A World War II Hollywood propaganda film detailing the dark underside of Nazism and the Third Reich set between two brothers, Kurt and Erik Franken, whom are SS officers in the Nazi party. Kurt learns and exposes the evils of the system to Erik and tries to convince him of the immoral stance that marches under the symbol of the swastika.
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Tag Archives: 1940s
Ziegfeld Girl (1941) Robert Z. Leonard, Busby Berkeley, James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Drama, Musical, Romance
Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl’s life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.
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The Great Sinner (1949) Robert Siodmak, Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas, Drama
A young writer goes to Wiesbaden to write about gambling and gamblers, only to ultimately become a compulsive gambler himself. Losing all his wealth, as well as his moral fibre, he commits the ultimate degradation of robbing a church poor box in order to feed his compulsion.
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Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942) Edward Dmytryk, James Craig, Bonita Granville, Frank Jenks, Action, Drama
After Pearl Harbor, convicts at Alcatraz prison live in fear of bomb attacks, driving Champ Larkin and his pal Jimbo to a desperate escape attempt which lands them on a tiny lighthouse island, where they take over. The five inhabitants are stymied in their efforts to summon aid. But the island also figures in the schemes of a big Nazi spy ring; which will win out, the gangsters’ greed or their patriotism?
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So Proudly We Hail! (1943) Mark Sandrich, Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, Drama, Romance, War
A group of U.S. Army nurses leaves San Francisco for their tour of duty in Hawaii in December 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor changes their destination, and their lives. Sent to Bataan, in the Philippines, the nurses are led by Lt. Janet Davidson. She is faced with untested nurses who expected an easy time in Honolulu, but who quickly become battle-weary veterans dealing with daily bombardments by the Japanese, overwhelmed by the numbers of wounded, and dwindling supplies. Some of “Davey’s” unit also have to deal with romantic entanglements with men they met onboard ship. When Bataan falls, the American forces flee to the offshore island of Corregidor, where they find the Japanese assault just as intense.
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The Big Shot (1942) Lewis Seiler, Humphrey Bogart, Irene Manning, Richard Travis, Drama, Crime
Three time loser Duke Berne risks life in prison with one more armored car robbery. His attorney’s wife Lorna, Berne’s old sweetheart, keeps him from it but he goes to jail anyway. Duke and Lorna get some time together again after he stages a prison break, but if he stays with her his old friend George will have to take the rap for killing one of the guards.
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Strangers in the Night (1944) Anthony Mann, William Terry, Virginia Grey, Helene Thimig
A lonely, mentally unbalanced woman invents a fictitious daughter and has the “daughter” write to a Marine stationed in the South Pacific. Read More »
The Man from Tumbleweeds (1940) Joseph H. Lewis, Bill Elliott, Iris Meredith, Dub Taylor, Western
In the third of his four Wild Bill Saunders Westerns, Bill Elliott, “the Peaceable Man,” is assigned by Governor Dawson (Don Beddoe) to put a stop to the reign of terror, including cold-blooded murder, perpetrated by Powder Kilgore (Raphael Bennett). When the state legislature refuses to fund a legitimate rangers organization, Wild Bill instead enlists a group of tough convicts, whom he promises freedom if they help capture Kilgore and his chief lieutenant, Lightning Barlow (Francis Walker). Unfortunately, one of the convicts, Shifty (Ernie Adams), lives up to his name by betraying his comrades in arms to Kilgore but after a furious gun battle at the gang’s shootout, Wild Bill manages to bring peace to the area. Nevertheless, when asked to captain the newly founded rangers organization, the hero instead promotes his new friend, former convict Honest John (Al Hill), and heads off to new adventures.
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Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942) Leo McCarey, Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Walter Slezak, Adventure, Comedy, Drama
At the start of WWII, Katie O’Hara, an American burlesque girl intent on social climbing, marries Austrian Baron Von Luber. Pat O’Toole, an American radio reporter, sees this as a chance to investigate Von Luber, who is suspected of having Nazi ties. As country after country falls to the Nazis, O’Tool follows O’Hara across Europe. At first he is after a story, but he gradually falls in love with her. When she learns that her husband is indeed a Nazi, O’Hara fakes her death and runs off with O’Toole. In Paris, she is recruited to spy for the allies; he uses a radio broadcast to make Von Luber and the Nazis look like fools.
