The Power of Hindsight: 1942 at the Movies

It is time, once again, to delve back into the past and see how things look. Ever since 1928, the Academy Awards have been held, showcasing the greatest achievements in filmmaking. It is years later, however, that both audiences and critics are able to really examine all the movies, and it is then that the power of hindsight helps us to determine which films are truly the best. When putting these lists together I follow the same Best Picture criteria that is in place today (because I think it works brilliantly), meaning that there have to be five nominees, and can’t be more than ten. When looking back into the golden age of cinema it’s easy to come up with ten nominees, in fact it wouldn’t be hard to pick 15 or 20, but doing it this way separates the “greats” from the “goods”. This also gives the opportunity to look at smaller films that were perhaps panned upon their initial release, but have grown in popularity over the years. Sometimes there are foreign language films that weren’t seen by enough people, sometimes an animated film becomes a “classic”. There are so many things that time can change, but the power of hindsight helps clear everything up.

When it comes to 1942, there are some release dates that need to be mentioned, just to make things clear. For starters, the David Lean film, “In Which We Serve” was released in the UK on September 17th, 1942, and the United States on December 23rd, 1942. I don’t know which technicality made it eligible for the Academy Awards in 1943 instead of 1942 (it was a Best Picture nominee in ’43), but for the sake of this article, I am going to consider it a film from 1942. Likewise there is another British film, “The 49th Parallel” aka “The Invaders”, which was released in the UK November 24th, 1941, but in the United States April 15th, 1942, making it eligible for a Best Picture nomination (which it received) in 1942. For our purposes, however, we will consider this a film from 1941.

To start with, here are the ten Best Picture nominees from 1942:

• “The Invaders” aka (“The 49th Parallel”)
• “King’s Row”
• “The Magnificent Ambersons”
•  “Mrs. Miniver”
• “The Pied Piper”
• “The Pride of the Yankees”
• “Random Harvest”
• “The Talk of the Town”
• “Wake Island”
• “Yankee Doodle Dandy”

Those are some pretty impressive films!

Let’s address each of these, one by one. “The Invaders”, as discussed before, was released in 1941, so no longer can be eligible. “King’s Row” is a good drama, but today doesn’t hold up quite as well. Lot’s of drama and good performances, but ultimately it is a bit of a letdown. Orson Welles’ follow-up to “Citizen Kane” was the enormous undertaking of “The Magnificent Ambersons”, which although did receive some negative comments in 1942, still managed to gain a Best Picture nomination. Oddly enough, with the passing years it is regarded higher today than at any time in the past. “Mrs. Miniver” was the Best Picture winner in 1942, and for my money, it deserved to be. What a fantastic film, filled with memorable performances and unparalleled beauty. “The Pied Piper”, on the other hand…not so much. It’s still a good movie, but I don’t think it has lived up to that coveted Best Picture status. “The Pride of the Yankees” is a wonderful movie for many reasons. Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, and Teresa Wright are all amazing, and the story of Lou Gehrig is an important one, that director Sam Wood does a beautiful job of telling. I know some people find “Random Harvest” to be a bit melodramatic, but I completely disagree. This film is so moving that I can’t help but be affected by its poignancy. “The Talk of the Town” is a hard film to classify. Part drama, part comedy, it is the kind of picture that could have trouble finding an audience, yet everyone seems to enjoy this well-blended mix, as well as the great performances from Ronald Colman, Jean Arthur, and Cary Grant. “Wake Island” is a good war movie, and I see how it was nominated upon its release, but there are plenty of other war films that are just as good if not better, so today it becomes a little lost in the shuffle of time. And that (at long last) brings us around to “Yankee Doodle Dandy”. What a film, and what a performance. There is just no arguing that one.

I know what you’re thinking, all of those films are great, perhaps we should just leave the list alone, right?. Well, as great as those ten films are, I think they can be improved some, especially after examining the other releases from 1942. But where to begin? There are some films that offer great performances such as Van Heflin in “Johnny Eager”, Rosalind Russell in “My Sister Eileen”, Joan Crawford in “Reunion in France”, Bette Davis in “Now, Voyager”, or Katharine Hepburn in “Woman of the Year”. In addition to “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, there are some other notable musical films like Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in “Holiday Inn”, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly in “For Me and My Gal”, Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth in “You Were Never Lovelier”, and even Bing Crosby and Bob Hope’s classic “Road to Morocco”. And then there were foreign films of note, including Yasujiro Ozu’s “There was a Father” and the amazing “Les Visiteurs du Soir” directed by Marcel Carne. Also, there were a couple of legendary directors who released films in 1942, like Cecil B. DeMille’s “Reap the Wild Wind” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Saboteur”. So many great movies… but we’re not done yet. What about Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet in “Across the Pacific”, or Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino in “Moontide”? How about the Disney animated classic “Bambi”? Lest we forget to include (even if just because we love it so much) the B horror classic, “Cat People”.

Even after all of that, it was comedies that were the real highlight in 1942, and they didn’t get too much attention from the Academy either (as usual). Billy Wilder made his American debut with the hilarious “The Major and the Minor”, starring Ray Milland and Ginger Rogers, and there was also Rene Clair’s comedic “I Married a Witch”, with Frederic March and Veronica Lake. And then the great Preston Sturges followed up his amazing 1941 (“The Lady Eve” & “Sullivan’s Travels”) with the riotous Claudette Colbert/Joel McCrea picture, “The Palm Beach Story”. The highlight of the comedy world, however, belongs to another brilliant and hilarious director, Ernst Lubitsch. His 1942 film “To Be or Not To Be” is too good for words, and remains today one of the funniest motion pictures of all time. Carol Lombard and Jack Benny are perfect, and I still don’t understand how this film didn’t receive more acclaim upon its initial release.

It could go without saying that there were enough films to fill two good years in 1942, but now comes the difficult part of narrowing things down to just ten, which incidentally, was harder than I ever expected. I had to make some tough choices, and I am sure that a couple of my decisions will be unpopular, but ten nominees means ten nominees. Here is my list of nominees; the ten best films of 1942.

• “In Which We Serve”
• “Les Visiteurs du Soir”
• “The Magnificent Ambersons”
• “The Major and the Minor”
• “Mrs. Miniver”
• “The Palm Beach Story”
• “The Pride of the Yankees”
• “Random Harvest”
• “To Be or Not to Be”
• “Yankee Doodle Dandy”

Of course, with so many memorable titles, it might be easy to disagree! I, for one, can’t believe that I don’t have room for “Talk of the Town”, “Moontide” or “Now, Voyager”, all of which I thought had a good chance to make the final cut. If only all years were as fantastic as 1942. You can also read more on The Power of Hindsight with my thoughts on 1936, 1954 or 1963.

 

 

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)-John Cromwell

 ★★★★

 

Some films just seem to have everything going for them. Start off with a great title, add a leading man who can do it all, fill the film with a supporting cast that wows and amazes, and then just for good measure, cast your leading man in not one, but two roles to show his range, his humor, and his uncanny ability to dominate every frame. Essentially that is always going to be a formula for success, as long as the story is halfway decent anyway, which is the case of “The Prisoner of Zenda” (1937) and its witty, engaging screenplay.

Based on the 1894 novel of the same name written by Anthony Hope, the film tells the adventurous tale of the soon-to-be king, Rudolf, of an unnamed country (Ronald Colman), who on the eve of his coronation makes quite a discovery. While hunting, he meets an English gentleman named Rudolf Rassendyll (also Ronald Colman). It turns out that they are distant relatives, and they also just happen to look identical. Together they spend the evening drinking, along with the king’s two personal guards, Colonel Zapt (C. Aubrey Smith) and Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim (David Niven).

Everything is going marvelously until the future king drinks a drugged bottle of wine, rendering him unconscious. His villainous half-brother, Duke Michael (Raymond Massey), wants him to miss the coronation ceremony, thus opening the doors for his own succession to the throne. Of course what Michael could have never foreseen is the convenient meeting of look-alike Rassendyll, who accepts the highly secretive mission of taking the unconscious would-be king’s place at the ceremony.

Just in case that isn’t complicated enough, Rassendyll, now pretending to be royalty, also is meeting Rudolf’s soon-to-be wife, Princess Flavia (Madeleine Carroll). Rudolf and Flavia haven’t seen each other in many years, so she doesn’t notice that Rassendyll is in fact an imposter. Not only that, she actually finds Rassendyll much more appealing, leading to a love story- and even more problems.

After the ceremony, Rassendyll heads out of the castle to switch places with the (hopefully) awakened Rudolf, but he has now been kidnapped by one of Michael’s cohorts, Rupert (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Now Rassendyll must remain in the castle, keeping up his ruse of being king until the real king can be recovered. Luckily help comes from an unlikely place when Michael’s secret love (Mary Astor) gives Rassendyll Rudolf’s location out of jealousy. (If Michael became king, he would have to marry Princess Flavia, leaving her lonely and miserable.)

I do love a complicated adventure plot, and as you can see, “The Prisoner of Zenda” certainly fits that description. The convenient coincidences and ridiculous plot points are all easily forgivable because the sweeping adventure and passionate romances help to keep the overall focus on the fun- and not the details. (Which really are rather unimportant anyway.)

Ronald Coleman is always a delight to watch, but “The Prisoner of Zenda” gives him a different type of role to undertake. Throughout his career he constantly seems to be stuck as the sad, lonely sort, but here it is exactly the opposite. Here he is given the opportunity to be funny and enchanting. Everyone likes him, even the evil Rupert, as the two share a couple of memorable scenes packed with cleverly written, banter-filled dialogue before they end up drawing swords (where they still continue to make jokes while fighting).

The supporting cast is good, without having a need to be great. Nobody is given significant screen time, but they would just have been in Colman’s way, taking away from the glorious part of the picture. It is his film, and he only needed a little bit of help from the rest of the cast, and these consummate professionals are more than up to that task.

There have been several adaptations of Hope’s novel on both the screen and the stage, but it is this 1937 film that stands out above the rest. Perhaps because of the timing of its release (both with WWII and King Edward’s avocation), or maybe it was just the light-hearted, rousing adventure that appealed to audiences. Really, it doesn’t matter why the film seems to have gotten better with age- it just has. Of course any film with great costumes, sword-swinging action, an abundance of romance, and Ronald Colman should keep getting better with age, right?

Talk Of The Town (1942)

★★★★

 

How do you make a drama movie, filled with screwball comedy? Call George Stevens. It seems a rather difficult task, but Stevens makes it seem easy in The Talk Of The Town (1942). The story is about Leopold Dig (Cary Grant), who escapes from prison right before he is found guilty of a crime for which he maintains his innocence. He hides in a home owned by Nora Shelley (Jean Arthur), that she’s renting to Prof. Michael Lightcap (Ronald Colman). Leopold holds up in the attic, unbenounced to Prof. Lightcap, and Nora tries to find a way to prove Leopold’s innocence. Sounds like a good drama story, but when you put these three together they really show off their comic abilities more than anything else. Jean Arthur delights remarkably in the kind of role that always best suits her. She is absolutely lovely, and keep me laughing through out the movie. Cary Grant was a perfect choice for the role of Leopold, because he was believable as the political activist wrongly accused, but he was comically brilliant in all the right places. Even Ronald Colman was remarkable as the Professor who has to decide where his political beliefs truly lie.

Talk Of The Town was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and although it probably didn’t have much of a chance of winning (especially against Mrs. Miniver), it is nice to see a movie like this get nominated. It shows that a movie doesn’t have to be dramatic in order to gain serious attention, but rather can be seen for exactly what it is: a movie about the corrupt government that also can have it’s main character fall down the stairs with comic ease. You know, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington meets Bringing Up Baby. It really is quite enjoyable.

Luckily, Talk Of The Town was an easy movie to find, so if you’re interested in seeing it you shouldn’t have far to look. I suggest you take the opportunity if it arises. The next time I watch it, I will be  including my children with me. It’s nice to find movies where I can include the whole family, without having to worry about what they are going to see. Talk Of The Town works perfectly for me and my family.

Arrowsmith (1931)

★★

 

All right, so saying it’s an “early” John Ford movie isn’t very accurate when you talk in terms of the number of movies he made. Arrowsmith was his 76^th movie, in a career that ended up with 139 different movies. John Ford is one of the greatest directors that has ever lived, and anyone who loves movies has seen at least one John Ford movie. He is the only director to ever win a Best Director Academy Award four times. I can’t even imagine this happening again. I decided to watch Arrowsmith because it was a Best Picture nominee in 1931, and I am constantly trying to watch all the Best Picture nominees that are out there. I did not know anything about the movie itself when I bought it, and was surprised it was a John Ford movie.

The movie stars Ronald Coleman, Helen Hayes, and a small role for Myrna Loy. If you are a big Myrna Loy fan, (and we all should be,) then prepare to be disappointed, as her scenes are cut down to next to nothing. Ronald Coleman plays a young man who wants to devote his life to medical research, but falls in love with Helen Hayes, and has to take a job as a doctor in her small hometown in order to make ends meet. He is constantly trying to get back into research and out of the field, and he eventually has to decide if he is going to “treat “ patients, or use people to conduct his “medical trials”.

Honestly, this movie is a good movie. It wasn’t a great movie, but it was well made and certainly worth seeing. I enjoy seeing a filmmaker learn his craft, and that is what I see Ford doing here. His later movies are so extremely brilliant, and I don’t know that he ever would have been as amazing had he not acquired his skills on these “earlier” movies. I compare these John Ford movies to the early movies of Martin Scorsese. He also had good movies, mixed with a few brilliant movies, and then later in his career everything looks brilliant due to the practice he acquired on his early movies.  It’s too bad nobody gets the opportunity to make 139 movies these days.

Ronald Coleman and Helen Hayes do a great job acting in this movie. I am not as familiar with them as I should be, but I was impressed by both of them here, and I will be looking for more of their work soon.

Arrowsmith lost Best Picture to Grand Hotel, but it still is a good movie, and if you get the opportunity to watch it, I would certainly take the chance. It only runs 99 minuets, and was a good story; much like a lot of the early 1930’s movies.