Film production stopped completely during the summer of 1940; however, A.G. The fourth and final film teaming of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall doesnt rank with their other onscreen pairingsthe real dance here is between Bogie, as a returning veteran, and Edward G. Robinson, as a gangster who has Bogies war buddys island resort in a stranglehold, just in time for a hurricane to make landfall. In typical Welles-versus-studio fashion, the producers backed out at the last minute on the promise of a four-picture deal to follow this film-they had become convinced it would run at a loss and Welles was incapable of directing a mainstream hit movie. Huston uses a light hand to illuminate some pretty dark corners of human instinct, and Humphrey Bogart is marvelous as Fred Dobbs, a man destroyed by lust and paranoia as we watch. Popular genres included light comedies, thrillers, musicals, costume A list of films produced in France in 1950. Everyones in love with Gene Tierneyeven the guy whos come to investigate her murder. Join here. By contrast, Roberto Rossellinis Rome, Open City denies its viewers the admittedly mild succor granted us by Bicycle Thieves, offering instead a raw, righteous outrage that stems from Rosselinis national pride. The bookending set pieces, shot on location in industrial California, pulse with realism. Not infrequently dubbed the best French film of all time, this is the movie Truffaut said hed revoke his entire oeuvre to have directed. brink filming locations; salomon outline gore tex men's leftist perspective. There are Claude Rains and Cary Grant both ass over teakettle for Bergman (and how could you not be?). Theres no better way to describe Jacques Tourneurs Out of the Past than perfect. For many, this is the epitome of all things noir, a sprawling, rambling examination of betrayal and seduction peppered with shrapnel-sharp dialogue. Out of the Past looks about as bleak as it feels. Amy Glynn, If you want to know what an artists critique of postwar censorship in Allied-occupied Japan looks like, just watch Yasujiro Ozus Late Spring and keep your eyes peeled for the Coca Cola sign. Robert Ryanplays the prejudiced ex-con who is reluctantly teamed with Belafontes jazz musician on a bank job, with Gloria Grahame also turning up as a sexually frustratedneighbour. former glory, including an effort to construct a quasi-mystical idealized Based on a novel by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, this isa noirof rare tenderness, withJames Masonsuperb as the doleful blackmailer slowly falling for hisprey. Akira Kurosawa plays with noir tropes more than he plays to them, deflating film noirs inherent machismo by revealing the chief heavies of his cast as scrabbling cowards. 1908), Louis Daquin The term film noirstuck. . The first commercial film-animated or live-action-ever to be shown in stereophonic sound. A.S. Her First Affair More than seven decades after its release, this film is still snort-soda-out-your-nose funny. Maybe his words read as the wildest of exaggerations back in 1970, but in 2017 they ring as genuinely as John Fords 1940 adaptation of John Steinbecks 1939 novel. WebSeven best French films by year (1950-1959) Refine See titles to watch instantly, titles you haven't rated, etc 70 titles 1. become IDHEC, Institut des Hautes tudes Cinmatographiques number of members of the film community fled to the United States, Webnabuckeye.org. Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work. Mobilesite. Timeless, big-hearted and disarmingly sincere, this film is one I defy you to have one cynical comment about. As one would expect from any Western of the mid-20th century, there are a lot of violent Indians to fend off; Dunsons love interest is slaughtered along with most of a California-bound wagon train, and in one scene where Dunson and his codger-companion Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan) are in retaliatory combat, Dunson finds one of the Indians is wearing a silver bracelet that had belonged to his own mother. Rather than writing storyboards and creating a soundtrack, the production team sat in meetings listening to Paganini and Stravinsky and Mussorgsky until Disney connected the sounds with images and built on it from there. Hard-talking men fall for duplicitous dames, as cigarette smoke wreaths around them on dark street corners or in rooms with the slatted blinds pulleddown. Seriously, if this doesnt bring tears to your eyes, see your opthalmologist. This postwar psychic landscape is subversive as helland suburban too, no longer confined to metro limits. You might have to watch Stray Dog under cover of air conditioning: Its a hot film, not in the sense of carnality but in the sense of temperature. This baroquetaleof bombs, drugs and debauchery in a California-Mexico border town starsCharlton