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I came to this project a little bit late, so I decided not to bother with shorts, and focus on catching up on features. It's nice to have some extra time to catch up on those, too. I ended up with too many English-language films on my list, so I'm interested in seeing some of the foreign language films other people voted for.

I didn't vote for it, but the words "Maria Candelaria" have still not left my head all these years since the Cannes Mini-List-- if you told me her full name was said over a hundred times in that film, I'd believe it

domino harvey wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 6:38 am Yeah, I have the Warner Archives set but a lot of these pop up as bonus shorts on WB discs. I know Phantoms, Inc is on some movie I saw recently because I'd seen it already, but that one's pretty fun too, all about fake seers milking rich rubes. Women in Hiding, about pregnant women being abused by manipulative baby brokers, is crazy and has a finale involving fire that looks like the only time MGM spent money on this series-- not sure if it's a bonus on any film or not, but could see it being paired with a melodrama of the period

It looks like Phantoms, Inc. is on The Postman Always Rings Twice BD and Women in Hiding is in the same Noir 3 set, on a bonus disc titled "Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light"

Wow, whoever curated that bonus disc knew what was up. Forbidden Passage, also on that disc, is a good one too, though I think hiiiiiiiighly unlikely

ROUND 2: ORPHAN RESCUE

Thanks everyone for your participation so far! Below I will present some preliminary results from voting. If anything you see here prompts you to defend your picks, to watch some more films, and/or to revise your list in any way, go ahead and do that. If you did not submit a list yet and have since decided that you do want to participate, go ahead and do that. If you have no interest in revisiting your list or changing anything, go ahead and do nothing. I will count all lists submitted so far including any changes or new lists submitted over the next two weeks in the final tally.

Orphans (by director)

(Note: The number listed after each film is its ranking on the sole list it appeared on.)

Vénus aveugle (Abel Gance, 1941) 12
One Wonderful Sunday (Akira Kurosawa, 1947) 36
Lermontov (Albert Gendelshtein, 1943) 33
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (Albert Lewin, 1947) 46
Dead of Night (Alberto Cavalcanti et al, 1945) 48
Border Street (Aleksander Ford, 1948) 8
4 passi fra le nuvole (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942) 46
Driftwood (Allan Dwan, 1947) 11
Out of the Fog (Anatole Litvak, 1941) 38

None Shall Escape (André De Toth, 1944) 50
Pitfall (André De Toth, 1948) 30

The Way to the Stars (Anthony Asquith, 1945) 41
The Winslow Boy (Anthony Asquith, 1948) 49

Railroaded! (Anthony Mann, 1947) 45
T-Men (Anthony Mann, 1947) 47

Phantom of the Opera (Arthur Lubin, 1943) 50
New Orleans (Arthur Lubin, 1947) 25
Impact (Arthur Lubin, 1949) 48

The Captive Heart (Basil Dearden, 1946) 47

Resisting Enemy Interrogation (Bernard Vorhaus, 1944) 21
The Amazing Mr. X (Bernard Vorhaus, 1948) 20

The Major and the Minor (Billy Wilder, 1942) 31
The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) 19

Stranger on the Third Floor (Boris Ingster, 1940) 47
I Walk Alone (Byron Haskin, 1948) 41
Das Herz der Königin (Carl Froelich, 1940) 32
La dama de la muerte (Carlos Christensen, 1946) 50
Night Train to Munich (Carol Reed, 1940) 46
XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport (Castleton Knight, 1948) 44
Unconquered (Cecil DeMille, 1947) 5
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (Charles Barton, 1948) 50
La chartreuse de Parme (Christian-Jaque, 1948) 26
The Dover Boys at Pimento University or the Rivals of Roquefort Hall (Chuck Jones, 1942) 28

Song of Love (Clarence Brown, 1947) 28
Intruder in the Dust (Clarence Brown, 1949) 23

Canon City (Crane Wilbur, 1948) 39
"Sredni Vashtar" by Saki (David Bradley, 1940) 32
The Passionate Friends (David Lean, 1949) 40

Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves, 1943) 33
Dark Passage (Delmer Daves, 1947) 14

