Pic of the Day: “Now is the time for a digression in which to describe our heroes’ feelings. Arthur keeps watching his feet, but his mind’s on Odile’s mouth and her romantic kisses. Odile is wondering if the boys notice her breasts moving under her sweater. Franz thinks of everything and nothing. He wonders if the world is becoming a dream or if the dream is becoming the world.”
Mike’s Top Ten of 1949
1949 is a year that has some great films. The best thing about them is that they all feel like hidden gems, even though they’re probably all classics.
Of course we need to start with the obvious film — one of the absolute greatest films ever made, a benchmark in its genre, one of the most gorgeously photographed films of all time and a film that remains one of my five favorite films of all time. So that’s of course gonna lead the pack. But the rest of them are all great films that I feel most people don’t see often enough. It’ll increase as the list goes on.
I’ve always had a real affinity for this year. This is the year that’s rife with stuff that I’d jump to recommend to people. (more…)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1948
1948 might be my favorite year of the 40s. Just because the top ten list feels like a complete list of ten that I out and out love.
There’s also a lot of great stuff below the line, but the key to this one is the top ten. The top three are straight up “best films ever made” material. And the others are just straight classics and/or great films by great directors who are right in their prime.
Get ready for this one, guys. It’s a very good year. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “You know that song? Hmmm?” “I can’t remember who did it.” “That’s the way it is with good ones, you’re sure you’ve heard them before.”
Mike’s Top Ten of 1947
So 1944 for me was about the rise of the noirs. 1947 is the year of the noir. There are 22 of them on this list. 22! This is as cynical as it got for Hollywood.
That’s really the overwhelming theme for 1947: dark and cynical. Which is funny, because one of the most uplifting Christmas movies ever made (I guess, actually… two of them) came out this year. But man, there’s not a lot of uplift in here. Even the major film of the year about how awful society is.
But hey, alongside the darkness, we also have one of the most beautiful films ever shot. So there’s that. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “I think Houdini did this once, and if I remember right, he was out of the hospital in no time.” “Well, that’s encouraging.” (30th Anniversary)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1946
This may be the strongest year of the 40s. At least at the top. I’ll probably also make that case for 1948, but this year feels so strong because quite legitimately, the top four films on my list would be #1 films in just about ANY other year. And they’re also all-time greats. Two of them are legitimately two of the top 50 American movies ever made.
Aside from that, you have a smattering amazing movies. This is the kind of list where you get to a film and just think, “Ohh…. yeah.” And it gives you that feeling of happiness because it’s just so great. I love years like this.
I really don’t have a whole lot more to add. Just… look at these ten films. How great are they? (more…)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1945
I like 1945 because of the history surrounding it. World War II was basically over. It ended in June, though it had been a long time coming. By Christmas, 1944, it was pretty inevitable that the Allied countries would win. So you don’t really see a whole lot of war-oriented films out there. We’re returning to classical Hollywood storytelling.
There’s not a major overarching theme for this year. All things considered, it’s actually a pretty ho-hum year. Good stuff, but the overall quality of the films feels diminished from most of the other years of the 40s.
Though this is actually the year where foreign cinema started rising. Italian Neorealism began with Rome, Open City and that led to a lot of the major European movements over the next two decades. (more…)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1944
For me, the big thing about 1944 is the noirs. I know the war is still in full force and the dominant set of films are either pro-war movies or light and fluffy stuff to take people’s minds off of it. But really, the thing that stands out is the amount of noir films that came out this year. This is really the first year where the noirs are a staple of cinema. Sure, all those other ones were the headliners, but the noirs played in front of all of them.
You look at this list — maybe 7 or 8 noirs in total. And it’ll only grow from here. This is the time when the cynical underbelly of society started to pop up. Most people speak of that popping up post-war. With everyone returning to the suburbs and people’s collective weariness about the war and all of that starting to creep into the films. But you really start to see it as early as 1944. It doesn’t solidify until after the war, but you definitely start to see it happening as early as now. I’d say the noirs here are much more “drama”-leaning. That is to say, they’re presented more like dramas than what we’d consider the traditional noirs. But they’re still noirs by any account.
