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Academy Awards
1941-1950
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Magic Lantern Video & Book Store Homepage
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"The Golden Age of Cinema: Hollywood, 1929-1945" [2007] by Richard B. Jewell Wiley-Blackwell 9x6 pb [10/2007] for $27.90 Wiley-Blackwell 9x6¼ hardcover [10/2007] for $84.95 |
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"Postwar Hollywood, 1946-1962" [2007] by Drew Casper Wiley-Blackwell pb [9/2007] for $42.95 |
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"American Cinema of The 1940s: Themes & Variations" [2005] Edited by Wheeler Winston Dixon Rutgers Univ Press 9x6 pb [12/2005] for $21.80 Rutgers Univ Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [12/2005] for $62.00 |
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"Movies of The 40s" [2005] by Jürgen Müller Taschen 9¾x8 pb [11/2005] for $26.39 |
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"The 1940s: American Popular Culture Through History" [2004] by Robert Sickels Greenwood Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [4/2004] for $51.95 |
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"Film Posters of The 40s: The Essential Movies of The Decade" [2002] Edited by Tony Nourmand & Graham Marsh Overlook 12½x10 hardcover [1/2003] for $22.05 Aurum pb [10/2002] for $18.47 |
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"The Finest Years: British Cinema of The 1940s" [1998] by Charles Drazin I.B. Tauris 9x6 pb [10/2007] for $19.95 Andre Deutsch Ltd. hardcover [3/98] out of print/used |
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"Boom and Bust: American Cinema In The 1940s" [1997] by Thomas Schatz (History of The American Cinema, Vol. 6) Univ CA Press 10x7 pb [11/99] for $27.50 Scribner's 10x7 hardcover [11/97] for $99.00 |
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"Hollywood's Best: The '40s" [1997]
artists include The Andrews Sisters, Fred Astaire, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Bob Eberly, Jimmy Durante, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Helen O'Connell, Jane Powell, Ann Sothern & Dooley Wilson, and the orchestras of Tex Beneke, Xavier Cugat, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey & Harry James Rhino Records/W.E.A. music CD [10/97] 16 tracks - out of prodn/used |
Sundog's 'The Forties' fansite
1941
complete listings of February 1942 Academy Awards for films of 1941 calendar year
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"How Green Was My Valley" [Fox Oct 1941] Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck; directed by John Ford [1894-1973]; adapted by Philip Dunne from the novel by Richard Llewellyn; starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp, Roddy McDowall, Sara Allgood & Barry Fitzgerald; won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best B&W Cinematography, Best B&W Art Direction, Best Supporting Actor [Crisp], Oscar nominations for Best Script, Best Supporting Actress [SA], Best Music Score [Alfred Newman], Best Film Editing & Best Sound; full credits from IMDb |
"Billy The Kid"
[M.G.M./Loew's May 1941]
full credits from IMDb
DVDs & videos, posters, books and more on the
Billy the Kid Page at 'Readers of The Purple Sage' Bookstore
"Blossoms In The Dust"
[M.G.M./Loew's July 1941]
full credits from IMDb
"Citizen Kane"
[Mercury/R.K.O. May 1941]
Generally considered the 'Best Film of All Time'
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Produced, co-written & directed by Orson Welles [1915-85]; co-written by Herman J. Mankiewicz; cinematography by Gregg Toland; music by Bernard Herrmann; co-starring Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, William Alland, Thomas Anderson, Paul Stewart & George Coulouris
Turner b&w DVD [9/2001] 2 disks for $16.97 Turner b&w VHS [8/96] out of prodn/many used Varese Sarabande soundtrack CD [11/99] for $16.18 full credits from IMDb 28"x39" one-sheet poster {at the left} available at AllPosters.com |
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"Citizen Kane" screenplay [2002] by Orson Welles & Herman J. Mankiewicz includes the essay "Raising Kane" by Pauline Kael Methuen Drama pb [5/2002] for $18.42 |
Magic Lantern's "Citizen Kane" 1941 Movie Page
"Here Comes Mr. Jordan"
[Columbia Aug 1941]
full credits from IMDb
"Hold Back the Dawn" [Paramount Sept 1941]
full credits from IMDb
"The Little Foxes"
[Samuel Goldwyn/R.K.O. Radio Pictures Aug 1941]
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A ruthless matriarch in the South of the late 1800s needs her estranged husband to agree to a shady business deal. Manipulation of their naive daughter brings the father home from Chicago, but he refuses to agree to the deal with her two brothers. She hatches a cunning plan that soon gets out of hand ...
