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TM2YC's 1001 Movies (Chronological up to page 25/post 481)

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76 years ago...

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Sergeant York (1941)
Director: Howard Hawks
Country: United States
Length: 134 minutes
Type: War, Biography, Drama

What it would be like if you fanedited 'Forest Gump' and 'Hacksaw Ridge' into one movie. Based on the true story of Alvin York (Gary Cooper), a wayward farmboy who found God and fought in WWI. Initially a conscientious objector on Bible grounds, he never the less ended up winning both the Medal of Honor and the Legion of Honour. Unlike Desmond Doss in 'Hacksaw Ridge', who never compromises his beliefs, York is persuaded that although it does say "Thou shalt not kill" in the Bible quite categorically, it's alright if it's for the USA. I don't think enough time was spent seriously exploring his moral/political conversion. Director Howard Hawks just has York sit atop a mountain pondering the problem, watching sunlight play among the clouds as some beautiful Max Steiner music plays. Even if the film plays partly as a 1941 recruitment drive for WW2's new young boys, it never shies away from showing the senseless slaughter of the trenches.


Another Disney classic next.
 

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76 years ago...

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Dumbo (1941)
Director: Ben Sharpsteen
Country: United States
Length: 64 minutes
Type: Animation, Comedy, Musical

After the last two elaborate and expensive Disney pictures flopped, 'Dumbo' was made for half what the others cost. It's only an hour long and the animation economies are obvious, so there is none of the moving camera of 'Pinocchio' that was so impressive. Just like with the later cheaper looking Disney films of the 60s/70s the charm wins out over any budget limitations. The animators wring every drop of emotion out of the lonely little elephant, he never talks but his sad blue eyes speak volumes. There is only one really good song, performed by the jive talking crows. The most memorable sequence is when Dumbo drinks a few gulps of watered down Champagne, which inexplicably induces an acid freak-out where he imagines dancing multicolored Elephants with black void-like eyes.


Another Bogart film next.
 

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77 years ago...

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High Sierra (1941)
Director: Raoul Walsh
Country: United States
Length: 100 minutes
Type: Crime, Drama, Romance

Going by the title, I thought this would be a Western but it's actually a heist movie. Humphrey Bogart plays a grizzled old ex-con who walks out the prison gates and straight into running a job with a group of younger, inexperienced criminals. When he's with the other hoods he is angry and scary but we also see him as a gentle and kind man, when with a poor family he befriends. Inevitably his two worlds collide and it all starts to go wrong. Many of Bogart's scenes are heartbreaking, watching a man yearn for something pure and good, as death approaches inexorably. See the intensity in Bogart's eyes in this scene:


The first film I've ever watched with Veronica Lake in next.
 

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76 years ago...

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Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Director: Preston Sturges
Country: United States
Length: 90 minutes
Type: Comedy, Social-Commentary

Joel McCrea plays the titular disenchanted Hollywood Director who goes off to experience what it is really like for the poor people of the depression, so he can make his next picture 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (A title the Coen's later borrowed). McCrea is perfectly cast as a straight-man trying to be serious, as the world keeps making fun of him. Much better suited to this than his role in Hitchcock's Thriller 'Foreign Correspondent'. No matter how hard Sullivan tries to slum it, he always seems to end up back in La La Land. A wonderful Satire on the movie business, I do love films-about-films.

'Sullivan's Travels' is to be celebrated for being a rare example of a Hollywood film from this period that is not horrifically racist (1937's Marx Brothers Comedy 'A Day at the Races' is the only other one I can think of?). The most crucial scene takes place in a black church, where the congregation is shown to be kind, forgiving and Christian. The best of humanity and the finest people in the film. Quite a difference to the usual Hollywood film, in which the black characters are at best shown as childlike buffoons.


This is the first Veronica Lake film I've watched and wow is she a shining star! She plays a young actress who meets Sullivan just as she is giving up on trying to make it in tinsel-town and returning home. The scene below (and some other lines) have a few very timely comments on the "casting couch" mentality that actresses have had to deal with since the early days oh Hollywood:


Another John Ford film next.
 

