best film: Rome, Open City from Rossellini. There are very few films in the 1940s (or before or after) as important to film as Rome, Open City. It is a watershed film for realism, and the Italian movement Neorealism (which Rossellini’s film is usually mentioned as one of the first films, and one of the best). If you break cinema into realism and expressionism—you can’t tell the story of realism without this film and filmmaker.
Rossellini’s film is usually mentioned as one of the first films in the Italian Neorealism movement– and one of the best
most underrated: Fallen Angel from Otto Preminger. Preminger’s Laura from 1944 is the film everyone remembers and talks about (it is at #482 on the TSPDT consensus list) but this film is right there- I have it one slot behind Laura on my top 100 of the 1940’s list and it can’t find a spot anywhere on the TSPDT expanded top 2000.
Preminger confirms his arrival as one of the best directors on the planet (1944 he gave us Laura) with Fallen Angel the following year
most overrated: It has been far too long since I’ve seen it but I’d be remiss if I didn’t share that I think Carne’s Children of Paradise is about 400 slots too high on the TSPDT consensus list (they have it at #62 and currently I have it at #484).
It has been far too long since I’ve seen it but I’d be remiss if I didn’t share that I think Carne’s Children of Paradise is about 400 slots too high on the TSPDT consensus list (they have it at #62 and currently I have it at #484).
gem I want to spotlight: Scarlet Street from Lang
- Enormously overlooked film and I can’t tell why- it’s a remake of Renoir’s La Chienne (Renoir notoriously hated the film) and an early noir (b-pictures to some) so perhaps those two factors are why
- Banned in a few cities
- Reunites the principals from Women in the Window the year before (Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, and Dan Duryea) with Lang at the helm
- Might be Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea’s best and probably pretty close for Edward G. Robinson as well- he’s superb
- It’s a magnificent masculinity study (reminded me of Blue Angel from von Sternberg)- Edward G. is verbally castrated, made to wear an apron – he does the dishes like 3-4 times in a short film here
- It really shows Edward G’s range—he was Little Caesar in 1930 and then can turn around and be the softest of the soft here
- Dark and painful to watch- so degrading
- Streetlamp lighting is certainly a reoccurring visual- as are the window shots (taken from Renoir)
- The voices Edward G hears towards the end of the film are powerful- but it’s not really built up enough- that might be keeping this from a masterpiece
Scarlet Street reunites the principals from Women in the Window the year before (Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, and Dan Duryea) with Lang at the helm
trends and notables:
- First and foremost it is the year of Italian neorealism—when you talk about a movement as broad as realism of course there are going to be forerunners and predecessors- but this is a landmark—and it is the archiveable debut (though not first film) for auteur Roberto Rossellini and star Anna Magnani
- Noir has a big year in 1945 as well after unofficially starting in 1944—that’s two major movements (both dominated in black and white and there are no color films in the top 10) in cinema history starting in back to back years—Detour, Fallen Angel carry the banner here- but that darkness (it is no coincidence that both movements stem from WWII) pervades even normal dramas and bigger budget films like Curtiz’s Mildred Pierce or Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (certainly not a noir- nor neorealism).
noir has a big year in 1945 as well after unofficially starting in 1944– this is perhaps the most iconic shot from Detour
angles and shadows in Detour
a very creative shot from Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend— a brilliant study of alcoholism and addiction
- If it is a bit of a down year (only one masterpiece) look to the relatively weaker efforts from Hitchcock and Ford—Spellbound and They Were Expendable were fine films- but it feels strange making a top 10 in a year where they both make a film and not mentioning them
- Back to back big years for Preminger- Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (Powell & Pressburger, Lang, and Wilder also show up in back to back top 10’s in 1944 and 1945)
- Previously mentioned Magnani’s archiveable debut, it is also the archiveable debut for a young skinny talented singer named Frank Sinatra in Anchors Away
- There are a trio of talented auteurs making their archiveable debuts: Rossellini of course, Robert Bresson (Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne) and Elia Kazan. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was Kazan’s actual debut while Bresson’s film is actually his second (of his total 13 feature films). I have yet to catch his 1943 film and actual debut Angels of Sin.
best performance male: It is back to back big years as well for Edward G. Robinson. He’d be a strong supporting character actor in the 1950’s and 1960’s (think Ten Commandments and The Cincinnati Kid) and 1931’s Little Caesar made him a star- but 1944 with Double Indemnity and here with Scarlet Street is definitely his peak. The main contender for Edward G. (and it is a weaker year in this category overall) is Trevor Howard for his work in David Lean’s Brief Encounter.
from David Lean’s Brief Encounter
best performance female: Anna Magnani gives far and away the best performance of the year (and only Ingrid Bergman can challenge her for the decade as far as female acting performances go) as Pina in Rossellini’s Rome, Open City. Wendy Hiller is the closest to Magnani as the irresistibly stubborn Joan Webster in I Know Where I’m Going!
