BLACHEFAN
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Posts posted by BLACHEFAN
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Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Winning the 1947 Academy Award for best picture and considered daring at the time, "Gentleman's Agreement" was one of the first films to directly explore the still-timely topic of religious-based discrimination. Philip Green (Gregory Peck), a Gentile, is a renowned magazine writer. In order to obtain firsthand knowledge of anti-Semitism, he decides to pose as a Jew. What he discovers about society, and even his own friends and colleagues, radically alters his perspective and throws his own life into turmoil. Director Elia Kazan masterfully crafts scenes that reveal bigotry both overt and often insidiously subtle. The film was based on a book by Laura Z. Hobson.
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The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Courtesy of Columbia (Sony)
The camera is the star in this stylish film noir. "Lady From Shanghai" is renowned for its stunning set pieces, the "Aquarium" scene, "Hall of Mirrors" climax, baroque cinematography and convoluted plot. Director Orson Welles had burst on the scene with "Citizen Kane" in 1941 and "The Magnificent Ambersons" in 1942, but had increasingly become seen as difficult to work with by the studios. As a result, Welles spent most of his career outside the studio sphere. "The Lady From Shanghai" marked one of his last films under a major studio (Columbia) with Welles and the executives frequently clashing over the budget, final editing of the film and the release date.
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The Story of Menstruation (1946)
Sponsored by Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Kotex, this title was produced by the Walt Disney Company through its Educational and Industrial Film Division. Distributed free to schools and girls' clubs with an accompanying pamphlet titled "Very Personally Yours," the film used friendly Disney-style characters and gentle narration to "encourage a healthy, normal attitude" toward menstruation. Although a few such educational filmstrips were available before World War II, this version was seen as more progressive than previous offerings and, according to advertisements in "The Educational Screen," it replaced superstitions with "scientific facts" and dispelled "embarrassment." Some contemporary scholars, however, take issue with the approach. Sean Griffin of Southern Methodist University's Division of Film and Media Arts and author of "Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out" suggests that Disney's abstract representation of the body "‘bleaches' the more ‘unsavory' parts of the lesson, such as making the menstrual flow white instead of red." According to Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of "The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls," approximately 93 million American women, mostly teenagers, viewed this film between 1946 through the late 1960s.
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Notorious (1946)
Arguably Alfred Hitchcock's best black-and-white American film, this is an excellent example of woman's gothic. In the film, a woman (played by Ingrid Bergman) marries a Nazi killer (played by Claude Rains), although she is in love with an American spy (played by Cary Grant) who recruits her for the assignment. Rife with classic Hitchcock brilliance, featuring the crane shot and cross-cutting during the party sequence, "Notorious" is also a resonant cultural document of romantic alienation. Cary Grant is at his most attractive, letting his dark side fuel his bitter cynicism.
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My Darling Clementine (1946)
In his early silent film days, John Ford met Wyatt Earp on a film set, and the eager young prop assistant soaked in the marshal's version of the showdown at the O.K. Corral. Twenty-some years later, Ford recalled Earp's tall tale in the landmark Western "My Darling Clementine." Throughout his career, Ford was known to bend history, and this film is no exception. While lacking in historical accuracy, the film features traditional Western action, but is more memorable for the way in which Ford develops the characters of Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), Holliday's mistress, Chihuahua (Linda Darnell), and Clementine (Cathy Downs) who represents the new civilized Tombstone.
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Let There Be Light (1946)
Director John Huston directed three classic war documentaries for the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the period 1943-46, and two of those titles, "Battle of San Pietro" and "Let There Be Light," are included on the National Film Registry. "Let There Be Light," is an hour-long documentary featuring brief narration by Huston's father, Oscar-winner Walter Huston. The unscripted footage shows doctors treating emotionally wounded veterans to prepare them for the return to civilian life. The film shows black and white soldiers freely mixing at the hospital, sharing both group therapy sessions and playing sports together. Lensed by cinematographer Stanley Cortez, its score was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin. the War Department blocked the film from public distribution as it was originally shot, and commissioned a replacement, "Shades of Gray," in which white actors were cast in the speaking roles, and the GIs' psychological condition was blamed on their upbringing not war trauma. "Let There Be Light" was first shown publicly in December 1980 after Hollywood leaders, joined by Vice President Walter Mondale, persuaded the secretary of the army to authorize its release. The National Archives and Records Administration restored the documentary in cooperation with Chace Audio by Deluxe.
The expanded essay is below the description.
