MC Yearly Consensus - 1942

[Spinal]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the voting is closed, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB Power Search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Derek]

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
2. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
3. To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch)
4. The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges)
5. Saboteur (Alfred Hitchcock)

HMs: Bambi (David Hand)
The Leopard Man (Jacques Tourneur)
Cat People (Jaques Tourneur)
Not a fan: Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz), Talk of the Town (George Stevens)

[Grouchy]

1. Casablanca
2. The Magnificent Ambersons
3. Cat People

[monolith94]

1. This Gun For Hire
2. Cat People
3. Casablanca
4. The Leopard Man

[The Mike]

1. Casablanca
2. To Be or Not to Be
3. I Married a Witch
4. The Palm Beach Story
5. The Cat People

HM: This Gun for Hire, Saboteur

[Russ]

1. Casablanca
2. The Palm Beach Story
3. This Gun for Hire
4. Bambi
5. The Talk of the Town

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. To be or Not to Be
2. Casablanca
3. The Magnificent Ambersons
4. The Palm Beach Story
5. Cat People

6. Bambi
7. Went the Day Well
8. This Gun for Hire
9. Now, Voyager
10. Saboteur

[soitgoes...]

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
2. To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch)
3. The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges)
4. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur)
5. The Battle of Midway (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-254996800597949827&hl=en) (John Ford)
---------------------------------------------------
6. In Which We Serve (Noel Coward, David Lean)
7. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
8. There Was a Father (Yasujiro Ozu)
9. Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler)

[soitgoes...]

World War II definitely hurt cinema this year.

[origami_mustache]

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
2. The Palm Beach Story
3. The Magnificent Ambersons
4. Bambi
5. Yankee Doodle Dandy

[baby doll]

1. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
2. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur)
3. To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch)

Casablanca would probably be two or three but clearly it doesn't need the points.

[baby doll]

World War II definitely hurt cinema this year.But apparently it didn't hurt cinema in 1939 (Only Angels Have Wings, La Règle du jeu), 1940 (The Great Dictator, His Girl Friday, The Shop Around the Corner), 1941 (Citizen Kane, The Lady Eve, The Little Foxes), 1943 (Le Corbeau, Day of Wrath, Hangmen Also Die!, Heaven Can Wait, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Seventh Victim, Shadow of a Doubt), 1944 (Ivan the Terrible Part 1, Laura, To Have and Have Not) or 1945 (Detour, Fallen Angel).

[baby doll]

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
2. The Palm Beach Story
3. The Magnificent Ambersons
4. Bambi
5. Yankee Doodle DandyMaybe I'm reading too much into this, but why did you put Curtiz's name in brackets and not Sturges or Welles?

[baby doll]

8. This Gun for HireI forgot about this one, no doubt because it's director doesn't have a reputation as an auteur.

Sweded:

1. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
2. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur)
3. To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch)
4. This Gun for Hire (Frank Tuttle)

[Yxklyx]

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
2. The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges)
3. This Gun For Hire (Frank Tuttle)
4. Mrs. Miniver (William Wyler)
5. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur)

6. Bambi (David Hand)
7. To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch)
8. Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper)
9. Went the Day Well? (Alberto Cavalcanti)
10. Saboteur (Alfred Hitchcock)

[Teh Sausage]

01. Casablanca
02. The Magnificent Ambersons
03. Bambi

Not a fan of Saboteur or Now, Voyager. Still need to see Cat People.

[Yxklyx]

But apparently it didn't hurt cinema in 1939 ..,

Well the war started in the Fall of that year and these films were probably filmed early in '39 or in '38 even.

[Yxklyx]

...
4. The Leopard Man

this one's '43.

[Raiders]

1. To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
2. Cat People (Tourneur)
3. The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles)
4. Casablanca (Curtiz)
5. The Major and the Minor (Wilder)

-------------------------------------

6. Kings Row (Wood)
7. This Gun for Hire (Tuttle)

[Boner M]

1. Cat People
2. Casablanca
3. The Magnificent Ambersons
4. The Palm Beach Story

[soitgoes...]

