1940's Hall of Fame II

The first bummy review. Actually I don't think Cosmic has ever liked one of my noms

The only one of your nominations I remember actually disliking was Moonrise Kingdom. The Castle of Cagliostro, Manchester by the Sea, and Ride the Pink Horse are all fine. I know that's not a glowing review, but I don't think it's particularly negative either. Maybe the tone in which I write, or what I chose the mention makes it seem like I like them less. I did rather like The Thief of Bagdad though, and had considered nominating it myself for the first 40s HoF.

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This is the first time I've seen him playing the angry tough as well. And like CR says, its a easy going kind of guy.
It was a different kind of role, and I imagine he took advantageous of being the director to go out of what he was usually hired for.

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~Mr Minio

Montgomery also directed himself as tough Phillip Marlowe in Lady in the Lake previously.

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Someone had nominated Ordet from the same director in a previous Hall of Fame, and that ended up making my top 10 for the 50's countdown. Because of that, this movie was already on my watchlist and was the nomination I was most looking forward to. With Ordet, I expected a very challenging movie so I went into it with a tremendous amount of focus. I was very pleased that I was able to lose myself in it. Based on the synopsis of Day of Wrath, I thought it would be a much simpler watch, and it was, but it's very slow pace demands a certain focus all by itself. I ended up not getting a lot out of it, and I felt that I just wasn't ready for it, so I watched it a second time with much better results.

I found this movie to contain a lot of foreboding dread. One of my favorite scenes was the first one. The woman visiting says something to the effect of they're rounding someone up. Even though it's not made obvious, I knew immediately they were coming to that house, and I found that to be unsettling. By the way, that old woman has farm animals inside her home? That's gross. Anyway, I was never convinced that the old woman wasn't a witch. She was giving out remedies and screamed like one for sure. Of course, that's going on the premise that witches exist. The confessional and burning scenes were chilling. As for the latter, I was expecting them to tie her up ala Jesus, so the way she was slammed down into the fire came as a bit of a shock. Moving forward, as soon as the wife met the son it was obvious they would be doing the nasty. It was funny when dad asked the son if he wanted to give mom a kiss; oh yea pops, he wants to do a lot more than that. I found it interesting when the mother used the word "scandalous", as I thought this could be a controversial movie back then with it's mixing of religion and adultery, among other things. I thought that when the wife finally tells the husband how she feels, it was the most effective and chilling scene in the movie. It reminded me of the scene between Bette Davis and her husband in The Little Foxes. I thought the movie ended with a bit of a wimper. The pace could be tedious for a lot of viewers. I expected it and didn't mind it as noticeable as it is. The director does a great job making the viewer feel like they're witnessing a far off time and place, and I loved the lack of music with the sound instead focusing on wind and a ticking clock-very effective. Good performances and a good story. The movie as a whole didn't blow me away, but there were some really strong scenes and it was pretty consistent throughout.

dammit - dammit - dammit!! I read about halfway through the second paragraph and hit EXACTLY what I knew was gonna be there! Spoilers. Why do I DO this to myself?!
Oh, I know, because I get a kick out of cricket's thoughts about different scenes. . . It's like trying to ignore a delicious chocolate cake in the cupboard. YOU F@CKIN CAN'T. You just can't.

And, like that cake, I said screw it and devoured the rest of the review with only a tiny hint of shame. Maybe not so tiny, but still.

Day of Wrath DOES look it goes on the slow side but the payoff, it also seems, quite worth it.
Enjoyed the write up, as per the normal, @cricket

Ride The Pink Horse (1947) - Robert Montgomery

I thought this was a very cool and unusual noir. As soon as we got to see suave mystery stranger preparing to confront a local mobster I was hooked. I guess it was because of an atmospheric setting and mystery surrounding the plotline, but I really found myself enjoying this flick. Robert Montgomery, director and the main lead was very good in his role. I honestly disliked his character at the beggining because he seemed excessively rude and I thought he tried too hard to play it cool. But I started to like him when his scenes with Pancho came in and he began to loosen up and started to show his other side. I also appreciated that his character was constructed with obvious flaws and insecurities, unlike many other monodimensional noir heroes. I thought this added a nice touch of realism and was honestly refreshing to see. Also a random thought, but I couldn't help but notice that Alan Ladd would be perfect as Gagin as well. Just seemed like the type of role for him.



Another thing that striked was the character of Pila. It was strange to see her being more interesting than the film's villain and femme fatale. Wanda Hendrix was great as a young and naive Mexican girl, who immediately set her eyes on a gringo. And Citizen was right, she did in fact looked like Gene Tierney at the beggining of her carrer, anno 41'-42'. Their facial structure was indeed rather similar and I guess her resembling Gene was another reason why I liked her so much. I thought she was a scene stealer and really a magnetic screen presence. My favourite scene was when she started to feel more comfortable around Gagin and began to blabber something about her sister and her boyfriend and he just looked at her in disbelief, haha. Really funny scene...

