My Year in Movies--2004 (Part 1)

Tomorrow, I'll list my favorites, but first, the most disappointing movies I saw this year. I think "disappointing" is a better word than "worst"; some of these *are* pretty bad, but more often, it's more precise to say that I felt let down by these:

FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE (1950/Jan): Lightweight fantasy with good actors (Clifton Webb and Edmund Gwenn) that is beat to death with a very heavy hand by all concerned--actors, writers, and director.

A ROYAL SCANDAL (1945/July): The concept of Tallulah Bankhead in a comic portrayal of Catherine the Great sounds fabulous, but very little in it works. A decent cast left at sea by dull dialogue and B-ish production values.

SONG OF RUSSIA (1943/July) and WE WHO ARE YOUNG (1940/Dec): Two Socialist propaganda pieces which forget to entertain while dishing out the dogma.

CORREGIDOR (1943/Nov): The problem with this WWII propaganda piece is the opposite of the above two movies: too much attention is paid to the dreary plot and characters and not enough to the wartime messages.

WEST OF SHANGHAI (1937/Apr): Boris Karloff is wasted in this "exotic" melodrama with a convoluted plot and mediocre cast.

Next are movies about which I feel conflicted. Most have one or two strong elements to recommend them, but don't quite come together as a satisfying whole:

UNDER CAPRICORN (1949/Mar): A Hitchcock period piece with very little suspense but with some nice use of color and interesting camerawork.

THE LAST FLIGHT (1931/July): A WWI "Lost Generation" story which is worth seeing for its Hemingwayish feel, although the actors, including Richard Barthelmess and Helen Chandler, aren't quite up to the job.

FIRST YANK INTO TOKYO (1945/Dec): Tom Neal is an American who has his physical features altered to make him look Japanese so he can sneak into Tokyo to free an atomic scientist needed to finish the A-bomb. Not a thing about the movie is believable, but it's so deliriously dumb that it's fun.