BEST FILMS OF 1948
by Mike Lorefice

The Bicycle Thief
Vittorio De Sica

****

Fallen Idol
Carol Reed

***

Force of Evil
Abraham Polonsky

Moralistic underworld tale that uses two guilty brothers caught up in the numbers racket to challenge the corrupt underpinnings inherent in capitalism. John Garfield is an ultra successful highly corrupt lawyer who is the mastermind in a scheme to break all the numbers banks. By having the favorite 776 hit on the 4th of July his syndicate can float only the banks they want, combining them into a corporation that will be legalized because the unpaid winners will demand federal safeguards ensure future winnings. Thomas Gomez is Garfield's older brother, a small time numbers banker in the slums who could have been a big lawyer if he had forsaken Garfield when their parents died and didn't have aspirations to being an honest businessman. The triumph of the film is in depicting how being a businessman has not only corrupted both, but wrenched the two brothers 180 degrees apart. Both are essentially good men who are loyal to one another, but Gomez hates Garfield largely because Garfield didn't use the opportunity he provided to be the legitimate lawyer Gomez always envisioned he would have been. Gomez can't bring himself to join Garfield, to scrap all his illusions of honesty and simply flaunt his shadiness in order to make millions rather than thousands. The noir aspect comes from a combination of Garfield refusing to forsake his brother and allow him to be bankrupt with the other small bankers and miscalculating his personal worth to the syndicate. Unfortunately, Polonsky's bleak lyrical directorial debut was practically the only film he'd direct, as his all pervasive leftist criticism of capitalism got him blacklisted (for 20 years) in 1951. [2/27/06] ***1/2

Fort Apache
John Ford

***1/2

Germany Year Zero
Roberto Rossellini

****

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He Walked By Night
Anthony Mann & Alfred L. Werker

****

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Key Largo
John Huston

***

Letter From An Unknown Woman
Max Ophuls

***

Macbeth
Orson Welles

***1/2

Meditation on Violence
Maya Deren

Deren's first sound film uses Shaolin and Wutang forms to examine and obscure the distinction between violence and beauty. It starts out very plainly with a man (Chao Li Chi) in front of a white wall simply doing the fluid movements; it's meant to be relaxing with slower smooth forms to calming music. The film becomes more interesting as we are transported outdoors and the martial artist does similar motions with a sword, Teiji Ito's flute and oriental drum picking up the pace to match the increased speed and violence of the forms. Deren largely employs tight shots, and part of the reason the sword forms are more dynamic is the sword is always going in and out of the frame since it's lengthier than the arm. When she switches back to the weaponless forms the film is rolled in reverse, but with such fluid perpetual motion the difference is barely perceptible. This proves the Wu Tang philosophy that constant motion obscures forms to the point of formlessness. From a technical standpoint, the less interesting first portion was not so much from the man, but due to the more traditional manner in which he was filmed that required him to provide most of the action. Deren begins employing more angles and cuts during the second portion, and soon utilizes tricks such as a freeze frame in the middle of a death blow and alternating speed. [4/16/06] ***

The Naked City
Jules Dassin

***

Oliver Twist
David Lean

***

Raw Deal
Anthony Mann

***1/2

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Red River
Howard Hawks

***1/2

Road House
Jean Negulesco

***

Rope
Alfred Hitchcock

****

The Search
Fred Zinnemann

****

La Terra Trema
Luchino Visconti

****

The Time of Your Life
H.C. Potter

William Saroyan's lone Broadway success has a good-hearted rich man who hanging out at a waterfront drunk dive and helping out a cast of losers. James Cagney pulls the role off without making it seem like the usual aggrandizing of the rich. It's one of his best performances because it's toned down to the point he rarely even stands. The film is more about the poor than Cagney, and they aren't there to be condescended to or laughed at. It's not exactly realistic, but it's a study of the hopes and dreams of the down and out, and how people regardless of their own financial situation can help bring them at least a little closer to the life they envision. One thing that helps the credibility is the bar owner character excellently portrayed by William Bendix. He's also poor but in a different way is as generous as rich Cagney. He hires people even worse off than himself, and that fact, that someone believes in them and is willing to give them a chance to prove themselves, motivates them to work hard. One of the ways it's not realistic is these characters are quite a bit too colorful, but on the other hand it's more realistic than the characters who inhabit the movie bars today, the ones that are young, supposedly attractive, have no substance abuse problem, and are the envy of everyone in part because they are having so much great sex. Anyway, the lively characterizations allow Cagney to not have to go over the top to animate up the proceedings, essentially all of which take place in one little set. It's a genuinely well meaning work of the kind you never see anymore where people are nice because it's helpful to be. As a film it's not particularly accomplished, but it's one that makes you remember why long ago people thought this was a great country for reasons other than nationalism and brainwashing. [10/11/05] ***

The Treasure of Sierra Madre
John Huston

***1/2