HestonandJanet Leighas newlyweds who come up against the corruption of corpulent police chief Hank Quinlan (Welles himself). The very fact of its existence (it was filmed in 1945 during the Nazi occupation of France, which of course created significant obstacles for director Marcel Carn ) seems to contribute to its rather magical quality. central France, under the leadership of Marchal Henri Philippe In 1940, The Bicycle Thief is both a sentimental portrait of a father and son, and a dramatization of the social issues of its era. And the agent whos on call to help them do it is, well, hes a bit of a temptation. Her performance as icy heiress Tracy Lord in this remarriage comedy is a force of nature. On some level its more of a mystery/romance, with the veracity of the ghosts in real doubtnot unlike Guillermo Del Toros modern Crimson Peak, without all the visual bluster. A.G. What holds up beautifully is Waynes fascinating slow fade from strapping man in the prime of life to defeated old guy, placed against Matts ascendancy. Before there were Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury voicing animated, animate household items, there was Jean Cocteau. Although autocratic and reactionary, the This acclaimed drama is about the German occupation of France during World War II and its effects on the inhabitants of a small village in Jura. After Jarretts plottingly protective ma (Margaret Wycherly) get killedby his equally scheming wife (Virginia Mayo), though she convinces him his right-hand man did the deedhe stages a break, and his next heist. Hes a titan of cinema, casting his shadow over American film from the time his career began until the day he died, and though hes been gone for over thirty years his influence is still felt in movies the world over. No high-suspense mystery here. Your preference will come down to how well you like your schmaltz: Those with a taste for unadulterated sentimentality will likely lean more toward Capra, while those who like a healthy sprinkle of cynical realism on their holiday fare will probably go for George Seatons Miracle instead. L'Assassin habite au 21 1940: Stranger on the Third Floor Director: Boris Ingster Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) Latvian-born Boris Ingster only ever directed three films (he later became a TV producer on shows such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. WebIn 1940, prior to the occupation, the French government started to censor the participation of Jews in important roles in their society, what they called positions of responsibility. Thus, they were prohibited to direct, produce or participate in any key role in theater or cinema in France. Financially, the COIC had a positive effect in terms of underwriting the The choice to play both the tyrant and the oppressed man was an inspired one, underscoring the frightening but inescapable truth that we all contain a little bit of both characters. Together they scheme to murder herhusband. It not only dominates the background music, but it pops in in the narrative of the filmits the record on the phonograph; its the song the band is playing at the coffeeshop; its playing at the journalists party. Together they pop, but no matter how brightly they might shine, Out of the Past remains a masterwork coated in darkness from page to screen. David F. Friedman, John Alderman, Jude Farese. I love them all, but the With a beauty for the ages as his star, Vidor doesnt have to do much, and his static, voyeuristic direction shows in fact he didnt. Late Spring isnt about American control of Japanese territories in the 1940s; rather, its about a father and daughter going about their business within that world, a film that honors minutiae and celebrates the mundane with superlative grace. So, yeah, of course hes gotta get blown up, noir-comeuppance style. This neo-realist film is has been considered by many to be the greatest film of all time. It received a special Academy Award for Most Outstanding Foreign Film several years before the category officially existed. Upgrade to a Letterboxd Pro account to add your favorite services to this listincluding any service and country pair listed on JustWatchand to enable one-click filtering by all your favorites. Les Anges du pch David Raskins score is a haunting chromatic tune that plays in some variation through the entire film-perhaps the first and certainly one of the best uses of music to advance a theme in the film (obsession, in this case) and influence how we see characters. With colour productions such asThe Killers(1964) a remake of the1946 classic andPoint Blank(1967), noir began its evolution into a more knowing style that was steeped in its own myth and legacy. The American occupation whitewashes and corrupts Japanese culture in equal measure, and Drunken Angel captures it all with