It Had to Be You (Don Hartman & Rudolph Maté, 1947) 24

Summer Storm (Douglas Sirk, 1944) 23
Lured (Douglas Sirk, 1947) 17

Il lupo della Sila (Duilio Coletti, 1949) 26
The Strange Woman (Edgar Ulmer, 1946) 42
The Razor's Edge (Edmund Goulding, 1946) 42
Christ in Concrete (Edward Dmytryk, 1949) 48
Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947) 26
The Crystal Ball (Elliott Nugent, 1943) 41
La perla (Emilio Fernández, 1947) 27
Mighty Joe Young (Ernest Schoedsack, 1949) 20

Prelude to War (Frank Capra & Anatole Litvak, 1942) 50
The Battle of Russia (Frank Capra & Anatole Litvak, 1943) 43

I See a Dark Stranger (Frank Launder, 1946) 34
Nasty Quacks (Frank Tashlin, 1945) 35
The Seventh Cross (Fred Zinnemann, 1944) 36
Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang, 1944) 21
Komödianten (G.W. Pabst, 1941) 42

Two-Faced Woman (George Cukor, 1941) 36
Adam's Rib (George Cukor, 1949) 35

Vigil in the Night (George Stevens, 1940) 9
Penny Serenade (George Stevens, 1941) 32
Woman of the Year (George Stevens, 1942) 41

The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941) 11
L'idiot (Georges Lampin, 1946) 28
Moss Rose (Gregory Ratoff, 1947) 50
Der Postmeister (Gustav Ucicky, 1940) 37
Dreams That Money Can Buy (Hans Richter, 1947) 23
Deadline at Dawn (Harold Clurman, 1946) 48
Romanze in Moll (Helmut Käutner, 1943) 38
Manon (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1949) 37
Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius, 1949) 41
Kiss of Death (Henry Hathaway, 1947) 50

Margie (Henry King, 1946) 43
Captain from Castile (Henry King, 1947) 45
Twelve O'Clock High (Henry King, 1949) 24

The Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster, 1947) 32
Ohara Shôsuke-san (Hiroshi Shimizu, 1949) 29
The Outlaw (Howard Hughes, 1943) 37
The Silent Village (Humphrey Jennings, 1943) 50
Now, Voyager (Irving Rapper, 1942) 10
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Irving Reis, 1947) 29

It Happened at the Inn (Jacques Becker, 1943) 35
Antoine et Antoinette (Jacques Becker, 1947) 42

Canyon Passage (Jacques Tourneur, 1946) 17

L'eternel retour (Jean Delannoy, 1943) 42
Le secret de Mayerling (Jean Delannoy, 1949) 29

Remorques (Jean Grémillon, 1940) 10
Pattes blanches (Jean Grémillon, 1949) 37

The Gay Parisian (Jean Negulesco, 1941) 30
Nobody Lives Forever (Jean Negulesco, 1946) 13

Light Reflections (Jim Davis, 1948) 34
Along Sungari River (Jin Shen, 1947) 9

Špalíček (Jirí Trnka, 1947) 29
The Emperor's Nightingale (Jirí Trnka, 1949) 44

Brighton Rock (John Boulting, 1947) 48

Abe Lincoln in Illinois (John Cromwell, 1940) 26
Since You Went Away (John Cromwell, 1944) 31
The Enchanted Cottage (John Cromwell, 1945) 21

The Big Clock (John Farrow, 1948) 15

In This Our Life (John Huston, 1942) 24
Let There Be Light (John Huston, 1946) 31

Ala-Arriba! (José Leitão de Barros, 1942) 22
Münchhausen (Josef von Báky, 1943) 15
The Boy with Green Hair (Joseph Losey, 1948) 50

The Army (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1944) 48
Phoenix (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1947) 38
Ojôsan kanpai (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1949) 33

