1940's Hall of Fame II

Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

This was an interesting movie, but not really my type of movie. I thought it was kind of strange that the young girl, Pila, was hanging out with Gagin. It was just an odd relationship, but I guess it worked in the movie because we can easily see the change in her character from the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie.

I liked the FBI agent Retz. He seemed to know everything that was going on, but I was surprised that he seemed to work alone. There were times when it would have made more sense if he had some backup. I also like Pancho,

I liked the ending, but it wasn't what I expected, (or maybe because it wasn't what I expected.)

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Disappointed in some of those reviews

The Sea Wolf (1941)

This was another interesting movie, but I think it might have been better without the romance between Ruth and George. I didn't think Ida Lupino and John Garfield had much chemistry together, so the romance part didn't work for me. I'm not sure, but it might have worked better if the romance was between Ruth and Humphrey, because they seemed to have much better chemistry together.

Edward G. Robinson was great as Wolf Larsen. He seemed to be just the right blend of sadistic and crazy, and he just got better and better as the movie went on.

Sorry, but some of these movies just aren't my type of movies. They're not bad movies, and I didn't really dislike any of them. They're just not the type of movies that I would normally go out of my way to watch.

When you (eventually) see my list for the 1940's countdown, (which I haven't even started yet), I'm sure it will be filled with mostly romance and musicals.

I think that's all the movies except my own nom. I'll try to post about that soon, but my finger can't take any more typing tonight.

@gbgoodies, I think I see a trend in your reviews...if you don't like the film it's unbelievable, if you like it it's believable

Thanks for posting those. I will add them to the 1st post tomorrow as it's bedtime for me

Believability may be a factor in whether or not I like a movie, but it's not the only factor.

Wow GBG, you really flew through those films. Were you just waiting to post your reviews together, or did you have a giant marathon?

I haven't watched anything else since my last update. It's been a busy, stressful week. I should be able to watch The Sea Wolf sometime today or tomorrow though. Hopefully it doesn't take nearly a week to get my review up like it did for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir haha.

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Odd Man Out will be next. There's a chance it will be not until next week though.

Although I can't think of any I'm a big fan of, I love the idea of movies set at sea. This movie starts out nicely as we quickly get aboard The Ghost, with an air of mystery already created. We meet the character played by John Garfield early. He is an actor I like a lot, and while he had some great lines, I didn't think he had a lot to work with overall. As soon as Edward G. Robinson enters the film, it is clear that this is his movie, and I'm still yet to be disappointed by one of his performances. If anybody came close to matching Robinson, it was Alexander Knox, an actor I wasn't previously familiar with. A couple of the other characters on the ship were effective as well. I could have done without Ida Lupino's character altogether, and instead had the movie's sole focus be on the struggles between the men. I did appreciate that the romance wasn't a bigger part of the movie, and that they didn't go for more of an action type of film. I could have done without the captain's headache problem which seemed to me like a lazy add on. I enjoyed the movie and thought it was pretty solid. I didn't think it reached it's full potential given the setting and variety of characters. I really think the girl held it back a little.

quite the marathon of reviews, gbg! Did not catch the fact that, in His Girl Friday that Grant's real name was Archibald Leach though I did catch the one about how the fiance looked like Bellamy. Rather liked that bit.

and I thought you'd enjoy Edward G Robinson in Sea Wolf, cricket. I could have done without the romance as well.

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I like to see that sort of thing. And whether or not it would've been realistic in that era to be that sort of family, I don't know for sure. All I know is, I don't have a family even slightly like that now. It gets hard to be a part of such a truly selfish group of people. It really does. It is almost unreal, to be honest. So I think that maybe that is why I don't mind seeing families portrayed this way. It is nice to see people actually like each other enough to sacrifice and help each other out. It is nice, for me, to think that are people like that in the world. If not now, at least in the past.



I haven't seen this in years, but I remember the Archie Leach comment. I don't know if I remember the Ralph Bellamy one. I will have to pay extra attention when I watch it, which I should be doing this weekend.

I could do without the romance in most movies (i.e. Dances With Wolves ). I often think that if they don't directly pertain to the story, then why are they wasting the time with them? Of course, I shouldn't be commenting. I haven't watched The Sea Wolf yet.



I will have all of the movies watched by the end of this weekend except for two of them, but they will be on TV at the beginning of July. Then I will write something about each of them after I have seen them all.

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Gentleman Jim

"The Corbetts are at it, again!"

Being a fan of Errol Flynn, particularly for his many swashbuckling roles (the man IS Robin Hood) it was rather fun to see him in this movie about a forgotten legendary boxer. And it seems to be, he was quite ideal for the role. Definitely for playing a suave/cocky pugilist with concerns about his hair and his tie. I enjoyed the combative relationship he had with his costar, quite a lot.

For me, there were even more enjoyable scenes by the secondary actors. Jack Carson does as Jack Carson does and he did it very well in this.
The stand out for me, or perhaps its the scene itself, was with Alan Hale Sr as the boisterous father of the Corbett clan. Near the very end, in the athletic club, sharing an argument with his wife, there is a tender pause when she tells him his tie is crooked and he tells her, "thank you, dear," before jumping back into the argument. It's just a wonderful married couple moment that I carried away from the film. That and the clever balancing of a bottle in the nook of his arm, to refill his glass. The whole thing just made me smile.

