1940's Hall of Fame II

Ditto. I always love the unveil. I'd be surprised if I wasn't very excited on what the nominations are.

Watched my nom two days ago. I'll put up my review after they are unveiled, might not be til tomorrow though depending on when that is my time.

We have one more member, Jeff Costello, and that makes an even dozen members. I will do the reveal of the movies in a few minutes

I posted the movies on the second post of the first page, but I'll also post them here.

Each movie poster is a clickable link that goes to MoFo's movie pages, which has information on the movies.

Awesome

Seen four. His Girl Friday and Double Indemnity are two of my favourite films, might just watch them again anyway but i'm not sure yet. Seen and loved Day of Wrath (i actually guessed TN would nominate that), will get my review of that as well as my nom Odd Man Out which i liked quite a bit up in a minute.

Day of Wrath

This was my second Dreyer. I watched Ordet for the 5th Hall of Fame here years ago, all i really remember is i liked it. Should watch it again and check out his other stuff as i thought this was great. All i knew going in was that it was about witches and that it was apparently really slow, i guess it was but i honestly wouldn't have even thought of that if i hadn't read it and it didn't bother me at all.

Medieval heavy-moralistic attitudes are something i've always found very intriguing. Of course this could be seen as analogous to any oppressive regime like a certain one that was on everyone's particularly European's minds when this film was made. Separating it from that though i still find it a very interesting film without having to take any of that into consideration. Heriof Marte's begging for her life scene really got to me. The actress did a very good job, she seemed like a normal old woman who hadn't done anything wrong terrified of what was to come, so much so that she was willing to give up Anne's mother. "I'm so afraid to die" was really well delivered with her voice trembling then her turning back as if to say something else but just realizing it's useless and that her life is coming to an end. The great thing about this is that it shows that this way of living was so ingrained into this society that Marte herself believes Anne's mother was a witch. Despite the exact same thing happening to her at this moment she still doesn't question the validity of that. That part alone does an excellent job of setting up the mindsets of the time and it's only a few short scenes and maybe three minutes worth of dialogue. There's also the confession scene which is hilarious in a not funny in the slightest, horrifying sort of way. "She consented to the confession" made me laugh in disbelief, yeah we just brutally tortured her for god knows how long and now finally she has admitted to what she has done, there's no way she would have confessed to anything you asked of her to stop the torture. Tough old broad, wonder why she didn't use the dark arts on us when we were allowing her to freely wander about talking to Absalon. We also have "a fine confession", jesus i could see this in a Mel Brooks film. Yeah, we got it out of her guys, now lets not question why she only started confessing when we threatened to continue the torture, and lets not make anything of her not actually offering any answers herself but instead just agreeing with everything we were telling her. The execution scene was horrific, great scene(s). As i said earlier i found Marte just like a normal old woman, quietly scared but here she sounds like a raving mad woman out of fear which obviously in the minds of the church further confirms that she was a witch. The drastic change in her voice in particular and her screams as she's thrown on the stake were chilling. Very draining first half hour that's set the central conflict as well as the feel for what the society is like up very well.

I think Anne falling for Martin was done well enough. They didn't need to focus too much on it for it to be believable, the fact that her marriage to his dad was forced and that she is closer to age with him as well as the fact that Absalom was busy most of the time so she spent it with him, him conforting her during Marte's execution in particular was enough to make it believable. What it was best for was showing Anne separating herself from her existance as a repressed reverand's wife, her actually experiencing love and joy changing her personality completely, for the better in our eyes but a drastic change in those days especially towards what would be considered bad behaviour for a woman of course raises eyebrows. It's a great insight into a break from oppression, how much she takes to it to the point that you could just accept this film as a straightforward depiction of a woman becoming a witch, when really it's just her experiencing freedom for the first time in her life. Even the wishing death upon Absalom and later confessing seemed to be her trying to hold onto this happiness which wouldn't be able to continue if she was to continue on as an oppressed wife and her confession was her giving up knowing she can't have it anyway.

Anyway, think i've rabbled on long enough haha. Got to say this film was really creepy as well. The shadows, screaming, children singing, etc really got under my skin at times and worked to create the perfect atmosphere. The only thing i would have liked to see more of was around the village, a bit too much of it was set indoors i really love depictions of medieval villages. Saying that i really liked the creepy inside also with the shadows i mentioned and the seemingly always present ticking clock that enhanced the many silences throughout the film. Great film.

Odd Man Out

Thought this was very good, it's not up there with The Third Man for me but i'm really glad it didn't end up a case of me disliking my own nom.

