guessing until the end and I enjoyed it despite the subpar print available on YouTube.
We meet Leslie Calvin (Merle Oberon) recovering from a horrendous ordeal at sea in the hospital. She was only one of four survivors when a German torpedo hit a freighter at sea and has been suffering terribly from PTSD. The same sinking killed both her parents. She seems to be recovering though and her doctor reaches out to her only relatives, an aunt and uncle she has never met. The relatives welcome her, saying they are currently staying at an old family plantation in the bayou country of Louisiana.
No one is there to meet Leslie at the train station on her arrival, and the strain causes Leslie to faint. Local doctor George Grover (Franchot Tone) takes her under his wing and rapidly develops a more than professional interest in her. He takes her out to the plantation where she meets the tenant Mr. Sidney (Thomas Mitchell), her Aunt Emily (Fay Bainter) and Uncle Norbert (John Qualen), and Cleeve (Elisha Cook Jr.) the lecherous property overseer.
It is soon made clear to us that something mighty peculiar is afoot but Leslie is in the dark somewhat longer. Her relatives are very protective of her fragile health and discourage any contact with the outside world. They also draw her out about the ship sinking, further upsetting her. Then Leslie starts seeing and hearing things. Somehow in the midst of all of this a romance with the doctor blooms. It would be criminal to further relate the plot.
Well, I was sure something was wrong but not quite what it was until the third act. This alone recommends the film to me. The performances are what one would expect from this fine group of character actors. I cannot judge the cinematography due to the poor print quality and the YouTube video currently available contains disconcertingly unsynchronized sound that makes it kind of tough to watch.
Clip -Elisha Cook Jr. in quicksand (near the end and somewhat of a spoiler)
The Great Moment
Directed by Preston Sturges
Written by Preston Sturges based on a book by René Fülöp-Miller
1944/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Eben Frost: It was the night of September 30th. I was in excruciating pain.[/box]
A worthy try, but my beloved Preston Sturges doesn’t quite hit the mark with this biography.
This is the story of dentist W.T. Morton (Joel McCrea) who first used ether as an anesthetic and sought to popularize it more widely in surgery and dentistry. The story is told in flashback as his wife and a friend reminisce after Morton’s death. As the story begins, Morton boards in the home of Elizabeth (Betty Field) while a medical student at Harvard. His money runs out and he turns to dentistry, eventually marrying Elizabeth.
After starting his practice, Morton becomes obsessed with finding a way to relieve his patients’ pain. One of his friends is beginning to experiment with nitrous oxide but its use on humans proves to be a disaster. Morton approaches one of his medical professors and he suggests ether might be a possibility.
Cautious after the nitrous oxide fiasco, Morton begins a series of experiments with ether, mostly on himself. This is somewhat of a comedy of errors but in the end convinces him of the efficacy of the procedure. The first patient on whom he works is Eben Frost (William Demerest). Things don’t go well at first but after final success, Eben becomes the poster child and chief cheerleader for ether. Later, Morton convinces famous surgeon John C. Warren (Harry Carey) to use ether during an operation.
Although the operation is a brilliant success, Warren is prohibited from using the anesthetic in the future because Morton refuses to reveal its composition. Medical ethics prohibit doctors from prescribing any patent medicine the ingredients of which are unknown. After harsh media criticism, Morton spills the beans. In the end, he is unable to patent the procedure and is sued by several people who claim to have had the idea first.
This movie must have more prat falls than any other dramatic biopic in history. Problem is they don’t work too well in the absence of any snappy banter. This apparently was a labor of love and intended to be a serious tribute to Morton. It looks to me that if Sturges had got his way it could have been very good. But the studio recut it to look more like a typical Sturges comedy (without the comedy). As my faithful readers know, to me Joel McCrea can’t be bad and the film gets an extra star for his performance.
Tomorrow, the World! Directed by Leslie Fenton Written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Leopold Atlas from the play by James Gow and Arnaud d’Usseau 1944/USA Lester Cowan Productions
First viewing/YouTube
[box] He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future. — Adolf Hitler[/box]
This story about an American family that takes in an orphaned Hitler Youth has all the subtlety of a sledge hammer. I enjoyed it anyway.
Dr. Mike Frame (Fredric March), a widower, lives with his spinster sister Jessie (Agnes Moorehead) and daughter Pat. He is in love with Pat’s progressive schoolteacher Leona Richards (Betty Field) and early on they get engaged. Into their midst Mike brings nephew Emil Bruckner. Bruckner’s father was killed in a concentration camp for his anti-Fascist views and Emil’s mother died thereafter. Everyone, especially Pat, is excited by this new addition to the family.
But Emil turns out to be a committed Nazi. Leona is Jewish and he does every vile thing possible to sabotage her relationship with Mike. He starts teaching his classmates sabotage and military techniques and to search for Mike’s top secret lab results. Added to that he is a violent thug without a shred of gratitude in his heart and a positive menace to all he encounters.
Mike and Leona try psychology on him to no avail. When his rage leads him to attempted murder, Mike’s patience is at an end.
This movie in other hands would be terrible. It is not, primarily due to some great performances. Skip Homeier, as the boy, is over the top but truly scary. March, Moorehead, and Field are all wonderful. This seem to be the year in which Field would break out of her bad girl roles. The story would be pulpy if it weren’t so intellectual but it is deliciously so. Maybe this is the kind of thing it works best to heighten beyond all realism.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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