HIGHEST GROSSING FILMS: THE 1940s

TOP FILMS OF 1940s 
(unadjusted domestic gross totals)

1. Bambi (1942)
2. Pinocchio (1940)
3. Fantasia (1940)
4. Song of the South (1946)
5. Mom and Dad (1945)

6. Samson and Delilah (1949)
7. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
8. The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
9. This Is the Army (1943)
10. Duel in the Sun (1946)

11. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
12. Sergeant York (1941)
13. Going My Way (1944)
14. Forever Amber (1947)
15. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

16. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
17. Battleground (1949)
18. Random Harvest (1942)
19. The Snake Pit (1948)
20.  The Lost Weekend (1945)

SWINGIN ON A STAR: THE BING CROSBY 1940s SONGBOOK

Bing Crosby started the 1940s only increasing his fame and stardom. His radio and recording career was successful, and he was at the top in both of those genres. Regarding movies, he was getting more and more popular with film goers, and from 1945 to 1949 he was the most popular movie star in the country. No one before or since has matched that feat.

Crosby started off the decade being paired for the first time with comedian Bob Hope in Road to Singapore (1940). The film lacked a great plot, but it made up with the laughs and songs that Bing got to introduce in the films. Bing and Bob made five “Road” movies in the 1940s, and Bing got to introduce some popular love songs in the films like: “Too Romantic” in Road To Singapore, “It’s Always You” in Road To Zanzibar (1941), “Moonlight Becomes You” in Road To Morocco (1942), “Welcome To My Dream” in Road To Utopia (1946), and “But Beautiful” in Road To Rio (1947).

Back to the early 1940s, Bing Crosby kept on making successful films; the roles were getting better as well. In Rhythm on the River (1940) he played a ghost song writer and got to sing the beautiful ballad “Only Forever. In The Birth of the Blues (1941) Bing sang all old songs as he played a clarinetist trying to get jazz to the masses. Then a year later Bing hit the mother lode when he starred in Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn (1942). The union of Bing Crosby’s singing and Irving Berlin’s songs was a marriage made in musical heaven! Not only did Bing have the lucky pleasure of introducing “White Christmas” in the film (It almost was cut from the film!), but he sang a boat load of great Berlin songs like: “Be Careful It’s My Heart”, “Easter Parade”, and “Happy Holidays”. During this period of Bing’s singing and movie career, he really could do no wrong. Everything he touched was turning into musical gold.

Bing won an Oscar for playing Father O’ Malley, a priest that could sing in Going My Way (1944). A song Bing sang in the film also won the Oscar for best song (“Swinging on a Star”). It is the third time Bing introduced a song that won an Oscar. (He introduced “Sweet Leilani” which won in 1937 and “White Christmas” which won in 1942). The song “Swinging on a Star” was not really a great song by any stretch of the imagination, but because of Bing’s delivery it would become another one of Bing’s best remembered songs. Lightning almost hit twice in 1945 when he played Father O’Malley again in The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945). Bing was nominated for another Oscar but lost. He introduced two more great songs in that film as well – “In the Land of Beginning Again” and “Aren’t You Glad You’re You”. At this point Bing was specializing in the philosophical songs that told everyone how to make it through life.

Bing’s first post-World War II musical was one of the best musicals he ever made. He was paired again with dancer Fred Astaire and songwriter Irving Berlin for the Technicolor lavish musical Blue Skies (1946). Even though the film was a postwar movie, it was pure sentimental and took place during the two World Wars. The plot was merely a backdrop for the music, and this film was filled with Irving Berlin standards – more than two dozen of them like: “I Got My Captain Working For Me Now”, “Blue Skies”, “All By Myself”, “Heat wave”, “A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody”, “Puttin On The Ritz” and the list could go on and on. Bing got the chance to sing a few new Irving Berlin compositions with the best being “You Keep Coming Back Like A Song”. The song was one of the most recorded songs of 1946, and it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song, but it lost. It would be another decade before Bing would make a musical as big as Blue Skies. It was the biggest musical he ever made at Paramount, and it was one of the most successful.

