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1941 Films, Bette Davis, Drama, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Collinge, Teresa Wright, William Wyler

The Little Foxes-1941

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The Little Foxes-1941

Director William Wyler

Starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright

Scott’s Review #866

Reviewed February 14, 2019

Grade: A-

Candidly speaking any film starring the ravishing and dynamic Bette Davis is worthy of a watch but The Little Foxes (1941) was released during the Hollywood legend’s heyday and the actress elicits a strong character portrayal.

The film is a complex story of Southern scheming and contains enough intrigue to keep the viewer compelled after a slow start.

Filmed in black and white and due to its age the film quality, is not the best the story nonetheless builds in suspense, especially during the final thirty minutes. This culminates in a frantic conclusion with Davis deservedly taking center stage.

Southern matriarch Regina Hubbard Giddens (Davis) is sophisticated and angry. The female member of an affluent family in a time when men rule the roost and her brothers control the family money leaving her with little power.

Living nearby, Benjamin (Charles Dingle) and Oscar (Carl Benton Reid) flaunt their wealth while Regina struggles for every crumb she can get. After the family embarks on a deal to profit from a cotton mill merger Regina schemes to score riches by any means necessary.

The southern setting with luxurious estates and more than its share of cultural and cuisine flavors serves The Little Foxes well with a palpable atmospheric style. With an antebellum, white dress, grits, and brandy featured, the goodness and girth of a proper way of living are featured.

Prominent black characters exist, primarily serving as the household help or various service roles to white folks, for 1941 this was considered progressive for studios to feature minorities so heavily and must be praised for the inclusiveness.

Throughout the run of the film, I felt a push/pull whether I sympathized with Regina or despised the character.

Comparisons to Gone With the Wind (1939) entered my mind many having to do with Regina herself. Flirtatious when she wants to be coquettish to fit her needs, she is a cross between Scarlett and Melanie.

I even began to champion the character at one point and the plight of a female in the early 1900s with the impossibility of being taken seriously as a businesswoman.

The Little Foxes is brazen in that it champions a strong and determined female character. Regina will not merely stand behind any man but chooses to stand on her own two feet.

Cinema in the 1940s is known for branching out female characters as independent and self-sufficient and this film certainly serves as a prime example of this movement.

In the film’s final act there can be no denying the true colors of Regina and any sympathy or comparisons to the characters are ultimately dismissed diabolically. The character is faced with the choice to either do the right thing and save a life or cross the line and let a beloved character die.

When she chooses the latter the scene is pivotal and filled with emotion. She has made an important decision that she can never turn back from.

Director William Wyler shoots the astounding Davis in myriad ways all central to the character’s particular motivations. Appearing determined and driven in some scenes and downright devious in others Davis is masterful at doing so much with her enormous and expressionistic eyes.

The Little Foxes portrays her as a complex and unrelenting character tailor-made for Davis’s talents.

To say that Regina gets away with murder is an unfair statement. Wyler makes it clear that despite benefiting financially the character is forever shrouded in suspicion by her brother and her daughter (Teresa Wright) who decidedly embarks on a new life in Chicago never to see her mother again.

This leaves Regina fearful and lonely in her grand house.

The Little Foxes (1941) succeeds as a showcase for the emerging talents of stalwart Bette Davis as well as a good, solid drama. Schemes, conspiracy, and backstabbing are prevalent themes, but the film also contains a melancholy subtext of loneliness and fear.

Appropriately Ms. Davis is awarded the final shot, a closeup that reveals the star power she had begun to muster as her career was in full swing.

Oscar Nominations: Outstanding Motion Picture, Best Director-William Wyler, Best Actress-Bette Davis, Best Supporting Actress-Patricia Collinge, Teresa Wright, Best Screenplay, Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Film Editing

1946 Films, Best Picture Oscar Winners, Cathy O'Donnell, Dana Andrews, Drama, Fredric March, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, William Wyler

The Best Years of Our Lives-1946

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The Best Years of Our Lives-1946

Director William Wyler

Starring Frederic March, Myrna Loy

Scott’s Review #858

Reviewed January 20, 2019

Grade: A

Many films emerged during the 1940s that depicted horrific events occurring during the violence of World War II. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is the first film to focus on the aftermath of the war and the lasting psychological effects placed upon soldiers and their loved ones.