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/let_light.pdf
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The Killers (1946)
Director Robert Siodmak and screenwriter Anthony Veiller, both nominated for an Oscar, took the original Ernest Hemingway short story as the film's opening point and developed it with an elaborate series of flashbacks, creating a classic example of film noir. Two killers shatter a small town's quiet before an insurance investigator (Edmond O'Brien) digs up crime, betrayal, and a glamorous woman (Ava Gardner) behind the death of an ex-fighter (Burt Lancaster in his electrifying film debut). The noir aesthetic is heightened by the Miklós Rózsa score and Arthur Hilton's editing, both of which were nominated for Academy Awards. Hilton's work on the fight scenes would stand as the vanguard of such fare until "Raging Bull" some 34 years later.
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15 minutes ago, thomasterryjr said:
Blachefan from of one of my favorite cities, Tampa, I want to thank you for the time, the work, the effort, and the thoughtfulness you put in with the titles and back-stories you posted in this thread. I'm at work and should be taking care of my responsibilities but I took the time to read everyone of the tidbits and I was impressed. You have made this thread your very own.
I guess you feel strongly about certain titles being included in the National Film Registry. I assume you will or have directed your efforts to the National Film Registry so they can be made aware of the titles which should be considered and included in the Registry in the near future. Good work and thank you!!!
I have to confess that what I posted on this thread for General Discussions was copy and paste from the Library of Congress website. None of the posts are my opinions or views, they are verbatim word by word from the library of congress website. I feel so ashamed that I was not able to write something of my own views or opinions. Nor did I write down the posts were written by the Library of Congress.
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John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946)
The African-American folk hero John Henry was probably based on an actual person who worked on the railroads around the 1870s. The legend began to appear in print in the early 20th century, but emerged early on as a popular folk song. Akin to other such rugged folk heroes as Paul Bunyan, John Henry is said to have worked as a "steel-driving man," hammering a steel drill into rock and earth to build tunnels and lay track. According to legend, his prowess was measured in a competition against a steam-powered hammer. John Henry won the race against "Inky-Poo," only to collapse and die, hammer in hand. Stop-motion animation pioneer George Pal created this short film after the NAACP and Ebony magazine criticized his offensively stereotyped Jasper series of cartoons. The magazine later praised "John Henry" as the first Hollywood film to feature African-American folklore in a positive light and to treat its characters with "dignity, imagination, poetry, and love." Highly popular during its time, the film was nominated for an Academy Award. It has been preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
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It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Director Frank Capra created a holiday favorite with this story of a once ambitious young man George Bailey (James Stewart) who sacrifices personal adventure to stand up against the despot Potter who tyranizes his small hometown (Lionel Barrymore). When it looks like Potter has finally beaten him, George wishes he'd never been born and an apprentice angel (Henry Travers) grants his wish. Shown the bleak parallel universe that might have been, George recants his wish and is restored just in time to see his family and friends come to his aid against Potter. Suggested by a short story written as a Christmas card by author and historian Philip Van Doren Stern, Capra and writers Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett crafted the screenplay for this film which has become synonymous with Christmas spirit and what some have dubbed "Capra corn."
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Gilda (1946)
With the end of World War II came a dark edge in the American psyche and a change in the films it produced. Film noir defined the 1940s and "Gilda" defined the Hollywood glamorization of film noir—long on sex appeal but short on substance. Director Charles Vidor capitalizes on the voyeuristic and sadomasochistic angles of film noir—and who better to fetishize than Rita Hayworth, poured into a strapless black satin evening gown and elbow-length gloves, sashaying to "Put the Blame on Mame." George Macready and Glenn Ford round out the tempestuous triangle, but "Gilda" was and, more than 65 years later, still is all about Hayworth.
The expanded essay is below this description.
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/gilda.pdf
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The Big Sleep (1946)
Howard Hawks directed this Raymond Chandler story featuring private eye Philip Marlowe, played by Humphrey Bogart. Appearing opposite him in only her second film was a former model named Lauren Bacall, with whom Bogart had fallen in love (and vice versa) during filming of "To Have and Have Not" earlier that year. Hawks and his writers attempted to untangle the threads of Chandler's complicated plot which caused frequent production delays. More than a month behind schedule and about $50,000 over budget, the film was ready in mid-summer1945, and that version was distributed to servicemen overseas. Shortly thereafter "To Have and Have Not" was released, and audiences loved the Bogart-Bacall chemistry, so the wide release of "The Big Sleep" was further delayed the wide release by rewriting scenes to heighten the chemistry and bring out Bacall's "insolent" quality that audiences found so appealing the pair's earlier film. The pre-release cut is only two minutes longer, but contains 18 minutes of scenes missing from the final picture. The first "draft" was discovered at the UCLA Film and Television Archive where both versions have since been preserved.
