[Norman Bates]

[Norman Bates]

[Repo]

Everybody Wants Some!

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My favorite film noir yet! Not that I've seen too many, but definitely the best pacing and plot of those that I've seen. And, my second favorite Femme Fatale too. Though imo Mary Astor still still doesn't hold a candle to Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. Is Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson the best femme fatale of the 1940s?!?! Who's better?! 🤔

And a shout out to easily my favorite character in the film - Kasper "The Fat Man" Gutman! I love that he never gives up! That man knows how to chase a dream!

[CA Dreamin]

Glad you liked Maltese Falcon, Repo. Off the top of my head I can't think of a 1940s femme fatale stronger than Phyllis Dietrichson. Billy scripted her perfectly, and Barbara played her perfectly!

I haven't done a write-up on this thread in a while, partly because of the job, partly because I haven't been spending as much time on my laptop when I haven't been working. Alas, Repo's Maltese Falcon post is prompting me to do this John Huston post.

Huston's Pre-War phase began with his debut feature, The Maltese Falcon (1941), which was in some ways post-war in nature. It was a film noir before film noir was even a trend, a style, or even a term for that matter. And man, it was one of the best of its kind. It would be the best debut feature of 1941 if it weren't for Orson Welles. Next, Huston directed an adaptation of In This Our Life (1942), a good-not-great drama from what I remember.

Afterward, Huston entered his War-time phase. First he directed Across the Pacific (1942) an espionage thriller starring his favorite lead man Humphrey Bogart. This would be his only war-related fiction film during this phase, as he then served in the army and was commissioned to produce documentaries (which several other notable directors also did). From 1942-45, Huston directed Winning Your Wings, Report from the Aleutians, Tunisian Victory, and The Battle of San Pietro. I've seen 2/4, pretty standard for war-time documentaries...relaying the facts, inspiring good morale, not showing the ugliest side of war, etc. Huston's last film of the war-time phase was one I've never heard of until now. Let There Be Light (1946) was a documentary about soldiers coming home with PTSD. Apparently, it was too on-the-nose, and was banned by the government until the 1980s. I've never seen it but now I kinda want to.

Anyway, Huston moved on to his post-war phase picking up where he left off. He reunited with Bogart for both his 1948 films, The Treasure of Sierra Madre and Key Largo. Great movies. As you'd expect, these thrillers explore crime, searching for fortune, greed, betrayal, etc. It was Huston's strength, and they fit the post-war cinematic landscape very well. His final film of the decade was We Were Strangers (1949), a political thriller that I haven't seen. It has middling ratings on LB. Has anyone here seen it?

I will represent John Huston at least three times on my list. Maltese Falcon is Top 30 for sure. Treasure of Sierra Madre is probably Top 50, while Key Largo will be somewhere on the lower half of my list.

Where does Huston rank among the best directors of the 40s? I'd say he's up there. Maybe not as high as Powell/Pressburger, Hitchcock, Welles, and a couple others. But he's certainly worth looking into.

[Olli]

Phylis Dietrichson is my favorite femme fatale too. This decade had many femme fatales, a new genre that emerged in the 1940s, also called film noir. Not only there. Out of the Past, with Jane Greer as Kathie is very good. This film is in my top 20.

You know the film Murder, My Sweet, where Claire Trevor plays as Helen? in my Top 40. Maltese Falcon ist in my Rankings in the 50s. Key Largo is no longer in my top 100. I've watched over 250 films by now, it's very difficult to choose just 100. 😁 But The Treasure of Sierra Madre is in the 30s. 😄

I never seen We Were Strangers 🤔

[kokkinos]

Happy holidays BEAutiful people! Wishing you all love, peace and happiness.
Christmas and '40s films go hand in hand. I'm probably just stating the obvious, but it has to be the greatest decade when it comes to Christmas classics, and you can't go wrong with any of them.
I got my annual dose of Miracle on 34th Street yesterday, and will attend the local cinema's screening of It's a Wonderful Life on Sunday. I don't know if I'll find the time for Meet Me in St. Louis or my personal favourite The Shop Around the Corner this year, but I can't recommend them enough nonetheless.
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Charles Mingus

[CA Dreamin]

^^Can't argue with that. I adore the fact that NBC still plays It's A Wonderful Life every Christmas Eve at 8p. I fell asleep to it last night 20 minutes shy of the ending 😶 . All good though, seen it many times. Anyway, happy holidays BEA!