deft humanism. Like other Universal horror films from the classic era of monster horror, its heavy on the atmosphere and old-fashioned spooky settings: Fog-wreathed graveyards, dark forests and gothic dwellings, while taking to heart some of the lessons learned by superior Frankenstein sequels such as Bride and Son of Frankenstein. As the letters pile up and one cancer patient (Roger Blin) commits suicide (due to a letter from the Raven informing him that his cancer is terminal), the town grows increasingly desperate to find the culprit, sparking a witch hunt that catches Dr. Germain in the midst of his many lies. The film almost demands to be seen twice for the sheer volume of slants and revelations. Five nuns are sent to establish a convent, school and hospital in a former harem. Thistaut thrillertakes place on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles, as an LAPD detective (Charles McGraw) escorts a mob bosss widow to court to testify before a grand jury. This monothematic approach underscores the characters shared fascination with this dead (or is she?) Vichy regime initiated an ambitious program to restore France to her D.S. By the time you read this letter, I might be dead. This haunting romance by Max Ophls is one of those star-crossed love stories that, if it doesnt tug at your heart, you might want to check to make sure you have one. Cinmatographie (National Center for Cinematography), the CNC, in 1920). Most of us probably associate The Third Man with Orson Welles, and why not? big-budget productions, such as To this day, it doesnt seem entirely fair that so much credit for Cat People is almost universally given to producer Val Lewton, rather than director Jacques Tourneur or writer DeWitt Bodeen, but its true of the entire run of low-budget horror films that Lewton produced at RKO. 2023 Paste Media Group. A.G. On that note, the damage is no longer rooted in his environment; Jarretts a disaster from the inside out, dysfunctional in his very wiring (thanks, ma!). From Malle to Melville, Carn to Clouzot, this is Time Outs ultimate guide to the best French movies ever released. There were French and Italian adaptations of James M. Cains 1934 novel before Hollywood dared bait the censor with its own version of this scandalous story of adultery and murder. Hospital in a former harem Outstanding Foreign film several years before the category officially existed Hawks Alfred. 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The fourth and final film teaming of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall doesnt rank with their other onscreen pairingsthe real dance here is between Bogie, as a returning veteran, and Edward G. Robinson, as a gangster who has Bogies war buddys island resort in a stranglehold, just in time for a hurricane to make landfall. In typical Welles-versus-studio fashion, the producers backed out at the last minute on the promise of a four-picture deal to follow this film-they had become convinced it would run at a loss and Welles was incapable of directing a mainstream hit movie. Huston uses a light hand to illuminate some pretty dark corners of human instinct, and Humphrey Bogart is marvelous as Fred Dobbs, a man destroyed by lust and paranoia as we watch. Popular genres included light comedies, thrillers, musicals, costume A list of films produced in France in 1950. Everyones in love with Gene Tierneyeven the guy whos come to investigate her murder. Join here. By contrast, Roberto Rossellinis Rome, Open City denies its viewers the admittedly mild succor granted us by Bicycle Thieves, offering instead a raw, righteous outrage that stems from Rosselinis national pride. The bookending set pieces, shot on location in industrial California, pulse with realism. Not infrequently dubbed the best French film of all time, this is the movie Truffaut said hed revoke his entire oeuvre to have directed. brink filming locations; salomon outline gore tex men's leftist perspective. There are Claude Rains and Cary Grant both ass over teakettle for Bergman (and how could you not be?). Theres no better way to describe Jacques Tourneurs Out of the Past than perfect. For many, this is the epitome of all things noir, a sprawling, rambling examination of betrayal and seduction peppered with shrapnel-sharp dialogue. Out of the Past looks about as bleak as it feels. Amy Glynn, If you want to know what an artists critique of postwar censorship in Allied-occupied Japan looks like, just watch Yasujiro Ozus Late Spring and keep your eyes peeled for the Coca Cola sign. Robert Ryanplays the prejudiced ex-con who is reluctantly teamed with Belafontes jazz musician on a bank job, with Gloria Grahame also turning up as a sexually frustratedneighbour. former glory, including an effort to construct a quasi-mystical idealized Based on a novel by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, this isa noirof rare tenderness, withJames Masonsuperb as the doleful blackmailer slowly falling for hisprey. Akira Kurosawa plays with noir tropes more than he plays to them, deflating film noirs inherent machismo by revealing the chief heavies of his cast as scrabbling cowards. 