It's Time Again For Your Favorite Feature: Films I've Watched Lately, Some of Which I've Loved Greatly

The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth (1937) McCarey. A classic of the screwball comedy genre that is highlighted by one scene. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are going through a divorce that’s about to become final. Masquerading as Grant’s sister, Dunne shows up at Grant’s fiancé’s mansion, where there is a formal yet intimate gathering. What ensues is comedy gold. The brilliance is that Dunne never overplays it. She acts just unhinged enough to create maximum discomfort while remaining completely committed to the performance. Grant's reactions are priceless—he's trying desperately to maintain his dignity while watching his carefully constructed world collapse around him. The timing between them is immaculate. While Dunne steals the scene, it doesn’t work without Grant as something of a straight man.

Wonder Boys (2000) Hanson. One thing I love about Wonder Boys is that it feels so much like a February weekend—especially the Sunday scenes. How does a movie do that so well? Create the feeling of a specific day? Wonder Boys blends meloncholy, humor, and a deep affection for its characters. Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire are brilliant, interesting and a bit lost. Katie Holmes and Frances McDormand do nothing but add to the film’s charms. Wonder Boys is less interested in plot than in spending time with people who, even if we can't relate to them, we at least enjoy spending time with. As someone who flatters himself to be a novelist, I particularly relate every time I see it. 

No Country For Old Men (2007) Hanson. A perfectly made film, masterfully directed by the Coens. So many memorable scenes that stay with you. Like the coin toss. It's interesting that in that scene the Coens didn't do the usual thing of making Anton a nice sort when he wasn't killing people. He was a jerk at all times. I also liked when the manager of the trailer park stood up to him and refused to tell him Llewelyn's workplace. There was nothing he could do. Every scene with Tommy Lee Jones is excellent. He's something like the moral centerpiece of the film. The sanity within. After this viewing I moved NCFOM into my top twenty on my all-time favorites list.

La piscine (196) Deray. My second viewing and I now regard it as a masterpiece. A love triangle starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider and Maurice Ronet. Added to the mix is the young daughter of Ronet’s character played by Jane Birkin. It would be easy to overlook her given her three co-stars all of whom were excellent (not surprisingly). But Birkin as an actress had quiet confidence in this film and so did her character. The first time she opens up and speaks is when the movie became really interesting to me, I can't exactly tell you why, but perhaps it announced that she wasn't merely decorative and thus the whole movie was going to be deeper than I'd imagined. What La piscine does so well is build. It’s not a film that announces itself in the first minute — that’s too easy. It asks our patience and then pays off. I can’t wait to watch it again.

Lancelot du lac (1974) Bresson. I hated this movie. I’m baffled as to why it’s so highly regarded. Usually when I don’t like an acclaimed film I can at least see why others do. Not with this one. Part of it is that I’m not a big fan of Robert Bresson. I thought A Man Escaped, Diary of a Country Priest and Pickpocket were good films but I hardly consider them classics. But this iteration of the Arthurian legend — I was bored to death.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) Ford. Jimmy Stewart is far too old to be playing the lead character, just as in Vertigo and Bell, Book and Candle. For one thing he’s twenty-two years older than Vera Miles who plays his wife. Why did they continually cast Stewart in roles for younger actors? The film itself is fine though if I were making a list of my favorite John Ford films, there would be at least a dozen Ford films ahead of it. TMWSLV is not as visually interesting as other Ford films, it was shot mostly on studio lots. Liberty Valance is almost cartoonishly evil. I like the political/historical themes but they weren't at all subtle.

Wagon Master

Wagon Master (1950) Ford. Somehow I’d never seen this John Ford film, given that I knew little about it, I wasn’t expecting much. I got a lot. What a wonderful film. I liked Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr. as the wagon masters and always enjoy Ward Bond when he has a juicy part. Also fun to see Alan Mowbray. Beautiful film to look at and interesting that the film starts before the opening credits, which I was initially confused by. I suppose by Ford standards it’s a modest film but by any standards it’s a terrific one and typically beautiful to look at with equal respect to the characters and the scenery. 

