Vittorio de Sicas vision hits all the notes of the Italian Neorealist style Pioneered by Roberto Rossellini the story is simple, the characters are relatively simple (some arent actors at all; Enzo Staiola, who plays the mans son and cohort, was plucked off the sidewalk), and there is a focus on the quotidian lives of working class people and the unemployment and poverty that plagued Italy in the postwar years. A.G. And, of course, some of the most beautiful and evocative scenes of endless skies and endless prairies to be found. StarringPeter Lorreas the stranger of the title, its a short, cheap B-movie in which many of the hallmarks of the emerging style are brought together: an urban setting, slanted shadows, voice-over narration and the story of a wrong man falsely accused. The film is lively and dynamic and visually arresting. The settings lacked specificityGerman (Hawks, though a fan of Hemingways, felt that To Have and Have Not was his worst novel, and reportedly told him so.) (You might even believe, given both the passage of time and enough viewings of The Third Man under your belt, that Welles himself is the architect of the piece, but of course youd be 100% wrong if you did.) Good satire can be powerful, and this film was: Released while the United States was still formally at peace with Germany, it stirred greater public attention and condemnation of the Nazis and Mussolini, anti-Semitism and fascism. A historical piece set in the 1820s Paris theater world, it centers on an enigmatic performer named Garence (Arletty) and four men who are drawn to her, each for slightly different reasons. A.C. Everyones in love with Gene Tierneyeven the guy whos come to investigate her murder. There are disastrous miscommunications and something suspicious hidden in the wine cellar and a couple of Hitchcocks most iconic shots and a hell of a lot of drinking. A.G. 1900s A Trip To The Moon/Le Voyage Dans La Lune This is a tale of grand passion both between men and women and between actors and audiences, and actors and the stages they inhabit. vision of France grounded in a conservative social agenda and a focus on The movies borrowed angular lighting effects from 1920s German films and a poetic gloominess from 1930s French films, wrapping it all up in tantalising packages of grit, glamour andcynicism. A.G. The film overemphasizes minutiae of its mise en scne, extends scenes past their natural end points, and hoovers any sense of gratification out of its climax. This is the film where Bogart and Bacall met, sparking one of Hollywoods most legendary love affairs, and that chemistry is very much in evidence in their crackling on-screen interactions. to create a European Hollywood. Whether in film or on television, MacMurray normally played the nice guy, but for Double Indemnity he turned his everyman decency into a maskperfect for a character who can barely conceal what a lustful, conniving bastard he is. Doomed love, self-sacrifice, Bogie one-liners galore, and one of the most quintessential cinematic moments of its age (both of my kids were born after 9/11 and even they cheered when that chorus of La Marseillaise drowned out the Nazis). By contrast, Roberto Rossellinis Rome, Open City denies its viewers the admittedly mild succor granted us by Bicycle Thieves, offering instead a raw, righteous outrage that stems from Rosselinis national pride. co-production. Nobody knew what to call film noirs when they first started coming out of Hollywood in the early 1940s. Your preference will come down to how well you like your schmaltz: Those with a taste for unadulterated sentimentality will likely lean more toward Capra, while those who like a healthy sprinkle of cynical realism on their holiday fare will probably go for George Seatons Miracle instead. Learn more. There are Claude Rains and Cary Grant both ass over teakettle for Bergman (and how could you not be?). Mysterious, rich in feeling, deliciously creepy, and with jewel-tone supporting performances by Angela Lansbury and Joseph Cotten, it was a great psychological thriller in its day and it remains one now. See also:Baby Face Nelson (Don Siegel), The Garment Jungle (Vincent Sherman), Sweet Smell of Success (AlexanderMackendrick). Les Anges du pch One thing over half of these films have in common is women editors, whose role in the films they've worked on has been obscured by the auteur-centric view that became prevalent in the late-40s and persists to this day. from the political and social pressures of the period. Likewise, this is the adaptation to which vastly inferior attempts, including a 1931 version of the same name and 1936s Satan Met a Lady, could only aspire. The choice to play both the tyrant and the oppressed man was an inspired one, underscoring the frightening but inescapable truth that we all contain a little bit of both characters. An amazing collection of experts and performers were assembled to consult on science, animal movement and different types of dance. Letterboxd Limited. Weird and wonderful and powerful filmmaking. A.C. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of serviceapply. The story is direct and crisply toldwhat makes this film a must-see classic is that it might be the ultimate in dazzling on-screen chemistry. Neo-noir wasborn. Casablanca (1942) PG | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War 8.5 Rate 100 Metascore A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not Still, Cagney is mesmerizing to watch self-destruct. 1909), Claude Autant-Lara A.G. A.G. A list of films produced in France in 1940: Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Weird, beautiful, orgiastic, abstracted, wildly colored and meticulously recorded, the film was a critical darling and considered to be an incredibly bold move on Disneys part, though many in the classical music community nitpicked Stokowskis arrangements. And the agent whos on call to help them do it is, well, hes a bit of a temptation. Johnny and Gilda hurl emotional and physical hostilities as they love-hate on each other, both felt in equal measure. for the industry overall. ), and wonderful performances by Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer as a traumatized woman and a sociopath determined to drive her out of her mind. It was remade in 1990, with Gene Hackman as thedetective. Two bank robbers and an insurance investigator all take up his trail, pursuing him into the snowywilderness. (Everyones a critic.) The producer was originally planning to hire John Huston to direct The Stranger; Welles got the job because of an ill-timed military tour that took Huston (literally and figuratively) out of the picture. By the late 1940s, film noir was pulling in two ways towards stylised abstraction on the one hand, and towards a new street-level realism on the other. The eight largest studios (Warner Brothers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], RKO Radio, Twentieth Latin America. There were a lot of great noirs in the 40s. The great granddaddy of all convoluted noirs, The Big Sleep fully embodies every single identifying feature of Raymond Chandlers writing: dialogue that sears itself into viewers brains, rough-cut men, seductive femme fatales, plenty of violence, a respectable body count, and enough plot curveballs to give even the most accomplished noirs twist envy. L'Herbier. B.S. A prototypical war of the sexes comedy in which each side represents the status quo for his or her respective gender, Adams Rib transcends its dumbest Mars-vs-Venus trappings by portraying Tracys Bonner as a stuffy turd too caught up in his derision of women to do anything about the fact that a famous musician lothario (David Wayne) is getting mighty close to cuckolding him, were Amanda Bonner a dunce susceptible to shameless advances. Innovative cinematography, intriguing storytelling and great acting are all reasons to watch this dramatic mystery, in which journalists race to unspool the mystery of the absurdly wealthy and tyrannical Kanes mysterious dying word, Rosebud. The way the plot unfolds is fascinating, the shifts in point of view are superb, and the mirroring opening and closing sequences are beautiful. Gilda taunts Johnny throughout the film, goading him with her sex appeal, and for his part, Vidor teases us, tooGilda, are you decent? Define decent. Adult, adventure. More polished examples of noir exist than this poverty row production from the B-movie pumphouse Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), but here in 68 minutes and shot in six days is a perfect distillation of the genres essence. But certainly for its day, and quite equally so now, this film is a pretty astute and sophisticated look at post-traumatic dissociative compartmentalization, and its really fun to watch it unfold. Happily, her no-longer-drunken ex is played by Cary Grant, who is a fabulous foil. Special effects have become so sophisticated that many of us have probably forgotten how much pure amazement you can wreak with a great story and a script that doesnt let up for one second. the film industry in advancing this agenda and almost immediately put in In 1960, the release of Jean-Luc GodardsBreathlessand Franois TruffautsShoot the Pianist, which lovingly parodied and reinvented old crime movie tropes, heralded a new self-awareness about genre that slowly bled back across the Atlantic to Hollywood. Overall, the film is more a distance runner than a sprinter and a brilliant example of Disneys strange, maverick, expansive imagination. Film data from TMDb. By the time you read this letter, I might be dead. This haunting romance by Max Ophls is one of those star-crossed love stories that, if it doesnt tug at your heart, you might want to check to make sure you have one. In an era where your