BLACHEFAN

Now, Voyager (1942) The film's title comes from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass:" "The untold want, by life and land ne'er granted/Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find." A resonant woman's picture, "Now, Voyager" features Bette Davis as a dowdy spinster terrorized by her possessive mother and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Psychiatrist Claude Rains cures Davis and suggests a cruise, where she falls in love with married Paul Henreid. The impossible romance does not depress Davis but rather transforms her into a confident, independent woman. Davis' final words electrify one of the most famous endings in romantic cinema: "Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/now_voyager.pdf

Mrs. Miniver (1942) This sentimental wartime melodrama pictorializes the classic British stiff upper lip and the courage of a middle-class English family (headed by Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon) amid the chaos of air raids and family loss. The film's iconic tribute to the sacrifices on the home front, as movingly directed by William Wyler, did much to rally America's support for its British allies. Among the most memorable scences are the Minivers huddling in their bomb shelter during a Luftwaffe attack, Mrs. Miniver confronting a downed Nazi paratrooper in her kitchen, and clergyman Henry Wilcoxon's calling his parishioners to arms from the pulpit of his bombed out church. "Mrs. Miniver" won six Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress, and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Teresa Wright.

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Orson Welles's second feature, which followed his film debut and now bonafide classic "Citizen Kane" less than a year later, is in many ways his most personal and most impressive, but it's also the one most damaged by insensitive studio re-editing, which sliced off 45 minutes of Welles's footage and tacked on a few disappointing new scenes. For the most part, it is a very close adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel about the relentless decline of a wealthy Midwestern family through the rise of industrialization. Welles makes the story even more powerful through his stylish mastery of production design, lighting and cinematography. The film also features some of the best acting – alternatingly stylized and restrained – to be found in American movies, including that of Agnes Moorehead, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, and Ray Collins.

Jam Session (1942) The musical short film features Duke Ellington and his orchestra performing "C Jam Blues." The film recording, made in late 1941, was released in 1942 as a Soundie, a musical film played on jukebox-like devices found in social clubs and bars. Recorded for RCA Victor Records in 1942, the song continued to be a staple of the Ellington repertoire. Ellington appeared as a character in short subjects and feature films as early as 1929, and is featured in 1959's "Anatomy of a Murder." He appeared as himself in countless films, documentaries and television shows, and his music is heard in hundreds more. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/jam_session.pdf

Cat People (1942) Val Lewton achieved the almost miraculous when he produced "Cat People." He and his team, which included director Jacques Tourneur, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, editor Mark Robson, and composer Roy Webb among others, created a spine-tingling horror movie with no monster, no special effects and virtually no budget, yet it netted RKO, almost 20 times its cost. The film's tension outweighs its thin story about a woman (Simone Simon) who believes she's the subject of a curse that will turn her into a panther. Kent Smith and Jane Randolph are the other two sides of the love triangle that forms the plot. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/cat_people.pdf

Casablanca (1942) One of the most beloved of American films, this captivating romantic adventure directed by Michael Curtiz is the story of a world-weary ex-freedom fighter (Humphrey Bogart) who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, led by the wily Capt. Renault (Claude Rains), Rick's cafe has become a haven for refugees. One of those refugees is Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris (Ingrid Bergman) and her Resistance leader husband (Paul Henreid). How the triangle would resolve itself wasn't known even to cast members until the last days of filming. Though often lacking logical cohesion, the film's dialog and the timeliness of world events swirling around Casablanca made the eventual Best Picture winner a favorite with wartime audiences. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/casablanca1.pdf

Bambi (1942) One of Walt Disney's timeless classics (and his own personal favorite), this animated coming-of-age tale of a wide-eyed fawn's life in the forest has enchanted generations since its debut nearly 70 years ago. Filled with iconic characters and moments, the film features beautiful images that were the result of extensive nature studies by Disney's animators. Its realistic characters capture human and animal qualities in the time-honored tradition of folklore and fable, which enhance the movie's resonating, emotional power. Treasured as one of film's most heart-rending stories of parental love, "Bambi" also has come to be recognized for its eloquent message of nature conservation. The expanded essay is below the description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/bambi.pdf

Sullivan's Travels (1941) Director Preston Sturges is quoted as saying that "Sullivan's Travels" came about as "the result of an urge to tell some of my fellow filmwrights that they were getting a little too deep-dish and to leave the preaching to the preachers." Joel McCrea, in one of his most memorable roles, plays a successful Hollywood film director who, having helmed only fluffy comedies, decides to make an important social drama and takes to the open road to experience the seemier side of America for himself. Though initially discouraged by his studio bosses (Robert Warwick and Porter Hall) they scheme to turn Sullivan's odyssey into a publicity stunt. Along the way he meets a disheartened wannabe starlet, Veronica Lake, who's giving up on Hollywod and headed home. From there hilarity -- tempered with romance and pathos-- rules the day. The expanded essay is below the description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/sullivans_travels.pdf

