1947

The year 1947 was great for “film noir,” but the most BELOVED film of that year is probably Miracle on 34^th Street.  Sure, other films that year are considered better in many categories by many people, but of all the films made in 1947, Miracle is, by far, the most well-known and well-liked among film buffs and casual fans alike.

But if you’ve followed this series at all, you know that no list ever ends with the film at the top.

Below are eleven other great films from 1947.  In no particular order, here are the Two Through Twelve to Miracle on 34^th Street’s Number One.

Out of the Past

Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, and Rhonda Fleming

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Mitchum plays a man with a past – a past as a private eye that he left behind.  But a change in job and name and town doesn’t change a man’s past, especially when that past finds him.  This film is considered by many to be the best of the genre.

The Lady From Shanghai

Starring Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Stone, and Glenn Anders

Directed by Orson Welles

Director Welles’ dizzying camera angles and choppy editing almost make the camera the star of this twisting tale of lust, murder, secret identities, and double-crosses.  It’s impossible to say any more without saying TOO MUCH more.

Black Narcissus

Starring Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar, Jean Simmons, and Kathleen Byron

Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

This tale of nuns in the Himalayas is a visual stunner.  You can read my full review of it here. 

Dark Passage

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett, and Agnes Moorehead

Directed by Delmer Daves

The third of four onscreen pairings of Bogie and Bacall, about an escaped con wrongly accused of murder, spends the first half of the movie shot in Bogie’s first-person perspective.  That’s right, Bogie’s face (a new one, based on the storyline) doesn’t even appear until Act II-ish.  Still, it’s Bogie and Bacall.

Monsieur Verdoux

Starring Charles Chaplin, Mady Correll, and Martha Raye

Directed by Charles Chaplin

This movie – Chaplin’s second “talkie” and only his second film in a 10-year span – tells the story of how far a man will go to provide for his family.  Because it’s Chaplin, look for a deeper message (anti-war), but don’t expect to find the Little Tramp anywhere.

Gentleman’s Agreement

Starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy Maguire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm, and Anne Revere

Directed by Elia Kazan

Peck plays a writer who must pen an article about anti-Semitism.  He decides to spend the next six months pretending to be Jewish, to get a first-person account of what anti-Semitism feels like.  The experiment not only affects him, it affects his family, too.

The Bishop’s Wife

Starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven

Directed by Henry Koster

This other Christmas favorite from 1947 can be enjoyed any time of the year.  Grant plays Dudley, and angel who has been sent to offer help to a bishop (Niven) struggling with the construction of a new cathedral.  But the immortal angel finds himself in a little trouble of his own when he starts to fall for the bishop’s very mortal wife (Young).

Nightmare Alley

Starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell

Directed by Edmund Goulding

With the carnival as a unique early backdrop, this film tells of Stanton Carlisle (Power), a smooth and handsome carnival barker who accidentally kills the husband of a woman he flirts with (Blondell).  He convinces her to take her old mentalist act out of the circus and into nightclubs, where many different stakes are raised.

Pursued

Starring Teresa Wright, Robert Mitchum, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger, and Alan Hale

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Speaking of unique backdrops, it isn’t often you get to cross western and noir when mixing genres, but you do here.  Mitchum plays Jeb, a man raised from childhood by the Callum family after his own family is killed.  Love, resentment, and intrigue among his foster family members – and others – ensue.

Body and Soul

Starring John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere, and William Conrad

Directed by Robert Rossen

Garfield plays a boxer who fights because it’s what he does best, and everything that happens to him, and all decisions he makes, are because of that.  It sounds two-dimensional, but it’s innocently one-tracked; imagine a noir cross between Rocky Balboa and Forrest Gump.  Plus, be ready for the masterfully edited final fight sequence.

Song of the Thin Man

Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Kennan Wynn, and Dean Stockwell

Directed by Edward Buzzell

It’s guilty pleasure time again, and this time with a little melancholy.  This film marks not only the sixth and final installment of the Thin Man series, it marks the last star-pairing of what is arguably one of the greatest onscreen couples in the history of cinema, Powell and Loy.  Whenever current filmmakers wonder how onscreen chemistry is supposed to feel, they need look no further than this pair in any of their 14 films together.

This list certainly doesn’t cover them all, and I’m sure your Two Through Twelve is different – not better or worse, just different – than mine.

Summer Blockbusters

Summer is almost over.

But rather than catch one last wave (because the only thing I surf is the Internet), I thought I’d take one last hold of summer with a look at Summer Blockbusters.

Jaws has been given near-universal credit for being the first official Summer Blockbuster in movie history.  And many say, some 36 years later, it’s still the best.  So let’s go with that and ask ...

