Top 10 Films of 1946

1. "The Big Sleep" (Howard Hawks, USA)

2. "It's A Wonderful Life" (Frank Capra, USA)

3. "The Best Years Of Our Lives" (William Wyler, USA)

4. "Road To Utopia" (Hal Walker, USA)

5. "Great Expectations" (David Lean, UK)

6. "Notorious" (Alfred Hitchcock, USA)

7. "A Matter Of Life And Death" (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, UK)

8. "La Belle et la Bête" (Jean Cocteau, France)

9. "My Darling Clementine" (John Ford, USA)

9. "Ditte menneskebarn" (Bjarne Henning-Jensen, Denmark)

Other great films:

El Angel desnudo (Argentina)

La Bataille du rail (France)
Blue Skies
Centennial Summer
Cloak And Dagger
Cluny Brown

Crisis (Sweden)

Devil Monster
Diary Of A Chambermaid

Duel In The Sun
Gilda
Green For Danger (UK)
The Harvey Girls

Humoresque

It Rains On Our Love (Sweden)

Ivan The Terrible Part II (Soviet Union)
The Jolson Story
The Killers
Make Mine Music
Murderers Among Us (East Germany)
Night And Day
A Night In Casablanca
No Regrets For Our Youth (Japan)
The Postman Always Rings Twice

Shoeshine (Italy)

The Spiral Staircase
The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers
The Stranger
Sylvie et le fantôme (France)
Terror By Night
Three Little Girls In Blue
Till The Clouds Roll By
To Each His Own
Wielka droga (Poland)
The Yearling

Short Top 3:

1. "Ritual In Transfigured Time" (Maya Deren, USA)

2. "Seeds Of Destiny" (David Miller, USA)

3. "Hiss And Yell" (Jules White, USA)

Other great shorts:

The Fleet That Came To Stay
Instruments Of The Orchestra (UK)

Sveriges port mot vaster (Sweden)

Traffic With The Devil

Top Commercial:

"Planning For Good Eating" (Walt Disney, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs)

Cartoon Top 10

1. "The Big Snooze" (Bob Clampett, Warner)

2. "The Great Piggybank Robbery"  (Bob Clampett, Warner)

3. "Book Revue"  (Bob Clampett, Warner)

4. "Kitty Kornered"  (Bob Clampett, Warner)

5. "The Cat Concerto" (William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, MGM)

6. "Musical Moments From Chopin" (Dick Lundy, Universal)

7. "Squatter's Rights" (Jack Hannah, Disney)

8. "Walky Talky Hawky" (Robert McKimson, Warner)

9. "John Henry And The Inky Poo" (George Pal, Paramount)

10. "Bathing Buddies" (Dick Lundy, Universal)

Other great cartoons:

Baby Bottleneck
Becall To Arms
Daffy Doodles
The Eager Beaver
Hair-Raising Hare
Hare Remover
Henpecked Hoboes
In Dutch
Jasper In A Jam 

A Little Phantasy On A 19th-Century Painting (Canada)  
The Milky Waif
Northwest Hounded Police
Podkova pro stesti (Czechoslovakia)
The Purloined Pup
Rhapsody Rabbit
Roughly Squeaking
The Solid Serenade 

The Story Of Menstruation  

The Talking Magpies
Together In The Weather
Trap Happy
Wet Paint
Who's Cookin' Who ?

Weak films of 1946:

Anna And The King Of Siam
The Blue Dahlia
Caesar and Cleopatra
The Captive Heart (UK)
Dark Mirror
Paisan (Italy)
Razor's Edge
Robinson Kruzoe (Soviet Union)
Saratoga Trunk
Shock
A Stolen Life

Weak shorts:

Atomic Power

Water From The Land (Denmark)

Weak cartoons:

Acrobatty Bunny
Bargain Counter Attack
Baseball Bugs
Bath Day
Cheese Burglar
Chick And Double Chick
Donald's Double Trouble
Double Dribble
Dumbbell Of The Yukon
Fair And Worm-er
The Fair Weather Fiends
Frank Duck Brings 'Em Back Alive
The Goal Rush
The Hick Chick
Holiday For Shoestrings
Hollywood Canine Canteen
Hollywood Daffy
Hush My Mouse
In The Navy
Jasper's Derby
Knight For A Day
Lighthouse Keeping
Lonesome Lenny
Mouse Menace
The Mouse-Merized Cat
Of Thee I Sting
Olio For Jasper
Pluto's Kid Brother
Quentin Quail
Racketeer Rabbit
The Reckless Driver
Rocket To Mars
Springtime For Thomas

Top 3 Musicals of 1946

1. "The Harvey Girls" (George Sidney, MGM)

3. "The Jolson Story" (Alfred E. Green, Columbia)

3. "Centennial Summer" (Otto Preminger, 20th-Fox)

The Big Sleep (1946) *****

One of the best detective movies ever made, starring Humphrey Bogard as Philip Marlowe. There are two versions of this film, both excellent.