1908), Louis Daquin The term film noirstuck. . The first commercial film-animated or live-action-ever to be shown in stereophonic sound. A.S. Her First Affair More than seven decades after its release, this film is still snort-soda-out-your-nose funny. Maybe his words read as the wildest of exaggerations back in 1970, but in 2017 they ring as genuinely as John Fords 1940 adaptation of John Steinbecks 1939 novel. WebSeven best French films by year (1950-1959) Refine See titles to watch instantly, titles you haven't rated, etc 70 titles 1. become IDHEC, Institut des Hautes tudes Cinmatographiques number of members of the film community fled to the United States, Webnabuckeye.org. Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work. Mobilesite. Timeless, big-hearted and disarmingly sincere, this film is one I defy you to have one cynical comment about. As one would expect from any Western of the mid-20th century, there are a lot of violent Indians to fend off; Dunsons love interest is slaughtered along with most of a California-bound wagon train, and in one scene where Dunson and his codger-companion Nadine Groot (Walter Brennan) are in retaliatory combat, Dunson finds one of the Indians is wearing a silver bracelet that had belonged to his own mother. Rather than writing storyboards and creating a soundtrack, the production team sat in meetings listening to Paganini and Stravinsky and Mussorgsky until Disney connected the sounds with images and built on it from there. Hard-talking men fall for duplicitous dames, as cigarette smoke wreaths around them on dark street corners or in rooms with the slatted blinds pulleddown. Seriously, if this doesnt bring tears to your eyes, see your opthalmologist. This postwar psychic landscape is subversive as helland suburban too, no longer confined to metro limits. You might have to watch Stray Dog under cover of air conditioning: Its a hot film, not in the sense of carnality but in the sense of temperature. This baroquetaleof bombs, drugs and debauchery in a California-Mexico border town starsCharlton HestonandJanet Leighas newlyweds who come up against the corruption of corpulent police chief Hank Quinlan (Welles himself). The very fact of its existence (it was filmed in 1945 during the Nazi occupation of France, which of course created significant obstacles for director Marcel Carn ) seems to contribute to its rather magical quality. central France, under the leadership of Marchal Henri Philippe In 1940, The Bicycle Thief is both a sentimental portrait of a father and son, and a dramatization of the social issues of its era. And the agent whos on call to help them do it is, well, hes a bit of a temptation. Her performance as icy heiress Tracy Lord in this remarriage comedy is a force of nature. On some level its more of a mystery/romance, with the veracity of the ghosts in real doubtnot unlike Guillermo Del Toros modern Crimson Peak, without all the visual bluster. A.G. What holds up beautifully is Waynes fascinating slow fade from strapping man in the prime of life to defeated old guy, placed against Matts ascendancy. Before there were Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury voicing animated, animate household items, there was Jean Cocteau. Although autocratic and reactionary, the This acclaimed drama is about the German occupation of France during World War II and its effects on the inhabitants of a small village in Jura. After Jarretts plottingly protective ma (Margaret Wycherly) get killedby his equally scheming wife (Virginia Mayo), though she convinces him his right-hand man did the deedhe stages a break, and his next heist. Hes a titan of cinema, casting his shadow over American film from the time his career began until the day he died, and though hes been gone for over thirty years his influence is still felt in movies the world over. No high-suspense mystery here. Your preference will come down to how well you like your schmaltz: Those with a taste for unadulterated sentimentality will likely lean more toward Capra, while those who like a healthy sprinkle of cynical realism on their holiday fare will probably go for George Seatons Miracle instead. L'Assassin habite au 21 1940: Stranger on the Third Floor Director: Boris Ingster Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) Latvian-born Boris Ingster only ever directed three films (he later became a TV producer on shows such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. WebIn 1940, prior to the occupation, the French government started to censor