Random Thoughts

The Great McGinty. Preston Sturges. 1940.

I like the plot structure, what with most of the movie being a flashback, and I like that the protagonist is, well, a crook. But such a personable crook. It’s all about grift and the mob running US politics and stuff, really, and we’re cheering them on.

Being a crook is the greatest!

The ending is nothing like I expected it to be. Cool!

(Is that a beaver skin top hat?)

Popular movies in July 1940 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	7390	7.8	The Sea Hawk
	3301	7.7	All This, and Heaven Too
	2535	7.5	The Great McGinty
	6220	7.4	Pride and Prejudice
	5625	7.3	They Drive by Night
	598	6.8	Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
	477	6.8	Boys of the City
	411	6.6	When the Daltons Rode
	341	6.4	My Love Came Back
	433	6.4	The Lady in Question

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

The Mortal Storm. Frank Borzage. 1940.

This is the first war film in this blog series, and I assume that there’ll be a lot more, but perhaps not before December 1941? It’s the first one that touches on the war in Europe at all, except for a throw-away line in His Girl Friday.

Anyway, this isn’t quite the war movie I was expecting. It’s a movie about Germans, and the ones that aren’t Nazis are portrayed very positively indeed. So it’s an anti Nazi film, but with more pacifist overtones than would follow once Hollywood became a part of the war effort.

For all its good intentions, it’s a kinda pedestrian film? The actors mostly just stroll through the movie without making much impression. (But I did enjoy the old woman at the farm while the Nazis were looking for that guy. So stoic.) There’s nothing particularly exciting about the cinematography.

So it’s more about the idea of the movie than the film itself, and I was watching it with ever-increasing detachment.

(Except the final chase scene, which was thrilling, of course.)

Popular movies in June 1940 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	3373	7.9	The Mortal Storm
	2717	7.4	Gaslight
	2363	7.3	The Ghost Breakers
	1789	7.1	Brother Orchid
	394	7.1	New Moon
	314	6.8	Tom Brown’s School Days
	218	6.2	Phantom Raiders
	834	5.7	Susan and God

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Our Town. Sam Wood. 1940.

I hadn’t quite realised how many of films from the early 40s were based on theatre plays. I think so far it’s been… all of them? Almost all of them? This is another one.

This was nominated for all the Oscar awards, including “best sound, recording”, and the sound is horrible. But perhaps “recording” doesn’t mean the actual sound on the film? I can barely make out what they’re saying.

Could be the transfer. I watched the Amazon Prime version, and those are frequently astoundingly awful.

It didn’t win any.

It’s a pretty unique movie. It’s a cod-serious presentation of the town interspersed with “dramatic” scenes. Very sentimental… but it really works, I think.

But my enjoyment was serious impaired by the sound quality, so the dice rolled lower than it would otherwise, I think.

Popular movies in May 1940 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	7198	7.8	Waterloo Bridge
	928	7.7	Charlie Chan’s Murder Cruise
	7317	7.4	My Favorite Wife
	1204	7.1	Edison, the Man
	980	6.9	Torrid Zone
	1762	6.8	Our Town
	885	6.7	Beyond Tomorrow
	306	6.7	Lillian Russell
	428	6.6	The Saint Takes Over

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

The Doctor Takes A Wife. Alexander Hall. 1940.

You gotta admire the sheer preposterousness (that’s a word) of the premise here, but it just doesn’t fire on all cylinders. It’s also a very typical “battle of the sexes” thing of the period, which doesn’t help.

But there’s a lot here to enjoy. The performances are on fleek, and it’s got a nice propulsive energy throughout. When it works, it really works.

Popular movies in April 1940 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	1821	7.2	Saps at Sea
	895	7.1	Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
	240	7.1	Buck Benny Rides Again
	552	7.0	The Doctor Takes a Wife
	1742	6.9	Dark Command
	405	6.9	‘Til We Meet Again
	262	6.7	The Proud Valley
	724	6.7	It All Came True
	1610	6.5	Dr. Cyclops
	386	6.5	The Man with Nine Lives

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Too Many Husbands. Wesley Ruggles. 1940.

Hm… Did I see this before? I didn’t think so… Is it part of a box set I’ve bought some years ago?

*time passes while I rummage through the bookcase*

I dud have it! On “Icons of Screwball Comedy Volume One”. Well, this isn’t a very good track record for this blog series so far: I’ve seen 66% of the films previously.

Anyway, it’s a very high concept movie. A man was lost, presumed dead, and his wife remarried. Then he returns, and now she’s married to two people. Hilarity ensues.

There’s a lot of lines like “She’s our wife!” and people doing double takes. It’s fun! I, like, lol-ed out loud at bits. It dances around all the awkward bits and ends up being very modern.

But this isn’t exactly a masterpiece. I think it aims for madcap insanity, but it only achieves slightly bizarre quirkiness.

But it’s a great premise and they soldier through admirably. It’s from a veteran director, Wesley Ruggles, who’d made films from 1917 on.

Popular movies in March 1940 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	91851	8.2	Rebecca
	220	7.4	Drums of Fu Manchu
	3004	7.1	Road to Singapore
	789	7.0	Johnny Apollo
	944	7.0	Primrose Path
	1581	6.9	Strange Cargo
	1598	6.8	Virginia City
	374	6.7	It’s a Date
	293	6.5	The House Across the Bay
	946	6.5	Too Many Husbands

This blog post is part of the Decade series.