Movies from the 1940s
A collection of scenes, people, lines, props, and other details from the movies of the 1940s.
The Third Man (1949)
Although The Third Man is (famously) set in Vienna, and makes use of numerous locations around that city, much of the studio work and other shots were filmed in London.
This would apparently include at least some of the back projection footage made for the driving scenes. (more…)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The opening scroll from The Maltese Falcon is, sadly, completely made up. There was no real Maltese falcon, although the idea may have come from another magnificent bird, the Kniphausen Hawk, which was made in 1697 for a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. (more…)
Dark Passage (1947)
In Dark Passage, Humphrey Bogart plays Vincent Parry, a man wrongly convicted of his wife’s murder. At the start of the movie, he escapes from prison, and halfway through he gets plastic surgery to enable him to search for his wife’s killer without detection.
This gave the studio the problem of what to do about Humphrey Bogart in the early part of the film. (more…)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The wealthy American tourist that Humphrey Bogart’s character keeps touching for cash in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is played by the film’s director, John Huston. (more…)
Citizen Kane (1941)
There’s a scene near the end of Citizen Kane where Kane and his wife through a lavish picnic on the beach in Florida. It’s an unsettling, eerie scene, rendered all the more so by the unusual appearance of their surroundings: it’s more swamp than beach, and those creatures flying across the background don’t quite look like birds… (more…)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Cameo appearances in films are usually discovered pretty quickly, especially in these days of freeze-frame DVDs, but this one took more than sixty years for people to notice. (more…)
Passport to Pimlico (1949)
As the citizens of Pimlico celebrate their new-found independence from Britain in Ealing’s postwar comedy, they keep the pub open late, and it’s not long before the thorny issue of licensing hours comes up. When a police chief asks for the landlord’s identity card, it’s torn up in front of him. (more…)
