1940 Line-ups.

Amazing that 1939 is considered the Golden Year for cinema/Hollywood when I think the very next year is about a thousand times greater. Seriously, this whole year (save The Westerner) was fantastic and any of them would be worthy top 3 candidates in most other years.

Also, I had seen Fantasia and Pinocchio when I was very young and it's been a long time since on both, but I can't believe Disney got away with making these back then. They would never do anything so artistically ambitious as Fantasia again, nor would they do anything as dark as Pinocchio. And somehow, that only makes me love them more.

Fantasia, by the way, is probably my favorite film I've seen up to this point (1920-1940). Not all the parts work as amazingly next to others (particularly the "Dance of the Hours" portion with the dancing hippos/alligators), but it's the entire concept as a whole that blows my mind. I'm already a huge admirer of classical music, but this just goes to show both the power of music and the ingenuity of art/animation in how they can take an existing piece of music and find the most brilliant ways to capture its essence on the screen. The "Rites of Spring" (dinosaur/evolution one) and "Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria" (ending one with Satan/spirit dance) are probably my favorites, but anytime I hear Tchaikovsky (used properly) in anything, it instantly shoots up a full star rating. Just absolutely blown away by this. Surprised this isn't talked about in the same vein as 2001 or Tree of Life because it has just about as much artistic allure as the other two and deals with just as profound of themes. Seriously can't stop thinking about this one. And you know it's going to be a great decade when you already start it off with a 10/10.

But as I said, the rest are all fantastic films in one way or another. The Westerner is my only disappointment because, outside of the acting, it felt like Wyler just sort of sleep-walked through this one. Not much here that I hadn't seen before, but I suppose this was just a capitalization on the boost in the Western genre after Ford revitalized it.

And of course it's nice to finally have seen The Great Dictator. The last landmark Chaplin film (though I'm still very excited for what's to come, particularly Limelight), and it's easily his most ambitious (yet). Not just in his performance, but in the subject matter, the style of humor (I see Dr. Strangelove is not in its own realm now), and how he chose this for his first sound film speaks volumes (pun sort of intended). Genius stuff, but just goes to show how much more genius Fantasia is to me. Anyway, here you have it:

Best Picture:
01. Fantasia.
02. The Great Dictator.
03. Pinocchio.
04. His Girl Friday.
05. The Shop Around the Corner.
06. The Grapes of Wrath.
07. Rebecca.
08. Foreign Correspondent.
09. The Philadelphia Story.
10. Night Train to Munich.
-----------------
11. Kitty Foyle.
12. The Westerner.

Best Director:
01. A Lot of People - Fantasia.
02. Hamilton Luske & Ben Sharpsteen - Pinocchio.
03. Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator.
04. Alfred Hitchcock - Rebecca.
05. John Ford - The Grapes of Wrath.

Best Actor:
01. Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator.
02. James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story.
03. Cary Grant - His Girl Friday.
04. Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath.
05. James Stewart - The Shop Around the Corner.

Best Actress:
01. Joan Fontaine - Rebecca.
02. Rosalind Russell - His Girl Friday.
03. Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story.
04. Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle.
05. Margaret Lockwood - Night Train to Munich.

Best Supporting Actor:
01. John Qualen - The Grapes of Wrath.
02. Frank Morgan - The Shop Around the Corner.
03. Jack Oakie - The Great Dictator.
04. Cary Grant - The Philadelphia Story.
05. Walter Brennan - The Westerner.

Best Supporting Actress:
01. Jane Darwell - The Grapes of Wrath.
02. Helen Mack - His Girl Friday.
03. Virginia Weidler - The Philadelphia Story.
04. Paulette Goddard - The Great Dictator.
05. Margaret Sullavan - The Shop Around the Corner.

Best Original Screenplay:
01. The Great Dictator.
02. Night Train to Munich.
03. Fantasia.
04. The Westerner.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
01. His Girl Friday.
02. Kitty Foyle.
03. The Shop Around the Corner.
04. Rebecca.
05. Foreign Correspondent.

Best Ensemble:
01. The Philadelphia Story.
02. The Shop Around the Corner.
03. His Girl Friday.
04. The Grapes of Wrath.
05. Rebecca.

Best Editing:
Kitty Foyle.

Best Cinematography:
Rebecca.

Best Art Direction:
Night Train to Munich.

Best Costume Design:
The Great Dictator.

Best Makeup:
The Grapes of Wrath.

Best Visual Effects:
Foreign Correspondent.

Best Sound Design:
Pinocchio.

Best Original Score:
Leigh Harline & Paul J. Smith - Pinocchio.

Best Original Song:
"When You Wish Upon a Star" - Pinocchio.

Other than Make-up and probably Costume, all of these would be great winners in just about any other year. Seriously fantastic year, hoping the rest of the decade lives up to it.

Also I thought having just finished Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca novel would help me appreciate the film more, and while a lot of what I didn't like the first time around was resolved this time, it still feels a bit too over-long and not as creative as a lot of Hitchcock's future work. But still a solid 8, which equates to a great movie for me. But if Joan Fontaine's performance had been a year earlier, she would've been my winner for the decade, so it'll have to take something truly remarkable to top her as my favorite for the win right now. Really surprised at how well she captured the gaucheness and timidity of the character from the source material.

As for 1941, just need to re-watch Citizen Kane, as I re-watched Suspicion and The Maltese Falcon (loved this one more than I originally did) the last couple nights, but other than that, the year's looking pretty barren in comparison to this last one, so any recommendations are welcome. Wondering if Mizoguchi's 47 Ronin is worth it, too, considering that massive run-time.