1940 poll

[Lencho of the Apes]

Choose your favorite films from 1940 (according to IMDb).

– Each person votes for up to 20 movies. Do not feel compelled to fill the maximum allowable number, only true favorites.
– 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 1940 lists will be Monday, February 4 at approximately 1 PM Pacific Time.

[Lencho of the Apes]

My prelim list

The Bank Dick
City For Conquest
The Fighting 69th
Go West - Buzzell
Grapes Of Wrath
june night
Los De Abajo - Urueta
The Philadelphia Story
Rebecca - Hitchcock
Strange Cargo - Borzage
They Drive By Night - Walsh
You'll Find Out - Butler

Funky year; so few national cinemas seem to have been putting material out, it's hard to find anything non-USA for the year. UK has a couple, France has a good several, Germany's hors de contest for most people... Mexico and Argentina both were pretty productive, there are a dozen or so movies available (no subs) for both countries; Los De Abajo's the only M-film for the year that I could endorse... But I reckon I'll be watching a couple of Arg. ones -- Christensen's debut film came out this year, and there's several pop-comedies with Nini Marshall, whose Lucille Ballsy brashness appeals to me.

Here's what I know's availalble for screening; I look forward to seeing people put forward more obscure titles, cuz for once I'm drawing a blank. Oh well, there are some USA rewatches I need to do... EDIT: Pkus 35 titles, 1/19 and 15 titles, 1/30.

Abe Lincoln in Illinois
All This And Heaven Too -
Angels Over Broadway - Hecht
El astro del tango Arg/no subs
aurat Ind/no subs
Battement De Coeur - Decoin
Black Friday - Lubin
The Blue Bird - W. Lang
Boomtown
Brigham Young
The Bright Way -
Burian The Liar - Fric
Caprichosa y millonaria Arg/no subs
Captain Caution - Wallace
Casamiento en Buenos Aires - Arg/no subs
La casa del recuerdo Arg/no subs
Los celos de Candida Arg/no subs
Chad Hanna - King
Christmas in July (Preston Sturges, 1940)
Con el dedo en el gatillo Arg/no subs
Con Su Amable Permiso - F Soler Mex/no subs
Confesion Arg/no subs
Confucius - Mu Fei
Corazon De Turco - Demare
Dark Command
Doctor - Majumdar, Mitra https://indiancine.ma/DAX/player/A
Dreaming Out Loud
Earthbound - Pichel
En Tiempos De Don Porfirio - Bustillo Oro Mex/no subs
Fantasia
Flecha de oro Arg/no subs
Foreign Correspondent - Hitchcock
Four Sons - Mayo
Gaslight - Dickinson
George And Margaret UK
The Ghost Comes Home - Thiele
Girls Of The Road -
Go West - Buzzell
The Great Dictator
Hay Que Educar A Nini Arg/no subs
El Hijo Del Barrio - Demare Arg/no subs
The Howards Of Virginia - Lloyd
I Love You Again
In The Fields Of Dreams - Tulio
El ingles de los guesos - Christenson Arg/no subs
Inspctor Hornleigh On Holidfay - UK
The Invisible woman - Sutherland
Isabellita - Romero
Island Of Doomed Men - Barton
It All Came true - Seiler
Jud Suss -
Juninatten/June Night -- Lindberg
Kitty Foyle
The Long Voyage Home - Ford
Lucky partners - Milestone
The Mark of Zorro
Medio millon por una mujer Arg/no subs
Menaces (Edmond T. Gréville)
The Mortal Storm - Borzage
My Favorite Wife - Kanin
New Moon - Leonard/Van Dyke
Night Train To Munich - Reed
Nobuko - Shimizu 7 segments
Nosotros los muchachos Arg/no subs
One Milllion BC - Roach
Our Town
Paradis Perdu/Four Flights To Heaven - Gance
Pinocchio
The Proud Valley - Pen Tennyson/UK
Rebecca - Hitchcock
Remember The Night - Leisen
The Return Of Frank James - Lang
Rose Scarlatte - de Sica dubbed
Sailor's Lady - Dwan
Santa Fe Trail - Curtiz
The Sea Hawk
Un senor Mucamo Arg/no subs
El solteron Arg/no subs
Spring Parade
The Stars Look Down - Reed
Strange Cargo - Borzage
Tarantella - McLaren
They Drive By Night - Walsh
They Knew What They Wanted - Kanin
Trail Of The Vigilantes - Dwan
Turnabout - Roach
21 Days Together - Dean
A Wild Hare
You Can't Fool Your Wife - McCarey
You'll Find Out - Butler

[kanafani]

I've only seen 20 from 1940. Pretty weak.

