Sullivan’s Travels (1941, USA) – Satire about a movie director who sets out to live as a tramp to learn what it’s like to be poor, so that he can make that big serious movie he always dreamed about. He’s followed by a bus full of journalists, looking for a human interest story. Best line: “How do you feel about the labor situation?”, said to a pair of hobos on a train. Watched it all.

Topper Returns (1941, USA) – The original Topper had Cary Grant as an irresponsible playboy who kills himself and his wife in a drunken driving accident, then returns as a ghost to teach others to do likewise. This does not. I’m not sure what it has. Watched: 10 minutes.

Peer Gynt (1941, USA) – I wish there was some way to separate Peer Gynt from Grieg’s music, which is all wrong for it. This is a silent movie, which means you get to watch Charlton Heston (at 17, his first role) for 90 minutes while you listen to Grieg. Watched: 12 minutes.

Confessions of a Boston Blackie (1941, USA) – Stupid art world crime stuff. Watched: 9 minutes.

Western Union (1941, USA) – IMDB reviewers say this western about building telegraph lines is really good. I bet they’re just saying that because it’s directed by Fritz Lang. Watched: 16 minutes.

The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941, USA) – The movie came D.O.A. Watched: 5 minutes.

Sieg Im Westen (1941, Germany) – The story so far: Germany has successfully defended itself against Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France, and somehow finds itself in control of Western, Northern and Central Europe. Now if only some stupid fuck doesn’t go and invade the Soviet Union, nothing can go wrong. Anyway, this is a movie for and by war nerds. No I don’t want to know how they captured that fortress in Holland. Watched: 26 minutes.

‘Pimpernel’ Smith (1941, UK) – “In Nazi Germany, nobody can expect to be saved by anybody!” boasts the spokesperson for the Ministry of Propaganda as he dismisses rumors of a modern-day pimpernel who rescues scientists from Germany. Nazi stereotypes from during the war suffer from a lack of imagination. They’re just small-time crooks, mean and stupid. Watched: 7 minutes.

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941, USA) – An over-eager Angel of Death fetches the soul of boxer Robert Montgomery before his time. As compensation, he gets to do the Quantum Leap thing, jumping into bodies to make things better. This could be enjoyable if the main character wasn’t so retarded. Watched: 32 minutes.

Sergeant York (1941, USA) – Gary Cooper is a violent drunkard. But Jesus and the Great War will no doubt sort him out. Watched: 18 minutes.

Stukas (1941, Germany) – No subtitles, but the message seems to be: Our wholesome and cheerful pilots, when the time comes, for the Fatherland their lives joyfully sacrifice will. Watched: 4 minutes.

Dumbo (1941, USA) – Hey, this is brilliant! Not because of the story, but because of all the perfect scenes and details on the way. This is how Disney conquered the world, (after declaring their intentions with Fantasia.) Watched it all.

All Through the Night (1941, USA) – The gangster movie is dead, but the corpse is shambling along as a parody of itself. This time it’s gangsters vs nazis. Oh brother. Watched: 12 minutes.

Two-Faced Woman (1941, USA) – Sleaze-bag rich guy Melvyn Douglas meets, gets skiing lessons from, and marries, Greta Garbo as Ninotchka, all within 8 minutes. Watched: 8 minutes. IMDB verdict: “They fool around on a dance floor!!!!!” (Count the exclamation marks.)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941, USA) – It’s ironic that this story has remained so popular, while Victorian morality hasn’t. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Victorian morality. Keep your emotions under the lid, or you’ll release your lustful inner beast. But then, doesn’t all horror reflect old-fashioned morals? Anyway, it’s a good story, and I like that Spencer Tracy doesn’t play Hyde in silly monster makeup. Watched it all.

49th Parallel (1941, UK) – Hey America, look! This war of ours can come to your front steps as well! How about giving us a hand, eh? Watched: 15 minutes.

Ball of Fire (1941, USA) – Gary Cooper is a word nerd who heads out into the streets of New York to learn current slang for the dictionary he and his seven bachelor roommates are working on. Instead he finds a nightclub singer (skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood) on the run from the police. Barbara Stanwyck’s jazz number is my favourite musical scene in the marathon so far, (watch to the end!) Another thing that stands out is the sheer nerdiness of the movie. The climax hinges on a room full of lovable dorks outwitting crooks with their knowledge of ancient history. Watched it all.

Turned Out Nice Again (1941, UK) – Oh, the wacky things that occur at a textile factory. Inferior yarn quality, clumsy technicians, it’s a laugh. Watched: 5 minutes.

The Little Foxes (1941, USA) – As members of a wealthy family in the post-Civil War South, Bette Davis and her brothers scheme against each other for ownership of a cotton mill. This is a dark movie, made more so by the contrast between the few good people in the family and their heartless relatives. The family’s happy and subservient black servants adds to the dissonance, but, this being 1941, that may have been unintentional. Also contains the marathon’s first genuine teenage rebellion. Watched it all.