Sergeant York (1941) Gary Cooper, in one of his favorite roles, won his first Oscar for his dead-on portrayal of Tennessee pacifist Sgt. Alvin York who, in an Argonne Forest World War I battle, single-handedly captured more than 130 German soldiers. A stirring bit of Americana, which appeared six months before America entered World War II as a nation and inspired Americans through the later conflict, "Sergeant York" contains three main segments all masterfully directed by Howard Hawks: York's life in Tennessee, the war scenes, and post-war scenes in New York City where his newfound fame briefly tempts York not to return to his Tennessee home. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/sergeant_york.pdf

Maltese Falcon (1941) After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic "The Maltese Falcon," Warner Bros. finally captured the true essence of Hammett's story in 1941 by wisely adhering to the original as faithfully as possible. John Huston, a screenwriter making his directorial debut, was the catalyst for its success, and Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade provided the film's heart and soul, earning him stardom for his effort. A hard-boiled often unscrupulous San Francisco private eye, Spade gets drawn into a series of intrigues and double-crosses by client Mary Astor who, along with partners Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, are in search of a jewel-encrusted statuette shaped like a falcon. Among the most influential movies to emerge from the Hollywood studio system, "The Maltese Falcon" is as significant in some ways as its contemporary "Citizen Kane" for its contribution to establishing an entirely new style of storytelling that would become identified as "film noir." The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/maltese_falcon.pdf

The Lady Eve (1941) Writer-director Preston Sturges turns Monckton Hoffe's take on the Adam and Eve story on its head with Barbara Stanwyck as a sassy, resourceful con artist out to trap serious young millionaire Henry Fonda. The film features sparkling dialog, a quick pace and more than a touch of Sturges' trademark screwiness. Supporting Stanwyck and Fonda are memorable performances by Charles Coburn and William Demarest.

Kannapolis, N.C. (1941) This example of a "town portrait" was chosen to honor itinerant filmmakers who made films of ordinary people on typical days during the 1930s and 1940s. They showcased this footage (in return for a portion of the receipts) at local cinemas prior to the Hollywood feature films. The surviving footage of the towns and its people often became the sole record of these cultural enclaves. H. Lee Waters, who made movies in 117 towns across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, filmed all of Kannapolis' separate communities, slyly making sure to include lots of shots of children to attract the entire family to the theaters.

How Green Was My Valley (1941) A seamless collaboration of creative talent, both credited and uncredited, lies behind the success of 1941's Best Picture winner, "How Green Was My Valley." Much of the dialogue arises directly from Richard Llewllyn's novel of a Welsh mining community, while Philip Dunne's screenplay gives the film its episodic structure and reflective narrative voice. William Wyler served as director through preproduction and supervised location scouting and set construction, as well as the crucial casting of Roddy McDowall in the lead role. John Ford took the Dunne screenplay and Wyler sets and staged scenes in his own style. Finally, Fox mogul Darryl Zanuck took all of Ford's footage and supervised the final edit, as he did on many of the projects he oversaw at both Warner Bros. and Fox.

Citizen Kane (1941) Directed by and starring Orson Welles, this film tells the life story of Charles Foster Kane (Welles), a newspaper tycoon who gains immense wealth at the expense of the ones he loves. The screenplay, written by Herman Mankiewicz and Welles, was inspired by the biography of real-life newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and the film's celebrated visual style featuring stunning black and white cinematography was created by director of photography Gregg Toland. Although "Citizen Kane" received a lukewarm reception from audiences upon its initial release, it was applauded by critics and is today often considered the "greatest film of all time." The film, which also stars Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane Ruth Warrick, was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/kane.pdf

The Blood of Jesus (1941) Also known as "The Glory Road," this was among the approximately 500 "race movies" produced between 1915 and 1950 for African-American audiences and featuring all-black casts. In this film, a deeply devout woman (Cathryn Caviness) faces a spiritual crossroads after being accidentally shot, and is forced to choose between heaven and hell. Spencer Williams, who wrote, directed and starred in the film, produced the film in response to a need for spiritually-based films that spoke directly to black audiences. Long thought lost, prints were discovered in a warehouse in Tyler, Texas, in the mid-1980s. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/blood_of_jesus.pdf

Ball of Fire (1941) In this Howard Hawks-directed screwball comedy, showgirl and gangster's moll Sugarpuss O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) hides from the law among a group of scholars compiling an encyclopedia. Cooling her heels until the heat lets up, Sugarpuss charms the elderly academics and bewitches the young professor in charge (Gary Cooper). Hawks deftly shapes an effervescent, innuendo-packed Billy Wilder-Charles Brackett script into a swing-era version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or "squirrely cherubs," as Sugarpuss christens them. Filled with colorful period slang and boogie-woogie tunes and highlighted by an energetic performance from legendary drummer Gene Krupa, the film captures a pre-World War II lightheartedness.

