Ten Movies From The Year: 1944

America was still at war, so you'd expect 1944 to be a banner year for war and action films. But the great Hollywood studios kept releasing a variety of films; many of 1944's films have withstood the test of time and become true classics:

1. Double Indemnity--Billy Wilder's class film noir. Insurance salesman Fred MacMurray falls for femme fatale Barbara Stanwyck. They kill her husband for the money; his boss Edward G. Robinson smells a rat.

2. Laura--Another memorable film noir; Otto Preminger's first film. A hard boiled detective (Dana Andrews) falls for Laura, a classy dame who took a faceful of buckshot. Imagine his surprise when Laura turns up very much alive halfway through the movie. Cliftron Webb sealed his stardom in a flashy supporting role as acerbic critic Waldo Lydecker.

3. Meet Me In St. Louis--Not hyper and kinetic like the 1950s MGM musicals. This one showed the sentimentality and emotion of a family whose roots are about to get pulled up. Judy Garland sang "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."

4. To Have and Have Not--Bogie meets Bacall. "You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."

5. Gaslight--Evil Charles Boyer marries Ingrid Bergman, then attempts to drive her mad searching for a fortune. Atmospheric and creepy; Bergman won her first Oscar.

6. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek--Like many geniuses, director Preston Sturges ran hot for ten years and burnt out. But in those ten years, he changed film comedy for the better. An amazing comedy for what it got away with. Betty Hutton is wonderful as Trudy Kockenlocker (yes, it does sound dirty)--who has a soft spot for the GI's. So after a big party, she winds up married and pregnant...and can't remember who, when, how, or even why.

7. Between Two Worlds--The best movie on this list that you've never heard of. A group of people are killed in a London air raid. They wake up on a strange ship that will deliver them to either Heaven or Hell. One trip where you could leave your passport at home. A terrific cast, including John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet.

8. Arsenic and Old Lace--How popular was this play? Frank Capra filmed this tale of dotty aunts killing their gentleman callers in 1941. The movie wasn't to be released until the Broadway play closed. It took three years. Cary Grant's most manic, physically demanding comedy performance--a tour de farce.

9. Lifeboat--You didn't think we'd leave Hitchcock out of this, did you? The Master of Mayhem loved a challenge, and this film certainly posed it: it takes place entirely on a lifeboat, as the survivors of a ship bombing try to figure out which one of them was on the U-boat that did it. Tallulah Bankhead's best film role; she won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actress.

10. None But The Lonely Heart--Cary Grant shows up twice on our list, this time in a completely different performance. Grant showed amazing depth as a Cockney man trying to right his life by returning home to care for his mother. Unforgettably emotional; Ethel Barrymore (yes, those Barrymores) won a Supporting Oscar as his mum.

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In Appreciation: Written on the Wind (1956)

Between 1950 and 1959, Douglas Sirk made over 20 films for Universal.  Despite box-office successes (such as Imitation of Life, 1959), Sirk was ignored by critics and accused of cranking out "women's pictures." But Sirk's films became appreciated years later as sly satires and criticisms of American families, female sexuality, and turbulent relationships.  Written on the Wind (1956) might look like high camp, but it has plenty to say about sex, family, and power.  It foreshadowed Dallas and Dynasty by 20 years.

The Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family whose wealth is so great that the town itself is named after them.  With great power comes great responsibility--but you won't find any of that in the Hadleys.  The family's patriarch (Robert Keith) is trying to hold everything together while his alcoholic playboy son (Robert Stack) and his nymphomaniac daughter (Dorothy Malone) run amuck like spoiled brats.

Happiness seems to appear in the form of Rock Hudson, a close family friend, who works for the Hadleys and bails Stack and Malone out of their many troubles. But when Lauren Bacall comes into Stack's life, and Malone's character gets the hots for Hudson, stability flies out the window.

Raging alcoholism?  Check.  Impotence?  Check?  Unchecked sexual behavior?  Check.  Star-crossed love?  Check and check again.  Written on the Wind packs more undiluted adult behavior than even Peyton Place. 

But Sirk took a lot of chances with this film. Sexual frustration fuels every character's motivations in the film.  And the characters we are supposed to love--Bacall and Hudson--come off as ignorant of other's needs.  The supporting characters--Malone and Stack--are what we're supposed to watch. 

In interviews, Robert Stack was always surprised that Hudson took what was essentially a supporting role.  But Hudson and Sirk worked eight times together; the actor trusted the director.  Their collaborations resulted in classics like Magnificent Obsession. 

Malone was stuck in a series of "B" movies when she found out she was up for the film.  She died her hair platinum blonde and walked into her audition in a short skirt, swaying her hips.  She looked at Douglas Sirk and perched herself on his desk, hiking her skirt up as far as convention allowed.  Malone wound up winning the Oscar for Supporting Actress for her powerhouse performance.

Written on the Wind was so successful that Sirk reunited Hudson, Stack, and Malone the following year for The Tarnished Angels.

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