But apparently it didn't hurt cinema in 1939 (Only Angels Have Wings, La Règle du jeu), 1940 (The Great Dictator, His Girl Friday, The Shop Around the Corner), 1941 (Citizen Kane, The Lady Eve, The Little Foxes), 1943 (Le Corbeau, Day of Wrath, Hangmen Also Die!, Heaven Can Wait, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Seventh Victim, Shadow of a Doubt), 1944 (Ivan the Terrible Part 1, Laura, To Have and Have Not) or 1945 (Detour, Fallen Angel).So by listing 2 films for 1939, 3 for 1940, 3 for 1941, 9 for 1943, 3 for 1944 and 2 for 1945 you proved what exactly? That world cinema was able to produce at least 22 films in those 6 years? Of those only 5 were made outside the US?

I would say that WWII did indeed hurt cinema in all those years excepting maybe 1939, as war wasn't declared until September of that year, and the only countries truly affected by out-and-out combat were Poland, Germany, USSR and Finland, and to a lesser extent Japan and China, until April the following year.

France's contributions to cinema after its capitulation are almost negligible. British cinema went all patriotic, and outside of Lean and P&P there wasn't much else of value. German cinema consists of Titanic and Munchausen. Soviet cinema is Ivan. Japan had a few contributions, mostly before their outright attack on the Pacific theater in Dec. 1941. Italian cinema was basically a non-entity (Ossessione excepted) until their capitulation in 1944. It was basically the United Sates, especially in 1942 when everything was most in doubt. Look at what films populate our lists. Almost entirely American. Having one country producing pretty much the entirety of cinema made in the world does constitute a weak year, even if one of those films is considered to be the best all-time by many.

[Pop Trash]

So by listing 2 films for 1939, 3 for 1940, 3 for 1941, 9 for 1943, 3 for 1944 and 2 for 1945 you proved what exactly? That world cinema was able to produce at least 22 films in those 6 years? Of those only 5 were made outside the US?

I would say that WWII did indeed hurt cinema in all those years excepting maybe 1939, as war wasn't declared until September of that year, and the only countries truly affected by out-and-out combat were Poland, Germany, USSR and Finland, and to a lesser extent Japan and China, until April the following year.

France's contributions to cinema after its capitulation are almost negligible. British cinema went all patriotic, and outside of Lean and P&P there wasn't much else of value. German cinema consists of Titanic and Munchausen. Soviet cinema is Ivan. Japan had a few contributions, mostly before their outright attack on the Pacific theater in Dec. 1941. Italian cinema was basically a non-entity (Ossessione excepted) until their capitulation in 1944. It was basically the United Sates, especially in 1942 when everything was most in doubt. Look at what films populate our lists. Almost entirely American. Having one country producing pretty much the entirety of cinema made in the world does constitute a weak year, even if one of those films is considered to be the best all-time by many.

Rep. I totally agree. There is a reason why world cinema picked up post war. Of course the Germans never really got back on their cinematic feet until the 70s.

[baby doll]

So by listing 2 films for 1939, 3 for 1940, 3 for 1941, 9 for 1943, 3 for 1944 and 2 for 1945 you proved what exactly? That world cinema was able to produce at least 22 films in those 6 years? Of those only 5 were made outside the US?

I would say that WWII did indeed hurt cinema in all those years excepting maybe 1939, as war wasn't declared until September of that year, and the only countries truly affected by out-and-out combat were Poland, Germany, USSR and Finland, and to a lesser extent Japan and China, until April the following year.

