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.