20 Great Years of Movies, Part 20: 1957

1. 12 Angry Men (director: Sidney Lumet): Another great adaptation of a TV film, this one starring Henry Fonda. It's a pretty simple idea - 12 jurors get into a debate about the case they've been asked to provide a recommendation for. Slowly, one man changes the minds of the rest of the jury. It's also fascinating as a crime story which is told out-of-sequence as details about the murder being tried are only revealed as jurors mention them.
2. Paths of Glory (director: Stanley Kubrick): A film as rough and challenging as the original book. This is Kubrick's great World War I picture about three French soldiers who are chosen to be killed in order to set an example; Kirk Douglas plays the officer who tries to defend those men, but the system is more cynical than he imagined.
3. The One That Got Away (director: Roy Ward Baker): I'm really into this under-appreciated gem - the true story of a German pilot who repeatedly escaped the Allies and finally got back to Germany. It's an interesting companion piece to Paul Brickhill (The Great Escape)'s stories about various British pilots' escapes from the Germans.
4. Throne of Blood (director: Akira Kurosawa): This is Kurosawa's amazing version of Macbeth adapted to the culture of feudal Japan. It's a real trip, especially if you love Macbeth. Kurosawa would revisit Shakespeare later in his career and it was a win every time.
5. Witness for the Prosecution (director: Billy Wilder): A really fun adaptation of Agatha Christie's play with Charles Laughton as a defense lawyer; the film changed the ending (that often happened to Christie, it seems), but it's still a great mystery film.
6. The Bridge on the River Kwai (director: David Lean): Once you've finished Paths of Glory, how about another "feel-good" war picture? This one famously concerns British POWs who build a bridge for their Japanese captors, apparently oblivious to how they've become collaborators.
7. Sweet Smell of Success (director: Alexander Mackendrick): I've heard this film called a companion to The Bad and the Beautiful; whatever, they're both fine films about horrible men. This concerns Burt Lancaster as a newspaper columnist who seems to enjoy making Tony Curtis squirm as Curtis tries to curry his favour. It's very different from the other films on this year's list and well worth seeking out.
8. Old Yeller (director: Robert Stevenson): The childhood classic about a boy and his dog (most notorious for its climax). This film didn't register as strongly with me as it seems to have with others, but it's a very good children's film.
9. Night of the Demon (director: Jacques Tourneur): Tourneur ought to be a great adaptor of M. R. James' horror fiction which are about unseen menace; after all, he pioneered unseen menace with Cat People. Yet this film breaks from the original story by showing you the demon in all his glory. I should be upset, but dang it, that demon is instantly memorable.
10. The Devil Strikes at Night (director: Robert Siodmak): And here's a German film which is hard to get with English subtitles. This one is about a serial killer on the loose in Nazi Germany. The killer keeps getting away because the Nazi's are unwilling to admit to the public that serial killers exist in their "perfect" society. A very fascinating subject and a different kind of look at Nazi culture.

And with that, the lists are done. Thank you for following this series of posts, I hope I shed some light on under-appreciated films.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 19: 1956

1. The Wrong Man (director: Alfred Hitchcock): An oddity for Hitchcock, this film relates a true story and as such, it's not as neat as most of his films - the resolution is not tidy as although the protagonist clears his name, his life is in shambles. It's a different take on the "wrong man" theme which Hitchcock had visited so often. In the 1930s, it seemed like the worst thing that could happen to you would be to be chased by the police. In the 1950s, the worst thing is being judged by your peers.
2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (director: Don Siegel): This is one of the best Cold War science fiction thrillers; the concept of extraterrestrials replacing people is done in terrifying fashion. A great picture.
3. The Killing (director: Stanley Kubrick): Kubrick's first great movie, the story of a heist; like all heist films, it doesn't go according to plan. This one stands apart thanks to superb craft employed in putting it together.
4. Patterns (director: Fielder Cook): Like Marty, a television film which was remade for cinemas. This one concerns the heartless nature of business - of the ruthless ways in which loyal employees are cast aside in the name of progress.
5. The Ten Commandments (director: Cecil B. DeMille): One of the be-all-to-end-all Biblical epics with Charlton Heston as Moses. It's as overblown as anything DeMille ever made, but this is the one time I actually like DeMille's work; it seems to me that if you're going to tell the story of Moses, you pretty much do have to go ridiculously big.
6. Reach for the Sky (director: Lewis Gilbert): A fine adaptation of the true story of a pilot who lost both of his legs but through determination got himself back into the pilot's seat when World War II broke out. This film doesn't capture everything that I liked about Paul Brickhill's book but it's mighty good.
7. The King and I (director: Walter Lang): A fine family musical with some very catchy tunes; this was a childhood favourite of mine.
8. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (director: Fritz Lang): This is an unusual film which is in some ways reminiscent of Lang's Fury. A reporter wants to prove a point about the legal system by framing himself for a murder. His problems multiply when the man who was supposed to clear his name dies in an accident. (contrast against The Wrong Man)
9. The Harder They Fall (director: Mark Robson): Another good boxing movie, this one featuring Humphrey Bogart's final role. Bogart plays a promoter who exploits his boxer but his conscience gnaws at him.
10. While the City Sleeps (director: Fritz Lang): Wow, I really do like Fritz Lang's 1950s output! Somewhat similar to The Blue Gardenia, this concerns a newspaper office which tries to draw out a serial killer with seemingly little regard for the lives in danger.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 18: 1955

1. Les diaboliques (director: Henri-Georges Clouzot): The movie that outdid Hitchcock; you may not have seen this (after all, it's French) but I strongly suggest you give it a chance. A man is targeted for murder by his wife and his mistress, but in the fallout this thriller starts to creep into the horror genre!
2. Bad Day at Black Rock (director: John Sturges): This is a kind of contemporary western in which a one-armed man goes to a small town to find the father of a soldier who saved his life - but everyone in the town is extremely hostile to him and unwilling to aid in his mission. Much like a standard western film, it's one righteous man against a town!
3. The Ladykillers (director: Alexander Mackendrick): Another very fine Ealing Studios black comedy, this being the great film about a team of crooks living as boarders to a sweet old lady but find themselves divided when their success means her death.
4. The Court Jester (director: Melvin Frank): I believe this is the last comedy to appear in this series of lists. This one is a particular favourite of my brother - I think at one point he would test potential friends by showing them this movie and seeing if they liked it. It's certainly Danny Kaye at his utmost! It's zany and very funny.
5. The Night of the Hunter (director: Charles Laughton): A very offbeat film - so offbeat that it feels timeless. It's the story of two children who are terrorized by an insane preacher (Robert Mitchum) who pursues them through the southern USA. It has the feeling of a somewhat-askew fairy tale.
6. Pete Kelly's Blues (director: Jack Webb): Adapted from Webb's short-lived radio series, this is a great jazz picture with Webb as horn blower Pete Kelly brushing up against the mob during the days of prohibition. A great jazz score and some nice camerawork helps this movie stand out.
7. Marty (director: Delbert Mann): Adapted from a TV movie, this is a thoughtful film about two average people who fall in love. It suceeds thanks to the well-written and well-performed characters - it really showed a way forward for movies that focused on everyday relationships.
8. The Dam Busters (director: Michael Anderson): A very good adaptation of the true story of the development of the bouncing bomb, used by the British to destroy German dams. It's rare to see a World War II film that is about the development of new technology and the trial & error involved and that helps this film stand out from many similar pictures.
9. The Prisoner (director: Peter Glenville): An unsettling film in which a communist dictatorship attempts to break a Catholic cardinal (Alec Guinness). It is not a pleasant journey, but Guinness is compelling throughout the film.
10. Land of the Pharaohs (director: Howard Hawks): This doesn't really feel like a Howard Hawks movie, but it's interesting to see him attempt a film on the scale of a Biblical epic. This one concerns the story of building the pyramids and it's a pretty entertaining fiction (also Joan Collins in vamp mode does not hurt).

