Henry Fonda

  • Anatole Litvak – The Long Night (1947)

    Anatole Litvak1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsFilm NoirThrillerUSA

    Synopsis:
    Shortly after a violent encounter with magician Maximilian (Vincent Price), Joe Adams (Henry Fonda) is shot by police. As he lies dying in his apartment, he reflects on his past. The flashbacks follow Joe as he falls in love with young Jo Ann (Barbara Bel Geddes), who is also being courted by Maximilian. Jo Ann begins to favor the compassionate Joe over the possessive magician, and Maximilian heads to Joe’s apartment intending to kill him, resulting in a dramatic standoff.Read More »

  • Alfred Hitchcock – The Wrong Man (1956)

    1951-1960Alfred HitchcockFilm NoirUSA

    Quote:
    Hitchcock’s long-standing fear of the police is what originally attracted him to a newspaper account of a family man wrongly identified as an armed robber. The Wrong Man pays scrupulous attention to such things as the details of police procedure and the eventual apprehension of the real culprit – before the conviction of the wrongly accused man (Fonda), but after the stress has driven his wife (Miles) to mental breakdown. The result is Hitchcock’s most sombre film, unrelieved by his usual macabre humour; the black-and-white photography and the persecuted Fonda’s sharply chiselled features lend an impressive documentary feel. It’s not generally rated among the master’s best works, largely because of the intractability of the source material (or Hitchcock’s unwillingness to dramatise the events). But there’s still plenty here for Hitchcockophiles: a Jesuitical strain (the man happened to be a devout Catholic), a complicity of guilt (as the wife irrationally comes to blame herself); and it’s pure noir.Read More »

  • Christian-Jaque, Carlo Lizzani, Werner Klingler & Terence Young – La guerra segreta AKA The Dirty Game (1965)

    1961-1970Carlo LizzaniChristian-JaqueItalyTerence YoungThrillerWerner Klingler

    Synopsis:
    ‘The US intelligence chief in Europe relates the stories of three different operations that he was involved in with colleagues in Paris and Djibouti, Rome, and Berlin.’Read More »

  • John Ford – The Battle of Midway (1942)

    John Ford1941-1950DocumentaryUSA

    The Battle of Midway
    John Ford is widely regarded as one of America’s greatest film directors, a myth-maker who put his distinctive stamp on the Western genre, and whose films memorably portray key moments in American history. Although known primarily as the director of classic Hollywood movies like Stagecoach (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and The Searchers (1956), there’s more to Ford than his impressive feature film career. Many people may not know that Ford served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and worked for the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) as Chief of the Field and Photographic Branch. During this time, he undertook various missions for the Navy, and was involved in the production of training films and war documentaries, one of which was The Battle of Midway. The battle itself took place in the Central Pacific from June 4 to June 6 1942, and Ford was present as the Japanese attacked the American outpost on Midway Island. How did such a noted Hollywood feature film director, a man who Tag Gallagher calls “… the great poetic chronicler of American history”, approach documentary filmmaking, and more specifically, how did he chronicle the events at Midway?Read More »

  • John Ford – My Darling Clementine (1946)

    1941-1950DramaJohn FordUSAWestern

    Quote:
    Wyatt Earp and his brothers Morgan and Virgil ride into Tombstone and leave brother James in charge of their cattle herd. On their return they find their cattle stolen and James dead. Wyatt takes on the job of town marshal, making his brothers deputies, and vows to stay in Tombstone until James’ killers are found. He soon runs into the brooding, coughing, hard-drinking Doc Holliday as well as the sullen and vicious Clanton clan. Wyatt discovers the owner of a trinket stolen from James’ dead body and the stage is set for the Earps’ long-awaited revenge.Read More »

  • Preston Sturges – The Lady Eve [+Extras] (1941)

    1941-1950ComedyPreston SturgesRomanceScrewball ComedyUSA

    Criterion wrote:
    Barbara Stanwyck sizzles, Henry Fonda bumbles, and Preston Sturges runs riot in one of the all-time great screwballs, a pitch-perfect blend of comic zing and swoonworthy romance. Aboard a cruise liner sailing up the coast of South America, Stanwyck’s conniving card sharp sets her sights on Fonda’s nerdy snake researcher, who happens to be the heir to a brewery fortune. But when the con artist falls for her mark, her grift becomes a game of hearts—and she is determined to win it all. One in a string of matchless comedic marvels that Sturges wrote, directed, and produced as part of a dazzling 1940s run, this gender-flipped battle-of-wits farce is perhaps his most emotionally satisfying work, tempering its sparkling wit with a streak of tender poignancy supplied by the sensational Stanwyck at her peak.Read More »

  • Delmer Daves – Spencer’s Mountain (1963)

    1961-1970Delmer DavesDramaUSA

    SYNOPSIS:
    Clay Spencer is a hard-working man who loves his wife and large family. He is respected by his neighbors and always ready to give them a helping hand. Although not a churchgoer, he even helps a newly arrived local minister regain his flock after he and Clay get into a bit of trouble. If he has one dream in life it’s to build his wife Olivia a beautiful house on a piece of land he inherited on Spencer’s mountain. When his eldest son, Clayboy, graduates at the top of his high school class and has the opportunity to go to college, Clay has only one option left to him.Read More »

  • John Ford – The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaJohn FordUSA

    Synopsis:
    The Joad clan, introduced to the world in John Steinbeck’s iconic novel, is looking for a better life in California. After their drought-ridden farm is seized by the bank, the family — led by just-paroled son Tom — loads up a truck and heads West. On the road, beset by hardships, the Joads meet dozens of other families making the same trek and holding onto the same dream. Once in California, however, the Joads soon realize that the promised land isn’t quite what they hoped.Read More »

  • Otto Preminger – Advise & Consent (1962)

    1961-1970DramaOtto PremingerPoliticsQueer Cinema(s)USA

    Synopsis
    The setting is familiar. A Senate subcommittee meets to confirm the President’s controversial nominee for Secretary of State. A TV camera rolls. And the wolf is at the door…Read More »

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