"Since You Went Away" (1944)

Famed producer David O. Selznick wanted to make the definitive war picture about America's struggles on the Homefront, an answer to the highly successful "Mrs. Miniver" that illustrated the same theme for Britain (and bolstered national patriotism to boot). And even though we get a wide-ranging snapshot of what the country was dealing with, it's all told through the microcosm of one family. Claudette Colbert is the noble and selfless wife of an Army officer who's been shipped overseas. She's got two teenaged daughters (Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple who Selznick wooed out of 'retirement') and has to contend with all manner of family dramas, the highs and lows. Adapted by the producer himself from an epistolary novel by Margaret Buell Wilder, the rambling plot bounces easily from laughs to tears to romance with each scene. Because times are tough, Colbert has to take in a boarder so Monty Woolley shows up for comic relief doing his patented grumpy fussbudget bit. Then there's Woolley's estranged grandson Robert Walker, a new recruit who falls for Jones. When Walker gets his assignment in the Pacific they have one of the most heartwrenching train station goodbye scenes ever filmed. You can feel Selznick trying to cram in every homefront touchstone into the script. There's Victory gardens, USO dances, scrap metal recycling, and Colbert even gets a job as a Rosie the Riveter in a munitions factory, but it all works because of the earnest efforts of the cast. What's most fascinating is director John Cromewell and ace cinematographer Lee Garmes choosing not to sentimentalize everything in a cozy glow, instead they opt for a moody almost noirish chiaroscuro lighting that hints at the darker realities of wartime living. There are some stunning visuals here amongst the quotidian doings.

"Captains Courageous" (1937)

This is one of those glorious big production MGM adaptations of a literary classic that they did so effortlessly back in the Golden Age of cinema. Rudyard Kipling's seafaring tale of a super rich spoiled brat who gets his comeuppance and learns big life lessons aboard a Portuguese fishing vessel is heartwarming without being cloying. Big credit goes to the actors. Spencer Tracy won the Academy Award for his earthy, kind hearted sailor, Manuel. His Iberian accent leaves a little to be desired but he's so genuine you forgive it. Freddie Bartholomew was second only to Shirley Temple as one of the great child actors. Here he's so hateful as the thoughtless Richie Rich kid that you wanna slug him, but watch his journey of self-discovery as he learns the value of hard work, friendship, honor, and respect for others. You believe the transformation. Melvyn Douglas and Lionel Barrymore are also on hand to round out the fine cast as Freddie's well-meaning but clueless father, and the ship's salty captain (was there ever a sea captain in the movies who wasn't salty?) Fine family fair that's a timeless classic.

"Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955)

This film has so many of the stylistic motifs of westerns that it feels like one. And maybe that's the point. That many of the elemental questions that adult westerns posit, like What's the role of the individual versus the needs of society? What does it mean to be 'civilized'?, And How does a man define his own sense of honor?...are all universal and still relevant today. A taut noir thriller filmed in color (a genre rarity), and set in a small Western town smack dab in the middle of a vast desert--think Nevada or interior California--opens with a one-armed stranger (Spencer Tracy) who's come to town to look for the father of an old Army buddy and finds out the man died mysteriously. The whole town wants to keep it a secret so they make the stranger's visit increasingly difficult. No, make that downright impossible. A nasty Rogue's Gallery of character actors make up the bad bunch that Tracy has to contend with, and eventually defeat. Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, John Ericson, all led by the town's malevolent boss, Robert Ryan (one of the most underrated actors of his generation). Walter Brennan and Dean Jagger are also on hand as other townies to lend a sympathetic hand. But it's Tracy's evenhanded and measured performance you remember best. He makes it look all too easy. Look for the tight compositional direction John Sturges brings to heighten the tension. He gives the picture an almost graphic quality in his superb use of the widescreen Cinemascope vastness. The players are like chess pieces moving around a stylized desert chessboard.

"The Naked City" (1948)

What would an episode of TV's "Law & Order" look like if it were filmed in 1948? Probably something like this fine proto-policier. It's a pretty straightforward plot: a murder is committed right after the credits finish and a couple of New York City's finest detectives use standard legwork and deduction to track down and capture the culprit by the final reel. Two things distinguish it though. First, is the senior detective is not your standard matinee idol. Here he's short, dumpy, Irish-brogue character actor Barry Fitzgerald. It's odd (and refreshing) to see his star turn here. He's at times smug, irascible, and funny. He's aided by his younger tenderfoot partner (Don Taylor) who's basically around to be the pair of legs to chase the bad guy. The second outstanding feature is the direction and real life location shooting. Director Jules Dassin and Oscar winning cinematographer Billy Daniels broke with convention and shot large chunks of the action on the actual streets of the Big Apple, something practically unheard of at the time. Inspired by the Italian neo-realism pictures of the time, the gritty, grimy, photogenic city looks like a series of Weegee photographs in motion. Many of the later modern day film noirs owe a debt of gratitude to this picture. Classics like "The French Connection", "Serpico", and "Dog Day Afternoon", all captured the dirty kinetic energy of New York, but "The Naked City" did it first and wrote the book on how to do it.