Shoeshine (1946) ****

Ditte menneskebarn (1946) ****

Centennial Summer (1946) ***

A poor man's "Meet Me In St Louis", but set in Philadelphia during the 1876 Centennial. Highlights: Oscar-nominated song "All Through The Day" and showstopping musical number "Cinderella Sue". Songs include:

"All Through The Day" **
"Cinderella Sue" ***
"Larks" **

The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946) ***

Very ingenious film noir about a tyrannical rich woman murdered by her young niece.

Murderers Among Us (1946) ***

Wielka droga (1946) ***

The first post-war Polish film is actually the last pre-war Polish film. Made in Italy in 1946, it's a story of Polish soldiers who, while fighting against the Nazis in 1939, were attacked from behind by the Red Army on September 17, found themselves deported to Siberia, imprisoned in gulags, liberated after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, escaped from Stalin's clutches in 1942, joined the Western Allies in Iran, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt, and finally took part in the liberation of Italy, winning a great battle at Monte Cassino in 1944. Produced by the Polish Army loyal to the pre-war Polish government (then in exile), this anti-Communist film was directed by Michal Waszynski ("Co moj maz robi w nocy", "Jasnie pan szofer", "Bedzie lepiej", "Dybuk") and written by Konrad Tom (the director of "Manewry milosne", "Ada, to nie wypada!" and "Zapomniana melodia"). Mostly a documentary, with priceless archival footage, the film uses a fictional framing story about a blind and wounded soldier who confuses a hospital nurse (Jadwiga Andrzejewska) for his fiancee. The film probably wasn't intended as an allegory about Poles who were confusing the newly created Communist country for the real, free Poland, but such an interpretation is almost inevitable (especially considering that Jadwiga Andrzejewska, despite playing in such a strongly anti-Communist film, still decided to return to Poland in 1947).

Duel In The Sun (1946) ***

Sylvie et le fantôme (1946) ***

Jacques Tati plays a ghost in this charming French film.

Humoresque (1946) ***

Classy melodrama about a talented musician (John Garfield) falling in love with a married woman (Joan Crawford).

Ivan The Terrible Part II (1946) ***

The second part of Sergei Eisenstein's epic, filmed in 1946, but banned by Stalin. Only released in 1958.

El Angel desnudo (1946) ***

Devil Monster (1946) ***

It Rains On Our Love (1946) ***

Dark Mirror (1946) **

Police identify a killer, but she has an airtight alibi. It turns out that the suspect has a twin sister. But which twin is the killer ?

Saratoga Trunk (1946) **

Ingrid Bergman’s performance is delightful, but the film is an old-fashioned melodrama about a gold-digger hunting for a rich husband in Saratoga.

Anna And The King Of Siam (1946) **

Not as good as the 1956's musical version, but way better than the Jodie Foster's version.

Caesar And Cleopatra (1946) *

It makes Elizabeth Taylor’s “Cleopatra” look like a masterpiece.

A Stolen Life (1946) *

Pretty ridiculous Bette Davis' melodrama about twin sisters competing for the same man.

Robinson Kruzoe (1946) *

A Soviet version of Daniel Defoe's classic, fortunately devoid of any politics, but unfortunately devoid of any cinematic qualities as well.

Planning For Good Eating (1946) ***

Disney commercial about food.

Traffic With The Devil (1946) ***

Oscar-nominated short documentary about California's car and traffic problems.

Hiss And Yell (1946) ***

Slapstick farce about a severed head.

Sveriges port mot vaster (1946) ***

Ritual In Transfigured Time (1946) ***

An experimental trance film about dancing. A silent symphony of graceful, fluid movements. The film has three segments: an opening, a party and a dance sequence in the garden.

The Fleet That Came To Stay (1946) ***

Impressive documentary film about the Battle of Okinawa, where the US fleet found itself under attack from kamikaze airplanes. Directed by B.Boetticher.

Instruments Of The Orchestra (1946) ***

The presentation of properties of many musical instruments: flutes, picolos, clarinets, bassoons, violins, violas, cellos, harps, horns, trompets, trombones, tubas, drums, tambourines, triangles, xylophones, gongs and many others. Directed by M.Mathieson.

Seeds Of Destiny (1946) ***

It's A Wonderful Life (1946) *****

A timeless classic. One of the most beloved of all American films, and deservedly so.

Great Expectations (1946) ****

Probably the best adaptation of a Dickens' novel.

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946) *****

A masterful film about three American soldiers (an infantry sergeant, an air force major and a paraplegic sailor) adjusting to the civilian life after the war. One of the best American films of the 1940's.

Notorious (1946) ****

Memorable Hitchcock's thriller starring Ingrid Bergman as a daughter of a Nazi traitor, who becomes a spy for the Americans in Buenos Aires.