1940s

  • Lewis Seiler – Murder in the Air (1940)

    1931-1940ActionLewis SeilerThrillerUSA

    Plot: Enemy agents are everywhere and they are sabotaging all important war deliveries. The body of a hobo found in a train wreck had a money belt with $50,000 and a tattoo of a circle and arrow. This is a tattoo for saboteurs for hire and Brass must impersonate the dead man to find out what his orders are. As Steve Coe, he meets with the band of enemy agents in California and everything goes well until the wife of the dead ‘Hobo’ shows up. Luckily, Gabby is able to save Brass and Brass learns what is his assignment. He is to board the USN airship ‘Mason’, which is testing the super secret Inertia Projector, and destroy the airship. Written by Tony FontanaRead More »

  • Philip Ford – Valley of the Zombies (1946)

    1941-1950ActionHorrorPhilip FordUSA

    Dr. Maynard (Charles Trowbridge’ ) tells Dr. Terry Evans (Robert Livingston) and his nurse, Susan Drake (Lorna Gray), about the theft of ten pints of blood from his lab. Later, he is visited by Ormand Murks (Ian Keith), a man Maynard had once had committed to an insane asylum and who later died from an operation, and Maynard learns that Murks is an example of living death whose abnormality is counter-acted only by blood. The doctor soon becomes Murk’s unwilling blood donor. Murks’ brother Fred (Earle Hodgins) threatens to expose him and he too is murdered. Terry and Susan find Maynard’s body near an abandoned graveyard and this leads them to an estate where a partially obscured sign reads:”Murks Bros.,Undertakers.”Read More »

  • Ted Tetzlaff – A Dangerous Profession (1949)

    USA1941-1950Film NoirTed Tetzlaff

    Ex-policeman Vince Kane is a partner with Joe Farley as bail bond brokers, but retains his ties and friendship with the police and Detective Nick Ferrone. Ferrone picks up Claude Brackette, a brokerage clerk, as a suspect in the securities robbery in which a policeman was killed, and Kane goes with him when the detective searches Brackett’s apartment, and Kane finds that Brackett’s wife, Lucy, is his former sweetheart. She insists her husband is innocent and pleads with Kane to get him out on bail but she has only $4,000 of the $25,000 needed. A mysterious emissary puts up $12,000 and Kanes, over Farley’s protest, makes up the rest from the company’s money. Brackett is murdered after his release.Read More »

  • Ken Annakin – Miranda (1948)

    1941-1950ComedyFantasyKen AnnakinUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    A young married physician out on a fishing holiday ends up being saved by a mermaid, who intends to keep him her prisoner. She then offers to release him if he will take her to see London, which leads to a number of humorous and romantic entanglements as the mermaid entices several unmarried men who live near the physician and his wife.Read More »

  • Clive Brook – On Approval (1944)

    1941-1950Clive BrookDramaUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    ‘English actor Clive Brook’s only directorial effort, On Approval, is based upon Frederick Lonsdale’s frothy 1926 play, though reset in the late 19th century. Brook plays George, a titled duke whose wealth has largely been spent but who has no intention of settling further into genteel poverty. George is enormously appealing to Helen (played by Googie Withers), a good-natured American heiress, and is equally appalling to Maria (Bea Lillie), an Englishwoman of considerable means. The imperious Maria is dating the eternally devoted Richard (Roland Culver), who worships her. Maria decides that she will marry Richard — after he spends a month with her in a secluded Scottish castle, where she will try him out “on approval.” Maria, however, does not intend to discover whether they are suitable for all aspects of marriage; every night he is to row across the loch and spend his nights at a local inn.Read More »

  • Osamu Fushimizu – Shina no yoru aka China Night (1940)

    1931-1940AsianClassicsJapanOsamu Fushimizu

    Peter High wrote:
    Fushimizu Osamu’s immensely successful China Nights works the rich metaphorical possibilities afforded by the commonplace image of China as a disreputable “woman” in need of redemption. As early as 1911, popular historian Yamaji Aizan had characterized the nation as “not a powerless country like a single woman, but an infelicitous one like a prostitute.” Although it’s discretely muted, the film’s first scene introduces Ri Koran’s character as something perilously close to a “fallen woman”.Read More »

  • Carl Theodor Dreyer – Vredens dag aka Day of Wrath (1943)

    1941-1950Carl Theodor DreyerDenmarkDrama

    Quote:
    In a 17th-century Danish village, an old woman is accused of witchcraft. In the shadow of her flight, capture, confession, and burning at the stake, the young wife of the town’s aging pastor falls in love with the pastor’s son…Read More »

  • Joseph H. Lewis – The Undercover Man (1949)

    USA1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirJoseph H. Lewis

    “The Inside Storyo of a Great U.S. Criminal Investigation”
    Frank Warren is a treasury agent assigned to put an end to the activities of a powerful mob crime boss. The agent struggles to put together a case but is frustrated when all he finds are terrified witnesses and corrupt police officers. Although most informants end up dead, Agent Warren gets critical information about the mob from an unlikely source.

    The film was based on an article entitled “He Trapped Capone,” the first part of the autobiography Undercover Man by Federal Agent Frank J. Wilson, which was serialized in Collier’s in 1947. (Wikipedia)Read More »

  • René Clément – Le père tranquille AKA Mr. Orchid (1946)

    1941-1950DramaFranceRené ClémentWar

    Droll French comedian Noel-Noel essays the title role in Le Pere Tranquille (The Quiet Daddy). Contrary to expectations, the star isn’t a secret father, but in fact the unknown head of a WW2 resistance movement. By playing the fool whenever the Nazis are around and about, Noel-Noel is able to conceal his double life and successfully carry out his various sabotage missions. This deft combination of comedy and melodrama builds to a particularly suspenseful climax. Le Pere Tranquille was directed by Rene Clement, who also helmed the classic “underground” film Battle of the Rails. (All Movie Guide)Read More »

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