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The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
A moving and personal story directed by real-life veteran William Wyler, the film depicts the return to civilian life by three World War II servicemen, portrayed by Dana Andrews, Fredric March and Harold Russell. Adapted by Robert Sherwood from MacKinlay Kantor's novel "Glory for Me," Gregg Toland's deep-focus cinematography is memorable for emotionally evokative long dolly shots. It also starred Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, Cathy O'Donnell, and Virginia Mayo. The film won nine Oscars including Best Picture, as well as two awards for Russell, who lost his hands in the war.
The expanded essay is below this description.
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/best_years.pdf
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V-E +1 (1945)
The silent 16 mm footage that makes up "V-E +1" documents the burial of beaten and emaciated Holocaust victims found by Allied forces in the Nazi concentration camp at Falkenau, Czechoslovakia, as World War II ended in Europe. According to Samuel Fuller, who shot the footage while in the infantry unit that liberated the camp, the American commander in charge ordered leading civilians of the town who denied knowledge of the death camp to "prepare the bodies for a decent funeral," parade them on wagons through the town, and bury them with dignity in the town's cemetery. Fuller later became an acclaimed maverick writer-director known for crafting films that entertained, but nevertheless forced audiences to confront challenging societal issues. After making "The Big Red One," a fictionalized version of his war experiences that included scenes set in Falkenau, Fuller unearthed his "V-E + 1" footage and returned to Falkenau to comment on the experience for the French documentary "Falkenau: The Impossible Years."
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Encouraged by her idealistic, alcoholic father (James Dunn), a bright and imaginative young girl (Peggy Ann Garner) comes of age in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s. Elia Kazan, in his directorial debut, molds a faithful screenplay by Tess Slesinger and Frank Davis from the Betty Smith novel into a sensitive film with strong performances. Dunn, who won an Oscar, is joined by Dorothy McGuire as the hard-edged wife and mother, Joan Blondell as the irrepressible aunt and Lloyd Nolan as the kind, honest cop on the beat. The 13-year-old Garner received a special Oscar for her portrayal of the aspiring writer, Francie. Critic Bosley Crowther remarked on Kazan's "easy naturalness that has brought out all the tone of real experience in a vastly affecting film."
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The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
William Wellman's gritty portrayal of the realities of war was based on the newspaper columns of war correspondent Ernie Pyle, played with understated realism by Burgess Meredith. In the film, Pyle follows a small group of ordinary infantrymen from North Africa into Italy, and his observations reflect the full gamut of human emotion that war invokes while trying to make sense of the inhuman randomness of war's destruction.
The expanded essay is below this description.
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/g_i_joe.pdf
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Mildred Pierce (1945)
This quintessential Joan Crawford film features Crawford as a housewife turned successful restauranteur who sacrifices all for her heartless, manipulative daughter (Ann Blyth). Ranald McDougall wrote the screenplay for this melodrama tinged with film noir which was directed by Michael Curtiz, best known for Errol Flynn swashbucklers. Crawford, ably supported by strong performances from Blyth, Jack Carson and Eve Arden, won her only Oscar for this role.
The expanded essay is below this description.
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/mildred_pierce.pdf
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The Lost Weekend (1945)
A landmark social-problem film, "The Lost Weekend" provided audiences of 1945 with an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism. Directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett, the film melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink. Despite opposition from his studio, the Hays Office and the liquor industry, Wilder created a film ranked as one of the best of the decade that won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Direction, Screenplay and Actor (Ray Milland), and established him as one of America's leading filmmakers.
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The House I Live In (1945)
This short film, which earned an honorary Academy Award for director Mervyn LeRoy in 1946, exhorts the message of religious tolerance and post-war hopefulness. Frank Sinatra, then the idol of teenage bobby-soxers, takes a break from a recording session and finds a group of children bullying one boy because he's Jewish. Sinatra reminds them that Americans may worship in many different ways but they still remain Americans. The film ends with Sinatra performing the title song, penned by Abel Meeropol, best known for the song "Strange Fruit" which denounced the horror of lynchings.
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Detour (1945)
This ultra-cheap melodrama shot in six days by Edgar G. Ulmer has developed cult status as one of the most stylish B pictures ever produced. Hitchhiker Al Roberts (Tom Neal) gets mixed up with a femme fatale (Ann Savage) who "looked like she'd just been thrown off the crummiest freight train in the world." The story is told in narration addressed directly to the audience who hears not what happened, but what Al wants us to believe happened. Its hackneyed dialog, quick-and-dirty camera work, and shabby no-budget rear projection combine to create a bleak nightmare existence.