The Love of Sumako the Actress (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1947) 45
Puce Moment (Kenneth Anger, 1949) 33
Beyond the Forest (King Vidor, 1949) 45
Ehe im Schatten (Kurt Maetzig, 1947) 38
Native Land (Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand, 1942) 6
Die letzte Chance (Leopold Lindtberg, 1945) 50
The Man in Grey (Leslie Arliss, 1943) 32
A Walk in the Sun (Lewis Milestone, 1945) 47
A Night Before Christmas (Lloyd Bacon, 1942) 20
Pampa bárbara (Lucas Demare & Hugo Fregonese, 1945) 21
The Thief of Bagdad (Ludwig Berger et al, 1940) 24
Anni difficili (Luigi Zampa, 1948) 33
Les visiteurs du soir (Marcel Carné, 1942) 37
L'Affaire du collier de la reine (Marcel L'Herbier, 1946) 48
La fille du puisatier (Marcel Pagnol, 1940) 20
Youth Runs Wild (Mark Robson, 1944) 49
Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) 45
La main du diable (Maurice Tourneur, 1943) 4
At Land (Maya Deren, 1944) 32

Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942) 5
Madame Curie (Mervyn LeRoy, 1943) 22

The Sea Hawk (Michael Curtiz, 1940) 18
Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942) 20
The Unsuspected (Michael Curtiz, 1947) 49

The Web (Michael Gordon, 1947) 29

Contraband (Michael Powell, 1940) 49
49th Parallel (Michael Powell, 1941) 31
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1942) 45

Spring Awakens (Mikio Naruse, 1947) 35

Arise, My Love (Mitchell Leisen, 1940) 50
Lady in the Dark (Mitchell Leisen, 1944) 50

The Three Caballeros (Norman Ferguson, 1944) 45
Journey into Fear (Norman Foster, 1943) 20

A Little Phantasy on a Nineteenth Century Painting (Norman McLaren, 1946) 42
Alouette (Norman McLaren & René Jodoin, 1944) 50

The Fan (Otto Preminger, 1949) 34
The Proud Valley (Pen Tennyson, 1940) 5
June Night (Per Lindberg, 1940) 43
Wohin Johanna? (Peter Pewas, 1946) 24
La foire aux chimères (Pierre Chenal, 1946) 17

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (Preston Sturges, 1947) 41
Unfaithfully Yours (Preston Sturges, 1948) 38

Don Quijote de la Mancha (Rafael Gil, 1947) 43
Chains (Raffaello Matarazzo, 1949) 47

Dark Command (Raoul Walsh, 1940) 37
They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941) 10
Uncertain Glory (Raoul Walsh, 1944) 11

Un colpo di pistola (Renato Castellani, 1942) 40
Il cavaliere misterioso (Riccardo Freda, 1948) 32

Horton Hatches the Egg (Robert Clampett, 1942) 15
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (Robert Clampett, 1946) 22

Louisiana Story (Robert Flaherty, 1948) 45
Pride and Prejudice (Robert Leonard, 1940) 48
Once More, My Darling (Robert Montgomery, 1949) 22
Berliner Ballade (Robert Stemmle, 1948) 37
Mademoiselle Fifi (Robert Wise, 1944) 46
La otra (Roberto Gavaldón, 1946) 45
Blood and Sand (Rouben Mamoulian, 1941) 9

Kings Row (Sam Wood, 1942) 14
The Pride of the Yankees (Sam Wood, 1942) 42
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Sam Wood, 1943) 7

I Shot Jesse James (Samuel Fuller, 1949) 21
Le Baron Fantôme (Serge de Poligny, 1943) 45
The Scar (Steve Sekely, 1948) 40
Among the Living (Stuart Heisler, 1941) 44

Seven Sinners (Tay Garnett, 1940) 43
Bataan (Tay Garnett, 1943) 23

Riff-Raff (Ted Tetzlaff, 1947) 17
Rakkauden risti (Teuvo Tulio, 1946) 40

Blitz Wolf (Tex Avery, 1942) 41
Happy-Go-Nutty (Tex Avery, 1944) 36
Bad Luck Blackie (Tex Avery, 1949) 10

Gaslight (Thorold Dickinson, 1940) 44
The Queen of Spades (Thorold Dickinson, 1949) 25

Kalpana (Uday Shankar, 1948) 36
Die goldene Stadt (Veit Harlan, 1942) 31
Old Acquaintance (Vincent Sherman, 1943) 8

