1949 poll

[Lencho of the Apes]

Choose your favorite films from 1949 (according to IMDb).

– Each person votes for up to 20 movies. Do not feel compelled to fill the maximum allowable number, if you're enthusiastic about fewer than twenty.
– Do not rank the films except the number 1, it gets two points..

Users are urged to post their provisional lists as soon as possible so that others may use them for recommendations. You may, of course, revise your lists at any point prior to the deadline.

Ballots posted by people who do not participate in other parts of the forum will not be counted.

Deadline for 1949 lists will be Monday, July 1st at approximately 1 PM Pacific Time.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Interesting year -- auteur-heavy, a lot of intriguing noirs I haven't seen from the high end and the low end of the spectrum. Good year for Mexican cinema, too, with an especially strong little cluster of movies that took a ferociously critical stance w/r/t Patriarchal authoritarianism.

I've seen these and may vote for them:

Alla En El Rancho Grande -
Christ In Concrete - Dmytryk
DOA - Mate
Una Familia De Tantas - Galindo
Flamingo Road -
El Gran Calavera - Bunuel
Knock On Any Door - Ray
Lola Casanova -
La Malquerida - Fernandez
La Oveja Negra - Rodriguez
Pueblerina - Fernandez
The Queen Of Spades - Dickinson
Salon Mexico - fernandez
The Set-Up - Wise
La Silence De La Mer - Melville
Stray Dog - Kurosawa
Third Man - Reed
Tres Hombres Malos - de Anda
White Heat - Walsh
Yo No Elegi Mi Vida - Momplet, Argentina


These are online if you look for them; I'll be watching as many as possible

Alitet Ukhodit V Gory - Donskoy
All The King's Men -
Andaz - Mehboob Khan
Barsaat -
Battle Of Stalingrad - petrov
Bride Of vengeance - leisen
Caught - Ophuls
Chattogram Astragar Lunthan
Cielo Sulla Palude - Genina
La Citta Dolente - Mario Bonnard
Colorado territory - Walsh
Criss-Cross - Siodmak
Down To The Sea In Ships - hathaway
Dulari
Entre onze heures et minuit - Decoin
Fall Of The House Of Usher - Ivan Barnett
Fangelsee - Bergman
Fiamma Chi Non Se Spegne - Cottafavi
Follow Me Quietly - Fleischer
Hans Le Marin - Villiers
I Shot Jesse james - Fuller
I Was A Male War Bride - Hawks
In The Name Of The Law - Germi
The Invisible Man Appears -
Jour de fete - Tati
Knock On Any Door -- Ray
Laila Majnu
Late Spring - Ozu
Madame Bovary - Minnelli
Mahal
Manon - Clouzot
Michurin - Dovzhenko
Mr. Shoshuke Ohara - Shimizu
Il Mulino Del Po - Lattuada
Mura de Malapaga -Clement
On The Town -
Pattes Blanches - Gremillon
I Pirati Di Capri - Ulmer, Scorcete
Porque mintio la ciguena - Christenson
The Queen Of Spades - Dickinson
The reckless Moment - Ophuls
Reign Of terror - Anthony Mann
Rendezvous En Juillet - Becker
Retour A La Vie - Clouzot
Riso Amaro - de Santis
Rope Of Sand - Dieterle
Roughshod - Robson
San Mao Liu lang Ji / An orphan named San Mao - Gobg Yan / Ming Zhao
Sands Of Iwo Jima - Dwan
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon - Ford
Shizukanaru Keetto - Kurosawa
Shockproof - Sirk
Une si jolie petite plage - Allgrt
The Small Back Room - Powell/Pressburger
Song Of Surrender - Leisen
Stray Dog - Kurosawa
Sunehre Din
Take One False Step - Erskine
Theives' Highway - Dassin
Torst - Bergman
La trampa - Christensen
Trapped - Fleischer
The Under-Cover Man - Joseph H Lewis
Vstrecha Na Elba - Aleksandrov, Utkin
Waga Koi Wa Moenu / My Love Burns - Mizoguchi
We Were Strangers - Huston
Whirlpool - Preminger
A Wooman's Scret - N. Ray
Yotsuya Kwaidan 1/2 - Kinoshita
The Young Lovers - Lupino
Zenigata Heiji Detective Story -
Zvzda - Ivanov