If Jaws is the greatest Summer Blockbuster of all time, what are the rest of the dozen best?  What are the Two Through Twelve of the greatest Summer Blockbusters?

Star Wars

Released 05/25/77

Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, and James Earl Jones (voice) 

Directed by George Lucas

While Jaws may have been the first Summer Blockbuster, this maiden franchise film was the first (at least in my memory) to whip fanboys into a repeat-viewing lather, long before the term fanboy even existed.  To this day, I remember the length of the line to see this film in the two-screen theater in the town where I lived.  While the age of the technology used is visible, the magic is still there with every viewing.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Released 06/12/81

Starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and Paul Freeman

Directed by Steven Spielberg

After the first two Star Wars films moved countless FX-heavy (hapless?) imitators into outer space, Spielberg went the other way with an homage to the serials of the 1930s, and he cast Han Solo himself (Ford) in the lead.  The action here is exciting and even its scariest moments are kid-friendly (with the possible exception of the melting Nazi heads).  It’s great family fare from Spielberg.  Speaking of which …

E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial

Released 06/11/82

Starring Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, and Drew Barrymore

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Having already knocked 3 out of the park in his previous 4 at-bats (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1941 [the whiff], and Raiders of the Lost Ark), Spielberg left 1930s adventuring behind and, rather than go into space, brought space home in this tale of a young alien separated … by light years … from his family.  The added sentimentality really adds to this FX gem.  (READ: It made me cry.  There, I said it.)

Ghostbusters

Released 06/08/84

Starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Ernie Hudson

Directed by Ivan Reitman

When ghosts run amok in the Big Apple … who ya gonna call?  (My apologies.  I believe I am legally obligated to ask that question whenever this film is the subject of review.)  The FX in this sci-fi comedy are good, but not so good as to take away from the sharply humorous script, which is perfectly crafted to showcase the incomparable Bill Murray.  Ray Parker Jr.’s title tune was the big soundtrack hit, but I’m partial to “Cleanin’ Up the Town” by The Busboys.

Back to the Future

Released 07/03/85

Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Only in the 1980s would the method of time travel be the stainless steel, gull-winged vehicle of excess, the DeLorean.  Fox, carrying his first film at the peak of his TV (Family Ties) success, is perfectly cast as Marty McFly, the teen who travels back in time to 1955 and accidentally prevents his parents from meeting, thus threatening his own existence.  Success was this film’s density … uh, destiny.

Die Hard

Released 07/15/88

Starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald Veljohnson, Paul Gleason, William Athertonm Alan Rickman, and Alexander Godunov

Directed by John McTiernan

Bruce Willis was another TV (Moonlighting) success story, but his transition to film took slight missteps with Blind Date (1987) and Sunset (1988).  But the third time was a phenomenal charm.  Willis plays a lone NY cop in an L.A. high-rise that has been seized by terrorists.  What makes the film so great is that Willis is not so much an everyman, but rather a wisecracking hipster that women love and men envy.  Plus, Alan Rickman, in his first film role (!), plays one of cinema’s all-time great bad guys, Hans Gruber.

Jurassic Park

Released 06/11/93

Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough

Directed by Steven Spielberg

When my wife and I watched this film together for the first time (on video), she mentioned to me that when she saw it in theaters, she thought – at least for a moment – that Spielberg actually had the ability to bring back dinosaurs.  It sure looks it and feels it here.  Well-executed on-camera and off, this is a story about humanity’s hubris, wrapped in an amusement park-gone-berserk dinosaur movie.  The magic scene for me is when Neill and Dern first see live dinosaurs in the wild.

The Sixth Sense

Released 08/06/99

Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni and Collette

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Two words: Who knew?  This unexpected smash from rookie director Shyamalan is all about a boy (Osment) who sees dead people, and the doctor (Willis) who helps him.  The whiplash-twist at the end of the movie was the talk of everyone who saw it, but unfortunately, Shyamalan has yet to recreate that magic (although he’s tried … and tried).

The Dark Night

Released 07/18/08

Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Is there a better superhero movie?  I don’t think so.  Building off the fantastic Batman Begins, director Nolan reassembles the principal players to continue the Batman trilogy.  But for all of its casting and technical excellence, this film belongs, in total, to Heath Ledger.  His interpretation of the Joker erases all of Caesar Romero’s 1960s camp and all of Jack Nicholson’s 1980s bombast to take crazed to dark (and wonderful) new depths.

Toy Story 3

Released 06/18/10

Starring the voices ofTom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, and Estelle Harris

Directed by Lee Unkrich

While E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial brought me to tears when I was young, this one brought me to tears when I wasn’t so young.  What I love about this film – and the Toy Story franchise, and Pixar – is that story is as important as visual magic or celebrity voices.  In this installment, Andy is grown and ready to part with his toys.  Oh man.  I can’t even type it without welling up.

