What's streaming from 1947?
Saturday, May 16, 2020 at 12:39PM We're having a 1947 sidebar party for the next two weeks as we build towards the Smackdown.
One of the great f***over moments in our world of sophisticated search technology is the lack of interest in content providers giving us extensive search options. Over the years we've watched the capacity to search by film year dwindle until its practically non-existent across the web. Netflix used to have it. Hulu never did. Amazon Prime still sorta has that kind of search but makes it difficult to find and has altered their once somewhat easy "by decade" into a clunkier system; they now only allow you to differentiate the cinematic decades once you've hit 1960. This makes self-curated spontaneous movie-watches difficult if, say, you'd like to time travel to a particular year. And, you guessed it, that's something we here at TFE like to do. Criterion Channel, at least, has a way to search by exact year.
But, as ever, we're here to help. If you'd like to indulge in the 1947 film year before we reach the next Supporting Actress Smackdown here are a dozen noteworthy movies that are currently available to stream for free...
ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (on Amazon Prime)
John Wayne is the bad man of the title but when he's nursed back to health by a spiritual woman (Gail Russell), that might change. This was the first movie that John Wayne produced himself (at age 40) and the first of two collaborations with the then 23 year-old actress Gail Russell (They remained friendly until her early death just 13 years later of alcoholism). The movie also inspired a Johnny Cash song.
BLACK NARCISSUS (on Criterion Channel)
Two Oscar nominations and wins (Cinematography / Art Direction) greeted this jawdropping one-of-a-kind picture about nuns losing it in the Himalayas from the great visual stylists Powell & Pressburger but it really ought to have been nominated for virtually everything. Plus the performances are, you know, kinda sensational. This is TFE's favourite 1947 movie so how much more of a recommendation do you need?
BRUTE FORCE (on Criterion Channel)
Burt Lancaster leads a prison uprising in this star-studded drama.
DOWN TO EARTH (on Criterion Channel)
Rita Hayworth plays a muse who comes down to earth and disguises herself as a human woman to meddle in showbiz so, yes, Xanadu is a descendant of sorts.
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (on Criterion Channel)
Orson Welles directs and stars in this crime drama costarring Rita Hayworth and that hall of mirrors. Confession: I'm not totally crazy about this one, at least not to the extent of other Welles pictures, but maybe you will be?
LIFE WITH FATHER (on Amazon Prime)
This comedy starring William Powell and Irene Dunne as parents of a bustling household received four Oscar nominations. Please note: Teenage Elizabeth Taylor, freshly child-star famous from National Velvet, plays the love interest of the family's eldest son. This is also the only member of 1947's top ten box office hits to be streaming for free online.
LURED (on Criterion Channel)
This noir is a curio-must for cinephiles for exactly three reasons: It features four beloved Old Hollywood stars (Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Charles Coburn, Boris Karloff, etc...); it's a very early entry in the serial killer genre; and the director of this black-and-white crime drama is none other than the future undefeated master of super-colorful-melodramas, Douglas Sirk.
MONSIEUR VERDOUX (on Criterion Channel)
The National Board of Review named this Charlie Chaplin picture the best film of 1947. It also received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay
ODD MAN OUT (on Criterion Channel)
The ever reliable James Mason headlines this Carol Reed (Oliver!) directed crime drama. One Oscar nomination for Film Editing.
ONE WONDERFUL SUNDAY (on Criterion Channel)
A romance from Akira Kurosawa right before his international breakthrough in the late 40s with Drunken Angel / Stray Dogs.
PARADINE CASE (on Vimeo)
We'll be discussing this one on the upcoming Smackdown but it's Alfred Hitchcock so it should go without saying that it is a good watch, psychosexually nutty, and fascinating in the cinematography and direction departments. Its only Oscar nomination was for Best Supporting Actress (Ethel Barrymore) which is not-quite the shortest performance ever nominatd for an Oscar but pretty damn close. That's an exceptionally strange thing to single out from a movie full of strong elements.
And finally...
SMASH UP THE STORY OF A WOMAN (on Amazon Prime)
Two Oscar nominations for this drama about an alcoholic singer unravelling. Susan Hayward was the queen of onscreen alcoholism in the studio era. (This is the only Best Actress nominated film of 1947 that we could find streaming for free online)
Reader Comments (17)
Lured is a terrific film. Lucille Ball is great in it.
In my mind, Burt Lancaster is the sexiest male actor ever.
