Your preference will come down to how well you like your schmaltz: Those with a taste for unadulterated sentimentality will likely lean more toward Capra, while those who like a healthy sprinkle of cynical realism on their holiday fare will probably go for George Seaton’s Miracle instead. Bette Davis stars as Regina Giddens, a Southern aristocrat living in a world where only sons were considered legal heirs—Regina’s been subverted by her greedy brothers and there are multiple conniving marriage plots around the consolidation of wealth. Happily, her no-longer-drunken ex is played by Cary Grant, who is a fabulous foil. Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Film Noir  •  Mystery  •  Political Thriller, John Huston  •   Go on: be cynical. The very fact of its existence (it was filmed in 1945 during the Nazi occupation of France, which of course created significant obstacles for director Marcel Carné ) seems to contribute to its rather magical quality. This is at once classic Howard Hawks and quite emotionally driven compared to many of his films. Otto Preminger’s masterful orchestration of convoluted twists and turns, and stellar performances by Tierney, make Laura a great film noir. The minute Russell’s Lindy Johnson stalks into the newspaper office run by her ex-husband Walter Burns (Grant), you know it’s to tell him she’s getting remarried and leaving journalism to raise a family, and you know that’s not how it’s going to end. —Bonnie Stiernberg. Ava Gardner, Albert Dekker, Jeff Corey, Orson Welles While the origin of the film’s concept was fairly mundane (Disney wanted a star vehicle for Mickey Mouse, whose ratings were flagging). Not infrequently dubbed the best French film of all time, this is the movie Truffaut said he’d revoke his entire oeuvre to have directed. The cumulative effect represents a primal deviation—make that devolution—from social conformity and civilization. Release Calendar DVD & Blu-ray Releases Top Rated Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Showtimes & Tickets In Theaters Coming Soon Coming Soon Movie News India Movie Spotlight. The effect of Kurosawa’s technique is dizzying, all the better to reinforce Stray Dog’s central theme, in which the line between lawmen and criminals is irrevocably blurred. With a beauty for the ages as his star, Vidor doesn’t have to do much, and his static, voyeuristic direction shows in fact he didn’t. —A.C. RKO cut the film from two hours, five minutes to one hour, twenty minutes and showed it in mono to trim costs.  •   Starring: The story of a proud, well-off Midwestern family whose position and stability are compromised by the advent of the automobile, The Magnificent Ambersons was itself a victim of the vicissitudes of mass production-but that hasn’t stopped it from being an enduring and masterful Welles classic.  •   Starring: Jean Marais (Beast) and Josette Day (Belle) deliver enchanting performances. In fact, try to blink as little as possible. This is not a bad movie; in fact it’s a treasure. A historical piece set in the 1820s Paris theater world, it centers on an enigmatic performer named Garence (Arletty) and four men who are drawn to her, each for slightly different reasons. Late Spring isn’t about American control of Japanese territories in the 1940s; rather, it’s about a father and daughter going about their business within that world, a film that honors minutiae and celebrates the mundane with superlative grace. Hilariously acted and expertly filmed, His Girl Friday derives much of its comedic impact from the incredibly clever and lightning-fast banter of the characters. Greed is not good. Starring: Peter Lorre plays the surgeon, who has altered Jonathan’s face to make him look like Boris Karloff (naturally). Basil Rathbone, Hillary Brooke, Milburn Stone, Otto Preminger Widely regarded as one of the finest ghost stories of the ’40s, The Uninvited carries itself with a dignity not seen in most Universal monster movies or Poverty Row cheapies. (Hint: It weaponizes.) The film almost demands to be seen twice for the sheer volume of slants and revelations. There are Claude Rains and Cary Grant both ass over teakettle for Bergman (and how could you not be?). Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock were doing some of their best work. ), Bergman’s Dr. Petersen isn’t as emotionless as she seems, and justice is served in the end-all good. The 1940s saw the rise of Technicolor but also of film noir with its dark, cynical, moody and fatalistic stories of hard-boiled detectives and treacherous women. —J.V. The choice to play both the tyrant and the oppressed man was an inspired one, underscoring the frightening but inescapable truth that we all contain a little bit of both characters. But today George Cukor’s suspense-gem has also attained mandatory-viewing status because it is the source text for the term “gaslighting.” The word has been swept into public discourse and mass misuse and misunderstanding. The American occupation whitewashes and corrupts Japanese culture in equal measure, and Drunken Angel captures it all with deft humanism. 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