Shampoo (1975) Ashby. One thing that particularly struck me from this viewing is what an empty person Warren Beatty's character, George is. He has no interior life and nothing profound to say. Other than wanting his own shop he's directionless. Today he'd probably be classified as a sex and love addict. Overall the film is excellent. Hal Ashby directed a string of really good movies that I love in the seventies like The Landlord, Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo and Being There. Shampoo is set on election eve 1968 but was filmed at the heart of Watergate. An interesting combination. A great cast that includes Goldie Hawn, Julie Christie, Carrie Fisher (first film role), Lee Grant (gorgeous at fifty) and Jack Warden. Warden graced many a great film including From Here to Eternity, Twelve Angry Men, All the President’s Men, Being There, Heaven Can Wait and The Verdict. He made all those films and Shampoo better for his presence.

Dersu Uzala (1975) Kurosawa. I greatly appreciate films that combine technical mastery with deep compassion for their characters. This is a perfect example. Dersu Uzala is an odd one in a sense because here we have the great Japanese director directing a film set in Russia with Russian actors speaking Russian. It’s one of his later pictures but retains so many Kurosawa touches while being distinct from most of his other work. I really liked the title character who is a native hunter helping Russian soldiers on early 20th century surveying missions. It’s a day later and many of the film’s scenes still live vividly in my memory. Few directors have filmed nature better than Kurosawa and this is a classic man versus nature film with a heart-warming friendship and two richly drawn characters at the heart of it.

I've Got to Admit It's Gotten Better -- I Re-Visit Only Angels Have Wings

Grant and Arthur in Only Angels Have Wings

It had been probably fifteen maybe twenty years since I’d watched Only Angels Have Wings (1939) Hawks. I’d never been impressed by it but it’s such a highly regarded film that I thought I should give it another shot. I do that occasionally, re-watch a much lauded movie that I didn’t like the first time. Sometimes my dislike for a film is confirmed, other times I discover something in it. L’Aventurra, Cries and Whispers and Picnic at Hanging Rock are all films that I didn’t enjoy the first time but later fell in love with.

No, I didn’t full in love with Only Angels upon re-visiting it, but I did like it a lot and wondered what my problem with it had been before.

It’s directed by Howard Hawks one of the ten greatest directors of all time and stars Cary Grant one of the ten greatest actors of all time, so that’s a helluva start right there. Also in the cast are Jean Arthur and Thomas Mitchell both of whom were in many an outstanding film. A very young Rita Hayworth also appears and, as the cliche goes, lights up the screen.

Grant was playing a less charming character than one has grown custom to seeing him play. But then again his characters in Notorious and Suspicion were not exactly warm and cuddly and he was brilliant in both. But perhaps the past version of me was put off by Grant’s gruffness and his curious relationship with Ms. Arthur. Speaking of whom….It is remarkable that Jean Arthur had chemistry with ever male actor she played opposite. This includes, Grant, James Stewart, Joel McCrea, Herbert Marshall, Robert Cummings, Ray Milland, Charles Boyer and Gary Cooper. I’m probably missing someone from that list. Arthur was not beautiful. She was the proverbial girl next door but a streetwise and sometimes cynical one. She could have a certain vulnerability but played strong, independent women. Ms. Arthur was not a great actress but she was damn good in everything she did and made a lot of really good films even better (examples include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Easy Living, Talk of the Town and The More the Merrier).

Thomas Mitchell was another actor who made good films better. He could be a drunk (Stagecoach) perpetually befuddled (It’s A Wonderful Life) and world weary (Mr. Smith). He was the consummate professional and his performance in Only Angels is a good example.

Sig Ruman is also in the cast and though he certainly played a type he did it well. As the owner of a small air freight company this, to me, is one of his better roles.

Only Angels is about honor and bravery and comradeship with a dollop of romance. It’s very much of its time — pre second world war — in its depiction of men and for that matter women. In the days in which the film takes place the weather is uncooperative creating peril for the flyers in what is a fictional South American country that is Andes adjacent.

