Happy Film List, War Is Over
The post-war years saw Hollywood booming, though by 1948, TV was threatening to get big and change the business forever. Meanwhile, Europe and Japan were trying out new things while digging out of the rubble. Not necessarily a great time for film, but an interesting one.
And now we've got Jesse Walker's top ten list for 1948:
2. The Red Shoes
3. They Live By Night
4. Fort Apache
5. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
6. Brighton Rock
7. Germany, Year Zero
8. Hamlet
9. Key Largo
10. The Snake Pit
Red River is my #1 film of the year.
The Red Shoes is okay, but, like so much of Michael Powell, has an inflated reputation.
The Live By Night was influential, but, like a lot of Nicholas Ray, leaves something to be desired.
I'm not much on John Ford, but the cavalry trilogy might be his best westerns, with Fort Apache at the top.
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre has always annoyed me. And while we're at it, so has Key Largo.
Brighton Rock is a British film noir. I think Americans do it better.
I guess you could call Germany, Year Zero a classic of neorealism.
Hamlet, like Olivier's other Shakespeare films, is alright, but I wouldn't call it a classic.
The Snake Pit was what passed for a tough film in 1948.
Honorable mentions:
12. Sorry, Wrong Number
13. Macbeth
14. Rope
15. Unfaithfully Yours
16. Les Parents Terribles
17. Good Sam
18. Raw Deal
19. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
20. Buccaneer Bunny
11 is pretty good. 12 is okay. 13 is the best Shakespeare film of the year. (Actually, it's my favorite Welles' Shakespeare, but that's mostly because I think his Shakespeare films are among his weaker works.) 14 is not great Hitchcock with a technical challenge. 15 is solid Sturges, if not quite up to his best at Paramount.
16 is pretty good Cocteau. 17 is past-his-prime McCarey. 18 is decent Mann. 19 was an important film for Abbott and Costello, since it gave their career a boost and a new direction. Still, it's A&C, so what are you going to do? 20 is a short.
Easter Parade
Letter From An Unknown Woman
The Paleface
The Pirate (even though fairly flawed)
Portrait Of Jennie
Bicycle Thieves (surprised it didn't make Jesse's list), The Big Clock, Blood On The Moon, Call Northside 777, Drunken Angel, Force Of Evil, A Foreign Affair (considering this average Wilder film was a lot better than The Emperor Waltz, all in all a bad year for Billy), Louisiana Story, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Naked City, Oliver Twist, La Terra Trema
Other films of note:
posted by LAGuy @ 6:30 AM
7 Comments:
Bicycle Thieves (surprised it didn't make Jesse's list)
I think it's good but not as good as its reputation. It's got a maudlin sentimentality to it that keeps me from liking it as much as La Terra Trema, let alone Germany, Year Zero.
Just saw on twitter that you're doing this again. Over the last few years I've gotten lazy about updating my movies-of-the-year lists and this year my wife gave birth to our daughter so I've hardly watched anything (new or old), but I've still got my lists and nowhere else to post them, so I'll work my way back through the last several days and comment accordingly.
Still need to see Red River, Brighton Rock, and a few others from both lists.
I love the Red Shoes, it's probably my favorite Michael Powell films and since my wife has danced since she was a kid it's one of the few old movies I can get her to watch. The pov shot when Vicky pirouettes is fantastic.
Hamlet -- not a huge fan, but probably worth a re-watch since I last saw it before I really got into Shakespeare (which was after college for me). Will say I never thought much of Olivier, but then old film performances in general are a bit of a hangup for me. Guess I've just been conditioned by the post-Brando generations of actors. (I like Cagney as much as anyone but I really think of him as more of a hoofer even in his dramatic roles).
That said, I'm not very confident in my list since I haven't seen most of these in a decade or more, so maybe Hamlet is just as deserving as some of my picks:
1. The Red Shoes
2. Macbeth (Welles's Shakespeare films are some of my favorites and I'm a huge Welles fan)
3. The Big Clock
4. Scott of the Antarctic (British adventuring as an excuse for Brits to show off their national character in the face of mostly-pointless hardship -- not sure if that's the intention but that's what I got from it)
5. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
6. The Bicycle Thief
7. Rope
8. The Strawberry Roan
9. Spring in a Small Town
10. Unfaithfully Yours
I'm indifferent enough to this year that I could flip a coin and substitute a few but I'm not sure if those should count so no honorable mentions.
Re-reading the post and I can't believe I forgot the Paleface. That should be my number 3 pick (see ya Unfaithfully Yours)
Red River, as I note, is my favorite for the year, but it's also my favorite Hawks western. It was actually shot in 1946 but spent a long time in editing. It was the end of a decade-long streak for Hawks, starting with Bringing Up Baby, where he made one classic after another. However, 1948 also brought us A Song Is Born, a poor remake of Ball Of Fire, and Hawks' record was spotty from that point on.
In fact, 1948 was a poor year for a lot of great Hollywood directors. Frank Capra gave us State Of The Union which some admired but really marked the end of him as a top notch director. And though Jesse likes Good Sam, that was also the end of Leo McCarey as a major director.
Lubitsch's last film, That Lady In Ermine, wasn't much. Of course, he died in 1947 and it was completed by Otto Preminger, so I don't know if you can blame him. And Billy Wilder, as I noted, had the so-so A Foreign Affair and one of his worst, The Emperor Waltz.
And though Jesse likes Good Sam, that was also the end of Leo McCarey as a major director.
He still has My Son John ahead of him, which—apart from the ending, which was kind of wrecked by the lead actor dying—is on par with his best early work.
My Son John is a fever dream of a film. I don't see how you can call it good, but it's like nothing else. It was also a huge flop. (I seem to recall you like An Affair To Remember, but no reason to re-argue that one. Even if you do enjoy that slog, it's still McCarey reliving old times.)
It may be perverse of me, but I like An Affair to Remember better than Love Affair.
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