1941-1950

  • Jacques Tourneur – I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

    1941-1950ClassicsFranceHorrorJacques Tourneur

    Young Canadian nurse Betsy comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager Paul Holland. Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.Read More »

  • Emilio Fernández – Pueblerina (1949)

    Emilio Fernández1941-1950DramaMexico

    Aurelio Rodríguez is released from jail, and tries to start a new life marrying Paloma and working his land. But the local landowners, the brothers González, interfere with his plans.Read More »

  • Alf Sjöberg – Himlaspelet AKA The Road To Heaven (1942)

    1941-1950Alf SjöbergDramaSweden

    Mats Ersson is engaged to Marit and they plan to get married in the spring. But when the plague comes, the people accuse Marit of witchcraft. She is sentenced to death. Mats can not understand the divine justice and decides to go to paradise and ask God himself. It becomes a journey where he meets the prophets, king Solomon and finally God himself.Read More »

  • Harold D. Schuster – Marine Raiders (1944)

    Harold D. Schuster1941-1950DramaUSAWar

    Synopsis:
    A U.S. Marine major tries to keep his captain on the right track through combat on Guadalcanal, training new recruits in San Diego, and a relationship with a WAAAF while on leave in Australia.Read More »

  • Konstantin Yudin – Smelye lyudi AKA The Horsemen (1950)

    1941-1950DramaKonstantin YudinUSSRWar

    The rival of a worker on a Cossack stud farm exposes him during the war as a Nazi and rescues the owner’s daughter from a train about to be blown up by partisans.Read More »

  • Luigi Zampa – L’Onorevole Angelina (1947)

    1941-1950ComedyDramaItalyLuigi Zampa

    Quote:
    Another fine Italian neo-realist drama. Focussing on post-war poverty and the struggle for housing, this film has all the key elements: characters living in makeshift houses, lots of dirty infants, upheaval and total disinterest from the beaurocratic machine. Anna Magnani puts in a superb performance as the distraught, struggling and feisty mother, determined to make a better life for herself and those around her.
    RosethornRead More »

  • Emilio Fernández – Bugambilia (1945)

    1941-1950DramaEmilio FernándezMexicoRomance

    David Melville writes —

    Fans of old Hollywood may remember Dolores del Rio as a ravishing beauty who couldn’t act. Moving from Mexico to the US in the late 20s, she played decorative roles in largely mediocre films. Even the classic South Seas romance Bird of Paradise (King Vidor, 1932) used her less as an actress than as a live Gauguin painting. The musical Wonder Bar (Lloyd Bacon, 1934) gave her little to do beyond a sadomasochist tango with whips. By the early 40s, not even her liaison with Orson Welles could get Dolores a role in a decent film.Read More »

  • Henry Hathaway – The Dark Corner (1946)

    1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsFilm NoirHenry HathawayUSA

    Quote:
    A fairly neglected exercise in film noir, The Dark Corner is a more than adequate if less than topflight example of the genre. Director Henry Hathaway was already familiar with crime thrillers, having helmed such previous efforts as Johnny Apollo and The House on 92nd Street, and he competently makes the shift to the edgier, more fatalist film noir game with ease and assurance, if little in the way of virtuosity. The screenplay is solid, hitting all the right plot points and keeping its cards appropriately close to the vest until it’s time to spring a few surprises on the audience, and there’s a good swift line of hardboiled dialogue hiding behind every corner. If Mark Stevens is not an immortal in the pantheon of screen tough guys — his Galt is a little wan, a trifle lightweight — he’s more than credible and makes the character’s tightlipped stoicism appealing. Lucille Ball assays one of her rare non-comedic roles and comes off very well; there’s a welcome mixture of innocence and worldliness to her character that she manages to get across without getting mired down in either extreme. Clifton Webb is deliciously smarmy, a nasty piece of work that’s a joy to watch. Corner misses out on being one of the majors, but as minor leaguers go, it’s one of the best.Read More »

  • Marcel L’Herbier & Jacques de Baroncelli – L’honorable Catherine AKA Honorable Catherine (1943)

    1941-1950ComedyFranceJacques de BaroncelliMarcel L'Herbier

    Synopsis :
    Catherine’s technique to sell her clocks is to blackmail illegitimate couples such as Jacques and Gisèle. However when Gisèle’s husband Pierre walks in on them, Catherine pretends to be Jacques’s lover to save the day. Jacques then gets caught up in her schemes when the next couple she deals with turn out to be jewel thieves who kidnap them.Read More »

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