Our “Decade in Film” series continued this month as we added another critics poll to the repertoire— the goal is still to go all the way back to the silent era. We’ve now covered the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.
A reader has asked, when are the ‘40s? Not any time soon. I might leave that decade covered by the end of the year, or maybe early 2025. There’s other polls I’m currently developing, and they will be revealed very soon.
For the time being, this has me asking, whenever it does happen, what would top our ‘40s critics poll? The easy answer would be “Citizen Kane,” and then everything else. But what would be “everything else.” This was a fairly unprecedented decade for film. It was at the height of the “Hays Code” in Hollywood. Half the planet was preoccupied by World War II, whilst the other half didn’t have the means to make films.
“Double Indemnity” popularized film noir. “Citizen Kane” changed cinema forever. Bogart had several bangers this decade, including, and especially, “Casablance.” If you can believe it, French classic “Children of Paradise” was shot in France during the Nazi occupation.
My own list …
(1) Citizen Kane (2) Bicycle Thieves (3) Double Indemnity (4) The Best Years of Our Lives (5) Day of Wrath (6) Letter from an Unknown Woman (7) The Red Shoes (8) The Maltese Falcon (9) Grapes of Wrath (10) The Lost Weekend (11) To Be or Not to Be (12) The Lady Eve (13) Shadow of a Doubt (14) Casablanca (15) Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Too many to name. Hell, I’ll namecheck another 15 …
Rope, The Shop Around the Corner, Detour, His Girl Friday, The Great Dictator, White Heat, Notorious, Rome, Open City, My Darling Clementine, The Magnificent Ambersons, It's A Wonderful Life, Sullivan's Travels, Meet Me in St. Louis, Germany Year Zero
Of course, we all know the rule: take these reactions with a grain of salt rather than treating them as gospel. Still, I will say that the film tested like gangbusters earlier this year, and Lionsgate clearly has confidence.