1940s

  • Kunio Watanabe – Nabeshima kaibyô-den AKA The Legend of Big Cat on Nabe Island (1949)

    1941-1950HorrorJapanKunio WatanabeMystery

    Quote:
    Tanuma Kandayuu is a high class samurai of the house of Nabeshima. He finds a lavish board of Go at Kinbei’s store. He recommend Kinbei to offer it to his lord. Kinbei hesitates at first, since he knows the board has some weird history. It is believed that one game played on the board requires one death.Read More »

  • William Berke – Zamba (1949)

    1941-1950AdventureDramaUSAWilliam Berke

    Jenny and her six-year-old son, Tommy, are flying over the Belgian Congo when they are forced to bail out and become separated. Jenny lands in a dense jungle and is rescued by a safari headed by two wild-animal collectors, but Tommy is not found. He has amnesia and is lost, but is adopted by Zamba, a huge gorilla. He lives happily with his new family. Jenny comes back with a searching party, and Zamba, the gorilla mother, is determined to protect Tommy from his real mother.Read More »

  • Hermann Pfeiffer – Falschmünzer AKA Counterfeiters (1940)

    Hermann Pfeiffer1931-1940CrimeGermanyThird Reich Cinema

    Counterfeit money is discovered near the Bodensee. The investigators for the “Reichszentrale für Falschmünzerei” get wind of it and open up an investigation. When the band of counterfeiters try to recruit a young graphic artist into their ranks, he quickly rats on them to the police. The investigation soon leads to Switzerland, where the nest of criminals is stormed with the help of the Swiss police. (rarefilmsandmore.com)Read More »

  • Frederick De Cordova – That Way with Women (1947) 

    1941-1950ComedyFrederick De CordovaRomanceUSA

    THAT WAY WITH WOMEN was a cute romantic comedy nothing especially special, but it had a solid cast and provided a diverting 84 minutes. The story, a remake of THE MILLIONAIRE (1931), is about a former automobile manufacturing tycoon from Detroit, J.P. Alden (Sydney Greenstreet), who is bored with his retirement in sunny Pasadena, California; on a whim J.P. buys a half interest in a gas station. The other half of the gas station is owned by Greg Wilson (Dane Clark), a young man struggling to get a business going after wartime service. Greg has no idea of J.P.’s true identity, or that J.P. is the father of Marcia (Martha Vickers), the gorgeous young woman with whom Greg has a love-hate relationship.Read More »

  • Roy Del Ruth – The Chocolate Soldier (1941)

    1941-1950ComedyMusicalRoy Del RuthUSA

    Maria and Karl Lang are the singing duo of Vienna. Maria had previously enjoyed attention from many men before marrying Karl, and Karl is very jealous. Karl tries to test Maria’s loyalty by masquerading as a Russian guardsman to see whether she will flirt. Karl, in his Russian disguise, makes vigorous attempts to seduce Maria. But he becomes more and more confused because he can’t determine whether Maria’s friendly reception to the guardsman is innocent, or whether it signifies a deeper interest. Has Maria has seen through Karl’s disguise and is she toying with him?Read More »

  • Lewis Allen – Chicago Deadline (1949)

    USA1941-1950Film NoirLewis Allen

    Ladd is as hardboiled as ever in this minor film noir classic. He is a tough reporter in Chicago (though he is never shown working at a typewriter) who first appears at a run-down south side rooming house, attempting to talk a runaway girl into returning home. In the next room he finds the emaciated but beautiful body of a girl who has died of tuberculosis (Reed). Before the police arrive Ladd pockets her address book and then systematically begins to look up the various venal people in her life who tell her story in flashbacks. There is Kroeger, a vicious gangster; Muir, a nervous banker; Freeman, an invalid writer; Lees, an addled boxer; Havoc, a call girl; Hervey, a gangster’s moll; and, in a startling performance, Strudwick, as a melancholy mobster. Read More »

  • Robert Rossen – Body and Soul (1947)

    1941-1950ClassicsFilm NoirRobert RossenUSA

    Body and Soul is a 1947 American film noir sports drama directed by Robert Rossen, and features John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere and William Conrad. The film, written by Abraham Polonsky with cinematography by James Wong Howe, is considered by some to be high among the best films about boxing, it’s also a cautionary tale about the lure of money—and how it can derail even a strong common man in his pursuit of success.Read More »

  • Ingmar Bergman – Fängelse AKA Prison (1949) (HD)

    1941-1950DramaExperimentalIngmar BergmanSweden

    A movie director is approached by his old math teacher with a great movie idea: the Devil declares that the Earth is hell. The director rejects the idea, but subsequent events in the life of a writer, a friend of the director’s, and a young prostitute he loves seem to prove the math teacher’s idea.Read More »

  • Santaro Marune – Kakute kamikaze wa fuku AKA Thus Blew the Divine Wind (1944)

    1941-1950DramaJapanSantaro MaruneWar

    Set in the late thirteenth century, Kakute kamikaze wa fuku (Thus Blew the Divine Wind, 1944) depicts an important historical event as the defense of southern Japan led by the Kono clan against the Mongol invasion in 1281. It features a full-scale hurricane destroying enemy ships, a cast of thousands to drown, and an all-star cast in the lead roles.Read More »

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