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Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
My Favorite War Film
My dad was a sonar man on a destroyer escort and made two convoys across the mid-Atlantic. I saw this film as a kid and quickly reproduced the battle sequences in the bathtub with my model ships. When it finally came out on DVD I snatched it up. It holds up through repeated viewings. I even used the burial at sea sequence in a Memorial Day Service! There is something about Bogey leading in the Lord's Prayer! I buy every WW2 naval picture I can get my hands on--but this is the best of them. If you ever built WW2 ship models, you will love the miniatures in this film-a whole convoy with escorts and a menacing wolf pack of U-boats.
Another favorite is "The Enemy Below" (1957) which takes place on a DE like the one my dad was on. But that film is more personal--two ships battling each other. "Action in the North Atlantic" is on a much grander scale.
Duel in the Sun (1946)
Finally Watched this One
It has been on my shelf for quite some time but on this rainy Saturday night I finally watched "Duel in the Sun." I didn't think this was my kind of 40's western (Oxbow Incident, Red River, My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, etc) and I was right. A definite offspring of GWTW in terms of look and feel with a dash of color-noir thrown in, all I had ever seen was the ridiculous shootout at the end when it was lifted for various documentaries on the western. I couldn't imagine a plot that would get me to such an unlikely conclusion.
Still can't.
But I found myself enjoying this obvious attempt to entertain on an epic scale without the aid of a grand backdrop like the Civil War. The personal "duels in the sun" are interesting to watch: father and mother; two rival sons; ranchers and the railroad; and finally the mutually destructive finale. It seems that underlying most of these duels are the hormonal drives of young people and their parents. If honesty and self restraint (which are hinted at as life goals by just about everyone except the evil Gregory Peck)had been introduced early on in the story the movie would have no reason to exist. Perhaps the heat of passion and pleasure and ambition is the "sun" bringing all these duels to the boiling point.
This film is overdone in every possible way but that seems somehow appropriate, after all the film itself can be seen as a duel with GWTW. It is gorgeous to look at and fascinating to listen to, but much more a soap opera than a western. The cast overacts at almost every opportunity and that is part of the fun. Today's film acting can't be half as much fun as this was for these guys.
How did Gregory Peck ever bounce back to his heroic screen persona after this left turn?
So, roll out the hormones and watch people destroy each other with lust and prejudice and ambition before anyone even draws a sixgun or shoulders a rifle.
KlassicKlector Steve
State of the Union (1948)
My favorite Tracy-Hepburn film
This is my favorite Tracy-Hepburn film and one of my favorite Frank Capra films. I recommend reading Capra's out-of-print biography, "The Name Above the Title" for the interesting story of the reaction to this film by official Washington in 1948.
Quite reminiscent of "Meet John Doe," the story tests the character of a man against the political power-brokers who want to use him for their own purposes. Ideals battle pragmatism in ways that still ring true 50+ years later.
Angela Landsbury is a wicked woman (can we call her a fem fa tale?) in an amazing performance foreshadowing her role in 1962's "Manchurian Candidate." Adolphe Menjou's sleazy political boss is about a greasy as they come.
All in all there is nothing like a Capra film to make me what to stick to my principles and listen to the people who really love me. Add to Capra's theme of the inherent wisdom of the people this first rate group of actors and you have two hours of time well spent.