And there's a goodly list on einthusan that I don't know anything about:

Apna Dsh
Apradhi
Bari Bhen
Bazaar
Daroga Ji
Ek Thi Ladki
Inbavali
Jet
Manache Pan
Mangayarkarasi
Nadiya Ke Paar
Namoona
Parda
Patanga
Sant Janabai
Shabnam
Shair
Singaar
Veer Ghatotkach
Wapas

[flip]

Twelve O'Clock High (Henry King)

Bitter Rice (Giuseppe De Santis)
The Crooked Way (Robert Florey)
The Lady Takes a Sailor (Michael Curtiz)
Once More, My Darling (Robert Montgomery)
Battleground (William Wellman)
White Heat (Raoul Walsh)
The Set-Up (Robert Wise)
Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak)
Flamingo Road (Michael Curtiz)
Intruder in the Dust (Clarence Brown)
The Judge (Elmer Clifton)
C-Man (Joseph Lerner)
The Undercover Man (Joseph H Lewis)
The Threat (Felix Feist)
The Bribe (Robert Z Leonard)
Whirlpool (Otto Preminger)
The Walking Hills (John Sturges)
Prince of Foxes (Henry King)
Begone Dull Care (Evelyn Lambart/Normal McLaren)

leaving off several good films (the heiress, the third man, pinky, kind hearts and coronets, colorado territory, house of strangers, etc) that i would have considered including in a shallower year

[pabs]

1. Bitter Rice (De Santis)

The Third Man (Reed)
The Heiress (Wyler)
Pattes blanches (Gremillon)
In the Name of the Law (Germi)
Shockproof (Sirk)
Under Capricorn (Hitchcock)
Late Spring (Ozu)
Une si jolie petite plage (Allégret)
The Rocking Horse Winner (Pelissier)


Watchlist:

watched for this poll √
not yet watched/hope to see

Pattes blanches √
In the Name of the Law √
The Rockinghorse Winner √
Une si jolie petite plage √
Late Spring √
Bitter Rice √
The Heiress √
Under Capricorn √
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon √
Shockproof √
Madame Bovary √
Rendezvous in July √
The Reckless Moment (Ophüls) √

[thoxans]

They Live By Night - Ray

'48 brah. otherwise you know curtis would be all over that

[thoxans]

LATE SPRING (Yasujiro Ozu)

easy living (jacques tourneur)
she wore a yellow ribbon (john ford)
shockproof (douglas sirk)
stray dog (akira kurosawa)
under capricorn (alfred hitchcock)

[Lencho of the Apes]

Thanks, thox. I was lazy about double-checking my shit this time.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Very excited for this! Built a watchlist with lots of noirs and a tour of the world to boot...

Some non-canonical items I can recommend to folks building watch lists:
— The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (underrated Preston Sturges satire of US gun culture)
— A Capital Plan (if you're into Canadian city-planning documentaries, as I evidently am...)
— Miss Grant Takes Richmond (really fun early, wacky Lucille Ball comedy)
— My Dream Is Yours (heartwrenching, lovely early Doris Day musical)
— Catene (Raffaello Matarazzo melodrama that I recall finding moving)
— Colorado Territory (imperfect Raoul Walsh western with some very well-staged action scenes)
— Come to the Stable (fun nun movie with hunk Hugh Marlowe and an early critique of NIMBYism!)
— Follow Me Quietly (solid, tight hour noir with some really striking images)

I have other favourites I'll cast votes for when I cast votes, of course, just figure I don't need to bump The Third Man or Riso amaro.

