Continuing my march through the decades with the 40s.
The 40s are somewhat similar to the 30s. You’ve still got some Universal monster movies, some screwball comedies, and some great swashbucklers. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby really dominate. Then, of course, you have the emergence of the patriotic movies during WWII. There’s also weirdly a lot of Christmas movies.
Before my list (remember this is “best,” not necessarily “favorite”), a few notable movies not mentioned, because I have not seen them: The Big Sleep, Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity, How Green Was My Valley, Mrs. Miniver, The Lost Weekend, Gentleman’s Agreement, Hamlet, All the King’s Men. Also missing is Citizen Kane, easily one of the most overrated movies of all time.
Honorable Mentions: We’ve Never Been Licked (okay it’s not great, but it’s Texas A&M), Miracle on 34th Street, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, The Bishop’s Wife, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home, Holiday Inn, The Shop Around the Corner, Pinocchio, Shadow of a Doubt, The Pride of the Yankees, Meet John Doe, The Sea Hawk, The Mark of Zorro, Fantasia, Arsenic and Old Lace
Top 10 Countdown:
10. Road to Morocco (1942)
This is really a stand-in for all of
the Road movies, which are fantastic, but this one is probably the best. Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, always
a great time.
9. Red River
(1948)
Excellent John Wayne Western with a
great performance also by Montgomery Clift.
8. The Song of
Bernadette (1943)
It’s almost criminal to have this so
low, but again it’s a strong decade. I
always find it amazing that there was a time when Hollywood would nominate such
a strongly Catholic movie for 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, and it would
win 4 (just happened to be the same year as #1).
7. Sergeant
York (1941)
This was clearly made as a
propaganda movie, to get Americans ready to enter WWII. It remains an amazing story, and Gary Cooper
shines as he usually does. “Ma wants ya
Alvin.”
I’m cheating a little bit this
decade. These two movies are so closely
related it’s hard to keep them apart.
John Ford, John Wayne, an assembly of great character actors, it doesn’t
get much better than this. If I had to
pick one, it would be Fort Apache, especially with Henry Fonda’s ability to
make you absolutely hate him.
5. The Best of
Our Lives (1946)
Many people would have this higher,
but it gets a bit long and extremely depressing. But it’s also incredibly poignant and shows
the horrors of war, something most movies were not ready to do at the time.
4. The
Philadelphia Story (1940)
You want to talk about star
power? Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn,
and James Stewart (who won an Oscar)!
It’s witty, fun, everything you want in a romantic comedy. It’s hard to choose between this and the
musical remake High Society with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Grace Kelly.
3. Going My Way (1944)/The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
Again, cheating, but these movies
are so tied together. Going My Way is my
favorite, and the better one, but both are absolute classics. Crosby’s Fr. O’Malley is still my favorite
movie priest. To echo Song of
Bernadette, it’s incredible that Going My Way won 7 Oscars, including Best
Picture, Barry Fitzgerald is the only actor to be nominated for both leading
and supporting actor (he won for supporting), and Crosby was the first actor to
be nominated for best actor for the same role twice.
2. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
I watch it every year around
Christmas, and every year I get emotional.
James Stewart is breathtaking, especially since it was his first role
after the war and he wasn’t sure if he could return to acting. Not only is it one of the great Christmas
movies of all time, it’s one of the greatest movies of all time. It just so happened to come out the same
decade as…
1. Casablanca (1942)
The greatest screenplay of all
time? Maybe. The most memorable dialogue of all time? Probably.
There’s not much to say about Casablanca that hasn’t been said. It’s basically perfect. “I’m shocked, SHOCKED, to find that gambling
is going on in here.” So good.
Extra fun: the
best movie scores of the decade
The Sea Hawk
(Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
Captain from
Castile (Alfred Newman)
The Black Swan
(Alfred Newman)
It’s a
Wonderful Life (Dimitri Tiomkin)
The Best Years
of Our Lives (Hugo Friedhofer)
Other music from the decade: Swing/big band is in full bloom. Glenn Miller is the king: In the Mood, A String of Pearls, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo. The Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby are always good. Some of my favorite music of all time.
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