I Dood It (Vincente Minnelli, 1943) 50
Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945) 30
Madame Bovary (Vincente Minnelli, 1949) 25
Ziegfeld Follies (Vincente Minnelli et al, 1945) 35

I nostri sogni (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1943) 44
I Love You Again (W.S. Van Dyke, 1940) 43
State Fair (Walter Lang, 1945) 11
Woody Woodpecker (Walter Lantz, 1941) 42
Wiener Mädeln (Willi Forst, 1949) 20
The Man Who Came to Dinner (William Keighley, 1942) 41
Address Unknown (William Menzies, 1944) 37

Roxie Hart (William Wellman, 1942) 9
Lady of Burlesque (William Wellman, 1943) 39
Yellow Sky (William Wellman, 1948) 45

The Westerner (William Wyler, 1940) 45
Mashenka (Yuli Raizman, 1942) 18
Une si jolie petite plage (Yves Allégret, 1949) 5
Crows and Sparrows (Zheng Junli, 1948) 47


New Votes

The following films received no votes during the last round of the lists project but currently have two or more votes. Perhaps they were not on your radar before...

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (Akira Kurosawa, 1945)
Stormy Weather (Andrew Stone, 1943)
A Foreign Affair (Billy Wilder, 1948)
The Gang's All Here (Busby Berkeley, 1943)
Holiday Affair (Don Hartman, 1949)
Dance, Girl, Dance (Dorothy Arzner, 1940)
Death Is a Caress (Edith Carlmar, 1949)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Elia Kazan, 1945)
Meet John Doe (Frank Capra, 1941)
Man Hunt (Fritz Lang, 1941)
The Blue Dahlia (George Marshall, 1946)
Apartment for Peggy (George Seaton, 1948)
Der Fuehrer's Face (Jack Kinney, 1942)
La Symphonie pastorale (Jean Delannoy, 1946)
Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946)
Road House (Jean Negulesco, 1948)
The Woman on the Beach (Jean Renoir, 1947)
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (John Farrow, 1948)
The Fugitive (John Ford, 1947)
Women of the Night (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1948)
Strange Victory (Leo Hurwitz, 1948)
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946)
Aniki Bóbó (Manoel de Oliveira, 1942)
Champion (Mark Robson, 1949)
Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941)
Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger, 1945)
And Then There Were None (René Clair, 1945)
Born to Kill (Robert Wise, 1947)
Green for Danger (Sidney Gilliat, 1946)
The Blood of Jesus (Spencer Williams, 1941)
Story of G.I. Joe (William Wellman, 1945)
Rotation (Wolfgang Staudte, 1949)

I assume The Web has an availability problem. If anyone is interested in seeing it and would like access to a copy, PM me.

domino's blurb from the noir thread:

domino harvey wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:08 pm Further proof that there are so many forgotten noir classics out there just waiting to be rediscovered. Edmond O'Brien and Ella Raines get played for patsies by a devilish Vincent Price while William Bendix's laconic detective hovers around the perimeter. Wonderful dialogue-- O'Brien at one point objects by uttering "Over my beautiful muscular dead body"-- and a perversely effective frame-job seal the deal. Another new entry in my personal list of all-time greats!

And mine from this thread:

swo17 wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:43 am Hey Arrow, here's a Universal noir genuinely in need of rescue (you can even sell it as the work of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's grandfather!) This is just really clever and well written, with villains satisfyingly undone by their own hubris as opposed to any lame plot conveniences. I'm also so used to seeing William Bendix playing a lug that it's refreshing to have him here be by far the most intelligent character. Not to mention, how funny is Price's middle-school-girl doodling of the name "Regan" on a notepad late in the film?

The Web has had an availability problem for decades, when Drew Casper put it in his post classical Hollywood cinema class it caused impossible to overcome consternation for all the students that skipped the screening.

I will vote for Native Land, btw, as the latter was an extremely last minute cut I’ve since felt bad about.

I’lol try and watch/rewatch some of those orphaned shorts

Also, to stump a bit, I just finally watched Green For Danger last summer, and it is soooo good even with a monstrous plot hole in the end, it’s a wonderful pure entertainment that shouldn’t be missed.