[nrh]

pattes blanche is an underrated gremillon, from anouilh. andaz and barsaat make a great back to back combo - '30s filmmaker dealing with young star just figuring out how to direct himself and create a persona, and both trying to navigate a weird new india. will share youtube link for some in resources.

[liquidnature]

here's a starter list

The Third Man (Carol Reed)
Obsession / The Hidden Room (Edward Dmytryk)
Cisaruv slavík / The Emperor's Nightingale (Jirí Trnka, Milos Makovec)
Whirlpool (Otto Preminger)
Le mura di Malapaga / The Walls of Malapaga (1949, René Clément)
Thieves’ Highway (Jules Dassin)
Adam's Rib (George Cukor)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Clyde Geronimi, James Algar)

[Curtis, baby]

1. Toy Tinkers (Jack Hannah, 1949)
The Set-Up (Robert Wise, 1949)
Christ in Concrete (Edward Dmytryk, 1949)
Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
Madame Bovary (Vincente Minnelli, 1949)
Late Spring (Yasujirô Ozu, 1949)
Mr. Soft Touch (Gordon Douglas/Henry Levin, 1949)
Pattes blanches (Jean Grémillon, 1949)
A Hometown in Heart (Yoon Yong-Kyu, 1949)
Border Incident (Anthony Mann, 1949)
Colorado Territory (Raoul Walsh, 1949)
The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
Blood of the Beasts (Georges Franju, 1949)

[brian d]

life in the shadows (llorenç llobet-graciá)
the rapids of hell (teuvo tulio)
mr. frenhofer and the minotaur (sidney peterson)
mahal (kamal amrohi)
mr. shosuke ohara (hiroshi shimizu)
we were strangers (john huston)
pueblerina (emilio fernández)
salón méxico (emilio fernández)
the third man (carol reed)
fast and furry-ous (chuck jones)
bitter rice (giuseppe di santis)
thieves' highway (jules dassin)

to see:
intruder in the dust (clarence brown)*
pattes blanche (jean grémillon)*
under capricorn (alfred hitchcock)*

[greennui]

Death is a Caress (Edith Carlmar)
Maya (Raymond Bernard)
Such a Pretty Little Beach (Yves Allegret)
Puce Moment (Kenneth Anger)
Inspiration (Karel Zeman)
Bitter Rice (Giuseppe De Santis)
Wicked City (Francois Villiers)
On the Town (Stanley Donen)
White Heat (Raoul Walsh)
Intruder in the Dust (Clarence Brown)

[rischka]

ohara shôsuke-san/mr shosuke ohara (shimizu)
the reckless moment (ophuls)
on the town (donen)
intruder in the dust (brown)
passport to pimlico (cornelius)
beyond the forest (vidor)
nora inu/stray dog (kurosawa)
banshun/late spring (ozu)
white heat (walsh)
the third man (reed)
the set-up (wise)
le silence de la mer (melville)
whiskey galore (mackendrick)
entre onze heures et minuit/between eleven and midnight (decoin)
queen of spades (dickinson)
in nome della legge/in the name of the law (germi)
i shot jesse james (fuller)
salón méxico (fernández)
maeumui gohyang/a hometown in heart (yoon yong-kyu)
kind hearts and coronets (hamer)

a very ealing list i may replace some of these, we shall see

stuff i have onhand

catane
crows and sparrows
vida en sombras
under capricorn
the emporer's nightingale
pattes blanches

[karl]

For now:

In nome della legge

the third man
twelve o'clock high
my love has been burning
la silence de la mer
late spring
stray dog
mr. shosuke ohara
she wore a yellow ribbon
border incident
reign of terror aka the black book
au royaume des cieux (duvivier)
act of violence
white heat
il grido della terra (coletti)
down to the sea in ships
the walls of malapaga
whiskey galore
the quiet duel
follow me quietly


Good to see a year worth paying attention to this time. To watch: the year's Italian flicks.