Anna Magnani’s in one of the greatest scenes and sequences of the 1940’s from Rome, Open City
it is a silhouette here- but this is Hiller in a gorgeous shot from Powell & Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going!
yet another here- a very fine dissolve
top 10
- Rome, Open City
- Detour
- Fallen Angel
- Brief Encounter
- Children of Paradise
- Scarlet Street
- I Know Where I’m Going!
- Dead of Night
- The Lost Weekend
- Mildred Pierce
a downright painterly image from Curtiz’s Mildred Pierce
the streetlight in Mildred Pierce and the gut-punch realism in The Lost Weekend– even in films that are not noir or neorealism (and neither of these films are)– there’s a post WWII pessimism and darkness that pervades
horror enthusiasts will recognize Michael Redgrave (what a talented family!) in the strongest section of the anthology film- Dead of Night
Archives, Directors, and Grades
| A Tree Grows in Brooklyn- Kazan | R |
| A Walk In the Sun- Milestone | R |
| Anchors Aweigh- Sidney | R |
| And Then There Were None- Clair | R |
| Back To Bataan- Dmytryk | R |
| Blithe Spirit– Lean | R |
| Brief Encounter- Lean | MS |
| Children of Paradise- Carne | MS |
| Dead of Night- Dearden, Hamer, Cavalcanti, Critchton | HR |
| Detour- Ulmer | MS |
| Fallen Angel- Preminger | MS |
| I Know Where I’m Going!– Powell, Pressburger | HR/MS |
| Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne- Bresson | R |
| Mildred Pierce – Curtiz | HR |
| Rome, Open City – Rossellini | MP |
| Sanshiro Sugata Part Two – Kurosawa | R |
| Scarlet Street – Lang | MS |
| Spellbound- Hitchcock | R |
| The Bells of St. Mary’s – McCarey | R |
| The Body Snatcher – Wise | R |
| The Clock- Minnelli | HR |
| The Lost Weekend – Wilder | HR |
| The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail – Kurosawa | R |
| The Picture of Dorian Gray- Lewin | HR |
| The Southerner – Renoir | R |
| The Spiral Staircase- Siodmak | |
| They Were Expendable- Ford | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-See- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
Speaking of preminger, have you seen the man with the Golden arm. I dont love the film but i certainly think the sinatra role is very good. Certainly his best I’ve seen. I liked his friendship with that one kind of weird guy and his relationship with his ‘wheelchair bound wife Zoch. Kim Novak was good as well.
@D.WGriffith- I have seen The Man With the Golden Arm. I’m sorry to hear you don’t love the film. Sinatra is wonderful and Preminger’s direction is at least equal to Sinatra’s performance. I have it on the list of the top 50 films of the 1950’s http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/03/01/the-best-films-of-the-decade-the-1950s/
Drake thank you. I didnt say I dont appreciate it or think it is a good film it’s just not one of my favorites. There are movies I respect but don’t quite love. Golden arm i think is flawed but you’re right preminger does an exceptional job directing.
very good review of this year i agree with you on Children of Paradise i think this movie is one of the most overrated of all time.rome open city is an indisputable number one Anna Magnani is wonderful in this film.
Have you noticed that the losing nations of wars seem to produce remarkably good cinema? It is very odd. There are many examples, including the Italian Neorealist late 40s (WWII), the Japanese early 50s (WWII), the German Expressionist early 20s (WWI), and the later American New Wave 75-82 or so (Vietnam). Perhaps it is because the filmmakers in these countries are invigorated by the injustices committed to share their messages and opinions?
@Graham – I’m a little late here and sorry for hopping in, but that is a very interesting discussion. I’d say the general rule is, repression and adversity always create great art, either as a form of resistance and defiance of the norms, or, after the cultural “liberation”, as a way to celebrate life. I always think of the 20’s and all the exuberant excess of the decade as a prime example. Europe (and the world essentially) had been plagued by war, and what followed was a wave of expressionism across the board (not only cinema) that vented people’s need for, well, expression. I believe the 70’s with the American New Wave is also the result of people being simply exhausted by adherence to the status quo and the projection of the American Dream throughout the 40’s and 50’s, all the while it was clear that the world was in turmoil and that politics was a very dodgy field, without my wanting to get into specifics. I’d say that the British and the French New Wave influenced the American one quite a bit, but then again, they all dealt with different “regulations” when it came to artistic freedom. It’s always about defying the rules and it’s through this kind of revolution that we establish new ways for artists of any sort to express the ideas they wish to express, entertain the way they wish to entertain and create the way they wish to create. It appears almost inevitable that depravity leads to clarity, repression leads to expression, propaganda leads to realisation, conformity leads to defiance, rule making leads to rule breaking. It’s just how humans seem to work. Anyhow, all of that is simply some of my observations with regards to art in general and I by no way claim any of it to be necessarily accurate or historically proven.