That’s how I look at this list — great comedies, great war films, and that nice underbelly of noirs. Just how I like it. (more…)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1943
1943 is the weakest year of the early 40s, and a lot of that has to do with one thing and one thing only: World War II. A lot of the top directors in Hollywood (the ones with the highest percentage of great films) were off participating in the war. There’s a great book (and documentary) about it called Five Came Back. The big five are John Ford, John Huston, Frank Capra, George Stevens and William Wyler. Of the five, only one has a movie that came out this year, and that was because he was finishing his obligations before joining the war.
With those directors gone, it’s pretty slim pickings at the top. That’s not to say there aren’t really good films here, but there’s a marked difference between the overall quality of films in 1941 and 1942 vs. 1943. And it’s totally understandable. America is in the thick of the war effort and the industry doesn’t really have the time or the money to churn out the amount of films they had been.
The other thing I like about 1943 is the overall influx of Technicolor films. Still a primarily black-and-white top ten, but there’s definitely more color all around, and good use of color, too. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “How tall are you, private?” “Sir, five-foot-nine, sir.” “Five-foot-nine, I didn’t know they stacked shit that high!” (30th Anniversary)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1942
You’d think maybe there’d be a bit of a drop off, the year after Citizen Kane. But no, we come right back with Casablanca. And about five or six other really iconic and incredible movies. (I mean like, all-time iconic and not just regular iconic.)
The big thing to discuss for 1942 is that it’s the first year of World War II. The U.S. entered the war at the end of 1941, and this was the first year you start to see incredibly pro-war effort films start to come out there. That is really the main trend for the year.
Outside of that, the year is full of terrific biopics and classy dramas. And one film that is one of the most entertaining and underrated hidden gems out there, that almost nobody knows about today. (more…)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1941
Don’t let anyone tell you the 30s and the 40s weren’t the greatest era for American film. Look at this. It’s year after year of just amazing stuff.
I guess what we need to talk about for 1941 is that the consensus greatest movie ever made was released this year. Or, I guess, for contrarians, the most influential film ever made. No matter how you slice it, Citizen Kane is on the Mount Rushmore of movies. And then you have a bunch of other really amazing stuff. The “official” beginning of the noir genre, with The Maltese Falcon. Classic comedies like The Lady Eve and Sullivan’s Travels. Cultural classics like Sergeant York. This year is just stacked with incredible films.
This is one of those years where I could swap out half the top ten for the 11-20 and it would still look like a formidable top ten list. That’s the 40s. They churned out incredible stuff on a consistent basis. (more…)
Mike’s Top Ten of 1940
You’d be hard pressed to find a bad choice in 1940’s list. Straight up, nine of them are legitimately among the biggest classics in cinema history. And the other (if you’ve seen it) is just incredible.
I feel like there’s gonna be a lot of this coming up in the future. A lot of top ten lists with mostly classics that we all agree are great. The real interest is gonna come in all the hidden gems below the line. The 40s is a decade full of amazing films that aren’t as well known simply because not everything can be.
One thing I like about this year in particular is how it has a nice pairing of films. You’ll see several times where two films are akin, either because they share the same director and stars, or are similar in story. Or they’re two of the greatest animated films ever made. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “The whole thing has been as inevitable as in a nursery rhyme. When the boat arrives from the mainland, there will be ten dead bodies, and a riddle no one can solve on Indian Island.”
Pic of the Day: “Name?” “WALL-E.” “WALL-E? EVE.” “Eeee…” “EVE.” “Eeeee… aah.” “EVE! EVE!” “Eeeee… va?”
Mike’s Top Ten of 1939
There’s a reason 1939 is referred to as one of the greatest individual years in the history of cinema. Legitimately half this list is among the greatest films of the decade and all time. And it’s not just the choices on top. This year goes deep.
You have one of the greatest westerns ever made, perhaps Frank Capra’s finest achievement, and one of the most uplifting movies ever made, an all-time classic that is one of the most beloved films ever made and has become so iconic that it’s become part of the lexicon and a cultural touchstone for every single person. Oh, let’s not also forget the landmark achievement of 1939, what still may be the finest achievement in the history of American moviemaking.
The important thing about this year isn’t just to fete the classics, it’s to talk up all the other great stuff that got released alongside them. There’s gonna be some great stuff here you haven’t heard of. (more…)
