Before I begin this post, I must apologize for the long, long gap between blogs. A lot has happened which I won't go into but I am back and determined to blog much more regularly.
This latest post focuses on the magnificent films of the 1940's, a decade which saw the rise of the film noir genre, plenty of dramas and thrillers, with a sprinkling of musicals, comedies, swashbucklers and tearjerkers.
The early 40's began on a rather tragic note, we lost the 'Queen Of Screwball Comedy' Carole Lombard in 1942. Her death rocked Hollywood and she was regarded as one of the finest actresses to ever grace Hollywood. One of her last films was 'To Be Or Not To Be' which also featured the hilarious Jack Benny.
One of my absolute favourite films was also released in 1942; the utterly brilliant 'The Black Swan' starring the handsome Tyrone Power and beautiful Maureen O'Hara. Their chemistry on-screen was truly electrifying, and Laird Cregar was superb too as the villain.
The 1940's was surely Bette Davis' decade, she made some fantastic films, one stand out being 'Now, Voyager' in which she played Charlotte Vale. The excellent Gladys Cooper was immense as the monstrous mother of Charlotte, and Paul Henreid and Claude Rains also gave superb performances, Henreid and Davis giving us the iconic cigarette scene is a joy to watch.
I could reel off a whole bunch of films to talk about but there are two instant classics that spring to mind, Casablanca (1943) and It's A Wonderful Life' (1946). Casablanca had such a magnificent cast; Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and the excellent Conrad Veidt who sadly passed away the year Casablanca was released. They all gave stellar performances and Bogie gave us an absolutely iconic line in "Here's looking at you, kid."
My all time favourite Christmas film has got to be Frank Capra's 'It's A Wonderful Life' (1946). Another film with a fabulous cast, it initially was not a success on release but over time it has become a classic and for good reason. James Stewart and Donna Reed are so good together and the wonderful Lionel Barrymore is a hoot as the cantankerous Mr Potter. Henry Travers is delightful as Clarence too! Capra was renowned for his comedies but he proved that he could make great dramas too.
In a decade where William Powell and Myrna Loy teamed up a few more times as part of the Thin Man series, Elizabeth Taylor beginning to really show her talent and the late, great Angela Lansbury making her debut aged just 18 in 1944's 'Gaslight', the films were truly outstanding, many deserved the accolades attributed to them.
In my next blog post, I'll be summing up the 1940's in general, and I'll be writing about my favourite directors of the period. Again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog posts and I will be back very soon!
Still from 'It's A Wonderful Life' (1946). Photo credit: Pinterest.
Comments