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by Brody Wilder 03/27/2026, 8:02pm PDT |
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WINNER: The Maltese Falcon
With war raging around the globe and the US still doing business with both sides, American audiences weren't feeling too proud of themselves. Fertile ground for stories of cynical anti-heroes compromising their ethics to make a buck. 1941 was the year film noir went mainstream, and there's no better early example of that cinematic movement than The Maltese Falcon. Humphrey Bogart finally gets his due as Sam Spade, PI, world-weary protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's needlessly complex mysteries (the baffling runaround would soon become an integral part of the genre, disorienting viewers as much as the skewed angles and dreamlike chiaroscuro lighting). Mary Astor plays the femme fatale, somehow capturing the exact style and mannerisms of your grandmother trying to seduce you, while portly Sydney Greenstreet and creepy Peter Lorre round out the cast as Jabba the Hutt and Salacious Crumb, respectively. The Rosetta Stone for that one black-and-white episode of every single '80s cartoon.
Play Misty for Me: High Sierra
Released several months before The Maltese Falcon, monocular director Raoul Walsh's High Sierra saw Bogart transitioning from bad guy character actor to good guy leading man, and getting stuck half-way like Winnie the Pooh. Here he plays a Mr. White-esque robber participating in a jewel heist that's doomed from the start. See, the middle-aged Bogart needs the money to pay for a socially isolated teen girl's club foot operation, so's she can fall in love with and marry him. He couldn't have drawn a longer line between two points if he tried. Somewhere along this string of poor decisions, Bogart accidentally earns the affection of good-hearted gangster's moll Ida Lupino, who makes sure he doesn't die alone. What a sport.
Well-Appointed: Hold Back the Dawn
Mitchell Leisen may have done more for Hollywood's Golden Age than any other director. His gauzy, melodramatic takes on Preston Sturges' Easy Living and Remember the Night convinced the acerbic screenwriter to start shooting his own work. According to Sturges, for a director, Leisen was a great interior decorator. When Leisen got his well-manicured hands on Hold Back the Dawn, a romantic Mexican border tale from the incomparable team of Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, straight-shooting Austrian emigre Wilder was somewhat less diplomatic in his appraisal:
"All he did was he fucked up the script and our scripts were damn near perfection, let me tell you. Leisen was too goddamn fey. I don't knock fairies. Let him be a fairy. Leisen's problem was that he was a stupid fairy."
Wilder would take up directing the next year, giving the world such unassailable classics as Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard. I don't personally see the problem with Leisen's work - if nothing else, he had a sharp eye for aesthetics. And maybe this blackly comic story of a European gigolo (who else but Charles Boyer) extracting US citizenship from an innocent schoolteacher (who else but Olivia de Havilland) needed a few of its angrier edges sanded off. Let's just appreciate this one for what it is: an almost-perfect low-stakes noir sprinkled with incompetent cocksucker dust.
Dirty White Boys: Swamp Water
Displaced French director Jean Renoir shot this expressionistic hillbilly adventure on location in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp. Starting out like a shabby Great Expectations, our disadvantaged young protagonist meets an escaped fugitive out in the wetlands. But instead of dropping that thread to follow a lovelorn accountant or whatever the fuck Great Expectations was about, we follow it to its logical conclusion: violent backwater retribution. Leave it to a Frenchman to create a little corner of America that wouldn't be out of place in a Fallout game, right down to the human skull that adorns a makeshift cross rising out of the muck.
Betty's Nightmares: I Wake Up Screaming
Betty Grable is often cited as the most popular pin-up girl of World War II, as well as the highest-paid actor (though not the highest grossing - that was, believe it or not, Mickey Rooney). According to one studio publicity department, Grable's famous legs were insured for a whopping one million dollars. Sadly, this was her only really good movie of the period, a mystery-thriller in which she investigates her sister's murder alongside the handsome stud accused of killing her. Laird Cregar, the large and in charge actor who would go on to die from binge dieting at the age of 31, is downright fiendish in the Raymond Burr heavy-cop role.
