Dir. John Cromwell. Starring Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon Why was Lincoln two and a half hours long when the only things that anyone cared about were Daniel Day-Lewis saying “Now! Now!” and that one dude speaking the greatest line in movie history? I am mostly kidding, because I do recall going to theaters to see… Read More Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
For a brief introduction and a running list of movies covered in this project, click here And we’re back! Halfway through, let’s keep rolling. 50) Howards End (1992), directed by James Ivory As sumptuous as the sets of Howards End are, and as lovely the costumes, all of it enhanced by some seriously underrated photography by Tony Pierce-Roberts, this… Read More Better than BFI’s Top 100: 50-46
For a brief introduction and a running list of movies covered in this project, click here. 85) 49th Parallel (1941), directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger One way to avoid the trouble of making an action-adventure movie that’s just loosely tied setpieces is to lean fully into the naturally episodic tendencies of the… Read More Better than BFI’s Top 100: 85-81
Dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Starring Roger Livesey, David Niven, Kim Hunter The second scene of the film, the one where Peter Carter (Niven, who will always be the guy who got off the best burn in Oscar history) descends about as slowly as possible in a crashing airplane, is surprisingly moving. The surprise… Read More A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Seeing Things Secondhand 