Ministry of Fear (1944, USA) – Fritz Lang imitates Hitchcock. It’s all there: The regular guy running away across the country, suspected of a crime he didn’t commit. The sinister spy ring with tentacles into all the best circles. Also the sense that it would all have been simpler if he’d just come clean with the police from the start. But what would be the fun of that? Watched it all.

Cry of the Werewolf (1944, USA) – Begins with a werewolf princess living in hiding among gypsies, (yay!), but then there’s the same old story where a couple of normal people struggle with how to fit the strange things they’ve experienced into their boring rational worldviews. Yes yes, werewolves and vampires and voodoo rituals are real, now get on with the movie. Watched: 17 minutes.

On Approval (1944, UK) – Two aristocrats and their friends move out onto an island for a month to see if they could stand being married to each other. Watched it all. I love how the introduction tries to show the contrast between the modern 40′s and the naughty 90′s.

Bathing Beauty (1944, USA) – Apparently an excuse to show off beautiful swimsuit models in Technicolor. Unfortunately I hate the music. Watched: 8 minutes, then fast forwarded to see if there was any good music at all. There was, and also a man in a tutu, and a message at the end about how this movie will be shown to soldiers overseas, which I think they appreciated.