I was in general really impressed with the film. It was tense, atmpospheric, gritty and well paced. Nothing seemed rushed or out of place. The flow just came naturally and it kept me at a high level of interest constantly. My only complaints would be that the character of Frank Hugo and Marjorie weren't that interesting and I thought that ending could've been excecuted a bit better. Otherwise a great film and a great nomination !

great lil review, jeff, and yeah, I can see Alan Ladd pulling Gagin's character.
Watched this the other night and will posting a review shortly

Ride The Pink Horse

I do believe this may be a kind of first where I enjoyed the secondary story more then the primary story itself. Which was a well done noir plot with all the proper elements and characters. A favorite for me was the FBI agent with the patience and the savvy to watch, wait, and move in when the time dictates it.
The rest were, as I stated: proper noir characters and used as such. This is, in no way, a critique. Merely an observation and a build up to what I initially stated. The opening scene and many of the "movement of chess pieces" were nicely done and great fun to watch.

For most noirs, the secondary characters, those that the leading character runs into, rarely expand into nothing more than filler.
Not so, here. There is far more detail and, dare I say, love, for the secondary characters. The townsfolk, and of course, Pancho and Pila. Who have depth and I found myself enjoying every nuance and conversation shared between them and Gagin as the movie continued.
It is these scenes that I found the most joy. Pila's eventually opening and Pancho's wisdom regarding life were the moments that really stuck with me. I really connected with them and looked forward to when the story came back around to them.

As with everyone else, the merry-go-round scene was an incredible highlight due to the focus being moved to the children's reactions as they circled around instead of what was occurring. Far more of an impact and done VERY well.

This was a great lil noir with a varied blend that makes it distinct and quite enjoyable. Thanks @rauldc14 for nominating this!

Just out of curiosity, is English your first language, or are you at least fluent in English? I'm just wondering if that's why the fast-paced dialogue was hard for you to process.


I agree with you about most of the characters being unlikable, but I disagree about Walter Burns (Cary Grant) and Bruce (Ralph Bellamy). I thought Walter was a pretty cool character, but Bruce was kind of wishy-washy. Walter definitely had better chemistry with Hildy (Rosalind Russell) than Bruce did. Walter and Hildy seemed to belong together much more than Bruce and Hildy did.

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OPEN FLOOR.

Did it bother anyone else that he stuck gum behind the map? Not just because it's disgusting, but also because he stuck it behind the side that's open to the whole room where anyone walking past could see it. If he had stuck it behind the other side of the map it would have been less noticeable.

I'm not surprised that you liked the beginning and end of the movie more than the middle. The middle of the movie is more about the romance than the gambling.

@CosmicRunaway

I watched another Robert Montgomery movie last night,
Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941) and I think what you had said about his persona coming through his performance and not liking him, might be close to the truth. I had said he was usually this nice guy in the movies, but I was thinking of Robert Young, I don't know why I get them mixed up...Anyway there was a DVD audio interview on the movie I watched last night with Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched) who's his daughter. And even though she loved him and spoke with fondness in his memory, she did say he could be demanding and could be rude to people...and was not totally liked in the acting community.

I do love Ride the Pink Horse and I thought his rudeness to Pila made the movie memorable. And of course he's doing a character, but I think you're right that the character is close to who he actually was.

I get Robert Montgomery and Robert Young mixed up too. I didn't say anything because I can't figure out why, but if you're also getting them mixed up, then there must be a reason.

I liked Wanda Henrix (Pila) too, she really helped make the movie special. I never though she looked like Gene Tierney until after the movie when I wanted to see what she looked like without the peasant girl look...then I seen some photos that really made me think of Gene. It's too bad she didn't have a more notable career. But it does look like she at least appeared in a bunch of B movies. I'll have to catch some of those, just to see her.

I was really tired the first night when I watched His Girl Friday for the Hof, which made it hard to keep up on who's doing what and why. Then...I watched it again and got so much more out of it. It's one of those movies where a second watch really helps one appreciate the vernacular of the film.

Yup, the movie is written so we cheer for Walter and Hildy to get back together, as they're two of a kind. They might be down and dirty journalist but they deserve each other. Besides Bruce would never be happy with Hildy.

And vice versa.

That's a pretty interesting development. It could just be a coincidence that I just found something inherently unlikeable about his performance, or perhaps I have a strange knack for sensing rude people haha.

No, it's not, but I am fluent in English. At least I think I am. Either way, I watched HGF with subtitles on , because I was aware of how fast-paced it would be. Still I believed the dialogue was overly fast and a legitimate detriment to the film. It was honestly wearing me out. I also thought that the overlapping lines gimmick was pretty cool, but at the same time overdone and tiresome. Perhaps I was the only one in this HoF bothered by it, but as I read some discussions online about the film, there were definitely people who had the same problem.

I honestly think that Bruce and Hildy had a chance to be happy together. Unlike Walter, Bruce was sincere to her and legitimately wanted to please her. On the other side, Walter did nothing but deceive her and exploit her for his own purposes. Even Hildy recognized their relationship was toxic and wanted to get away from Walter as fast as possible, but ultimately she fell weak to his temptations. The ending itself ridiculed their relationship when Walter asked her to cover the "Albany strike" with him instead of going to a honeymoon in Niagara falls she wanted. Meaning he will continue to prioritize work over her, until she grows tired of it and leaves him again. So even though the marriage between Bruce and Hildy wouldn't necessarily worked out, because she was too adventurous, I still believe her chances of being happy with Bruce were much higher than with Walter.

As for rooting for Walter and Hildy to get back together, I really couldn't make myself to do so. It might have been different, if Bruce was shown as a vile man and someone who had mistreated Hildy, but by all accounts he was a good guy who genuinely cared for her, unlike Walter who wanted her for his possessive and exploitative needs.