Directed by William Wyler; screenplay by Lillian Hellman [1905-84], from her play; starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard Carlson, Dan Duryea, Patricia Collinge, Charles Dingle, Carl Benton Reid, Jessica Grayson, John Marriott & Russell Hicks; Oscar noms for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress (Davis), Best Supporting Actress (TW & PC), Best Music Score, Best Editing, Best Art Direction
MGM b&w DVD [9/2001] for $12.49 H.B.O. Home Video b&w DVD [7/98] out of prodn/used H.B.O. Home Video b&w VHS [9/97] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
"The Maltese Falcon"
[Warner Bros. Oct 1941]
more details (synopsis, books, spoofs, posters, links) on
BlackHat Mystery Bookstore's "The Maltese Falcon" 1941 Movie Page
Noir Film Festival Pages at BlackHat Mystery Bookstore
"One Foot In Heaven"
[Warner Bros. Nov 1941]
full credits from IMDb
"Sergeant York"
[Warner Bros. Sept 1941]
full credits from IMDb
"Suspicion" [R.K.O. Radio Pictures Nov 1941]
full credits from IMDb
1942
complete listings of March 1943 Academy Awards for films of 1942 calendar year
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"Mrs. Miniver" [M.G.M. June 1942]
full credits from IMDb |
"The Magnificent Ambersons"
[Mercury/R.K.O. July 1942]
Produced, co-written & directed by Orson Welles [1915-85]
full credits from IMDb
"The Pied Piper"
[Fox July 1942]
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An Englishman visiting France when the Germans suddenly invade the country agrees to escort two children back to England; as they hurry across France, his brood grows in size and the dangers increase.
Directed by Irving Pichel; script by Nunnally Johnson, from the novel by Nevil Shute; starring Monty Woolley, Roddy McDowall, Anne Baxter, Otto Preminger, J. Carrol Naish & Peggy Ann Garner; nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor {MW}, Best B&W Cinematography
video not available; full credits from IMDb |
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"The Pied Piper" [1942 novel] by Nevil Shute
House of Stratus 8x5½ pb [1/2000] for $8.95 Amereon 9¼x6 hardcover [6/82] for $26.95 |
1943
| | "Casablanca" [Warner Bros. Nov 1942] "Of all the websites in the world, you had to wander into this one." Produced by Hal B. Wallis; directed by Michael Curtiz; starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall, Dooley Wilson & Leonid Kinskey; won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director & Best Screenplay; Oscar noms for Best B&W Cinematography, Best Actor [HB], Best Supporting Actor [CR], Best Music Score [Max Steiner] & Best Film Editing; listed on the National Film Registry (1989); named the Best Screenplay of All Time by the Writers Guild of America (2006); full credits from IMDb Warner Home Video Special Edition b&w DVD [8/2003] 2 disks for $20.99
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more details (synopsis, books, posters, DVDs & videos) on the
"Casablanca" 1942 Movie Page
"The Ox-Bow Incident" [Fox May 1943]
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Directed by William A. Wellman; based on the Walter Van Tilburg Clark novel; starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn & Harry Morgan; Oscar nomination for Best Picture; listed at National Film Registry (1999)
Fox b&w DVD [11/2003] for $12.99 Fox b&w VHS [5/99] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
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Novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark [1940] Modern Library pb [3/2001] for $9.95 |
"Watch on the Rhine"
[Warner Bros. August 1943]
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A family flees to America from war-torn Europe; the German-born husband's involvment in the anti-Nazi underground is found out, and blackmail leads to murder.
Directed by Herman Shumlin; script by [blacklistee] Dashiell Hammett [1894-1961] from the play by [blacklistee] Lillian Hellman [1905-84]; starring Bette Davis & Paul Lukas; won Oscar for Best Actor, nominations for Best Picture, Best Script, Best Supporting Actress
Warner Video b&w VHS [3/2000] for $14.95 full credits from IMDb |
1944
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"Going My Way" [Paramount May 1944] full credits from IMDb |
"Double Indemnity" [Paramount Sept 1944]
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An insurance salesman plots with a beautiful client to murder her elderly husband for the insurance. But a company investigator suspects foul play, the old man's daughter accuses the woman of murdering her mother in order to marry him, and suddenly the salesman fears a double cross.