France's contributions to cinema after its capitulation are almost negligible. British cinema went all patriotic, and outside of Lean and P&P there wasn't much else of value. German cinema consists of Titanic and Munchausen. Soviet cinema is Ivan. Japan had a few contributions, mostly before their outright attack on the Pacific theater in Dec. 1941. Italian cinema was basically a non-entity (Ossessione excepted) until their capitulation in 1944. It was basically the United Sates, especially in 1942 when everything was most in doubt. Look at what films populate our lists. Almost entirely American. Having one country producing pretty much the entirety of cinema made in the world does constitute a weak year, even if one of those films is considered to be the best all-time by many.I think you're being very general. Looking at 1943, it's every bit as impressive as 1955, 1967 or 1972. Like Britain, America "went all patriotic" and produced Hangmen Also Die! and Shadow of a Doubt, both films with clear war-time implications, as well as Heaven Can Wait, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man and The Seventh Victim, which don't function as propoganda. The last three were all produced by Val Lewton for RKO, and the success he had during this period has little if anything to do with World War II. Returning to the Brits, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (by far the most impressive of all Michael Powell's films, with or without Emeric Pressburger) was intended as propoganda. And Le Corbeau and Day of Wrath were both made in Nazi-occupied countries. If my favorites are slanted towards American product, so would my favorite films of 1955, another amazing year.

[balmakboor]

For additional consideration: I just watched Now, Voyager and it's a pretty terrific and very interesting film. Glances at the lists so far, I haven't really seen all that much from 1942.

[Grouchy]

I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man and The Seventh Victim, which don't function as propoganda. The last three were all produced by Val Lewton for RKO, and the success he had during this period has little if anything to do with World War II.
The success of Horror movies has nothing to do with war?

Think again.

[soitgoes...]

I think you're being very general. Looking at 1943, it's every bit as impressive as 1955, 1967 or 1972. Like Britain, America "went all patriotic" and produced Hangmen Also Die! and Shadow of a Doubt, both films with clear war-time implications, as well as Heaven Can Wait, I Walked With a Zombie, The Leopard Man and The Seventh Victim, which don't function as propoganda. The last three were all produced by Val Lewton for RKO, and the success he had during this period has little if anything to do with World War II. Returning to the Brits, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (by far the most impressive of all Michael Powell's films, with or without Emeric Pressburger) was intended as propoganda. And Le Corbeau and Day of Wrath were both made in Nazi-occupied countries. If my favorites are slanted towards American product, so would my favorite films of 1955, another amazing year.And I think you're being a bit subjective. I never said good or even great films weren't produced during this period. I said it was weakened due to the war. Which it was. Film production was down in pretty much every country except the US. I can't argue with you if you think the above films are better than a year that produced Rififi, Pather Panchali, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, Floating Clouds, Kiss Me Deadly, To Catch a Thief, Diabolique, Ordet, All That Heaven Allows, Death of a Cyclist, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Night of the Hunter, Bob le flambeur, as well as the ultimate in Chuck Jones' shorts One Froggy Evening. Not to mention Kurosawa's I Live in Fear, a couple minor Mizoguchi films, Nicholas Ray, the first of Wajda's trilogy, Olivier, and Resnais' short. Even if you haven't seen those films or don't like them, the 1955 list screams diversity. It even has films by Clouzot and Dreyer which are generally considered to be better, in Clouzot's case, or at least equal to, in Dreyer's than in 1943.

Again, I don't mean to short change the quality of films in the early 40's. I'm just trying to convey that - in my eyes - there are fewer of them, because there is a smaller pool of films to draw from, especially outside of Hollywood. There is no way to objectively state whether one year is better than another. It's all subjective. The only facts that can be proved are that there was a decrease in global film production during 1941 and 1945, and this can be directly attributed to World War II. This allowed a rise in Hollywood production, many were low budget B-films (Lewton included), in an attempt to fill the vacuum created by war elsewhere.

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. Casablanca
2. To Be or Not to Be
3. The Magnificent Ambersons
4. Talk of the Town
5. Donald's Snow Fight

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Casablanca
2. To Be or Not to Be
3. Palm Beach Story
4. The Major and the Minor
5. The Magnificent Ambersons

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Casablanca
2. Bambi
3. The Magnificent Ambersons
4. The Talk of the Town
5. To Be Or Not To Be

1942 suuucks. It represents everything I hate about this era of cinema.

[baby doll]

The success of Horror movies has nothing to do with war?

Think again.Yeah, yeah, and comic book movies are popular because of 9/11. Personally, I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to Zeitgeist explanations. If Cat People was popular because of the war, why was The Seventh Victim a flop?