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 17: 1954

1. Rear Window (director: Alfred Hitchcock): Cornell Woolrich's story of a man who discovers his neighbour has committed a murder is given a slightly sleazy treatment by Mr. Hitchcock, who certainly seemed to love bringing out the voyeurism of the scenario. But it's such a great idea for a thriller (no wonder it's been ripped-off so many times). James Stewart is in fine shape, Raymond Burr is a very effective villain and I have seen people genuinely awestruck by Grace Kelly.
2. The Seven Samurai (director: Akira Kurosawa): A long but always captivating story - you probably know it: villagers face ruin at the hands of organized bandits; seven ragtag samurai agree to defend them. It's a very human story - neither the samurai nor the villagers are saints, but they are underdogs so you do root for them.
3. On the Waterfront (director: Elia Kazan): With A Streetcar Named Desire, one of those transformative 1950s pictures with Marlon Brando (and Karl Malden). This one is by far my favourite of the two, with Brando as a dockworker whose conscience gradually causes him to rise up against corruption.
4. Sabrina (director: Billy Wilder): Again, it's wild that Humphrey Bogart spent the last few years of his career as a romantic icon. Here he was opposite Audrey Hepburn which should not be credible but, gosh dang it, Bogart is so likeable that he succeeds.
5. Dial M for Murder (director: Alfred Hitchcock): This film is a bit stagier than Hitchcock normally was but it's a great thriller - the scene of the attempted murderer's attack is realized perfectly. It's a very satisfying thriller.
6. White Christmas (director: Michael Curtiz): This an extremely light and fluffy movie but it's one of my family's favourite Christmas films. Most of the songs are catchy (though I think "It's not my watch you're holding, it's my heart" is a lousy lyric) and Danny Kaye is always fun.
7. The Caine Mutiny (director: Edward Dmytryk): An interesting film that didn't entirely come together for me, but Bogart appears in the crucial role of a captain who might be out-of-line (prompting said mutiny). Bogart's breakdown in the climax handily stops the show.
8. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (director: Richard Fleischer): A great Disney version of the Jules Verne novel with strong special effects, particularly the nightmarish giant squid.
9. Father Brown (director: Robert Hamer): A pretty good adaptation of G. K. Chesterton's character, although it makes him a bit more physical and less cerebral. Still, Alec Guinness is a lot of fun as Father Brown and there's enough Chesterton to make me smile.
10. Them! (director: Gordon Douglas): There were a lot of movies about giant creatures going on a rampage but Them! is the one I'm most fond of. Here, the adversaries are giant ants, rendered using giant puppets. I'm sure it's campy to most, but I think this movie pulls it off.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 16: 1953

1. The Big Heat (director: Fritz Lang): A phenomenal film noir proving Lang was still on his game - in this film, Gloria Grahame easily overshadowed the rest of the cast with her performance as a disfigured gangster's gal who decides to help the law bring her boyfriend down. To look at recent video releases you'd have almost no idea Glenn Ford is the star of this film - pretty much all the box covers feature Gloria front and center.
2. Angel Face (director: Otto Preminger): Yes, I have a lot of noir on these lists; in my defense, most of the best movies in this period were noir. This one frequently ties with Out of the Past (also starring Robert Mitchum) as noirest of the noirs. It has what must surely be the most in-your-face nihilism of any noir. I'm impressed at how destructive this story is.
3. Roman Holiday (director: William Wyler): At the other end of the scale, a very memorable and charming romantic comedy about a member of royalty who tries to live like a commoner and unexpectedly finds love. It's simply charming.
4. The Band Wagon (director: Vincente Minnelli): So here's an interesting Fred Astaire musical - it has a lot of interesting numbers, particularly the dance sequence inspired by Mickey Spillane's dime novels. That scene alone makes this a departure from any other musical and therefore worth seeking out.
5. Peter Pan (director: Jack Kinney): It's a pity that this film was so racist in regards to Indigenous peoples, because it does have plenty of other great things going for it - fun songs and memorable character designs. If you can get past the racism, it's a quality kids' flick.
6. The Blue Gardenia (director: Fritz Lang): Another great noir from Lang about a woman on the rebound who takes a date with a stranger; the next day, the stranger is dead. A well-meaning reporter joins the hunt for the killer.
7. The Wages of Fear (director: Henri-Georges Clouzot): One of those films I was used to hearing about in hushed tones but no one ever seemed to describe. It turns out it's a thriller about four men transporting volatile cargo across a very rocky road and how it tests each man's strength of will. Quite a good film (the remake, Sorcerer, is an interesting odd duck too).
8. The War of the Worlds (director: Byron Haskin): Aw man, did I love this film as a kid! The Martian machines, although little like those of H. G. Well's novel, were instantly iconic and the Martians themselves really freaked me out. One of the best 1950s science fiction movies.
9. The Robe (director: Henry Koster): This was the film which kicked off the era of Biblical epics (also ridiculously large aspect ratios). It's an interesting premise: whatever happened to the Roman who won Jesus' robe while gambling over his possessions? This, to me, is one of the best of the 50s Biblical epics.
10. House of Wax (director: André De Toth): A fun horror remake of Murders in the Wax Museum with Vincent Price as the villain. I saw this before the remake and I think the reveal of the villain's true condition lands perfectly in each of them!

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 15: 1952

1. Ikiru (director: Akira Kurosawa): I think I mentioned at the outset that I'm game for sentimentality; at the same time, I can abide with cynical works as the many examples of film noir I've listed will testify. I suppose this film is a middle ground between the two - it has sentiment and cynicism living side-by-side. It has cynical figures who can't see the world beyond the tip of their nose and an aching sentimentality for life, for meaning, for sacrifice. I love this little film.
2. High Noon (director: Fred Zinnemann): One of the few westerns to rank high with me - it is considered one of the greatest as a sheriff looks for help in facing a band of killers -- but no one is willing to take a stand. Considering what was going on around this movie - the "Red Scare" - it's themes are all the more biting.
3. The Bad and the Beautiful (director: Vincente Minnelli): Another Hollywood insider-type film in the spirit of Sunset Blvd. This one concerns a filmmaker who became a legend but didn't mind stepping on his collaborators along the way. It's an interesting ensemble piece, although Kirk Douglas' leading role really takes the cake!
4. The Holly and the Ivy (director: George More O'Ferrall): As the son of a pastor I probably enjoy this far more than most - it's a British drama about a pastor's family gathering at the holidays as all their interpersonal drama comes out in a confrontation.
5. O. Henry's Full House (director: Jean Negulesco): An anthology which adapts many of O. Henry's best known stories such as "The Ransom of Red Chief" and "The Gift of the Magi." It's a neat little movie if you like O. Henry (I really do).
6. Ivanhoe (director: Richard Thorpe): A decent adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel; it's a fun adventurous movie, although I think it was later surpassed by the 1982 television version.
7. Limelight (director: Charles Chaplin): Chaplin's last great film, a drama in which he portrays a has-been who sees an opportunity to inspire a young woman and give her a chance at stardom. A very fine sentimental drama.
8. Singin' in the Rain (director: Gene Kelly): I'm not as into this movie as some and as a silent film buff I kind of resent how its version of silent film history has supplanted the much more interesting true history, but heck, I ain't made of stone -- this film is a ton of fun with great songs, great dancing and great jokes.
9. Beware, My Lovely (director: Harry Horner): Our favourite creep Robert Ryan plays a hired hand who is on the verge of a violent breakdown. It's adapted from an episode of the radio series Suspense ("To Find Help") which I like a lot more than this film, but this is an interesting gem worth reappraising.
10. Androcles and the Lion (director: Chester Erskine): An amusing adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play about Christians being thrown to the lions, with Alan Young as the titular Androcles, who just happens to be the lion's BFF.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 14: 1951

