Fifty years ago, xn 1946, the movies were at their high-water mark of popularity and influence: 90 million Americans went to a picture show every week, a number never duplicated before or since. It was a pretty good year for movies too. Herewith, some of the year’s enduringly interesting ones:
The Best Years of Our Lives. Much celebrated at the time, subject of a brilliantly withering critique by seminal movie critic Robert Warshow, this collaboration between screenwriter Robert Sherwood and director William Wyler about three returning GIs stands the test of time — it’s one of the best American movies, without question.
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. “Whisper her name,” went a famous radio campaign at the time for this spooky and atmospheric tale of small-town revenge with Kirk Douglas and a literate Robert Rossen screenplay.
It’s a Wonderful Life. A box-office failure upon first release, it was allowed to slip into the public domain in the 1970s and, because it was free to all stations, became the most-shown Christmas movie on television. You can see why it didn’t do well if you consider the subtext of this dark, beautiful film — it is a tale of disappointment, about a moody man who thinks he was handed a raw deal, and, even though he learns he has had a wonderful life, was sort of right the first time.