I liked the set-up, it established well with Johnny's frame of mind and the gangs doubts that this wasn't going to go well at all. One thing i found interesting about this was that the gang seemed to genuinely care for him, usually in heist films the gang only thinks of their own interests and there was multiple times they would've cut out early on but didn't. First of all them letting him on the heist in the first place; i mean i understand that he was their leader but i think there was more than enough justification for them to cut him out and to explain it to the other gang members especially since he was an escaped convict; someone who was not really in a position to throw his weight around. Then when he falls from the car, he's injured and his mind is clearly messed up even if he gets out of this it'd be so easy for them to say they tried to go back but something happened, so the only reason they would actually consider (never mind actually stopping the car like they did) going back for him would be out of genuine loyalty. I think that's interesting as it's not really something you see in films about groups of criminals, there is usually some sense of genuine fear or mutual benefit that would have them go out of their way like they did here but this seems like a guy who isn't mentally capable of running the gang anymore not to mention the police will be looking for him anyway due to his escape which must seriously limit his influence as well as make him not a desirable person for a bunch of criminals to hang around.

When they arrived back at the house i came to understand this more. I hadn't really realized that they were supposed to be an IRA type organiziation with a cause that operated like a close-knit family. That was something i really got into, not just the actual organization members but the whole community. I liked how we saw many different people with conflicting views on Johnny and his organization. We got to know alot of people here, the kids, police, just the average citizens and i think even outside of any connections to the troubles it gave a good sense of how Northern Irish (and largely British) society was at the time. Both the good and the bad and the hard to categorize, by that i mean for example despite intentions Teresa was doing the right thing by calling the police on Murphy and Pat, when you strip away any of the other cicrumstances these violent criminals really shouldn't have been on the street yet they muddy the waters by having Teresa do it in a very sneaky, callous way and they have some vague connections mentioned that does make it seem like a strong betrayal. It was nice seeing things not portrayed so black and white. This applies to Johnny too as i think there was a very interesting approach to him; the first time we see him he is adamantly against violence and while he does resort to it himself they still attempt to gain some sympathy for him both by having him not remember it and by having him deeply remorseful over what he had done. Well in the grand scheme of things i didn't have any actual sympathy for Johnny but i could see how others could thanks to the way everything was framed. My favourite thing about Johnny's storyline is it was pretty much dread personified. We knew all the time that Johnny was going to die/ was dying, and it was absolutely in the most horrible way imaginable; excruciatingly slow and every last second filled with genuine guilt. Then stuff like him being in those people who tried to help him before realizing who he was home, listening to them all drill the point home that he was dead, he was a goner at this point he's just hanging on; it might be too late now to go to a hospital and if it's not then you are walking into a life sentence, it's the end either way. When i realized there was over an hour left during this scene i wondered if this was the 40's version of torture porn haha.

Not got that many complaints about this but i must admit there was a bunch of silly coincidences or perfect situations. Some examples being the ball bouncing perfectly into the place Johnny was hiding, even though i liked that scene just for how creepy it was. A very convenient series of events involving the soldiers and the trustful cab driver allowing Johnny to get through the police cordon and i don't even think that was supposed to be his intention, i thought he was just looking for shelter then everything kind of came together perfectly. Then the most baffling, so baffling i'm not even quite sure if i've got it right but what i took from it anyway was that the homeless looking guy was using a bird as a metaphor for Johnny to the priest to get advice without telling him what actually happened and Kathleen just so happened to turn up at the exact right time and instantly understand what he was talking about. Yeah, that whole thing was pretty dumb and hard to swallow but i still quite liked the scene because the priest was awesome in it. I especially liked how it initially made out that the priest was pretty naive and actually believed it was a bird then when the conversation outright changed to Johnny the priest didn't miss a beat showing he knew all along and making the homeless guy look dumb instead. The whole part with Johnny being flung about from person to person and all the stuff with Lukey who i wasn't a big fan of was probably the weakest part of the film but i did really like the ending. Not because i had cared that much about the romance but because i was starting to worry that Johnny wouldn't die and i felt he had to as the atmosphere surrounding his looming death was one of the best things in the film for me.

Completely adored the visuals, and just the general look/design of the town. Definitely seen alot of The Third Man in this (or the other way round since this was first) with the tight spaces, use of shadows and alot of this being utizilied during chase sequences. This also had Johnny's hallucinations, those were pretty great i liked how most of the film was normal except every once in a while something really weird would happened to him. While some performances like the homeless guy and Lukey or whatever he was called were pretty over the top i'd say i liked the rest of them and some were very good. Overall i wouldn't say it's a new favourite but i did like it quite a bit and i'm glad i chose it.

Who nominated what by the way?