Jimmy -- i saw it so long ago. Very curious to revisit
Tyler -- he's definitely up there.
I was about to give up on 1947 offering an great films, but a morning double feature of One Wonderful Sunday and Lured has changed that.
I just went thru my list, and I definitely could beef up my 1947 screenings, so thanks for this post.
Since Xanadu was a formative experience for me, I feel I really need to see "Down to Earth".. can anyone recommend it?
And the poster for "Brute Force" has been tempting me on Criterion for a while, so i guess this is the month to finally see young Burt in that.
But wait.. now that I've read your summary of "Lured", it's at the top of my queue!
a few other 1947 faves of mine (I'm just using the IMDb-designation for film year for this comment. Apologies if any of these movies aren't really 1947):
-Quai des Orfèvres- a french noir by Clouzot. a singer w/ a jealous husband who also accompanies her on the piano in the music hall where they work. and then someone gets murdered..... streaming free on Kanopy
-Out of the Past- classic (cubed) noir. not part of any streaming package that i can see, but you can stream it "ala carte" for a small fee it seems on Apple, etc. and if your library is open, they almost certainly will have it.
and my favorite movie of 1947:
-The Damned- French WWII movie by Rene Clement. at the end of the war, several Nazis set off in a submarine to escape to South America and take a few unwilling shipmates with them, including hunky doctor Henri Vidal. He's kidnapped to care for a sick passenger and ends up taking the whole voyage with them. I'm not typically a huge fan of WWII flix, but this was great. Some stunning camera work and lighting. And contains the line "We're not in a bedroom, we're in a U Boat". Sadly, i don't think it's streaming anywhere.. i rented the DVD a few years ago.
Prior to the announcement of the smackdown my 1947 viewings I could count on one hand (embarrasing). Since then I've caught up on a lot and there is a whole bunch of great titles. Odd Man Out and Black Narcissus not being on streaming platforms is criminal both are stellar films. The former features perhaps Mason's greatest on screen performance and the latter I'm in agreement is the best feature from 47.
As a person who loves mid 20th century films it's criminal a lot of the great ones are so hard to find to watch. Some other great films from the year I'd highly recommend are Born to Kill, I Know Where I'm Going, The Man I Love, Nightmare Alley, T-Men & The Woman on the Beach to name a few. Expert year for film
I loved Lured!!
I'm sure at the time it wasn't but now it seems such a change of pace for both Lucy and George Sanders and both do well and Lucy looks like a million bucks.
Sirks's direction is assured, the atmosphere is great, Charles Coburn is a very welcome addition as the police inspector, you get all kinds of great character actors popping up and a choice cameo by Boris Karloff that is sure to give you the creeps!! Who could ask for more?
"The Paradine Case" wastes a great cast in what is probably one of Hitchcock's dullest movies
The JustWatch portal allows searches across all streaming platforms (or any selected combination of platforms), and allows easy filtering by any release year or span of release years.
Jaragon -- i so disagree. I was riveted. I'd heard that it was dull so avoided it for a long time so it was a good reminder that even "dull" hitchcock is much more exciting than random movies by other people.
I'm fully on board with Nathaniiel's championing of "Black Narcissus" and "The Paradine Case". And the strong reader recommendations for "The Damned", "Nightmare Alley" "Born to Kill" and "Odd Man Out". I love "The Lady from Shanghai" but although many sources attribute it to '47 , the picture was only unveiled in France that year( in December), but didn't play American cinemas till spring 1948 so - as far as Oscar eligibility it was part of the '48 field (not that the Academy granted it a single nod).
Though they may not be currently streaming, there are so many '47 titles worth ferreting out. Mainstream classics like "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and "Miracle on 3th Street" and lesser know gems like "The Macomber Affair". Not to mention the lovely Douglas Fairbanks Jr-Maria Montez swashbuckler "The Exile"(beautifully directed by Max Ophuls) and Lawrence Tierney's under the radar noir, "The Devil Thumbs a Ride". A couple of very enjoyable '47 comedies that were huge in their day but under-celebrated now are "The Farmer's Daughter" (Loretta Young) and "Road to Rio", for me the best and funniest of the Crosby/Hope series. One reader singled out "The Man I Love". I'm in full agreement. Arguably Ida Lupino's best performance (and the 40's were full of great Lupino performances). There were also lots of terrific foreign films from '47 that probably didn't make it to U.S. theaters till later. "Ehe im Schatten" and ""Zwischen heute une morgen", superb postwar examinations of the turmoil and legacy of the Nazi era from a German perspective; plus some great Britisht titles like "The Brothers" set in Scotland and "They Made Me a Fugitive", Britnoir par excellence with Trevor Howard and the marvelous Sally Gray. Winners all.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, my favorite movie of 1947, addressed a grieving widow who seeks to quell her loneliness with the spirit of a sea captain who inhabits an oceanside cottage she occupies with her young daughter.