the participation of Jews in important roles in their society, what they called positions of responsibility. Thus, they were prohibited to direct, produce or participate in any key role in theater or cinema in France. Financially, the COIC had a positive effect in terms of underwriting the The choice to play both the tyrant and the oppressed man was an inspired one, underscoring the frightening but inescapable truth that we all contain a little bit of both characters. Together they scheme to murder herhusband. It not only dominates the background music, but it pops in in the narrative of the filmits the record on the phonograph; its the song the band is playing at the coffeeshop; its playing at the journalists party. Together they pop, but no matter how brightly they might shine, Out of the Past remains a masterwork coated in darkness from page to screen. David F. Friedman, John Alderman, Jude Farese. I love them all, but the With a beauty for the ages as his star, Vidor doesnt have to do much, and his static, voyeuristic direction shows in fact he didnt. Late Spring isnt about American control of Japanese territories in the 1940s; rather, its about a father and daughter going about their business within that world, a film that honors minutiae and celebrates the mundane with superlative grace. So, yeah, of course hes gotta get blown up, noir-comeuppance style. This neo-realist film is has been considered by many to be the greatest film of all time. It received a special Academy Award for Most Outstanding Foreign Film several years before the category officially existed. Upgrade to a Letterboxd Pro account to add your favorite services to this listincluding any service and country pair listed on JustWatchand to enable one-click filtering by all your favorites. Les Anges du pch David Raskins score is a haunting chromatic tune that plays in some variation through the entire film-perhaps the first and certainly one of the best uses of music to advance a theme in the film (obsession, in this case) and influence how we see characters. With colour productions such asThe Killers(1964) a remake of the1946 classic andPoint Blank(1967), noir began its evolution into a more knowing style that was steeped in its own myth and legacy. The American occupation whitewashes and corrupts Japanese culture in equal measure, and Drunken Angel captures it all with deft humanism. Like other Universal horror films from the classic era of monster horror, its heavy on the atmosphere and old-fashioned spooky settings: Fog-wreathed graveyards, dark forests and gothic dwellings, while taking to heart some of the lessons learned by superior Frankenstein sequels such as Bride and Son of Frankenstein. As the letters pile up and one cancer patient (Roger Blin) commits suicide (due to a letter from the Raven informing him that his cancer is terminal), the town grows increasingly desperate to find the culprit, sparking a witch hunt that catches Dr. Germain in the midst of his many lies. The film almost demands to be seen twice for the sheer volume of slants and revelations. Five nuns are sent to establish a convent, school and hospital in a former harem. Thistaut thrillertakes place on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles, as an LAPD detective (Charles McGraw) escorts a mob bosss widow to court to testify before a grand jury. This monothematic approach underscores the characters shared fascination with this dead (or is she?) Vichy regime initiated an ambitious program to restore France to her D.S. By the time you read this letter, I might be dead. This haunting romance by Max Ophls is one of those star-crossed love stories that, if it doesnt tug at your heart, you might want to check to make sure you have one. Cinmatographie (National Center for Cinematography), the CNC, in 1920). Most of us probably associate The Third Man with Orson Welles, and why not? big-budget productions, such as To this day, it doesnt seem entirely fair that so much credit for Cat People is almost universally given to producer Val Lewton, rather than director Jacques Tourneur or writer DeWitt Bodeen, but its true of the entire run of low-budget horror films that Lewton produced at RKO. 2023 Paste Media Group. A.G. On that note, the damage is no longer rooted in his environment; Jarretts a disaster from the inside out, dysfunctional in his very wiring (thanks, ma!). From Malle to Melville, Carn to Clouzot, this is Time Outs ultimate guide to the best French movies ever released. There were French and Italian adaptations of James M. Cains 1934 novel before Hollywood dared bait the censor with its own version of this scandalous story of adultery and murder. Hospital in a former harem Outstanding Foreign film several years before the category officially existed Hawks Alfred. 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