Co-written & directed by Billy Wilder; script co-written by Raymond Chandler [1888-1959] from the James M. Cain novel; starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Tom Powers & Edward G. Robinson; Oscar noms for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script, Best Actress [BS], Best Cinematography, Best Music Score, Best Sound; listed on National Film Registry 1992; listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Movies (/2005)
Universal b&w VHS [4/98] for $13.99 Image Ent b&w DVD [10/2000] out of stock/used 11"x17" poster available at AllPosters.com full credits on IMDb |
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"Double Indemnity" script by Billy Wilder & Raymond Chandler Univ CA Press 9x6 pb [12/2000] for $11.17 critical textbook [1992] by Richard Schickel
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1936 novel Vintage 8x5¼ pb [5/89] for $8.76 Amereon 9x6¼ hardcover [9/96] out of print/rare Caedmon UNABR audio CD [5/2005] for $18.87 |
1945
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"The Lost Weekend" [Paramount Nov 1945] full credits from IMDb |
1946
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"The Best Years of Our Lives" [Goldwyn/R.K.O. Nov 1946] full credits from IMDb |
"The Blue Dahlia"
[Paramount April 1946]
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A bomber pilot returns from the war and finds his wife in the arms of the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub. He runs off, leaving his gun behind, and someone uses his gun to murder her. Seeking the real killer, he dodges the cops with the aid of the nightclub owner's estranged wife.
Directed by George Marshall; script by Raymond Chandler [1888-1959]; starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Hugh Beaumont & Tom Powers; Oscar nominated for Best Original Screenplay
Universal b&w VHS [4/98] for $13.99 full credits from IMDb "The Blue Dahlia" screenplay by Raymond Chandler Warner pb [2/89] out of print/used |
Noir Film Festival Pages at BlackHat Mystery Bookstore
"It's A Wonderful Life"
[R.K.O. Dec 1946]
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A despondent small-town banker is ready to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge, when his inept guardian angel appears and shows him what his town would be like if he had not been born.
Co-written & directed by Frank Capra [1897-1991]; based on a Christmas card sent out by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943; music by Dimitri Tiomkin; starring James Stewart, Donna Reed , Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Gloria Grahame, H.B. Warner & Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Editing & Best Sound; listed on National Film Registry 1990
{Some fool at a later distribitor let the motion picture copyright lapse, and since no royalties or permissions were required, this happy film was shown on television for many years during the Thanksgiving & Christmas seasons. But then the legal department realized that they still had a copyright on the music and other elements, so bootleg copies were stamped out and now royalties & permissions are required for any broadcast.}
Paramount 60th Anniv Edition b&w DVD [10/2006] for $13.87 Republic Pictures b&w VHS [9/95] for $9.48 Republic Pictures Deluxe Anniv Edition b&w VHS [9/96] out of prodn/used Sony soundtrack CD [10/97] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb; movie entry at Wikipedia tan 28"x39" one-sheet poster available at AllPosters.com black 26"x38" one-sheet poster available at AllPosters.com |
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"The Greatest Gift: The Original Story That Inspired The Christmas Classic It's a Wonderful Life" [1943] by Philip Van Doren Stern Studio 7¾x5¾ hardcover [11/96] out of print/used |
"The Yearling" [1946]
1947
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"Gentleman's Agreement" [Fox 1947]
Directed by Elia Kazan, starring Gregory Peckfull credits from IMDb |
"Crossfire"
[R.K.O. Radio July 1947]
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Directed by [blacklistee] Edward Dmytryk; script by John Paxton, based on the novel "The Brick Foxhole" by Richard Brooks; starring Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Sam Levene, Paul Kelly & George Cooper; Oscar noms for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script, Best Supporting Actor [RR] & Actress [GG], BAFTA nom for Best Film
Turner b&w DVD [7/2005] for $17.99 Turner b&w VHS [11/96] out of stock/used full credits from IMDb |
1948
"Hamlet" [Rank/Universal May/Sept 1948]
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The brother of the king of Denmark murders him, succeeds him, and then marries the queen. The son of the dead king seeks revenge, triggering murder by mistake, poisonings, madness & suicide.
