Oscar Picks

Jeff Costello's film diary

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Portrait of Jennie (1948) - William Dieterle


Such enchanting and aesthetically pleasing drama packed with fantasy elements and mystery.



Rating:
+



Yellow Sky (1948) - William A. Wellman

Beautifully photographed and well acted western starring Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark and Anne Baxter. Definitely worth seeing.



Rating:
-



Dead of Night (1945) - Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer

Wondefully mind-bending set of British horror stories. Recommended to the fans of genre.



Rating :



Well Jeff this is a great thread some of my favourites
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The More The Merrier (1943) - George Stevens


Set during the WW2 housing shortage in Washingston, this slapstick romance centers around love triangle between two men and a woman sharing a single apartment and the older man who plays Cupid for the other two. First of all, there are two things this film particularly excels in : great script and an immense chemistry between Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn and Joel McCrea. The comedic touch and delievery between the former two was just brilliant, especially manifested through the masterfully scripted "chaotic morning routine" sequence. Truly a hilarious scene !



Joel McCrea was also very good, as Arthur's love interest. Their chemistry was suprisingly intense, particularly in the "stairs scene", where tension between the two was through the roof. In general, I was really amused by the film's witty dialogue and the funny situations characters found themselves in. I wasn't as impressed with the last quarter of the film, because it was a bit too cheesy for my taste, but honestly this really didn't spoil my enjoyment of the film. Overall, this is a pretty hilarious and dynamic comedy very well worth seeing !

Rating :



The Big Clock (1948) - John Farrow


Ray Milland plays a crime journalist who becomes a prime suspect for the murder his boss (Charles Laughton) commited. Most of the film is focused around the game of cat and mouse between the two, as Laughton tries to sew his murder to someone else and Milland playing alongside while trying to prove his innocence. I thought this was a pretty good crime flick, despite some nonsensical plotlines, which slightly bothered me. Milland was pretty good as desperate, but crafty journalist trying to clear the dirt of his name. And Laughton did a fine job as a methodical and venal antagonist, who is always used to getting what he wants.



The film constantly generated a high level of suspense, which peaked in the last third, when search for the murderer occured during the building lockdown. This certainly added a nice sense of main character feeling trapped which definitely helped to increase the tension. My main complaints were some seeming plot-holes and weak ending that didn't really manage to satisfy me. Despite of it, this is still an above-average crime flick, definitely worth seeing for its suspenseful atmosphere.

Rating :
+



Notorious (1946) - Alfred Hitchcock


A daughter of a convicted Nazi collaborator ( Ingrid Bergman) is recruited by an American agent (Cary Grant) to infiltrate an organization of Nazis who have moved to Brazil after the WW2. I've felt about this similarly to majority of Hitchock's work I've seen. Thought it was rather mediocre. Literally no effort was put into developing a romance between Bergman and Grant. Twenty minutes into the film and they were already in love. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me. The performances were mostly iffy, with the exception of Bergman. Cary Grant was just too robotic and expresionless. And the main antagonist (Claude Rains) was pretty bland. His mother (Leopoldine Konstantin) actually looked more menacing than him, which I thought was funny. Because of how spineless and madly in love Rains was with Bergman, I never really got the impression that she was in danger. And even when her cover got blown, there was just a significant lack of suspense. Only tense moment was the final "stairs scene", but the ending itself was pretty inconculsive and underwhelming in my opinion.



Rating:
-



Ossessione (1943) - Luchino Visconti / The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) - Tay Garnett

I watched them back to back, considering they're both adaptions of the same novel by James M. Cain. While Visconti's version was definitely more challenging watch, I also found it to be more rewarding and compelling. The main aspect that separated the two was chemistry between the lead actors. Clara Calamai & Massimo Girotti really eclipsed John Garfield & Lana Turner in that area. It is also worth noticing that American version significantly worsened as the film progressed, whereas Visconti's version kept getting more and more interesting. Even though Garnett was more faithful to the book, I actually preffered Visconti's alteration in the second half, because it didn't focus so much on the trial. Ultimately TPART is a more accesible film, but Ossessione has it beat in direction, script, acting and cinematography in my opinion.



Ossessione -


The Postman Always Rings Twice -
-