[Olli]

[Repo]

[AfterHours]

1. Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
2. The Lady from Shanghai - Orson Welles (1948)
3. Late Spring – Yasujiro Ozu (1949)
4. The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles (1942)
5. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston (1948)
6. It's a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra (1946)
7. Children of Paradise - Marcel Carne (1945)
8. Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio DeSica (1948)
9. Meet John Doe – Frank Capra (1941)
10. Casablanca - Michael Curtiz (1942)

11. The Third Man - Carol Reed (1949)
12. The Lost Weekend - Billy Wilder (1945)
13. The Best Years of Our Lives - William Wyler (1946)
14. To Be or Not To Be - Ernst Lubitsch (1942)
15. Heaven Can Wait - Ernst Lubitsch (1943)
16. The Red Shoes - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1948)
17. Shadow of a Doubt - Alfred Hitchcock (1943)
18. Sullivan's Travels - Preston Sturges (1941)
19. The Lady Eve - Preston Sturges (1941)
20. Key Largo - John Huston (1948)

21. The Great Dictator - Charlie Chaplin (1940)
22. The Shanghai Gesture – Josef von Sternberg (1941)
23. Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder (1944)
24. Red River - Howard Hawks (1948)
25. They Live By Night - Nicholas Ray (1948)
26. Notorious - Alfred Hitchcock (1946)
27. The Big Sleep - Howard Hawks (1946)
28. My Darling Clementine - John Ford (1946)
29. The Stranger - Orson Welles (1946)
30. A Matter of Life and Death - Micheal Powell (1946)

31. Germany Year Zero - Roberto Rossellini (1947)
32. Spellbound - Alfred Hitchcock (1945)
33. Suspicion - Alfred Hitchcock (1941)
34. Day of Wrath - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1943)
35. Naked City - Jules Dassin (1948)
36. Laura - Otto Preminger (1944)
37. Spiral Staircase - Robert Siodmak (1946)
38. It Happened Tomorrow - Rene Clair (1944)
39. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek - Preston Sturges (1944)
40. Hail the Conquering Hero - Preston Sturges (1944)

41. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - Micheal Powell (1943)
42. The Maltese Falcon - John Huston (1941)
43. Sorry Wrong Number - Anatole Litvak (1948)
44. White Heat - Raoul Walsh (1949)
45. Monsieur Verdoux - Charlie Chaplain (1947)
46. Duel in the Sun - King Vidor (1946)
47. Black Narcissus - Michael Powell (1947)
48. Cat People - Jacques Tourneur (1942)
49. The Beauty and the Beast - Jean Cocteau (1946)
50. Open City - Roberto Rossellini (1946)

51. Rebecca - Alfred Hitchcock (1940)
52. His Girl Friday - Howard Hawks (1940)
53. Pinocchio - Ben Sharpsteen (Walt Disney) (1940)
54. Snake Pit - Anatole Litvak (1948)
55. The Unsuspected - Michael Curtiz (1947)
56. Mildred Pierce - Michael Curtiz (1945)
57. Adam's Rib - George Cukor (1949)
58. The Southerner - Jean Renoir (1945)
59. Meet Me in St. Louis - Vincente Minnelli (1944)
60. 47 Ronin - Kenji Mizoguchi (1942)

61. The Ox-Bow Incident - William Wellman (1943)
62. Out Of The Past - Jacques Tourneur (1947)
63. I Was a Male War Bride - Howard Hawks (1949)
64. Fort Apache - John Ford (1948)
65. Dark Mirror - Robert Siodmak (1946)
66. Shoeshine - Vittorio DeSica (1946)
67. Sergeant York - Howard Hawks (1941)
68. Ivan the Terrible - Sergei Eisenstein (1944)
69. How Green Was My Valley - John Ford (1941)
70. I Walked With A Zombie - Jacques Tourneur (1943)

71. Brief Encounter - David Lean (1946)
72. Bambi - David Hand (Walt Disney) (1942)
73. The Bank Dick - Eddie Cline (W.C.Fields) (1940)
74. The Set-up - Robert Wise (1949)
75. Killers - Robert Siodmak (1946)
76. Woman of the Year - George Stevens (1942)
77. Scarlet Street - Fritz Lang(1945)
78. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon - John Ford(1949)
79. Saboteur - Alfred Hitchcock (1942)
80. Across The Pacific - John Huston (1942)

81. The Gates of Night - Marcel Carne (1946)
82. Ball Of Fire - Howard Hawks (1941)
83. Odd Man Out - Carol Reed (1947)
84. La Terra Trema - Luchino Visconti (1948)
85. Gilda - Charles Vidor (1946)
86. The Shop Around the Corner - Ernst Lubitsch (1940)
87. Foreign Correspondent - Alfred Hitchcock (1940)
88. Kind Hearts and Coronets - Robert Hamer (1949)
89. Letter From an Unknown Woman - Max Ophuls (1948)
90. The Fallen Idol - Carol Reed (1948)

91. The Curse of the Cat People - Robert Wise (1944)
92. Detour - Edgar Ulmer (1945)
93. I Married a Witch - Rene Clair (1942)
94. Canterbury Tale - Michael Powell (1944)
95. The Major and the Minor - Billy Wilder (1942)
96. Arsenic and Old Lace - Frank Capra (1944)
97. State of the Union - Frank Capra (1948)
98. Macbeth - Orson Welles (1948)
99. The Woman in the Window - Fritz Lang (1944)
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy - Michael Curtiz (1942)
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