The Wolf Man (1941, USA) – The thing I hate about these old horror movies is the part where the policemen and/or the dull hero and heroine look for rational explanations for those Mysterious Wounds on the victim’s neck. It goes on forever, as if that’s what the audience wants to see. No, it’s monsters, gypsies, and dramatic fog. Watched: 22 minutes. (Now compare this to a real masterpiece, The Devil and Daniel Webster, which never rationalizes, and is unreal from beginning to end.)

That Hamilton Woman (1941, UK) – Vivien Leigh plays Holly Golightly, a low-born beauty who becomes the lover of Lord Nelson. This is one of my favourite romantic dramas so far, full of perfect scenes, for which equal credit goes to Leigh, Laurence Olivier, and the script. True to its time, the movie emphasizes the similarities between Napoleon and Hitler, and ends on a spectacularly patriotic note. Watched it all.

Gasbags (1941, UK) – The comedy group’s name, The Crazy Gang, isn’t promising, but this is actually very funny. A couple of no-good soldiers get accidentally lifted off by airship to Germany, (which they think is Ireland), along with their fish & chips store. Favourite line: A German soldier picks up a poster that fell off their store. Another asks, “what does it say?” “Fish is good for you.” “Well, it’s more English lies!” In another scene, the soldiers interpret their beating by concentration camp guards as an initiation ceremony, and proceed to beat up each other. Watched it all.

The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941, USA) – The Devil walks around New Hampshire, tempting poor farmers to sell their souls in return for wealth. This is an extraordinary movie, a puritan morality tale made perfect by the visual style, which is unlike anything I’ve seen, and by Walter Huston as the Devil. In the end, a trial for a farmer’s soul, held before a jury of damned souls, becomes a battle for the soul of America itself, with the Devil claiming to be its oldest citizen. “When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on the deck.” Anastasia screamed in vain. Watched it all.

Knute Rockne, All American (1940, USA) – Knut Rockne’s family emigrates from Voss, Norway, to Chicago, where he becomes an all-American super jock. He could have been an all-American super nerd, but abandons science to coach football, and leads his team through the typical sports movie adversities. Watched: 46 minutes, just long enough to see Ronald Reagan’s dying Gipper speech.

Brother Orchid (1940, USA) – A gangster boss quits and goes to Europe to learn how to be classy. When he returns, none of his friends wants him back. I guess the only way gangster movies could go at this point was into comedy, but it’s not working. Watched: 18 minutes.

The Shop Around the Corner (1940, USA) – I don’t think Hungary was ever like this. Watched: 9 minutes.

Santa Fe Trail (1940, USA)

John Brown and his gang of evil abolitionists terrorize Kansas in the 1850′s, but Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan come to the rescue. The overall message is that reasonable people may disagree about slavery, but only fanatics are strongly opposed to it, and it’s a shame that Northern abolitionists caused a civil war over such a minor issue. In one surreal scene, one of the bad guys, acting all shifty and evil, tries to smuggle runaway slaves on the train. In another, slaves freed by Brown welcome their recapture by the army, because they miss their owners. Watched it all, mostly because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’m not sure what fascinates me more: The real history of John Brown, (who arguably was a terrorist), or the fact that a pro-slavery telling of his story stars major actors and a future president – and was one of the top movies of the year. IMDB reviewers say Santa Fe Trail is an inaccurate but honest look at the origins of the Civil War, which is fucking stupid.

Pride and Prejudice (1940, USA)

I think I can only stand upper class twits when they’re being murdered or being decadent. Here they’re fluttering about like butterflies, trying to land advantageous marriages. Good God, why?! Watched: 12 minutes.

The Mummy’s Hand (1940, USA)

A secret Egyptian priesthood has kept a mummy alive but imprisoned for 3000 years. Stupid pseudo-archeologists arrive. Watched: 25 minutes.

The Letter (1940, USA) – Bette Davis kills a man who tries to rape her, but, this being film noir, (the first in this marathon), there “is in existence a letter” which undermines that story. Features Davis at her manipulative best. The story is set in British Singapore, a place where the Chinese fall into one of two categories: Ingratiating crooks, and insidious Fu Manchus. Watched it all.

Where’s That Fire (1940, UK) – Will Hay is an incompetent fireman. Hilarity ensues. Watched: 7 minutes.

One Million B.C. (1940, USA) “Now keep in mind he can’t control / When the movies begin or end / Because he used the extra parts / To make his robot friends.” Watched: 12 minutes.

Kitty Foyle (1940, USA) – Women were much happier before they got the vote. Now they must work, and choose a husband, and even fight with men for a seat on the bus. Watched: 11 minutes.

The Blue Bird (1940, USA) – Yargh! It’s Mecha-Shirley Temple! Run! Watched: 37 seconds.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940, USA) – Starving farmers go on a road trip in post-apocalyptic America. The only place that treats them right is a collectivist farm run by a Department of Agriculture official who looks like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after which both Tom Joad and his mother ascend, he to become the Spirit of the Revolution, she to become the Spirit of the American People. Watched it all.