In a lonely place, dark passage, they drive by night, key largo
For movies from that era in general : The Letter, Crossfire, stagecoach, rio grande, flame of Barbary coast , in harms way, royal wedding, top hat, the gallant hours, mister Roberts, postman always rings twice,Philadelphia story, ice castles , invitation to a gunfight , high noon , man of the west, the misfits, out of the past, affectionately yours
The Maltese Falcon To Have and Have Not Angels with Dirty Faces The Petrified Forest The Desperate Hours The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Sabrina is worth watching for other reasons; Bogey is miscast The Roaring Twenties The Barefoot Contessa The Caine Mutiny The Harder They Fall Sahara
For anyone here who has a good understanding of the Golden Age of Cinema, from the 1930-1960s, what are 5 films you would recommend from each of those decades? I'm trying to better familiarize myself with that era and wanted to watch the "cream of the crop."
I'll throw out 5 alternates to Vader's why not:
1930s: The Adventures of Robin Hood, All Quiet on the Western Front, Gone With the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, A Night at the Opera
1940s: His Girl Friday, Fantasia, Children of Paradise, The Killers, A Matter of Life and Death
1950s: On the Waterfront, The Bridge on the River Kwai, All About Eve, Sweet Smell of Success, Witness for the Prosecution
1960s: Harakiri, In the Heat of the Night, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Fail-Safe, Andrei Rublev
Gone with the wind is a must see imo. Whether you like the film or not. Even if it completely fails to tackle the issue of racism in the south, and rather jokes around it, even if the beginning of the second half is a little messy, it remains an amazing achievement and a testament to the scale Hollywood was able to reach in its golden era. Selznick wanted to make the best film ever, he spent all his money on it, taking risks that no producer since the sixties dares taking.
I don't know if Bogart was such a miscast in Sabrina, it quite fitted the character, the difficulty to play it romantic.
Gone with the wind is a must see imo. Whether you like the film or not. Even if it completely fails to tackle the issue of racism in the south, and rather jokes around it, even if the beginning of the second half is a little messy, it remains an amazing achievement and a testament to the scale Hollywood was able to reach in its golden era. Selznick wanted to make the best film ever, he spent all his money on it, taking risks that no producer since the sixties dares taking.
I don't know if Bogart was such a miscast in Sabrina, it quite fitted the character, the difficulty to play it romantic.
I think Bogey would have been OK 10 years prior but he just looks so knackered at that point that it's just a bit gross with him and Hepburn. Wilder repeated the mistake with Gary Cooper a few years later.
Gone With the Wind isn't really supposed to tackle the issue of racism in the south per se since the racism is fundamental to the culture that the source material is bemoaning the death of. However, the film itself (it's hard to say which director be it Fleming, Cukor or one of the others) ensure that the genuine moral centre of the film is not Melanie but rather Mammy. She becomes the genuine audience surrogate, which may be a scant substitute for the core nature of the story but it would demonstrate that the film has more of a conscience than Margaret Mitchell did.
Beyond that, the knights and ladies of this fallen Camelot are pretty much universally depicted as assholes in some way shape or form (apart from the hopelessly naieve, stricken and feeble Melanie). It's just that Scarlett is this absolute battering ram of a person who manages to be both a necessity and a crushing burden simultaneously.
I agree that GWTW isn't forced to tackle racism, but I understand that some would have an issue with this, and there are definitely one or two scenes that would be better cut out.
And yes, Rhett and most southerners are quite described as assholes.
By the way, on repeat viewings, I side more and more with Scarlett than Rhett. As much as Scarlett is a terrible person, I can't help admire and respect her. Anyway, Vivien Leigh's performance is in my top 3 great performance of all time. And Steiner's score is also probably in my top 3.
About Sabrina and Love in the afternoon, I think casting older men to play with Hepburn is also part of Wilder's vicious critic of society. Especially in Love in the afternoon, where all the story is about how our feelings are first superficially created by the way society values people. And society in these days valued rich men and young women. This is slowly evolving, but I think that Wilder is more denouncing the problem than he is being part of it. Wilder is indeed very self-conscious in his casting decisions (having Stroheim play Swanson's butler or Dean Martin an immoral singer.)
I agree that GWTW isn't forced to tackle racism, but I understand that some would have an issue with this, and there are definitely one or two scenes that would be better cut out.
And yes, Rhett and most southerners are quite described as assholes.
By the way, on repeat viewings, I side more and more with Scarlett than Rhett. As much as Scarlett is a terrible person, I can't help admire and respect her. Anyway, Vivien Leigh's performance is in my top 3 great performance of all time. And Steiner's score is also probably in my top 3.
I admire Scarlett too, but she's also an unabashed monster.
I think that if you cut out those scenes that would be somewhat dishonest. I don't think that the likes of Margaret Mitchell's work will ever get an unvarnished platform again, not in the same way, but it's important to be able to engage with these values being writ large no matter how horrendous they are to us morally.
About Sabrina and Love in the afternoon, I think casting older men to play with Hepburn is also part of Wilder's vicious critic of society. Especially in Love in the afternoon, where all the story is about how our feelings are first superficially created by the way society values people. And society in these days valued rich men and young women. This is slowly evolving, but I think that Wilder is more denouncing the problem than he is being part of it. Wilder is indeed very self-conscious in his casting decisions (having Stroheim play Swanson's butler or Dean Martin an immoral singer.)
This is fair; it's been a long time since I've watched either film which maybe needs to be rectified as on balance I am a massive fan of Wilder (even Kiss Me, Stupid which you reference is a film I had an absolute blast with while being really astonished at where it goes).
For people who are fluent in French, there is a 2-part youtube video essay by someone called Durendal1 that dissects Gone With the Wind in great detail.
For people who are fluent in French, there is a 2-part youtube video essay by someone called Durendal1 that dissects Gone With the Wind in great detail.
For people who are not fluent in French, you will get as much information from this video as people who are fluent, that is to say none. This youtube guy makes Jeremy Jahns look like Roger Ebert in comparison
I think that if you cut out those scenes that would be somewhat dishonest. I don't think that the likes of Margaret Mitchell's work will ever get an unvarnished platform again, not in the same way, but it's important to be able to engage with these values being writ large no matter how horrendous they are to us morally.