Two of our favorite characters die, another breaks an arm, one suffers series burns and still another is accidentally shot. One of the points of the film is that real men, professionals, simply move on after tragedy strikes. There is too much that can and does go wrong to dwell on it.

The film emphasizes that emotions are for women to deal with. Cary Grant is in the middle of it all setting the tone for how to be unruffled and stoic in the face of anything. Fair enough it's reflective of times. I should add that the flying scenes are really well done, as you would expect from a Hawks picture.

I don’t think Only Angels is as inspiring as it’s supposed to be. I didn’t find myself overly impressed by the men’s bravery. I didn’t worry for them or weep over them either. To be succinct the screenplay could have used a little punching up. 

However I enjoyed the cast and their interactions. I avoided the overall story and its arc and simply enjoyed the details and each character. I still don’t know why I didn’t like all those years ago but I do know why I didn’t love it. At it’s heart there’s not enough heart.

Your mileage may vary. Many people love the movie and find things in it that I can’t. If someone told me they consider it a great film I’d not think a wit less of them. Same if they told me they thought it stunk. I’m glad I gave it another go and managed to enjoy it.

This Was Supposed to be About Notorious But Who Has the Time -- It Seems I Did

Okay so I really wanted to crank out a blog post today and if you’re reading this and it’s dated June 2, 2025 then I guess I did though it’s not what I’d intended. Before I go on let me address the fact that it’s in some ways rather silly that I’m so punctilious about maintaining this blog and about how often I write. The fact is that no one cares. I barely do. It’s rare indeed that anyone actually reads it. There was a time when this enterprise was still in its infancy and I wrote mostly about films that it was regularly linked on IMDb and I’d get some traffic and even comments. I average about a comment — maybe two — a year now as has been the case for many years. (This blog is just over 17 years old. It’ll be graduating from high school in year. Wow!) But as I was saying I make a point — against all reason — to keep this damn thing a going concern. You’re welcome. I wanted to have a post here in the first few days of June better to maintain my pace of about seven posts a month. I managed ten last month when we were traveling because I always post during my trips as if anyone gives two shits. The problem is that I’m busy right now preparing a talk I’m giving on Saturday June 14 at the West Berkeley Public Library. It’s about when Berkeley was Finntown. I gave an abbreviated version of the talk at the Finnish Hall at a Finnish Independence Day gathering a couple of years ago. That talk was just under 20 minutes. I’m supposed to ramble on for close to an hour at the library gig. To those who are even worse at math than I am that’s three times as long. Therefore I’ve had to do a lot of research then piece it all together. Not so easy and it’s consuming my “writing time.” I don't even have time to work on one of my many unpublished novels. 

So now I’m writing this about how I don’t have time to write this very post or anything else because of the speech. Existential. I’d started to write about the Alfred Hitchcock film, Notorious which I watched yesterday. I’ve written about the picture before as it’s well worth writing about. Here’s as far as I got: "He just walks her down the stairs. Yes, he supposedly has a gun in his pocket but there’s no daring escape, no shooting, no karate chops. Damn if he doesn’t just take her and leave, daring the villains to intercede. It’s the closing scene, the climax and it’s bloody brilliant. Not just a little bit nerve-wracking but audacious both in what it shows and that the screenwriter and director made that choice. You make Notorious today and there’s a goddamned blood-spattered shoot out at the end with bodies everywhere. Notorious is a spy film without a single visible weapon. It’s a fascinating film on so many different levels. One is the relationship between co-stars Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. It’s passionate, it’s tortured. Grant’s Devlin...."

As you can see it would have been interesting. Maybe I’ll get around to finishing it someday soon. Maybe not. Ya never know.

You may be wondering — as I have — why I’m putting some much time and energy into a talk at the library that may only draw five people (I don’t know, maybe I’ll get thirty. Like I said in the previous paragraph, ya never know). First of all they asked me and I said yes. I didn’t see anyway in the world that I could say no. Do I really need to explain that? It just seemed like something that was pretty straight forward. Someone asks you to do something and you’re one of a few people who could do it — hell, maybe you’re the only person who could do it — you oblige them. Especially when you think you can do it well. Also they’re paying me for it and it’s a pretty tidy sum for a one-hour talk though given how much work I have to put into it they’re getting me cheap.