1. Scrooge (director: Brian Desmond Hurst): This phenomenal adaptation of A Christmas Carol simply obliterates the need to bother with any other adaptation. This is definitive and a staple of my Christmas - a perfect film.
2. Strangers on a Train (director: Alfred Hitchcock): One of Hitchcock's best, the famous story of two men who "swap murders." Or rather, one man decides that what they've decided to do, does his part then insists his "ally" follow suit. The protagonist is a lot more likeable here than he was in the book, but he has some interesting flaws which add to the drama - though the antagonist is the most meaty part in the film by far!
3. The African Queen (director: John Huston): A great romantic comedy and wartime drama with Bogart and Hepburn filmed in the actual Congo. It's amazing that at this point in his career, Bogart had basically become Clark Gable -- that is, a credible romantic lead, a tough guy with some hidden softness. Quite a feat!
4. The Lavender Hill Mob (director: Charles Crichton): Another great Ealing Studios comedy, featuring gold thieves who try to smuggle the gold in the form of souvenir statuettes, which tunrns out to be a bad idea!
5. On Dangerous Ground (director: Nicholas Ray): An interesting noir which quickly steps away from the city and into the country, which is not the usual setting for such stories. It concerns a cop chasing a criminal into the snowy wilderness; and since the cop is Robert Ryan, you know he's not a clean-cut hero. If you think all noir is the same, give this one a try.
6. Der Verlorene (director: Peter Lorre): AKA "The Lost One" this is the movie Peter Lorre went back to Germany to make, but by the time he got it into cinemas he found out audiences were basically tired of feeling bad about World War II. Lorre is terrific in this film as a scientist whose conscience is tormented over what did for the Nazis, but as far as I know it has no official subtitled release - I got my copy bootleg.
7. The Man in the White Suit (director: Alexander Mackendrick): A brilliant Ealing Studios comedy with Alec Guinness as the inventor of a suit which cannot become dirty -- and all the forces who want to prohibit his product from being released.
8. The Day the Earth Stood Still (director: Robert Wise): This film did a lot to set the tone for science fiction of the 1950s. It's mostly remembered for the robot Gort, but the film's message of peace is still a worthy one and was a bit against the grain of its time. It's better than most 1950s science fiction, largely due to Robert Wise.
9. Native Son (director: Pierre Chenal): This film was so hard to make at the time that it was done in Argentina; it also stars the book's author Richard Wright in the lead role, who does well for a non-actor. It's a tough movie and one can see how, say, rape, racism and dismemberment might not be what US studios wanted to produce.
10. A Streetcar Named Desire (director: Elia Kazan): One of the definitive 1950s drama films, the movies where interpersonal drama and method acting gave a different sort of energy than the "classic" Hollywood pictures. The film holds up - it's not really one of my favourite but I admire the craft that went into it.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 13: 1950

1. Gun Crazy (director: Joseph H. Lewis): This film is not quite as unconventional as the short story it's based upon, but it's an interesting look at a Bonnie and Clyde-type couple whose mutual love of gunplay seems to naturally segue into a career in crime. The bank heist scene is a terrific single-shot sequence.
2. Rashomon (director: Akira Kurosawa): This is one of those movies you have see if only to be able to understand all the references made throughout culture ("Oh, it's like Rashomon..."). A man is dead; both of the witnesses testify and even the dead man testifies through witchcraft - but not only do none of the stories quite agree on what transpired, each implicates themselves more than any of the others. If you want a good conversation starter, this is your film.
3. Sunset Blvd. (director: Billy Wilder): This film has become so celebrated and ingrained in popular culture that although you might know about this film, you might not be aware how controversial it was on its release and how many Hollywood big shots despised this film for its unsentimental look at their business. So that alone should tell that yes, this film has some bite, it's become a nostlagic film but in its time it was anti-nostalgia.
4. In a Lonely Place (director: Nicholas Ray): Another noir that doesn't hit as hard as the original book, but this is a tough film and not as well known as most of Bogart's output from the time. It's a tough role as Bogart has to play a protagonist with some personal demons who is pretty much an anti-hero. Oh yeah, he might also be a serial killer. Even softened from the book, it's still not exactly a conventional Hollywood story.
5. Night and the City (director: Jules Dassin): A fascinating noir with Richard Widmark as an American heel in London trying to play a fast game against his creditors by investing in a wrestling scheme, but his house of cards collapses spectacularly in the climax.
6. No Way Out (director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz): Not as tough about race relations as two movies I highlighted from the previous year (Intruder in the Dust and Home of the Brave) but this was considered a tough film in its time with Richard Widmark as a racist piece of trash and Sidney Poitier as the noble physician who proves himself the better man.
7. Harvey (director: Henry Koster): An amusing light-hearted fantasy about a man who claims he's accompanied by an invisible friend named Harvey - who is a giant rabbit. It's quite fun.
8. Cinderella (director: Clyde Geronimi): A very good Disney film with memorable songs and strong animation.
9. Born Yesterday (director: George Cukor): A lightweight but fun movie about a streetwise woman receiving Pygmalion-style education (also a bit of Ball of Fire thrown in). It's won over primarily because Judy Holliday had a one-of-a-kind delivery and made her character the reason to see the movie.
10. House by the River (director: Fritz Lang): A very good thriller about a man who commits murder then gets his brother to help him cover it up, resulting in tensions which continue to simmer as the brother finds himself a suspect in the crime.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 12: 1949

