Independence Day: A Personal Take

[songbird2]

In honor of America's Independence Day, I wonder if anyone's interested in discussing movies that touch on personal declarations of independence, however you interpret that experience. Here's a few that I've liked...

 

Across the Wide Missouri(1951): in which Clark Gable was one of the mountain men who lived in the wilderness and "who died unnamed and found immortality". Hokey, I guess--but I liked it as a kid. Still do.

 

Now, Voyager(1941): when Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) finally and explicitly stands up to her mother's psychological bullying by declaring that "I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid, mother. I'm not afraid." It's such a beautiful moment, especially since as Davis says these words, she seems to have just discovered that it's true in that instant.

 

Dodsworth(1936): after all, as Sam (Walter Huston) states as he escapes from his bloodsucking spouse (Ruth Chatterton), "Love has got to stop some place short of suicide." It's exhilarating and comical simultaneously, though director William Wyler almost allows the viewer to feel a second of pity for Ruth Chatterton as the wife, though this is overridden by the matching of Chatterton's howl of pain with the wail of the ship's whistle as the boat begins to embark from the port. If you think about it, she has been struggling--blindly and vainly--for independence throughout the film too. I guess since she doesn't seem to have any real self awareness, and certainly little compassion for others, she's doomed. A very interesting, multi-layered movie.

[ThinMan15]

I especially like the scene where Teresa Wright refuses to be part of Bette Davis' greedy plans that killed Herbert Marshall in The Little Foxes and walks out. In my opinion it was much more powerful than in the play, since we can actually see Teresa going off into the night while Bette watches through the window.

 

It's very hard to type and watch The Wrong Man at the same time, so I'll try to come up with more later.

[brackenhe]

Dodsworth--a great film and one of the many reasons I'm a Walter Huston fan. I thought it had great performances all around and was a lot different from movies from the same period. I would recommend it to anyone who likes classic films.