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The Seventh Veil (1945) Compton Bennett, James Mason, Ann Todd, Herbert Lom, Drama, Music
One dark summer night, Francesca Cunningham, a once world famed pianist, escapes from her hospital room and tries to commit suicide by jumping off a local bridge. She is rescued and taken back to the hospital and undergoes psychological treatment by Dr. Larsen. Larsen, desperately wants to know the events and persons who drove her to this state and help her. He makes Francesca talk about her past – a past with a controlling guardian, Nicholas, no friends, kept apart from the man she loved and forced to practice the piano 5-6 hours a day.
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Honeymoon (1947) William Keighley, Shirley Temple, Franchot Tone, Guy Madison, Comedy
Pretty but scatterbrained Barbara Olmstead arrives in Mexico City to marry her soldier fiance, learns he’s been delayed, and runs off to find a place to stay. Meanwhile, fiance Phil arrives after all, just misses Barbara, and goes off in quest of her. As further complications ensue, American consul David Flanner (who has an impatient fiancee of his own) is caught in the middle and driven nearly frantic…
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Kathleen (1941) Harold S. Bucquet, Shirley Temple, Herbert Marshall, Laraine Day, Drama, Romance, Comedy
Kathleen is a 12 year old who lives in a big house with a nanny, a butler, maids, no mother and a father who is working most of the time. She dreams of a family with a mother, father and her, and tells everyone that she has such a family. Because of this story, she cannot invite any friends over as they will see that it is not true. Kathleen and her nanny, Mrs. Farrell do not get along, so her father hires a psychologist name Dr. Kent to be her new nanny for the summer. Her father has a new girlfriend, named Lorraine, who he is considering for his wife and mother to Kathleen. Kathleen does not like her and Lorraine is cold to Kathleen. Kathleen envisions Dr. Kent as the perfect mother for her and wife for her father.
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Two-Faced Woman (1941) George Cukor, Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, Comedy, Romance
While at a ski lodge, Larry Blake sees instructor Karin Borg and decides to sign up for private lessons. The next thing he knows, she is Mrs. Blake. When he announces that he is going back to work on his magazine in New York the next day, Karin refuses to go with him. She later comes to New York, buys expensive clothes, and goes to meet him when she sees he is with old flame Griselda. Caught by Blake’s business partner, O.O. Miller, before she can leave, she explains that she is really Karin’s twin sister Katherine. Hard to believe, but that is what she tries to make everyone, including Larry, believe. Larry, however, has serious doubts, but plays the game to the hilt as the worldly Katherine tries to take him away from both Griselda and Karin.
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Undercurrent (1946) Vincente Minnelli, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
Middle-aged bride Ann Hamilton soon begins to suspect that her charming husband is really a psychotic who plans to murder her.
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Thieves’ Highway (1949) Jules Dassin, Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
The soldier Nick Garcos returns back home from the war very happy with gifts for his parents Yanko and Parthena Garcos and money in his pocket to open a business and get married with his girlfriend Polly Faber. Out of blue, Nick realizes that his father lost both legs and Yanko, who was a truck driver, tells that he was cheated by the dealer Mike Figlia in the San Francisco’s market when he delivered a truckload of tomatoes and was not paid. He believes that his accident was provoked by Figlia’s gangsters. He also tells that he sold the truck to a driver named Ed Kinney that has not paid him. Nick meets Ed and tells that he will bring the truck back, but Ed proposes a deal with apples, where they may earn a great amount. Nick invests his savings in another truck and buys apples from a Polish farmer. They need to drive directly to the market in San Francisco without sleeping to keep the fruits fresh, but Ed’s truck has problem on its axle and Nick arrives first.
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