A Century of Film: Film History (1940-1949)

A Century of Film

Film History

1940-1949

Filmmaking had supposedly peaked in 1939 just as the war arrived to greatly limit (outside of America, film production was massively down) and influence it (in America, War films took the forefront).  After the war concluded, came the two lawsuits that changed the way of films in America.  First came de Havilland vs. Warner Bros. Pictures which altered the notion of what a studio could put in a contract.  Second came United States vs. Paramount Pictures which meant that production studios would have to sell off their theater chains.  The first hastened the end of the way films were made in the Studio Era while the second altered how they were distributed and brought an to the end to the concept of the “majors” as they had been known.

 

Century of Film: The Top 1000 Films (#950-901)

This is the next batch of 50 films counting down my Top 1000 Films of All-Time.  Once again, they all earn an 86, which is high ***.5.  I recommend reading the introduction first.  The first batch of 50 were here.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1946

“They were clustered / At the right waist-port; the gun was there, / And Homer hung against it, crying joy. / They saw a river; they all knew it.” (p 22)

My Top 7:

1. The Best Years of Our Lives
2. Brief Encounter
3. The Big Sleep
4. It’s a Wonderful Life
5. Henry V
6. The Spiral Staircase
7. The Killers

note:  This is an interesting year.  It’s one of the greatest years in film history and the Top 7 films (Children of Paradise and Notorious are original scripts) are better than than the top 7 of any other year.  However, there’s a big drop-off after those seven and thus I only have a Top 7, not a Top 10.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1945

“When the drink was set before him, he felt better. He did not drink it immediately. Now that he had it, he did not need to.” (p 11)

My Top 10:

1. The Lost Weekend
2. To Have and Have Not
3. Spellbound
4. The Body Snatcher
5. The Man in Grey
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
7. And Then There Were None
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray
9. The Story of G.I. Joe
10. The Southerner

Note:  A year after only having five on my whole list, I have more than 10.  My #11 is Pride of the Marines, which is covered down below because it was an Oscar nominee.  Next year, I’ll be back to less than a whole list.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1940

“Joad got out and stood beside the cab window. The vertical exhaust pipe puttered up its barely visible blue smoke. Joad leaned toward the driver. ‘Homicide,’ he said quickly.”

My Top 10:

1. The Grapes of Wrath
2. The Philadelphia Story
3. His Girl Friday
4. Rebecca
5. Pinocchio
6. The Letter
7. The Shop Around the Corner
8. La Bête Humaine
9. The Baker’s Wife
10. Pride and Prejudice

Note:  I finally have, not only a full slate of 10, but films that I consider for my list and don’t make it, though that film is discussed below because it was nominated for the Oscar (The Long Voyage Home).  This is the best group of 10 to date, hands down.  The Letter is much better than any #6 so far except for Bride of Frankenstein.  Shop and Humaine, at the #7 and 8 spots would be in the Top 5 of any year to this date except 1935.

 

The Nighthawk Awards: 1948

Greed is, for lack of a better word, bad.

You can read more about this year in film here.  The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees.  First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end.  If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year.  Films in red won the Oscar in that category (or Globe, in the Globes section).  Films in blue were nominated (the Globes still didn’t have nominees).  Films with an asterisk (*) were Consensus nominees (a scale I put together based on the various awards) while those with a double asterisk (**) were the Consensus winner.

Now that we have hit 1948, I will probably do more discussion in the major categories.  That’s because we’ve hit the BAFTAs and we’ve hit the first guild awards (DGA, WGA) and we get to what I call “Consensus” awards – what the various groups decided at the time.

Nighthawk Awards:

• Best Picture

1. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre  **
2. Hamlet  *
3. Red River
4. Force of Evil
5. Day of Wrath
   

 

The Nighthawk Awards: 1946

The brilliant opening of Children of Paradise.

You can read more about this year in film here.  The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees.  First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end.  If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year.  Films in red won the Oscar in that category.  Films in blue were nominated.

This is the first year of the reduced number of nominees in the tech categories at the Oscars – Sound and Interior Decoration would have three nominees each with Cinematography and Special Effects only having two each.  It’s the fourth year for the Golden Globes, but there are still no nominees and no distinction between Drama and Comedy – the films marked in red in my Globes section won the Globe.

Note:  You will see seven films in most categories listed below.  Only the top 5 are my nominees for the year.  But the seven top films of this year are so incredibly good, I decided to list more than my top 5 – in fact, this year sets a new best for Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Editing and Cinematography.  In later years, I will probably list my Top 10 in just about all categories, but still only my top 5 will earn nominations.

Nighthawk Awards:

• Best Picture

1. Children of Paradise
2. The Best Years of Our Lives
3. It’s a Wonderful Life
4. The Big Sleep
5. Brief Encounter
6. Henry V
7. Notorious

 

The Nighthawk Awards: 1945

In 1944, this would have been the #2 film. In 1946, it would be the #8 film. But in 1945, The Lost Weekend is easily the best film of the year.

You can read more about this year in film here.  The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees.  First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end.  If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year.  Films in red won the Oscar in that category.  Films in blue were nominated. This is the last year of the seemingly unlimited number of nominees in most of the tech categories at the Oscars.  It’s the third year of the Golden Globes – there were still no nominees and no distinction between Drama and Comedy, but those films in red in the Globe section won the Globes.

Nighthawk Awards:

• Best Picture

1. The Lost Weekend
2. To Have and Have Not
3. Spellbound
4. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
5. The Story of G.I. Joe

Analysis:  Unlike the year before, this isn’t even a full list of **** films – Joe is a ***.5 film, and not that high a one either.  Joe is the weakest #5 film since 1934 and the total group is the weakest group of 5 since 1931.

 

The Nighthawk Awards: 1940

“Joad got out and stood beside the cab window. The vertical exhaust pipe puttered up its barely visible blue smoke. Joad leaned toward the driver. ‘Homicide,’ he said quickly.”

You can read more about this year in film here.  The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees.  First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end.  If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year.  Films in red won the Oscar in that category.  Films in blue were nominated.  The Academy added two categories this year.

Nighthawk Awards:

• Best Picture

1. The Grapes of Wrath
2. Rebecca
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. The Great Dictator
5. His Girl Friday

 

The Nighthawk Awards: 1938

Jean Gabin and Marcel Dalio escape the war in The Grand Illusion (1937, eligible in 1938).

You can read more about this year in film here.  The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees.  First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end.  If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year.  Films in red won the Oscar in that category.  Films in blue were nominated.  The Academy added one category this year – splitting Score into Score and Original Score, though they are vague over what the precise difference is.

Nighthawk Awards:

• Best Picture

1. The Grand Illusion
2. The Adventures of Robin Hood
3. Bringing Up Baby
4. Pygmalion
5. You Can’t Take It With You