The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940)
The Thief of Bagdad (Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, 1940)
Christmas in July (Preston Sturges, 1940)
The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin, 1940)
Night Train to Munich (Carol Reed, 1940)
The Great McGinty (Preston Sturges, 1940)
Stranger on the Third Floor (Boris Ingster, 1940)
Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
They Drive by Night (Raoul Walsh, 1940)
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940)
In the Fields of Dreams (Tulio)

[greennui]

Pinocchio
The Grapes of Wrath
Rebecca

Weak year for my part. Not a single recent favourite and hardly any films I'm eager to watch. Maybe:

The Long Voyage Home
Foreign Correspondent
Gaslight

[...]

No, not a wide range of countries that I've seen anything from this year, but what I did see from the US, and those few outside films was quite good. I've got more I liked from this year than I had from quite a few others even when I'd seen more movies overall. Some famous directors at their peak abilities and more than a few odd movies that still had something of the thirties lack of convention to them, where genre boundaries hadn't yet been fully defined. Oh, and it probably wouldn't hurt to add that it was an exceptionally screwy year for how Hollywood tried to deal with US history and ideals of exceptionalism. Some of it is pretty damned offensive, some just bizarre, but much of it is a pretty telling reflection of the times for good and bad.

Vasilisa the Beautiful
Pinocchio
The Shop Around the Corner
The Great McGinty
The Letter
The Long Voyage Home
The Great Dictator
Foreign Correspondent
Rebecca
Remember the Night
Christmas in July
His Girl Friday
Thief of Bagdad
They Drive By Night
Stranger on the Third Floor
The Sea Hawk
The Westerner
Kitty Foyle
All This and Heaven Too
Dr Cyclops
I Love You Again
Strange Cargo
My Little Chickadee
Boomtown
Contraband
Spook Sport
A Chump at Oxford
City for Conquest
Green Hell
Three Faces West
Night Train to Munich
Dance Girl Dance
The Philadelphia Story
The Bank Dick
The Mortal Storm
My Favorite Wife
The Mark of Zorro
Waterloo Bridge
Our Town
The Return of Frank James
Northwest Passage
Primrose Path
Road to Singapore
Santa Fe Trail
A Wild Hare
Comrade X
Dark Command
Virginia City
Too Many Husbands
Angels Over Broadway
You'll Find Out
It's a Date
Brigham Young
Dreaming Out Loud
Tom Brown's School Days
Broadway Melody of 1940
Strike up the Band
The Ghost Breakers
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Fantasia
Torrid Zone

[Umbugbene]

Not a great year, especially compared to the years surrounding it:

1. The Thief of Bagdad
2. Fantasia
3. Rebecca
4. Stranger on the Third Floor
5. The Letter
6. Foreign Correspondent
7. Road to Singapore
8. Ahí está el detalle
9. Road to Singapore
10. Girl in the News

[karl]

The Shop around the Corner

The Mortal Storm
His Girl Friday
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Dictator
Nobuko (Shimizu Hiroshi)
City for Conquest (Anatole Litvak)
The Philadelphia Story
The Long Voyage Home
Rebecca
My Universities (Mark Donskoy)
Traveling Actors (Naruse Mikio)
Christmas in July
Night Train to Munich
The Westerner
Foreign Correspondent
Dark Command
Remember the Night
They Drive by Night
A Handful of Rice (Pál Fejös & Gunnar Skoglund)



Would consider watching if I had the time, especially since I could easily shave the last seven of those above off there without losing much sleep over it. But do I have the time?:

De Mayerling a Sarajevo
The Girl in Blue (Otakar Vavra)
One Hour (Peter Pewas)
Sérénade (Jean Boyer)
Operette (Willi Forst)
L'espoir
The Stars Look Down
Strange Cargo
Liberation (Oleksandr Dovzhenko)
French Communique
The Great McGinty
The Return of Frank James
The Letter
Tempête
The Bank Dick
Gaslight
Maryland (Henry King)
They Staked Their Lives (Alf Sjoberg)
Menaces (Edmond T. Gréville)
Tuition
June Night
Clothes Make the Man
Confucius
The Well-Digger's Daughter
The Sinner (Amleto Palermi)
Maddelena, Zero for Conduct

[sally]

Had a clear out of DVDs last year, and even the charity shops wouldn't take gaslight. Dunno why, AW is at his yummiest.

Hurrah for Karl and the lubitsch I've rewatched the most.

[rischka]

travelling actors
the letter
the long voyage home
the mortal storm
gaslight
the sea hawk
they drive by night
foreign correspondent
night train to munich
rebecca
his girl friday
shop around the corner
remember the night
the westerner
thief of baghdad
dance girl dance
stranger on the third floor
all this and heaven too

order to be determined. it's been so long since i've seen grapes of wrath i really can't remember it well so left it off

[kanafani]

In the spirit of brainstorming what to watch for the poll, here are all the 1940 movies that have received at least 2 ratings on letterboxd from champs on the books:

[brian d]

tulio's my early #1, but these aren't in any other sort of order:

in the fields of dreams (tulio) !
rebecca (hitchcock)
pinocchio (luske; sharpsteen)
the sea hawk (curtiz)
the westerner (wyler)
the great dictator (chaplin)
fantasia (various)
nobuko (shimizu)
night train to munich (reed)
l'espoir (malraux; peskine)
the grapes of wrath (ford)

to see:
joão ratão (brum do canto)
the mortal storm (borzage)
menaces (grèville)

[thoxans]

The LONG VOYAGE Home (John Ford)

foreign correspondent (alfred hitchcock)
the grapes of wrath (john ford)
his girl friday (howard hawks)
the shop around the corner (ernst lubitsch)

*seen nine

[Silga]

Provisional list:

The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin)
You Ought to Be in Pictures (Friz Freleng)
Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock)

[thoxans]

grapes of wrath

the long voyage home is much much better. in truth, i find the grapes of wrath to be midtier ford (at best), tho it still made my list cuz even midtier ford is better than like 90% of every other movie ever

[thoxans]

But do I have the time?

yes

[rischka]

i remember i found it kinda corny but this was before i really 'got' ford. i won't have time for much. i do remember the great dictator kinda rubbed me the wrong way seeing as what happened later....it wasn't so funny. maybe it's just me. i'd like to catch the tulio, my non-USA choices are limited

[nrh]

shop around the corner
his girl friday
chad hanna
long voyage home
christmas in july
remember the night
the great mcginty
aurat
rebecca
dance girl dance

[sally]

i am definitely watching: the king of the lumberjacks, ronald colman, de sica's dir. debut, green hell, the shining path, chad hanna, the ghost comes home, nobuko


there's way too many hollywood ones i need to watch but if anyone can help with the following i'd.....squeal...

the tulio, obviously
and the ulmer (american matchmaker)


and how is olivier's darcy? i sit through the 5 hour colin firth one every 6 months or so, so olivier would have to burn the screen down...

[ofrene]

Rebecca
The Shop Around the Corner
His Girl Friday
They Drive by Night


~ watchlist (hope to see watch at least half of these...) ~


Dance, Girl, Dance
Fantasia
Foreign Correspondent
From Mayerling to Sarajevo
Night Train to Munich
Nobuko
Pinocchio
The Letter
The Long Voyage Home
The Philadelphia Story
The Sea Hawk
The Thief of Bagdad
The Westerner
Travelling Actors

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Very excited for this. I'd gladly watch one or two 1940 flicks every day, if school doesn't intervene too severely.

Seen 35, but most need a rewatch.