I will share my rationale for voting for xiv Olympiad the glory of sport, it’s the best of the forties olympics films (not that there are many!) and I’ve thus far watched half of the box set and I wanted to vote for something from that effort!

Before I do anything else; thank you swo.


Wow, that's a healthy helping of orphans though. I guess I'm most surprised by the Dover Boys being there. It's one of the most iconic Merrie Melodies shorts and probably Jones' at his most unique taking what he learned from Avery and Clampett and outdoing it by a mile. I also want to give a secondary shout out to Nasty Quacks which is the most unapologetically mean comedy until It's Always Sunny. I know there's enough Tashlin fans on this board to support at least one of his films.

These are mine:

The Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster, 1947) 32
The Crystal Ball (Elliott Nugent, 1943) 41
I nostri sogni (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1943) 44
Impact (Arthur Lubin, 1949) 48
It Had to Be You (Don Hartman & Rudolph Maté, 1947) 24
Moss Rose (Gregory Ratoff, 1947) 50
Once More, My Darling (Robert Montgomery, 1949) 22
The Pride of the Yankees (Sam Wood, 1942) 42
Resisting Enemy Interrogation (Bernard Vorhaus, 1944) 21
Riff-Raff (Ted Tetzlaff, 1947) 17
Vigil in the Night (George Stevens, 1940) 9
Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 1942) 20

I'll probably die on the hill of most of these, but I'll give up my I nostri sogni vote for whoever makes the best case for their orphan-- right I'm tempted by the Ghost and Mrs Muir because it almost made my list and it kills me to see someone's number one go orphaned like that

knives wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:20 pm I guess I'm most surprised by the Dover Boys being there. It's one of the most iconic Merrie Melodies shorts and probably Jones' at his most unique taking what he learned from Avery and Clampett and outdoing it by a mile. I also want to give a secondary shout out to Nasty Quacks which is the most unapologetically mean comedy until It's Always Sunny. I know there's enough Tashlin fans on this board to support at least one of his films.

I love both of these, but I’ll admit that I concocted my own list with little consideration for shorts. Had I dove in to the Merrie Melodies again, I’m sure at least a few would have placed (and maybe now’s the time).

Looking over the orphans list is a guilt fest, as I can see almost ten titles that were on my own list before last-minute abandonment (The Fan, The Strawberry Blonde, Riff-Raff, Once More My Darling, The Crystal Ball, Roxie Hart, Moss Ross, I nostri sogni) with The Ghost and Mrs. Muir the very last to go, oddly enough because I was incorrectly confident that it had enough support without my help. I’ll absolutely be giving it another watch over the next two weeks.

Two-Faced Woman (Cukor, 1941) and Address Unknown (Menzies, 1944) are some of my orphans that I'll try to rewatch and write a bit about... No surprise about the former being there, given its reputation as the film that made Garbo retire, but I adored it with all its flaws. Unfortunately, it just recently left the Criterion Channel, so I suspect my chance to make a case for it has dried up... AD was the surprise sleeper hit of my local Noir City a few years ago, but I imagined it might get some love since it's in available in the recent Kit Parker Noir Archive Vol. 1. At least its inclusion there means folks might have a chance to watch it, if I do find the time to blurb it.

The New Votes section reminded me of one title that I somehow forgot to include, so I need to find a slot for that one (which could mean another title on the New Votes list becomes an orphan ).

Missed many good ones. And Rotation Finally! I kept thinking it was Regeneration: unforgettable film. Thanks to whoever included that one. It's looking like two weeks of serious revisions.

My orphans:
Lured (Douglas Sirk, 1947) 17
I See a Dark Stranger (Frank Launder, 1946) 34
I Love You Again (W.S. Van Dyke, 1940) 43
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1942) 45
Deadline at Dawn (Harold Clurman, 1946) 48
None Shall Escape (André De Toth, 1944) 50

I'm honestly surprised Holiday Affair (1949) isn't an orphan! I greatly encourage everyone to seek this out, perhaps as an early Holiday treat? It's an absolute modest film, but it's done so well, so simply, and with such sweet performances by Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum, and Wendell Corey. It's got the faintest of Renoir touches in its absolute charity towards all its characters, and while it does get silly at times, the fact that most of the silliness involves Mitchum transforms it into something rather special. Despite it being an assignment to rehabilitate his image after a marijuana rap, Mitchum never phones it in. And even if you don't get around to it for this list, I still encourage it as holiday viewing––the same with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

I just bought the blu-ray for Lured, so I'll rewatch that and then post a passionate defense of one of Sirk's most charming and underrated (obviously!) gems!

