1940's Hall Of Fame Part I

JJ nominated Dead Alive for the Comedy HOF and it resulted in a long thread of hideous arguments where noone was right. That's about it.

I saw this once about 20 years ago and hardly remembered it, besides remembering it in a very favorable light. I was planning on revisiting it anyway for the eventual 40's countdown, so I was happy to see it nominated. With my taste changing over the last few years, I went into this with very tempered expectations. There are very few classic comedies that I really enjoy, but fortunately, this turned out to be one of them. I see some people calling this a dark comedy, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that, but for my taste, it's more of a straight comedy with horror elements, enough so that I think it'd be a great movie to watch on Halloween. I would actually look at my nomination, The Little Foxes, as more of a dark comedy. None of that really matters; it's just the way I look at things. Anyway, I think this movie is humorous and entertaining throughout. One of the things I find most interesting about the film is the role of Cary Grant. He is one of my favorite classic movie stars, and undoubtedly the star of this film. Yet, I don't think it's he who makes the film, but rather the supporting characters. He is very good, but more often than not, I think he gets upstaged by the others, and his performance is the closest thing to screwball, which is not normally favorable for me. The film makes a massive leap with the introduction of the characters Jonathan and Dr. Einstein. Those guys were a riot, and the best part of the film for me. I loved the line about Boris Karloff, who actually played Jonathan in the stage version. The movie moves at a nice pace and is never boring. I kind of wish there were more outdoor scenes, because those scenes look phenomenal. That is not a complaint though, and I really don't have any complaints at all. It's a fun movie.

i was hoping you'd enjoy it cricket - YAY

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The Murderers are Among Us (1946)


This was a heavy movie, especially coming after Arsenic and old lace. Going from funny, happy-go-lucky murdering to industrial mass-slaughter takes a bit of mental gymnastics.

Returning from a concentration camp, a young woman is confronted with the fact that an alcoholic doctor has taken up residence in her old apartment. Deciding to share the place, they both must come to terms with what happend to them during the war and try to move past it.

This movie had an amazing atmosphere. Set in Berlin soon after the german surrender, the city's still mostly ruins, people trying to make a home in the wreakage of collapsed buildings. As Hans (Wilhelm Borchert) moves about, it's rarely on streets, but over rubble and through gutted houses ravaged by fire and bombs. Adding to the scene is the fact that a door can suddenly open in a house that seems abandoned, and out runs children or a woman on an errand. Through the door can be glimpsed the little cranny they have carved out for themselves in a ocean of debris. It gives the sets a sense of life and activity, proof that even in the face of destruction, we can move on and rebuild parts of our lives, something Hans is still struggling with.

Borchert's portrayal of a utterly broken man is very well done. He and Hildegard Knef, the woman playing Susanne, have different ways to deal with their situations. While Susanne tries to put her life back together, going back to what she did before the war, Hans just want to crawl into a bottle and forget everything. Both come across as damaged and both put in solid performances, but the pacing seems a bit off. From meeting each other for the first time, the movie jumps forward to present them as a couple with little to anything establishing this fact. That's really the movie's one weakness. We're told they have feelings for each other, but only in the latter part of the film do we actually see something that corroborates this fact. Which leads me to my favourite scene of the movie:


It's powerful, with dialouge only from the antagosnist trying to plead for his life. The effect of having him back away, making him smaller, while positioning the light behind Hans making his shadow loom ever greater around him made for a extremly menacing feel and a great shot.

Overall a very powerful film with a sombre tone. The two leads worked great together as well as stood out separately. Haven't heard of either actor before, but they worked together with ease. A very well chosen nom, Cosmic. I enjoyed it.

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Why not just kill them? I'll do it! I'll run up to Paris - bam, bam, bam, bam. I'm back before week's end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?

Waterloo Bridge tomorrow! Was going to go with Murderers are Among Us but I'm going to wait a bit.

IMO, it's more suspense than horror. There's no blood, gore, and/or slasher stuff. Even the violence is kept to the bare minimum. And none of the "horror elements" that you mentioned happen onscreen. Even the 12 murders that take place in the house are a non-violent type of murder, and they were done by little old ladies who thought they were doing something nice. They didn't even realize that what they were doing was wrong.

The closest this comes to horror is when Johnny talks about torture and murder, but maybe I just don't think of those as "horror elements" because I've seen the movie so many times that I know what happens.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

What he left out was that after JJ nominated Dead Alive for the Comedy HOF, I dropped out immediately because I refused to watch a horror movie that's been called "the goriest movie ever made". There were also several other horror-type HoFs going on around that time, so there was no reason to nominate something like that in a Comedy HoF when he knew that there were people who hate horror movies who joined that HoF. (And yes, he (and several other people) knew that I would hate it. They even talked about it after the nominations were announced, but before I saw them.)

In addition, after I dropped out of the Comedy HoF, I started a thread asking that the nominations in HoFs should at least fit the spirit of the theme. That caused fighting in the thread, and I eventually gave up, and decided that I would just stop joining any HoFs in the future. I even dropped out of the other HoFs that I was in, and I left the forum for a while because I needed a break from the fighting.

They even tried starting a committee to make decisions about these types of issues, but I think that committee has since given up.

Can you tell that it still stings a little bit when I talk about it?

I'm glad that you liked the movie. It's interesting that you mentioned that you "think it'd be a great movie to watch on Halloween" because I suggested it when we were talking about having the chatroom open on Halloween, but nobody else agreed.

The reason that Boris Karloff wasn't in the movie was because he was still playing Jonathan in the stage version while the movie was being made.