1. The Third Man (director: Carol Reed): This is my all-time favourite motion picture. The plunk of Anton Karas' zither music enhances the film's off-kilter look at post-war Vienna. Joseph Cotten as the American who stumbles around trying to find solutions as though life were as rote as a pulp novel is an amazing deconstruction. It's carefully made, tells a bold story and is immensely quotable.
2. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (director: Jack Kinney): Here's an oddball pairing - an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Both are rather charming, although the latter delves into some of Disney's best animated horror when the Headless Horseman appears. I'm very fond of them, odd couple and all.
3. Intruder in the Dust (director: Clarence Brown): An unusual film for its time and not very well-known, but considering the subject matter really ought to be. A black man has been arrested for murder; a white teenager is certain he's innocent and wants to help him, but the black man is much too proud to accept - or believe in - help from an outsider. An early sign that Hollywood was capable of getting into stories about racism against blacks.
4. Home of the Brave (director: Mark Robson): Like Intruder in the Dust. an early film about racism but not quite at the same level. This one is from the perspective of a black soldier who experiences racism in the service... or does he? It's much more concerned with the psychology than the other film but its conclusions don't hold up as well.
5. The Inspector General (director: Henry Koster): A silly and very fun Danny Kaye film in which he's mistaken for a high official. This was the first Danny Kaye film I saw as a child and it made a big impression. You need to have a heart for goofy humour to enjoy his films but if you do, they hold up at any age.
6. Kind Hearts and Coronets (director: Robert Hamer): A fun black comedy with an ambitious heir killing all of the relatives standing in his way - and all the relations portrayed by Alec Guinness (including the women). This is one of the movies that defined the style associated with Ealing Studios.
7. The Reckless Moment (director: Max Ophüls): Sort of an interesting companion to Mildred Pierce; a mother covers up a murder, thinking she's protecting her daughter. Then a blackmailer shows up but is so likeable he almost seems charitable.
8. The Window (director: Ted Tetzlaff): Compare to the previous year's Fallen Idol (and look ahead to Rear Window by the same author, Cornell Woolrich). A little boy witnesses a murder; the problem is, he's considered a notorious tatttletale and can't make adults believe his story, while meanwhile the killers are closing in!
9. The Accused (director: William Dieterle): An unusual noir; a college professor is almost raped by one of her students and, defending herself, kills him. The investigation leads the detectives directly to her, yet she is incredibly capable of bluffing through their methods.
10. The Set-Up (director: Robert Wise): Like many boxing films, this concerns a boxer who refuses to play along with the mob; unlike most boxing films, the bulk of the drama is concerned with what happens afterwards as the boxer tries to evade the coming retribution. A really solid film.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 11: 1948

1. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (director: John Huston): A simply marvelous film about the power of greed; this is simply a one-of-a-kind movie and one of Bogart's most fascinating characters as he changes from relatable to deplorable.
2. Rope (director: Alfred Hitchcock): I like this film a lot more than many, I think - I think it's one of Hitchcock's finest, but others just can't get past the gimmick. The gimmick - that the movie attempts to look as though it were filmed in a single take - is what I love about the film. I love the tricks Hitchcock used to disguise his edits, I love the way the camera moves around the set. It's great achievement in film.
3. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (director: H.C. Potter): A very amusing comedy about home ownership and all the headaches associated from it, particularly the sense that your money is being pilfered by everyone with an angle.
4. The Fallen Idol (director: Carol Reed): A very interesting picture about a boy who thinks he's witnessed a murder committed by a man he admires and isn't sure how to react.
5. The Big Clock (director: John Farrow): A very strong thriller where a man is charged with finding a supposed murderer by his employer, but unknown to the employer, the protagonist is the man he's seeking, which creates an awesome dilemma.
6. Key Largo (director: John Huston): Claire Trevor received an Oscar for her supporting role as an alcoholic gun moll and he really was brilliant, but boy, Bogart and Robinson were not exactly sleepwalking - this is great film, easily Robinson's last great gangster picture.
7. The Snake Pit (director: Anatole Litvak): An interesting look at mental illness as a woman gradually recovers from her issues; it's certainly not what would be considered proper in this day, but I give this movie a lot of credit for at least showing that recovery is a lengthy process with ups and downs.
8. Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (director: Charles Barton): Man, I loved Abbott & Costello as a child - and this was my introduction to them. Yet I approached this like a horror movie - I was genuinely afraid of the Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster & Dracula. So, props to Universal for making the horror scenes land.
9. Oliver Twist (director: David Lean): A very good adaptation of Dickens' novel, although the filmed musical has really eclipsed this film in the public. Alec Guinness is quite the standout as Fagin but the film has a lot more going for it with some moody cinematography in the opener that beats anything found in Wuthering Heights!
10. Portrait of Jennie (director: William Dieterle): David O. Selznick really believed in this movie and I'm not quite sure why... but it's an interesting premise about a painter who keeps meeting the same woman but she's grown older at each point in time. An unusual romantic fantasy.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 10: 1947

1. Miracle on 34th Street (director: George Seaton): This is a holiday favourite in my family, although not one I grew up with as a child. Edmund Gwenn is simply perfect as Santa claus and the film is a welcome antidote to cynicism.
2. The Lady from Shanghai (director: Orson Welles): Speaking of cynicism, here's Welles' great noir thriller where he's a pawn between a deceitful couple. The hall of mirrors sequence on its own is a must-see.
3. The Bishop's Wife (director: Henry Koster): Another holiday favourite of my family with the story of a bishop who asks God for help and is a little perturbed when it's answered by an angel who seems all-too-eager to interfere in the bishop's affairs.
4. Crossfire (director: Edward Dmytryk): Here's one that could use a little more attention. It's not quite as tough as the original novel - which tackled homophobia instead of anti-semitism - but this story, about an ex-GI who murders a man, is a very strong noir. Robert Ryan makes a terrific louse, which he would continue to do for pretty much the rest of his career.
5. Out of the Past (director: Jacques Tourneur): When it comes to noir, this is one of the films you're obligated to mention - Robert Mitchum's first great noir role which follows pretty much all the "rules" of noir (to the extent that something as amorphous as noir has rules). It has the femme fatale, it has the USA's dirty underbelly and it has a downbeat ending. If you like noir, you've probably already seen this one.
6. Odd Man Out (director: Carol Reed): This film is, er, odd. James Mason plays an Irish terrorist who is abandoned by his comrades after being wounded and left wandering through Northern Ireland, encountering a motley crew of folk who each seem to be projecting their own attitudes upon him.
7. Boomerang! (director: Elia Kazan): An interesting noir with a slight touch of The Ox-Bow Incident on it as a man is arrested for murder while a mob eagerly awaits his death, but he might not be the actual killer.
8. Dark Passage (director: Delmer Daves): There was interest in shooting films from a first-person perspective around this time (see The Lady in the Lake) and the opening of this film which is shot from the perspective of Bogart's character is the most interesting part - it feels much more modern than the rest. The rest is a pretty good thriller, but once Bogar's face finally appears on screen it becomes a little more predictable.
9. Body and Soul (director: Robert Rossen): An interesting John Garfield movie where he played a boxer who becomes entrapped by his new lifestyle and unable to comprehend how success has cost him his soul.
10. Brute Force (director: Jules Dassin): If you want an ugly, downer of a film, check this out. Burt Lancaster and others plot a prison break from a facility overseen by a tyrant played by (believe it or not) Hume Cronyn. The chaos of the prison break feels like the most violent spectacle in film up to that year!