Co-produced, adapted & directed by and starring {Sir} Laurence Olivier; also starring Anthony Quayle, Peter Cushing, Stanley Holloway, Basil Sydney, Eileen Herlie, Norman Wooland, Felix Aylmer, Terence Morgan & Jean Simmons; won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Olivier), Best B&W Set Decoration, Best B&W Costume Design, nominations for Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (JS) & Best Music Score; won BAFTA for Best Film
Criterion b&w DVD [9/2000] for $26.99 3-disk set: Criterion DVD [8/2006] for $63.99, includes "Henry V" & "Richard III" Paramount b&w VHS [undated] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
'Shakespeare On Film' Festival at Magic Lantern
"Bill and Coo" [Republic Pictures March 1948]
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After years of unavailability, this cinematic wonder is now available on DVD, with 14 other films, a compilation of the truly weird and special.
A true oddity: A cast of performing animals (mostly birds) in the tale of a town beset by a mean crow. Major sequences include a circus and a terrible fire. The characters display human traits – how did they do that? – and Love Triumphs In The End. A treasure, charming and astonishing. Presented by Ken Murray, co-written & directed by Dean Reisner; filmed in TruColor; won Honorary Oscar for 'artistry & patience'.
available as part of DVD box set: Passport b&w/color DVD [11/2007] 5 disks for $17.99 full credits from IMDb 11"x17" poster from Amazon for $9.99 |
1949
"All The King's Men"
[Columbia Pictures 1949]
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Based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren [1905-89] about the life of Southern populist politician Willie Stark (based on Gov. Huey Long of Louisiana).
Written & directed by Robert Rossen; starring Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, John Derek, Mercedes McCam- bridge, Shepperd Strudwick, Ralph Dumke, Anne Seymour, Raymond Greenleaf, Joanne Dru & Walter Burke; won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor [BC], Best Supporting Actress [MM], Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Script Adaptation, Best Supporting Actor [JI], Best Editing; won DGA & WGA awards, won 5 Golden Globes; listed in National Film Registry 2001 Sony b&w DVD [6/2001] for $21.99 Sony b&w VHS [6/94] out of stock/used full credits from IMDb |
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1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren [1905-89] won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947; listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Novels (10/2005) Harvest 8x5½ pb [9/96] for $10.20 Harcourt 9¼x6¼ movie tie-in hardcover [11/2005] for $14.30 Recorded Books movie tie-in audio CD [10/2005] for $25.19 |
1950
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"All About Eve" [Fox Oct 1950] Written & directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz; starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Gregory Ratoff, Marilyn Monroe & Thelma Ritter full credits from IMDb |
"The Asphalt Jungle"
[M.G.M. May 1950]
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Just out of prison, a legendary criminal recruits a safecracker, a driver, a financial backer, and a strong-arm man for a million-dollar burglary. At first the plan goes like clockwork, but little accidents accumulate and each partner proves to have his own fatal weakness. Co-written & directed by John Huston; starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marilyn Monroe & Anthony Caruso; Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Best Script, Best Cinematography & Best Supporting Actor [SJ]; remade in 1958 as a cowboy movie, "The Badlanders", and in 1972 as the 'blaxploitation' film "Cool Breeze".
Warner b&w DVD [7/2004] for $17.99 Turner Home Video b&w VHS [2/92] for $19.99 27"x39" one-sheet poster available at AllPosters.com full credits from IMDb |
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based on the novel by W.R. Burnett [Knopf 1949] Wm. Morrow pb [4/84] out of print/used |
"The Third Man"
[British Lion U.K. Sept 1949; USA Feb 1950]
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Offered a job in post-war Vienna, an American novelist arrives to find that his employer has been killed in a peculiar traffic accident. Further investigation leads to conflicting stories, so he sets out to uncover the truth.
Directed by Carol Reed; script by Graham Greene from his novella; starring Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee & Wilfrid Hyde-White; zither music by Anton Karas; won Oscar for Best Cinematography {Robert Krasker}, Oscar & DGA noms for Best Director, won BAFTA for Best British Film; listed on the B.F.I. 100 Best British Films Ever (1999-2000)
Criterion b&w DVD [11/99] for $29.85 Homevision b&w VHS [7/95] out of prodn/used Jasmine Music Anton Karas CD [11/2002] for $13.99 full credits from IMDb |
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"The Third Man" [1950 novella] by Graham Greene
Penguin 7¾x5¼ pb [5/99] for $10.01 Audio PartnersUNABR audio CD [7/98] for $11.67 white 11"x17" poster available at AllPosters.com
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