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.