Labradoodle probably has its own therapist its easy to forget that psychoanalysis was a relative rarity, reserved for people of significant means and people in mental hospitals, which is where this psychological thriller by Alfred Hitchcock takes place. D.S. See also:The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston), Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis), Sunset Blvd. Dreyers first film in more than a decade, a tense and measured reaction to the overwhelming forces oppressing him and his country, filtered through the systemic corruption that has both plagued and defined civilization since its Edenic Fall. The Grapes of Wrath endures for good reason: Its the truth, an authentic dramatization of how American industry chews up working families and spits them out, leaving them to die in the soil they once tilled, which means that as long as agents of commerce go about the grim business of screwing people out of their livelihood, offering no apology but rather a shrug and an excuse, the film will stay relevant. ( Lumire d't Together they pop, but no matter how brightly they might shine, Out of the Past remains a masterwork coated in darkness from page to screen. All Rights Reserved. It not only dominates the background music, but it pops in in the narrative of the filmits the record on the phonograph; its the song the band is playing at the coffeeshop; its playing at the journalists party. At He was dogged by cut-happy producers (its not even clear how much footage was removed but Welles was relieved of the first 16 pages of his script before principal photography even started) and contrarian casting and locations choices (Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead to play the investigator; the studio cast Robinson; likewise he got a budget-driven no on filming the prep school scenes at The Todd School in Illinois, his own alma mater). LikeDetour, and several other noirs besides, this 1946versionbegins with a drifter (John Garfield) in a diner. A.G. Seriously, if this doesnt bring tears to your eyes, see your opthalmologist. His second, a period drama based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1918 novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington, was destroyed (in Welles view) when he lost control of the editing to RKO. Before fleeing Hollywood for Britain during the McCarthy witch-hunt era,Joseph Loseymade a string of distinctive film noirs three in 1951 alone. What puts you on the edge of your seat in this film is how you get there. As it turned out, it was Welles only significant box office success on release, and remains a canonized film noir. - Film (1944) - SensCritique", "Review of the film l'Aventure est au coin de la rue (1944)", "La vie de plaisir - Film (1944) - SensCritique", "Review of the film le Carrefour des enfants perdus (1944)", "MCDXXIX-MCMXLII (De Jeanne d'Arc Philippe Ptain) (1944)", French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Awards, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_French_films_of_1944&oldid=1108669220, Lists of 1944 films by country or language, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 September 2022, at 17:32. Theres espionage. French migr directorJacques Tourneurwas a master of shadowy gothic horror, but his firsttrue noirmight be the ultimate example of the cycle, ticking off all its hallmarks from flashbacks to femme fatales into a concoction thats nothing short of intoxicating. While there he befriends an undercover fed (Edmond OBrien, whose other noirs include The Hitch-Hiker) bent on nailing him for greater crimes. Hes a titan of cinema, casting his shadow over American film from the time his career began until the day he died, and though hes been gone for over thirty years his influence is still felt in movies the world over. From Malle to Melville, Carn to Clouzot, this is Time Outs ultimate guide to the best French movies ever released. Can you believe there was a time when Katharine Hepburn was known in Hollywood as box office poison? Among the thirty feature films thus produced under the auspices of Continental, several are, to this day, considered classics of French cinema. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. But that alone wouldnt be just cause in a bad movie. Web1940s-1 The Greatest War Movies Title Screen Film Title/Year/Director, War-time Setting and Brief Description Screenshots Foreign Correspondent (1940) d. Alfred Hitchcock New York (the US), Britain (London) and Holland (Amsterdam) just before the outbreak of Cinemas were a popular haven from the cold and Title Director Cast Genre Notes As Long as I Live: Jacques de Baroncelli: Edwige Feuillre, Jacques Berthier, Jean Debucourt: Drama: Co-production with Italy Back Jean Marais (Beast) and Josette Day (Belle) deliver enchanting performances. The 1941 original remains the best and most earnest film in the seriesa portrait of a man who has no power over the raging beast within. Adapted from Maxwell Andersons hit Broadway play, the resulting chamber piece swaps the Spanish Civil War for the second World War. What holds up beautifully is Waynes fascinating slow fade from strapping man in the prime of life to defeated old guy, placed against Matts ascendancy. Driven by star and producerHarry Belafonte,Odds against Tomorrowis a rare film noir with a black star at its centre, also tackling the theme of racism as a side order to its story of a heist gone wrong. A brother and sister move into a crumbling seaside manor to discover restless spirits with a connection to the young granddaughter of the former owner. central France, under the leadership of Marchal Henri Philippe Ultimately, of course, his undoing is a clockliterally. On that note, the damage is no longer rooted in his environment; Jarretts a disaster from the inside out, dysfunctional in his very wiring (thanks, ma!). This Freudian melodrama a big favourite ofJean-Luc Godard finds him at fulltilt. Famed for the groundbreaking FX of its iconic transformation scene, and aided by the same top-notch makeup that Jack Pierce employed in Frankenstein, it raised the bar for horror FX substantially. The story of a young Russian immigrant with a dark family past, it combines aspects of film noir and mystery movies with Hitchcockian suspense, while pioneering several staple tropes of horror cinema that have been used hundreds if not thousands of times since. Despite the basic unlikability of the majority of the characters, its a remarkably riveting film; a testament to Wylers directorial choices, in which we see character surehandedly reflected in small physical details and hard angles. Just watch the visual motif of that boudoir introduction recur in the Put the Blame on Mame musical number-turned-striptease. dramas, and a few fantasy films. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot treats as a given that the world is a crappy place, through and through, detailing how the denizens of a small French town (anywhere) are pitted against one another through a series of poison pen letters sent by the titular Raven. #41. When movies such as Double Indemnity, Laura and Murder, My Sweet (all 1944) saw delayed release in Paris after the end of the Undoing is a fabulous foil Gene Tierneyeven the guy whos come to investigate her murder of in. Under the leadership of Marchal Henri Philippe Ultimately, of course, some of period... The story is direct and crisply toldwhat makes this film a must-see classic is that it might dead... Toldwhat makes this film is lively and dynamic and visually arresting help them it... From Malle to Melville, Carn to Clouzot, this 1946versionbegins with a drifter ( John Garfield in. Knew what to call film noirs when they first started coming out of Hollywood in 40s... 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Vittorio de Sicas vision hits all the notes of the Italian Neorealist style Pioneered by Roberto Rossellini the story is simple, the characters are relatively simple (some arent actors at all; Enzo Staiola, who plays the mans son and cohort, was plucked off the sidewalk), and there is a focus on the quotidian lives of working class people and the unemployment and poverty that plagued Italy in the postwar years. A.G. And, of course, some of the most beautiful and evocative scenes of endless skies and endless prairies to be found. StarringPeter Lorreas the stranger of the title, its a short, cheap B-movie in which many of the hallmarks of the emerging style are brought together: an urban setting, slanted shadows, voice-over narration and the story of a wrong man falsely accused. The film is lively and dynamic and visually arresting. The settings lacked specificityGerman (Hawks, though a fan of Hemingways, felt that To Have and Have Not was his worst novel, and reportedly told him so.) (You might even believe, given both the passage of time and enough viewings of The Third Man under your belt, that Welles himself is the architect of the piece, but of course youd be 100% wrong if you did.) Good satire can be powerful, and this film was: Released while the United States was still formally at peace with Germany, it stirred greater public attention and condemnation of the Nazis and Mussolini, anti-Semitism and fascism. A historical piece set in the 1820s Paris theater world, it centers on an enigmatic performer named Garence (Arletty) and four men who are drawn to her, each for slightly different reasons. A.C. Everyones in love with Gene Tierneyeven the guy whos come to investigate her murder. There are disastrous miscommunications and something suspicious hidden in the wine cellar and a couple of Hitchcocks most iconic shots and a hell of a lot of drinking. A.G. 1900s A Trip To The Moon/Le Voyage Dans La Lune 
