1940s

  • Jean Epstein – Le tempestaire AKA The Tempest (1947)

    Jean Epstein1941-1950FantasyFranceShort Film
    Le tempestaire (1947)
    Le tempestaire (1947)

    In a village in Brittany, a young maid and an old woman are spinning while the wind blows threateningly outdoors. In spite of the bad omen, the young maid’s boyfriend decides to sail away. Worried, the young maid ask for help to a mysterious old man and his magical crystal ball in order to calm down the rough seas.Read More »

  • Maya Deren – Meditation on Violence (1949)

    Maya Deren1941-1950ExperimentalShort FilmUSA
    Meditation on Violence (1949)
    Meditation on Violence (1949)

    A young Oriental man with a headscarf and bare torso shadowboxes indoors in front of a series of unadorned walls, light, dark, both shades. He is then shown exercising outside with a sword in an area surrounded by a low stone wall and overlooking a river, before there is a return to the first sequence.Read More »

  • William K. Howard – Johnny Come Lately (1943)

    William K. Howard1941-1950ClassicsDramaUSA
    Johnny Come Lately (1943)
    Johnny Come Lately (1943)

    James Cagney stars in this Oscar-winning smalltown drama as an ex-reporter turned drifter who arrives in a town where corruption is rife. Jailed for vagrancy, on release he meets up with Vinnie McLeod, editor of the local paper and one of the few honest citizens in town.Read More »

  • Edgar G. Ulmer – Bluebeard (1944)

    Edgar G. Ulmer1941-1950HorrorThrillerUSA
    Bluebeard (1944)
    Bluebeard (1944)

    A killer of young women, dubbed Bluebeard, is loose in Paris. Lucille and her friends meet Gaston Morrell, a puppeteer. He invites them to a show the next night; they go. Afterwards, he walks with Lucille; she offers to make costumes for his next show, he accepts, and feelings develop that may lead to love. She suspects he has a tragic past. Meanwhile, his leaving the show with Lucille prompts the jealousy of Renee, Gaston’s sometime lover. Lucille’s younger sister, Francine, comes back to Paris – her boyfriend is Inspector Lefebre, who’s hunting for Bluebeard. Some clues point toward Lamart, a greedy art dealer. Who is in danger, and can Gaston be trusted?Read More »

  • Yasushi Sasaki – Gekimetsu no uta AKA Song of Destruction (1945)

    Yasushi Sasaki1941-1950JapanWar
    Gekimetsu no uta (1945)
    Gekimetsu no uta (1945)

    Three daughters have graduated from the music school and have gone their separate ways. On the day of the outbreak of war, the three girls meet again for the first time since their graduation ceremony.

    This film was made at the end of the war to promote the military song “Song of the Annihilation of the United States and Great Britain” and to raise the will to fight. It was made in 1945. There are some expressions in this film that would be considered inappropriate today, but in light of the historical value of the film, they have been omitted.

    Because the original film and the video master are old there are some parts which are unsightly and some parts are missing. Thank you for your understanding in advanceRead More »

  • Riccardo Freda – Aquila Nera (1946)

    1941-1950ActionDramaItalyRiccardo Freda
    Aquila Nera (1946)
    Aquila Nera (1946)

    Fourth film by Freda, “Aquila Nera” is a “cappa e spada” adventure set in 19th century Russia (Pushkin’s tale is the source material): Tzar’s Army Officer Dubrowskij becomes an outlaw to avenge his father’s death and leads a pesant’s revolt against a greedy nobleman.Read More »

  • Frank Lloyd – Blood on the Sun (1945)

    Frank Lloyd1941-1950DramaThrillerUSA
    Blood on the Sun (1945)
    Blood on the Sun (1945)

    PLOT: A dedicated American reporter in 1930s Japan is determined to expose that government’s plan for world domination.Read More »

  • Roberto Rossellini – Un Pilota ritorna aka A Pilot Returns (1942)

    Roberto Rossellini1941-1950DramaItalian Cinema under FascismItalyWar
    Un Pilota ritorna (1942)
    Un Pilota ritorna (1942)

    A Fascist pilot, Lt. Gino Rossati (Massimo Girotti), is flying a bombing run from Italy to Greece in the early spring of 1941. He is shot down by British aircraft and becomes a prisoner of war, first of the British and later the Greeks. In one of the prison camps, he falls in love with Anna (Michela Belmonte), the teenage daughter of an Italian doctor. During a bombardment by the Italians, he is able to escape by stealing a British plane. He returns home, although wounded, and lands in time to hear the reports of Greece’s surrender.Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith – Cottage to Let AKA Bombsight Stolen (1941)

    Anthony Asquith1941-1950ThrillerUnited KingdomWar
    Cottage to Let (1941)
    Cottage to Let (1941)

    Cottage to Let is a taut British wartime spy thriller, laced with moments of genuinely hilarious comedy. The “maguffin” in this instance is a revolutionary new bombsight, designed by inventor John Barrington (Leslie Banks). A group of Nazi spies intend to steal the blueprints for the invention (hence the film’s alternate title Bombsight Stolen), and to that end dispatch one of their top agents (John Mills), who parachutes into the story posing as wounded RAF pilot Lt. Perry. Hailed as a war hero by the gullible locals, Perry rents a cottage from the unsuspecting Barrington and his wife (Jeanne de Casalis). The treacherous Nazi meets his match in the unlikely form of oafish Charles Dimble (Alastair Sim), who turns out to be a British undercover agent.Read More »

Back to top button