I See a Dark Stranger is on the Criterion Channel I believe, so availability shouldn't be an issue for many of you––while this isn't as squeaky clean as The Lady Vanishes, it has more character and strangeness than Night Train to Munich, and is as much fun as either of them. Deborah Kerr's British-hating Irish lass is a nice replacement for the posh Margaret Lockwood in those other Gilliat and Launder films, and it's absolutely dense with atmosphere that's never once undercut by the humor.

Deadline at Dawn is, sadly, a love-it-or-you-don't situation, with its heavy artificiality, but if you haven't seen this noir, it's essential (to watch).

Powell and Pressburger need no defense on this forum, from what I've seen, and I assume that Aircraft's orphan status is, like with Contraband and 49th Parallel, a matter of vote splitting. My top P&P is A Canterbury Tale, and Blimp, Red Shoes, and Matter of Life and Death are all also on my list, so, I may drop this out for another orphan.

As for None Shall Escape, I initially took notice of this because of Marsha Hunt's presence in the film, but then saw it highly recommended by someone on twitter. It is an absolute masterpiece of World War II filmmaking, and shockingly brutal (emotionally and literally) for a film of this period, depicting a postwar (in 1944!) trial of the Nazis, and through flashback, depicting a high-ranking Nazi's domination of a Polish town he lived in prior to WWI, as well as his nephew's psyche. It astutely engages with indoctrination and the overcompensating masculinity that is so thoroughly intertwined with the totalitarian mindset. It's not higher on my list simply because, well, it's a VERY difficult decade to rank.

As for other people's Orphans, I already intended on getting around to Summer Storm, which I've already seen, and The Fan. I'll certainly make time for a rewatch of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which I'm shocked is an Orphan, as well as anything else other people will think I might like based on what I've expressed. Oh––and I have no idea how I forgot The Strawberry Blonde! That should be on my list.

Any stats on the number of lists submitted or the number of films that made it?

As the holidays are nearing, my first pitch to rescue one of my orphans would be for Larceny Inc. (Bacon, 1942) which was retitled (to cash in on its holiday theming) A Night Before Christmas. The 1940s seems to be the decade of the classic Christmas movie (perhaps a reason for why it's the one decade that no version of A Christmas Carol was released). I won't begrudge anyone who voted for It's A Wonderful Life (which just fell below 50 on my list) or A Miracle On 34th Steet (which, if memory serves correct, is more saccharine than IAWL & so I didn't consider) & would not be surprised if they end up on the final list. However, I would like to implore anyone who voted for Holiday Inn (some nice musical numbers, but the plot's thin), Holiday Affair (which I enjoyed, but was not overwhelmed by), or my least favorite of the bunch The Shop Around The Corner (who's overwhelming popularity still escapes me), to check out A Night Before Christmas aka Larceny Inc. & perhaps replacing your choice with this one instead, particularly if you find the overly sentimental Christmas picture to wear a bit thin. The film version of the Broadway play (which featured Shelley Winters in the stage version) stars Edward G. Robinson (whose appearance in a Santa suit is worth the price of admission), Anthony Quinn, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson & Jane Wyman (w/ Jackie Gleeson making an appearance) in an (inept) gangster holiday comedy (probably the only one of the genre) which Woody Allen remade as Small Time Crooks. It's neither overly sentimental nor is it overly cynical. The holiday season simply is the time at which the events (robbing a bank) take place & so while it might convey some of the same message that many holiday movies do, because it is not a holiday movie per se, it does not do so in a preachy manner & why I think it is a more effective holiday picture than many of the better known classics.

