1940's Hall of Fame II

Wow, it's interesting that you guys all considered some of the same movies I did. This is all the films I had considered for this Hof. I've been considering them ever since we did the first 40s Hof, a long time!

I had a list with 77 movies, the ones with stars are the ones I finally narrowed it down to. None are in any type of order.

***Key Largo (1948) John Hoston
***I Remember Mama (1948) George Stevens
***Mildred Pierce (1945) Michael Curtiz
***Meet John Doe (1941) Frank Capra
**To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks 8.0

I don't even think I can name 77 films from the 40s.

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As Camo guessed straight away, my choice was Day of Wrath. I almost nominated it for the last 'general' hall of fame and I almost didn't nominate it now because I was going to save it for the next general, but then I asked myself what one 40s movie would I most like people to see, and that was the answer. (Well, considering that I nominated Brief Encounter for a HoF before and Rope wasn't eligible).

The other films I was considering were Kind Hearts and Coronets and I Walked With a Zombie.

I've seen these films already:
The Ghost and Mrs Muir
Beauty and the Beast
Double Indemnity
His Girl Friday

Haven't seen these:
I Remember Mama
Odd Man Out
Gentleman Jim
Mr Lucky
Body and Soul
The Sea Wolf
Ride the Pink Horse

Just looked up some of the movies. Initial thoughts:

1. Some of these movies are surprisingly not easy to get.
2. TWO MOVIES ABOUT BOXING? WHAT IS GOING ON?

I didn't actually watch it

I just watched that about a week ago and was surprised by how much I liked it.

2 of those will most likely make my 40's list, 1 will probably barely miss out, 1 is on my 40's watchlist, and the other one you nominated.

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Glad to see another fan of Double Indemnity. It will certainly figure highly on my 1940s Countdown list... Oh, agreed on the hair! I heard Billy Wilder described it as a cheap wig and Phyllis is a cheap woman I liked her ankle bracelet, you just don't see woman wearing those in the 1940s, but Phyllis does.

Reading your review makes me want to watch Double Indemnity right now

The one thing that I want to say about the film is that I wasn't overly fond of Teresa Wright as the choice to play his wife. For me, I just didn't think she seemed right for the role, but others may think differently. This was a movie that I didn't care for her in. As for Gary Cooper, I think he was perfect. I honestly cannot think of another actor that could've been (then or now) as perfect of a choice to play Lou Gehrig as he Cooper was.


I saw this years ago. I don't remember much about it except for the facts that I am pretty sure I liked it and that it was one of the movies I watched when I went through my phase of trying to watch all of Cary Grant's films.


I love Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. I can't lie about that. I would've loved to have seen this pop up in here.


This was another one where I wondered if anyone would possibly nominate it. I think it is pretty good. Although I always thought Dorothy McGuire looked better "unattractive" than "attractive" in that film.


I would've been happy to see this in here.


My decade lists have been inspired by lists of top favorites that I made out of boredom a few years ago. And I was looking at my 40's list last year (I have yet to look this year because it is going to be a chore ) and it is over 100 films. I have no idea how I am going to work through that.


Anytime that I watched this, all I do is stare at that hair. It is so terrible. It will be a scene with her, and I tend to look at just her hair and think about how ugly it looks. I didn't know it was a wig. When I think about it now, I guess it could look like one, but I always assumed it was a hairstyle (with her own hair) that they deliberately made look that bad.

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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

Been interested in seeing Pride of the Yankees for years. Gehrigs story is really sad and i've actually already seen the speech scene during the time i was really into baseball history.

ah, screw it, it looks like a fun watch: A man thinks about killing his wife with concerto's as background.
I'll check out, anyway.

Loved the write up @CosmicRunaway!
Always wondered about that hairdo that Stanwyck had, that explains it.
Totally agree about the lighting and the dialogue.
Seen this movie several times, but it as been a while so I'll happily do a rewatch for this HoF

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I almost pointed out that Cricket was joking last night, haha.

I'm going to try to watch it too, i will at some point but no guarantees it will be before the countdown. Watched two from Sturges: Sullivan's Travels which i just liked, it did get me pretty obsessed with Veronica Lake tho, and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek which was a big surprise and has a good chance of making my 40's list.

I'm just too effin gullible on this site. I fall for that fake name joke where you read your name in the post, every frickin time someone puts it up lol

Also, sorry for double posting but the first few days of these HOF's are the best right? Everyone seems really excited about the films they haven't seen and there's usually a much higher rate of posts than when people have settled down and started watching the nominations. Obviously i love the discussions too but i find them lacking sometimes, only because everyone is watching stuff at different times and sometimes it feels weird repeating yourself or you've moved on from that film when a discussion about it comes up or whatever. I have a habit of rushing through these as well, it's not really deliberate but i think it's probably because i don't want to miss out on any discussions.

haha. I think i speak for everyone when i say we love you for it

I'd be curious as to your thoughts on Palm Beach Story too Camo.

Are you a fan? Just googled it there and apparently i've visited its IMDB page but i don't remember that. I definitely want to see all of Sturges films but i need to see how many i'm able to fit in, i'd rather watch a bunch from a bunch of directors than focus on a small few. It's definitely on my radar now.

Totally agree. The very beginning IS the very best part of these HoFs. Everyone is excited and talking about what they've seen, what they're curious to see. . .
and it is hard to catch the discussions, especially when you see any particular movie, quite some time later.
Though, near the end, I'll actually try to catch up on them, or after I seen one I remember a good discussion was on, before writing a review, just in case there was something poignant I wanted to comment on, or consider as I do the write up.

Didn't mind it. Not a favorite but I can see how it could be for some.

I knew that... and I just about went with a Veronica Lake movie. I figured even if no one liked it, you'd like to see her

Agreed with you guys on that.

I was thinking we could have a watch list, like Sean did for the Hitch thread. Strictly optional of course, but for those who were interested it might have some of us on the same page, as we'd be watching the same movie around the same time.

I don't know how interested people would be in that, so I didn't mention it.

Back later, more errands to do.

Hope you check out The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, maybe it will just be me but i loved it.

For the record it's not close to my current top 10 40's films which is awesome coz i'm finding so much i like from the decade, but also depressing coz i'll need to kick it out of my 25 at some point maybe.