It’ll go well, people who attend will be happy with it and I’ll feel good when it’s over. It’s like a friend of mine said when people asked him why he ran: “because it feels so good when I stop.” So, yeah, it’ll feel good when I finish.

(Then again I could bomb, feel terrible and the library might feel ill-used. Ya never know.)

Hey looky here I wrote close to 800 words. That’s legitimate blog post numbers and then some. Mission accomplished.

Blog post cranked out. Now if I could just find someone to read the damn thing....

Back by Popular Demand It's Films I've Watched Lately Some of Which I Loved Greatly

Walkabout

Moonstruck (1987) Jewison. Cher was brilliant and Olympia Dukakis top notch. But the rest of the cast — oh my —- talk about overacting. Director Norman Jewison tended to get broad performances in his films in this is a classic example. It’s amazing that Cher was so wonderfully restrained and I suppose if you care about Oscars, here's was well-earned. But Moonstruck is more notable for slapstick sitcom level acting from the likes of Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia and Julie Bavasso. A different director could have taken the same script and made a more realistic, more believable and more compelling film. Jewison’s version felt like a case of a lot of people trying too hard. As love stories go it's terribly unconvincing. This was my first viewing since the film came out. It’ll be my last.

His Girl Friday (1940) Hawks. My favorite film. Period. It’s perfect. It’s hilarious. It’s smart. It’s innovative. It’s got some points to make (about politics and the press). It’s as perfectly-paced a movie as has ever been made. It’s got Cary Grant in one of his greatest performances (along with Mr. Lucky, Notorious and Talk of the Town). Rosalind Russell was far from the first choice to play Hildy, indeed they’d gone through most of the women in actor’s equity before “settling for” Mr. Russell. They couldn’t have done better. (That’s the kind of luck you need to make something this good.) As always in pictures from Hollywood’s Golden Age the supporting cast is crucial and here they came through with flying colors. I especially take notice of the cynical, world-weary newsmen played by Regis Toomey, Porter Hall, Frank Jenks and Roscoe Karns. And Billy Gilbert deserves plaudits for stealing his two scenes as the governor’s messenger, Joe Pettibone. His Girl Friday is like the Beatles, everything came together at the right time and right place and you can’t imagine it being any better.

The Magnificent Seven (1960) J. Sturges. Not really so magnificent. Of course I loved it when I was kid, the presence of Steve McQueen was enough to make to great picture in my mind. It was based on Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai which is to say it was re-imaging a classic. But it was ultimately a poor imitation. It would have been infinitely better if the Mexican villagers were allowed to speak Spanish, I mean beyond an occasional señor and gracias. All but one of those characters were cardboard cutouts. And speaking of one-dimensional characters, there were Eli Wallach and the the rest of the bandits. They were about as menacing as Yosemite Sam. And why is that the bad guys in movies back then happily ran towards gun fire? Even McQueen couldn’t save this picture. For one thing this was not the Mr. Cool we later got to know in movies such as The Great Escape and Bullit. Yul Bryner, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn and Charles Bronson were all wasted by a script that allowed for no real character development.  

Stardust Memories (1980) Allen. One of Woody’s best which is saying a lot in itself. I have no idea how many times I’ve watched the film since I saw it in Boston upon its original release. But I do know that I’ve enjoyed every viewing. I recall that some critics were miffed by how it seemingly poking fun at them. Evidence of their own thin skins and an ability to dish it out but not take it. Woody was clearly having fun spoofing everyone including himself. No one would make such a film who didn’t deep down appreciate his fans. No one would make such a film who was not introspective and thoughtful. No one would make such a film who wasn’t a comic genius. 