Presently 31 lists submitted and 234 films with more than one vote

Lowery, all that talk of Christmas movies and you still leave off my orphan, the Bishop’s Wife?!

I had to check to see if the vote for the Fan was my own, so it’s a worthy reconsideration. And as I said, Sanders + Wilde = Duh. I find the Strawberry Blonde massively overrated. Holiday Affair is cute but wouldn’t even make my top 100

domino harvey wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:44 pm And as I said, Sanders + Wilde = Duh.

Gotta see it (never have). Is it very different from '76 BBC version?

It's real good and saucy. A bit slower then the other Preminger-Lubitsch film which I like a fair bit more, but still absolutely worth seeing.

Anyone who likes Mamet will like Preminger’s version of the Fan: just rapid-fire dialogue exchanges and dynamic camera movements keeping everything moving along at a quick pace (don’t know how the word “slower” could ever be used in conjunction with this film)

Compared to A Royal Scandal I think my assessment is fair.

domino harvey wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:44 pm Lowery, all that talk of Christmas movies and you still leave off my orphan, the Bishop’s Wife?!

I had forgotten both that I had seen this (I forgot to rate it on IMDB) & that it was a Christmas movie (as I had also forgotten A Tree Grows In Brooklyn & perhaps a few others that might fit here too). I guess I would rate it almost on par with A Night Before Christmas, but that adds another problem in that I had The Ghost And Mrs. Muir (which i would add before The Bishop's Wife) just below 50. It & 2 of my own orphans (Gentleman's Agreement & The Lost Weekend) were the biggest orphan surprises to me. I will revisit Gentleman's Agreement & A Tree Grows In Brooklyn as I have the Kazan@ Fox blu-ray sets (but was waiting for a Criterion edition to revisit it), so I might replace GA with ATGIB to settle that orphan if no one else speaks up for it.

domino harvey wrote: Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:44 pm I had to check to see if the vote for the Fan was my own, so it’s a worthy reconsideration. And as I said, Sanders + Wilde = Duh.

The Portrait Of Dorian Gray is another of the titles just below 50 that I regretted not finding a way to fit in & would get added before The Fan (It's A Wonderful Life & The Grapes Of Wrath along with it). While looking at the IMDB entry for The Fan, not sure when this version is supposed to take place, but there is a promotional still from the movie featuring a London double decker bus with an ad for ("The Academy Award Winning") Gentleman's Agreement on its side.

Stunned to see The Ghost and Mrs Muir and The Lost Weekend as orphans, they were not on my list even though I like them quite a bit but also thought they would have bigger cache.

My own orphan was The Big Clock, a neglected noir masterpiece IMHO. It is a unique blend of absurd humour and film noir and just all around great entertainment. Maybe it doesn’t work so well if you are expecting pure noir but I urge others to give it another go if they were disappointed first time around.

Re: The Bishop's WIfe being an orphan - I'm guessing that ntnon did not submit a list? Otherwise there's something I don't understand for all the praise it received.

If trading is allowed, I could be persuaded to make room at the bottom of my list for one from a select list of the orphans that swo posted in return for your including one of mine on yours.

These are the orphans from the general list that ranked sufficiently high on mine (between no 55 and 77) that I could see myself adding:

Madame Curie
The Major and the Minor
49th Parallel
The Sea Hawk
Les Visiteurs du soir
Canyon Passage
Ministry of Fear
T-Men

The following are my orphans. Surprised at the absence of Dark Passage, and especially saddened at the orphaning of the Becker film, which was my highest-rated among the virgin viewings for this project.

14. Dark Passage (1947)
32. The Man in Grey (1943)
35. Goupi Mains Rouges (It Happened at the Inn) (1943)
45. Captain from Castile (1947)
47. The Captive Heart (1946)
48. Pride and Prejudice (1940)
50. Kiss of Death (1947)

Rayon Vert wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 3:55 am ...and especially saddened at the orphaning of the Becker film, which was my highest-rated among the virgin viewings for this project.

How can I watch the 40s films of Jacques Becker? He's one of my all time favorites.

EDIT-I just found the blu ray of "It Happened..." so I partially answered my own question. If I get a chance to order it in time I'll definitely consider it for my list.