The Perpetual Three-Dot Column
The Perpetual Three-Dot Column
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by Jesse Walker

Thursday, December 31, 2020
FIFTYSOMETHING: I've gone through my favorite films of
2010, 2000, 1990, 1980, 1970, and 1960. And now...

When the Motion Picture Academy looked back at 1950, it gave its Best Picture award to a backstage drama called All About Eve. That one made it onto my honorable mentions list, but it didn't break into the top 10:

1. Orpheus
Written and directed by Jean Cocteau

Dreams, death, mirrors, mysterious radio transmissions, and the underworld.

2. Rashomon
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto, from two stories by Ryûnosuke Akutagawa

Four versions of the same event. Each account seems to circle closer to the truth, Kane-style, but by the time it's over you may doubt that you could ever arrive at the full facts.

3. Harvey
Directed by Henry Koster
Written by Mary Chase, Oscar Brodney, and Myles Connolly, from a play by Chase

"I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."

4. Sunset Blvd.
Directed by Billy Wilder
Written by Wilder, Charles Brackett, and D.M. Marshman Jr.

Part jet-black comedy, part backlot noir. If they burned all the movies about making movies, this is the one I'd miss the most.

5. Where the Sidewalk Ends
Directed by Otto Preminger
Written by Ben Hecht with Victor Trivas, Frank P. Rosenberg, and Robert E. Kent, from a novel by William L. Stuart

"I didn't know a guy could hate that much. Not even you."

6. Les Enfants Terribles
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Written by Melville and Jean Cocteau, from a novel by Cocteau

This feels more like a Cocteau movie than a Melville movie, and Cocteau was in fact present for some of the filming. At one point he called out "Cut!" while a scene was being shot, compelling Melville to throw him off the set.

7. Gone to Earth
Written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

The images of nature here are so vivid and haunting that I'm not sure if they're underlining the characters' passions or if those passions are just a temporary extension of the landscape.

8. In a Lonely Place
Directed by Nicholas Ray
Written by Andrew Solt with Edmund H. North, from a story by Dorothy B. Hughes

This and Sunset Blvd. would make an interesting double bill.

9. Night and the City
Directed by Jules Dassin
Written by Jo Eisinger, from a novel by Gerald Kersh

After you watch this, look up the contemporaneous reviews that damned it as sordid trash. Then ask yourself which entertainments being damned in similar terms today will turn out to be enduring works of art.

10. House by the River
Directed by Fritz Lang
Written by Mel Dinelli, from a novel by A.P. Herbert

This low-budget Southern Gothic noir didn't get much attention when it came out, and Lang later said he didn't care for it. I think it's one of the best films he made in America.

Honorable mentions:

11. Stromboli (Roberto Rossellini)
12. The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston)
13. Los Olvidados (Luis Buñuel)
14. Rabbit of Seville (Chuck Jones)
15. Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann)
16. La Beauté du Diable (René Clair)
17. All About Eve (Joseph L. Manckiewicz)
18. Story of a Love Affair (Michelangelo Antonioni)
19. Last Holiday (Henry Cass)
20. Devil's Doorway (Anthony Mann)

Of the films of 1950 that I haven't seen, I'm most interested in En Passant Par La Lorraine.


posted by Jesse 9:47 AM
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