1940s

  • Edward Bernds – Fuelin’ Around (1949)

    Edward Bernds1941-1950ComedyShort FilmUSA

    The stooges are carpet layers working in the home of a scientist, Professor Sneed, who has invented a super rocket fuel. Larry is mistaken for the professor by foreign agents who kidnap the trio and take them to the country of Anemia where they are ordered to produce the rocket fuel or be executed. The boys come up with a concoction they try to pass of as the real stuff, but are exposed when the real professor and his daughter are also kidnapped. The stooges help them escape, using their secret formula to fuel a jeep.Read More »

  • Joseph M. Newman – Jungle Patrol AKA West of Tomorrow (1948)

    Joseph M. Newman1941-1950ActionDramaUSA

    A visit from a USO entertainer lifts the spirits of the pilots stationed in New Guinea, who are beginning to worry that their luck will soon run short.Read More »

  • Edward Bernds – Who Done It? (1949)

    1941-1950ComedyEdward BerndsShort FilmUSA

    The stooges are private detectives looking for a missing millionaire. They wander around the millionaire’s spooky mansion confronting various crooks and a dangerous dame. The stooges vanquish the crooks (Shemp uses his “trusty shovel”) and find the missing man.Read More »

  • Gustaf Molander – Ordet AKA The Word (1943)

    Gustaf Molander1941-1950DramaSweden

    Quote:
    Farmer Knut Borg (Victor Sjöström) and his family live an ascetic, Chartuan Christian life. Knut is the obvious head of the family but has a hard time getting the three sons to go the right way. Knut Jr. saddened by the strict religiosity and leaves the farm, Anders falls in love with a girl from a free church family and when Anders, who is studying to be a priest, loses his wife, life collapses. The wife was the unifying link in the family. In his despair, Anders loses his mind and thinks he is the savior.Read More »

  • Frank Wisbar – Strangler of the Swamp (1946)

    Frank Wisbar1941-1950HorrorUSA

    A ferry operator accused of a murder he did not commit is executed for the crime. Now his ghost walks the marshlands he once called home, seeking vengeance against those who wronged him. The village’s new ferry operator, the beautiful Maria, must find a way to save her boyfriend from becoming the ghost’s next victim.Read More »

  • Mary Ellen Bute & Ted Nemeth – Tarantella (1940)

    Mary Ellen Bute1931-1940AnimationExperimentalTed NemethUSA

    Quote:
    “This new medium of expression is the Absolute Film. Here the artist creates a world of color, form, movement, and sound in which the elements are in a state of controllable flux, the two materials (visual and aural) being subject to any conceivable interrelation and modification.” – Mary Ellen Bute

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  • Roy William Neill – Black Angel (1946)

    Roy William Neill1941-1950DramaFilm NoirUSA

    Synopsis:
    A falsely convicted man’s wife, Catherine (June Vincent), and an alcoholic composer and pianist, Martin (Dan Duryea), team up in an attempt to clear her husband of the murder of a blonde singer, Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling), who had been Martin’s wife. Their investigation leads them to face-to-face confrontations with a determined policeman, Captain Flood (Broderick Crawford), and a shifty nightclub owner, Mr. Marko (Peter Lorre), who Catherine and Martin suspect may be the real killer.Read More »

  • John Huston – Let There Be Light (1946)

    John Huston1941-1950DocumentaryUSAWar

    This groundbreaking, long-suppressed look at the effects of war on returning veterans was among the first films to tackle the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder (or as it was then called, “shell shock” or “battle fatigue”). Shot at Mason General Hospital in Brentwood, Long Island, at the end of World War II, LET THERE BE LIGHT follows seventy-five former soldiers suffering debilitating psychological trauma who, in the film’s most dramatic scenes, are given sodium pentothal to recall their horrific experiences in the war. Considered too disturbing and controversial for exhibition, this landmark documentary was suppressed by the military for decades until it finally premiered in New York in 1980.Read More »

  • Henry Hathaway – Kiss of Death (1947)

    Henry Hathaway1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsCrimeFilm NoirUSA

    Small-time crook Nick Bianco gets caught in a jewel heist and despite urgings from well-meaning district attorney D’Angelo, refuses to rat on his partners and goes to jail, assured that his wife and children will be taken care of. Learning that his depressed wife has killed herself, Nick informs on his ex-pals and is paroled. Nick remarries, gets a job and begins leading a happy life when he learns one of the men he informed on, psychopathic killer Tommy Udo, has been released from custody and is out for revenge against Nick and his family.Read More »

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