Walkabout (1971) Roeg. I’ve been watching Australian films on the Criterion Collection lately and though there’ve been a few misses, I’ve discovered several classic such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, My Brilliant Career and this film. Director Nicolas Roeg didn’t make much and even less that I’ve enjoyed but my goodness he hit it out of the ballpark with this look at a young brother and sister stranded in the Australian outback, ultimately finding a teenaged aborigine to guide them. It’s as beautifully shot a film as you’ll ever see and a masterclass in direction (how is it that Roeg didn’t do this more often?). It's meditative, original and a wonderful commentary on how modern culture isn't necessarily the best culture.

Action in the North Atlantic (1943) Lawson. Of course I like this picture. It honors the merchant marines serving in World War II. Though he later joined the army, my father was a merchant marine serving in World War II. He was at the helm of a ship that was torpedoed in the Arabian Sea by a Japanese submarine. So North Atlantic honors men like my dad who risked their lives to transport goods and weapons to the allies during the war. North Atlantic is — especially for a film of its era — a realistic account of what it was like to navigate seas swarming with enemy submarines. The cast is led by Humphrey Bogart and that’s a great start right there. Raymond Massey and regular supporting players like Alan Hale, Dane Clark and Sam Levene also feature. This film is one of many made during the war that was designed as war time propaganda. Like some it managed to both rally the Homefront and tell a rollicking good story.

It's Time Again for Films I've Watched Lately Some of Which I've Liked Greatly

A Complete Unknown

A Complete Unknown (2024) Mangold. Hollywood very much likes it biopics. Musicians are a frequent subject and so who better than one of the most important of all time, Bob Dylan? Naturally there’s a tremendous burden on the lead in any biopic, especially when playing such a familiar figure as Dylan. Fortunately Timothée Chalamet is more than up to the task. His performance is matched by Edward Norton as Pete Seeger and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. The film plays fast and loose with a few facts but they tend to be the kind of arcana that only true Dylan devotees would notice. A Complete Unknown traces Dylan from his early days in New York to his achieving super stardom then turning much of his audience against him by going electric (some people needed to get over themselves). It seems the biopic, for reasons I can’t put my finger on, have certain limitations, you’re never going to see one that is a great film but most are going to be pretty good. A Complete Unknown is very good. The cast sees to that as does director James Mangold who similarly did good work with another musical biopic, Walk the Line. It’s a film that never lags and broadens the viewer’s understanding and even appreciation of Dylan.

Holiday (1938) Cukor. One of my favorite films of all time. No idea how many times I’ve seen it but I could watch it again tonight. Of course the focus is typically on the two leads, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn who shine. But the more I watch Holiday the more I’m impressed by Lew Ayres who is positively brilliant as the lush, Ned Seaton. Playing a drunk is never as easy as it seems but Ayres was pitch perfect. Ned is trapped. He wanted to be a musician but father has him working at the bank, and staying until six even though there’s nothing to do after three, “as an example to the other employees.” Ned bristles but hasn’t the gumption to defy his over-bearing father. He can only find solace in drink. When his older sister flees the family to be with her new love she invites Ned to come along. He wants to. But he…just…can’t. Maybe someday. Sis promises to come back for him. We hope she does and we hope he gets out and we hope he stops drinking. Ned brings a profundity to Holiday that lifts the film above most comedies of the era.  

The Skeleton Twins (2014) Johnson. I love Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. If I were to make a list of the ten greatest all-time cast members on SNL — hang on, if I made a list of the FIVE greatest all time cast members on SNL, they’d be on it. It’s only natural that they should excel in moving pictures as well as sketch comedy and this film proves it. You’d expect a lot of laughs with this pairing (Luke Wilson also features) and you do get a fair share but this more drama then comedy. You kind of get a clue at the beginning of the picture as both leads are contemplating or trying to commit suicide. Wiig and Hader play twins who’ve not seen each other in years but get together to rekindle their sibling love and to find comfort in an uncomfortable world. I think Skeleton Twins is vastly underrated. It’s unflinching in its look at family dynamics, depression and how sex used to soothe can often create terrible complications. 

Song of the Thin Man (1947) Buzzell. Nick and Nora Charles (and you too, Asta) should have quit while you were ahead. The original Thin Man film was a classic and the first four sequels were all perfectly fine, but the fifth was a stinker. Myrna Loy, who played Nora and should know, hated it. It’s not worth summarizing but it is well worth avoiding as you  should do if planning a Thin Man marathon. 

