The MoFo Top 100 of the Forties: The Countdown

oh yeah, i knew that but still had them written down for some reason. i guess i'll replace them with spellbound and foreign correspondent? seems high for them but i dunno. maybe the killers or dark passage or the mortal storm if i'm being optimistic.

Most Biblical movies were long If I Recall.

seen A Clockwork Orange. In all honesty, the movie was weird and silly

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

This new DVD makes me so happy. I've always loved this film in whatever format I've seen it, and yes, I've seen it at the theatre, but this thing is just so beautiful. That awesome tour of the universe which begins the film with stunning F/X and a humorous narrator segues perfectly into the intensely-romantic meeting between Peter (David Niven) and June (Kim Hunter) over the radio off the English coast just five days before Germany surrendered during WWII. A Matter of Life and Death isn't really for cynics or literalists, although the film can be perfectly interpreted in multiple ways. Yes, Peter could have jumped out of his burning airplane without a parachute and miraculously survived with some significant brain damage. Then again, he could just have easily been missed by Conductor 71 (Marius Goring) in the heavy fog, and the Afterlife is scrambling to try to retrieve him while also trying to deal with the fact that he's now in love with someone he would have never met if he actually died during his jump.

The American version was entitled Stairway to Heaven (see the above image), but Powell always hated that title. On the other hand, American distributors wanted to keep the word "Death" out of their post-WWII movies; ergo, the change in title. Roger Livesey is a standout as the neurologist who takes Peter's case, but the doctor is a complex character. The way he plays God over his small town by viewing everyone through his homemade camera obcura makes my wife's heart go pitter-pat (she desperately wants a camera obscura of her own). Powell's use of effects, offbeat camera angles and weird interpretations of time/space make the film incredibly ahead of its time. There are several scenes during the film where Conductor 71 shows up, but only Peter can see him because all the other characters are "frozen in time" while they talk "in space". The highlight of these many scenes is when June and the Doctor are playing ping pong (table tennis) and are frozen while Peter tries to get their attention. The scenes where Heaven appears as a giant semi-conductor or part of an enormous galaxy are also mind-boggling in this beautiful romance, which should not only make you laugh and cry a lot, but also just make you happy that there is such a thing as love to help most of us through this sometimes-unfair thing called life.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Archers, 1943)



This film has always been mind-boggling and it continues to be so today. It basically crystallizes what the Archers are about: not just being "British", but being alive and unable to confess to one's own sins. The other thing about this film is that the writing (mostly Pressburger) and the direction (mostly Maestro Powell) are so personal that it takes film to a whole new level. Yeah, past Citizen Kane, but of all the RKO Films released in 1941, I prefer The Devil and Daniel Webster to Citizen Kane, so there, and I've been to Hearst's Castle five times.

This film is mostly about love and war. Since they seem to go so "well" together it make sense. However, I'm talking about things which aren't purely visual or emotional. Michael Powell is just about the most-visionary director in film history. Some of you here probably implied it but didn't take it that far. I'm totally obsessed with his subjective shots of motorcycles and cars. He also just uses effects, angles and unique lighting to convey emotions which even van Gogh would find difficult. Major General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey) is a very sincere British officer who has been honored from 1943 back to 1902 (and then back again since the storytelling is so damn great), but he still believes in some kind of military code involving "gentleman officers" even though it didn't occur in either World War. The thing is that "Sugar" Candy's fave male person in the world is one he met quite by accident. This friend is Teo, a German officer who "drew lots" and "won" the honor to fight Clive in a duel even if he's never seen him. It will become the key event in both men's lives since it involves Miss Hunter's presence.

Something, which you'll have to decide is important or irrelevant is that Clive is such a big-game hunter and that Edith's surname is Hunter. One of the awesome things about this flick is that the gorgeous, 22-year-old, red-headed Deborah Kerr is so important and so visionary (ahead of her time) in each of her three encarnations.

I don't mean for this to be a or even my final word about The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, but you can easily write a book about it and more than one has been written. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of Powell's "long takes" in the final film. The first one involves Clive fighting a young punk in the "bath". He went in as a 70-year-old and came out a 30-year-old, so that's planned. The other thing which HAS to be mentioned is that Anton Walbrook was/is one of the greatest actors to have ever lived. His scene prior to Britain entering WWII, where he has to explain why he didn't ditch Nazi Germany earlier (his wife and kids were being "absorbed/destroyed") turns into a scene which can almost only rival Quint's speech about the U.S.S. Indianapolis in Jaws.

I was about to say 3 out of the last six made my list but somehow I missed Out Of The Past which has to be my biggest gaff for one of these lists. I absolutely love it and it would have been top 10. Children Of Paradise is the type of film that makes the word masterpiece relevant. It was my number 6. I think The Killers is a fantastic Noir. Amazing cinematography and storytelling. My number 8.