[Grouchy]

Yeah, yeah, and comic book movies are popular because of 9/11. Personally, I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to Zeitgeist explanations. If Cat People was popular because of the war, why was The Seventh Victim a flop?
Huh... for the same reason that some movies flop, and others are popular? Like, I don't know, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight, just to keep your superhero comparison?

Personally, you can be a bit of a skeptic about whatever the fuck you want, of course, that's your privilege. But there is no denying every genre fulfills a need. Particularly Horror - the best scary movies are the ones that find good metaphors for human fears. Is it a coincidence that America produced scary sci-fi during the nuclear scare of the '50s? Or that Westerns lost their popularity during the '70s, when American cinema challenged conservative values? Or that, during that same era, some of the most well known Horror movies about Satan were made? Maybe it had something to do with the Manson murders, the search for alternative religion and Led Zeppelin records being played backwards?

I'm just going out on a limb here.

[baby doll]

Huh... for the same reason that some movies flop, and others are popular? Like, I don't know, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight, just to keep your superhero comparison?

Personally, you can be a bit of a skeptic about whatever the fuck you want, of course, that's your privilege. But there is no denying every genre fulfills a need. Particularly Horror - the best scary movies are the ones that find good metaphors for human fears. Is it a coincidence that America produced scary sci-fi during the nuclear scare of the '50s? Or that Westerns lost their popularity during the '70s, when American cinema challenged conservative values? Or that, during that same era, some of the most well known Horror movies about Satan were made? Maybe it had something to do with the Manson murders, the search for alternative religion and Led Zeppelin records being played backwards?

I'm just going out on a limb here.Well, Rosemary's Baby came out before the Manson murders, and it's about Satan and made a huge pile of cash for Paramount. It would be silly to say that everyone who went to see it was growing their hair long and dropping acid. After all, there were only so many hippies: Nixon got elected in '68 and was re-elected in '72. John Wayne made True Grit as late as 1969. I don't think zeitgeist explantations are sufficient to explain why, for instance, The Dark Knight was so successful when the first X-Men movie came out in the summer of 2000.

[Grouchy]

Well, Rosemary's Baby came out before the Manson murders, and it's about Satan and made a huge pile of cash for Paramount. It would be silly to say that everyone who went to see it was growing their hair long and dropping acid. After all, there were only so many hippies: Nixon got elected in '68 and was re-elected in '72. John Wayne made True Grit as late as 1969. I don't think zeitgeist explantations are sufficient to explain why, for instance, The Dark Knight was so successful when the first X-Men movie came out in the summer of 2000.
Yeah, ok, this is not rocket science. Angel Heart was made in 1987 and Batman in 1989. Regarding the superhero movies, though, the X-Men are not the most patriotic of heroes. Spiderman 2 and The Dark Knight, on the other hand, have 9/11 connections which have been discussed by critics many times.

But what I want to know is, do you deny there's a connection between what audiences want to see and the atmosphere of the times they live in? By following your line of reasoning, then any movie could have been made at any time and art has no relation with history.

[thefourthwall]

1. The Magnificent Ambersons
2. Casablanca
3. Bambi

[baby doll]

Yeah, ok, this is not rocket science. Angel Heart was made in 1987 and Batman in 1989. Regarding the superhero movies, though, the X-Men are not the most patriotic of heroes. Spiderman 2 and The Dark Knight, on the other hand, have 9/11 connections which have been discussed by critics many times.

But what I want to know is, do you deny there's a connection between what audiences want to see and the atmosphere of the times they live in? By following your line of reasoning, then any movie could have been made at any time and art has no relation with history.In the case of The Dark Knight, the filmmakers drop in references to the war on terrorism (i.e., the Joker executes one wouldbe vigillante on tape recalling the Daniel Pearle video, which I found to be in poor taste), but I don't think that accounts for why people have responded to it in the way they have. Maybe a little bit but it's obviously far more complex than that. I just went because there was nothing better playing at the multiplex that week.