Surefire selections:
— His Girl Friday
— The Shop Around the Corner

Notable immoral shorts that would rank high on a list of '1940 movies I find most teachable/interesting' but that I would never dream of recommending outside of a 'cinema and empire' syllabus:
— Pilgrim Porky
— Teddy the Rough Rider

Obscurities not yet mentioned that I hope to see:
— Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
— Brazza ou l’épopée du Congo
— The Flying Squad
— Turnabout
— Commandment Keeper Church, Beaufort South Carolina, May 1940
— Spring Parade
— Quicker’n a Wink
— Pursuit of Happiness
— Fantasia sottomarina
— When the Daltons Rode
— Themis
— Let George Do It!
— Star Dust
— Eyes of the Navy
— Ants in the Plants
— Holiday Highlights
— Girls of the Road
— Cavalcade of San Francisco
— Me Feelins Is Hurt
— The Quack Infantry Troop
— Return to Yesterday
— Women Without Names
— Women in Hiding
— Motor Rhythm
— Dopo divorzieremo
— The Captain Is a Lady
— Il pirata sono io!

[flip]

hard to pick a #1 for this year, several candidates but for now i'll go with the zaniest of the deanna durbin films, though i think it might appeal to me a lot more than to other people:

Spring Parade (Henry Koster)

Comrade X (King Vidor)
It's a Date (William Seiter)
The Westerner (William Wyler)
Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen)
The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch)
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock)
The Great Dictator (Charlie Chaplin)
The Great McGinty (Preston Sturges)
Christmas in July (Preston Sturges)
The Letter (William Wyler)
The Return of Frank James (Fritz Lang)
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor)
Night Train to Munich (Carol Reed)
Waterloo Bridge (Mervyn LeRoy)
Stranger on the Third Floor (Boris Ingster)
I Love You Again (WS Van Dyke)
Women Without Names (Robert Florey)
My Little Chickadee (Edward Cline)

deep year, lots of good films i had to leave off, including two john fords and a borzage

[rischka]

and how is olivier's darcy? i sit through the 5 hour colin firth one every 6 months or so, so olivier would have to burn the screen down...

not as good as his heathcliffe. i quite like greer garson though

[...]

Damn it Flip! Don't go flaunting unseen Deanna flicks at me like that! Now I'm gonna have to dig it up and see it too. Though knowing our appreciation of Koster films isn't quite the same, I won't be disappointed if it doesn't make my top tier Durbins, but would be happy to find it does.

Green Hell is quite the odd movie, very Whale in some ways, but hard to match it to anything else really. Strange Cargo is another odd one, very different than Green Hell for being so determined an allegory, but Borzage gets ample chance to do his thing which provides the atmosphere to sell the concept, well, as long as you don't dwell on it too much anyway.

[Curtis, baby]

I think I like 1940 more than most of yall. Pretty good year for my boy J-Stew, led by one of my t5 fav movies ever, so...

1. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
The Long Voyage Home (John Ford, 1940)
Fantasia (various, 1940)
Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940)
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
The Mortal Storm (Frank Borzage, 1940)
The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
Baron Prásil (Martin Frič, 1940)
"Quicker'n a Wink" (George Sidney, 1940)

[...]

Okay, after 20 minutes, Spring Parade is awfully promising. It may be one of the best Durbin movies, at least it hasn't done anything to prove different so far. Looks likely to be out It's a Date for a possible spot on my list anyway. Don't know if that'll be enough though in a tough year for me to narrow down.

[sally]

Lucky partners - lewis milestone dir Ronald Colman & ginger Rogers in a Sacha guitry story. Probably depends on how much you fancy Ronnie, there were enough little sparks for it to probs make my list. I think I'm really beginning to appreciate milestone's tendency to sprawl...

[rischka]

It may be one of the best Durbin movies

not really selling it to me

[...]

Why no sticking tongue out smilie? Needed it for the Durbin hater.

[thoxans]

Why no sticking tongue out smilie?

where's dat gofundme refund when you need it?

*this is clearly a post-count-boost-post; tryna get me some flair

[Roscoe]

SHOP AROUND THE CORNER
PINOCCHIO
LONG VOYAGE HOME
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
FANTASIA