[...]

Some great stuff this year, though maybe not quite as deep a selection of good second tier movies as some of the other years around '49, judging only from the ones I've seen of course.

The initial ballot to be pared down from and possibly added to:

Mahal
The Third Man
Crows and Sparrows
Bitter Rice
White Heat
The Heiress
Late Spring
DOA
Madame Bovary
Easy Living
Christmas USA
La oveja Negra
Portrait of an Assassin

Barkley's of Broadway
Act of Violence
Prince of Foxes
All the King's Men
Whiskey Galore
Thieves Highway
Salon Mexico
Border Incident
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
In the Good Old Summertime
Flamingo Road
Small Back Room
Jour de fete

The Reckless Moment
It's a Great Feeling
Alias Nick Beal
Shockproof
Queen of Spades
Criss Cross
Rope of Sand
The Inspector General
A Woman's Secret
Kind Hearts and Cornets

Beyond the Forest
Dough for the Do-Do
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad
Battleground
The Fountainhead
Samson and Delilah
Pirates of Capri
My Dream is Yours
Mr Soft Touch
Stray Dog

Passport to Pimlico
Puce Moment
Black Magic
Blue Lagoon
The Red Pony
Rocking Horse Winner
The Fighting Kentuckian
Thirst
A Letter to Three Wives
Begone Dull Care
That Midnight Kiss
Meditation on Violence
I Shot Jesse James
Little Women
On the Town
The Set-Up
Champion
Whirlpool
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
The Stratton Story
It Happens Every Spring
Father was a Fullback
Twelve O'Clock High
Colorado Territory
East Side, West Side

Ma and Pa Kettle
The Great Dan Patch
Challenge to Lassie
Sorrowful Jones
Neptune's Daughter
Omoo Omoo
Jigsaw
Undertow
Mighty Joe Young
Blood of the Beasts
Take Me Out to the Ballgame
Sands of Iwo JIma
Adam's Rib
Under Capricorn
A lot of different cartoons

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend
Love Happy
Africa Screams

I Was a Male War Bride

[kanafani]

The Flirtation of Girls (Anwar Wagdi, 1949)

Mr. Shosuke Ohara (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1949)
Living in Shadows (Llorenç Llobet-Grácia, 1949)

Rendezvous in July (Jacques Becker, 1949)
The Reckless Moment (Max Ophüls, 1949)
Border Incident (Anthony Mann, 1949)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949)
Late Spring (Yasujirō Ozu, 1949)
Le Silence de la Mer (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1949)
The Big Day (Jacques Tati, 1949)
Salon Mexico (Emilio Fernández, 1949)
Mahal (Kamal Amrohi, 1949)
Blood of the Beasts (Georges Franju, 1949)

D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté, 1949)
The Spider and the Fly (Robert Hamer, 1949)
The Rocking Horse Winner (Anthony Pelissier, 1949)
Intruder in the Dust (Clarence Brown, 1949)
Thieves Highway (Jules Dassin, 1949)
Bitter Rice (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949)
White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949)
The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
I Was a Male War Bride (Howard Hawks, 1949)
The Big Steal (Don Siegel, 1949)
The Window (Ted Tetzlaff, 1949)
The Set-Up (Robert Wise, 1949)
I Shot Jesse James (Samuel Fuller, 1949)
The Small Back Room (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1949)
Caught (Max Ophüls, 1949)
Flame of My Love (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1949)
A Hometown in Heart (Yoon Yong-Kyu, 1949)
Act of Violence (Fred Zinnemann, 1949)
The Passionate Friends (David Lean, 1949)
Shockproof (Douglas Sirk, 1949)
A Letter to Three Wives (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1949)
Criss Cross (Robert Siodmak, 1949)
Begone Dull Care (Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart, 1949)
Puce Moment (Kenneth Anger, 1949)

[rischka]

hmm should i prioritize ma and pa kettle or challenge to lassie

JK GREG i well remember your ma and pa kettle fandom i've probably seen that lassie but never could tell them apart

[...]