The expanded essay is below this description.
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/detour.pdf
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The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
John Huston's documentary about the WW II Battle of San Pietro Infine was considered too controversial by the U.S. military to be seen in its original form, and was cut from five reels to its released 33 minute-length. powerful viewing, vivid and gritty. Some 1,100 men died in the battle. scenes of grateful Italian peasants serve as a fascinating ethnographic time capsule. Filmed by Jules Buck. Unlike many other military documentaries, Huston's cameramen filmed alongside the Army's 143rd regiment, 36th division infantrymen, placing themselves within feet of mortar and shell fire. The film is unflinching in its realism and was held up from being shown to the public by the United States Army. Huston quickly became unpopular with the Army, not only for the film but also for his response to the accusation that the film was anti-war. Huston responded that if he ever made a pro-war film, he should be shot. Because it showed dead GIs wrapped in mattress covers, some officers tried to prevent troopers in training from seeing it, for fear of morale. General George Marshall came to the film's defense, stating that because of the film's gritty realism, it would make a good training film. The depiction of death would inspire them to take their training seriously. Subsequently the film was used for that purpose. Huston was no longer considered a pariah; he was decorated and made an honorary major.
The expanded essay is below this description.
https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/battle_pietro.pdf
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A Walk in the Sun (1945)
Herbert Rudley plays Sgt. Eddie Porter
Though better known for his World War I masterpiece "All Quiet on the Western Front," director Lewis Milestone also directed the World War II classic "A Walk in the Sun." The film (Robert Rossen adapted the excellent script from the Harry Brown novel) tells the story of a group of men and "how they came across the sea to sunny Italy and took a little walk in the sun." The walk here is the struggle the platoon faces after surviving a beach landing near Salerno, Italy, and then having to fight their way a few miles toward a bridge and fortified farmhouse held by the Nazis. "A Walk in the Sun" forgoes the usual focus of war movies on fierce battle scenes for an episodic, perceptive character study of the men in the platoon, interspersed with sharp, random bursts of violence. The frequent conversations among the soldiers reveal the emotional stress they go through when faced with the day-to-day uncertainties of war, constant peril and the fear of death.
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Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Courtesy of 20th Century-Fox
Darkness and claustrophobia mark the visual style of many film noirs: the use of black-and-white or gloomy grays, low-key lighting, striking contrasts between light and dark, shadows, nighttime or interior settings and rain-soaked streets. "Leave Her to Heaven" proves the magnificent exception. Filmed in vibrant, three-strip Technicolor, many pivotal scenes occur in spectacular outdoor locations, shot by famed cinematographer Leon Shamroy in Arizona and California. A classic femme fatale, Gene Tierney stars as Ellen, whose charisma and stunning visage mask a possessive, sociopathic soul triggered by "loving too much." Anyone who stands between her and those she obsessively loves tend to meet "accidental" deaths, most famously a teen boy who drowns in a chilling scene. Martin Scorsese has labeled "Heaven" as among his all-time favorite films and Tierney one of film's most underrated actresses. "Leave Her to Heaven" makes a supremely compelling case for these sentiments.
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The Negro Soldier (1944)
Produced by Frank Capra's renowned World War II U.S. Army filming unit, "The Negro Soldier" showcased the contributions of blacks to American society and their heroism in the nation's wars, portraying them in a dignified, realistic, and far less stereotypical manner than they had been depicted in previous Hollywood films. Considered by film historian Thomas Cripps as "a watershed in the use of film to promote racial tolerance," "The Negro Soldier" was produced in reaction to instances of discrimination against African-Americans stationed in the South. Written by Carlton Moss, a young black writer for radio and the Federal Theatre Project, directed by Stuart Heisler, and scored by Dmitri Tiomkin, the film highlights the role of the church in the black community and charts the progress of a black soldier through basic training and officer's candidate school before he enters into combat. It became mandatory viewing for all soldiers in American replacement centers from spring 1944 until the war's end.
National Film Registry Year by Year
in General Discussions
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Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
This holiday favorite written and directed by George Seaton depicts a kindly old man calling himself Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) who is hired as the Macy's department store Santa. The trouble is he thinks he really is Santa Claus. When he meets the young daughter (Natalie Wood) of the store's personnel manager (Maureen O'Hara), he endeavors to teach the girl to become a normal, imaginative child instead of the miniature adult raised by her no-nonsense mother. When he becomes beligerent in defending himself as Santa, the old man is sent to an asylum and a public sanity hearing follows. With the help of a sympathetic attorney (John Payne) the court finds that he is indeed Santa Claus and little girl learns the power of believing in the unbelievable.