Bing sort of coasted through the rest of his movies of the late 1940s. They were good, but they were not anywhere near the caliber of Holiday Inn, Going My Way, or Blue Skies. Bing continued to introduce great songs in the film though like “My Heart Is A Hobo” and “As Long As I’m Dreaming” in Welcome Stranger (1947), “The Kiss In Your Eyes” from The Emperor Waltz (1948), and “Once And For Always”  in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court (1949). Bing still was a top movie star as the 1950s approached, but the music industry would be changing with the advent of rock ‘n’ roll. As a result the movie musical would change. Coupled with Bing’s personal problems in the early 1950s, he soon would see his movie star fade slightly. However, in the 1940s Bing was definitely the biggest movie musical star in the heavens that we call Hollywood…

MY FIVE FAVORITE FILMS OF THE 1940S

For the longest time I think the decade of the 1940s were my favorite for movies. I believe it was a great decade for musicals. The movies were great too, and they were a diversion and an escape from World War II. Most of the films were not the most realistic, but again people were looking for an escape not reality. Here are my five favorite movies of the 1940s:

5. HOLIDAY INN (1942)
The Irving Berlin song says it all - "kick your cares down the stairs and come to Holiday Inn". One of the most beloved musicals of the 1940s, the film gave birth to one of the most successful songs of all time "White Christmas". The movie stars Bing Crosby as an entertainer whose partner (Fred Astaire) steals his girl away. Crosby has a nervous breakdown and decides to open an inn which is only open on the holidays. The film's love song "Be Careful It's My Heart" was supposed to be the big hit until "White Christmas" sold in the millions before the movie even came out. The movie has become an holiday classic, and although the blackface "Abraham" number is dated by today's standards, the movie is a great piece of 1940s history.

4. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
This film is Orson Welle's masterpiece, and it is often considered one of the greatest movies ever made. At times it may be a little slow, but it definitely is one of the truly great movies of the classic Hollywood era. The story is a film à clef that examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, and aspects of Welles's own life. Upon its release, Hearst prohibited mention of the film in any of his newspapers. Kane's career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is revealed through the research of a newsreel reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate's dying word: "Rosebud". Welles never did make another movie as high profiled as Citizen Kane, which is unfortunate because he was a movie genius.

3. SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
Another great film by Alfred Hitchcock, the movie is a great movie to show to any just starting to get into classic films. The movie is nearly perfect from the superb acting of Joseph Cotten to the great black and white film work, which used every shadow possible to its advantage. The movie is about a teenager living in the idyllic town of Santa Rosa, California, Charlotte "Charlie" Newton (Teresa Wright), complains that nothing seems to be happening in her life. Then, she receives wonderful news: her uncle (for whom she was named), Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotten), her mother's younger brother, is arriving for a visit. Two men show up pretending to be working on a national survey of the average American family. One of them speaks to Charlie privately, identifying himself as Detective Jack Graham (Macdonald Carey). He explains that her uncle is one of two men suspected of being a serial killer known as the "Merry Widow Murderer" who seduces, steals from, and murders wealthy widows. Originally Hitchcock wanted William Powell to play Uncle Charlie, but MGM would not loan him out. Shadow Of A Doubt is pretty much as perfect of a movie as you can get.


2. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944)
Beyond a doubt this is one of my favorite comedies of all time, and even though it is a comedy I think Cary Grant should have been nominated for an Oscar for his madcap and zany role.  Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 film directed by Frank Capra based on Joseph Kesselring's play of the same name. The script adaptation was by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. Capra actually filmed the movie in 1941, but it was not released until 1944, after the original stage version had finished its run on Broadway. The lead role of Mortimer Brewster was originally intended for Bob Hope, but he couldn't be released from his contract with Paramount. Capra had also approached Jack Benny and Ronald Reagan before going with Cary Grant. Boris Karloff played Jonathan Brewster, who "looks like Karloff", on the Broadway stage, but he was unable to do the movie as well because he was still appearing in the play during filming, and Raymond Massey took his place. In addition to Grant as Mortimer Brewster, the film also starred Josephine Hull and Jean Adair as the Brewster sisters, Abby and Martha, respectively. Hull and Adair as well as John Alexander (who played Teddy Roosevelt) were reprising their roles from the 1941 stage production. Hull and Adair both received an eight-week leave of absence from the stage production that was still running, but Karloff did not as he was an investor in the stage production and its main draw. The entire film was shot within those eight weeks. The film cost just over $1.2 million of a $2 million budget to produce. An addition to the movie cast was the beautiful Priscilla Lane and creepy Peter Lorre. Even though it took three years to be released, that is a great movie to watch at Halloween or anytime you want a great laugh.

