1941-1950

  • Leslie Arliss – The Man in Grey (1943)

    Leslie Arliss1941-1950ClassicsDramaUSA
    The Man in Grey (1943)
    The Man in Grey (1943)

    Synopsis:
    At an estate auction in WWII England, two strangers meet and muse about their families’ history and possible connections. Flashbacks reveal the story of the sweet, rich, and beautiful Clarissa Richmond and her friendship with bitter, impoverished Hesther Shaw. Their fates are intertwined even as their paths diverge. Clarissa marries the handsome but cruel Marquis of Rohan while Hesther becomes an actress. Eventually, the two women meet again and Clarissa brings the scheming Hesther into her household. As Clarissa searches for true love, Hesther plots to take away everything that belongs to her.Read More »

  • Kenji Mizoguchi – Meito bijomaru AKA The Famous Sword Bijomaru (1945)

    Kenji Mizoguchi1941-1950ClassicsDramaJapan
    Meito bijomaru (1945)
    Meito bijomaru (1945)

    Synopsis:
    Kiyone Sakurai, an apprentice swordmaker makes a sword for his guardian, Kozaemon Onoda. Onoda breaks the sword while defending his lord which eventually leads to his death at the hands of Naito, when Naito demands to marry his daughter Sasae. Sasae vows to avenge her father’s death and pleads for Kiyone Sakurai to make a special sword for her. So Kiyone and his fellow swordmaker Kiyotsugu go to the master swordsmith Kiyohide Yamatomori to learn their craft and forge the sword.Read More »

  • William Berke – Girl in the Case (1944)

    William Berke1941-1950ComedyMysteryUSA
    Girl in the Case (1944)
    Girl in the Case (1944)

    William Warner is not only a crack defense lawyer, but he has an even more useful skill–he’s an expert at picking open any kind of lock, which comes in handy in his line of work. This asset gets him in trouble, however, when he finds himself being unwittingly used by Nazi spies trying to get him to open a locked chest with a secret formula they’re after.Read More »

  • S. Sylvan Simon – The Thrill of Brazil (1946)

    S. Sylvan Simon1941-1950DramaMusicalUSA
    The Thrill of Brazil (1946)
    The Thrill of Brazil (1946)

    Synopsis:
    In this musical, Broadway producer Steve Farraugh is in Rio to preview a show he plans to take to New York. The star of the production, Linda Lorens, pines for Steve, but he is still in love with his estranged wife, Vicki, who arrives in Rio with divorce papers and her new fiancé, John Habour, in tow. Steve concocts a plan to win Vicki back, but, amid a slew of song-and-dance numbers, all goes awry.Read More »

  • Robert Z. Leonard – In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

    Robert Z. Leonard1941-1950ComedyRomanceUSA
    In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
    In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

    Plot:
    In this musical remake of The Shop Around the Corner, feuding co-workers in a small music shop do not realize they are secret romantic pen pals.Read More »

  • Noel Coward & David Lean – In Which We Serve (1942)

    David Lean1941-1950DramaNoël CowardUnited KingdomWar
    In Which We Serve (1942)
    In Which We Serve (1942)

    Plot / Synopsis
    In the midst of World War II, the renowned playwright Noël Coward engaged a young film editor named David Lean to help him realize his vision for an action drama about a group of Royal Navy sailors (roles that would be filled by Coward himself, Bernard Miles, and John Mills, among others) fighting the Germans in the Mediterranean. Coward and Lean ended up codirecting the large-scale project—an impressive undertaking, especially considering that neither of them had directed for the big screen before (this would be Coward’s only such credit). Cutting between a major naval battle and flashbacks to the men’s lives before they left home, In Which We Serve (an Oscar nominee for best picture) was a major breakthrough for both filmmakers and a sensitive and stirring piece of propaganda.Read More »

  • Jack Bernhard – Decoy (1946)

    1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirJack BernhardUSA
    Decoy (1946)
    Decoy (1946)

    A fatally shot female gangleader recounts her sordid life of crime to a police officer just before she dies.Read More »

  • H.C. Potter – The Time of Your Life (1948)

    H.C. Potter1941-1950ComedyDramaUSA
    The Time of Your Life (1948)
    The Time of Your Life (1948)

    The film follows the adventures of a group of regulars at Nick’s ‘Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace’ in San Francisco. A sign outside tells people to come in as they are. At the center is the wealthy Joe (James Cagney), who has given up working to hold court at Nick’s (William Bendix) bar. He desires to live “a civilized life” without hurting anyone and believes the real truth in people is found in their dreams of themselves, not the hard facts of their actual existence.[4] Joe has a stooge named Tom (Wayne Morris), who runs his eccentric errands until a woman with a past named Kitty (Jeanne Cagney) comes in and steals Tom’s heart. Also appearing are Broderick Crawford as Krupp, Ward Bond as McCarthy, Tom Powers as Blick, and James Barton as Kit Carson.Read More »

  • Nancy Meckler – Sister My Sister (1994)

    Nancy Meckler1941-1950DramaQueer Cinema(s)United Kingdom
    Sister My Sister (1994)
    Sister My Sister (1994)

    This all-woman production is set in provincial France in the early 1930’s. Two young, country sisters enter domestic service in the bourgeois household of a penurious widow and her homely daughter. Neither pair speaks to the other: two sets of women separated and confined by social convention, personality, and the house itself. The relationship of the sisters slowly evolves into obsession, brought about by isolation and by emotions left from childhood. Trapped in a garret room, the sisters’ violent downstairs-upstairs collision with Madame Danzard and the lumpy Isabelle seems certainRead More »

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