This is a tale of grand passion both between men and women and between actors and audiences, and actors and the stages they inhabit. vision of France grounded in a conservative social agenda and a focus on The movies borrowed angular lighting effects from 1920s German films and a poetic gloominess from 1930s French films, wrapping it all up in tantalising packages of grit, glamour andcynicism. A.G. The film overemphasizes minutiae of its mise en scne, extends scenes past their natural end points, and hoovers any sense of gratification out of its climax. This is the film where Bogart and Bacall met, sparking one of Hollywoods most legendary love affairs, and that chemistry is very much in evidence in their crackling on-screen interactions. to create a European Hollywood. Whether in film or on television, MacMurray normally played the nice guy, but for Double Indemnity he turned his everyman decency into a maskperfect for a character who can barely conceal what a lustful, conniving bastard he is. Doomed love, self-sacrifice, Bogie one-liners galore, and one of the most quintessential cinematic moments of its age (both of my kids were born after 9/11 and even they cheered when that chorus of La Marseillaise drowned out the Nazis). By contrast, Roberto Rossellinis Rome, Open City denies its viewers the admittedly mild succor granted us by Bicycle Thieves, offering instead a raw, righteous outrage that stems from Rosselinis national pride. co-production. Nobody knew what to call film noirs when they first started coming out of Hollywood in the early 1940s. Your preference will come down to how well you like your schmaltz: Those with a taste for unadulterated sentimentality will likely lean more toward Capra, while those who like a healthy sprinkle of cynical realism on their holiday fare will probably go for George Seatons Miracle instead. 
Learn more. There are Claude Rains and Cary Grant both ass over teakettle for Bergman (and how could you not be?). Mysterious, rich in feeling, deliciously creepy, and with jewel-tone supporting performances by Angela Lansbury and Joseph Cotten, it was a great psychological thriller in its day and it remains one now. See also:Baby Face Nelson (Don Siegel), The Garment Jungle (Vincent Sherman), Sweet Smell of Success (AlexanderMackendrick). Les Anges du pch One thing over half of these films have in common is women editors, whose role in the films they've worked on has been obscured by the auteur-centric view that became prevalent in the late-40s and persists to this day. from the political and social pressures of the period. Likewise, this is the adaptation to which vastly inferior attempts, including a 1931 version of the same name and 1936s Satan Met a Lady, could only aspire. The choice to play both the tyrant and the oppressed man was an inspired one, underscoring the frightening but inescapable truth that we all contain a little bit of both characters. An amazing collection of experts and performers were assembled to consult on science, animal movement and different types of dance. Letterboxd Limited. Weird and wonderful and powerful filmmaking. A.C. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of serviceapply. The story is direct and crisply toldwhat makes this film a must-see classic is that it might be the ultimate in dazzling on-screen chemistry. Neo-noir wasborn. Casablanca (1942) PG | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War 8.5 Rate 100 Metascore A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not Still, Cagney is mesmerizing to watch self-destruct. 1909), Claude Autant-Lara A.G. A.G. A list of films produced in France in 1940: Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Weird, beautiful, orgiastic, abstracted, wildly colored and meticulously recorded, the film was a critical darling and considered to be an incredibly bold move on Disneys part, though many in the classical music community nitpicked Stokowskis arrangements. And the agent whos on call to help them do it is, well, hes a bit of a temptation. Johnny and Gilda hurl emotional and physical hostilities as they love-hate on each other, both felt in equal measure. for the industry overall. ), and wonderful performances by Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer as a traumatized woman and a sociopath determined to drive her out of her mind. It was remade in 1990, with Gene Hackman as thedetective. Two bank robbers and an insurance investigator all take up his trail, pursuing him into the snowywilderness. (Everyones a critic.) The producer was originally planning to hire John Huston to direct The Stranger; Welles got the job because of an ill-timed military tour that took Huston (literally and figuratively) out of the picture. By the late 1940s, film noir was pulling in two ways towards stylised abstraction on the one hand, and towards a new street-level realism on the other. The eight largest studios (Warner