1944
Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:50 pm
1944
Movie of 1944 | Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder | USA | all time #150
"As poised and languorous as a cat, Stanwyck's definitive femme fatale could be one of the savvy minxes of the actress' delectable Pre-Code years —the jailhouse alpha female in Ladies They Talk About, the secretary trampolining up the office ranks one bed at a time in Baby Face— grown older and harder, her manicured ruthlessness calcifying into brutal amorality. With diamond-hard repartee by Wilder and Raymond Chandler (by way of James M Cain's novel) and ghoulish cinematography by the great John Seitz, this is the gold standard of '40s noir, straight down the line." (Jessica Winter, Time Out)
Book of 1944 | The Horse's Mouth | Joyce Cary | UK | all time #529
"Joyce Cary wrote two trilogies, or 'triptychs' as he later called them. The first comprises Herself Surprised (1941), To Be a Pilgrim (1942) and The Horse's Mouth (1944). The Horse's Mouth is a portrait of an artistic temperament. Its protagonist, Gulley Gimson, is an impoverished painter who scorns conventional good behaviour. If a bad citizen, he is a good artist, so wholly preoccupied with his art that he is willing to endure any privation. For Gulley there is but one morality: to be a painter. "Joyce Cary is an important and exciting writer… If you like rich writing full of gusto and accurate original character drawing, you will get it from The Horse's Mouth." John Betjeman, Daily Herald." (Publisher)
Record of 1944 | Artistry in Rhythm | Stan Kenton and His Orchestra | USA | 78 rpm single | all time #2716
"Stan Kenton's life might best be described as one long battle: to win over public acceptance in his struggle to elevate "popular" music by combining elements of jazz and classical sounds into a new, artistic style of American music. "You've got to believe in something to achieve whatever goal you're shooting for. My own ideas may be wrong, but I'm going to stick with them until they break me," declared Kenton. At the same time, and from the opposite perspective, several classical composers like Stravinsky and Villa-Lobos, were incorporating elements of jazz into their music. Artistry in Rhythm was Kenton's most radical example to date of his innovative conceptions to effect a combination of the two styles." (Michael Sparke, Library of Congress)
Books of 1944:
1 | The Horse's Mouth | Joyce Cary | UK | #529
2 | The Razor's Edge | W. Somerset Maugham | USA | UK | #926
3 | Dvärgen (The Dwarf) | Pär Lagerkvist | Sweden | #1061
Movies of 1944:
1 | Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder | USA | #150
2 | Meet Me in St. Louis | Vincente Minnelli | USA | #232
3 | Ivan Groznyy (Ivan the Terrible, Part One) | Sergei Eisenstein | USSR | #259
Songs of 1944:
1 | Artistry in Rhythm | Stan Kenton and His Orchestra | USA | #2716
2 | Straighten Up and Fly Right | The King Cole Trio | USA | #3727
3 | Swinging on a Star | Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra | USA | #5040
Classical works of 1944:
1 | Appalachian Spring | Aaron Copland | USA | #18
2 | Concerto for Orchestra | Béla Bartók | USA | Hungary | #42
Movie of 1944 | Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder | USA | all time #150
"As poised and languorous as a cat, Stanwyck's definitive femme fatale could be one of the savvy minxes of the actress' delectable Pre-Code years —the jailhouse alpha female in Ladies They Talk About, the secretary trampolining up the office ranks one bed at a time in Baby Face— grown older and harder, her manicured ruthlessness calcifying into brutal amorality. With diamond-hard repartee by Wilder and Raymond Chandler (by way of James M Cain's novel) and ghoulish cinematography by the great John Seitz, this is the gold standard of '40s noir, straight down the line." (Jessica Winter, Time Out)
Book of 1944 | The Horse's Mouth | Joyce Cary | UK | all time #529
"Joyce Cary wrote two trilogies, or 'triptychs' as he later called them. The first comprises Herself Surprised (1941), To Be a Pilgrim (1942) and The Horse's Mouth (1944). The Horse's Mouth is a portrait of an artistic temperament. Its protagonist, Gulley Gimson, is an impoverished painter who scorns conventional good behaviour. If a bad citizen, he is a good artist, so wholly preoccupied with his art that he is willing to endure any privation. For Gulley there is but one morality: to be a painter. "Joyce Cary is an important and exciting writer… If you like rich writing full of gusto and accurate original character drawing, you will get it from The Horse's Mouth." John Betjeman, Daily Herald." (Publisher)
Record of 1944 | Artistry in Rhythm | Stan Kenton and His Orchestra | USA | 78 rpm single | all time #2716
"Stan Kenton's life might best be described as one long battle: to win over public acceptance in his struggle to elevate "popular" music by combining elements of jazz and classical sounds into a new, artistic style of American music. "You've got to believe in something to achieve whatever goal you're shooting for. My own ideas may be wrong, but I'm going to stick with them until they break me," declared Kenton. At the same time, and from the opposite perspective, several classical composers like Stravinsky and Villa-Lobos, were incorporating elements of jazz into their music. Artistry in Rhythm was Kenton's most radical example to date of his innovative conceptions to effect a combination of the two styles." (Michael Sparke, Library of Congress)
Books of 1944:
1 | The Horse's Mouth | Joyce Cary | UK | #529
2 | The Razor's Edge | W. Somerset Maugham | USA | UK | #926
3 | Dvärgen (The Dwarf) | Pär Lagerkvist | Sweden | #1061
Movies of 1944:
1 | Double Indemnity | Billy Wilder | USA | #150
2 | Meet Me in St. Louis | Vincente Minnelli | USA | #232
3 | Ivan Groznyy (Ivan the Terrible, Part One) | Sergei Eisenstein | USSR | #259
Songs of 1944:
1 | Artistry in Rhythm | Stan Kenton and His Orchestra | USA | #2716
2 | Straighten Up and Fly Right | The King Cole Trio | USA | #3727
3 | Swinging on a Star | Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra | USA | #5040
Classical works of 1944:
1 | Appalachian Spring | Aaron Copland | USA | #18
2 | Concerto for Orchestra | Béla Bartók | USA | Hungary | #42