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 9: 1946

1. It's a Wonderful Life (director: Frank Capra): This film looms large in my family, where it's one of the few movies we try to watch together every Christmas. I appreciate that James Stewart's character is presented with admirable traits and a few flaws The film's fundamental message of how one person's life can affect so many others is expressed perfectly.
2. The Best Years of Our Lives (director: William Wyler): This is the filim which ensured It's a Wonderful Life would be a flop, but it's an immensely worthy film as well. The examination of veterans trying to adjust to the end of the war is deftly handled but it was the decision to cast an actual amputee as an amputee which really helps this film stand out. Utterly engrossing.
3. Notorious (director: Alfred Hitchcock): A terrific Hitchcock thriller with Ingrid Bergman as a woman who goes undercover to ferret out escaped Nazis and the cruel lengths the caddish Cary Grant is willing to push her to get what he needs.
4. The Killers (director: Robert Siodmak): An excellent crime film starting from the opening assassination scene, continuing through the many flashbacks, and then picking up speed near the end when the titular characters suddenly return.
5. The Postman Always Rings Twice (director: Tay Garnett): Another great James M. Cain title. Like Double Indemnity it concerns a wife plotting to kill her husband with her lover and all the ways in which it goes wrong.
6. The Spiral Staircase (director: Robert Siodmak): This gothic thriller feels like it was made to exploit Dorothy McGuire as the mute servant - but boy, it's a huge improvement over the original book! A murderer is loose and it seems to be someone inside the home with the titular staircase. It plays out very neatly.
7. The Stranger (director: Orson Welles): A pretty good film with Welles as a Nazi war criminal trying to keep a low profile in a small town and Edward G. Robinson as the detective who figures him out.
8. The Big Sleep (director: Howard Hawks): The plot of this film becomes so murky that I lose track of what exactly one scene had to do with its predecessor, but this Philip Marlowe story is acted out with such compelling performances by Bogart and Lauren Bacall that it doesn't really matter.
9. Black Angel (director: Roy William Neill): A very good adaptation of the Cornell Woolrich novel with some interesting changes. A woman wants to clear her husband of a murder charge. The dead woman's husband eventually volunteers to help find the killer.
10. Green for Danger (director: Sidney Gilliat): A great murder mystery surrounding a death in a hospital during wartime, mostly memorable because Alastair Sim steals and elevates every scene he's in as the detective.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 8: 1945

1. Dead of Night (director: Charles Crichton): An utterly amazing horror film done in the portmanteau style with a variety of people discussing the strange dreams and situations they'd been in. Some of them are utter classics in the spine-tingling genre. The section with the ventiloquist's dummy has received the most attention, but it's all fantastic.
2. The Lost Weekend (director: Billy Wilder): This depiction of a man grappling with alcoholism succeeds thanks to Ray Milland's great perfomane and Wilder's careful direction, particularly the nightmare sequence.
3. And Then There Were None (director: René Clair): A great adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel. In spite of the changes this is the best film of its kind as a group of strangers realized they've been summoned together in order to be picked off one at a time.
4. The Bells of St. Mary's (director: Leo McCarey): An excellent sequel to Going My Way with Ingrid Bergman as a nun who is determined to obtain a better property for her students.
5. Story of G.I. Joe (director: William A. Wellman): A great look at journalist Ernie Pyle, one of the most celebrated World War II correspondents, who unfortunately died before the movie came out. Burgess Meredith is great as Pyle and if you've read Pyle's articles you'll appreciate seeing them brought to life on film.
6. The Body Snatcher (director: Robert Wise): An adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson story, albeit considerably lengthened (the original story is covered in about 10 minutes at the climax). But Boris Karloff is great as the titular body snatcher.
7. Mildred Pierce (director: Michael Curtiz): Another fine James M. Cain novel adaptation, this one features a fractured mother-daughter relationship which compels the mother to attempt murder.
8. Isle of the Dead (director: Mark Robson): An odd and atmospheric film - lumped in with horror movies but really just doing its own thing. It was inspired by the painting of the same name.
9. Hangover Square (director: John Brahm): An interesting thriller about a composer who suffers from blackouts in which he commits murder. Laird Cregar is so good in the lead role that it makes the picture worth seeing.
10. Spellbound (director: Alfred Hitchcock): The nightmare sequence designed by Salvador Dalli is utterly amazing. The rest of movie ain't too bad either -- the solution to the problem is not that great, but the tension of whether Gregory Peck is the protagonist or the killer is handled well.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 7: 1944

1. Lifeboat (director: Alfred Hitchcock): An unsettling film in which survivors of a sunken ship rescue one of the German sailors who sunk them. The conflict between the survivors and the sailor gives this movie its bite.
2. Double Indemnity (director: Billy Wilder): We're getting into the world of film noir now, and this film is frequently cited as one of the masterpieces. Truly, you can't go wrong with a James M. Cain story! If you don't know it, this is the story of an insurance salesman whose latest client wants his help in murdering her husband. They have a good plan, but there are a lot of factors they don't consider, foremost being what the murder investigation will do to their relationship.
3. Going My Way (director: Leo McCarey): A very fine musical-comedy-drama with Bing Crosby as a laid-back priest who has to phase an older priest out of his long-time parish. As a pastor's son, it's not entirely alien to me.
4. Hail the Conquering Hero (director: Preston Sturges): Another great Sturges comedy, this time concerning a US Marine who washed out of training but can't bear to let his mother know; some Marines he meets take upon themselves to force him to return home, intending to pass him off as a hero. But the town is so ecstatic over his return that the lie keeps growing as he becomes less and less willing to go along with it!
5. Murder, My Sweet (director: Edward Dmytryk): Dick Powell is kind of an odd choice to portray Philip Marlowe, but then, that was the point - he was trying to change his image. And this film turned out great - not quite as hardboiled as the novel, but still a very memorable noir story, particularly Mike Mazurki's performance as Moose Malloy. I saw this one in a packed cinema just before the pandemic and it definitely holds up with audiences!
6. Laura (director: Otto Preminger): A great mystery story about a detective who falls in love with a murdered woman - and then the murdered woman turns up alive! At that point the film actually becomes less interesting, but the investigation up to that point is very well-presented.
7. Ministry of Fear (director: Fritz Lang): A great Graham Greene thriller in which a man happens to get himself involved in a spy plot and can't seem to convince the enemy agents that he doesn't know anything.
8. The Uninvited (director: Lewis Allen): One of the better ghost stories put to film, this concerns two siblings who discover their new home is haunted by both an evil spirit and a benevolent one, so expelling the ghosts is not an easy task.
9. National Velvet (director: Clarence Brown): I'm not really the target audience for this film but I admire how well-done it is, particularly Mickey Rooney's performance as the jockey with a strained past.
10. Phantom Lady (director: Robert Siodmak): A very good Cornell Woolrich yarn with a female protagonist trying to save the life of her beloved by locating a missing witness who might prove his alibi - yet the witness seems to have vanished.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 6: 1943