Great breakdown, Georg. I agree completely. There are few people in the world who can write as articulately and as brilliantly as you.
@Graham – thank you so much, you’re too kind. I think it’s always exciting to share your thoughts and especially with people who have the same interests as you. I think the Cinema Archives is a wonderful place for exactly that and it’s a great pleasure to check out what Drake, you and all other users think on various films. The discussion that’s going on on this blog is incredible. Thank you for your compliments and I think that the observation you made (after all, it is what sparkled this conversation) is very poignant and well thought.
Very well said, Georg! Couldn’t have done it any better myself.
What do you think of Ann Savage’s performance in Detour?
Ebert on Savage:
“There is not a single fleeting shred of tenderness or humanity in her performance as Vera, as she snaps out her pulp dialogue (“What’d you do–kiss him with a wrench?”)”
This is one of my favorite noir performances, her icy stare and merciless diatribes couldn’t be more appropriate for this type of film. Obviously her character lacks emotional depth but that’s kind of the point.
@James Trapp- Thanks for the share here. I’ll keep an eye out for Ann Savage’s performance specifically next time I get to Detour.
Surprised to see no mention for Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend, I thought it may have been the most poignant and raw and convincing portrayal of alcoholism I have seen. And he’s a soliloquizing, multi-dimensional character, apparently based on Wilder’s experience with the great Raymond Chandler, whom he had worked with on the brilliant screenplay for Double Indemnity. Glad to see Trevor Howard get a mention for Brief Encounter though, one of the most internalized and subtle performances of all time. I think the same can be said of Celia Johnson in the same film.
Completely agree on Scarlet Street as an overlooked gem, I love Woman in the Window but I actually think this is the stronger film. Great points regarding it as a study on masculinity, especially in comparing the way Joan Bennett views the meek Edward G Robinson character who is a complete doormat to the assertive character that Dan Duryea plays. And the scene where the Joan Bennett character finally reveals her true feelings about what she thinks of the Robinson character is absolutely savage. It works as a character study as well as a great thriller with multiple plot twists.
I have a problem with categorizing Anna Magnani in Rome Open City, is she a leading or a supporting performance? She has a big screen presence (like Brando in The Godfather who is a leading performance with less screentime than Pacino who I think is a supporting one), but she is also just in a half of the film so I don’t know what to do.
@RujK – You may be sick of me saying this but I stopped spending energy on supporting vs. lead years ago and recommend you do the same. Same with the “is this horror?” sort of genre discussions.
Drake, how much of your praise for Rome, Open City (and other realist works for that matter) comes from its importance to the art form as opposed to its quality as an isolated piece?
@Pedro- Fair question – tough to quantify. Realism (and Italian Neorealism, and Rossellini) are an important sort of counterpoint to both expressionism and Hollywood. There is not a page for Rome, Open City on the site – but there is one for Germany Year Zero https://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/01/02/germany-year-zero-1948-rossellini/
@Drake – I haven’t seen Germany Year Zero yet, but it looks like that one has some genuinely incredible images and “set pieces” (feels weird to say that about a war-torn city). Rome, Open City is a very accomplished work visually, but I don’t really see how it’s better than Chungking Express, Suspiria or A Brighter Summer Day (just random examples of films I admire more). I guess I’m having a hard time seeing the genius onscreen. It seems like the greatest accomplishment of the film is in the narrative (the way it treats its “plot points” and how it differs from Hollywood’s dramatic formula) since I can’t really say it’s a formidable, top-120-of-all-time accomplishment to shoot stuff naturally, with little regard to composition, visual splendor or formal rigor. Groundbreaking, important, yes, but how does it compare to the visible ingenuity of so many other great films? I’ve had the same issue with Bicycle Thieves in the past, but I haven’t seen that one in a long time and have confidence that it’s more visually impressive and formally rich, so I won’t bring that one into the conversation.
@Pedro – Good stuff here – we’re on pretty much the same page. It has been a minute since I studied Rome, Open City so I’m not quite ready to move it from where it sits in the canon. Germany Year Zero holds up to the best films. If Rome, Open City does not- I’ll move it down.