Fwiw I dropped and updated Magnificent Ambersons from 4 to 11 on my list… not a big deal either way but just in case you’ve already calculated it and demand 100% accuracy from us!! 🫵 _________________ Best Classical Best Films Best Paintings
Sorry I haven't been around the forums for awhile (just noticed the new changes, you can like posts now. wild) but I'll get a list in, even if it will be thinner towards the backend. When exactly is the deadline again tomorrow, earlier or by the usual right-before-midnight (which would be ideal)?
Sorry I haven't been around the forums for awhile (just noticed the new changes, you can like posts now. wild) but I'll get a list in, even if it will be thinner towards the backend. When exactly is the deadline again tomorrow, earlier or by the usual right-before-midnight (which would be ideal)?
That'd be it :wink:—
Send something in the next 24-ish hours and we're good—
I was going to try to get to The Red Shoes before the deadline, but it’s unfortunately not going to be feasible at this point…
Tallying now 😁
@Afterhours— will update, no problem
@CA— found it, (gives me a sec to plug the numbers in), but give me the head's up once it's done—
And to everyone else, final day, last call, etc 😎
The current structure of the list is actually kinda interesting for BEA standards at the moment— the slope of the points rise at a far straighter and steadier path than typical, and any new submission could shake up the order significantly— most of the time these lists rise on a curve, getting fairly steep near the top 10-15— not sure what that says about the 40s, but, considering status quo, it's noteworthy— _________________ Doubles & Conch
(Funnily enough, one of my favourite '40s films is based on the concept of one woman, one bedroom and one telephone, but that's a topic for another day.)
I meant to elaborate on that at some point. Well, better late than never.
A woman overhears a telephone conversation, in which two men are plotting a murder. And that's only the beginning...
Sorry, Wrong Number is a psychological thriller that plays out as a multifaceted study of fear, but at the same time provides a subtle yet brilliant commentary on the effect of technology on human communication.
The most basic layer is already quite effective, showing how fear can be born by being alone and confined to bed, unable to take action. The noir-ish cinematography and the atmoshperic score greatly contribute to establishing a claustrophobic setting and building suspense. Familiar objects and sounds suddenly develop a new, unknown and threatening dimension. Her house is supposed to be a protective shelter, yet it feels more like a prison without escape.
That being said, what really elevates the film to the next level is the use of telephone as a medium of communication in this context. She views the phone as the only means of escaping the state described above. However, its limitations are slowly revealed to devastating effect. The people she talks with can listen to her cry for help, but they can't really do anything about it, the phone can't erase the distance between them. On the other end of the line, she can hear them but not see them, a metaphor for her being unable to see the whole picture and desperately trying to gather all the relevant bits of information in order to solve the puzzle.
The use of flashbacks - there is even a flashback within a flashback - is also key. Flashbacks are to the audience what the phone is to the main character, allowing us to identify with her state of mind. The viewers are never directly present in the moment the crucial events are happening, they have to rely on someone narrating them after the fact, leading to doubt, confusion and suspicion.
It is worth pointing out that Sorry, Wrong Number is based on a radio play, which explains how unique the concept is, but on the other hand how tricky the adaptation to film is.
On a final note, shout-out to Snake Pit, another film by Anatole Litvak that ranks among my favourites of the '40s. Claiming that 1948 was a good year for him would be quite an understatement.
CA Dreamin wrote:
On the 50s thread, I wrote something along the lines of 'Ozu's filmography feels like he churns out multiple iterations of the same 5-6 films. The cast, the camerawork, the set designs, the plot-lines, even the titles...all feel so similar, I get his movies mixed up at times.'
In the famous words of Rainer Werner Fassbinder : "Every decent director has only one subject, and finally only makes the same film over and over again." He was clearly speaking in absolutes, but if there's one director that pretty much epitomises this quote, it has to be Ozu. _________________ Bob Dylan Charles Mingus
cestuneblagueOtana, but No HitoProfile Straight Outta Ballard
I was going to try to get to The Red Shoes before the deadline, but it’s unfortunately not going to be feasible at this point…
Tallying now 😁
Cool beans, though if you could give a shout-out when it's like near the three-hour Mark until the deadline that would be nice too. Actually have a relaxing night in so I think I'm going to catch up on a couple of movies, this is def the decade poll where I've seen the least "biggies" than others.
Excited to see how this turns out. I didn't watch a ton outside of the "biggies" but damn some of those biggies were even better than the classic status lead me to believe.
I had intended to see several Keisuke Kenoshita films; Twenty-Four Eyes topped my 50s list and he has a ton of films that are easy to find but have very few ratings on Letterboxd. I'll probably still try to check out a few.
I've also loved some of the discussion about pre-war/during WWII/post-war films and how this decade was a turning point not just for movies but for culture(s) around the world. Having been able to watch a number of decidedly anti-war and anti-fascist films for this poll meant a lot to me. (Although my number 1 doesn't have anything to do with those themes at all...) _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Great write-up on Sorry, Wrong Number! Both that, and The Snake Pit made my list.
Strangely enough, I hadn't realized they had the same director. Looking at Anatole Litvak's body of work, the other 1940s films I've seen from him were the war documentaries he co-directed with Frank Capra in the Why We Fight series. I put Prelude to War (1942) on my list too, so that's 3 representative I have from Litvak. It could have been 5, for I had Divide and Conquer (1943) and The Battle of Russia (1943) on my list while I was drafting it. However, I decided to pull them because I had so many fiction films I wanted to represent. Some also consider the Why We Fight Series as a unified whole, instead of seven separate films. So if Hayden wants to call my inclusion of Prelude to War as an inclusion of the entire series, I'm cool with that. If not, then I'm also cool it just being Prelude to War. Either way, I highly doubt Why We Fight would make the final list anyway.
Speaking of my list, dropping it here to make it official. _________________ on such a winter's day
Last edited by CA Dreamin on 03/02/2026 01:16; edited 1 time in total
Here we go
Lots of good stuff has been left out and I suspect I'll start second-guessing it the moment I look at it again, but I really couldn't go down the rabbit hole of tweaking it ad nauseam, pretty much went with my first draft. On a funny note, I had never used this letterboxd website before - apparently, I've been living under a rock - and seeing how popular it is among BEA users made me want to check it out. It's kinda cool. _________________ Bob Dylan Charles Mingus
Also, I'm in a smidge of a different time zone than most of BEA I think... hello from March 2nd, etc— but I think we'll leave the gate open another 7 hours? _________________ Doubles & Conch
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