[Grouchy]

In the case of The Dark Knight, the filmmakers drop in references to the war on terrorism (i.e., the Joker executes one wouldbe vigillante on tape recalling the Daniel Pearle video, which I found to be in poor taste), but I don't think that accounts for why people have responded to it in the way they have. Maybe a little bit but it's obviously far more complex than that. I just went because there was nothing better playing at the multiplex that week.
But what I want to know is, do you deny there's a connection between what audiences want to see and the atmosphere of the times they live in? By following your line of reasoning, then any movie could have been made at any time and art has no relation with history.

[dreamdead]

1. Casablanca
2. The Magnificent Ambersons
3. Bambi
4. To Be or Not To Be

[baby doll]

But what I want to know is, do you deny there's a connection between what audiences want to see and the atmosphere of the times they live in? By following your line of reasoning, then any movie could have been made at any time and art has no relation with history.I think the films themselves have an ideological bent. Casablanca has an obvious war-time message, but that doesn't account for its enduring popularity sixty-five years later.

[Grouchy]

I think the films themselves have an ideological bent. Casablanca has an obvious war-time message, but that doesn't account for its enduring popularity sixty-five years later.
Jesus, it's like talking to fish.

[Spinal]

Last day.

[Spinal]

Well, as of right now, this is looking to be a top 7 or 8. That might be what we're stuck with, but I'm going to leave it open a little while longer to see if we can get some more votes.

[Spinal]

1. Casablanca
2.
3.
4. Yankee Doodle Dandy
5. Porky's Cafe

[soitgoes...]

Well, as of right now, this is looking to be a top 7 or 8. That might be what we're stuck with, but I'm going to leave it open a little while longer to see if we can get some more votes.But it's such a deep year. /sarcasm

[Duncan]

Guess I forgot to vote in this one.

1. Casablanca
2.
3.
4. To Be or Not to Be
5. Bambi

[Spinal]

OK, now let's have someone vote for films that aren't on the list already. :)

[MadMan]

OK, now let's have someone vote for films that aren't on the list already. :)I'm guessing that Cat People, Casablanca, and Bambi are already on people's lists. I've also seen from this year Reap the Wild Wind, but that film is decent at best and I'm not a fan of it. That's all I've seen from 1942. So I'm of no assistance. My apologies.

[The Mike]

I'm a little sad no one else is lovin' on I Married a Witch. It's Veronica Lake, people!

[Philosophe_rouge]

I'm a little sad no one else is lovin' on I Married a Witch. It's Veronica Lake, people!
I haven't seen it, I can't seem to get a decent copy anywhere. I ADORE Lake and March :(

[soitgoes...]

I'm a little sad no one else is lovin' on I Married a Witch. It's Veronica Lake, people!I thought it was okay, but it was pretty forgettable. One thing I do remember is how short Veronica Lake is. She was tiny.

[Russ]

I'm a little sad no one else is lovin' on I Married a Witch. It's Veronica Lake, people!
Love the Lake. Not too keen on Witch, however. Kovacs was awesome, tho.

[MadMan]

I'm a little sad no one else is lovin' on I Married a Witch. It's Veronica Lake, people!I've never heard of it, or Veronica Lake. I should check it out sometime.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I've never heard of it, or Veronica Lake. I should check it out sometime.

Aren't you the L.A. Confidential fan? If so, you've heard of Veronica Lake if you were paying attention to the film.

[Duncan]

OK, now let's have someone vote for films that aren't on the list already. :)

Nobody do it! It's a trick.

[Spinal]

So that's how it's going to be, eh? All right. Your top 8 coming up shortly.

[Spinal]

#8

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/talkofthetownColmanGrantArthur .jpg

The Talk of the Town

Director: George Stevens

Country: USA

When an accused arsonist escapes jail, he hides out in the attic of an old friend and sweetheart's home. She happens to be renting a farmhouse to a Supreme Court candidate, so the next day, she introduces her friend as the gardener.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography (Black/White), but won none. Lloyd Bridges' tiny uncredited role was one of 20 film appearances he made in 1942 alone.

"This is a great film, but it's infinitely more interesting because of what I see as a strong homosexual subtext ... when Lightcap decides to shave off his beard so that he can seduce Regina Bush — a most awkward and chaste seduction — Tilney weeps as if his heart were breaking. Because his employer is shaving? Or because he thinks his lover is switching sides?" - Michael W. Phillips Jr.

