1940-1949: My Top Ten Favorite Movies

155   7.9   8.1 

The genre of the romantic comedy comes to an early peak with this story about two reporters, once divorced from each other, but still carrying a shared torch as fiery as their shared passion for their jobs. Old skool movie dialogue so quick & full of wit, that despite any dated slants in the material, comes off sounding contemporarily sharp & filled with as much energy as if it were written for today.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

72   7.2   7.4 

Just a plain ol' classic, this one is right there. I am a huge fan of the first black & white Universal Monster series of way back in the day. From my point of view, any datedness that may have resulted over time from these original gangstas of horror quickly fade once the integrity of the energy that was captured in the filming becomes apparent.
One of the reasons I'm really looking forward to what they're gonna do with the the Benicio Del Toro update is because of how pleased I was that they didn't get him to look like the "more wolf than man" make-up that has become the standard for today. I still think that the modern look is cool an' all, but it doesn't need to be limited to one style. Despite the push that Hollywood has given movies like these as just empty escapist fare, the reality is, on a integral level, they're still an artform & thus should never be limited by any specific type of boxed labels.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

21   7.4   7.7 

The Dark Knight of the 1940's.
No, seriously.....
he was.
But a bit more dashing. Not to mention that he tended to speak with a much more hispanic accent.



The adventures of a masked vigilante back when the concept of the genre was more akin to the noble art of swashbuckling than it was to the grit & dark-ridden quest of vengeance that it is today.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

339   8   8.4 

There was once a time when when crime-noir movies were big. And that bigness practically began with the not-so-noble hero, hard-nosed archetype private detective Sam Spade. Particularly this version played by Bogey himself & featuring the infamous MacGuffin known as the Maltese Falcon.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

931   8.2   8.8 

A movie that shows that it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
So, play it again Sam,
cuz here's looking at you, kid.



What else can I say other than, when it comes to romance films, this is the classic of all classics.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

263   7.9   8.3 

At first glance, this seems like a typical Hollywood picture of this era: the insanely attractive couple of Ingrid Bergman & Cary Grant, both looking at their most perfect, in a lush looking film with spy intigrued plot, with the added feature of a small cadre of Nazi's thrown in for good measure.
Yet, the characters' personalities and their dialogue towards each other as they try to embitterly mask the feelings of love & longing that they must fight thru in order to complete their respective missions, reveals that this is an atypical film (for it's time, at least) with a feeling of cinematic bite that can only be the signature of Alfred Hitchcock. Add to the fact, that Cary Grant, usually a more of a comedic lead with skills of perfect timing, pulls thru this serious, & uncharacteristicly bitter role with a result that leads the viewer to sincerely sympathize with his character just cuz we know that deep inside, there is some good within him.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

397   8.3   8.4 

Chaplin speaks!
Capturing not just a moment in film history as the master of silent stunt work utters his first words onscreen, but also that his words are an uncharacteristic (& for the time, risky) serious reflection of the status of a moment in world history.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

738   8.1   8.6 

Rosebud, y'all.
And that's just about all that needs to be said about one of the most famous movies in American film history.
Because, if you don't know know about this film, then you obviously are from another planet. And if you are, then lemme just say,
.
Which is alien for "What? They don't have Google where you come from?"

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

140   7.3   7.7 

Not exactly Hitchcock's best, but still, a terse psychological mystery thriller by the director who mastered that particular genre in the world of film, combined with a Dali-esque dream sequence by the painter who mastered that particular genre in the world of art.

The Mighty Celestial's rating:

30   6.9   7.3 

....around the old oak tree.

The Mighty Celestial's rating: