What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
With my local movie theater charging $12.50 per ticket, and with all of the expenses that come with planning my upcoming nuptials (as I commented below on C.J.'s post, I wish we had opted to elope), I’m determined to avoid the cinema this summer. Instead, I’m raiding the public library for every 1940s and 50s film I can get my hands on and plan to write a series over at Acculturated on the selections I watch. While plenty has changed in the sixty to seventy years since these films were produced, the basic human themes of love, truth, happiness, meaning, forgiveness, and mutual understanding are as relevant now as ever.
My first selection, which I write about here, was the 1947 film Gentleman's Agreement, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Gregory Peck. It's a great movie, if at times a bit on the preachy side, that treats the subject of anti-Semitism. Not the blatant, kill-the-Jews strain of anti-Semitism of Hitler's Germany or Ahmadinejad's Iran, but rather the passive and incredibly pernicious strain of anti-Semitism prevalent in postwar America.
My next selection will be on the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson. Member Adrian has already sold me on Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront, which I plan on reviewing as part of my series, but I welcome your recommendations for other outstanding films from the 1940s and 50s that stand the test of time and remain relevant for today's generation.
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Comments:
Mar '12
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
Haven't read the comments, so these were probably listed already, but I like The Third Man and Citizen Kane.
May '10
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
Gotta second Best years of our Lives. It deserves all the accolades. A perfect screenplay. P E R F E C T. I think Mr. Long weighed in on that once...
Feb '12
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
Oops! How could I forget "Hail the conquering hero!"(1944). ' Awright, Capra. When it comes to comedy, you ain't got nothin' on Preston Sturges!' What a grand comedy!
Sep '10
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - a wonderful British comedy, with Alec Guinness playing nine different roles.
Jan '12
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
Look to Japan for cinematic perfection: Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), and Tokyo Story (1953), all directed by Yasujiro Ozu, "the quiet master."
Apr '11
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
To Have and Have Not, the semi-sequel to Casablanca, is brilliant.
Bacall: Give her my love.
Bogart: If she wore that dress, I'd give her my own.
We're No Angels, with Bogart, Ustinov, Aldo Ray, Basil Rathbone, one of the Bennett sisters, certainly proved Bogart could do comedy. He always looked a little lost, to me, in Beat the Devil. Of course, for the guys, it has Lollobrigida.
Kind of obscure (for a long time it wasn't available on video) is The Young Lions. Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin (back when he wanted to be a serious actor) ... I may be misremembering, but I think Ms. Dietrich made a cameo appearance.
Nov '10
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
I cannot recommend Arsenic and Old Lace enough. I first read the play when I was of single digit age, and the movie is still one of the funniest things I've seen in decades, even if Carey Grant does overact a bit (but it works!)
That, The Return of the Pink Panther and Murder by Death (both from the 70's) are the three movies we all default to when my family cannot agree on which movie to watch.
Edited on July 12, 2012 at 11:42pmRe: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
Oh my gosh, I just saw Preston Sturges's The Great McGinty (1940) last night. Hilarious because it presciently depicts the state of the rotten, corrupt Democratic Party of 2012. It's also oddly comforting to know that some things just never change.
Oct '10
Re: What are Your Favorite Films from the 1940s and 50s?
Steven Den Beste of USS Clueless recommended the anime series Mouretsu Pirates. He gave it 4/4 stars. I'm watching the series right now.