Beholds Spirit Film 1942
Now, Voyager
Now, Voyager is the ultimate self-help/redemption story. Charlotte is a self-effacing, dutiful daughter almost extinguished by a strong domineering mother. She has such a low opinion of herself that she ends up in a sanatorium, on the edge of complete and total breakdown. She finds a way to emerge, to value herself. Her appearance changes, her clothing changes. She stands up for herself. She dares to pursue a romantic relationship with a charming man. This is one of Bette Davis’s best performances, and the story is nuanced enough not to be trite. This film could be a role model for many of us today, trying to break through our blocks.
Brian’s Favorite 1942 Uplifting Films
George Washington Slept Here
George Washington Slept Here is pure fun. A woman from Manhattan buys a run-down old house with apparent historical significance in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Only her husband hates it; he doesn’t want to live in the country or have to deal with a fixer-upper. After a ruthless neighbor tries to basically extort them, and they find out it was actually Benedict Arnold that slept there, not George Washington, a set of accidental occurrences changes their fortunes.
The Man Who Came to Dinner
The Man Who Came to Dinner is based on a very popular Broadway play. A famous radio host comes to dinner at an Ohio couple’s home while on a publicity tour; he falls on icy stairs and injures himself, and takes over the household. Monty Woolery plays the ultimate self-centered celebrity, with Better Davis as his dutiful assistant. His self-centered point of view actually causes him to give helpful advice to each of the family members.
Mrs. Miniver
Mrs. Miniver is a middle-class English wife and mother who is forced to cope with the effects of World War II. Her husband goes off to war. She finds a German soldier in her garden, her daughter in-law is killed from enemy gunfire and her village is badly damaged from bombing. She shows a strength and keeps a positive attitude through it all. It does seem dated now, with its rosy view of upper-middle class life and inadvertently comic depictions of bombing damage, but if you can submit to the emotional pull of the story, you can’t help but feel inspired.
There’s One Born Every Minute
A businessman who owns a pudding manufacturing company decides to run for mayor of his town. An enterprising young man, Jimmy, takes a job at the pudding company and invents outrageous claims about the pudding to increase sales (and to win over the owner’s daughter). When the fraud is revealed, the businessman finds the strength to fight for his reputation and his political future. Notable as being Elizabeth Taylor’s first movie.
Woman of the Year
A strong, intelligent woman who writes about politics and international affairs for a major newspaper gets into a print sparring match with the paper’s sports columnist. The publisher makes them end their print feud, and the couple inevitably fall in love and marry. Woman of the Year is a relatively complex depiction of a “career woman” trying to also have a marriage and other more traditional female roles. This real struggle has always made this a particular favorite of mine. Unfortunately, a cheap homophobic gag at the end complicates my opinion of the film. But I still get inspired by the lead characters’ attempts to grow beyond their comfort zones.