Meito bijomaru (1945, Japan, Mizoguchi) – An apprentice blacksmith makes a fragile sword that destroys the lives of everyone he loves.  Crushed, he vows to make the perfect sword, a sword with soul that, in the hands of a vengeful woman (naturally!), will make everything right again.  Watched it all.

A Song to Remember (1945, USA, Vidor) – Frederic Chopin was young once too, and faced adversity etc.  Watched: 6 minutes.

Zoku Sugata Sanshiro (1945, Japan, Kurosawa) – A judo master gets drawn into the seedy world of American boxing, a barbaric sport for a barbaric people.  Watched it all.  This is a terrible movie, (or maybe it’s just the translation, which seems to have gone through Chinese at some point), but it’s fun to see Western stereotypes in a Japanese movie.

Lady on a Train (1945, USA, David) – The lady on the train sees a murder in a house they pass.  I expect she’ll set out to solve it herself because the police won’t listen, or something stupid like that.  Watched: 5 minutes.

Appointment in Tokyo (1945, USA, Hively) – American war propaganda was remarkably restrained, which is not what I expected.  There was plenty of patriotic emotions, (and justifiably so), but little outrageous.  The main exception was their portrayal of the sinister Japs, as in this documentary about the last years of the war in the Pacific.  Watched it all.

Strange Holiday (1945, USA, Oboler) – Some guy rants into the camera about his poor poor children, for at least 9 minutes.  Watched: 9 minutes.