Brothers, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], RKO Radio, Twentieth Latin America. There were a lot of great noirs in the 40s. The great granddaddy of all convoluted noirs, The Big Sleep fully embodies every single identifying feature of Raymond Chandlers writing: dialogue that sears itself into viewers brains, rough-cut men, seductive femme fatales, plenty of violence, a respectable body count, and enough plot curveballs to give even the most accomplished noirs twist envy. L'Herbier. B.S. A prototypical war of the sexes comedy in which each side represents the status quo for his or her respective gender, Adams Rib transcends its dumbest Mars-vs-Venus trappings by portraying Tracys Bonner as a stuffy turd too caught up in his derision of women to do anything about the fact that a famous musician lothario (David Wayne) is getting mighty close to cuckolding him, were Amanda Bonner a dunce susceptible to shameless advances. Innovative cinematography, intriguing storytelling and great acting are all reasons to watch this dramatic mystery, in which journalists race to unspool the mystery of the absurdly wealthy and tyrannical Kanes mysterious dying word, Rosebud. The way the plot unfolds is fascinating, the shifts in point of view are superb, and the mirroring opening and closing sequences are beautiful. Gilda taunts Johnny throughout the film, goading him with her sex appeal, and for his part, Vidor teases us, tooGilda, are you decent? Define decent. Adult, adventure. More polished examples of noir exist than this poverty row production from the B-movie pumphouse Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), but here in 68 minutes and shot in six days is a perfect distillation of the genres essence. But certainly for its day, and quite equally so now, this film is a pretty astute and sophisticated look at post-traumatic dissociative compartmentalization, and its really fun to watch it unfold. Happily, her no-longer-drunken ex is played by Cary Grant, who is a fabulous foil. Special effects have become so sophisticated that many of us have probably forgotten how much pure amazement you can wreak with a great story and a script that doesnt let up for one second. the film industry in advancing this agenda and almost immediately put in In 1960, the release of Jean-Luc GodardsBreathlessand Franois TruffautsShoot the Pianist, which lovingly parodied and reinvented old crime movie tropes, heralded a new self-awareness about genre that slowly bled back across the Atlantic to Hollywood. Overall, the film is more a distance runner than a sprinter and a brilliant example of Disneys strange, maverick, expansive imagination. Film data from TMDb. By the time you read this letter, I might be dead. This haunting romance by Max Ophls is one of those star-crossed love stories that, if it doesnt tug at your heart, you might want to check to make sure you have one. In an era where your Labradoodle probably has its own therapist its easy to forget that psychoanalysis was a relative rarity, reserved for people of significant means and people in mental hospitals, which is where this psychological thriller by Alfred Hitchcock takes place. D.S. See also:The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston), Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis), Sunset Blvd. Dreyers first film in more than a decade, a tense and measured reaction to the overwhelming forces oppressing him and his country, filtered through the systemic corruption that has both plagued and defined civilization since its Edenic Fall. The Grapes of Wrath endures for good reason: Its the truth, an authentic dramatization of how American industry chews up working families and spits them out, leaving them to die in the soil they once tilled, which means that as long as agents of commerce go about the grim business of screwing people out of their livelihood, offering no apology but rather a shrug and an excuse, the film will stay relevant. ( Lumire d't Together they pop, but no matter how brightly they might shine, Out of the Past remains a masterwork coated in darkness from page to screen. All Rights Reserved. It not only dominates the background music, but it pops in in the narrative of the filmits the record on the phonograph; its the song the band is playing at the coffeeshop; its playing at the journalists party. At He was dogged by cut-happy producers (its not even clear how much footage was removed but Welles was relieved of the first 16 pages of his script before principal photography even started) and contrarian casting and locations choices (Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead to play the investigator; the studio cast Robinson; likewise he got a budget-driven no on filming the prep school scenes at The Todd School in Illinois, his own alma mater). LikeDetour, and several other noirs besides, this 1946versionbegins