1940s

  • Luigi Comencini – Proibito rubare AKA Guaglio (1948)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaItalyLuigi Comencini

    Synopsis:
    On his way to Africa, Don Pietro, a young missionary priest has his suitcase stolen in the station of Naples. While making every effort to retrieve his baggage he finds out how devastated and miserable the city of Naples is. Learning that he has been the victim of gang of local street urchins, he decides that is mission is here in Naples, not under distant skies. He creates a home for poor kids, assisted by Maddalena, the cook, with a view to putting the “scugnizzi” back on the right track. He is very successful with Peppinello, who shows gratitude for what the priest is doing and feels good in his new secure home. But other kids do not play by the rules and find the home a convenient place for hiding the product of their thefts…Read More »

  • Elia Kazan & John Ford – Pinky (1949)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaElia KazanJohn FordUSA

    Synopsis:
    Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother’s house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school. Pinky tells her grandmother that she has been “passing” for white while at school in the North. In addition, Pinky has fallen in love with a young white doctor, Dr. Thomas Adams, who knows nothing about her black heritage. Pinky says that she will return to the North, but Granny Johnson convinces her to stay and treat an ailing white woman, Miss Em. Meanwhile, Dr. Canady, a black physician from another part of the state, visits Pinky and asks her to train some African American students, but she declines. Read More »

  • Herbert Kline – The Forgotten Village (1941)

    1941-1950DocumentaryHerbert KlineUSA

    PLOT DESCRIPTION
    The Forgotten Village in this powerful 68-minute documentary is an unnamed, poverty-stricken Mexican community. Living in deplorable conditions, the villagers must not only contend with the elements but with their own lack of inner resourcefulness. In grim detail, the film records the life-cycle of a typical peasant family, from birth to death. Perhaps as a sop to the Mexican authorities, the film ends with the assurance that new government programs have been placed into effect to help the unfortunates depicted on screen. The narration for The Forgotten Village was written by novelist John Steinbeck and spoken by Burgess Meredith, who in 1939 starred in the film version of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Luchino Visconti – Ossessione AKA Obsession [+Extras] (1943)

    1941-1950CrimeDramaItalian Neo-RealismItalyLuchino Visconti

    Gino, a young and handsome tramp, stops in a small roadside inn run by Giovanna. She is unsatisfied with her older husband Bragana : she only married him for money. Gino and Giovanna fall in love. But Bragana is inhibiting for their passion, and Giovanna refuses to run away with Gino.Read More »

  • Robert Z. Leonard – The Secret Heart (1946)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaRobert Z. LeonardUSA

    Synopsis:
    Brillant pianist Larry Addams allows his frustrated ambitions to ruin his life and commits suicide, leaving his wife, Lee, and two small children, Penny and Chase, under the stigma of disgrace. Lee takes over and devotes her life to paying off Larry’s debts and raising her two step-children. Prior to her marriage, Lee had turned down the proposal of Chris Matthews, wealthy ship builder and college friend of Larry’s, but he had remained as a true friend to both. On the night of the suicide, Lee and Chris had attended a dinner party together and, horrified and shocked at the death, Lee sends Chris away, and for ten years does everything possible for the children to make up for the loss of their father. Bewildered by some of the strange stories concerning her father, the grown-up Penny (June Allyson) questions Lee and her brother Chase. Later, Penny meets and falls in love with Chris, not realizing he is the man Lee gave up.Read More »

  • Wolfgang Staudte – Die Mörder Sind Unter Uns AKA The Murderers Are Among Us (1946)

    1941-1950GermanyThrillerWarWolfgang Staudte

    Synopsis:
    Susanne Wallner returns to the ruins of Berlin from a Concentration Camp after WW2 to discover that someone else lives in her apartment: Dr. Hans Mertens, the war made him depressive and he drinks a lot of alcohol. Susanne asks him to go but he doesn’t want to, so they share Susanne’s apartment and even discover their sympathy and then their love for each other. That encourages him a little, of course. But then he hears that Ferdinand Brückner is still alive and also lives in Berlin. Brückner was his Captain during WW2, he gave the order to kill more than 100 innocent people, many children and women among them, on Christmas 1942 in Poland.Read More »

  • Rudolph Maté – The Dark Past (1948)

    1941-1950Film NoirRudolph MatéUSA

    Quote:
    Taken hostage along with his family and friends, psychologist Andrew Collins (Lee J. Cobb) is held by the murderous fugitive Al Walker (William Holden) and his gang. While Walker’s crew, which includes his lover, Betty (Nina Foch), tends to the other hostages, the desperate mastermind talks to Collins about his troubled past. As the night progresses, Collins gets Walker to focus on a disturbing dream, resulting in a psychological breakthrough that may help avoid a violent conflict.Read More »

  • Fridrikh Ermler – Ona zashchishchayet rodinu AKA She Defends the Motherland (1943)

    1941-1950DramaFriedrich ErmlerUSSRWar

    (kinoglaz.fr)
    On the first day of the war fascists brutally killed the little son of a peasant woman Praskovya Lukyanova before the mother’s eyes. Her husband was also killed. Praskovya leaves the village. She goes to woods, organizes a partisan detachment and takes vengeance on the enemy.
    The film was restored at the Gorky Film Studio in 1966.
     The authors of the film were honored the Stalin’s Prize of the USSR.Read More »

  • Edward Buzzell – Easy to Wed [+Extras] (1946)

    1941-1950Buster KeatonComedyEdward BuzzellRomanceUSA

    Quote:
    This is one of the few times at MGM Lucy was given a chance to exploit her full comedic range, and she goes at it with gusto. From the moment she makes her whirlwind entrance looking absolutely gorgeous in a white wedding gown, she commands the screen whenever the camera is on her. In fact, though the movie ostensibly “stars” Van Johnson and Esther Williams, the bland leads take a back seat to the lively pairing of Lucy and Keenan Wynn, as her somewhat morally corrupt boyfriend. Forget comparisons to “Libeled Lady”; “Easy to Wed” is of a different era, and much more slapsticky, and, as noted, Lucy is a gem whether getting drunk and playing the piano or evincing true pathos as a wronged woman. She has rarely been photographed more appealingly, either.Read More »

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