Batman

Released 06/23/89

Starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, and Jack Palance

Directed by Tim Burton

As has become tradition, this last film on the list is my guilty pleasure entry, but not because it’s not worthy.  It is; at least, it’s worthy to be in the discussion.  Prior to Burton’s interpretation of the Dark Knight, Batman was either fanboy fodder or a punchline in the BIFF-WHAP-POW memory of a generation or two.  Burton ended that.  Plus, Prince’s soundtrack – while not Purple Rain quality – was miles better than most of the “Various Artists” compilations churned out in the 1980s.  But while Batman is in the discussion, there are (generally) better films that more deservie to be on this list (Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day to name two).  But I chose this strictly for nostalgic purposes.  Batman was the front end of the LAST double feature I ever saw … at an honest-to-God drive-in movie theater.  (The other film was Lethal Weapon 2.)  And as it was in the twilight of the drive-in experience, the squawk boxes my parents used to hang from the window were replaced by an FM frequency and my sweet car stereo system.  Did I mention how good that Prince soundtrack is?

This list was far more difficult than I expected it to be.  In fact, what I thought was my “narrowed-down list” had 22 films listed!  (It’s almost shameful what I had to cut to get this down to 11.)  Regardless, this list certainly doesn’t cover them all, and I’m sure your Two Through Twelve is different – not better or worse, just different – than mine.

1939

There are three camps when it comes to the films of 1939.

Members of the first camp say that Gone With the Wind is the greatest film of 1939.

Members of the second camp say that The Wizard of Oz is the greatest film of 1939.

And Members of the third camp – the camp situated between the other camps – say that Gone With the Wind is the greatest drama of 1939 and The Wizard of Oz is the greatest musical of 1939.

Since this issue is not as definitive as the “Citizen Kane is the greatest movie of 1941” assertion of my previous entry, I’m taking a little creative license by saying that listed below are eleven other great films from 1939 … the Two Through Twelve to Gone With the Wind’s 1-A and The Wizard of Oz’s 1-B.

  

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, and Thomas Mitchell

Directed by Frank Capra

This marks the second of three collaborations between Capra and Stewart (doesn’t it seem like there were so many more?).  In it, Stewart plays a naïf who is appointed to the US Senate.  There he learns hard lessons about disappointment and corruption, but in the end, he is a beacon of inspiration for film characters and viewers alike.

Stagecoach

Starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, and Thomas Mitchell

Directed by John Ford

This marks the 8^th of 21 collaborations (to varying degrees, and yes, you read that right) between Ford and Wayne, and it’s their first great film together.  Wayne is the star in a wonderful ensemble cast of misfits traveling together via – you guessed it – stagecoach, with the threat of an Indian attack looming.

Ninotchka

Starring Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, and Bela Lugosi

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

It might be hard to believe that “Greta Garbo” and “romantic comedy” exist on the same plane, but they do, and the exist together well.  Garbo is a hard-nosed Russian trying to sell jewels on behalf of her government when she is distracted by the charm of Douglas.

Wuthering Heights

Starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, and David Niven

Directed by William Wyler

This is one of many adaptations of Emily Bronte’s novel about star-crossed lovers Heathcliff and Cathy.  However, this is the only adaptation of Emily Bronte’s novel about star-crossed lovers Heathcliff and Cathy one that got the Goldwyn touch, and it shows, from its beautiful cast to its Oscar-winning cinematography.

Gunga Din

Starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe, and Joan Fontaine

Directed by George Stevens

Part buddy-movie, part period action film, Gunga Din covers the battling exploits of three British soldiers.  In this instance, the adventure is the trio’s last, as one of the men is looking to settle down and marry.  Helping them is their titular manservant.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Starring Charles Laughton, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Maureen O’Hara, and Edmond O’Brien

Directed by William Dieterle

The dazzling gypsy Esmeralda is object of affection of three men: the evil Frollo, the noble Phoebus, and the grotesque caretaker of Notre Dame, Quasimodo (he of the hunched back).  This is probably the best-known version (along with the Lon Chaney silent version of 1923), and a tale that really shouldn’t have been attempted by Disney in 1996.

Only Angels Have Wings

Starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess, Rita Hayworth, and Thomas Mitchell

Directed by Howard Hawks

This fine film, about mail pilots based in South America, is the fifth film mentioned in this list (the other four being Gone With the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Stagecoach) to feature Thomas Mitchell.  Starring in five of the top films in the greatest year in cinema earns Mitchell the MVP for 1939!

