BLACHEFAN

National Velvet (1944) This enduring family classic based on the novel by Enid Bagnold was directed by Clarence Brown and stars Elizabeth Taylor as a young girl whose sole ambition to run her horse in the Grand National Steeplechase. Although "National Velvet" was the first starring role for 11-year-old Taylor, the early part of the film belongs to Mickey Rooney in the showier role of Mike Taylor, a headstrong English ex-jockey soured on life by a serious accident. Anne Revere, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance, co-stars as Velvet's mother and veteran actor Donald Crisp plays her father.

Mom and Dad (1944) The most successful sex-hygiene exploitation film of all time, a low budget but relentlessly promoted, socially significant film, which finished as the third highest grossing film during the 1940s. Time magazine dryly noted that Mom and Dad "left only the livestock unaware of the chance to learn the facts of life." The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/mom_dad.pdf

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) In possibly the screwiest of Preston Sturges screwball comedies, a small-town girl with a soft spot for soldiers (Betty Hutton) wakes up the morning after a farewell party for the troops to find that she married someone she can't remember, and shortly thereafter learns she's pregnant. Eddie Bracken is the boy-next-store who's been carrying a torch for Hutton and now comes to her rescue. William Demarest is hilarious as Hutton's befuddled father. Film critic Dave Kehr mused, "The real miracle is that Sturges got all of this past the production-code office," particularly the film's "affably blasphemous" resemblance to the Nativity.

Memphis Belle (1944) Many big Hollywood directors saw active duty in World War II and often became adept at capturing combat footage. In directing this film about the crew of a B-17 "flying fortress" bomber as it approached its 25th mission, William Wyler insisted on using only genuine footage and soldiers, showing civilian audiences a more startlingly realistic view of the war than they'd seen before. Wyler's direct style of telling a story, masterfully written by Lester Koenig, required no embellishment. "The situation was dramatic in itself. You didn't have to dramatize." Wyler was assisted by several Hollywood-trained cinematographers, often under enemy fire, and later back in Hollywood by editor John Sturges, who would go on to direct a number of popular films after the war. Upon viewing the film, President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged, "This has to be shown right away, everywhere."

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) Based on Sally Benson's short stories about a family in turn-of-the-century St. Louis, MGM crafted the anecdotal tales into a charming Technicolor musical featuring tunes like "The Trolley Song," and the now-classic "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." When Mr. Smith (Leon Ames) announces that the family is moving to New York, he unleashes a tumult of emotional trauma, including nipping in the bud a burgeoning romance between daughter Esther (Judy Garland) and the boy-next-door (Tom Drake). In a cast that includes Mary Astor as Mrs. Smith, Lucille Bremer as the eldest daughter and Marjorie Main as the housekeeper, the most memorable performance radiates from six-year-old Margaret O'Brien as kid sister Tootie. Obsessed with death, she buries her dolls, decapitates snowmen, and even attempts to derail a streetcar. Margaret O'Brien won a special Oscar for her remarkable performance. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/meet_stlouis.pdf

Laura (1944) Director Otto Preminger reveals a coldly objective temperament and a masterful narrative sense which combine to turn this standard 40s melodrama into something as haunting as its famous theme by David Raksin. Less a crime film than a study in obsession, the film's strength lies in downplaying the story (based on Vera Caspary's suspense novel) and emphasizing its seductive style thanks in part to the Oscar-winning camera work of Joseph LaShelle. As a tough detective (Dana Andrews) investigates the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) he methodically questions the chief suspects: an acid-tongued columnist (Clifton Webb), a self-indulgent playboy (Vincent Price), and a wealthy "patroness" (Judith Anderson). The deeper he delves into the case, the more fascinated he becomes with the enigmatic mystery woman, falling in love with her portrait. While he sits in her apartment obsessing, the door opens, the lights go on, and in walks Laura, very much alive!

Jammin' the Blues (1944) Based on the success of a series of Los Angeles jazz concerts, Warner Bros. produced this 20-minute film to showcase musicians Lester Young, Harry Edison, Barney Kessel, Red Callender, and vocalist Marie Bryant. Concerts organizer Norman Granz assembled the musicians and the innovative "Life" magazine photographer Gjon Mili directed. Jazz musicians had never been filmed as they were in "Jammin' the Blues." The sets and lighting gave the artists an evocative background against which to perform and the mobile cameras captured them interacting with each other naturally and comfortably.

Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) Surrounded by sympathetic marines, Eddie Bracken shares his disappointment at having been drummed out of the corps. Library of Congress Collection. Writer-director Preston Sturges probably was the only filmmaker in Hollywood in the 1940s who could satirize the worship of war heroes and mothers during wartime. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times credited the success of this film to its "sharpness of verbal wit and the vigor of visual expression" and the ability of Sturges to temper "irony with pity." Nominated for an Academy Award for the best original screenplay category, "Hail the Conquering Hero" follows the foibles of a would-be war hero dismissed from active duty because of chronic hay fever and enlisted by a group of Marines to return home as the war hero that he has pretended to be in letters to his mother. The lightning-paced plot that develops upon his return offers Sturges—a budding "Hollywood Voltaire" in Crowther's eyes—myriad opportunities to spoof corruption in small town politics as well as the propensity to idolize the military. The great French critic André Bazin called this film "a work that restores to American film a sense of social satire that I find equaled only ... in Chaplin's films."

