I guess everyone rushed, excitedly, to get their great films out immediately after World War II. This year is low on great films, sadly. However, the top film on the list is SO famous, it’s lasted longer than some of the contemporaries surrounding it. I guess that’s something.
Now let’s celebrate the great films in an era when everyone was apparently doing other things than sitting inside:
Elia Kazan’s movies is earnest and has an important message about anti-Semitism and tolerance, probably why it won best picture right after the Nazi regime fell. It’s message is still strong today, and Gregory Peck, Celeste Holm and others act the the hell out of the movie, overcoming some of the overt preachiness and crusading in the movie.
Charlie Chaplin’s best years were behind him at this point. However, he still had some tricks up his sleeve, like this little gem. Subverting the lovable “tramp” persona he crafted over the years, Chaplin points out here just how strange and weird it is to choose that type of lifestyle, with killer consequences.
Carol Reed puts a spin on the thriller genre: set it in Ireland! James Mason plays an IRA leader who’s heist gets botched, so he goes on the run, and his friends have to figure out what to do about him. Shadows and terrific acting go a long way to making this movie hella exciting.
If you’re looking for a movie about dames, detectives, and deceit, this is your movie. Robert Mitchum became a star playing the detective, contracted by Kirk Douglas to find Jane Greer’s femme fatale. Mitchum, as expected finds himself ensared by the luminous Greer, trapping him in the web of thriller plot developments.
1947’s version of an erotic thriller, which means it has lots of beautiful scenery and color coordination with its lust. Deborah Kerr stars as a woman in a nunnery in the Himalayas. But David Farrar comes sauntering in, tempting the women to consider renouncing their vows due to desires of the flesh. Kerr has the complicated part, but Kathleen Byron has the more fun one, as the most morally fragile nun of the bunch.
Mall Santa claims he’s actually Santa Claus in New York City. This plot sounds cheesy and dumb. Instead, George Stevens turns it into a fairy tale for kids, finding amazing moments like Natalie Wood testing Kris Kringle’s credentials, and the letter defense. Maureen O’Hara is excellent here playing a world weary divorced mother, and Edmund Gwenn has the sweetness and charm to pull off Old St. Nick.
