1941-1950

  • John Ford – Torpedo Squadron (1942)

    1941-1950DocumentaryJohn FordShort FilmUSA

    There were only 30 copies of this film made, one for each family who lost someone during the attack on the Japanese fleet at Midway on 4 June 1942 by Torpedo Squadron 8, VT-8, USS Hornet. The squadron was led by Cmdr John Waldron, and this video was made using the original film that had been given to Waldron’s wife & daughter. The original film was made by John Ford from the footage of of classic documentary, The Battle of Midway.

    A short documentary filed during the Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942. Focuses on the 30 men in the torpedo squadron of the US Aircraft Carrier Hornet.Read More »

  • Billy Wilder – Double Indemnity [Criterion 4K] (1944)

    1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsBilly WilderCrimeFilm NoirUSA

    Has dialogue ever been more perfectly hard-boiled? Has a femme fatale ever been as deliciously wicked as Barbara Stanwyck? And has 1940s Los Angeles ever looked so seductively sordid? Working with cowriter Raymond Chandler, director Billy Wilder launched himself onto the Hollywood A-list with this epitome of film-noir fatalism from James M. Cain’s pulp novel. When slick salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) walks into the swank home of dissatisfied housewife Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck), he intends to sell insurance, but he winds up becoming entangled with her in a far more sinister way. Featuring scene-stealing supporting work from Edward G. Robinson and the chiaroscuro of cinematographer John F. Seitz, Double Indemnity is one of the most entertainingly perverse stories ever told and the standard by which all noir must be measured.Read More »

  • John Ford & Gregg Toland – December 7th (1943)

    1941-1950DocumentaryGregg TolandJohn FordUSAWar

    Quote:

    Utilizing stock military footage of Pearl Harbor, December 7th departs from the typical documentary form to present a narrative framing device featuring Walter Huston as a character representing Uncle Sam, Harry Davenport as a folksy representation of “conscience” called Mr. C, and Dana Andrews as the ghost of an American soldier. The story opens on December 6, 1941, the day before the attack, with Uncle Sam and Mr. C carrying on a discussion about the history of Hawaii and the country’s war preparations. One of the approaches taken by co-directors John Ford and Gregg Toland was to paint the Japanese-American citizens of Hawaii (37 percent of the population, according to the film) as potential traitors, fifth-columnists spying on their “American” employers for information to hustle back to the “homeland.” Read More »

  • Jules Dassin – Nazi Agent (1942)

    1941-1950CrimeDramaJules DassinUSA

    Humble stamp dealer Otto Becker has little to do with international politics, so when he receives a surprise visit from his estranged twin brother and Nazi spy, Baron Hugo Von Detner, his world is thrown into turmoil. Threatening Becker with deportation, Hugo forces him to use his shop as a front for espionage. But when Becker’s friend Professor Sterling turns up dead, Becker accidentally shoots his brother and assumes his identity.Read More »

  • Alfred L. Werker – Repeat Performance (1947)

    1941-1950Alfred L. WerkerFilm NoirMysteryUSA

    Synopsis:
    Sheila kills her husband at the start of the film with a smoking gun. We don’t know how or why. All we know is men are banging on her door and she escapes. There is a notable dialogue as she makes her way to a New Years celebration with Richard Basehart as the poet William Williams. As she goes up the stairs to John Friday’s apartment (her producer), she wishes she could relive the year and undo what she has done. William Williams, in an offhand remark, states he wishes he was the one who shot Barney, her erstwhile husband. We see that Destiny is not too happy with making changes to her plans.Read More »

  • Satsuo Yamamoto – Tsubasa no gaika AkA A Triumph Of Wings (1942)

    1941-1950DramaJapanSatsuo YamamotoWar

    A drama film produced during WW2 about a japanese fighter squadron and their families.
    Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto and co-written by Akira Kurosawa.Read More »

  • Maya Deren – Witch’s Cradle (1944) (HD)

    1941-1950ExperimentalMaya DerenShort FilmUSA

    Quote:
    “In 1944 Maya made a film at the Peggy Guggenheim Art of this Century Gallery with Marcel Duchamp called Witches Cradle. Deren used the camera, as she envisioned medieval witches and magicians did, to ‘defy’ time and space through the disappearance and reappearance of objects. Based on an article written by the Frenchman Charles Duits, colleague of Andre Breton and an extra in Ritual in Transfigured Time, Deren compared these medieval witches and magicians to the surrealists, and had a brief association with the movement. She resisted the label attached to her work and defended her position in scholarship and on tour for lecture/demonstrations.” (algonet.se)Read More »

  • Leslie Fenton – Streets of Laredo (1949)

    1941-1950Leslie FentonUSAWestern

    Quote:
    Streets of Laredo is a streamlined and Technicolorful remake of Paramount’s 1936 box-office champ The Texas Rangers. William Holden, William Bendix and MacDonald Carey star as roguish outlaws Jim Dawkins, Wahoo Jones and Lorn Remming. After rescuing a little girl named Rannie Carter from a wicked tax collector, Dawkins and Jones decide to switch to the right side of the law; Remming, however, has other ideas. Years later, Rennie has grown up quite prettily into Mona Freeman, while Jim and Wahoo have become scrupulous members of the newly-formed Texas Rangers. Jim is in love with Rennie, but she has eyes for the still-crooked Lorn — at least until Lorn proves to be the louse that the audience knew he was from the first reel.Read More »

  • Maya Deren – Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946)

    1941-1950ExperimentalMaya DerenShort FilmUSA

    Quote:
    Ritual in Transfigured Time is like a dream, meaning that the various sequences don’t seem to have any connection to each other unless you try to approach this film in a different way and not as a conventional hollywood movie.

    The main character in the film is Rita Christiani who after a strange scene with Maya Deren herself who disappears startling Rita, appears in this ball with ladies and gentlemen dancing. This film has one of the most beautiful scenes in a Maya Deren’s film when Rita Christiani while she’s dancing she appears to float in the air.Read More »

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