It Happened in Brooklyn (1947, USA, Whorf) – Frank Sinatra is growing up. Now, at 31, he looks maybe 21-ish. And then he starts singing, and suddenly he’s ageless. Watched it all. Favorite scene: The kids who hang at the music store, where you can sense this whole new youth culture waiting to explode, with hysterical fans and everything.
The Voice of the Turtle (1947, USA, Rapper) – Think how weird it would have been if Ronald Reagan was just some guy who starred in a couple of 40′s dramas. Watched: 11 minutes.
Odd Man Out (1947, USA, Reed) – James Mason performs robberies to support Irish nationalism in Belfast, but his heart’s not in it any more, and his men are incompetent, and he ends up wounded, staggering around the city, looking for help. Watched it all. Favorite scene: The mad painter who wants to portray the face of a dying man.
The Unsuspected (1947, USA, Curtiz) – The least you can do when you’re being murdered while on the telephone is to give some information about the killer before you perform your final bloodcurling scream. Watched: 11 minutes.
A Double Life (1947, USA, Cukor) – Ronald Colman is an empty shell who takes his personality from the characters he play. When he’s the butler in a farce, he’s lovable and friendly. When he’s Othello, well .. Watched it all. It’s a mirror of Laurence Olivier’s Henry V, where we start in real life but are gradually sucked into the play. Here, the characters from the play gradually walk out into real life.