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76 years ago...

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How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Director: John Ford
Country: United States
Length: 118 minutes
Type: Drama

'How Green Was My Valley' pipped 'Citizen Kane' for the Best Picture Oscar in 1941, starting a long Academy tradition that lasts to this day, of them picking this sort of worthy movie, over more memorable and game-changing films (e.g. 'Mad Max: Fury Road' vs 'Spotlight' in 2015, or 'La La Land' vs 'Moonlight' in 2016). That isn't to say John Ford's film isn't good, it's got everything cranked up to sentimental-factor-9, to really get you in the heart strings, so it would be pretty hard not be swept up by it. I'm sure some will find it overly nostalgic and schmaltzy but it stayed just the right side of that line for me.

The story takes place entirely in an initially idyllic Welsh mining village that becomes increasingly dark and broken-down as the film goes on. I found the overall social/political message to be muddled, or lost. The miners are abused and go on strike but the script seems afraid to tackle the issue too deeply. A couple of characters opine that Socialism is "The devil", yet the striking workers go back to work having settled the dispute with the bosses off screen somehow? Because of the War, filming in Wales was off limits, so Ford apparently had a whole village built specially on an 80-acre site in Santa Monica. It's a seriously impressive outdoor set that is indistinguishable from the real thing. Check it out:

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Walter Pidgeon's Pastor character is obviously supposed to be kind, noble and earnest but I also found him prideful, cowardly and deeply selfish. He condemns the woman he loves to a life of misery in a loveless marriage because he wants to devote his time entirely to God instead of her, something he later learns was a waste of time, having imagined himself the savior of the village... and still he abandons the woman who adores him. Maybe you have to be religious to understand these things.


Another Preston Sturges film next.
 

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75 years ago...

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The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Director: Preston Sturges
Country: United States
Length: 88 minutes
Type: Comedy

A delightfully arch Comedy about a married couple with money troubles which drive them apart. Separately they ironically encounter nothing but the wealthy and privileged, from the oddly eccentric, to the old and dotty, to the dangerously deranged. The last being a "gentlemen's" club of blind-drunk millionaires blasting holes in their own train with shotguns! The script (by Director Preston Sturges) is full of witty dialogue and improbable fun, worthy of Oscar Wilde. Actor Rudy Vallée makes a comedic art of politely putting on and removing his Pince-nez, it really tickled my funny bone for some reason. The movie is book-ended by a couple of impressive layered FXshots (simply done in service of a gag), decades before the motion-control cameras of 'Star Wars'. I'd be fascinated to know exactly how it was done. Clockwork perhaps?


Next is a Bette Davis film.
 

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Now, Voyager (1942)
Director: Irving Rapper
Country: United States
Length: 117 minutes
Type: Drama

Bette Davis plays an upper-class Boston woman that has lived for years under the suffocating control of her abusive and domineering mother. A nervous breakdown results in her being sent to a Sanatorium run by a wise and kind Doctor (Claude Rains). He repairs some of the mental damage and sends her off on a restorative cruise to Rio, with the instruction to experience life. The rest of the film follows her struggles to get her sanity and life back together, confronting her mother and also a liberating holiday romance with Paul Henreid. The script gets pretty deep into the psychology, even if the absurdly prudish US censorship of the time, means it has to frustratingly dance around any overt references to sex. Gladys Cooper as the tyrannical mother would scare even Carrie's mom!


'Now, Voyager' shares some of the same cast as 'Casablanca', Max Steiner scored both, they also feature lovers making a noble sacrifice and both finish on beautifully written lines. In this case "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars". Coincidentally...

Next up is 'Casablanca'.
 