Seems like a nice variety of films. Odd Man Out, Beauty and the Beast and Day of Wrath were already on my watchlist, so I'm pleased they were nominated. Also I'm very happy to see The Sea Wolf nominated. I'm a big fan of Jack London, so I'm very eager to see this adaptation. It's actually been a while since I've read his novels and I honestly don't remember The Sea Wolf that much, so I guess I'll have to check this out as well.

I was going to update that in a few minutes...but I wonder if it might be fun not to know? Thoughts anyone on that? I'm open to whatever the majority wants to do.

I've watched "Double Indemnity" fairly recently, so I guess I can just copy paste my write-up from my diary thread.

Double Indemnity (1944) - Billy Wilder


Brief Synopsis : A seduced 35-year old insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) constructs an elaborate scheme to eliminate his lover's (Barbara Stanwyck) husband.

Often cited as one of the greatest film-noirs of all time, Double Indemnity certainly didn't overly impress me, despite being fairly good. There was just something lacking...It started out quite slow for me, and even though the story got more tense as the film progressed, it was still predictable. Double Indemnity was technically well made, with predominant shadowy setting and a swift camera work. I generally liked the dialogue (eventough it was laughable at times) and the narration. And the story which dealt with elements like ; amorality, greed and betrayal, was engaging enough to keep me interested, but it lacked the involving and tense atmosphere, which would make me really like it.

I thought that one of the film's main problems was the lack of chemistry between MacMurray and Stanwyck. I found their acting to be pretty bland and stiff, especially MacMurray who basically seemed emotionless despite participating in such tense actions. Stanwyck also wasn't really convincing to me as femme fatale. The interactions between them felt really static and forced. By far my favourite performance, was by Edward G. Robinson, who served, as a some kind of balance to the story, with his unmistakeable gut and sharp intellect.


I wish I liked this film more, but it has kind of failed to live up to its reputation. At least for me.

I'll be doing the links to the reviews as usual, and they will be in the first post. I have to run for a bit but will update the 1st post today.

Great start Camo and Jeff

I'm not really bothered was just wondering. I'm guessing the Ghost and Mrs Muir is either yours or gbgs, Day of Wrath is definitely Thursday, think The Sea Wolf is probably Cosmic for some reason, Gentleman Jim will be Blix, Beauty and the Beast is Crickets maybe?

Interesting guesses I think this could be fun too if we don't know, at least it's something different. Any opinions anyone?

So for right now let's keep the identity of who's movie is who, private

My guess:

I Remember Mama - Ed
His Girl Friday - Vamp
Double Indemnity - Raul
Odd Man Out - Camo
Gentleman Jim - Blix
Unfaithfully Yours - Nestorio
Beauty and the Beast - Cricket (in my head i saw a big rating from Cricket of this but i may be imagining it)
Day of Wrath - Thursday Next
Body and Soul - JeffCostello
The Sea Wolf - Cosmic
Ride the Pink Horse - Citizen
The Ghost and Mrs Muir - gbg

Looking at the film posters, there are two Edward G. Robinson and Rex Harrison appearances in this HoF.

His Girl Friday

Thinking about it i just decided to do my write-up of this now even though i might watch it again. Firstly because my mind isn't going to change, i've seen it three times and it's one of my very favourite films. Mostly because i think it's a difficult film (for me at least) to write about and i doubt a fresh watch will add much. Well the obvious thing to talk about is the dialogue: the actual script but more than anything the speed in which it's delivered. I've never seen a film like this, it's a very straight forward hollywood film but it could challenge just about anything in it's difficulty due to the lightning quick delivery. It barely lets up and i love it for it. Someone here said they hated it because it gave them a headache, i can totally understand that and i think it will probably have a mixed response here because of that but i love it. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell are really outstanding here. Their chemistry is immense but not in a romantic sense as neither of them have a romantic bone in their body. While watching them you just kind of think these two need to be in each others lifes in some capacity, they are both hard-nosed very ambitious people who are clearly not pleasant to be around; it's like they were created to challenge and argue with each other yet never be around any other human in a not neccessary situation. There's also an element of schadenfreude there as i could watch them all day yet i know there's a strong possibility their relationship is going to end in murder-suicide haha.

Anyway yeah, amazing film. Don't want to ruin anything but i'll just say it will be difficult for this not to end up taking my #1 spot.

I've seen four of the nominated films (Double Indemnity, Odd Man Out, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, and Beauty and the Beast), but I definitely need to rewatch all of them. Three of them have been on my rewatch list for awhile now anyway, so this has worked out just fine.

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Review links updated....impressive Camo is already 25% of the way done.

That would be interesting. We can continue guessing for awhile until someone gets most of them right, or leave it up to each person to reveal what they nominated?

Or just save that idea for a future HoF.