The film may teeter toward the soap opera territory. Still, it is powerful, dramatic, tender, and heartfelt, allowing its audience to experience the challenges of those who serve their country following their service.

Director William Wyler, who also created the similarly themed Mrs. Miniver (1942) again treads into the family drama genre, but this time stages the drama in small-town America rather than outside London.

While Mrs. Miniver focuses on the ravages of the existing war, he chooses to delve into the after-effects that offer more range and complicated situations. The result is a heftier and more cerebral experience.

The story revolves around three United States servicemen attempting to readjust to civilian life upon their return home from the battlegrounds of World War II. Homer (Harrold Russell), Al (Frederic March), and Fred (Dana Andrews) all reside in the same small town of Boone City, USA.

The men were acquaintances but did not serve together in the war as each had a different rank and duties.

Al has the most going for him with a loving wife Milly (Myrna Loy) two children in tow and a stable household. He is promoted to Vice President of a local bank, but despite this achievement is a heavy drinker and prone to anger.

He is enraged at the poor treatment of veterans trying to obtain bank loans and in the United States for hindering veterans’ attempts at rebuilding their lives. His adult daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright) is a prominent character as she begins a flirtation with Fred.

Fred is unskilled and must return to his menial job as a drugstore soda jerk much to his selfish wife Marie’s (Virginia Mayo) chagrin. Homer has lost both hands in the war and wears mechanical hooks for hands rendering him insecure and troubled.

His days as a respected high school football quarterback have sadly ended though he has unflinching support from his fiance, Wilma (Cathy O’Donnell).

The trials and tribulations of many of the characters begin to mount as one character fights with another over a dispute about the meaning of the war. Another character plots to ruin a marriage and embark on a plan to rescue a character from another.

The plots run the risk of being too daytime drama-like except that the underlying point of the troubled veterans is always at the forefront and their challenges to be taken seriously.

A poignant moment is a crucial scene when one character admits that they have “given up the best years of my life”, a frustrated testimonial and proof that war can ravage not only the lives of the veterans but of their loved ones.

Wyler pulls no punches in harboring a clear message to the film. The viewer will undoubtedly ponder the film’s title, “The Best Years of Our Lives” and realize that this is open to different interpretations and not only a positive connotation.

The most powerful aspect of The Best Years of Our Lives is that actor Harold Russell, playing a military veteran was a disabled military veteran. This realism of a man portraying himself and the terrible effects the war had on him makes his character my favorite and highly empathetic.

His Academy Award wins for Best Supporting Actor are emotional and deserving as a win for Best Picture and seven other wins.

Featuring a topic just beginning to gain awareness post World War II, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is a grand Hollywood film containing all the trimmings of good classic drama.

Under the surface, the film is dripping with relevance, social commentary, and the psychological trauma that veterans face upon returning home and how some are damaged beyond repair. The rich American-style film remains a worthy watch on the cusp of nearly a century since production wrapped.

Oscar Nominations: 7 wins-Best Motion Picture (won), Best Director-William Wyler (won), Best Actor-Fredric March (won), Best Supporting Actor- Harold Russell (won), Best Screenplay (won), Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (won), Best Sound Recording, Best Film Editing (won)

1942 Films, Best Picture Oscar Winners, Dame May Whitty, Drama, Greer Garson, Henry Travers, Peter Lawford, Romantic Drama, Teresa Wright, Walter Pidgeon, War, William Wyler

Mrs. Miniver-1942

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Mrs. Miniver-1942

Director William Wyler

Starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon

Scott’s Review #841

Reviewed December 13, 2018

Grade: A-

Released in 1942 amid the horrific World War II, Mrs. Miniver (1942) was a smash hit, winning over audiences concerned with the troubled and uncertain times.

Decades later the film does not age as well as other similarly themed films, but still entertains and tells a good story with an important theme.

The film is nestled in the war drama genre with romance. The film won numerous Oscars the year of its release including Best Picture and star Greer Garson winning for Best Actress.

The story is told from the perspective of an affluent British family and the struggles they face to keep things together during growing peril. The focus mostly remains on an unassuming housewife, Kay Miniver (Garson).

The supporting players do much to flesh out the film with wonderful performances by Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, and Henry Travers as Clem Miniver, Carol Beldon, and Mr. Ballard, respectively.

The direction by William Wyler is astounding and adds to the perfectly crafted ambiance and homey details.

The family lives a comfortable life in a whimsical village outside of London. Quite idealized, they own a large garden and a motorboat on the River Thames.