Ball of Fire (1941) Hawks. A warm and fuzzy screwball comedy with a menacing gangster. Any film written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Barbara Stanwyck is a guaranteed winner (this is the only one). Stanwyck is the wonderfully named Sugarpuss O’Shea, a gangster’s girl and a nightclub singer/dancer. To avoid a subpoena she hides out with eight single man who have been living in a large house for nine years writing an encyclopedia. They’re all older gents except for Gary Cooper. In spite of themselves the mismatched pair — Sugarpuss and Cooper’s Bertram Potts — fall in love. Complications ensue as they do in films. It’s an absolute delight from beginning to end with a wonderful supporting cast including S.Z. Sakall, Henry Travers, Leonid Kinskey and Allen Jenkins. Dana Andrews is wonderful as the heavy.

Nickel Boys (2024) Ross. A great story from a novel by Colson Whiteside has here been overly stylized by a director drawing more attention to himself than the motion picture. Hand held shaky cams, characters constantly talking into the camera, intercuts of all variety including several of alligators (?) and one of horse in an office for reasons unknown, blurry images, forced perspectives. Shots from bizarre angles. It's an often vertiginous viewing experience. A good story should tell itself with the director supplementing normal story-telling with OCCASIONAL flourishes that emphasizes and underscore. I understand that RaMell Ross was trying to create an immersive experience, but he needs to tone it down a notch. I’m surprised that so many critics are abetting his self indulgence. He’s clearly a great talent but his style here tested my patience.

It's Time Once Again For....Movies I've Watched Lately A Few of Which I Liked Greatly

Cary Grant and Leslie Caron in Father Goose

Father Goose (1958) Nelson. I recorded this on TCM with some trepidation. I might have seen this when I was a kid but I remembered nothing about it other than it starred Cary Grant and Leslie Caron, was set during World War II on a tropical island. Would this be another of those dumb comedies from the early Sixties that were barely funny then and as dull as corduroy now? Nope. What a delight! This was Grant’s penultimate film in perhaps Hollywood's most storied film career. He turned mediocre films into good ones and good ones into great ones and great ones into classics. Father Goose is no classic but by the grace of Grant it is a thoroughly entertaining one hundred and fifty-eight minutes of cinema. It’s so much fun to see the suave and debonair Grant (the man knew how to wear a suit) playing a gruff, unshaven, sloppy beach bum turned hero. Grant plays a former history professor who wants to wile away his life on his boat but the war has gotten in the way and he’s enlisted to be an observer for the army. He does this reluctantly and even more reluctantly he rescues a woman (Caron) and the seven girls she’s in charge of. The rest is predicable such as the two principals bickering constantly then falling in love. Nonetheless it’s great fun. Everything from script to supporting characters to editing is fine, but Grant is magnificent.

Didi (2024) Wang. In the theaters now. Set and filmed in Fremont, California, it is the story of fourteen-year old Taiwanese-American lad struggling with adolescence, his family, his friends and romance. It’s a fraught age for most. Sometimes “being ethnic” complicates matters. You’re straddling being a typical American boy and being a proud member of your distinct immigrant group. A different culture and a different language are at home. You walk out the door and your like apple pie. I grew up Finnish, American and Finnish-American (yes, they’re three distinct things). I could also relate to the title character because his family was not perfectly functional, adding another layer of complication to a life. Didi is not the first film to take on a young teen’s coming of age story but it is one of the better iterations of the genre. It’s honest story-telling. Young Isaac Wang — fifteen during filming — is a budding talent who, like an experienced thespian, does  a lot of acting with his eyes which are wonderfully expressive. Often raw and uncomfortable complete with drugs, profanity and scatological references aplenty. It’s set in the summer of 2008 so social media adds another element to the young man’s story. An excellent new film.

