British Films of the 1940s

The 1940s in Great Britain were a very interesting time in cinema not in the least due to the country being at war, but also the changing social norms and societal shifts that war brought with it. At the beginning of the war, cinemas were temporarily closed, as they thought the light they would produce would be a target for German air raids. They quickly re-opened however, with the government realising the potential of cinema to boost morale, entertain and to distribute wartime propaganda. What I find interesting is that many of the films at such a time when you would think conservatism would be high, are rather transgressive in terms of gender roles and sexuality; and also deal with complex emotions about nationalism and Britishness during a time of great uncertainty and fear. 

The 49th Parallel (1941) Powell and Pressburger 

The 49th Parallel is the second film Powell and Pressburger made in the 1940s. The 49th Parallel is a circle of latitude and is supposed to locate US-Canadian border international border. The BMI approached the duo asking them to make a propaganda film, and the film was intended to show the then neutral Americans that the threat of war was right on their doorstep.The plot is simple: six marooned Nazi sailors are shipwrecked in Hudson Bay. They attempt to avoid capture by sneaking across Canada with a goal to get into the neutral USA territory. Despite trying to travel incognito, they manage to reveal their evil "Naziness" by brutalising a range of characters in the film, including a dashing Laurence Olivier who plays a French Canadian Trapper. There are a range of other brave men and the propaganda is clear in this film. Not Powell and Pressburger's best film, but definitely worth watching in terms of it's social comment at the beginning of the war. In light of the new Brad Pitt film 'Fury' it's clear to see that propaganda films are still being made today with great popularity. The difference being that the latter is not open about its intentions as propaganda, but masquerades it behind a heavy disguise of overt masculinity. The film can be seen here


Brief Encounter (1945) David Lean (director) Noel Coward (screenplay)

This is perhaps my favourite British film of the 40s. It's material is progressive and even feminist in the agency of the female lead. Celia Johnson, playing Laura, the happy, if a little bored, middle class wife, has a chance meeting with Alec (Trevor Howard) in a train station tea shop. The two develop an easy friendship, and quickly fall in love. What is interesting about this film is that her marriage, while a little dull is fairly happy, and her husband is kind and affectionate. The love affair is never demonised and she is not punished for loving outside her marriage. She never stops loving her husband or children, but she feels a passionate love for Alec, who is also married. The film shared the Grand Prix du Festival International du film (predecessor to the Palme d'Or) at Cannes in 1946 with the notable Roma, città aperta by Rossellini and Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend - both excellent films in their own right. 

Black Narcissus (1947) Powell and Pressburger (directors)
This film is based on the novel by the same name by Rumer Godden. It's about a group of nuns who are invited to make use of an old harem located high in the Himalayas. The tensions of trying to create a convent and church in the 'house of women' is the beginning of the mounting tensions in this beautifully constructed film. The main character, Sister Clodagh is played by Deborah Kerr who captures the naivety and innocence of a young Sister Superior. The nuns are surrounded by sensuality, both in their convent's history and in the landscape and people of the mountain. The local British Agent, Mr Dean, played by a laid back and charming David Farrar, creates jealousy and obsession with Clodagh and the mentally unstable Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron). One can almost imagine the characters of sister Ruth and Sister Clodagh to be two parts of the same psyche, with one giving into lust and madness. The film builds to a terrifying climax with incredible cinematography. Although shot entirely on sets in the Ealing studio, the backdrop nevertheless feels incredibly real and luscious. Shot in beautiful technicolour, this film is a real visual delight, as well as being a tense psychological thriller. 

Early films

I once made a list of my favourite early films made in 1940 or before for my dear friends Simon and Adam who were my UWA Library colleagues. I came across my list today and I thought I'd post the list on my film blog. My next post will be about the amazing British films of the 1940s, particularly those made by Powell and Pressburger.

Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror (1922) F.W Murnau

A film that has entered popular culture and has been adapted and referenced many times in film and television. Max Schreck stars as the diabolical vampire Count Olaf in this early German Expressionist horror film. The film is genuinely scary and I think this is because it's the first time anything like this was shown on film. Being the source material for the myriad of jokes and cliches surrounding Dracula, the film takes its source material seriously and the full horror of a vampire crouching in the shadows of your bedroom with murderous intent is fully realised. The only adaptation of Nosferatu I really like is the film of the same name directed by Herzog, who adapts this silent classic almost scene for scene with Klaus Kinski in the eponymous role. 

Haxan (1923) Benjamin Christensen

This is an odd silent film 'documentary' by a Danish filmmaker which explores the nature and history of witchcraft. It has the wonderful dramatic re-enactments all good documentaries should have, but it truly has some frightening images reminiscent of a classic horror film. Christensen based a lot of the film's material on his reading of the Malleus Maleficarum and also explores how mental illness or deformity was often mistaken for Witchcraft. Part documentary, part horror film whose scenes of nudity, sexual desire and satanic rituals got it banned in many countries. Like Nosferatu, it has some genuinely scary scenes, and the special effects have stood the test of time. 

Sherlock Jnr (1924) Joseph M Schenck

This is the one of the best Buster Keaton films. It's so wonderfully ahead of its time and extremely funny. Keaton's dream sequence features him jumping into a film screen where he is transformed into the dapper Sherlock Junior -  trying to prove his innocence regarding the theft of a string of pearls belonging to his paramour. 

 Un Chien Andalou (1929) and L'age d'or (1930) Luis Buñuel

Both most known for shocking scenes: erotic toe sucking, which got got the latter banned and the 'slicing up eyeballs' of the first. Salvadore Dali co-directed Un Chien Andalou, and it really is just a stream of images and scenes with no real connecting plot. It's the more surreal of the two films, and I enjoyed 'L'age d'or (The Golden Age) more.

