Thursday, June 18, 2020

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1947

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Well it's been far too long since we've done one of these "Siri Says" posts! That is to say I somehow let over a year slip since the last time? That seems utterly impossible but the archives don't lie. We did the year 1994 last June and then... tumbleweed. Well in my defense these posts -- wherein I ask the little voice that lives inside my telephone to choose a number between 1 and 100 and then I list my favorite movies from the year that corresponds -- are time consuming in the best of times, and it's been awhile since we've been in anything resembling "the best of times." But I've been feeling the itch as of late, and here we are -- scratching ourselves satisfied.

Today, after four tries -- the years for pickin' have gotten far thinner -- Siri gave me the number "47" and so today I will share with you my favorite movies out of The Movies of 1947. The 1940s aren't my best decade -- I'm not often in a Noir mood and you gotta love Noir to soak yourself in the 40s. Before anybody reaches through the screen and slaps me in both directions let me make it clear I am not saying I don't like Film Noir. I like Noir. Do I love Noir? I have loved specific Noirs. It's complicated. Anyway my point is the list of movies I haven't seen from 1947 is way longer than the one I have, so per usual I'll rely on y'all to tell me in the comments what I should definitely seek out. But first, the main feature, which does include one of my favorite movies of all time at least...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1947
(dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)
-- released on August 13th 1947 --

(dir. Jacques Tourneur)
-- released on November 25th 1947 --

(dir. Kenneth Anger)
-- released on June 15th 1949 --

(dir. Orson Welles)
-- released on April 14th 1947 --

(dir. Edmund Golding)
-- released on October 28th 1947 --

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Runners-up: Smash-up: The Story of a Woman (dir. Stuart Heisler), The Paradine Case (dir. Hitchcock), Miracle on 34th Street (dir. Seaton), Lured (dir. Douglas Sirk), The Two Mrs. Carrolls (dir. Peter Godfrey), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

Never seen: Born To Kill (dir. Robert Wise), Crossfire (dir. Edward Dmytryk), Daisy Kenyon (dir. Otto Preminger), Dark Passage (dir. Delmer Daves), A Double Life (dir. George Cukor)...

... Gentleman's Agreement (dir. Kazan), Golden Earrings (dir. Leisen), Kiss of Death (dir. Henry Hathaway), Possessed (dir. Curtis Bernhardt), Brute Force (dir. Jules Dassin)

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What are your favorite movies of 1947?
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6 comments:

DCameron said...

Born to Kill is definitely worth a watch. Claire Trevor. Esther Howard. How can you go wrong?

Dmc said...

I love Dark Passage. 40s apartment porn. Lots of plaids and lounging pajamas. Invisible Man-style full face bandages. Extreme Agnes Moorhead.

Dmc said...

And oh yeah, murder trumpet.

joel65913 said...

Oh my poor boozy Susie! She’s brilliant in Smash-Up.

Oh Yeah! One of my favorite features returned!!

All good films although somehow I’ve never seen Fireworks. I’ll have to get on that post haste!

Nightmare Alley is one dark night of the soul. I despair at the news of a remake though apparently they are using the novel as their source rather than the film. They will have to go far too top Ty, Helen Walker and Joan Blondell.

I like Lady from Shanghai well enough but I return to it infrequently. Same for Black Narcissus though Kathleen Byron is undeniably great.

Out of the Past makes my top ten though, Mitchum is smoking hot in it!!

Only 5!? An impossibility!!! 1947 is one of my favorite movie years so my list is lloonngg. My top 10 is in order of preference but the rest are alphabetical. However I love them all!!

1. The Man I Love- Ida Lupino is a FORCE in this picture.
2. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer-Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and a growing up Shirley Temple in a wacky comedy. What more do you need?
3. Good News-One of the perfect MGM musicals (although Peter Lawford could not carry a tune in a bucket) with one of the ultimate finales, a marvel of precision.
4. Lured-A weird and brilliant picture, probably Lucy most interesting movie.
5. They Won’t Believe Me-Robert Young plays a cad involved with three women (Susan Hayward-’47 was a very good year for her, Jane Greer and Rita Johnson) and brings bad luck to them all as well as himself.
6. Out of the Past
7. The Web-A lawyer (Edmond O'Brien) and a detective (William Bendix) try to trap a financier (Vincent Price) who has made the lawyer a fall guy for murder pulling the financier’s secretary (Ella Raines) into the web of deceit.
8. Dark Passage-Three great performers doing what they do best. Bogart brooding, Bacall slinking sexily and Agnes Moorehead being a total bitch.
9. Nightmare Alley
10. Crossfire-Dark noir full of angst and violence both physical and emotional. Starring three Roberts-Mitchum, Ryan and Young and an electrifying Gloria Grahame.

The rest:

Black Narcissus
Born to Kill-This would be #11.
Dancing with Crime
Desert Fury
The Devil Thumbs a Ride
For You I Die
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Hucksters
Hue & Cry
I’ll Be Yours
It Had to Be You
The Macomber Affair
Miracle on 34th Street
Nora Prentiss
Out of the Blue
Ramrod
The Red House
Repeat Performance
Ride the Pink Horse
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
So Well Remembered
That Way With Women
The Unsuspected
The Upturned Glass
The Voice of the Turtle
Welcome Stranger
Whispering City

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess nobody but me is going to mention "Mourning Becomes Electra". Complaints that Roz was too old for the role were not borne out when I saw the film. She carried it off IMO. Redgrave was amazing in his role. The filming was sufficiently atmospheric. Fly in the ointment -- The very Greek-accented Katina Paxinou as a New England matron. What were they thinking?

Matt said...

Great list, glad to see some love for Nightmare Alley, IMO too often underappreciated. I didn't know a remake was in the works, I'm not optimistic though if they go back to the original source vs: redoing the '47 movie it could be interesting, the book was quite harrowing, and while the movie was great it diverged from the book quite a bit.