Random Thoughts

Awrite! The final movie in this blog series! December 1949! A decade of movies! It’s over!

I think I started in… September? So it’s taken me about six months to watch 120 movies? That’s two thirds of a movie per day.

OK, I’ll do a summing-up post later…

So what’s this movie about? A high school called Twelve O’Clock?

No! It’s a war extravaganza produced by Darryl Zanuck starring Gregory Peck! It’s long, it’s serious, it’s got a huge budget, and … it’s war!

This is the only movie in this blog series after the end of the war that’s about the war. I think during the 50s you got a wave of these, but in the years just after the war, people didn’t want war movies (or at least the studios didn’t think so).

Instead there were a bunch of film noir crime movies, but now we’re back to heroes again.

It’s not as simple as back in the days. We’ve got (allusions to) body parts and soldiers throwing up and PTSD and stuff.

The solution? Tough love! Responsibility! Pride!

But despite all odds, it’s a gripping movie. Lots of great performances and sentimental scenes. It’s a kind of perfect movie: It does everything it sets out to do.

Twelve O’Clock High. Henry King. 1949.

Popular movies in December 1949 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	10333	7.8	Twelve O’Clock High
	12722	7.6	On the Town
	7613	7.2	Sands of Iwo Jima
	1782	7.1	Side Street
	567	7.1	My Foolish Heart
	1352	6.9	East Side, West Side
	2472	6.9	The Inspector General
	5017	6.8	Samson and Delilah
	758	6.7	Malaya
	525	6.6	The Threat

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Huh. This… looks like a B movie sourced from Youtube from VHS, but how did I buy this? It must be on a box set of some kind, but … which one? I sure can’t find it.

And it’s weird. It’s got a voiceover like an educational short. I’m guessing this is a public domain feature from a studio that’s now bankrupt?

This may be the weirdest movie ever. There are scenes of high stylised drama intercut with newsreel-like footage from the port. Of New York.

Is this a fixer-upper or was it meant to be like this?

And isn’t this weather supposed to be over by now?

A young Yul Brynner plays a totally gay super-evil villain, which is a plus, I guess?

Port of New York. Laslo Benedek. 1949.

Popular movies in November 1949 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	10239	7.6	All the King’s Men
	16225	7.6	Adam’s Rib
	5390	7.5	Battleground
	766	7.5	The Rocking Horse Winner
	3005	7.2	Holiday Affair
	1605	7.2	Tension
	1082	7.1	Prince of Foxes
	363	6.8	A Run for Your Money
	910	6.7	That Forsyte Woman
	315	6.7	The Great Lover

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

What! A Marx Brothers movie!? I thought I’d seen them all? How did I miss this one? It must have been part of that Marx Bros box set I bought some years back? But… huh.

This is not one of the classic Marx movies. There’s not a lot of Groucho in here (and his scenes have obviously been spliced in here as an afterthought? filmed by a different crew?), and there’s a lot of Harpo scenes. Hm…

Oh:

It was originally conceived as a vehicle for Harpo, so as a result we get lesser input from Chico and even less from Groucho (which is especially unfortunate).

And it’s the final Marx Bros movie!

It’s got the perfect plot: The Bros have to help some kids put up a show while thwarting some diamond smugglers. Impossible not to enjoy.

OK, this can’t really be called a “good movie”, but I laughed out loud several times, and was smiling the rest of the time, so I can’t be too critical.

But it’s weirdly paced, or just perhaps too long? When I though we were getting to the climax, we were only two thirds done.

It’s funny! What can I say.

Love Happy. David Miller. 1949.

Popular movies in October 1949 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	10197	8.3	The Heiress
	1499	7.7	Intruder in the Dust
	216	7.4	Give Us This Day
	2972	7.3	The Reckless Moment
	1601	7.2	Beyond the Forest
	9047	7.1	The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
	957	7.1	Reign of Terror
	1509	7.0	Border Incident
	212	6.9	Everybody Does It

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Hey, John Wayne. Oh, and er Laurel? I mean Hardy. Or do I?

This is a romantic western comedy, I guess. Wayne is a polarising actor, but I really like having him on the screen. He’s fun to watch.

This is very, very slight fare. It’s charming and easy on the headbone. But perhaps it could have been tightened up a bit? It feels like it should have been over sooner.

The stunts in the big showdown at the end are either really impressive or a lot of people got hurt.

The Fighting Kentuckian. George Waggner. 1949.

Popular movies in September 1949 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	21432	8.2	White Heat
	3828	7.7	Thieves’ Highway
	926	7.4	The Hasty Heart
	2042	7.2	Pinky
	2897	7.1	Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
	215	6.9	The Doctor and the Girl
	222	6.8	Johnny Stool Pigeon
	278	6.8	Strange Bargain
	499	6.7	Miss Grant Takes Richmond
	379	6.7	That Midnight Kiss

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Howard Hawks! Cary Grant! Ann Sheridan!

And this is the first post-war war movie I’ve seen in this blog series, I think?

Oh… it’s not really a war movie. It’s a post-war movie, set in present-day (i.e., 1949) Germany.

This is a screwball comedy of sorts: Lots of pratfalls for Grant to excel at. But the snappiness of the dialogue leaves something to be desired.

Once things get properly underway (the main plot point is that all the bureaucracy surrounding soldiers bringing back spouses is geared towards men bringing back wives), most of the jokes are about Cary Grant’s character being made to suffer female indignities.

That could be funny and it could be awful, but here it’s mostly the latter. The thing that saves it is Grant’s charm. Because the jokes are pretty lame.

It feels like it should have been snappier.

I Was A Male War Bride. Howard Hawks. 1949.

Popular movies in August 1949 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	119390	8.3	The Third Man
	6065	7.1	I Was a Male War Bride
	1918	7.1	Madame Bovary
	470	6.9	Jolson Sings Again
	815	6.8	Rope of Sand
	326	6.7	Slattery’s Hurricane
	743	6.7	Task Force
	321	6.5	Mr. Soft Touch
	583	6.5	Black Magic
	1049	6.1	It’s a Great Feeling

This blog post is part of the Decade series.