Dumbo (1941) Disney's charming, trademark animation finds a perfect subject in this timeless tale of a little elephant with oversize ears who lacks a certain confidence until he learns — with the help of a friendly mouse — that his giant lobes enable him to fly. Disney's fourth feature film gained immediate classic status thanks to its lovely drawing, original score (which would go on to win the Oscar that year) and enduring message of always believing in yourself.

Tarantella (1940) "Tarantella" is a five-minute color avant-garde short film created by Mary Ellen Bute, a pioneer of visual music and electronic art in experimental cinema. With piano accompaniment by Edwin Gershefsky, "Tarantella" features rich reds and blues that Bute uses to signify a lighter mood, while her syncopated spirals, shards, lines and squiggles dance exuberantly to Gershefsky's modern beat. Bute produced more than a dozen short films between the 1930s and the 1950s and once described herself as a "designer of kinetic abstractions" who sought to "bring to the eyes a combination of visual forms unfolding with the ... rhythmic cadences of music." Bute's work influenced many other filmmakers working with abstract animation during the '30s and '40s, and with experimental electronic imagery in the '50s. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/tarantella.pdf

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (1940) A news service photo shows the famed suspension bridge collapsing into the Tacoma Narrows in Washington state. In November 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed due to a combination of high winds and poor construction. The local camera store owner, Barney Elliot, captured the undulating bridge with his Bell & Howell 16mm movie camera just before and as the bridge collapsed. Elliott's footage shows the bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie," waving and twisting for several minutes before finally collapsing into Puget Sound.

Siege (1940) In his career, Julien Bryan, founder of the International Film Foundation, managed to amass a historical treasure trove of footage from foreign lands. On his way back from filming in Europe in 1939, Bryan became stranded in Warsaw during the German bombardment and blitzkrieg, where he managed to shoot and smuggle out an astonishing record of events in Warsaw. As the only neutral-country cameraman left in Warsaw when the Germans arrived, Bryan's footage is a unique, horrifying record of the dreadful brutality of war. One such scene shows German planes strafing Polish women as they dug potatoes for their hungry families.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940) This romantic comedy, one of director Ernst Lubitsch's most enduring works, takes place almost entirely within a store in Budapest shortly before World War I. James Stewart is the earnest, slightly awkward young manager; Margaret Sullavan is the novice clerk who gets under his skin. What neither realizes is that they're pen pals who have just begun to fall in love through each other's letters. As the romance develops, Lubitsch uses point of view to let the audience in on each character's experiences at just the right moment to heighten anticipation and empathy. The film was remade in 1949 as "In the Good Old Summertime" and in 1998 as "You've Got Mail." The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/shop_corner.pdf

Pinocchio (1940) Based on stories by 19th century Italian author Carlo Collodi, this animated Disney classic tells the tale of gentle woodcarver Geppetto (Christian Rub) who builds a marionette to be his substitute son. The puppet Pinocchio (Dick Jones) must earn the right to be made human by proving that he is brave, truthful, and unselfish. On his journey to becoming a real boy, Pinocchio encounters Jiminy (Cliff Edwards), a cricket assigned to be Pinocchio's conscience, eventually mastering his lying and truancy, and selflessly risking his life to save Geppetto, proving himself worthy of becoming human. One of the film's most lasting contributions is Edwards' singing of Leigh Harline and Ned Washington's "When You Wish Upon a Star," a tune that would become the Disney anthem. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/pinocchio.pdf

The Philadelphia Story (1940) On the eve of her marriage to an uninteresting man (John Howard), a headstrong socialite (Katharine Hepburn) exchanges verbal barbs with her charming ex-husband (Cary Grant), may have compromised her honor while under the influence of champagne, and flirts outrageously with the handsome reporter (James Stewart in an Oscar-winning performance ) who has crashed the society event of the season. George Cukor elegantly directs Donald Ogden Stewart's Oscar-winning adaptation of the Philip Barry play in which Hepburn had starred on Broadway.

Men and Dust (1940) Produced and directed by Lee Dick—a woman pioneer in the field of documentary filmmaking—and written and shot by her husband Sheldon, this labor advocacy film is about diseases plaguing miners in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Sponsored by the Tri-State Survey Committee, "Men and Dust" is a stylistically innovative documentary and a valuable ecological record of landscapes radically transformed by extractive industry. The expanded essay is below this description. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/men_and_dust.pdf

Melody Ranch (1940) As a young man growing up in Oklahoma, Gene Autry sang in the choir of his grandfather's Baptist church, and his early musical roots helped to make him one of the two biggest singing cowboys in Hollywood (Roy Rogers the other). Basically playing himself, Autry's playful humility and popular Western-tinged songs appealed to audiences, and he often made six to eight feature films a year. This was his biggest budget picture to date and featured vaudeville and radio comedian Jimmy Durante and dancer Ann Miller. The story has Autry back in his hometown as Honorary Sheriff for a Frontier Days celebration; once there, the singing cowboy must restore law and order when the local bad guys get out of control.