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Poll

Which year should the next Retrospots cover?

1943
4 (21.1%)
1945
9 (47.4%)
Surprise me!
6 (31.6%)

Total Members Voted: 19

Author Topic: Retro Filmspots IV: Year Selection  (Read 11733 times)

pixote

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #20 on: January 03, 2017, 03:31:42 AM »
Followup question: If we did a year from the 1940s, would people be more interested in a year where the primary contenders are more or less already established (e.g., 1946, which features It's a Wonderful Life, Notorious, The Big Sleep, My Darling Clementine, and The Best Years of Our Lives)? Or a year that seems more wide open (e.g., 1945, which only has one film  — Brief Encounter — in the yearly poll with more than eight votes)?

For reference, here are the current poll results for all the years from the 1940s:

1940:

Film
          Votes         
His Girl Friday
26
The Philadelphia Story
20
The Grapes of Wrath
13
Fantasia
12
Rebecca
12
The Great Dictator
12
Pinocchio
11
The Shop Around the Corner
11
The Mortal Storm
6
The Thief of Bagdad
4
Gaslight
4
My Favorite Wife
3
The Great McGinty
2
Remember the Night
2
They Drive by Night
2
Pride and Prejudice
1
I Love You Again
1
Waterloo Bridge
1
The Sea Hawk
1
Foreign Correspondent
1
The Westerner
1
Our Town
1
Christmas in July
1
The Bank Dick
1

1941:

Film
          Votes         
Citizen Kane
30
The Maltese Falcon
22
The Lady Eve
12
How Green Was My Valley
12
Sullivan's Travels
10
Dumbo
10
Suspicion
5
The Wolf Man
4
High Sierra
4
Ball of Fire
3
Meet John Doe
2
Ornamental Hairpin
2
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
2
Hellzapoppin'
2
Sergeant York
1
49th Parallel
1
Major Barbara
1
The Little Foxes
1
The 47 Ronin
1
The Shanghai Gesture
1

1942:

Film
          Votes         
Casablanca
34
Bambi
17
The Magnificent Ambersons
10
The Palm Beach Story
9
Yankee Doodle Dandy
7
Now, Voyager
6
The Pride of the Yankees
5
Cat People
5
To Be or Not to Be
4
Holiday Inn
4
The Man Who Came to Dinner
3
Listen to Britain
3
Road to Morocco
2
There Was a Father
2
Mrs. Miniver
2
Woman of the Year
2
Aniki Bóbó
1
Larceny, Inc.
1
This Gun for Hire
1
Saboteur
1

1943:

Film
          Votes         
Shadow of a Doubt
20
The Ox-Bow Incident
13
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
12
Day of Wrath
6
Red Hot Riding Hood
5
Meshes of the Afternoon
4
Heaven Can Wait
3
The Seventh Victim
3
Le Corbeau
3
The Battle of Britain
2
Lassie Come Home
2
Air Force
2
Jane Eyre
2
The Gang's All Here
2
Hangmen Also Die!
2
Sahara
2
I Walked with a Zombie
2
Stormy Weather
1
Ossessione
1
Sanshiro Sugata
1
The Song of Bernadette
1
Les Anges du Peche
1
So Proudly We Hail!
1
For Whom the Bell Tolls
1
The Leopard Man
1
The More the Merrier
1
Cabin in the Sky
1

1944:

Film
          Votes         
Double Indemnity
26
Arsenic and Old Lace
13
Laura
12
To Have and Have Not
10
Meet Me in St. Louis
7
Lifeboat
7
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
6
Ivan the Terrible, Part One
6
Gaslight
6
Hail the Conquering Hero
4
A Canterbury Tale
4
Henry V
2
Going My Way
2
National Velvet
2
The Scarlet Claw
1
Torment
1
Mr. Skeffington
1
Ministry of Fear
1
The Fighting Sullivans
1
Screwball Squirrel
1
Murder, My Sweet
1
None But the Lonely Heart
1

1945:

Film
          Votes         
Brief Encounter
12
Open City
8
Children of Paradise
7
The Lost Weekend
7
Spellbound
7
Scarlet Street
6
Mildred Pierce
6
And Then There Were None
5
'I Know Where I'm Going!'
5
The Clock
3
Christmas in Connecticut
3
The Picture of Dorian Gray
3
The Way to the Stars
2
Detour
2
Dead of Night
2
The Body Snatcher
2
They Were Expendable
2
Leave Her to Heaven
2
Anchors Aweigh
2
A Walk in the Sun
2
Yolanda and the Thief
2
The Bells of St. Mary's
2
The Southerner
1
Story of G.I. Joe
1
The Corn Is Green
1
The Battle of San Pietro
1
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1
Objective, Burma!
1
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
1
Les dames du Bois de Boulogne
1
Fallen Angel
1

1946:

Film
          Votes         
It's a Wonderful Life
25
Notorious
23
My Darling Clementine
13
The Big Sleep
12
A Matter of Life and Death
9
The Best Years of Our Lives
9
The Killers
7
Great Expectations
5
The Stranger
4
The Postman Always Rings Twice
3
Beauty and the Beast
3
Song of the South
3
All the Cats Join In (short)
2
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (short)
2
The Yearling
2
I've Always Loved You
1
Three Strangers
1
Shoeshine
1
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
1
Cluny Brown
1
Gilda
1
Canyon Passage
1
A Night in Casablanca
1
Duel in the Sun
1
Let There Be Light
1

1947:

Film
          Votes         
Black Narcissus
20
Out of the Past
16
The Lady from Shanghai
13
Miracle on 34th Street
12
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
6
The Bishop's Wife
5
Monsieur Verdoux
4
Nightmare Alley
3
Dark Passage
3
Body and Soul
3
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
3
Brute Force
3
Odd Man Out
2
Kiss of Death
2
Fun & Fancy Free
2
Gentleman's Agreement
2
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
2
Brighton Rock
2
Quai des Orfèvres
1
The Farmer's Daughter
1
The Cat Concerto (short)
1
Record of a Tenement Gentleman
1
Ride the Pink Horse
1
Crossfire
1
They Made Me a Fugitive
1
Boomerang!
1
The School for Postmen (short)
1
Life with Father
1
The Red House
1
T-Men
1
Secret Beyond the Door...
1

1948:

Film
          Votes         
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
17
Rope
15
The Red Shoes
14
Bicycle Thieves
14
Red River
12
Key Largo
8
Hamlet
5
Force of Evil
5
Fort Apache
4
The Fallen Idol
3
Cry of the City
3
Moonrise
3
The Naked City
3
Unfaithfully Yours
3
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
2
Raw Deal
2
Drunken Angel
2
Letter from an Unknown Woman
2
State of the Union
2
Command Decision
1
The Search
1
Oliver Twist
1
Germany Year Zero
1
Macbeth
1
Spring in a Small Town
1
The Pirate
1
I Remember Mama
1
Aag
1
Louisiana Story
1
Sorry, Wrong Number
1
3 Godfathers
1

1949:

Film
          Votes         
The Third Man
31
White Heat
12
Kind Hearts and Coronets
12
Adam's Rib
11
Stray Dog
10
Late Spring
6
A Letter to Three Wives
6
The Set-Up
5
The Heiress
4
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
4
All the King's Men
3
Jour de fête
3
Twelve O'Clock High
3
Passport to Pimlico
3
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
2
On the Town
2
Le silence de la Mer
2
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (short)
2
Intruder in the Dust
1
Begone Dull Care
1
Battleground
1
The Big Steal
1
I Was a Male War Bride
1
Thieves' Highway
1
Beyond the Forest
1
They Live by Night
1
Barsaat
1

Thoughts?

pixote
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MartinTeller

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #21 on: January 03, 2017, 10:15:21 AM »
For me, a wide open year is far more appealing.

mañana

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #22 on: January 03, 2017, 10:17:33 AM »
I'll participate no matter what, but I am least interested in 20s (not jazzed about a silent marathon right now) and 80s (I like the 80s plenty, but feel like that's covered sufficiently by the bracket for now).
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Jared

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #23 on: January 03, 2017, 12:29:51 PM »
For me, a wide open year is far more appealing.

I agree. While a year can be good or bad in an Oscars or IMDb Top 250 kind of way, I don't feel like there are bad years for movies in general....just years where more needs to be discovered. Picking a year where we aren't simply going to replicate high acclaim is much more appealing to me.

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #24 on: January 03, 2017, 01:00:30 PM »
What's a wide open year post 1935? Some have a lot of favourites, like 1939, some have one or two clear leaders, like 1942, but no year is actually wide open in the "anything can win" sense. Everything year has a few established classics that will overshadow smaller discoveries, if for no other reason than they are the most seen.

jbissell

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #25 on: January 03, 2017, 01:02:55 PM »
For me, a wide open year is far more appealing.

Agreed, though I'll participate regardless of the year

MartinTeller

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #26 on: January 03, 2017, 01:17:54 PM »
What's a wide open year post 1935? Some have a lot of favourites, like 1939, some have one or two clear leaders, like 1942, but no year is actually wide open in the "anything can win" sense. Everything year has a few established classics that will overshadow smaller discoveries, if for no other reason than they are the most seen.

pixote's choice of 1945 is a good example. Brief Encounter leads the votes, but it doesn't seem to have the dominance of an immensely popular slate like Magnolia/Matrix/Fight Club. It feels to me like there's more room for lesser-known gems to surface.

43 looks promising, too. And 49, although I wonder if Third Man would walk away with it.

pixote

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #27 on: January 03, 2017, 01:55:17 PM »
I love 1945 because it includes three of my favorite underseen films: A Walk in the Sun, Story of GI Joe, and The Way to the Stars. Plus it'd give me the extra push I need to see Leave Her to Heaven (among others) and reconsider Children of Paradise and Open City (among others).

I wonder if we'd be able to field a full set of five Non-English Language nominees from some of these years.

pixote
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PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #28 on: January 03, 2017, 01:58:39 PM »
Fair enough on 1945, though I think it's a three or four film race at most. 1943 Has a clear favourite and two outside shots, and 1949 is Third Man's to lose. I'd say 1939, with two favourites and 3 outside shots, and 1999, with three clear favourites, are more competitive than 1943 and 1949, but a little less than 1945.

Anything from the 30s or 40s is fine by me, though.

I wonder if we'd be able to field a full set of five Non-English Language nominees from some of these years.
If people are willing to watch them, yes. Though they likely won't be a super varied field of nominees, largely a western European field with maybe some Soviet or the occasional Japanese film. The war years might be a little thin, though.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2017, 02:05:54 PM by PeacefulAnarchy »

pixote

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Re: Retro Filmspots III: Year Selection
« Reply #29 on: January 03, 2017, 02:10:40 PM »
Just to clarify: I'm focused more on the nominees being wide open, rather than the ultimate winners. And with 1945, Brief Encounter is the only film that I'd consider a lock for a Best Picture nomination.

Re: 1949 — The Third Man, despite being divisive, would probably be a lock to in Best Picture, especially if people who didn't like it the first time give it other chance. (It's definitely one of those films that seems to grow on people.) I'm a big fan myself, but I'd still love to see A Letter to Three Wives give it a strong challenge.

pixote
« Last Edit: January 03, 2017, 02:15:07 PM by pixote »
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