We're having a 1947 sidebar party for the next two weeks as we build towards the Smackdown.
One of the great f***over moments in our world of sophisticated search technology is the lack of interest in content providers giving us extensive search options. Over the years we've watched the capacity to search by film year dwindle until its practically non-existent across the web. Netflix used to have it. Hulu never did. Amazon Prime still sorta has that kind of search but makes it difficult to find and has altered their once somewhat easy "by decade" into a clunkier system; they now only allow you to differentiate the cinematic decades once you've hit 1960. This makes self-curated spontaneous movie-watches difficult if, say, you'd like to time travel to a particular year. And, you guessed it, that's something we here at TFE like to do. Criterion Channel, at least, has a way to search by exact year.
But, as ever, we're here to help. If you'd like to indulge in the 1947 film year before we reach the next Supporting Actress Smackdown here are a dozen noteworthy movies that are currently available to stream for free...
ANGEL AND THE BADMAN (on Amazon Prime)
John Wayne is the bad man of the title but when he's nursed back to health by a spiritual woman (Gail Russell), that might change. This was the first movie that John Wayne produced himself (at age 40) and the first of two collaborations with the then 23 year-old actress Gail Russell (They remained friendly until her early death just 13 years later of alcoholism). The movie also inspired a Johnny Cash song.
BLACK NARCISSUS (on Criterion Channel)
Two Oscar nominations and wins (Cinematography / Art Direction) greeted this jawdropping one-of-a-kind picture about nuns losing it in the Himalayas from the great visual stylists Powell & Pressburger but it really ought to have been nominated for virtually everything. Plus the performances are, you know, kinda sensational. This is TFE's favourite 1947 movie so how much more of a recommendation do you need?
BRUTE FORCE (on Criterion Channel)
Burt Lancaster leads a prison uprising in this star-studded drama.
DOWN TO EARTH (on Criterion Channel)
Rita Hayworth plays a muse who comes down to earth and disguises herself as a human woman to meddle in showbiz so, yes, Xanadu is a descendant of sorts.
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (on Criterion Channel)
Orson Welles directs and stars in this crime drama costarring Rita Hayworth and that hall of mirrors. Confession: I'm not totally crazy about this one, at least not to the extent of other Welles pictures, but maybe you will be?
LIFE WITH FATHER (on Amazon Prime)
This comedy starring William Powell and Irene Dunne as parents of a bustling household received four Oscar nominations. Please note: Teenage Elizabeth Taylor, freshly child-star famous from National Velvet, plays the love interest of the family's eldest son. This is also the only member of 1947's top ten box office hits to be streaming for free online.
LURED (on Criterion Channel)
This noir is a curio-must for cinephiles for exactly three reasons: It features four beloved Old Hollywood stars (Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Charles Coburn, Boris Karloff, etc...); it's a very early entry in the serial killer genre; and the director of this black-and-white crime drama is none other than the future undefeated master of super-colorful-melodramas, Douglas Sirk.
MONSIEUR VERDOUX (on Criterion Channel)
The National Board of Review named this Charlie Chaplin picture the best film of 1947. It also received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay
ODD MAN OUT (on Criterion Channel)
The ever reliable James Mason headlines this Carol Reed (Oliver!) directed crime drama. One Oscar nomination for Film Editing.
ONE WONDERFUL SUNDAY (on Criterion Channel)
A romance from Akira Kurosawa right before his international breakthrough in the late 40s with Drunken Angel / Stray Dogs.
PARADINE CASE (on Vimeo)
We'll be discussing this one on the upcoming Smackdown but it's Alfred Hitchcock so it should go without saying that it is a good watch, psychosexually nutty, and fascinating in the cinematography and direction departments. Its only Oscar nomination was for Best Supporting Actress (Ethel Barrymore) which is not-quite the shortest performance ever nominatd for an Oscar but pretty damn close. That's an exceptionally strange thing to single out from a movie full of strong elements.
And finally...
SMASH UP THE STORY OF A WOMAN (on Amazon Prime)
Two Oscar nominations for this drama about an alcoholic singer unravelling. Susan Hayward was the queen of onscreen alcoholism in the studio era. (This is the only Best Actress nominated film of 1947 that we could find streaming for free online)