Forum Overview :: Peter Molyneux's The Movies

The Best Movie of 1944 by Brody Wilder 03/31/2026, 8:20pm PDT WINNER: Double Indemnity 1944 was the year Barbara Stanwyck, inventrix of acting for sound, officially transitioned from ingenue to vamp. Here she plays the bored housewife who ropes her Remember the Night co-star (and acknowledged visual inspiration for Fawcett's Captain Marvel), Fred MacMurray, into killing her husband for the insurance money. A new moral low for film noir, Double Indemnity was both written and directed by pessimistic peri-Holocaust Jew Billy Wilder, kicking off his angry Elvis Costello phase while kicking open the doors of depravity for those who would follow. It takes a light touch to break new ground without striking a sewage line, but Wilder delicately navigates the shitstorm of censorship with his trademark black humour. If The Maltese Falcon was Kermit's first film noir, Double Indemnity is when he and Miss Piggy finally fucked. Putting the Pow in Powell: Murder, My Sweet '44 was also the year that baby-faced crooner Dick Powell - juvenile lead in all those Busby Berkeley movies I told you to watch - finally "grew the beard", though in his case it was more of a fedora. Murder, My Sweet (the title had to be changed from Farewell, My Lovely because focus groups thought it signaled another musical) sees Powell trading in his dancing shoes for the gum kind as hard-boiled PI Philip Marlowe. Tough as detective stories came up to this point, Powell is beaten, drugged, and screwed over six ways from Sunday - but make no mistake, he gives as good as he gets. This is the sort of role he'd be identified with for the rest of his career, and I couldn't be prouder of the guy. To Get and Get Got: To Have and Have Not Director Howard Hawks was never ashamed to borrow, from himself or anyone else. Ostensibly adapting Hemingway's novel of the same title, To Have and Have Not is really just Casablanca again, only this time Humphrey Bogart owns his own smuggling boat instead of just doing a little smuggling on the side. Set once again in a colony of Vichy France, here the Carribean island of Martinique (the novel was set in Cuba), Bogart acts real cool, listens to live piano, and ultimately does the right thing. More action-packed than its Moroccan predecessor and with a much more distinctive directorial style, Have is nonetheless most significant for the electrifying debut of 19-year-old Lauren Bacall. Playing the usual sexually empowered Hawksian woman, Bacall asks Bogart, "You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow". It was no wonder he fell hard for her in real life. Off-screen, 44-year-old walking corpse Bogart asked his good friend, creepiest man in the world Peter Lorre, what the point would be in marrying her if she was only going to outgrow him in five years. "Five good years are better than none," replied the paranoid child killer from Fritz Lang's M. They were wed in 1945, and remained together until Bogie's death from obvious causes in 1957. Only Mostly Dead: Laura Clifton Webb will go down in history as the answer to the trivia question, "Who was the first actor to play Mr. Belvedere?". In 1948's Sitting Pretty, the effete old man brought that literary figure to the screen as an obviously-homosexual child-hating writer who deigns to take a nannying job while he finishes off his book. The joke being, the last man you should supposedly leave your children with turned out to be the best thing for them. (Little of this nuance remained in the AIDS-era sitcom, where Lynn Belvedere was just Mary Poppins, but a fat guy.) In Laura, Webb plays the obviously-homosexual newspaper columnist who inserts himself into the investigation of his female protege's murder. It's entirely down to Webb's performance that the ending is remembered as one of the most unbelievable in the history of film noir. Capra Candycorn: Arsenic and Old Lace It's been a pretty moody year, so let's finish off with a classic Frank Capra comedy. Cary Grant comes home on Halloween to discover that his elderly aunts have been murdering vagrants for sport. (Oh God, is there no escape from the bloody meatgrinder of 1944?!) Grant frantically tries to keep his family's crimes under wraps as farcical complications mount. Based on a concurrently running stage play, Frankenstein actor Boris Karloff declined to reprise his role in the film, fearing the show would fold in his absence. His part here went to the condescending scientist from Things to Come, Raymond Massey. I bet Karloff regrets that decision now.

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 Yesterday, 9:42pm PDT     The Best Movie of 1947 by Brody Wilder Yesterday, 3:24am PDT