Nominees: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Woman in the Window, Laura, Jane Eyre, Murder, My Sweet, Gaslight, Lifeboat
Oscars pick: Going My Way
Nominees: Double Indemnity, Gaslight, Since You Went Away, Wilson
I don’t do schmaltz, and the warmly received Oscar winner Going My Way with Bing Crosby was pure, unfiltered schmaltz. I do however dig Noir, and Noir hit Hollywood in a big way this year. These pictures –cynical, drenched in shadow, and often featuring voice-over narration- are about murder and mystery, and feature quick-talking guys who lose their heads over a captivating femme fatale. Film noir wasn't new but it was hot stuff in ’44.
There was Billy Wilder's dark sardonic Double Indemnity with Fred MacMurray as insurance salesman Walter Neff who falls for icy Barbara Stanwyck. Fritz Lang offered up Woman in the Window, with its nail-biting plot that breaks like a cold sweat. It stars Edward G. Robinson as the older man who takes a shine for a younger Joan Bennett, which gets him tangled up in murder. Otto Preminger's Laura, where sweet Gene Tierney bewitches Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, and Vincent Price, in a tale of jealousy and obsession. And Murder, My Sweet saw crooner Dick Powell changing his image playing Philip Marlowe.
But the movies I liked best went for laughs and drama over murder.
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek was Preston Sturges’ hilarious poke in the eye to the Hays office. With Miracle, he demolishes the censorship code, while keeping to it. It’s beautifully subversive and marked by madcap screwball antics as well as Preston’s sharp tongue and rapier wit. The film I rank slightly above it is Henry V.
Cinema's first great Shakespearean adaptation, was also jingoistic war propaganda, meant to rally English spirits during turbulent times. Though there's irony in the fact that Henry V casts Britain as an invading force – the dialog and performances, the music and camerawork (in particular the tracking shot that follows French horsemen riding into battle). The bright technicolor, and the sets and painted landscapes that were inspired by - and sometimes directly mimicked art from the Book of Hours - is so dazzling, so brilliantly realized that I willingly, and happily, went along with it... Even if there were times when I'd bristle at its romanticism (the French seem so delighted with their conqueror at the end), I appreciate that we are at least shown the human cost in scenes where we see bodies strewn across the battlefield.
In addition, I like the framing device Olivier employs which gives us a movie within a play. And though he takes liberties with the source material (not a big deal for me), I like that Laurence remembers the humor in Shakespeare; remembers that he was not a dry, deadly serious storyteller. Including these broad brushstrokes keeps things lively, especially in those scenes set within the confines of the Globe Theatre.
Acting: I know these are odd, non-traditional picks, but honestly I'm not overly fond of Double Indemnity (it's alright), and the leads didn't generate any heat between themselves to my eyes. Stanwyck was rather flat a femme fatale. Whereas Raines was a knock-out in Phantom Lady. Cherkasov? I find the performance, and those darting, bird-like movements of his, weirdly intoxicating.
Honorable Mentions:
Laurence Olivier, Henry V * Charles Boyer, Gaslight * Edward G. Robinson, The Woman in the Window * Dick Powell, Murder, My Sweet * Hans Albers, Great Freedom No. 7 * Laird Cregar, The Lodger * Clifton Webb, Laura
Honorable Mentions: Tallulah Bankhead, Lifeboat * Judy Garland, Meet Me in St. Louis * Betty Hutton, Miracle of Morgan’s Creek * Joan Bennett, Woman in the Window * Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight * Lauren Bacall, To Have and Have Not * Ann Carter, Curse of the Cat People * Ilse Werner, Great Freedom No. 7