The headstrong widow with a young daughter rents a haunted cottage on the English seashore. The ghost has driven all previous tenants running, but Mrs. Muir quickly wins the affection of the apparition. The conceit of the fantasy here is that because the romantic pair are a living woman and a ghost, they can never touch.
That leaves the sizable dilemma of presenting a visual love story in which the lovers never hold one another, kiss, or even join hands. The heat between the deceased Captain Daniel Gregg and the widowed Lucy Muir must be conveyed in gazing into one another’s eyes, heightened emotions that are revealed in verbal exchanges and behaviors.
The sexual tension arises early in the film. Mrs. Muir is undressing for the bed. As she begins to untie a ribbon at her throat and unbutton her blouse, she stops. Wordlessly, she recognizes that the Captain, a spirit, can observe her. She modestly drapes a lap robe over Daniel’s portrait that hangs in her bedroom. The scene shifts and the nightgown attired Mrs. Muir climbs into bed. She sighs and closes her eyes. They quickly pop open and she sits up when we hear the deep manly voice of the ghost who is not seen state, “Never let anyone tell you that you don’t have a fine figure.”
Rex Harrison gives a tremendous performance as Captain Daniel Gregg. The seaman’s death was ruled a suicide. While the skilled sailor blusters that the death was accidental, there is a undertone that leaves the viewer wondering. His physical presence is quite imposing. Harrison speaks with a deep baritone, different than that in his Oscar winning role in My Fair Lady. His barrel chest, finely manscaped facial hair, and resonating voice create an attractive leading man.
The stunningly beautiful Gene Tierney doesn’t shy away from demonstrating a widow’s grief for the loss of a marriage bed. During the course of the story, Mrs. Muir, in addition to her spiritual love affair with the ghost of Captain Gregg, begins a romance with a living, breathing man, a children’s book author. Now the lonely mother must choose between a profound but sexless love or an active sex life with a man she is fond of.
In the immediate period following World War II more women in the audience faced this choice more often than might be acknowledged. The National Institute of Health and US Library of Medicine completed a joint study showing that over 600,000 men returned from the war with various afflictions, both mental and physical, that left the veterans disabled – sexually. Tierney may play the romance quite chastely, but she never allows the audience to doubt what Lucy truly wants or what she will choose. For men in the audience who were suffering such maladies, the film was not a comfort.
Rather, the film in the guise of romantic comedy addressed the grief for absent sexual partners and disabled ones. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was a landmark film about the emotions addressed by survivors from battle and on the home front after WWII.
When I watched 'The Lady From Shanghai' for the 1st time two years ago, I was not surprised by Welles' storytelling style, but I was surprised by his bad acting. What also surprised me was how good Rita Hayworth was. She has to be one of the saddest femme fatales in all of noir. Here's my take on 'The Lady From Shanghai': https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-lady-from-shanghai-1948.html
Nathaniel I agree with you that dull Hitchcock is better than most films but have you tried watching "Topaz"?!
Hmmm....
BLACK NARCISSUS is my favourite film of 1947. I'd echo the recommendation of QUAI DES ORFEVRES. DAISY KENYON is a stunner as is the soon-to-be-remade NIGHTMARE ALLEY.
I'm a huge fan of Great Expectations and it should have gone 5 for 5 at the Oscars. Its Supporting Actresses don't really stand out, but nominations for Martita Hunt and/or Jean Simmons would not have been out of order. They're better than at least 3 of the actual nominees.
Copied from imdb:
This rough cut was initially trimmed to two hours and twelve minutes, which was the version screened for the Academy of Arts & Sciences. In this version, Ethel Barrymore can be seen as the half-crazed wife of Lord Horfield, which explains the Oscar nomination for her performance (there was apparently a brilliant museum scene where Lady Horfield requests Anthony Keane to save Mrs. Paradine, and another scene where Lady Horfield tries to hide her coughing from her husband). Producer David O. Selznick subsequently cut the film to two hours and five minutes, and then to its present length of one hour and fifty-four minutes, in which Barrymore's screen time totals about three minutes.