This was a charming film and it seemed that EVERYONE, deep down had a good heart. Hell, even when bets were lost, people lined up to pay their debts. Extraordinary! lol
Another great example is John L Sullivan. For all his boasting, the man WAS, very much, a gentleman.

I think the only complaint, and its very minimal, is that the boxing seemed more staged, then executed. And they did seem to focus far more on Jim's footwork. Made me wonder if that type of footwork was a trademark or perhaps something new that Jim Corbett brought to the ring. My limited research didn't seem to find anything on it.

Regardless, I was VERY happy to watch this and have added it to the movies of Errol Flynn I truly enjoy.
Thank you, so much, blix, for nominating it!!

@edarsenal Glad you liked Gentleman Jim, it seems to be doing pretty well. But now I hope Blix completes the Hof. So far he hasn't posted any reviews.

well, he seems to be doing pretty good in the 13th, so, fingers crossed, he should still be in

I was very skeptic before watching this movie. I thought it is yet another heavy IRA political drama movie. But I was pleasantly surprised after actually watching it. I started to watch it 5 times thinking dividing movie to more parts then ending up watching it all on one sitting. Odd Man Out was beautifully odd movie. I felt like buying a trip to Belfast through some extreme adrenaline travel agency offering underground sightseeing. I mean all those weird characters throughout the movie. It all started with an armed robbery performed by IRA members. Johnny McQueen is the leader but becoming soft probably thinking to settle up and have a family with Kathleen. Even IRA needs funds to support their political ambitions so the mill packed with money comes handy. However the robbery fails and Johnny's men escaping are forced to leave Johnny behind.



And suddenly Johnny's companions are not that important any more and we need to get rid of them. What to do? Let's Theresa O'Brien take care of the business. Why not to call police and kill the characters. We don't need those clowns because we need to continue the sightseeing of bizarre characters of Belfast. We need to give the space to Lukey, Shell, Father Tom or to these little brats mob. And they keep entering the screen out of the blue. Shell is strange fella with birds and coded language. Lukey is washed up painter willing to do anything to paint perfect pair of eyes for St. Francis of Assisi dying. At least I think it was him. He even put agonized Johnny to his chair only to quickly paint those eyes facing death. That was hilarious. And Father Tom knows them all and sets up for mission to save Johnny's soul. Meantime Kathleen arranged a perfect plan for escape that goes awry. There's also so many characters that trying to fix Johnny's wound but succeeded little. Basically it all end up as if the whole IRA organization extincted and the summer holiday was over. Back to airport and go home. Sightseeing is over, nothing else to see.



Honestly, I found this movie interesting and never seen a similar movie before. All that dreamlike journey to human soul with dark streets, rain, ugly buildings give the movie this odd feel. I don't know where did you find this movie @Camo but if not you I would never see it and that would be pity.

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Reading your Odd Man Out reviews looks like most of you didn't like when the story takes completely different direction and those strange characters keeps arriving on the screen. For me it was opposite. I liked how a simple robbery interacts with lives of different people and their reactions. Without it this movie would be just another average thriller that nobody would watch. Very unusual and interesting movie.

i was of the same feeling, @Nestorio_Miklos. The interactions as they, then he, dealt with, and even more so, how those he came into contact, acted, set the movie apart.
I had remarked that it set me in mind of my #1 favorite movie; The Great Escape, in that aspect.

I was a very young man I would focus on the leading characters and never paid the rest of any given cast much mind - unless its a mystery movie and then EVERYONE IS SUSPECT.
But, over the years, and more recently with classic movies I have really spent more time on those sharing the screen, and Odd Man Out of not only creating so many great secondary characters, but delving into them so much more than usual.

What a uniquely different noir this is! I don't even know how to describe this? It's one of a kind, that's for sure. I do know I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish.

It works quite well as a mystery, but it's not the more usual who-done-it mystery...The mystery is, why the characters are so enigmatic. I've never seen characters like this before and that was refreshing.

Gagin (Robert Montgomery) seem to be in another world. Is Gagin a tough ex G.I on a mission of revenge? Or was he shell shocked from the war? He's a mystery...the walking wounded.

Pila (Wanda Hendrix) was a complete mystery to me. Her behavior was so odd that we're left wondering if she is mentally slow or what? She too was very ambiguous and that made her character fascinating.

I love the dialog in this, it's so clever and so odd. This was one of my favorite scenes, when Gagin tells Pila goodbye for the first time.

Hot damn! I actually laughed out loud at that. I mean that in a good way too. It just struck me as odd and yet so natural for them to say that it to each other.

Robert Montgomery not only stars but directed and he does one helluva job here. The movie flows seamlessly and never seems formulatic. The scene where Pancho is beaten by two thugs is shows Montgomery's skill as a director.

Instead of going with close ups, we see the beating from the viewpoint of the children who are on the carousel. We see their little faces turn to horror as they watch the helpless Pancho be brutally beaten...then the carousel stops and they run screaming away. Brilliant.

The ending of the movie was something I never expected and I'm so glad it wasn't the typical Hollywood ending, instead like the characters the film ended on a enigmatic note.

A fine film, thanks Raul for nominating it.

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