1940s

  • Edward Dmytryk – Give Us This Day (1949)

    Edward Dmytryk1941-1950DramaFilm NoirUnited Kingdom
    Give Us This Day (1949)
    Give Us This Day (1949)

    PLOT SUMMARY :
    Italian-American laborer Geremio works as a bricklayer on dangerous construction jobs, with his friends Luigi, Julio, Giovanni and DeLucey. When his best girl Kathleen refuses to marry him because he has no ambition beyond his work, Geremio asks Luigi to send to Italy for the young Annuziata to be his bride. Annunziata’s one condition before coming is that Geremio must have a house of his own, but Geremio can’t wait and lies to her in a letter. Their meeting and wedding is a joyous success. She forgives him and they start to save for a house from his meagre salary while living in a tenement and raising children; but economic events cripple their plans, and worse, tempt him to betray his fellow workers.Read More »

  • Carl Froelich – Das Herz der Königin AKA The Queen’s Heart (1940)

    Carl Froelich1931-1940DramaGermanyThird Reich Cinema
    Das Herz der Königin (1940)
    Das Herz der Königin (1940)

    Synopsis:
    As the title “The Queen’s Heart” suggests, this early German black and white version of Mary Queen of Scott’s eventful reign and death focuses on her emotional perception rather lyrically, with some songs, mainly by her. Starting in the Tower, awaiting and receiving her sentence to the ax from the English court, where Elisabeth I chose to remain absent in person, we flash back to Mary’s arrival after a long exile at the sophisticated, splendidly hedonistic French royal court, where she was raised as a Catholic, in her people’s eyes effeminate or even depraved, elegant pleasure-accustomed lady, at utter odds with the stern Scottish protestantism of John Knox as well as England’s Anglicanism.Read More »

  • Harald Reinl – Bergkristall (1949)

    Harald Reinl1941-1950AustriaDramaRomance
    Bergkristall (1949)
    Bergkristall (1949)

    The Tyrolean mountain farmer’s son Franz loves the beautiful Sanna. A hunter who is also interested in her catches Franz poaching, shoots him and leaves him alone. On the run, he falls fatally into a crevasse. When Franz returns home badly injured, he is believed to be the murderer of the missing hunter. Although he is acquitted in court for lack of evidence, the village community turns their backs on him. Only Sanna sticks by him. Years later, their children get lost in the mountains at Christmas time and come across the hunter’s body, unharmed from gunshot wounds. So Franz is finally rehabilitated.Read More »

  • Eugene Forde – Buy Me That Town (1941)

    Eugene Forde1941-1950ClassicsComedyUSA
    Buy Me That Town (1941)
    Buy Me That Town (1941)

    Synopsis
    A gangster and his mob buy a small-town in this warm comedy. They, tired of trying
    to make it as big city hoods, buy the town to use as a hideout. The leader of the
    gang begins to have a change of heart after he begins falling for a local girl. He
    decides to use the “protection money” his gang has been pocketing to benefit the
    townsfolk. This feels good to the tough and thug-like gangsters who begin embracing
    the ideals of good citizenship in favor of a life of crime.Read More »

  • Leslie Arliss – The Man in Grey (1943)

    Leslie Arliss1941-1950ClassicsDramaUSA
    The Man in Grey (1943)
    The Man in Grey (1943)

    Synopsis:
    At an estate auction in WWII England, two strangers meet and muse about their families’ history and possible connections. Flashbacks reveal the story of the sweet, rich, and beautiful Clarissa Richmond and her friendship with bitter, impoverished Hesther Shaw. Their fates are intertwined even as their paths diverge. Clarissa marries the handsome but cruel Marquis of Rohan while Hesther becomes an actress. Eventually, the two women meet again and Clarissa brings the scheming Hesther into her household. As Clarissa searches for true love, Hesther plots to take away everything that belongs to her.Read More »

  • Kenji Mizoguchi – Meito bijomaru AKA The Famous Sword Bijomaru (1945)

    Kenji Mizoguchi1941-1950ClassicsDramaJapan
    Meito bijomaru (1945)
    Meito bijomaru (1945)

    Synopsis:
    Kiyone Sakurai, an apprentice swordmaker makes a sword for his guardian, Kozaemon Onoda. Onoda breaks the sword while defending his lord which eventually leads to his death at the hands of Naito, when Naito demands to marry his daughter Sasae. Sasae vows to avenge her father’s death and pleads for Kiyone Sakurai to make a special sword for her. So Kiyone and his fellow swordmaker Kiyotsugu go to the master swordsmith Kiyohide Yamatomori to learn their craft and forge the sword.Read More »

  • S. Sylvan Simon – The Thrill of Brazil (1946)

    S. Sylvan Simon1941-1950DramaMusicalUSA
    The Thrill of Brazil (1946)
    The Thrill of Brazil (1946)

    Synopsis:
    In this musical, Broadway producer Steve Farraugh is in Rio to preview a show he plans to take to New York. The star of the production, Linda Lorens, pines for Steve, but he is still in love with his estranged wife, Vicki, who arrives in Rio with divorce papers and her new fiancé, John Habour, in tow. Steve concocts a plan to win Vicki back, but, amid a slew of song-and-dance numbers, all goes awry.Read More »

  • Robert Z. Leonard – In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

    Robert Z. Leonard1941-1950ComedyRomanceUSA
    In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
    In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

    Plot:
    In this musical remake of The Shop Around the Corner, feuding co-workers in a small music shop do not realize they are secret romantic pen pals.Read More »

  • Noel Coward & David Lean – In Which We Serve (1942)

    David Lean1941-1950DramaNoël CowardUnited KingdomWar
    In Which We Serve (1942)
    In Which We Serve (1942)

    Plot / Synopsis
    In the midst of World War II, the renowned playwright Noël Coward engaged a young film editor named David Lean to help him realize his vision for an action drama about a group of Royal Navy sailors (roles that would be filled by Coward himself, Bernard Miles, and John Mills, among others) fighting the Germans in the Mediterranean. Coward and Lean ended up codirecting the large-scale project—an impressive undertaking, especially considering that neither of them had directed for the big screen before (this would be Coward’s only such credit). Cutting between a major naval battle and flashbacks to the men’s lives before they left home, In Which We Serve (an Oscar nominee for best picture) was a major breakthrough for both filmmakers and a sensitive and stirring piece of propaganda.Read More »

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