1. Shadow of a Doubt (director: Alfred Hitchcock): This is one of Hitchcock's finest; a young woman who feels a strong bond to her uncle learns that her uncle is a serial killer. But because she loves him so much, she can't bring herself to turn him in. But is the uncle's love equally unconditional?
2. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (director: Preston Sturges): This is my favourite Sturges film. It concerns a young woman who, some time after a night out with some soldiers, finds herself pregnant but doesn't know who the father is. To solve this problem, she offers the boy who's always been pining for her a chance to get her out of trouble. But their attempted fix goes spectacularly awry!
3. Arsenic and Old Lace (director: Frank Capra): This is not really a Capra film as it mostly just recreates the famous stage play, but the performances are so perfect that the director hardly seems to matter. It's a shame that Karloff wasn't allowed to reprise his role, but Massy is still very good in the role; the first time I saw the film I didn't know about Karloff's involvement and the "he looks like Boris Karloff!" line still made me laugh. But even then, Peter Lorre is an utter joy in his part.
4. Journey Into Fear (director: Norman Foster): I think what I admire most about Eric Ambler's thrillers is how unconventional they are. His set-up, with a man on the run from a gang of killers, could have been done in Hitchcock. But Ambler's world is a little more chaotic than Hitchcock's. The various moments where the protagonist comes up with plans to unmask the antagonists, only to fail - that gives this story a different sort of suspense than Hitchcock's.
5. Bataan (director: Tay Garnett): This is really a remake of The Lost Patrol and doesn't quite hit that movie's highs (no Karloff) but I find this interesting as a war movie made during World War II about a battle which the USA lost. It's a little different seeing a war picture in which all the protagonists are dead by the time the credits run.
6. I Walked with a Zombie (director: Jacques Tourneur): So this has been called Jane Eyre with zombies and yes, that's pretty much it. The atmosphere surrounding the zombies - in particular the titular "walk" - is absolutely macabre. It's offbeat by the standards of 1940s horror movies and all the better for it.
7. Sahara (director: Zoltan Korda): One of Bogart's few non-Warner pictures; a tank crew in North Africa try to bluff their German adversaries into believing they have a supply of water. Rex Ingram was particularly good as the Sudanese soldier.
8. The Leopard Man (director: Jacques Tourneur): An unusual horror film where something... someone... is killing women at night. A leopard? Or a leopard man? Like the director's Cat People it leans more to suspense than horror and that's a strength.
9. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (directors: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger): I know that as a film afficionado I'm supposed to like Powell & Pressburger, and I have tried. There's something about their works which leaves me a little cold - perhaps it's the same thing which their many fans adore. But this one I rather like as a compelling portrait of man's life against tumultuous, changing times. I have no idea why they used the comic strip "Colonel Blimp"'s name, though.
10. Air Force (director: Howard Hawks): In anyone else's hands, this movie would be just another World War II aviation film. But with Hawks... well, Hawks already proved his love of aviation in Only Angels Have Wings. The lengthy scenes getting into the details of preparing the plane for launch are strangely the most memorable. I appreciated that Hawks did a lot of research to put this film together and was happy to show off what he'd learned.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 5: 1942

1. Casablanca (director: Michael Curtiz): This is another film often called one of cinema's greatest and again, I agree. This is studio filmmaking done right - lots of snappy dialogue, great character actors, memorable performances - everything about this movie lands just right for me.
2. Yankee Doodle Dandy (director: Michael Curtiz): By the same director, another very good film - a musical biography of George M. Cohen, starring James Cagney. I understand it apparently doesn't bear much resemblance to the real Cohen, but Cagney is quite game in the lead.
3. The Ox-Bow Incident (director: William A. Wellman): From the other end of the axis, a very sobering film. A western, yes, but a different kind of western - I first learned of it when I read a list of the greatest films made about law. This film is concerned, in particular, with mob law and lynchings. It's a tough film, yet for all that, is less bleak than the story it's adapted from.
4. To Be or Not to Be (director: Ernst Lubitsch): This was the only movie Jack Benny made which he actually felt well about, but it was marred by Carole Lombard's death around the time of the premiere. It's a pity that her death dulled this film's impact - Benny is perfect as the conceited actor who gets to use his abilities against the Nazis.
5. The Magnificent Ambersons (director: Orson Welles): This film seems to be best-remembered for the controversies surroundings its creation and the alterations to Welles' climax. But what's remained was still a mighty fine movie, a portrait of a film that cannot bend with the changing times.
6. Bambi (director: Samuel Armstrong): This is a Disney film I genuinely admire. It has the likeability I associate with Disney, but the depiction of both nature and man as cruel and capricious is different than most of their product.
7. Tales of Manhattan (director: Julien Duvivier): I really love this film and I wish it had more of a following - it's a portmanteau film, with various stories connected by the presence of suit which keeps changing owners. There's comedy, there's drama, there's Paul Robeson singing. I wish there more like this one.
8. Cat People (director: Jacques Tourneur): This is the first real horror film to make my lists since I started at a time when the horror genre was mostly quiet. This film helped get horror moving again and the neat ways it overcomes its limited budget by emphasizing tension and suspense instead of showing the monster itself was a very well-judged decision which makes this picture a classic.
9. The Palm Beach Story (director: Preston Sturges): Another very fine Sturges movie, this one concerning a wife who loves her husband so much she tries to leave him and line up a new suitor so that her new lover can finance her husband's impractical invention! This film goes for a happy ending designed to satisfy everyone and I love how intentionally ridiculous that conclusion is!
10. This Gun for Hire (director: Frank Tuttle): A fine star-making turn for Alan Ladd as a killer without much of a conscience who meets a woman who tries to direct his vengeful wrath at the people who deserve it. A really different kind of thriller, though it would have surely been a much tougher film had it come out 4 years later.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 4: 1941

1. Citizen Kane (director: Orson Welles): Who am I to argue against the verdict of history? I've spent a great deal of time studying this film and explaining its techniques to other people. But along with the stupendous craft involved, I think the plot and performances are quite worth highlighting as well.
2. The Maltese Falcon (director: John Huston): The definitive detective movie. I find many adaptations of mystery novels get a bit muddled (ie, The Big Sleep), so this film's ability to deftly cover the twists and turns of the plot should not be marginalized. This is the movie that made Bogart (as Sam Spade) a true leading man and he's very enjoyable in the part with a lot of clever dialogue. The scene in which Peter Lorre's character Joel Cairo attempts to search Spade's office is all on its own an immensely fun performance.
3. How Green Was My Valley (director: John Ford): Infamous as the movie which was honoured by the Oscars instead of Citizen Kane, this movie is still a very worthy film. Sentimental, but I am, again, a viewer who values genuine sentiment.
4. Sullivan's Travels (director: Preston Sturges): This is the Sturges film which has been singled out as his finest and it is, indeed, very good - the story of a filmmaker who wanted to create drama and so flung himself into poverty to gain the necessary experience. My track record so far shows that I do enjoy a great picture about social problems of the time, but I also admire the coda of this film - that movies provide a valuable escape for people who are suffering.
5. High Sierra (director: Raoul Walsh): This came out before The Maltese Falcon and was the real launching point for Bogart as a leading man (albeit with Ida Lupino in top billing). This film paved the way for everything Bogart subsequently achieved - showing that he could portray sympathetic characters who could be invested in.
6. The Lady Eve (director: Preston Sturges): Another very funny Sturges film, this one concerning an heir who falls in love with a con woman. After being exposed as a criminal, the con woman becomes determined to ruin the heir's life. It's a very clever story and always fun to revisit.
7. Ball of Fire (director: Howard Hawks): Another great Hawks comedy, featuring a language & grammar researcher who asks a nightclub singer to help him understand slang; she goes along with it because her gangster boyfriend needs to her to lie low. Really fun stuff.
8. Man Hunt (director: Fritz Lang): An unusual and very strong thriller: a hunter has an opportunity to assassinate Hitler, but is prevented from pulling the trigger. The Nazi interrogator wants to know whether he meant to kill Hitler or if it was, as the hunter claims, merely a "stalking shot." This is basically Fritz Lang doing Alfred Hitchcock and it's wonderful.
9. Suspicion (director: Alfred Hitchcock): Speaking of Hitchcock, there's this - the ending is a let-down, although I can't imagine another way to end to the move which would have been satisfying. But Cary Grant is so good as the murderous husband that, well, you want him to be the murderous husband.
10. The Face Behind the Mask (director: Robert Florey): This one is not too well-known. Peter Lorre plays a man disfigured by fire who turns to a life of crime. It's very much in the vein of Lon Chaney Sr.'s classics and one of the best lead roles Lorre ever had.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 3: 1940

