When the Motion Picture Academy looked at 1949, it gave its Best Picture award to All the King's Men, a thinly veiled account of the career of Huey Long. It's one of those "serious" Hollywood movies that can't live up to their pretentions, but I couldn't help enjoying it—Long is pretty much the most interesting political figure in American history, and it's fascinating to watch Hollywood react to him when he was still a relatively fresh memory. But enjoying a movie is one thing; putting it on a year's-best list is another.
1. The Third Man
Directed by Carol Reed
Written by Graham Greene
"Death's at the bottom of everything, Martins. Leave death to the professionals."
2. Stray Dog
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Kurosawa and Ryuzo Kikushima
Not just a riveting noir, but a meditation on how much responsibility the ordinary Japanese citizen bears for the crimes of the militarist government. It has (cough) relevance beyond Japan.
3. White Heat
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, from a story by Virginia Kellogg
I never understood the Cagney cult until I saw this movie.
4. Little Rural Riding Hood
Directed by Tex Avery
Written by Rich Hogan and Jack Cosgriff
The high point of Avery's Riding Hood cycle.
5. Kind Hearts and Coronets
Directed by Robert Hamer
Written by Hamer and John Dighton, from a novel by Roy Horniman
A dark comedy from Ealing Studios, which specialized in this sort of small, understatedly funny film. It was a good year for Ealing: The company also made Passport to Pimlico, which you'll find elsewhere on this list, and Whisky Galore!, which isn't on the list but just barely missed it.
6. Passport to Pimlico
Directed by Henry Cornelius
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
The most Chestertonian comedy I've ever seen. "We've always been English and we'll always be English; and it's precisely because we are English that we're sticking up for our right to be Burgundians."
7. Thieves' Highway
Directed by Jules Dassin
Written by A.I. Bezzerides, from his novel
Truck-driving noir.
8. The Reckless Moment
Directed by Max Ophüls
Written by Mel Dinelli, Robert E. Kent, Henry Garson, and Robert Soderberg, from a story by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
"You're quite a prisoner, aren't you?"
9. Jour de Fête
Directed by Jacques Tati
Written by Tati, Henri Marquet, and René Wheeler
The slapstick ballet of a rural postman.
10. The Set-Up
Directed by Robert Wise
Written by Art Cohn, from a poem by Joseph Moncure March
"I remember the first time you told me that. You were just one punch away from the title shot then. Don't you see, Bill? You'll always be just one punch away."
Honorable mentions:
11. Bad Luck Blackie (Tex Avery)
12. Long-Haired Hare (Chuck Jones)
13. I Was a Male War Bride (Howard Hawks)
14. Blood of the Beasts (Georges Franju)
15. Señor Droopy (Tex Avery)
16. D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté)
17. Twelve O'Clock High (Henry King)
18. The Queen of Spades (Thorold Dickinson)
19. Flamingo Road (Michael Curtiz)
20. The Heiress (William Wyler)
Of the films of 1949 that I haven't seen, I'm most interested in The Silence of the Sea.