Sadly Challenge to Lassie is not one of the better selection in the Lassie canon and Ma and Pa Kettle, although the first of their features, is also not the best, not sure if there is one best really though this and some others aren't really terrible or anything. Better to just watch The Egg and I and get them as flavoring rather than the full course.

Maybe give It's A Great Feeling a shot for some meta-type Hollywood shenanigans as a remembrance to Doris Day with one of her early fun films. I'm hoping Evelyn might give it a vote too and maybe get a some standing on the final list.

[Umbugbene]

Nice year for movies. I'm happy to see Kanafani's top pick, and also happy to see Pattes blanches getting attention. Seriously check out the Allégret you guys... I think a lot of you would like it. I included Rope of Sand even though it disappointed me... with its cast and credentials it should have been a great film.

1. The Third Man (Carol Reed)
2. Une si jolie petite plage (Yves Allégret)
3. D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté)
4. The Flirtation of Girls (Anwar Wagdi)
5. Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer)
6. Le silence de la mer (Jean-Pierre Melville)
7. A Letter to Three Wives (Joseph Mankiewicz)
8. Pattes blanches (Jean Grémillon)
9. Love Happy (Leo McCarey & David Miller)
10. Lovers of Verona (André Cayatte)
11. Rope of Sand (William Dieterle)
12. Dough for the Do-Do (Friz Freleng)

[pabs]

Does anyone else confuse Dirk Bogarde for James Mason? I was sure the actor in The Reckless Moment also starred in Visconti's Death in Venice.

[flip]

i think i did too before i'd seen a lot of their films. not a bad idea for one of kanafani's showdowns.

[St. Gloede]

My current toplist - bolded films I believe may have fallen under the radar for many:

1. The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
2. Banshun / Late Spring (1949, Yasujiro Ozu)
3. All the King's Men (1949, Robert Rossen)
4. Liebe '47 (1949, Wolfgang Liebeneiner)
5. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, Robert Hamer)
6. The Fountainhead (1949, King Vidor)
7. Manon (1949, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
8. The Small Back Room (1949, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)
9. Døden er et kjærtegn (1949, Edith Carlmar)
10. The Rocking Horse Winner (1949, Anthony Pelissier)

11. Gategutter (1949, Ulf Greber & Arne Skouen)
12. Le mura di Malapaga / The Walls of Malapaga (1949, René Clément)
13. Pattes blanches / White Shanks (1949, Jean Grémillon)
14. Nora inu / Stray Dog (1949, Akira Kurosawa)
15. The Heiress (1949, William Wyler)
16. Battleground (1949, William A. Wellman)
17. Twelve O'Clock High (1949, Henry King)
18. The Queen of Spades (1949, Thorold Dickinson)
19. Under Capricorn (1949, Alfred Hitchcock)
20. The Undercover Man (1949, Joseph H. Lewis)

Honorable mentions:

Reign of Terror (1949, Anthony Mann)
The Set-Up (1949, Robert Wise)
El gran Calavera / The Great Madcap (1949, Luis Bunuel)
Flamingo Road (1949, Michael Curtiz)
Roughshod (1949, Mark Robson)
White Heat (1949, Raoul Walsh)
The Passionate Friends (1949, David Lean)
Fängelse / The Devil's Wanton (1949, Ingmar Bergman)
Criss Cross (1949, Robert Siodmak)
Too Late for Tears (1949, Byron Haskin)
Le Silence de la Mer (1949, Jean-Pierre Melville)

Will try to watch before end of poll:

Le mura di Malapaga / The Walls of Malapaga (1949, René Clément)
Pytlákova schovanka / Poacher's Foster Daughter or The Noble-Minded Millionaire (1949, Martin Fric)