[The Mike]

I need to finally watch my copy of Talk of the Town. Grant and Stevens can't be a bad thing.

[Spinal]

#7

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/thisgunforhire.jpg

This Gun for Hire

Director: Frank Tuttle

Country: USA

A hit man kills a blackmailer and is paid off in "hot" money. Meanwhile, a pert entertainer and girlfriend of the local police lieutenant (who's after the hit man) is enlisted by a Senate committee. The hit man and the entertainer meet on the train and their relationship gradually into an uneasy alliance against a common enemy.

Based on the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene. The movie's poster (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/thisgun.jpg) was named as #17 of The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever by Premiere. The producers used the following tagline when marketing the film: "He's dynamite with a gun or a girl."

"One shudders to think of the career which Paramount must have in mind for Alan Ladd, a new actor, after witnessing the young gentleman's debut ... Obviously, they have tagged him to be the toughest monkey loose on the screen. For not since Jimmy Cagney massaged Mae Clarke's face with a grapefruit has a grim desperado gunned his way into cinema ranks with such violence as does Mr. Ladd in this fast and exciting melodrama" - Bosley Crowther (1942)

[Spinal]

#6

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/bambi29.jpg

Bambi

Director: David Hand

Country: USA

The story of a young deer hailed as the 'Prince of the Forest' at his birth. As Bambi grows, he makes friends with the other animals of the forest, learns the skills needed to survive, and even finds love. One day, however, the hunters come ...

Nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Original Song, Best Original Score and Best Sound, Recording. This was Walt Disney's favorite film. The movie lost money at the box office for the first run, but began to recoup its considerable cost during the 1947 re-release.

"The Whitmanesque sampling of sugar-glazed skies, butter-crème flower-petals, and jawbreaker-eyed woodland eunuchs all serve a common purpose: to defer to Disney's idealized primer on instinctual reproduction without sexuality, or, as the 'wise' owl calls it, 'twitterpat': another chalk mark in the column of infantilism. In other words, Bambi the neuter (a male character who has unsurprisingly inspired precisely no proud parents to name their male children after him) is merely the most prominent example of Walt Disney explaining to kids 'you and me baby ain't nothing but mammals, so do it like they don't on the Disney Channel.'" - Eric Henderson

[Winston*]

I think Eric Henderson should probably stop reviewing Disney movies.

[Spinal]

#4 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/catpeople3.jpg

Cat People

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Country: USA

When a naval construction designer sees a Serbian born beauty at a zoo, he flirts with her, and soon they fall in love and marry. Complications arise because she believes she is the victim of an ancient Serbian curse that causes her to turn into a panther if a man tries to make love to her.

The film was in theaters for so long that critics who had originally bashed the film were able to see it again and many rewrote their reviews with a more positive spin. Because of the incredibly tight budget, sets from Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons were re-used.

"The film suggests much but shows little, leaving its monster in the shadows, and letting the question of whether there's even a monster at all hang in the air. The horror is fueled by sexual frustration, repressed passion, and the everyday anxieties of marriage and urban life, and it plays out in a noir-lit New York filled with everyday people. No fan of gothic castles, [producer Val] Lewton brought horror home with Cat People." - Keith Phipps

[Spinal]

I think Eric Henderson should probably stop reviewing Disney movies.

I'm tempted to change my user name to Bambi the Neuter.

[Spinal]

#4 (tie)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/ColbertZipper.jpg

The Palm Beach Story

Director: Preston Sturges

Country: USA

An inventor needs cash to develop his big idea. His wife, who loves him, decides to raise it for him by divorcing him and marrying a millionaire.

The initial inspiration for The Palm Beach Story may have come to Preston Sturges from close to home. His ex-wife, Eleanor Hutton, was an heiress who moved among the European aristocracy, and was once wooed by Prince Jerome Rospigliosi-Gioeni, among others. One incident in the film is based on something which happened to Sturges and his mother while traveling by train to Paris - when the car with their compartment was unhitched while they were eating dinner two cars away.