1. WHITE HEAT (1949)
If I had to pick my favorite classic movie (pre 1970) of all-time it would definitely be the gangster classic White Heat. White Heat is a 1949 film noir starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien and featuring Margaret Wycherly, and Steve Cochran. Directed by Raoul Walsh from the Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts screenplay based on a story by Virginia Kellogg, it is considered one of the classic gangster films. James Cagney made the film what it was playing psychotic gangster Cody Jarrett. The character of Cody Jarrett was based on New York murderer Francis Crowley, who engaged in a pitched battle with police in the spring of 1931 at the age of 18. Executed on January 21, 1932, his last words were: "Send my love to my mother." Another inspiration may have been Arthur Barker, a gangster of the 1930s, and a son of Ma Barker. One of the best scenes in the movie and all cinema is the climax at the end. The police surround the building and call on Jarrett to surrender. Jarrett decides to fight it out. When the police fire tear gas into the office, Fallon manages to escape. All of Jarrett's henchmen are shot by the police, or by Jarrett himself when they try to give themselves up (Verna is taken by the police). Jarrett then flees to the top of a gigantic, globe-shaped gas storage tank. When Fallon shoots Jarrett several times with a rifle, Jarrett starts firing into the tank and shouts, "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" just before it goes up in a massive explosion. I never thought much of Virginia Mayo as an actress, and I still don't, but she was great in this movie as Cagney's backstabbing girlfriend. What is so surprising about the movie and Cagney's portrayal of a gangster is by the end of the movie the viewer actually feels a little bit sorry for the character. That is one of the reasons why this film is my favorite of the decade.


Of course there were a lot of films I would like to include on my favorite list, but I stuck with just the top five. However, here are some of the movies that definitely deserve an honorable mention: The Great Dictator (1940), To Be Or Not To Be (1942), Pride Of The Yankees (1942), The Lost Weekend (1945), and Blue Skies (1946).

REMEMBERING: THE MUSIC OF THE 1940s

Music of the 40s
by Tyler Woods

I have met a wonderful friend when I interviewed Stan Blitz author of American Bandstand the Untold Story. Stan, much like me is a music connoisseur. Not only do we love music of the past, we understand and realize that much of the very roots of today’s rock music came from the 30s, and 40s. Stan recently told me he was doing a radio show of the music of the 40s and it got me thinking…

Oh how we forget such an important part of our past. Of course when I think of music of the 40s the first thing that comes to my mind is the sounds of jazz and the echo of big bands. This clearly sounded much better than the sounds of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan. The 40s was a very dramatic time and the music was also dramatic.

People such as Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, were band leaders of some of America’s biggest bands and had people dancing and swinging on the dance floors. Soon singers who sang with these big bands became solo artists. Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Rosemary Clooney, even Doris Day became the star attractions of the big band era.

As the big band era was blasting dance floors, Be-Bop and Rhythm and Blues and Jazz was sweeping the country. Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Billy Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald filled the airwaves and The Andrew Sisters, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and the Mills Brothers were introducing us to what we now call pop music.

The music of the 40s was upbeat—and why not? TV dinners, Tupperware and aluminum foil was making life easier for women and they could enjoy songs like Rum and Coca-Cola by The Andrew Sisters, In the Mood by Glenn Miller, Don’t Fence Me where the Andrews Sisters teamed up with Bing Crosby, Sentimental Journey with Les Brown and Doris Day, and Some Enchanted Evening by Perry Como.

The 40s music scene might be best known for jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald who’s first hit was A-Tisket, A-Tasket, Sarah Vaughan who recorded her first song Lover Man with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday who not only sang but co-wrote God Bless the Child, Don’t Explain, and Lady Sings the Blues.

Let’s not forget to mention country music. By 1939 the Grand Ole Opry had become the most popular music show on the radio and the 40s heard from Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Gene Autry, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Tex Ritter.

Just a little trivia I found fascinating was that almost 1/4 of the music that people listened to in 1940 was Glenn Miller. Well that was until Artie Shaw hired a singer named Frank Sinatra but he was making only 75 bucks a week so he ditched that band and found his fame with The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra where in one year, they recorded 40 songs. He soon became a crooning success.

The bottom line is I think we tend to ignore how much the 40s music shaped music history. We say the 50s was the beginning of rock and roll, but in my mind, some of these fine singers, were the core so much of the music we listen to today...

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