Best Movies of 1944The Usual Choices
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)
Gaslight (George Cukor)
Going My Way (Leo McCarey)
Laura (Otto Preminger)
Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli)
To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks)
But how about...
The Suspect (Robert Siodmak)
Don't you think that some people just need to meet their maker sooner rather than later? How about those bastards who use their turn-right indicator AFTER they have pulled up at the traffic lights? Maybe the sods who ignore and jump the lunch queue in a busy bakery? Loudmouth bigots? Tele-marketers with thick accents? Morris Dancers?
Satisfyingly, this film puts you very firmly on the nice murderer's side. Charles indulges in a bit of totally understandable killing and then actively seeks what we all want: some personal joy after years of doing it tough. A wonderful and unjustly underrated movie which, despite the dispatching of fellow human beings, remains moral and wholesome. Watch it with the kids.
...and what about...
This Happy Breed (David Lean)
I remain a fan of pre-epic David Lean movies. Sure, I admire the big ones (I even liked Ryan's Daughter a bit), but his little British films were always closest to achieving the artistic perfection that the director vigorously strove for. The virtues of THB are many: the kitchen-sink between-wars setting; a Noel Coward origin; outstanding lead performances by Celia Johnson and Robert Newton; a young John Mills and an ageless Stanley Holloway in support; licorice allsort Technicolour; quaint fashions; and the actual buttering of a cat's paws. It's that rarest of dramas - a sudsless soap opera.
...not to mention...
Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang)
A nifty little spy-actioner, a list of its ingredients demands immediate attention: mental patient + euthanasia + palm reader + fake blind man + the Blitz + a seance + secret Nazis + suitcase bomb + microfilm + a living dead man + a nice cake. Based on a Graham Greene novel, featuring always-welcome Dan Duryea, and directed by Fritz Lang at his sharpest, this is 86 minutes of sheer celluloid pleasure. Even Ray Milland and an inevitable (and yawnsome) romance somehow seem to fit without jarring. A propaganda film which doesn't overtly crow.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Going My Way (Leo McCarey)
There is some movie schmaltz which I unashamedly enjoy; there is some movie schmaltz which is so sweet and so sticky that it puts my teeth on edge. GMW is the fairy floss of films. I never considered Bing Crosby much of an actor - his roles usually seemed to be a self-promotional display of niceguyness. As Father O'Malley, he is so full of the milk of human kindness that he practically moos (thank you Pauline). And as the old Irish priest, Barry Fitzgerald is as sincere as a Blarney Stone paperweight made in China. The cute little orphans singing and swinging on a star with Bing, and the heartwarming motherlove finale fully stoke my gag reflex. 1944's Number One box office hit? Geez, war is hell.
My Top 10 Films of 1944
 |
| "Oh dear. I hope he hasn't noticed that I've stuck my arm up a beaver." |
#02 A The Suspect (Siodmak)
#03 A On Approval (Brook)
#04 A Laura (Preminger)
#05 A This Happy Breed (Lean)
#06 A- National Velvet (Brown)
#07 A- Ministry of Fear (Lang)
#08 A- When Strangers Marry aka Betrayed (Castle)
#09 A- To Have and Have Not (Hawks)
#10 A- The Seventh Cross (Zinnemann)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- The Woman in the Window (Lang)
#12 A- Meet Me in St Louis (Minnelli)
#13 A- Lifeboat (Hitchcock)
#14 A- The Scarlet Claw (Neill)
#15 A- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (LeRoy)
#16 A- Murder, My Sweet (Dmytryk)
#17 B+ The Uninvited (Allen)
#18 B+ The Lodger (Brahm)
#19 B+ The Great Moment (Sturges)
#20 B+ Phantom Lady (Siodmak)
#21 B+ Address Unknown (Menzies)
#22 B+ Tawny Pipit (Miles & Saunders)
#23 B+ The Way Ahead (Reed)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B A Canterbury Tale [what a peculiar little movie]
> B Voice in the Wind [a sort-of Casablanca offshoot, focussing on how the Nazis murdered culture; worth a look]
> B Henry V [not bad...if you like that kind of thing...]
> B The Miracle of Morgan's Creek [everybody just needs to calm down a bit]
> B Gaslight [the original 1940 Pommy one was better]
> B House of Frankenstein [aka Universal Horror's Greatest Hits (re-recorded by lesser artists)]
> B Hail the Conquering Hero [Eddie Bracken as leading man - whoops]
> B- Up in Mabel's Room [a very 1944 rom-com stage play, with extra slapstick]
> B- Christmas Holiday [W. Somerset Maugham story + film noir + Deanna Durbin = snoozefest]
> B- Cover Girl [one great dance number; one great performance; zero great songs...just barely enough]
> B- Tomorrow, the World! [how a good American licking would straighten out members of the Hitler Youth]
> C Arsenic and Old Lace [a classic dark comedy turned into embarrassing imbecility]
> C An American Romance [depicts the passionate love affair between Big Industry and the Common Man]
> C Between Two Worlds [dead WWII civilians are ferried to the afterlife on an ocean liner...yeah, awful twaddle]
> C Cobra Woman [to some, a camp classic; to me, corny crap]
> D Going My Way [A Personal Unmentionable]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1944 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
The Adventures of Mark Twain (Rapper); Bluebeard (Ulmer); The Blue Dahlia (Marshall); Candlelight in Algeria (King); The Curse of the Cat People (Wise & von Fritsch); Dark Waters (De Toth); Don't Take It to Heart (Dell); Experiment Perilous (Tourneur); Fanny By Gaslight (Asquith); The Halfway House (Dearden); The Heavenly Body (Hall); The Hitler Gang (Farrow); Hotel Reserve (Comfort); I'll Be Seeing You (Dieterle); It Happened Tomorrow (Clair); Keys of the Kingdom (Stahl); Lady in the Dark (Leisen); Lost in a Harem (Reisner); The Mask of Dimitrios (Negulesco); Passage to Marseille (Curtiz); Patrick the Great (Ryan); A Place of One's Own (Knowles); The Princess and the Pirate (Butler); The Purple Heart (Milestone); The Rats of Tobruk (Chauvel); The Return of the Vampire (Landers); Show Business (Marin); The Sullivans / The Fighting Sullivans (Bacon); Summer Storm (Sirk); Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (Bacon); Two Girls and a Sailor (Thorpe); Uncertain Glory (Walsh); Up in Arms (Nugent); Wilson (King); Winged Victory (Cukor)
Best Performances of 1944
Lauren Bacall (To Have and Have Not)
Ingrid Bergman (Gaslight)
Charles Boyer (Gaslight)
Bing Crosby (Going My Way)
Barry Fitzgerald (Going My Way)
Judy Garland (Meet Me in St. Louis)
Edward G. Robinson (Double Indemnity)
Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity)
Clifton Webb (Laura)
But how about...
Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet
This remains her greatest performance: natural, believable and endearing. Usually a sexpot ham in her adult years, Liz was one of the more affecting Hollywood child actors and in NV, she was totally adorable. Watch her eyes sparkle whenever she talks about her beloved horse and get caught up in her enthusiasm and optimism without ever feeling nauseous. You totally forget that this little sweetheart grew up to become Liz the Star who seemed to act merely to fund her extravagant lifestyle. Cute Moppet > Teenage Beauty > Stunning Woman > A-List Celebrity > Overrated Actress > Marriage Enthusiast > Shrieking Harpy > Habitual Patient > Special Guest Star on General Hospital > Supporting Role in The Flintstones. What a trajectory. A bit sad, don't ya think?
...and what about...
William Demarest in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
Constable Kockenlocker (dig that pornstar name) is a brilliant comedy creation: an overly-protective father who is determined to defend his daughter's virtue, instantly becoming supremo of the Fail Army as a result. Revel in William's thudding pratfalls (they must HURT!), chortle at his moral intensity and guffaw at his sheer exasperation. If only Eddie Bracken didn't play William's foil in such a squeaky, stuttering way, just to provide less comic distraction from our man Bill. A great display of how true Hollywood character actors earned their daily bread.
...not to mention...
Angela Lansbury in Gaslight
What a slut! Hard to believe that Angela was only 17 years old (blowing out 18 candles on the film set) when she superbly played this bitchy role. A pure coquette when in the presence of a man with prospects, Nancy the Maid weaves her webs and schemes her schemes, successfully kidding herself that she is in flirtatious command. Every movement and glance is designed to entice, and is beautifully transparent. Funny to think that the young actress playing this phony femme fatale was also appearing as Elizabeth Taylor's big sister in National Velvet in the same year. What a way to start a long acting career.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Cary Grant in Arsenic & Old Lace
Why did director Frank Capra ever allow Cary to carry on like this? Boggle-eyed, incessantly gibbering to his inner-moron and double-takes that must have required industrial-strength physiotherapy, Cary the Great becomes Cary the Git right before your eyes. The actor who could play it all misinterprets dark comedy as slapstick and pulls faces accordingly, overplaying to the point of wincing embarrassment. But hey, don't just take my word for it; Cary himself considered this performance horribly over the top. When you're right...
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1944
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| "May I donate your dandruff to the hairless, M'Lord?" |
#02 Charles Laughton (The Suspect)
#03 Clive Brook & Beatrice Lillie & Googie Withers & Roland Culver (On Approval)
#04 Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall (To Have and Have Not)
#05 Celia Johnson (This Happy Breed)
#06 Elizabeth Taylor (National Velvet)
#07 William Demarest (The Miracle of Morgan's Creek)
#08 Clifton Webb (Laura)
#09 Eve Arden (Cover Girl)
#10 Angela Lansbury (Gaslight)
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Spencer Tracy (The Seventh Cross)
#12 Judy Garland (Meet Me in St. Louis)
#13 Spencer Tracy (Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo)
#14 Dean Jagger (When Strangers Marry)
#15 Laird Cregar (The Lodger)
#16 William Bendix (Lifeboat)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Charles Boyer in Gaslight [not scary or arch enough]
> Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight [like in Anastasia, too OTT; unconvincing]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1944 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder)
SILVER: The Suspect (Robert Siodmak)
BRONZE: On Approval (Clive Brook)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Charles Laughton (The Suspect)
SILVER: Spencer Tracy (The Seventh Cross)
BRONZE: Edward G. Robinson (The Woman in the Window)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Celia Johnson (This Happy Breed)
SILVER: Judy Garland (Meet Me in St. Louis)
BRONZE: Joan Bennett (The Woman in the Window)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: William Demarest (The Miracle of Morgan's Creek)
SILVER: Clifton Webb (Laura)
BRONZE: Dean Jagger (When Strangers Marry)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Eve Arden (Cover Girl)
SILVER: Angela Lansbury (Gaslight)
BRONZE: Rosalind Ivan (The Suspect)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray & Edward G. Robinson (Double Indemnity)
SILVER: Clive Brook & Beatrice Lillie & Googie Withers & Roland Culver (On Approval)
BRONZE: Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall (To Have and Have Not)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Elizabeth Taylor (National Velvet)
SILVER: Margaret O'Brien (Meet Me in St. Louis)
BRONZE: TBA
The Alternate Razzies for 1944 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Going My Way (Leo McCarey)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Cary Grant (Arsenic & Old Lace)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Merle Oberon (The Lodger)