The Last Picture Show (1971) Bogdanovich. My top 100 films list is fluid. As evidence I recently moved this masterpiece from Peter Bogdanovich into the number four spot. There’s not a false note in it. There is no better telling of small town America. It is a riveting examination of the quiet lives of desperation that so many people live, have lived, will live. There are few escapes from the drudgery, the pain, the emptiness of the small rural town that supposedly composes the heartland and the values of “real Americans.” Out of high school you can get married. That’s something to do, that’s taking a kind of control over your life. That’s adding company to your misery. That the marriage has little chance of true happiness, that it’s too early, that it’s ill-conceived is not understood. You can join the military. It’s a way to escape. You’re paid, fed, housed, perhaps taught a trade or set up for college or perhaps you lose a body part or are traumatized or pay the “ultimate sacrifice.” If you’re bold you can go off to college. And maybe you won’t come back. The Last Picture show is a snapshot of a dying town. It focuses on a group of teens graduating from high school. But we meet other members of the community. They lie, they cheat, the have affairs, but they also offer wisdom and solace and protection for the young, if not for one another. Brilliant performances highlight the film including Oscar winning turns by Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman. The star-studded cast also includes Cybill Shepard, Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottom, Sam Bottoms, Ellen Burstyn, Club Galager and Eileen Brennan.

From The Searchers

The Searchers (1956) Ford. Another film in my top ten. John Ford’s best which is saying something in itself. As exquisitely shot as any picture ever made. Ford’s mastery as a director was never more evident. The framing of shots, notably the opening and closing of the film, are masterful. You can't tell a good story on film without someone who knows where and how to point the camera. This often entails both a great director and cinema photographer like the duo of Ingmar Bergman and Sven Nykvist or Orson Welles and Gregg Toland or Woody Allen and Gordon Willis or John Ford and Winton C. Hoch. The Searchers is more than just great film to look at. The odious John Wayne was at his best as the racist Ethan Edwards who along with his not nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) pursues the kidnapped young girl Debbie (Natalie Wood). It’s a powerful story with solid performances all around and it’s one helluva fine movie to look at.

Double Wedding (1937) Thorpe. It’s easy to make a silly movie. It’s especially easy to make a silly movie that’s also just plain stupid. But making a silly movie that’s genuinely funny is a tough ask. Double Wedding manages to pull of this rare feat. Of course having William Powell and Myrna Loy — the best man/woman screen pairing from Hollywood’s Golden Age, or any age for that matter — as your stars makes the task a lot easier. Like Grant in Father Goose, Powell is playing against type. We’re once again used to a suave and sophisticated performance — with heavy dashes of wit. But here Powell as an artist and bohemian who lives in a trailer. He’s fine in the role, thank you. Loy is sterner and more serious than usual and it’s no surprise that Powell’s character pulls her out of her shell.  The plot takes twists and turns yet manages to be predictable and yet loads of fun. 

A Place in the Sun (1951) Stevens. Meh. I suppose in 1951 when it was released and for a decade or so after A Place in the Sun was seen as an important message picture (there were a lot of those in the Fifties and most didn’t age well). Montgomery Clift, the delicious Elizabeth Taylor and Shelly Winters are the stars and all turn in admirable performances. Raymond Burr — pre Perry Mason — is over the top as the prosecutor. I’d imagine most people know this story of an ambitious young man who gets his break and starts to climb the social ladder. He climbs away from the nice girl he was with (Winters) and finds a beautiful young  socialite (Taylor) that any man would salivate over. Problem is girl number one is pregnant. Is murder afoot? There’s a bit of drama to the story but the ending is a massive letdown in too many ways to recount especially as doing so would contain major spoilers. Some people still extoll the film but I can’t imagine why. It's point --- whatever it was -- is lost on me.

One of the Great Three-Year Spans of American Films, 1939-1941 is Here Explored

Foreign Correspondent 

I’ve gone on long and loud about how I believe the 1970s were the best decade in movie-making.  Recently I wrote a post naming my ten favorite years in films. Six of those years were in the seventies, including the top three. Based on the list it’s easy to surmise that my favorite three-year stretch of films was from 1973-1975. But what about outside of the seventies? Was there a three-year span of motions pictures that approaches what came out is the seventies? 