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Casablanca (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Country: United States
Length: 102 minutes
Type: Romance, Drama

I'm not sure why 'Casablanca' has become such an iconic and well known film, as it's not significantly better than many other Hollywood movies of this period but it sure is one classy affair. Humphrey Bogart in his most famous role as Rick, the nightclub owner with a broken heart, who hides beneath a hard exterior. Casablanca is Vichy-French territory and a last stop for refugees fleeing the War in Europe. Rick tries not to be on anybodies side, the Vichy, the Free-French, the Nazis, or the refugees but as the film develops we see how much his morality is tested. No more so than when the woman that broke his heart becomes the latest refugee. Leading to one of the most iconic lines in movie history:

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

The 1000-watt charm of Claude Rains makes his Captain Renault (The Vichy chief of Police) character a lot more likeable than he should be on the page. He has people murdered and tortured, is unashamedly corrupt, openly collaborates with the Nazis and it is made pretty clear that he uses his position to force young girls into sex. One of the more powerful scenes has Rick intervening to save a crying girl from Renault's clutches. I doubt a character could act like this in a 2018 movie and be put forward as somebody the audience is supposed to like by the time the credits role. He does have some of the best quips:


Like the characters, the film itself remains neutral about Sam the Black piano player (Dooley Wilson). He is clearly Rick's best friend, confidant and business partner but to avoid offending any racists in the audience too much, the script cops-out and has Sam never calling his friend "Rick", it's always "Yes Mr Richard", or "Yes Boss". So near, yet so far.


Next is a send-up of the Nazis.
 

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76 years ago...

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To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Country: United States
Length: 99 minutes
Type: Comedy, Satire

'To Be or Not to Be' is another film from this list that I knew nothing about but which is now a firm favorite. It has a genius comedy script packed with setups and payoffs and callbacks upon callbacks. On the eve of the German invasion, a Polish theater company is mounting a play sending up the Nazis but it's banned for being too inflammatory. Later when Poland is occupied the company get mixed up in the intrigues of a Nazi agent and a Polish RAF pilot. This is when their acting skills and their leftover German costumes come back into play. The cracking dialogue doesn't just mock the inherent ridiculousness of the Nazis to brilliant effect but also has an affectionate pop at the acting profession too. A good example would be when a Gestapo officer reviews an actor's performance:

"What he did to Shakespeare, we are doing now to Poland."

The best bit has theater star Tura (Jack Benny) impersonate a Gestapo officer in order to fool the Nazi agent and then impersonates the same agent to fool the real Gestapo officer! Very, very clever writing that would make this an ideal double-bill with 1973's 'The Sting'. I must watch the 1983 Mel Brooks remake some time.


A Horror film next.
 

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Cat People (1942)
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Country: United States
Length: 73 minutes
Type: Horror, Drama

'Cat People's story of a woman who may be a satanic "were-panther", or may just be disturbed, is an interesting psychological one. The use of shadow and sound (and little else) to put the viewer on edge and engineer jump-scares is rightly famous. To create so much atmosphere with so little is a credit to Director Jacques Tourneur but everything else is weak. The relative cheapness of this B-picture is most evident in the poor acting of the two lead actors. French actress Simone Simon struggles a little with her English dialogue but Kent Smith is terribly wooden. The elaborate staircase from the expensive Orson Welles film 'The Magnificent Ambersons' (from the same period at RKO Pictures) is noticeably reused to save money. The artistic Ambersons barely broke even but the thrifty 'Cat People' made back about 60x it's budget. RKO took note and acted accordingly.


Next up is that million-dollar Orson Welles film.
 

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The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Director: Orson Welles
Country: United States
Length: 88 minutes
Type: Drama

Orson Welles' second film 'The Magnificent Ambersons' might have been even better than 'Citizen Kane' but we'll probably never know. After Welles had made his cut he went off to shoot a Documentary in Brazil for the US government. While he was away the studio deleted about 45-minutes of footage and reshot a new happier ending. The original Welles cut has been lost ever since, so finding it remains the film-preservation "Holy Grail". It's one of the ultimate examples of studio vandalism but Welles is also partly to blame. He should have stayed and fought for his masterpiece but was reputedly enjoying the sun, Rum and Brazilian girls too much :D .

