The MoFo Top 100 of the Forties: The Countdown

Not a fan of It's A Wonderful Life so definitely wouldn't have made my list, herself on the other hand loves it.

As a kid I liked It's a Wonderful Life better than as I got older. Then I watched it last year (I hadn't seen it for a long time), and I realized that I don't mind it at all. There are parts of it that I am not crazy about (mainly the whole Clarence thing - yes, I know that is necessary to the story), but for what I do like of the film, I really like it. So I decided to put it on my list at #12.

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

Very suprising. I was almost certain that 'It's A Wondeful Life' would take the crown spot.

Is it sad that I want to hold off on The Third Man as it could be the last great 40s movie I've never seen?

Can't complain at this stage but I was hoping Wonderful Life would be #2. Fairly surprised about Third Man. I would have guessed lower half of the ten for it.

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Letterboxd

According to Letterboxd you've seen 52 1940's films, you've barely scratched the surface of the decade Raul, same as me.

Thought it would be top three. It's A Wonderful Life is fine, i think it's a good introduction to old movies and James Stewart but i don't get as much out of it as everyone else.

I watched It's a Wonderful Life for the first time in several years for this countdown and realized again how special it is. It was my #13.

My letterboxd isn't close to up to date. Think it's only films I've seen past 2 years. My flickchart is accurate and it's at 71 (yeah I know, not much difference )

Just saying there's loads of great films from every decade, not just the well known ones. I've only seen 82 from the 40's.

For sure! Like the 7 on my list that didn't make this

It's a Wonderful Life was never close to making my list, but I'm surprised it's not a little higher. Three of the final four are on my list.

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

Hated it when I first watched it. Maybe a re-watch will make it better.

Little surprised myself but i do remember that when i just joined here and top 100 lists were being posted all the time The Third Man showed up a lot, it has been a surprising long time favourite of this forum when it doesn't get talked about as much as several it is above elsewhere.

Obviously i'm very happy with this development.

It's A Wonderful Life was my #17.

It's one of the films that made me fall in love with old cinema. If it wasn't for Frank Capra and that movie, I might not be at MoFo.

When I was a kid I would NEVER have watched an old B&W film, no way...no one in my family would. I think we watched Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns at Christma. Come to think of it, there was no ham, no turkey for Christmas dinner, only spaghetti...Ahh, if only I had seen It's A Wonderful Life many years earlier, things might have been different

Last Christmas we watch 'Straight Outta Compton"!

I watched the 50's Man Who Knew Too Much with my 5 year old nephew last christmas

I watched the tears roll down my wife's cheeks as she opened her presents
Hopefully I'll do better this year!

I haven't commented in a while, but basically and as expected a lot of my picks have appeared at this point of the list, with the last seven being all there. Till today with It's a wonderful life. You can count me among the haters, but it's more of a huge indifference with some slight displays of annoyance here and there. I haven't watched it in a long while and there are some things in it that make me want to love it (James Stewart's acting is amazing) but I remember that the whole moral approach didn't convince me at all.

My list stands like this. I thought it was going to be the most boring submission ever with every entry appearing in the main list but luckily (¿?) there's one I'm pretty confident will not make it. The other two are guaranteed though.

1. The great dictator (#11)
2. The treasure of the Sierra Madre (#7)
3. The Ox-Bow incident (#39)
4. The killers (#29)
5. Will make it
6. I walked with a zombie (#51)
7. Fantasia (#20)
8. Rebecca (#10)
9. Double indemnity (#6)
10. Notorious (#15)
11. The shop around the corner (#19)
12. Laura (#12)
13. His girl Friday (#14)
14. How green was my valley (#40)
15. Kind hearts and coronets (#26)
16. Out of the past (#32)
17. Will make it
18. Bycicle thieves (#9)
19. Rope (#8)
20. To be or not to be (#83)
21. Won't make it
22. Dumbo (#36)
23. Letter from an unknown woman (#28)
24. My darling Clementine (#58)
25. Red River (#56)

This is one of our Christmas movies, my room mate adores this one and I've bounced back and forth from year to year and have come to love It's a Wonderful Life at #3.

Seen: 66/96

My List:
#1 Top 3
#2 Top 3
#3 It's a Wonderful Life (5)
#4 Arsenic and Old Lace (18)
#5 thought it was only going to be Top 5-10
#6 The Big Sleep (22)
#7 Laura (12)
#8 Ain't gonna happen but a longtime favorite
#9 The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (33)
#10 this spot is climbing higher than I expected WOW
#11 whoulda coulda shoulda
#12 Odd Man Out (55)
#13 The Great Dictator (11)
#14 Pinocchio (23)
#15 Kind Hearts and Coronets (26)
#16 Now, Voyager (78)
#17 The Suspect (70)
#18 Waterloo Bridge (93)
#19 A new favorite, don't see it making it and it isn't
#20 highly doubted it was gonna make the list
#21 The Pride of the Yankees (59)
#22 Little Foxes (43)
#23 Can't believe this DIDN'T make the list at ALL
#24 Gilda (72)
#25 Arch of Triumph (1 Pointer)

In my old age I've warmed up to It's a Wonderful Life. I used to think it was merely good, but now I'm convinced it's up there with Capra's best. I particularly like the scenes at the school dance with the swimming pool and the "romantic" scenes afterwards involving the moon, the old house and especially when Donna Reed loses her clothes, has to hide in the bushes and Stewart acts like a bastard. The homages to A Christmas Carol are also very effective. I had it at #25.

Seen - 96/96
My List
1. Dumbo (35)
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (7)
5. A Matter of Life and Death (34)
6. Heaven Can Wait (63)
7. The Red Shoes (38)
8. Pinocchio (23)
9. Fantasia (20)
10. The Devil and Daniel Webster (46)
11. Red River (56)
13. Yankee Doodle Dandy (66)
14. The Little Foxes (43)
16. A Letter to Three Wives (76)
17. Meet Me in St. Louis (48)
18. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (31)
19. Kind Hearts and Coronets (26)
20. Sullivan's Travels (68)
23. Miracle on 34th Street (53)
24. The Best Years of Our Lives (16)
25. It's a Wonderful Life (5)

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