Along with Kay and Clem, their three children of varying ages and their housekeeper and cook reside with them. Besides the parents, the central couple is son Vin (Richard Ney) and the prominent Carol (Wright), the pair initially disagree on politics, but finally, fall madly in love.

As the soap-opera-style family situations continue the war grows closer and closer to their house.

As Mrs. Miniver progresses, Vin enlists in the army to assist with war efforts, a German Nazi breaks into the Miniver house, a central character dies, and bombs and planes crash.

Through it all, Kay remains stoic and takes the family through challenging situations adding much melodrama to the film. The woman’s journey and resolve to keep everything and everyone intact is at the core.

The film is mainly a family drama with the Minivers and the townspeople experiencing trials and tribulations. In this way, Mrs. Miniver risks being a one-trick pony, albeit an emotional and teary-eyed one.

The rich characteristics and the polished nature make the film more than it ought to be and the superlative cast and production values and the timeliness of the film’s release undoubtedly made it what it was in 1942.

In present times, however, Mrs. Miniver seems diminished in importance and relevance with a sappy and overly sentimental feel, World War II in the distant past, and several other wars come and gone.

Wyler carefully packaged the film to hit every emotion from the bombastic musical score to the proper English characters, to the comic relief housekeeper.

The film is a giant Hollywood production, but perhaps a bit too perfect to age with any zest or reason to watch more than once.

The film might be better remembered for its strong female lead. Told from Kay’s perspective, it was unusual in 1942 for a film (especially with a war theme) not to have the story from the male point of view. Still refreshing in 2018, this quality was downright groundbreaking at the time.

Kay stays strong and proud through the ravages of war that are closing in on her family with unbridled boldness and nary a simpering quality. An early champion for strong, female-driven characters and in a smaller way, Wright’s Carol is also a muscled female role model.

Mrs. Miniver (1942) is a well-crafted film of its time that displays lavish production values and strong characters worthy of admiration.

For a glimpse back into the 1940s capsule, especially for those fans of good, solid drama, the film is a major win. There are no major flaws to harp on, but the overall piece has not aged especially well and other similar films (Casablanca, 1942) are more memorable.

Oscar Nominations: 6 wins-Outstanding Motion Picture (won), Best Director-William Wyler (won), Best Actor-Walter Pidgeon, Best Actress-Greer Garson (won), Best Supporting Actor-Henry Travers, Best Supporting Actress-Teresa Wright (won), Dame May Whitty, Best Screenplay (won), Best Sound Recording, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (won), Best Film Editing, Best Special Effects

1943 Films, Alfred Hitchcock, Best Film of the Year, Henry Travers, Hume Cronyn, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Patricia Collinge, Scott's Top 100 Films, Teresa Wright, Thriller

Shadow of a Doubt-1943

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Shadow of a Doubt-1943

Director Alfred Hitchcock

Starring Joseph Cotten, Teresa Wright

Top 100 Films #40

Scott’s Review #117

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Reviewed July 17, 2014

Grade: A

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) is an Alfred Hitchcock film from 1943, made in black and white, that tells the story of a quaint California town with a killer in its midst. The town is idyllic and wonderful- folks go to church on Sunday and meet at the drug store for ice cream sodas.

The film was shot on location in a small town in California rather than on a sound stage, adding much authenticity.

The Newton family is at the center of the thriller, led by Charlie (Teresa Wright), a young woman who idolizes her recently visiting Uncle, also named Charlie (Joseph Cotton). They are very close- almost like father and daughter.

When Uncle Charlie is suspected of being the notorious Merry Widow Murderer, Charlie is conflicted. Could her Uncle be the murderer?

Shadow of a Doubt is one of Hitchcock’s simpler films and a huge plus is the town itself. It’s quiet, and family-oriented- what could go wrong? But evil embodies the town, and events slowly start turning dark.

A scene in which the family sits down for a quiet meal that turns into a conversation about death is famous and powerful. The train sequence is nicely shot. There is also a wonderful side plot involving two friends playing an innocent game of “how would I murder you?”, unaware of the irony of the game itself.

The film is not as flashy or complex as other Hitchcock films, specifically Vertigo, but that aspect works to its credit.

Hitchcock adored the idea of a small town with foreboding secrets and this film is quite the gem.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) is a good, old-fashioned thriller and a must-see for Hitchcock fans.