Going My Way (1944) Bing Crosby won an Academy Award for playing a happy-go-lucky priest assigned to a rundown church heavily in debt. Barry Fitzgerald is the cranky pastor who disapproves of the younger priest's breezy, modern style. Crosby sets about to win the confidence of the local street toughs, organizing them into a church choir that will go out on a fundraising tour to forestall eviction from the church. He also busies himself playing matchmaker and mending family relationships. "Going My Way" is heavy on sentiment, but director Leo McCarey wisely tempers the sugary emotion with comedy and musical interludes.In addition to Crosby, Oscars went to Barry Fitzgerald, Leo McCarey, screenwriters Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, and Burke and Van Heusen's song hit "Swingin' On a Star." Bing Crosby repeated his role in McCarey's 1945 sequel "The Bells of St. Mary's."

Double Indemnity (1944) A seductive housewife (Barbara Stanwyck) lures an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray, cast against type) into murder while the salesman's boss (Edward G. Robinson) tries to untangle their web of deception. Told in flashback, the film opens with MacMurray confessing voluntarily the entire setup into a dictaphone for use by the claims agent, from which the narrative then unfolds. Billy Wilder directed, and Raymond Chandler adapted the James M. Cain novel, and the result is snappy dialogue that always suggests far more than the words spoken. Stanwyck, MacMurray, and Robinson give some of their best performances, and Wilder's cynical sensibility finds a perfect match in the story's unsentimental perspective, heightened by John Seitz's hard-edged cinematography. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/double_indemnity.pdf

Gaslight (1944) Based on the Broadway play and also staged under the title "Angel Street," MGM's "Gaslight" is the story of a Victorian woman who is slowly going mad — or is she? Ingrid Bergman won her first Oscar for her spellbinding performance in the lead role while Charles Boyer skates the precarious edge between romantic hero and devious villain. They were ably assisted by Joseph Cotten, Dame May Whitty and, in her film debut, Angela Lansbury as a cockney maid. Expertly directed by George Cukor, the film remains as suspenseful as the day it was made, just as the term "gaslighting" remains firmly within our cultural lexicon.

Why We Fight (1942-1945) Under the auspices of the Office of War Information's Bureau of Motion Pictures, Frank Capra directed a series of seven government training and propaganda films under the unifying title "Why We Fight." The films were narrated by Walter Huston, and most of the footage came from newsreels, studio libraries, government footage and from British and Russian sources. Capra and his crew had very few tools of the trade available to them: No actors, no dialog, no lighting, no sets. The one tool they did have was editing and the strength of "Why We Fight" lies in its editing. The seven titles in the series are "Prelude to War,""The Nazis Strike," "Divide and Conquer," "The Battle of Britain," "The Battle of Russia," "The Battle of China" and "War Comes to America." The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/why_we_fight.pdf

Topaz (1943-1945) The Topaz Relocation Center, located 140 miles south of Salt Lake City, was one of 10 internment camps during World War II that housed thousands of Japanese Americans perceived as "alien enemies." Internee Dave Tatsuno smuggled a Bell & Howell 8mm camera and color film into the guarded camp, and for two years recorded daily activities including church services, birthdays, meal preparation, snowstorms and sunsets. Tatsuno's footage, a total of nine rolls of Kodachrome film that runs approximately 48 minutes, is the only color motion pictures of life inside an internment camp, and often features smiling evacuees. Tatsuno observed that his films lacked "the fear, the loneliness, the despair and the bitterness that we felt." The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/topaz.pdf

Stormy Weather (1943) Though not the most imaginative of scripts or direction, the cast of this all-black revue distinguishes it among musicals of the day. Bill Robinson, Lena Horne, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, and the Nicholas Brothers sing and dance to standards from the American songbook such as the title tune, "Ain't Misbehavin'," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," and "The Jumpin' Jive." Andrew Stone directed with choreography by Katherine Dunham and musical direction by Benny Carter.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) One of Hitchcock's favorite themes to explore was the idea of "murder at the dinner table," that is, taking the horrors of murder and placing them in suburban environments, even making them popular topics among locals. "Shadow of a Doubt" is his most literal example of this theme, as a young girl named Charlie, portrayed by Teresa Wright, becomes terrified that her Uncle Charlie, with whom she has always been close, could be a serial killer. Hitchcock gives the movie and its setting a nice homey feel, a quiet little slice of Americana, which makes the main storyline even more disturbing. It's an intense film, with undertones that are incredibly dark, even for Hitchcock. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/shadow_of_doubt.pdf

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) Directed by William A. Wellman and starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, and Anthony Quinn, "The Ox-Bow Incident" tells the story of a murderous lynch mob that takes justice into its own hands when it finds three men suspected of theft and murder at the oxbow of a river. Based on the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, "The Ox-Bow Incident" is a quiet yet intense study of the mentality and interpersonal dynamics of mobs. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture but lost to "Casablanca."

Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) Maya Deren, a Russian Jewish émigré who came to America in the 1920s, and her husband Alexander Hammid crafted a 14-minute experimental film in 1943 that today is acknowledged as one of the classics of avant-garde cinema. Reminiscent of film noir in style and multi-layered in narrative, the film and its symbolism require the audience to have a sense of curiosity and patience to interpret the fragmented imagery of everyday objects – a flower, a key -- and actions – walking up stair, looking out a window -- within sequences that intersperse dreams and reality to create Deren's brand of "feminine poetry."

Lassie Come Home (1943) Young Joe (Roddy McDowall) is distraught when his father, an unemployed English coal miner (Donald Crisp), is forced to sell Joe's beloved collie Lassie (whose real name was pal) to pay the rent. The buyer (Nigel Bruce) takes Lassie home to Scotland and his daughter (Elizabeth Taylor), but after several attempts, Lassie manages to escape and sets out on a perilous journey back to Joe. "New York Times" reviewer Bosley Crowther noted that the story is told "with such poignance and simple beauty that only the hardest heart can fail to be moved." This is the first and what many consider to be the best of several generations of Lassie movies and television programs which were adapted from novels by Eric Knight. The film's rich color cinematography that captures the lush countryside was nominated for an Academy Award.

George Stevens' World War II Footage (1943-46) Having already directed classics such as "Swing Time," "Gunga Din" and "Woman of the Year," director George Stevens joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps and headed a motion picture unit under Gen. Eisenhower from 1943-46. He shot many hours of footage chronicling D-Day, including rare extant color film of the European war front; the liberation of Paris; American and Soviet forces meeting at the Elbe River; and horrific scenes from the Duben labor camp, thought to be a sub-camp of Buchenwald; and the Dachau concentration camp. The footage has become an essential visual record of World War II and a staple of documentary films.

The Gang's All Here (1943) Although not remembered as well today as those put out by MGM, 20th Century-Fox's big Technicolor musicals stand up well in comparison. Showgirl Alice Faye, Fox's No. 1 musical star, is romanced by a soldier who uses an assumed name and then turns out to be a rich playboy. Carmen Miranda is also featured and her outrageous costume is highlighted in the legendary musical number "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat." Busby Berkeley, who had just finished a long stint directing musicals at MGM and an earlier one at Warner Bros., directs and choreographs the film.

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Ostensibly a biopic about jingoistic songwriter-performer George M. Cohan (portrayed with buoyant enthusiasm by James Cagney), the film's patriotic message, celebratory musical numbers and sentimental family saga were aimed at bolstering morale during the early months of World War II. Directed by Michael Curtiz, best known for swashbucklers, Cagney's performance was complemented by Walter Huston as his father, Rosemary DeCamp as his mother, real-life sister Jean Cagney as his sister, and Joan Leslie as his perky champion and wife.

Woman of the Year (1942) In the first teaming of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, the natural chemistry between the two is readily apparent as they portray newspaper colleagues who eventually fall in love. The personal and professional chemistry lasted until Tracy's death in 1967 following the duo's ninth picture. Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin wrote the original screen play about the two strong-willed lovers, feminist leader Tess and crusty no-nonsense sports writer Sam. Knitting together the crackling dialog and strong performances is director George Stevens, equally adept at helming comedies, dramas, musicals and Westerns.

Tulips Shall Grow (1942) George Pal created his "Puppetoons" while living in Europe in the 1930s. These animated puppet films are distinguished by a technique known as replacement animation in which multiple puppets (or multiple parts of puppets) represent each action desired. While this process required extensive planning and labor before production began, once the puppets were created, they could be reused endlessly. Pal came to the U.S. in 1940 to work for Paramount where one of his earliest projects was "Tulips Shall Grow." The film depicts a Dutch boy and girl whose carefree life is destroyed when they are overrun by a group of mechanical men called "The Screwballs." Seen as a not-so-subtle metaphor for the conquest of Holland by the Nazis, the cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award as best animated short subject. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/tulips.pdf

To Be or Not to Be (1942) Director Ernst Lubitsch's film is a black and occasionally slapstick comedy about a Polish theater company--led by the ham acting husband and wife team of Joseph and Maria Tura (Jack Benny and Carole Lombard)--that turns to espionage after being shut down by the invading Nazis. Though not particularly successful with either critics or audiences, it has grown in stature over time and is now appreciated as a complex and timely satire that delicately balances humor and ethics. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/to_be_or_not.pdf

Road to Morocco (1942) Bing Crosby and Bob Hope reprise their earlier success with the third in their series of "Road" pictures. The hapless duo are castaways on a desert shore where they employ snappy dialog, asides to the camera, and a little song and dance as they woo Dorothy Lamour across the dunes, but not before encountering a spitting camel. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/road_morocco.pdf