1941-1950

  • Fridrikh Ermler – Velikiy perelom AKA The Great Turning Point (1945)

    1941-1950DramaFridrikh ErmlerUSSRWar

    Summary:
    World War II. German high command accumulates enormous forces for the assault. Soviet troops commanded by General Muravyov repulse the enemy attacks. Soviet army scouts find out the exact day and time of the decisive offensive. Muravyov is determined to forestall the Nazis and plasters the enemy with fire. All is quiet. Will the fascist troops weakened by the surprise fire begin their offensive or put off the attack?Read More »

  • Sergei Yutkevich – Zdravstvuy, Moskva! AKA Hello Moscow! (1945)

    Sergei Yutkevich1941-1950DramaMusicalUSSR

    SYNOPSIS: On an amateur arts festival the little boy, accompanying itself on a bayan, sings a song about Moscow … In a basis of a plot of film — the story of director of a vocational school about history of old bayan. Belonged once to the experienced worker who has lost during demonstration of 1905, the instrument has visited many hands before has got to children.Read More »

  • Henri Decoin – L’homme de Londres AKA The London Man (1943)

    1941-1950DramaFranceHenri DecoinThriller

    Synopsis (possible spoilers):

    ‘A port swathed in dense fog sees the coming and going of boats all day. During the night, Maloin is the man who controls the trains that transport goods to and from the port. One evening, he sees a man get off the boat from London and hand his suitcase to another man who has been waiting for him. Unaware that Maloin is watching them, the two men get into a fight, which ends with one of them falling into the water with the suitcase. As the other man flees, Maloin dives in and recovers the suitcase. To his surprise, it is full of money. Back home, he tells nothing about this to his wife and daughter but hints that they will soon have a better life. What follows will prove otherwise…’
    – Willems HenriRead More »

  • Börje Larsson – En trallande jänta AKA Miss Swing (1942)

    Drama1941-1950Börje LarssonMusicalSweden

    Inger, a parentless country girl of 17, dreams of being a professional singer. Through donations from the commune she gets the opportunity to go to the city for proper singing lessons, and a lot of swing on the sly…Read More »

  • Lev Arnshtam – Zoya (1944)

    1941-1950DramaLev ArnshtamRussiaWar

    Zoya is the inspirational true story of one of Russia’s most beloved national heroines. During the Nazi siege of Moscow, a fearless 18-year-old girl named Zoya risked her life as a partisan fighter. Captured by the Germans, Zoya endured unspeakable tortures at the hands of the Gestapo but still refused to betray her comrades. Even on the gallows, Zoya defiantly spoke out against the Nazis and everything they stood for. In a series of flashbacks, this film re-creates not merely Zoya’s death, but also her life. Galina Vodiantiskaya plays the title character as an adult, while Katia Skvortsova enacts the younger Zoya. The film’s English-language version was prepared by Howard Fast, who was later egregiously blacklisted for his “pro-Red” activities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Wallace Fox – The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

    Wallace Fox1941-1950HorrorSci-FiUSA

    Dr. Lorenz, a mad scientist, wants to keep his elderly wife young. He does this by kidnapping young females and extracting fluid from them. He then injects this fluid into his wife. What a diabolical guy!Read More »

  • Irving Pichel – Destination Moon (1950)

    1941-1950AdventureIrving PichelSci-FiUSA

    After their their latest rocket fails, Dr. Charles Cargraves and retired General Thayer have to start over again. this time, Gen. Thayer approaches Jim Barnes, the head of his own aviation construction firms to help build a rocket that will take them to the moon. Together they gather the captains of industry and all pledge to support the goals of having the united States be the first to put a man on the moon. They build their rocket and successfully leave the Earth’s gravitational pull and make the landing as scheduled. Barnes has miscalculated their fuel consumption however and after stripping the ship bare, they are still 100 lbs too heavy meaning that one of them will have to stay behind.Read More »

  • Wallace Fox – Bowery at Midnight (1942)

    1941-1950ClassicsHorrorUSAWallace Fox

    Bowery at Midnight casts Bela Lugosi as Professor Brenner, a psychology instructor at New York University (which looks a lot like Berkeley in the exterior shots!). When not enlightening his students — most of them buxom Monogram starlets — Brenner is engaged in charitable work, running a mission in the Bowery. In truth, however, the kindly professor is a fiend in human form, who uses his mission as a front for a vast criminal empire. When Judy (Wanda McKay), one of Brenner’s students, stumbles onto the truth, she’s targeted for extermination by the Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde prof.Read More »

  • Andrew L. Stone – Sensations of 1945 (1944)

    1941-1950Andrew L. StoneMusicalUSA

    Plot Synopsis:
    Eleanor Powell is an ambitious dancer who decides to teach her publicity agents a thing or two about publicity by running their firm herself. Among the “clients” who perform are W.C. Fields, Cab Calloway, Woody Herman, Sophie Tucker, and, of course, Eleanor Powell.Read More »

Back to top button