with a drifter (John Garfield) in a diner. A.G. Seriously, if this doesnt bring tears to your eyes, see your opthalmologist. His second, a period drama based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1918 novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington, was destroyed (in Welles view) when he lost control of the editing to RKO. Before fleeing Hollywood for Britain during the McCarthy witch-hunt era,Joseph Loseymade a string of distinctive film noirs three in 1951 alone. What puts you on the edge of your seat in this film is how you get there. As it turned out, it was Welles only significant box office success on release, and remains a canonized film noir. - Film (1944) - SensCritique", "Review of the film l'Aventure est au coin de la rue (1944)", "La vie de plaisir - Film (1944) - SensCritique", "Review of the film le Carrefour des enfants perdus (1944)", "MCDXXIX-MCMXLII (De Jeanne d'Arc Philippe Ptain) (1944)", French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Awards, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_French_films_of_1944&oldid=1108669220, Lists of 1944 films by country or language, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 September 2022, at 17:32. Theres espionage. French migr directorJacques Tourneurwas a master of shadowy gothic horror, but his firsttrue noirmight be the ultimate example of the cycle, ticking off all its hallmarks from flashbacks to femme fatales into a concoction thats nothing short of intoxicating. While there he befriends an undercover fed (Edmond OBrien, whose other noirs include The Hitch-Hiker) bent on nailing him for greater crimes. Hes a titan of cinema, casting his shadow over American film from the time his career began until the day he died, and though hes been gone for over thirty years his influence is still felt in movies the world over. From Malle to Melville, Carn to Clouzot, this is Time Outs ultimate guide to the best French movies ever released. Can you believe there was a time when Katharine Hepburn was known in Hollywood as box office poison? Among the thirty feature films thus produced under the auspices of Continental, several are, to this day, considered classics of French cinema. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. But that alone wouldnt be just cause in a bad movie. Web1940s-1 The Greatest War Movies Title Screen Film Title/Year/Director, War-time Setting and Brief Description Screenshots Foreign Correspondent (1940) d. Alfred Hitchcock New York (the US), Britain (London) and Holland (Amsterdam) just before the outbreak of Cinemas were a popular haven from the cold and Title Director Cast Genre Notes As Long as I Live: Jacques de Baroncelli: Edwige Feuillre, Jacques Berthier, Jean Debucourt: Drama: Co-production with Italy Back Jean Marais (Beast) and Josette Day (Belle) deliver enchanting performances. The 1941 original remains the best and most earnest film in the seriesa portrait of a man who has no power over the raging beast within. Adapted from Maxwell Andersons hit Broadway play, the resulting chamber piece swaps the Spanish Civil War for the second World War. What holds up beautifully is Waynes fascinating slow fade from strapping man in the prime of life to defeated old guy, placed against Matts ascendancy. Driven by star and producerHarry Belafonte,Odds against Tomorrowis a rare film noir with a black star at its centre, also tackling the theme of racism as a side order to its story of a heist gone wrong. A brother and sister move into a crumbling seaside manor to discover restless spirits with a connection to the young granddaughter of the former owner. central France, under the leadership of Marchal Henri Philippe Ultimately, of course, his undoing is a clockliterally. On that note, the damage is no longer rooted in his environment; Jarretts a disaster from the inside out, dysfunctional in his very wiring (thanks, ma!). This Freudian melodrama a big favourite ofJean-Luc Godard finds him at fulltilt. Famed for the groundbreaking FX of its iconic transformation scene, and aided by the same top-notch makeup that Jack Pierce employed in Frankenstein, it raised the bar for horror FX substantially. The story of a young Russian immigrant with a dark family past, it combines aspects of film noir and mystery movies with Hitchcockian suspense, while pioneering several staple tropes of horror cinema that have been used hundreds if not thousands of times since. Despite the basic unlikability of the majority of the characters, its a remarkably riveting film; a testament to Wylers directorial choices, in which we see character surehandedly reflected in small physical details and hard angles. Just watch the visual motif of that boudoir introduction recur in the Put the Blame on Mame musical number-turned-striptease. dramas, and a few fantasy films. 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