January 1945. Seven months after Allied forces land on the beaches of Normandy, the War continues, but the end is nigh. The Nazis are running. France hasn't been overrun by the Vichy collaborators since the previous August. MacArthur's returned to the Phillippines. And halfway through the month, Hitler's in the bunker.
And Hollywood? The entertainment continued, as did the war films, as did the not-war-but-totally-wink-wink-The War films. As you can see:
Belle of the Yukon
release: January
nominations: Best Musical Score (Arthur Lange), Best Original Song ("Sleigh Ride in July")
dir/pr: William A. Seiter
scr: James Edward Grant, story by Houston Branch
cin: Ray Rennahan
In which stripper Gypsy Rose Lee plays the new star of a saloon in the Yukon - whose owner, she soon learns, is a conman she knew back in Seattle. Gypsy's not gonna win any acting awards, but she's good enough here, and there's a lot of fun in the back-and-forth between her and Randolph Scott. Dinah Shore, delightful as always, is also here, as is Florence Bates as Gypsy's dresser and formidable companion. One of those films, too, that reminds you how unfair it was that Best Costume Design didn't become a thing until 1947.
The Thin Man Goes Home
release: January
dir: Richard Thorpe
pr: Everett Riskin
scr: Robert Riskin and Dwight Taylor, story by Robert Riskin and Harry Kurnitz, from characters created by Dashiell Hammett
cin: Karl Freund
I guess at this point, they had given up on the idea that "the thin man" was the corpse in the first film and now applied it fully to Nick Charles, the unflappable, boozed-up private eye. Here, he and Nora go to visit Nick's family in his small hometown, with Nora pushing Nick to find a crime to solve in order to impress his skeptical father - and, yeah, a dead body winds up on the front porch. A mystery with so many red herrings and moving pieces, it would be ridiculous were it not handled just so...beautifully. And, somehow, credibly: there are a lot of sins in a small town. Also credible: Lucile Watson and Harry Davenport as Nick's parents. So far, this would be #2 of the four Thin Man films I've seen - I've yet to see the original, by the way.
Mr. Emmanuel
release: January 6
dir: Harold French
pr: William Sistrom
scr: Louis Golding / Gordon Wellesley, from the novel by Louis Golding
cin: Otto Heller
A British Jew meets refugee children and goes to Europe to find out what happened to their parents. An exposé of the antisemitic insanity running rampant in Hitler's Europe, it's horrifying (Kafka-esque?) to see the machinations of bureaucracy put to such wicked ends. It's also frustrating to see Mr. Emmanuel just kind of going, "Now, now, now, see here, this won't do, I made a promise, let's be civil." There is a courage to his straight talk, but you also want to grab him by the shoulders and say, "You're going to get other people killed!" Well, it's an effective movie, and Felix Aylmer is terrific in a rare leading role. Worth noting: 21 days after this movie's US release, Auschwitz and Birkenau are liberated.
Tonight and Every Night
release: January 9
nominations: Best Musical Score (Marlin Skiles / Morris Stoloff), Best Original Song ("Anywhere")
dir/pr: Victor Saville
scr: Lesser Samuels & Abem Finkel, from the play Heart of a City by Lesley Storm
cin: Rudolph Maté
The story of the Music Box Theatre in London, which never closes despite the Blitz and the War - based upon the Windmill Theatre, later immortalized in the Judi Dench vehicle Mrs. Henderson Presents. Rita Hayworth plays an American in the show. I think I liked the musical numbers enough?
A Song to Remember
release: January 18
nominations: Best Actor (Cornel Wilde), Best Original Story, Best Musical Score (Miklós Rózsa / Morris Stoloff), Best Cinematography - Color, Best Film Editing (Charles Nelson), Best Sound Recording (John P. Livadary)
dir: Charles Vidor
pr: Sidney Buchman / Louis F. Edelman
scr: Sidney Buchman, story by Ernst Marischka
cin: Allen M. Davey / Tony Gaudio
Terrible title: ironically, I can never recall it. Yet it's a fine motion picture, and I mean thst with a full clap on the shoulders, not a shrug. This is the story of Frederic Chopin, his rise to fame, his involvement in his home country Poland's fight for independence from Russia, his romance with George Sand, and his struggle with tuberculosis. Cornel Wilde is Chopin, yet he is behind Merle Oberon as Sand and Paul Muni as Chopin's dedicated teacher Professor Elsner - yet this is appropriate, as Chopin is here depicted as a man who voices his passions through his music, while his thoughts and feelings are vocalized by Elsner and Sand, arbiters of, respectively, his Faith (in his country) and his Art. I think that's quite clever, actually. Worth noting, by the way: the day before this film's US release, the Germans are out of Poland...and the Russians are in.
To Have and Have Not
release: January 20
dir/pr: Howard Hawks
scr: Jules Furthman and William Faulkner, from the novel by Ernest Hemingway
cin: Sidney Hickox
Often cited as a 1944 film, as that's when it debuted in New York City, but here it is, qualifying for 1945. Shades of Casablanca: Humphrey Bogart is in an exotic locale - Martinique, in this case - where fascists - that is, agents of Vichy France - are in charge, and Resistance fighters appeal to him for help...and then a woman shows up. As soon as Lauren Bacall shows up, the gravity shifts, both on screen and in whatever room you're in while watching it. Even if, somehow, you didn't know that they wound up together, you can still tell, watching them together feels intrusive, titillating, exciting. Somehow, despite already being a great actor, she makes him level up. Rest of the movie's great, too, by the way, from Hickox's cinematography to Charles Novi's sets to the ensemble that also includes Walter Brennan and Hoagy Carmichael.
The Jade Mask
release: January 26
dir: Phil Rosen
pr: James S. Burkett
scr: George Callahan, from the character created by Earl Derr Biggers
cin: Harry Neumann
There's murder afoot in an old, dark house, and once again, Charlie Chan, this time with #4 son Eddie, is called to investigate. Lot of weird "bits" in this one, almost like the studio's trying out possible characters to spin off into their own series. Eddie's definitely not #1.
National Velvet
release: January 26
wins: Best Supporting Actress (Anne Revere), Best Film Editing (Robert Kern)
nominations: Best Director, Best Cinematography - Color, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration - Color (Cedric Gibbons / Urie McCleary / Edwin B. Willis / Mildred Griffiths)
dir: Clarence Brown
pr: Pandro S. Berman / Clarence Brown
scr: Theodore Reeves and Helen Deutsch, from the novel by Enid Bagnold
cin: Leonard Smith
Young Elizabeth Taylor plays a girl who loves a horse and knows he has what it takes to win the Grand National; Mickey Rooney is a drifter who she convinces to help train the horse. When I first saw this movie, I exclaimed both to my mother and on Letterboxd that it is beautiful, and I stand by it. Not just for the look of it, though those luscious green fields, the familial interiors, the silken textures of the jockey outfit Velvet disguises herself in...: they all pop, it feels like every frame leaves you shaking your head in wonder. No, I mean what's beautiful is this sweet and seemingly simple story of a girl whose faith in those no one else believes in, encourages those very ones to prove themselves capable of more than even they themselves believed. You follow that? It's about redemption and possibilities and being satisfied with the experience itself, not seeking fame or riches from it, but finding joy in just doing ("a breathtaking piece of folly," in Mother Brown's words). Oh, just thinking of Anne Revere with her husband Donald Crisp smiling knowingly at each other, or, especially, her speaking with Velvet in the attic...oh, I don't even have to look up the scene for the tears to start and the warmth to fill my heart. What a picture!
Tomorrow, the beginning of a beautiful film career...
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