1. Fantasia (director: Ben Sharpsteen): Somehow, this is the Disney film I was most drawn to as a child - the one with with the least conventional structure. It helps that I grew up in a house where we heard classical music all the time - nor does it hurt that the film has weird imagery, dinosaurs, demons and some frightening brooms. I still have a great time watching this film.
2. The Great Dictator (director: Charles Chaplin): Because of the range of years I chose for these lists I won't get to spolight much of Chaplin, but this is my favourite of his films, the picture I really connected with. It has a lot of physical comedy which, at times, is dated (dated by the standards of 1940, I mean). It's also very heartfelt and many of the gags still land. I also simply have to applaud Chaplin's bravery in mocking Hitler at a time when all of Hollywood wanted to keep him happy.
3. His Girl Friday (director: Howard Hawks): This film is rightly lauded for the rapid dialogue delivery (some of which was not scripted). It's almost entirely carried by performances, specifically those of Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell.
4. The Grapes of Wrath (director: John Ford): As a social picture examining what were contemporary problems, this movie is simply unparalleled. I recently showed it to a friend of mine who wanted to know what John Ford's movies were like. I was amazed when, months later, he told another friend that this was the best movie he had seen all year!
5. The Philadelphia Story (director: George Cukor): This film lacks the edge of His Girl Friday but it's all good fun - James Stewart and Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant is somehow likeable despite who his character is on paper - just great fun.
6. The Shop Around the Corner (director: Ernst Lubitsch): Another great James Stewart comedy from this time, and one which can be brought out at Christmas. The notion of two combative co-workers falling in love through the mail is great, but Stewart learning his pen pal's identity really puts it over. It's delightful.
7. Christmas in July (director: Preston Sturges): I came late to Preston Sturges and I'm amazed that, outside of Sullivan's Travels (next year), he was not a director written about in any of the books I studied, nor spoken of reverently in documentaries. He wrote so many great films before becoming a director, but in 1940 he finally took on the challenge of directing and proved he was able at that. This film is charming - a movie which has practically no antagonist and yet finds plenty of complications as a man thinks he's won a big cash prize.
8. The Great McGinty (director: Preston Sturges): And this was Sturges' debut film as a director, with a political pawn working his way up to become a governor by holding to no particular scruples; unfortunately he eventually develops a slight conscience, and that ruins his political career! Discovering this film was like finding a lost Capra film; it surely earned its Academy Award.
9. Night Train to Munich (director: Carol Reed): This is sometimes called a sequel to Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes because two of that film's supporting characters appear here - on a train, no less! This is a fun espionage story with a British agent trying to transport a scientist out of the Nazis' hands.
10. The Sea Hawk (director: Michael Curtiz): This has basically everything The Adventures of Robin Hood did - I mean, not the technicolor or Olivia de Haviland, but basically everything. It's a fun swashbuckler with an amazing musical score by Korngold.

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 2: 1939

This is the year often called the "greatest" in Hollywood's history. I certainly had no problem finding ten movies from 1939 that I liked, but I fear my list won't look exactly like anyone else's. Nor should it...

1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (director: Frank Capra): Here's Capra at his best, not to mention James Stewart & Jean Arthur. The film is remembered by some as an optimistic picture of how US politics work, but it's actually a pretty cynical picture, from the reporters who don't believe in anyone or any cause beyond good copy, to the opportunistic party faithful. This film has stood the test of time.
2. Gunga Din (director: George Stevens): This film has not quite stood the test of time, on the other hand. It's a big racist. But if you can get past that, this is a marvelous picture of high adventure as a soldier goes hunting for a fortune but instead wanders into the lair of Thugees preparing an attack. The tense climactic scene is what really drives this film up to the top for me
3. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (director: Sam Wood): This film is sentimental and that's it's greatest strength. Robert Donat is simply perfect as the schoolmaster who ages across the scope of the story. I still find it an emotional experience.
4. The Wizard of Oz (director: Victor Fleming): This was a classic of my childhood, one that my siblings and I watched repeatedly; I'm sure I still know every song. It's charming, and I've enjoyed seeing my nieces become fans of it.
5. Of Mice and Men (director: Lewis Milestone): At the other end of the spectrum, we have this, a stark drama. It's very well performed by Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. -- pretty near the only time in his career that Chaney Jr. played outside the horror genre.
6. Only Angels Have Wings (director: Howard Hawks): This film stars cary Grant & Jean Arthur and features the lives of pilots who take on dangerous air mail routes. Grant's character is basically the opposite of what he played for Hawks' 1938 film Bringing Up Baby -- a much more assertive figure. How his relationship plays out with Arthur is immensely satisfying.
7. Ninotchka (director: Ernst Lubitsch): The last great hurrah for Greta Garbo! I'm not a great fan of her work but this film is pretty good. I particularly enjoy the black humour found in lines like: "The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer, but better Russians."
8. Destry Rides Again (director: George Marshall): You'll notice as we go that I don't often include westerns in my list, but this film is a fun exception - fairly light-hearted with James Stewart in the lead and Marlene Dietrich as his love interest. I think I like it because I never feel like I'm watching a western.
9. Bachelor Mother (director: Garson Kanin): An underrated comedy in which Ginger Rogers takes home an orphaned child, leading to complications as characters make various assumptions about who the father is. Ginger Rogers seems to have been best-remembered for her dancing but she was quite good at comedy.
10. Wuthering Heights (director: William Wyler): An outstanding adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel - atmospheric to the extent that at times it plays like a ghost story (which it arguably is).

20 Great Years of Movies, Part 1: 1938

As I was recently looking at my top ten favourite old-time radio programs from 1938-1957, one of my readers suggested I should do the same for motion pictures from that range of dates. I chose those years because they were the 20 years which were easiest for me to assemble lists for, but I don't see why I can't do the same for movies.

1938 is actually a pretty good year to begin with - the following year, 1939, is frequently called the greatest year of the golden age of film, so this is a decent time to be looking at the state of film.

However, I should caution you that these lists are ranked according to my own opinions. I like popular movies. I like unpopular movies. I like crowd-pleasers. I like artsy movies. Some of these will be films which are already very well known. Others will not. Some that you think should be there will not make my list. With that understood:

1. The Adventures of Robin Hood (director: Michael Curtiz): My father loved this movie and shared it with me, for which I'll always be grateful. This is simply one-of-a-kind. There are many other swashbuckling Errol Flynn movies and a plethora of Robin Hood pictures, but this is the greatest. As a kid, it was just about everything I wanted - the lush score, terrific stunts, wise dialogue and beautiful Technicolor. This is my favourite movie of 1938, but in general one of my favourite movies, full stop.
2. Bringing Up Baby (director: Howard Hawks): All the same, it was difficult to keep this title from the top spot. This is, of course, the ur-example of screwball comedy, one of the funniest movies of Hollywood's big studio years. It holds up extremely well; it makes me laugh and I admire how the jokes are crafted.
3. Three Comrades (director: Frank Borzage): So, one thing about me it -- I'm very sentimental. This film, adapted from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, hits me in a very sentimental place. It's the story of three best friends in between-the-wars Germany; when one of them falls in love, the other two do everything in their power to help the relationship succeed. It's extremely heartfelt -- and tragic, due to circumstances beyond the characters' control.
4. The Lady Vanishes (director: Alfred Hitchcock): This was one of the best of Hitchcock's British pictures. It's a charming, fast-paced mystery.
5. Angels with Dirty Faces (director: Michael Curtiz): James Cagney was best-known for his gangster pictures, but that was mostly due to The Public Enemy. This is one of the few times he returned to the genre and it's rather good as he's a gangster with a heart of gold.
6. You Can't Take It with You (director: Frank Capra): In some ways this is not exactly a Capra film as it was adapted from a popular play, but some familiar Capra attitudes appear in here about people who seem to be at odds with the rest of the world as they hold to their values. And of course, it was Capra's first film with James Stewart. It's also gently humourous.
7. The Citadel (director: King Vidor): An interesting morality story with Robert Donat as a physician who seems trapped at being either a low-paid and unappreciated doctor or a high-paid but frivolous one. It's sort of a British version of the 'problem pictures' the Warners were famous for.
8. Pygmalion (director: Anthony Asquith): A great adaptation of the play starring Leslie Howard. I only saw this film for the first time recently - it's certainly very similar to the version told in My Fair Lady. Howard is certainly at his best.
9. The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (director: Anatole Litvak): This is something of a b-movie elevated by its star, Edward G. Robinson. Like Cagney, Robinson had to crawl out of the shadow of his big gangster film (Little Caesar). Robinson had a pretty diverse career, but unfortunately he was just too dang memorable as a gangster. This film seems to more along the line of what he wanted to play - a meek little man who takes up crime as a hobby. As in Angels with Dirty Faces above, Bogart has the thankless task of being the antagonist.
10. If I Were King (director: Frank Lloyd): A nice picture with Ronald Colman as a rascal who becomes a part of the royal court. Not exactly Pygmalion, but fun in its own way.

Angola in the Comics #16: Biff Powers and the Giants

Welcome back to Angola in the Comics! In this infrequent series of blog posts, I examine comic books in which the nation of Angola makes an appearance. This outing is a little special because, for the first time, I'm composing it while visiting Angola!

Many of the comics I've look at in this feature are old 'jungle comics.' They tend to range from mildly racist to rather quite racist. Appropriately, this time I'm looking at a Biff Powers adventure. You may recall that Biff Powers was the subject of the very first entry in my 'Angola in the Comics' feature!

This story comes from Startling Comics Vol.2 #1 (December, 1940). No creators were credited and the Grand Comics Database hasn't determined who they were yet.

We open as the curator of the Metropolitan Museum tells an audience that in a recent expedition to Africa his party was turned back at Lake Ngami by "fierce head-hunting pigmies!" The only Lake Ngami I know of is in Botswana - it would be a strange place to find pygmies. As a result they could not complete their expedition to discover if gigantic men lived in the interior. "And who knows - there may still be giants in these days!" In the very next panel a newspaper headline declares, "Curator Reports Race of Giants" which is, uh, not what he said - he was discussing the possiblity of giants. But okay, this is the premise of our story. Giants in Africa. So this is liable to be a little more fantastic than the previous Biff Powers tale.

We move to the offices of the Carson Circus whom you will (not) recall are the employers of Biff Powers. "I want you to shoot down there and get me some of those babies!" says the circus owner. "It'll be a change from the animals, Tom!" says Biff, casually discussing their plot to enslave human beings as exhibits in their circus. This was indeed in the days of 'human oddity' exhibits at circuses and carnivals, but discussing them as though they were an animal display -- this is pretty inhumane. I mean, that's assuming the giants even exist. Well, whether they do or not, Biff is informed that a rival outfit, the Trans-American Circus, are likewise out to find the giants. Tom of the Carson Circus calls them "shady." Hey, we put human beings on display in cages, but one thing we're not is "shady!"

Biff books passage on a boat bound for Lobito, which is where Angola enters our story. You'll recall that last time, Biff Powers was one of the few early comics I found which named an actual location in Angola (Luanda), and they've done it again. Anyway, the Trans-American Circus hires Brick Peters and he suggests they kidnap Biff's love interest Marcia Beale so that Biff will go looking for her and miss the boat to Lobito (you might remember Marcia from the other blog entry). Biff rescues her rather easily and fights his way out of the den of kidnappers with his gun. So I guess at this point the Trans-American Circus has had men killed on account of these giants they're not positive even exist? Priorities, man.

Although Biff rescued Marcia rather quickly, it seems he did miss the boat. Not to worry though, Tom lends him his yacht. Arriving in Lobito, he's met by his "old native head boy" Weki (also from our last tale). Still, Biff, Marcia, Weki and one other African man are about four days behind Brick Peters as they venture into the jungle.

Marcia is attacked by a gorilla who snatches her up into a tree. Biff climbs after the gorilla and starts a fistfight with him on one of the branches. That seems like a spectacularly terrible idea. Fortunately Weki throws a spear into the gorilla's heart. Biff and the gorilla fall from the tree and Biff stabs the gorilla with his knife. "Touch luck, monk! You lose!" Er, Biff, don't act so proud of yourself, it was Weki who pulled your fat from the fire.

Later they pitch camp near Lake Ngami (if this is supposed to be the lake in Botswana that was... uh... quite a march!). The pygmies mentioned earlier attack their camp. They're quickly defeated and the unnamed African aide is beheaded by the Pygmies. Biff, Marcia and Weki are brought by the pygmies to their village where they find Brick Peters, who has made himself the boss of the pygmies in the hopes they would lead him to the giants.

Marcia is about to be beheaded by the Pygmies when the giants attack the village. And, remarkably for a comic book from 1940, these 'giants' are very reasonably proportioned. Like, they seem to be about seven feet tall. I really thought we were in for some ten-storey giants. Anyway, these giants easily defeat the Pygmies, then take some Pygmies, Biff, Marcia and Weki back to their village (Brick runs away). The giants' chief was wounded by a Pygmy poison dart but Biff offers to help him. When the chief revives, the chief's son is miffed. Believing Biff is the one who made the alliance with the Pygmies, he challenges Biff to one-on-one combat for his life. Biff wins, thanks to a jiu jitsu move (although it looks like a punch to the jaw from where I sit).

Biff supplies the giants with the antidote to the Pygmy poison and in gratitude they permit two of their warriors to accompany Biff back to the USA. As they head away from the village, a Pygmy throws a head at them; it's the head of Brick Peters, whom they killed for failing to lead them to victory. Back in the USA, the two giants are a huge hit as attractions at the circus. And that's the end.

Biff Powers is a pretty typical "great white hunter" series. It's a relic of its time, but in its time it was just one of many such heroes from Jungle Jim to Clyde Beatty. I was pleasantly surprised that the "giants" were reasonably sized, but otherwise this was pretty rote jungle comic story.

• +1 estrela for using a real location in Angola (Lobito)
• -1 estrela for using an animal not found in Angola (gorilla)
• -1 estrela for the premise of putting human beings on display at a circus
• +1 estrela for being surprisingly modestly-sized giants.

TOTAL SCORE: Zero estrelas! The good and bad cancel each other out.

Lubango vlog, welcome to the blog!

I won't make any promises about becoming a regular vlogger, but I have created my first-ever vlog as a way of marking my arrival in the city of Lubango, Angola. If you've been following my journey elsewhere on this blog you'll be able to pick up the narrative. Otherwise, sorry, this isn't a jumping-on point!