From the black-and-white silent screen classics of the 1920′s to the glorious color productions of the 1950′s – these were Hollywood’s greatest decades.
Explore early Hollywood film history and the wonderful Hollywood Movie Memories that were created, as this was a time when both Hollywood and its stars were their most glamorous.
Continue reading for a brief primer of each of the featured film decades, with the films suggested for viewing those that I feel offer an accurate representation of each film genre for each year during this historic period in Hollywood.
Starring – Burt Lancaster (Ole ‘Swede’ Andreson), Ava Gardner (Kitty Collins), Edmond O’Brien (Jim Riordan), Albert Dekker (‘Big Jim’ Colfax), Sam Levene (Police Lt. Sam Lubinsky).
Description – One Moment with Her… And He Gambled His LUCK… LOVE… and His LIFE!
The ‘Swede’ is expecting company. Two hit-men are coming to kill him… and they do.
It’s a curious murder, one that seems to provide no motive. Atlantic Casual life insurance investigator Jim Riordan is sent to investigate the murder and find the beneficiary of Swede’s policy.
Also investigating the killing is Police Lt. Sam Lubinsky, a close personal friend of the Swede. Interviewing town residents and friend’s of the Swede begins to reveal a string of crimes surprisingly connected to the Swede.
Swede had been a professional boxer who suffered an injury to his right-hand that cut his career short. His friend, Lt. Lubinsky had suggested Swede join the police force, but he rejected this idea. It wasn’t long before Swede began associating with criminal ‘Big Jim’ Colfax and started to have a change of personality.
Swede dumps his girlfriend Lily, becoming more and more attracted to the beautiful and sultry Kitty Collins. So attracted that when Lt. Lubinsky finds Kitty in possession of stolen jewelry Swede takes the blame and ends up in prison for three years.
Upon his release from prison, and with no where else to go, Swede returns to ‘Big Jim’s’ gang. However, things have changed. Kitty is now ‘Big Jim’s’ girl.
Desperate for money, Swede accepts an offer to participate in a payroll robbery which nets the gang a cool $250,000. After the gang’s original meeting place burns down, all the gang members are told the location of the new meeting place… all except Swede.
Kitty informs Swede that he is being double crossed. Furious, Swede, at gunpoint, takes the money from the gang and heads to Atlantic City where Kitty is to meet him. She does meet Swede, but not for the reason he had hoped. Kitty takes off with the money leaving Swede with both the police and ‘Big Jim’ Colfax closing in on him.
The double crossing doesn’t end here, and neither does the bloodshed.
NOTABLE: The Killers received Oscar nominations for Best Director (Robert Siodmak), Best Writing, Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
In 2008, this motion picture was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Although he wasn’t the studio’s first choice, Burt Lancaster did a great job in his first major film role. Ava Gardner also received a lot of attention for her work in this film; having previously appeared in a string of minor films.
The Killers is based, in part, on a short story by Ernest Hemingway and is the first film on his works that Hemingway admired.
The opening of the film, at New York’s Wintergarden Theater, broke the venue’s record for any picture’s opening box office.
Personal Note: One of the top film noir’s of all time and a personal favorite. Great direction by Robert Siodmak, a musical score perfectly suited to the film, moody cinematography, and the effective use of flashbacks to tell the story make this great noir.
Noir fans will immediately recognize the faces of the two hit-men sent to kill the ‘Swede.’ Both Charles McGraw and William Conrad fit these roles perfectly.
Starring – Celia Johnson (Laura Jesson), Trevor Howard (Dr. Alec Harvey), Stanley Holloway (Albert Godby), Joyce Carey (Myrtle Bagot), Cyril Raymond (Fred Jesson).
Description – A story of the most precious moments in a woman’s life.
In Britain, suburban housewife Laura Jesson is in an emotional rut. Although her marriage to husband Fred is not a bad marriage, day-to-day life has become uncomfortably dull and Laura’s state of unhappiness has gone unnoticed by Fred.
Weekly, Laura, as with the majority of the other women in the area, would go into town to shop and pass a couple of hours by catching a matinee at the cinema.
This weeks trip into town will be a little different.
While waiting at the train stop to return home from her latest visit to town, Laura gets a piece of grit in one of her eyes. Another gentleman waiting for the train offers to help her get it out. He is Dr. Alec Harvey who works, once a week, as a consultant to the local children’s hospital.
Dr. Harvey is also married and, like Laura, is in his thirties with two children. Their conversation is comfortable and both express their appreciation of having met the other. So much so, that they arrange to meet again the following week.
It isn’t long before their casual meetings begin to take on new meaning. They both begin to realize that they are falling in love. Their meetings, on Thursday’s at a small cafe, continue as they grow closer. They begin to fear running into someone that one or the other would know believing that their feelings would be easily recognized.
One day they decide to take the next step in their relationship and go to the privacy of a room belonging to a friend of Dr. Harvey’s. However, any chance for intimacy is interrupted when the friend friend returns unexpectedly.
This experience emphasises the fact that they will never be able to have a future together. With neither Laura or Dr. Harvey wanting to hurt their families, they agree to part. It is now Dr. Harvey’s plan to take a job offer he has received from South Africa, where he has a brother.
Their final goodbye will be at the same railway station where they first met. Will heartbreak follow and violent emotions rule their goodbye?
NOTABLE: Brief Encounter received Oscar nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Celia Johnson), Best Director (David Lean), and Best Writing, Screenplay.
Shooting of the film took place in early 1945 before the war had ended. As a result locations had to be far from large cities in order to avoid the blackout requirements.
When first released in Great Britain, this film was banned in Ireland on the grounds that it depicted an adulterer in a sympathetic light.
This picture was the first Best Director nomination for David Lean.
August, 1946 – Author Raymond Chandler is thrilled with Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of cynical, hard-drinking, tough-talking, private investigator Philip Marlowe in the film The Big Sleep, based on Chandler’s novel.
The film noir thriller is directed by Howard Hawks and co-staring with Bogart are Lauren Bacall, JohnRidgely, Martha Vickers, and Dorothy Malone. The Big Sleep is a revolving door of twists and turns that include murder, blackmail, double-crosses, and dirty little secrets.
Chandler’s original novel, published in 1939 and written in a short three months, was his first. He is regarded, along with Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain, as a founder of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction.
Chandler’s protagonist, Philip Marlowe, and Hammett’s Sam Spade were the prototypes for motion pictures depiction of “private detectives.” Both characters were played on screen by Humphrey Bogart to absolute perfection.
Humphrey Bogart met Raymond Chandler a few times and the two discussed the character of Philip Marlowe over a few cocktails. During these conversations, Chandler felt there was something unique about Bogart that convinced him the man, with his own inner tough-guy, was indeed Philip Marlowe.
You’ll get much more than your money’s worth with Humphrey Bogart as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, for $25.00 a day plus expenses.
Description – The type of man she hated… was the type she wanted!
Private Eye Philip Marlowe has just arrived at new client General Sternwood’s mansion. The General wants Marlowe’s help in settling daughter Carmen’s gambling debts owed to bookseller Arthur Geiger.
Seems simple enough to Marlowe until when leaving the mansion he is approached by older daughter Mrs. Vivian Rutledge. She tells Marlowe that her father may have another motive for hiring the P.I. and that may be to find his friend Sean Regan who has been missing for a month.
Curious, Marlowe pays a visit to the book shop only to discover an illegal pornography operation. His curiosity further fueled, Marlowe decides to follow Geiger home. Shortly after arriving, Carmen Sternwood shows up. A little later Marlowe hears a gunshot and a woman’s screams. He breaks into the house and finds Geiger dead and a drugged Carmen.
Marlowe also finds a hidden camera with the film removed and a book listing the names of, what appear to be, Geiger’s blackmail victims all connected to the illegal pornography operation. Marlowe drives Carmen home and returns to Geiger’s home to continue looking around. What he finds is Geiger’s body now missing, but another will soon turn up as the General’s chauffeur is found dead in a car that has been dragged out of the ocean.
The next afternoon, Vivian brings a compromising photo of Carmen taken the previous evening at the General’s mansion and informs Marlowe that blackmailer’s have demanded $5,000. to return the negatives.
When asked if she can pay the money, without the General learning of his daughters photo, Vivian tells Marlowe that she may be able to get the money from gambler Eddie Mars whose wife ran off with Sean Regan.
The twists and turns continue as it becomes increasingly blurry as to just who is blackmailing who while the body count climbs. We now have more than one murder and more than one murderer. In a case like this… no one is innocent.
NOTABLE: In 1997, The Big Sleep was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Upon completion of the film, Warner Brothers did not immediately release The Big Sleep. World War II was coming to an end and the studio wanted to distribute a backlog of war-related films first before the public lost interest in them.
With the success of To Have and Have Not, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall had become the “Bogart and Bacall” phenomenon. As a result, portions of the picture were re-shot in order to capitalize on their popularity.
As a result of the already married Bogart’s affair with Bacall and his increasing marital problems, Bogart’s drinking would cause him to be unable to work. Three months after the completion of the film, Bogart would be divorced and free to marry Bacall.
The Hollywood Production Code (Hays Code) reared its ugly head during filming. Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel was altered as Marlowe’s love interest could not be an accessory to murder. Also, two scenes in the novel called for Carmen to be nude, Geiger to be selling pornography, and to also be in a homosexual relationship. In the film, Carmen had to remain dressed, the pornography business could only be alluded to, and Geiger’s sexuality was never mentioned.
This was actor Charles Waldron’s (General Sternwood) last film. He passed away before the film premiered.
The automobile used by Bogart in this film is the same one he used in 1941′s High Sierra.
Personal Note: There are pretenders,there are wannbe’s, and although Robert Mitchum and Dick Powell have done a good job, for me Humphrey Bogart is the best Philip Marlowe.
The Big Sleep easily makes my list of favorite film noir classics. There has been some criticism that the plot may be a little convoluted due to the filming changes that were made to take full advantage of the Bogart and Bacall relationship and its popularity.
While that is true… WHO CARES! This is a very enjoyable film with powerful direction and entertaining dialogue. Bogart is great as the tough-talking Private Eye and Bacall adds enough spark to ignite a whole block.
Description – FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO DIE LAUGHING!
It’s 1780 and master tinker Horatio Prim is on his way to the Danbury estate carrying a letter of commendation from General George Washington. Horatio plans on giving the letter to Mr. Danbury as a token of his credibility and hopes the letter will be enough for Mr. Danbury to allow him to marry Nora O’Leary, Danbury’s housekeeper.
Unfortunately, Horatio has a rival for the hand of Nora in Cuthbert Greenway, Danbury’s butler. While Nora holds the letter for safekeeping, Cuthbert plans on a way to prevent the letter from ever being presented to Mr. Danbury.
While bringing the letter to Mr. Danbury, Nora overhears a conversation that reveals Danbury to be part of traitor Benedict Arnold’s plot. Nora is captured by Danbury who takes the letter and hides it in a mantel clock.
Danbury’s fiancee, Melody Allen, witnesses this event and, having not previously known that Danbury is a traitor, sets off with Horatio to warn General Washington of the plot against him. However, before even leaving the estate the two are mistaken for the enemy and shot by the arriving American troops.
Their bodies are thrown down a well and the mansion burned to the ground. They are now thought of as traitor’s and their spirit’s condemned to the estate.
The ghost’s of Horatio and Melody have been roaming the estate for 166 years when Sheldon Gage buys the land and decides to restore the property and furnish the new home with the original furniture which had been removed from the mansion before it was set on fire.
When the work is completed, Sheldon invites some friends to spend the night. Upon their arrival they are informed by the maid, Emily, that the house may be haunted.
Haunted it is, as the ghosts of Horatio and Melody try to find the hidden letter from George Washington that will prove that they were not traitor’s and free their spirit’s from condemnation.
NOTABLE: This was the first time director Charles Barton worked with Abbott and Costello. He would direct them again and is considered to have been their best director.
The “ghostly” special effects in the picture made this Abbott and Costello’s most expensive feature up to this time.
Bud Abbott has stated in a 1949 publication of the Saturday Evening Post that this was his favorite picture. He welcomed being on the receiving end of the abuse as it was always Costello.
Personal Note: The Time of Their Lives is considered to be one of the better films made by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
What makes this unusual is the fact that by the time of filming the pair had broken up as a comedy team due to the tension of their relationship that had grown over the years. You may note that the two only speak to each other during the film on one occasion.
The popularity and profitability of their films would lead to a modest reconciliation between the duo.
August, 1946 – Author Raymond Chandler is thrilled with Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of cynical, hard-drinking, tough-talking, private investigator Philip Marlowe in the film The Big Sleep, based on Chandler’s novel.