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The story is about a high-society family as their importance and wealth ebbs away in the face of mechanisation, the dawn of the automobile in particular. Even in the butchered version, the elegiac story is sad, moving and thoughtful. Welles' Direction of the camera is impressive but never flashy and the sets and costumes are sumptuous. Unfortunately some of what were probably the best bits are cut, like a long take that was supposed to glide around the Amberson mansion and then up a three story staircase but there is just an awkward wipe that removes the middle of the scene. Also, the start of a beautiful speech about 'life, the universe and everything' is faded to black while the actor is still in full flow. The editing becomes exponentially choppy as the story nears the conclusion and the tacked-on happy ending.


I've seen Ambersons several times on DVD (a good transfer but still no Blu-Ray!) and once on the big-screen, which looked stunning. Maybe one day the full version will turn up in a salt-mine, or a private collection, until then it's merely a great film, instead of being one of Cinema's best.


Next is another Jimmy Cagney musical.
 

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Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Country: United States
Length: 126 minutes
Type: Musical, Drama

I detected the influence of 'Citizen Kane' (from the year before) on this biopic of Vaudeville/Broadway impresario George M. Cohen. Similar transitions, uses of Vis-FX and large yet fluid jumps in time and space are all used but for a happier, more uplifting tale. One impressive FX-shot stood out which floats through the lights of Broadway show signs. If Kane was the dark side of the American dream, this is the dream in all it's sparkling splendour. I read that star Jimmy Cagney was named in the early HUAC witch-hunts, so he and his brother picked this ardently Patriotic vehicle in order to wrap Cagney up in the proverbial red, white and blue.


We watch George M. Cohen in his early days in a Vaudeville troupe, to struggling to get his break on Broadway, to becoming the biggest star of his day. He wrote several Patriotic tunes about the USA and it's fighting men (The one I knew best was 'Over There' from WWI). So this aspect is used to comment on the USA's then recent joining of WW2. We see Cohen being commended by President Roosevelt and marching in a modern parade who are singing his old songs as they march towards battle in Europe again. The script is smart and had some clever subversions of my narrative expectations. The movie always has forward momentum but the constant detours into full musical numbers slowed it down at points for me. But if you like those old-timey Vaudeville style songs then you'll probably love those bits best.


An avant-garde short next.
 

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Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
Director: Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid
Country: United States
Length: 14 minutes
Type: Surrealist

'Meshes of the Afternoon' is a short Surrealist film Directed by and starring husband and wife team Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid. A bit like 'Un Chien Andalou' but with a clearer yet circular narrative, a woman observing herself within a dream. There are interesting uses of editing, camera movement and slow motion. The elongated arm entering the first frame was obviously an influence on Terry Gilliam's Python animations. More generally it's very David Lynch and handily a comparison video is available:


A film about the Blitz next.
 

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One of the problems with the 1001 book is the over-reliance on US movies and the following film is the first in the last 27 that has been from any other country. The only films from 1940, 1941 and 1942 are US films, so notable works by Carol Reed, Henri-Georges Clouzot, David Lean, The Archers and Ealing Studios are all omitted. The book has been a good way to watch the classics but I just wish it was more varied, so I've added a list to the OP of the films from the 'BFI Top 100' (that I've not seen yet and that are not on the 1001 list) to add some optional variety. Mild-rant over :D .

75 years ago...

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Fires Were Started (1943)
Director: Humphrey Jennings
Country: United Kingdom
Length: 64 minutes
Type: War, Drama, pseudo-Documentary

Humphrey Jennings' 'Fires Were Started' is a kind of pseudo-Documentary about Firefighters during the Blitz. A propaganda film made for the government that takes the unusual step of casting the real London firefighters in all the roles. Occasionally this leads to some wooden performances but mostly it adds a patina of gritty realism. The thick London accents, Cockney slang, cosy banter and sing-a-longs round the Joanna feel totally authentic and unlike the more genteel portrayals of 1940s Britain we are more used to from the movies. The story breaks into two halves, us getting to know the men and women of the volunteer fire-service as they prepare for their nights work and then them tackling a huge blaze to save an armaments ship. The film doesn't shy away from showing the danger the Firefighters face and they do not all survive the night.