Obligatory: Citizen Kane
You know how Hatris is Tetris with hats? Citizen Kane is Tetris, but a movie. Pretty good. |
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The Best Movie of Every Year by Brody Wilder 03/14/2026, 8:42pm PDT 
The Best Movie of 1930 by Brody Wilder 03/14/2026, 8:46pm PDT
Best thread in ages NT by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/15/2026, 1:05pm PDT
Do you have a job/family NT by Mysterio 03/15/2026, 3:16am PDT
God forbid. NT by Brody Wilder 03/15/2026, 8:56am PDT
Is this Tom Chick? NT by mysterio 2 03/17/2026, 11:37pm PDT
He might honestly be the last person to read and post here. NT by Kenji Carter 03/18/2026, 8:05am PDT
The Best Movie of 1931 by Brody Wilder 03/15/2026, 3:53pm PDT
Holy cow, Caltrops is back! by Mischief Maker 03/15/2026, 4:46pm PDT
Are your motivss pure, Maker of MischIEF? NT by Tomorrow People 03/16/2026, 9:39pm PDT
Re: The Best Movie of 1931 by E. L. Koba 03/19/2026, 5:15pm PDT
Set your expectations for "early talkie" and you should have a good time. by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 6:25pm PDT
Dubbing is actually pretty crucial, when you think about it. by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 7:21pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1932 by Brody Wilder 03/16/2026, 6:15pm PDT
Keep 'em coming! NT by MM 03/16/2026, 6:34pm PDT
That's SIR Ian McKellan to you, smart guy. NT by caltrops analyzer 03/17/2026, 6:54am PDT
I gave Sir Ian's knighthood to Charles Laughton, who never got one. by I felt like he deserved it. 03/17/2026, 4:46pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1933 by Brody Wilder 03/17/2026, 4:45pm PDT
Thanks for doing these. by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/17/2026, 8:48pm PDT
Thanks for reading! NT by Brody Wilder 03/17/2026, 8:56pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1934 by Brody Wilder 03/18/2026, 1:06pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1935 by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 5:43pm PDT
Hitchcock by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/19/2026, 8:28pm PDT
I like Hitchcock. by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 9:22pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1936 by Brody Wilder 03/20/2026, 7:35pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1937 by Brody Wilder 03/21/2026, 7:30pm PDT
We need more movies with electric chairs in them. by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/22/2026, 9:50am PDT
The Best Movie of 1938 by Brody Wilder 03/22/2026, 7:33pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1939 by Brody Wilder 03/23/2026, 4:59pm PDT
I have nothing to contribute, but I love these. NT by Hangman 03/25/2026, 12:58pm PDT
Fukk yes NT by Gary 03/25/2026, 10:02pm PDT
Re: Fukk yes by PICKLES 03/26/2026, 5:47pm PDT
#Beep# NT by Hero detector 03/26/2026, 7:07pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1940 by Brody Wilder 03/26/2026, 7:25pm PDT
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! by HES BACK YOU LITTLE SHIITS! 03/26/2026, 8:47pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1941 by Brody Wilder 03/27/2026, 8:02pm PDT
I love Hammett. An actual real-life PI turned author, his writing rings true. by Mischief Maker 03/27/2026, 10:48pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1942 by Brody Wilder 03/29/2026, 8:20pm PDT
I was half-expecting you to be edgy and not pick Casablanca. NT by Mischief Maker 03/29/2026, 9:35pm PDT
I admit, I considered doing Arabian Nights with Maria Montez and Sabu. by Brody Wilder 03/29/2026, 9:57pm PDT
Wizard of Oz is still good, right? 1939? NT by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/30/2026, 8:39am PDT
Probably, but it's not my cup of tea. by Brody Wilder 03/30/2026, 4:43pm PDT
I didn't realize these weren't Oscar Best Picture winners until just now by laudablepuss 03/31/2026, 11:43am PDT
The Academy has rarely selected films of cultural, historical, or aesthetic impo by Brody Wilder 03/31/2026, 5:25pm PDT
How the hell did "Arthur" wind up being oscar-bait? by Mischief Drunkard 03/31/2026, 5:43pm PDT
Vince Gilligan said the comedic engine of Pluribus is a descendant of Bewitched. by Fullofkittens 03/30/2026, 7:26am PDT
Re: Vince Gilligan said the comedic engine of Pluribus is a descendant by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/30/2026, 8:40am PDT
Ooooh. So Bogart was 43 in Casablanca, not 37 as the script says. I'd chalked it NT by up to the smoking & booze -MM 03/31/2026, 8:53pm PDT
This was supposed to be a reply to the 1944 list. Whoops! NT by MM 03/31/2026, 8:54pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1943 by Brody Wilder 03/30/2026, 9:22pm PDT
I'm cumming!!! NT by 8======D ~ ~ ~ 03/31/2026, 4:48am PDT
The Best Movie of 1944 by Brody Wilder 03/31/2026, 8:20pm PDT
Double Indemnity is the first of these I have seen, and a top 10/15 movie for me by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/31/2026, 9:18pm PDT
Loving these! NT by The entire world 04/01/2026, 5:48am PDT
Justifies ICJ not pulling the plug on this place in 2011. NT by Keister M. Feister 04/01/2026, 7:33am PDT
The Best Movie of 1945 by Brody Wilder 04/01/2026, 7:47pm PDT
Waaaaaaaait a minute! by Mischief Maker 04/01/2026, 9:23pm PDT
Lots of people like that movie! I could be anyone. by Brody Wilder 04/02/2026, 2:49am PDT
The Best Movie of 1946 by Brody Wilder 04/05/2026, 8:36pm PDT
Brody, what makes for good film noir - to you? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/05/2026, 9:33pm PDT
First of all, it has to hate women as much as I do. by Brody Wilder 04/05/2026, 10:46pm PDT
I'm still working on your question. Thank you for asking it. NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/08/2026, 9:42pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1947 by Brody Wilder 04/08/2026, 3:24am PDT
Re: The Best Movie of 1947 by matt mysterio 04/29/2026, 9:18pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1948 by Brody Wilder 04/11/2026, 11:08pm PDT
You bastards ran him off! NT by we can't have nice things 04/27/2026, 11:24am PDT
What are you talking about? The list is over. Movies ended in 1948. NT by Mischief Maker 04/27/2026, 11:46am PDT
I really hope he continues. NT by Gaige Grosskreutz 04/27/2026, 1:29pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1949 by Brody Wilder 04/28/2026, 5:19am PDT
Fuck yes NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/28/2026, 6:49am PDT
The Third Man was the only noir I rooted for the villain by broad strokes 04/30/2026, 12:36pm PDT
Maybe you're not prejudiced enough? The gypsy music subconsciously informs the NT by audience they are being swindled. 05/01/2026, 8:19am PDT
I'm prejudiced enough! I am! Continue! NT by Mysterio GAMER 05/19/2026, 3:08pm PDT
PLEASE CONTINUE NT by Mysterio GAMER 05/19/2026, 1:29pm PDT
Love Bump NT by Lonnie 05/31/2026, 4:50am PDT
Aw man by Lonnie 06/09/2026, 11:54pm PDT
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