I left it out because i saw no need to drag the argument up again. The fact is that Dead Alive was a perfectly valid nomination whether other horror hofs where going on or not, maybe he could've been a bit more sensitive to the fact that you don't watch them and he eventually did nominate something else but he was under no obligation to do so, it wasn't against the rules. The fact is you always risk coming across films you don't want to watch when you join one of these, i and others do it with stuff like musicals and while i realize there's a big difference between that and gore he still wasn't breaking any rules.

Anyway not trying to reignite this argument i just wanted to put across the other side and hopefully leave it at that.

The Murderers Are Among Us

Good film. It started out a tad dull and i thought the reason Hans and Susanne would have to spend time together felt pretty contrived as it was obvious they were going to fall in love. As soon as he flipped out in the apartment though i kind of forgot about that and got genuinely intrigued. Ernst Wilhelm Borchert was completely amazing, possibly the best performance i've seen in this hall of fame so far. His mood swings; quickly jumping from depressed and cynical to jovial to violently snapping at small things (as well as more understandable things like her reading his letter), he was completely convincing as a trauma victim and importantly he got the right blend of reactions from me; i felt bad for him, i felt embarrased for him, and i briefly felt that he was potentially dangerous so Sussane shouldn't be around him until he gets help. The one time i thought what the hell? with him was during the very brief scene in the hospital while Susanne is delivering the letter, don't know if i missed a line of dialogue or what but i didn't get what the hell that was supposed to be. Was he being hypnotized? Was he having a nightmare, and if so why did he have his eyes open? Weird scene and not that well acted by Borchert in my opinion. Other than that he was excellent. In just about any other film i would be moaning about them falling for each other not being well done, because he always either acted like a pig or nasty towards her and they really didn't have many (if any) actual moments together that could make you believe they had feelings before he says to her that one day he'll be able to tell her that he loves her; which was right after he screamed at her for opening the letter. I get that their bond is supposed to be from them both suffering trauma during the war, she wants to help him and he does appreciate her taking care of him even though he can't show it.

Loved the look of the film. Especially the tilted camera angles and the outdoor shots of the ruins. My only problem there was at times the copy i was watching gave off a kind of static-y sound, it didn't ruin anything just made it a tad irritating.

Glad you nominated this Cosmic, i thought it was good and i wish there were more foreign language films nominated, not that i can complain when i nominated
an english one myself. Four left for me.

I'm glad GBG is back in HOFs. That comedy HOF was a trainwreck.

Definitely.

If anyone has a copy of Waterloo Bridge, could they send me it please?

I'm going to start Waterloo Bridge shortly here. I can forward you a link.

Waterloo Bridge SPOILERS

It was ok. I thought that Vivien Leigh gave a pretty good performance (she usually does always) but I didn't much enjoy Robert Taylor. The two didn't work very well together for me and I didn't find their love to be all that believable to be honest, which I understand is the complete opposite of what others have said but this is what I make it out to be. I don't have a big problem with the story per se but I did feel the ending seems a bit forced. Getting run over by a truck? If she truly loved him she should have been able to work it out. I don't have a whole lot to say about the film, there were times where the movie seemed it could be solid but the overall premise was certainly a tough buy for me. For romance movies I need to feel the two be connected and the connection wasn't there for me fully. Sorry Citizen.

Read that without noticing you put spoilers. Oopsie

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Letterboxd

It actually isn't until later in the film when they become a couple. They appear friendly with each other, and other people in the apartment complex assume they are together, but they're not until after the scene where Hans admits that he could one day love her, in that screenshot most of us have used to head our posts.

The problem is that you actually need to know German to pick up on it. German has different words for "you" (with different conjugations of verbs) depending on if you are close with someone, or if you are speaking formally or to a stranger. They do not start to use informal language until after that scene. More time definitely should've been spent on their transition from room mates to a couple, but the movie wanted to focus more on the effects that relationship had, rather than on the basis of the relationship itself.

Hans had mentioned earlier in the film that he can no longer stand the sound of people suffering, because he had heard far too many tortured screams during the war. I assumed that the patient they carted by screaming triggered a PTSD episode in Hans. I thought the Doctor said something similar to the nurse when he was leaving the room, but I don't recall what he called it exactly. But I agree that it was a bit of an awkward scene, and that a potential negative reaction to suffering should've been foreshadowed much better.

Anyway, great write-ups, and I'm glad the two of you liked the film.

Damn Clazor and his kind of similar name to me.

I was about to respond to this response of yours because i thought it was to me and i did realize all of this. It wasn't until i re-read the post you were responding to that i noticed it wasn't mine haha.

Thanks for that explanation. I think the doctor says something like "we'll need to examine him further" then the next scene is him walking into the apartment to talk to Susanne. I might be misremembering what he said though, or maybe i even missed it.

Actually the doctor says "tell me when he regains consciousness" or something along those lines, i remembered because that's why i was wondering if he was hypnotized or supposed to be having a nightmare even though his eyes were open.

Clazor, Camo, Cosmic, Citizen, Cricket. Too many people with C names in this HoF haha.

Yeah, I recall the doctor saying that as well, but I thought that just before that line (or a few seconds earlier) he said something about Hans having a trauma flashback or something to do with the war. I suppose I could skip through the film and find out for sure. Either way, it was a weird scene that could've been better developed/explained, and I also thought Borchert's acting in during it was odd (though he was pretty great the rest of the film).

Watched The Suspect tonight, but am too tired to write something now. Will have to postpone until tomorrow. Liked it though, so it will be another positive review. Good one Ed