The 10,000 Greatest Moments in circa 1940's Cinema

The 10,000 Greatest Moments in circa 1940's Cinema

The cinema is undoubtedly the greatest art form of our time if measured in popular impact. While music is, of course, more accessible, and is omnipresent, and can transport us to great emotional heights, movies surpass songs in their depth of subject matter, their possible imaginative scope, their mere box-office revenue, and in their effect on the discourse of our popular culture. We hear an axe smashing through a bathroom door, and see the rabid face of Jack Nicholson: "Here's Johnny!" Catherine Tramell in a police interrogation lights a cigarette, crosses and uncrosses her legs, and asks, "What are you going to do, arrest me?"

While these signature moments of the last few decades have had their impact, and the list could be expanded almost ad infinitum, one of the most striking proofs of the lasting impact of cinema is the fact that movies released around the time of the Second World War, a time before that of the Baby Boomers, before Generation X and before the Hip Hop Generation, still have a currency in popular speech and imagery that rivals that of any other art form. Indeed, while not unworthy of respect, most people alive today would be hard-pressed to name a song, painting, novel or building from the 1940's. But mention "You know ho to whistle don't you?..." or "Play it again,..." just about anyone alive to day with a high school diploma could fill in the blank without hesitation.

I have begun this thread in order to use the incredible resource of YouTube.com to post excerpts from some of the great movie moments of that era. The appreciation of fine art is one of the greatest joys in life. A forum in which one can share such moments of joy is a great blessing. I intend to post a YouTube link to a signature moment in 1940's cinema with a still and a short paragraph to explain the context of the linked excerpt. I invite others to do the same with their favorites. I request that along with a YouTube link, contributors also post a still image and at least a few sentences on why they have posted the link, what value they find in the work.

To paraphrase Betty Davis from a 1950 release, "Fasten your seat-belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"

Ted Keer, May 20, 2007, NYC

(Edited by Ted Keer
on 5/20, 6:54pm)

Post 1

Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 3:44pm

"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?"

To Have and Have Not, 1944, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Howard Hawks, dir.

This film was the on-screen debut of fashion magazine model Lauren Bacall. She became an instant hit, with both Humphrey Bogart and the public. They began an on-set affair which lasted through 11 years of marriage until his death from lung cancer. Bacall was an adoring wife who accompanied him on shoots even to Africa for the filming of The African Queen. Bacall continues to act until this day, even having a cameo in HBO's The Soprano's, where she gets punched by the troglodyte Christopher Moltesanti. Don't worry, Christopher gets his in the end.

Bacall's output was perhaps more limited than it might have been, had she not made a pact with Bogart not to be separated from him on location. We can hardly begrudge her the happiness of her marriage. And her unrivalled beauty, unmistakable voice, and long and fruitful career make it easy to forgive her denying herself to the public for the period that she had Bogart all to herself.

This title will air next on Turner Classic Movies on May 31, 2007, 1:30PM. Click here for a synopsis and schedule on TCM.

Ted Keer

Here is a montage of lines from the movie, much better sound, ignore the condescending subtitles.

(Edited by Ted Keer
on 5/20, 7:18pm)

Post 2

Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 5:29pm

I was never focused on my appreciation of that time and place until I worked with a programmer who was. He said that this was the last time that people had class.

Bottom right: Not so well known today, The Stranger. Edward G. Robinson plays an FBI agent on the trail of a nazi war criminal who is teaching high school history and wooing Loretta Young.)

Post 3

Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 5:45pm

Faux Forties: Curse of the Jade Scorpion.
(Woody Allen, Helen Hunt, David Ogden Stiers.)

Post 4

Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 5:56pm

How was the Curse, Mike? I haven't seen it. I did overhear two ladies in their sixties looking over the used books that drug addicts sell on tables on Broadway on the Columbia University Campus talking about The Stranger. The remembered Loretta Young, but couldn't think of the co-stars. I picked up my used copy of The Enemy at Home whispered "Robinson and Welles" and skedaddled.

Ted

Post 5

Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 7:02pm

This montage of Bogart & Bacall is quite poignant, and of much better sound quality.

Post 6

Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 10:39pm

You will find a thread about Casablanca here:
http://rebirthofreason.com/Spirit/Movies/79.shtml
My post is the third one down.

Also faux forties is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, discussed here:
http://rebirthofreason.com/Spirit/Movies/94.shtml

(Edited by Michael E. Marotta on 5/20, 10:44pm)

Post 7

Monday, May 21, 2007 - 8:03pm

I do love Bogart and Bergman - separately - but I've never been a great fan of Casablanca. The two don't really seem to have the chemistry, and the plot is predicatble, the ending altruistic. It's a good movie - but I can't see it a such a great one. Sky Captain was quite good, and even cute in a non-condescendingly meant way. But I'm not a huge fan of either Paltrow or Jude Law.

For faux forties - I'd look at Gattaca - which is very 1940's in its visual style.

Ted

Post 8

Saturday, June 2, 2007 - 4:15pm

From 1953, Bell Book and Candle is a bit more modern that some of the films I had in mind for this thread. Yet Kim Novak is at her best, seducing Jimmy Stewart away from his fiancée, Merle (Janice Rule) pictured here at the Zodiac Club during a bewitched rendition of Stormy Weather. See the review here.

Kim Wants to be "Humdrum" video

The Studio Trailer video

Kim Seduces Stewart video

Ted
(Edited by Ted Keer
on 6/02, 5:00pm)

Post 9

Monday, June 11, 2007 - 9:41pm

The Lady from Shanghai (1948) Studio Trailer

A public and critical disappointment upon its release, this convoluted yet still brilliant film was written and directed by Orson Welles, and stars himself and his then wife, Rita Hayworth. Suffering from Welles' perfectionist inability to finish a script, and his desire to fill a film with as many conceits as possible, as well as from cuts mandated by the studio and the censors, the story nevertheless grabs you and never lets you go.

Welles meets Hayworth in Central Park, defending her from an apparent mugging. Casually commenting with contempt about a West Coast lawyer who got a man off for killing his wife, Welles' Irish seaman Michael "Black Irish" O'Hara soon finds out that the damsel in distress, his "Rosalee" as he calls her, is the shyster lawyer Bannister's own wife. When Bannister calls the next day to hire a seaman to man his yacht for a trip from New York to San Francisco, O'Hara goes against his better judgement and accepts the job.

Elsa sings while Michael wonders what he's gotten himself into: "Please Don't Kiss Me"

Welles had Hayworth's signature long red locks cut and bleached for the film, upsetting Hayworth's studio management and her fans. Married, but separated during the shoot, the two split soon after. Welles was very generous to her in this role, allowing her to play against type and to show her often underutilized acting talent as a femme fatale. Again, fans of the time reacted unfavorably, but she plays very well to the modern audience.

Michael compares Bannister, Bannister's wife, and Bannister's partner George (originally written as a homosexual, jealous of Elsa) to sharks he once saw devour each other off the coast of Brazil.

Ted Keer

Above, Elsa, the black widow, with Michael in her lair, a still from the famous closing "hall of mirrors" scene

At Amazon

At Turner Classic Movies

(Edited by Ted Keer
on 6/11, 10:13pm)

Post 10

Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 9:42pm

Although it's from 1939, from Gone With the Wind Rhett's last parting statment,"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!"

Post 11

Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 10:12pm