You can watch the film full of 'L'age d'or here.

 'M' (1931) Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang's 'M' is one of the best suspense thrillers I've ever seen. Peter Lorre is brilliant in the role of Hans Becker. The film features many interesting camera angles and strange shots of exposed beams and dark corners. This all adds to a claustrophobia and a sense of impending doom. The speech at the end by Peter Lorre is truly amazing.

Duck Soup (1933) Leo McCary

My favourite Marx Bros film. Features the hilarious three hat routine and the mirror sequence. An interesting fact is the Mussolini banned the film in Italy as he took Groucho's character Rufus T Firefly as a personal attack. This pleased Groucho! 

The 39 Steps (1935) Alfred Hitchcock 

I love these 'wronged man' Hitchcock films. In fact, this was his first film of this type. Robert Donat is terrific and the plot is tight and suspenseful. It's got all the hallmarks of a great Hitchcock film with the mystery unravelling piece by piece with perfect timing. You are there with the character as he runs from the law across Europe and discover with him what the mysterious 39 Steps are as he desperately tries to prove his innocence in relation to a grisly murder.

Pépé le Moko (1937) Julien Duvivier

Jean Gabin! He's so great in this film. It's about a French outlaw living in the Casbah who dreams of going home to Paris. He meets a beautiful French tourist who then embodies all that he loves about France. The best part of this film is the wonderful alleyways and maze like nature of the Casbah which mirrors his feeling of entrapment and despair.

Rebecca (1940) Alfred Hitchcock

A truly brilliant film based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier. Ah, who doesn't love Laurence Olivier in a mysterious role like Maxim De Winter?  Not to mention the wonderful nameless woman (Joan Fontaine) having to compete with the immortal presence of Rebecca in the gothic mansion by the sea! Judith Andersen plays the creepy housekeeper, Mrs Danvers who likes to fondle a dead lady's underwear and lurk in the shadows threateningly. The prolepsis is perfect as is the coupling of Fontaine and Olivier in this Hitchcock classic.

The Place Beyond the Pines

This new film by Derek Cianfrance, the director of Blue Valentine, is truly marvellous with its engaging drama, it's an epic scope of tragedy and a brilliant narrative. Ryan Gosling stars as Luke, the young daredevil motorcycle stunt rider.

The start of the film has the camera following Luke (Scorcese style) towards his performance tent where he and two other stunt riders ride their bikes around a small metal circle cage defying gravity and wowing the crowds. The story unfolds in Schenectady, New York as Luke meets up with an ex-girlfriend Romina and learns that he has a one year old son. Romina has a new partner and Luke tries (and fails) to fit himself back into her life, and take over the role of father to his young son Jason. Luke ends up working and living with an ageing mechanic who takes him in, befriends him and convinces him that the way to provide for his new family is by robbing a few local banks.

The film also features the story of of a cop played by Bradley Cooper whose life becomes entangled in Luke's in a profound way. Unlike Blue Valentine, the story is chronological, although it spans many years. The feeling you get with this story is that the characters are victims of circumstance. The narrative rules them and their actions rather than the other way around.

Many people have criticised Cianfrance for using such an epic scope with his film, I however felt that the film reminded me of Oliver Hirschbiegel's film 'Five Minutes of Heaven' which also spans across many years to show the effect of one event on not only the lives on individuals, but the profound effect these events can have on a community. This film also reminded me of old folk stories about the feuds between fathers that are passed on to their sons. These plot elements combined with an excellent script and very well acted roles makes this one of the highlight films of the year so far for me.

Antonioni and his trilogy on modernity and its discontents

Michelangelo Antonioni, like his contemporary, Frederico Fellini, began his film career making neorealist Italian films. Both directors moved to a new form of film making in the 1960s focusing on the modern life of upper middle class Italians. These films focused on their languid, weary sense of ennui and alienation. Antonioni has been praised as a director who "redefined the concept of narrative cinema." His characteristic long shots, and his rejection of realism, traditional plot structure and drama all work towards films which invoke contemplation and emotion through design and set. This removal of emotional connection with the characters, combined with the jarring of traditional expectations of narrative further enforce the themes of social alienation and disconnectedness.

The trilogy of films comprising L'avventura (1960), La Notte (1961) and L'eclisse (1962) encapsulate a modern weariness, a strong sense of alienation and disconnection, and a phlegmatic dispassion. The first in the trilogy was booed at Cannes 1960, but upon a second screening, it won the Jury Prize. The plot is not typical: rich people arrive by yacht at a small island off the Amalfi coast. A girl goes missing after telling her boyfriend she wants to be alone. When it comes time to leave, the girl Anna is not found. A night long search follows, and she is still not found. She is never found, and this tension is never resolved in the film.

The film focuses on the characters and their discontented lives and relationships. The theme running through the trilogy of films is a strong sense of ennui associated with upper middle class Italian life. The characters only interact emotionally with each other through sex, flirtation or competitiveness. Real intimacy is rarely seen. Antonioni is observing the discontents of modernity in society, the inability for people to connect and the banality of middle class existence. This trilogy is poignant and interesting in terms of its character development, and exploration of themes. These are brilliantly shot films, with Antonioni's symbolic and often claustrophobic attention to detail. I really love how Antonioni creates this wonderful languidness and characters with no destination in mind, just indulgence and yet a searching for meaning or maybe just mere entertainment.

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