An early role for James Mason next.
 

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The Man in Grey (1943)
Director: Leslie Arliss
Country: United Kingdom
Length: 116 minutes
Type: Drama, Romance

I can't imagine 1940s Hollywood's puritanical Hayes-Code allowing marriage to be shown as an empty sham, in the way it is in this Regency costume Drama. I also doubt an upper-class lady being friends with a Black working class kid, or showing her brutish husband beating his mistress to death with a riding crop, would be permitted either. Not to mention James Mason and that same mistress being shown coming out of the bedroom still putting their clothes back on. The differences between what censors would tolerate was clearly greatly divergent across the pond at this point in history. The fact that it's written by two women and focuses on the female character's desires, further increases the refreshingly different perspective. The Direction is serviceable but the excellent script has some great ominous foreshadowing cleverly concealed within a comedic sequence and an ingenious WW2 framing device that engineers a crowd-pleasing ending for the dark story.


One of the greatest films ever made next!
 

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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Director: Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
Country: United Kingdom
Length: 163 minutes
Type: Drama, War

I first saw 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' on an unrestored DVD about 9-years ago and was blown away by what is probably the finest ever British-made film. Then I saw the Scorsese-backed restoration on the big screen a few times, once when it was introduced by Pressburger's grandsons (both acclaimed filmmakers in their own right). The colours and detail of the Technicolor images were stunning and when the Criterion blu-ray came out, I bought that and have watched it many times since. This latest watch was as ever a joy because the film is so rich and nuanced, that it gets better with every repeat viewing.


Blimp was Written, Produced and Directed by 'The Archers', which is the name Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger assumed for their many close collaborations. Blimp is about the military-career, life and loves of the fictional Major-General Clive Wynne-Candy, from his return from the Boer War in 1902, through WW1, to "present day" post-Dunkirk WW2. In a bold move, the wars themselves are skipped over and instead the theme is aging, love, loss and memory, as we witness Clive as an energetic young man shaking up the world, to him as an old man, out of touch with modern life. This time I was struck by the comparison between Clive and Winston Churchill. Churchill had a similar career and age but he was "the man for the hour" when Europe fell, somebody who was prepared to take the hard decisions and do anything to ensure Victory over the Nazis. Clive is still stuck in the fair-play, gentlemanly conduct and sportsmanship of a forgotten military age. Something that Clive's friends try tell him, in powerful scenes like this one:


Co-star Anton Walbrook (speaking in the above scene) was a Gay, half-Jewish, Austrian who had escaped the Nazis for Britain in 1936. So in his role as Theo, a German who has fled the Nazis for Britain in 1939, the power and emotion he delivers is so real. Roger Livesey as Clive, transforms his whole body and voice as we watch him slowly age before our eyes (helped in no small part by superb hair and makeup). Not forgetting leading-lady Deborah Kerr, playing three distinct roles, as Clive's lost-love Edith and two more women that (for Clive at least) resemble her. The 2 and 3/4 hour runtime rushes by and feels shorter every time I watch. I'd hesitate to say 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' was the best film ever made because it's hard to quantify that accolade but it's in my personal 'All Time Top-5' for sure.


The follow up to 'Cat People' next.
 

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75 years ago...

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I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Country: United States
Length: 69 minutes
Type: Drama, Horror, Mystery

The second B-Movie collaboration between Director Jacques Tourneur and Producer Val Lewton for RKO, after 'Cat People'. I much preferred this film because although I can't find any info on the budget, it seems a classier production overall with much improved acting talent. The sensationalist title and the poster markets this as a Horror movie but it's more of a gothic-mystery akin to Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rebecca' with a Voodoo twist. Perhaps audiences in 1943 were truly Horrified and creeped-out by depictions of Voodoo rituals, performed by "mysterious" Caribbean natives, to the sound of primal jungle drums. I just found it fascinating, as it all looked pretty authentic and well researched to me (not that I'm an expert on Voodoo).


Another Val Lewton produced movie next.
 

