Category: 1940s

  • My Darling Clementine (1946)

    My Darling Clementine (1946)

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    Crossing another title off the list of movies covered in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2 that I had not seen: My Darling Clementine (1946). An iconic western directed by John Ford about Wyatt Earp (here, played by a young Henry Fonda, laconic and measured in his performance) and Doc Holiday (Victor Mature, stolid yet tortured),… Read.

  • To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

    To Be Or Not To Be (1942)

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    A very influential book for me about movies growing up was Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2, which I found a graffitied copy of in the school library. In it, Peary writes about fifty cult movies, the images of which I couldn’t forget from the book and led me to seeking out absolute favourites (The American… Read.

  • Cat People (1942)

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    I’d heard so much about Cat People (1942) over the years as a classic horror-noir, and it was one of those old Hollywood movies that lived up to its reputation. I was watching it by myself one afternoon, and every moment of expressionistic lighting, suggestive and creepy use of shadows and sound design, I would… Read.

  • The Stranger (1946)

    The Stranger (1946)

    The Orson Welles film, The Stranger (1946), which he directed and starred in, has always been around. Without a copyright holder, it’s long been in the public domain, and has shown up on public access TV, cheap DVDs, different streaming sites, and uploaded on YouTube. Held up as a classic film noir, the first that… Read.

  • Stray Dog (1949)

    Stray Dog (1949)

    In Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949; Nora inu), a young Toshiro Mifune plays a rookie detective named Murakami who feels shame and twists himself in knots over losing his newly acquired Colt pistol to a pick-pocket on a tram. This is both a film noir and a police procedural, which seems to have influences on… Read.