 | | |
| | |
|
Spaces home  Peltonator'sPhotosProfileFriendsMore |  Tools   |
Peltonator'sTrustworthiness is the bedrock of all virtues
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(Continued)
|
October 06 Movies of the 1940sThe 1940s are regarded as the "Golden Age of Cinema". Three films of the period are considered the greatest of all-time; namely, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and It's a Wonderful Life. Big-name directors began to appear, like Alfred Hitchcock, who won a Best Picture oscar for his Rebecca in 1940. Other famous directors of the period include Frank Capra, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, John Huston, and Michael Curtiz.
My ten favourite films from the 1940's are…
The Grapes of Wrath (Drama, 1940)
Stars: Henry Fonda. Brief summary: Based on the classic novel, a family moves to promising California during the Great Depression.
The Letter (Thriller, 1940)
Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall. Brief Summary: Cold wife shoots lover and tells elaborate lies to protect herself.
Casablanca (Romance, 1943)
Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman. Brief Summar: During World War II, a café owner in Casablanca, Morocco is paid a visit from a long-lost lover.
Madame Curie (Drama, 1943)
Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon. Brief Summary: Biography of Marie Curie and her discovery of Radium at the turn of the century.
Going My Way (Drama, 1944)
Stars: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald. Brief Summary: A reform-oriented priest is assigned to a dwindling parish.
Anchors Aweigh (Musical, 1945)
Stars: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra. Brief Summary: Two sailors on leave - a cassanova and an introvert - help a woman get into show business.
It's a Wonderful Life (Fantasy, 1946)
Stars: Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed. Brief Summary: Suicidal man is shown, by an angel, how he has touched the lives of those around him.
The Razor's Edge (Drama, 1946)
Stars: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney. Brief Summary: Philosophical story of a young man seeking the goodness of life rather than following the practical path.
The Snake Pit (Drama, 1948)
Stars: Olivia de Havilland. Brief Summary: A woman is admitted into a mental hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown, and she cannot remember what caused it.
The Heiress (Drama, 1949)
Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift. Brief Summary: A wealthy spinster with a cruel father is met by a fortune hunter who wants her to elope.
The top ten significant, feature-length* movies of the decade as rated by the general public:
1. Casablanca (1942)
2. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
3. Shoe-Shine (1946)
4. Citizen Kane (1941)
5. Double Indemnity (1944)
6. Murder, He Says (1945)
7. The Third Man (1949)
8. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
9. Maltese Falcon (1941)
10. The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Source: Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), power search, settings: minimum votes: 300. Search conducted 6 October 2008.
* Movies with a run time of at least 60 minutes. October 05 Human Relations 19: Purify Your Listening1. See others as your equals
2. When faced with others' faults, remember your own
3. Seek companionship with those who uplift you, and share your light
4. Purify your speech
5. Purify your listening
6. Respond to others' "attacks" properly
7. Establish social justice by means of consultation
Not only should we make our speech pure but should allow ourselves to listen only to pure speech. If we listen to others complain about people, then we are guilty of complicity in their backbiting. Refuse to listen and politely change the subject or leave. Don't react to the backbiting by upbraiding the person, as this will simply make you both guilty of bad speech.
Here is an interesting question: what is justice? Because we are all equal, it is really institutions that judge what people have done and bring them to justice. On the individual to individual level, justice means that we don't just believe what tall tales come our way, but investigate the truth for ourselves. Real justice means that we "perceive honour and nobility in every human being—this independent of wealth or poverty". Real justice means that we see through our own eyes, not through the eyes of others, and we know things by our own investigations, not from listening to the hearsays of our neighbours. Real justice means that we acknowledge good qualities even in our enemies and remember our own faults when faced with the failings in others. Justice has nothing to do with trying to get even with someone.
When we kindly refuse to listen to bad speech and gossip, we will give those with vindictive tongues no audience and they will learn that they cannot revel in their entertainment abilities. Sure, what they say may be true but why do we want to spend our lives of a mere 80 years listening to hurtful words spoken about our fellow human beings?
October 04 Movies of the 1930sEverybody loves the movies. One of the reasons may be that the motion picture or "movie" combines many different art forms. The movie incorporates dramatic literature ("the script"), acting, a story, photography (cinematography), and music among other things.
The very first feature-length (60 minutes plus) movie appeared in the year 1915. The reason why this fact is not widely-known is that the movie—Birth of a Nation—was racist. For the next twelve years, all movies were "Silent Films", movies without speech. The two most important directors of these films were Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. The first movie with sound was 1927's The Jazz Singer.
It took a few years before all films included sound. As a result, the 1930's saw the birth of the modern motion picture.
My favourite movies of the 1930's are the following five:
In Old Chicago (Drama, 1937)
Stars: Tyrone Power and Alice Faye. Brief summary: Two brothers' battle for control of Chicago leads up to the great fire of 1871.
You Can't Take it with You (Comedy, 1938)
Stars: Jimmy Stewart and Lionel Barrymore. Brief summary: Son of a wealthy businessman falls for a woman in an eccentric household.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Drama, 1939)
Stars: Robert Donat and Greer Garson. Brief summary: Story of an English boys' school teacher, from his first bumbling days to his becoming the beloved of all.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Drama, 1939)
Stars: Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur. Brief summary: A newly appointed senator's ideals about the US government are challenged by discoveries of corruption.
The Wizard of Oz (Fantasy, 1939)
Stars: Judy Garland. Brief summary: During a tornado storm, a girl is flung away to a strange world of odd characters.
The year 1939 is really when things burst wide-open and a proliferation of great films emerged. That year also saw one of the biggest movies of all-time, Gone with the Wind. The year was a prelude to the period now considered the "Golden Age of Cinema": the 1940s.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Invite as friend
Profile
Blog
Photos
Lists
Music