Yes.

The period immediately before U.S. entry into World War II, 1939-1941. I came up with thirty films that I love from those three years including some of my all-time favorites such as His Girl Friday, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Grapes of Wrath, Sullivans Travels and Foreign Correspondent. Of the thirty films, John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock directed four and Preston Sturges three,  two apiece were by Howard Hawks, Frank Capra and Ernest Lubitsch. Among lead actors Jimmy Stewart led the way appearing in four of the films. Cary Grant was in three, as were Barbara Stanwyck  and Henry Fonda. Supporting player Thomas Mitchell was also in three and Ward Bond in four (Bond, Mitchell, William Demarest Pat Flaherty and John Qualen between them showed up in pretty much every movie made between 1932 and 1958, more on them and other frequent supporting players in a future post). So some of Hollywood's great directors and stars were then at their peak. Indeed there were some sparkling performances such as Stewart in MSGTW, Bette Davis in The Letter, Stanwyck in The Lady Eve and Meet John Doe, Fonda and Jane Darwell in Grapes of Wrath, James Cagney in the Roaring Twenties, Mitchell in Stagecoach and Grant in Suspicion. 

It was also a revolutionary time for camera positioning, shooting angles and lighting. Stagecoach really set the tone and Welles really ran with it in Citizen Kane. But Capra did some nice work with Meet John Doe as did Hitchcock in Foreign Correspondent and Suspicion and Ford again in Grapes of Wrath. They were directors ahead of there times.

Twelve of the films were comedies, many of the screwball variety. Those three years saw the end of peak screwball era. Even one of Hitchcock's entries (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) was a screwball comedy -- the only one he made. It was also the rebirth of the western with Ford's Stagecoach. There were powerful statement/political films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Grapes of Wrath, Citizen Kane and Meet John Doe. The coming war and the horrors of Nazism were touched upon in The Long Voyage Home, Foreign Correspondent, and with a light touch in The Great Dictator but none of them were out and out war pictures. Those came in spades during and immediately after the war. There was a hint of film noir from The Maltese Falcon, a genre which would see its heyday following the war. For better or worse The Roaring Twenties is the only gangster picture in the lot.

If it not for Hitler and Tojo perhaps that amazing run would have continued. While Hollywood still churned out some excellent films during the war, many of the best directors were off making propaganda films for the government (and some damn good ones at that). Ford, Capra, John Huston, William Wyler and George Stevens most prominent among them. (The five and their war work are subjects of an excellent book by Mark Harris called Five Came Back which I’m just now reading.) The twenty or so years after the war ended saw nothing to compare what was produced between '39 and '41, at least not out of Hollywood.

That same time period saw a proliferation of great foreign films from the likes of Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni, Kurosawa, Truffaut, Rossellini, De Sica, Kalatozov, Ichikawa, Buñuel and Ray but from the U.S. not so much.

Here are my top ten films from 1939-1941 followed by other great films from those years.

MY TOP TEN FILMS FROM 1939-1941

His Girl Friday (1940) Hawks

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Capra

The Grapes of Wrath  (1940) Ford

Foreign Correspondent (1940) Hitchcock 

Sullivan’s Travels (1941) Sturges

Stagecoach (1939) Ford

Citizen Kane (1941) Welles

The Lady Eve (1941) Sturges

The Maltese Falcon (1941) Huston

The Long Voyage Home (1940) Ford

OTHER FAVORITES SORTED BY YEAR

Also from 1939: The Roaring Twenties (Walsh), The Great Man Votes (Kanin), Midnight (Leisen), Young Mr. Lincoln (Ford), Ninotchka (Lubitsch), Destry Rides Again (Marshall).

Also from 1940: The Philadelphia Story (Cukor), The Great Dictator (Chaplin), The Great McGinty (Sturges), The Letter (Wyler), Rebecca (Hitchcock), The Shop Around the Corner (Lubitsch).

Also From 1941: Meet John Doe (Capra), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (Hall), Suspicion (Hitchcock), Ball of Fire (Hawks), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Hitchcock).