Dark Victory

Starring Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, and Geraldine Fitzgerald

Directed by Edmund Goulding

Davis plays a young socialite who must have a brain tumor removed.  She falls in love with the doctor, who doesn’t tell her that even with the surgery, she has mere months to live.  Davis was at the peak of her success here, earning her fourth Oscar nomination in six years (which was also the second of what would be five consecutive years of nominations).

Destry Rides Again

Starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart

Directed by George Marshall

Stewart plays an old west lawman who is called in to help clean up a corrupt town.  Notable for the fact that it is Stewart’s first Western and a role (or at least a film genre) much against type for Dietrich.

Love Affair

Starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer

Directed by Leo McCarey

If you thought Sleepless and Seattle was a remake of An Affair to Remember, you were only partially right, because An Affair to Remember was a remake of this original version, about two people who meet and fall in love while on a cruise.  They agree to take six months apart to part with their respective loves, then meet atop the Empire State building.  Okay, I’d take Remember’s Cary Grant over Boyer any day, but I wouldn’t replace Dunne with anybody else.

Another Thin Man

Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Virginia Grey

Directed by W.S. Van Dyke Jr.

Nick and Nora are back in action in this third installment of the six-film Thin Man series.  As was the case with the 1941 list, this is my guilty pleasure entry.  While the film isn’t as good as its two predecessors, crimes are still solved and drinks are still poured, and it is better than its three successors.  Plus, even though they starred in 14 films together, I can never get enough of Powell and Loy.

This list certainly doesn’t cover them all, and I’m sure your Two Through Twelve is different – not better or worse, just different – than mine.

 

1941

Citizen Kane is considered by most to be the greatest movie ever made.  By default, then, it is the greatest film of 1941.  But many other great films were released in that year – the year of Pearl Harbor, DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak, and the creation of the USO.

Listed below are eleven other great films from 1941 … the Two Through Twelve to Citizen Kane’s Number One.

The Maltese Falcon

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet

Directed by John Huston

This film showcases Bogart’s breakout performance as legendary private eye Sam Spade, navigating a minefield of twists and unseemly characters.

The Lady Eve

Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda

Directed by Preston Sturges

Fonda is just as perfect as a hapless heir as Stanwyck is as the con woman who falls in love with him in this textbook screwball comedy.

How Green Was My Valley

Starring Walter Pidgeon and Maureen O’Hara

Directed by John Ford

This sentimental epic about a turn-of-the-century Welsh coalmining family covers 50 years of that family’s existence.  Oh, and it beat Citizen Kane for the Best Picture Oscar.

Ball of Fire

Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, and Dana Andrews

Directed by Howard Hawks

Stanwyck’s sexy nightclub singer (and wonderfully named) Sugarpuss O’Shea meets cute, and falls for, Cooper’s Professor Potts, whose professorial colleagues were based on the dwarfs from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Sergeant York

Starring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan

Directed by Howard Hawks

The titular crack marksman is drafted to serve during World War I, resists due to his Christian beliefs, but soon helps defeat the enemy.  This performance gave Cooper his first Oscar.

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

Starring Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, and Claude Rains

Directed by Alexander Hall

A boxer taken too soon gets a second chance at life, love, and a boxing career … in the body of a millionaire.  This fantasy film was later remade as Heaven Can Wait (1978) starring Warren Beatty, and Down to Earth (2001) starring Chris Rock.

The Devil and Miss Jones

Starring Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, and Edmund Gwenn

Directed by Sam Wood

A department store owner secretly infiltrates his own store to learn which employees are organizing a union.  It’s the Undervcover Boss of its time.

Meet John Doe

Starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward Arnold

Directed by Frank Capra

A fictitious letter written by newspaper reporter Stanwyck, but signed “John Doe,” inspires a politically downtrodden public.  This requires Stanwyck to hire Cooper to become the face of John Doe.  The three leads shine in this message-heavy Capra classic.

Suspicion

Starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s first teaming with Grant has the actor playing a rogue con man who meets, woos, and marries a wealthy heiress (Fontaine), who soon thinks he is planning to kill her.  You cannot go wrong with Grant/Hitchcock.

Love Crazy

Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Gail Patrick

Directed by Jack Conway

A wife (mistakenly) thinks her husband is cheating on her, so she files for divorce.  His only chance to save his marriage is to act insane.  She has him committed.  This isn’t the best Powell-Loy film, but none of the 14 (yes, 14) films they made together is bad.

Sun Valley Serenade

Starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, and Glenn Miller

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

This is my guilty pleasure of the list because the film is nothing more than an excuse to hear Glenn Miller and His Orchestra perform classics like “In the Mood” and the Oscar-nominated “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.”  It’s also a great chance to see Dorothy Dandridge and Nicholas Brothers perform, too.

This list certainly doesn’t cover them all, and I’m sure your Two Through Twelve is different – not better or worse, just different – than mine.