"Forget the plot and smile and laugh with the outrageous script ... the set piece on the train with the Ale and Quail Club is just bliss. Lots of eccentric characters and fantastic word play makes another gem from Master Sturges." - Andy McKeague

[Philosophe_rouge]

I love all the films so far, EXCEPT Talk of the Town. I really don't like that film.

[Spinal]

#3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/tobeornottobe-lubitsch.jpg

To Be or Not to Be

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Country: USA

In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors match wits with the Nazis. A spy has information which would be very damaging to the Polish resistance and they must prevent it from being delivered to the Germans.

Earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. When Jack Benny's father went to see the movie, he was outraged at the sight of his son in a Nazi uniform in the first scene and stormed out of the theater. After Carole Lombard's death in a plane crash, the line "What can happen in a plane?" was deleted from the film.

"To say it is callous and macabre is understating the case. Perhaps there are plenty of persons who can overlook the locale ... Those patrons will certainly relish the burlesque bravado of this film ... But it is hard to imagine how any one can take, without batting an eye, a shattering air raid upon Warsaw right after a sequence of farce or the spectacle of Mr. Benny playing a comedy scene with a Gestapo corpse. Mr. Lubitsch had an odd sense of humor — and a tangled script — when he made this film." - Bosley Crowther (1942)

[Philosophe_rouge]

On some days To Be or Not to Be is my favourite film, so I heartily approve of it's high placement.

[Spinal]

#2

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The Magnificent Ambersons

Director: Orson Welles

Country: USA

The young, handsome, but somewhat wild Eugene wants to marry Isabel, the daughter of a rich upper-class family. Instead she marries dull and steady Wilbur. Years later, Eugene comes back, now a mature widower and a successful automobile maker. After Wilbur dies, Eugene again asks Isabel to marry him. But her son resents the attentions paid to his mother.

Nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Agnes Moorehead). Moorehead was named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle. RKO chopped 50 minutes of the film and added a happy ending while Orson Welles was out of the country. The footage was subsequently destroyed; the only record of the removed scenes is the cutting continuity transcript. Welles later described the 88 minute version as if "it had been edited by a lawnmower".

"... even still, The Magnificent Ambersons is a pretty sensational movie. The film language is more fluid and adept than Kane's, the expressionist lighting is more rigorously modulated. The astonishingly choreographed Christmas ball that serves to introduce the major characters is arguably the greatest set piece of Welles's career. The highly rehearsed ensemble ... is sensational. " - J. Hoberman

[The Mike]

Glad to see the love for Palm Beach Story and To Be or Not to Be. Two of the last great rom coms.

[Spinal]

#1

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Casablanca

Director: Michael Curtiz

Country: USA

Rick Blaine, who owns a nightclub in Casablanca, discovers his old flame Ilsa is in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo. Laszlo is a Resistance leader, and with Germans on his tail, Ilsa knows Rick can help them get out of the country - but will he?

Won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Nominated for five others including Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart), Best Supporting Actor (Claude Rains) and Best Editing. Captain Renault's line, "You like war. I like women," was changed from "You enjoy war. I enjoy women," in order to meet decency standards. In 2006, the screenplay was named the best of all time by the Writers Guild of America.

"Seeing the film over and over again, year after year, I find it never grows over-familiar. It plays like a favorite musical album; the more I know it, the more I like it. The black-and-white cinematography has not aged as color would. The dialogue is so spare and cynical it has not grown old-fashioned. Much of the emotional effect of Casablanca is achieved by indirection; as we leave the theater, we are absolutely convinced that the only thing keeping the world from going crazy is that the problems of three little people do after all amount to more than a hill of beans." - Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

1. Casablanca (88.5)
2. The Magnificent Ambersons (49.5)
3. To Be or Not to Be (41.5)
4t. The Palm Beach Story (31)
4t. Cat People (31)
6. Bambi (23)
7. This Gun for Hire (15)
8. The Talk of the Town (8.5)

[Philosophe_rouge]

This is the first year I've seen all the films that made the list, I feel so accomplished.