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The Seventh Victim (1943)
Director: Mark Robson
Country: United States
Length: 71 minutes
Type: Drama, Mystery

Another Val Lewton Produced B-Movie with a script written to fit a preset enigmatic title. The story they decided on was about a young and innocent Catholic girl trying to locate her missing older and more worldly sister (she's a Goth basically :D), who was somehow connected to a secret Satanic cult. Sets from Orson Welles 'The Magnificent Ambersons' are once again re-used to save money. Apart from one notable sequence where the younger sister is approached by a shadowy figure as she is showering (Shot in a very similar way to Alfred Hitchcock's later film 'Psycho') the first two acts are fairly unremarkable. However, the last part featuring actress Jean Brooks being stalked and menaced by the cult and then contemplating her own death and suicide are quite atmospheric and chilling.


A return to the Western Genre next.
 

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The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Director: William A. Wellman
Country: United States
Length: 75 minutes
Type: Western, Drama

I've always had an issue with another acclaimed Henry Fonda film, 1957's '12 Angry Men'. It's a beautifully acted and powerful examination of morality, truth and justice but it's still just a stage-play in one room. 'The Ox-Bow Incident' on the other hand, is very similar in theme and content but manages to be a cinematic Western at the same time.

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A posse is hastily assembled and rides off after some murderous cattle-rustlers. Some members go to try and ensure the law is adhered to, some are baying for a lynching and some need to decide where they stand. On all sides, their motives are complicated by personal grudges and character flaws. Leigh Whipper brilliantly plays Sparks, a saintly black Reverend who joins the posse. Sparks adds another level of dread foreboding because he watched his older brother get lynched when he was little, so is the only one who truly knows what horrors could be about to unfold. Cleverly the movie opens and closes on the same shot, reminding us that it all took over one night, making the viewer consider how quickly things can escalate when humans have a mob mentality.


Another Hitchcock masterpiece next.
 

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Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country: United States
Length: 108 minutes
Type: Thriller, Drama

'Shadow of a Doubt' was apparently Alfred Hitchcock's favourite of all his own movies. I prefer some of his later colour films but 'Shadow of a Doubt' is the finest of his early black & white period and begins the total mastery of the craft he has become famous for. I've watched it many times and it gets better with each viewing. Joseph Cotten switches gears from playing the affable and noble characters of Kane and Ambersons, to serial killer "Uncle Charlie". With the authorities closing in, he hopes to hide-out at the seemingly idyllic home of his older sister, much to the excitement of his niece, who is also called Charlie (played by Teresa Wright). Cotton is really chilling, showing the world a charming exterior that can snap in an instant. Hitchcock cleverly introduces both Charlies one after the other, in mirrored scenes, contrasting and comparing them:

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It's important because the battle of wills between the two is the main thrust of the story. Hitchcock subtlety suggests an incestuous relationship between the two, showing Uncle Charlie slipping an Emerald ring (which he has kept from his latest victim) onto his niece's finger, shot in a mockery of the standard marriage-proposal scene. As she admires the ring intently, we see Uncle Charlie looking her up and down in a really creepy way. It only occurred to me on this viewing that when Uncle Charlie hands out gifts to his smiling family they are all tokens of time, memory and death. A toy Gun, a stuffed Elephant, a wrist Watch, a Mink-Stole, the aforementioned Ring and framed photos of his deceased Parents... making one wonder how they died?


I get the impression that Hitchcock is laughing at the 1943 censors, knowing that he's clever enough to show and imply, what they wouldn't let him say upfront. Two of the other characters in the quiet town enjoy a hobby that involves discussing the best ways to murder each other and get away with it. We meet a former school mate of young Charlie who is now a dead-eyed waitress in a dive bar. Even the unrelentingly chipper mother starts crying at one point, recalling but never explaining some painful memory from her past. Hitchcock is suggesting that darkness lurks beneath the surface in even the quietest and most respectable towns. The most famous scene features Cotton delivering a disturbing monologue about his hatred of women before suddenly turning to look out of the screen at us. It gives me shivers every time:


The first film in the book by Visconti next.
 
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