Might watch before end of poll:

Nema barikada / The Silent Barricade (1949, Otakar Vavra)
Au royaume des cieux / The Sinners (1949, Julien Duvivier)
Lang ist der Weg / Long is the Road (1949, Herbert B. Fredersdorf & Marek Goldstein)
Il lupo della Sila / The Wolf of the Sila (1949, Duilio Coletti)
Blue Mountains part 1 & part 2 (1949, Tadashi Imai)

[Umbugbene]

Does anyone else confuse Dirk Bogarde for James Mason? I was sure the actor in The Reckless Moment also starred in Visconti's Death in Venice.

Funny... while I never actually confused them, and they seem very different to me now, there was a period when I had them together in my mind. It would be a nice matchup; they're both outstanding actors.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Maybe give It's A Great Feeling a shot for some meta-type Hollywood shenanigans as a remembrance to Doris Day with one of her early fun films. I'm hoping Evelyn might give it a vote too and maybe get a some standing on the final list.

Yup, could easily see myself voting for that one, though I prefer My Dream Is Yours as far as 1949 Doris Day vehicles go. My Dream Is Yours just breaks my heart with young Day's longing and the meta resonance the film has with her career, plus it features S.Z. Sakall, a great soundtrack that suits Day's gifts as a performer/singer, and one of my favourite movie lines ever ("You'll be a big star when Gary's just a town in Indiana.") It's A Great Feeling is at times too silly and I wish the dishonest men around her (Carson, Morgan) learned their lesson and reformed, but there's a lot in the pro column to make up for that: a priceless, fun behind-the-scenes tour of Warner Bros. 1949, with lots of great director/star cameos (ranging from Raoul Walsh to Sydney Greenstreet!) and a really interesting ending that seeks to reconcile the aspirations of the audience's Hollywood hopes with the reality of their ordinary work-a-day lives in Middle America. Strongly recommend both to fans of Hollywood genre flicks of the period.

[...]

Yeah, I like 'em both roughly about the same, but find the animating concept of It's a Great Feeling slightly more interesting, in part because it seems so much to come from the Warner's cartoon division translated to live action and improved or at least given added fun a bit by dealing with the "real" thing instead of the cartoon caricatures.

[rischka]

omg i honestly can't decide which gothic melodrama to watch first. we need a 'freaking out' emo

[karl]

Wild Bara (Vladimir Cech). Story of the free-spirited Child of Nature who's resented by her envious, backward fellow villagers to the point where - surprise, surprise - they get up a lynch mob against her. The hicks in this movie are uncommonly stupid, even as movie hicks go. Slightly scandalous in its day because (echos of Machaty's Ecstasy) Bara has a skinny-dip and, if you lean toward the screen and squint hard enough (it's evening, mind), you can catch a glimpse of bare breast. Though '49 is rather early for them, this is the second movie of the year with tits that I know of - I'll spare screen shots for those of you champing at the office - along with the more visible one in Duvivier's fine, little-seen girls' school-set Au royaume des cieux, which is also the better flick.

Won't make the list, but an attractive pleasant little thing.

[rischka]

i went in the opposite direction with the emperor's nightingale. it's very sweet but facing heavy competition

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Michurin (USSR, Alexander Dovzhenko)

Often beautiful, fascinating biopic of Soviet scientist cultural hero Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin. Beautiful, because the subject provides Dovzhenko ample opportunity to dynamically edit together shots of sumptuous gardens set to triumphant, emotive classical music. And fascinating, because Michurin's experiments in planned trait selection and the heredity of acquired characteristics are here employed as an analogy for Soviet planned, accelerated economic development and for the creation of successive generations of committed Communist citizenry. Not sure I can properly recommend a movie aligned with Lysenkoism, but I could see this sneaking into my list and I expect those SCFZers with some sympathy for nominally Communist state cinemas will find beauty in it.