POORGOOD Very Good MASTERPIECE| Shadow
of a Doubt (1943) I've often wondered why Hitchcock considered this film his best ? Its very good certainly but why not Vertigo, Psycho or a few others ? Maybe he liked the small-town American atmosphere and the idea of evil entering into that world. It is often considered his first REAL American film, in that the previous ones owed a lot to the spy chases of his British period. It is very well written and acted perhaps lacking the big setpieces some Hitchcock films have, it is one of his quietest films and doesn't really erupt into major action until Cotten corners Teresa Wright on the train near the end. |
108 min, Black & White Director Alfred Hitchcock Cast Includes Teresa Wright Joseph Cotten Macdonald Carey Patricia Collinge Henry Travers Wallace Ford Hume Cronyn Messageboard Discussion |
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| She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) A very good film in which Wayne gives one of his most moving performances as Captain Nathan Brittles. The scene when he says goodbye to his men is particularly memorable. |
103 min, Color
Director John Ford Cast Includes John Wayne Joanne Dru John Agar Ben Johnson Harry Carey, Jr. Victor McLaglen Messageboard Discussion |
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| Shane
(1953) Faultness casting (Allan Ladd, Van Heflin, Brandon de Wilde and Jean Arthur are perfect) and a depth to relationships between the characters made this George Stevens' directed western stick out from the crowd of similar films about cattlemen trying to force homesteaders of their land. It also helped that the photography is breathtaking : its a film loved by many, most want Shane to come back in another viewing. |
118 min,Color
Director George Stevens Cast Includes Alan Ladd Jean Arthur Van Heflin Jack Palance Brandon de Wilde Ben Johnson Edgar Buchanan Emile Meyer Elisha Cook, Jr. Messageboard Discussion |
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| Sherlock Junior (1924) It is a very good film and very cinematic. It almost sums up Keaton's attitudes to his art. The fact that he was so interested in using "cinema" and the mechanics of it in his films. He didn't resort though to camera trickery for its own sake as some lesser comedians did. The sequence in which he walks into the cinema screen is incredible even today. Keaton's cameraman Elgin Lessley had to film the theatre set and cinema shots which cut to exteriors as two separate negatives on the same strip of film, matching them precisely. The dream movie sequence also feeds into Keaton's love for satirising dramatic films of the period. On that level it works very well, it is quite exciting and dramatic how Buster defeats the bad guys and avoids being blown up by the fake pool balls. Some scholars have suggested that there may be footage missing from the film though I can't confirm if this is true. |
45 min, Black & White
Director Buster Keaton Cast Includes Buster Keaton Kathryn McGuire Ward Crane Joseph Keaton Erwin Connolly Horace Morgan Messageboard Discussion |
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| Sign of the Cross (1932) This is one of DeMille's best sound films though I also like the western The Plainsman (1936) and even have a soft spot for the excesses of The Ten Commandments (1956). Its certainly his best 30s film for me, Fredric March is rather bland it is Colbert and Laughton that steal this one, the former lusting after March, the latter overacting deliciously as Nero. In many ways its a typical precode movie and a good example of the way DeMille was able to get past the censors. Most famously in the scene in which Colbert invites a female friend into a milk bath with "Take your clothes off and tell me all about it," or similar. |
118 min,Black & White
Director Cecil B. De Mille Cast Includes Fredric March Elissa Landi Claudette Colbert Charles Laughton Messageboard Discussion |
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Written content of the Golden Age of Hollywood Website (except where indicated) copyright Derek McLellan, 2007.