Ostensibly a biopic of President Woodrow Wilson, Wilson is a confusing muddle of unnecessary special effects, retconned history, and a characterization of the man that is so completely divergent from historical fact as to be infuriating. Also, David and Suzan determine who the real winner of 1944 should have been, and it’s not Going My Way.
Year Eligible: 1944 (Nominated)
Additional audio from Wilson (1944)
(Explicit language, as always)
Not to be confused with the Kelly Clarkson banger, “Since U Been Gone,” Since You Went Away is a nearly 3 hour film about the WWII home front starring Claudette Colbert, Joseph Cotton, Hattie McDaniel, and Jennifer Jones about which our hosts have very different opinions.
Year Eligible: 1944 (Nominated)
Additional audio from Since You Went Away (1944)
(Explicit language, as always)
Double Indemnity is a sexy, fast paced look at the dangerous world of... insurance? Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck star in this hard-boiled noir about life insurance fraud and murder, with Edward G. Robinson as the grizzled old claims investigator that takes them down.
Year Eligible: 1944 (Nominated)
Additional audio from Double Indemnity (1944)
(Explicit language, as always)
The film for which the term “gaslighting” is named, Gaslight is actually better than the myriad references to it in articles about psychological torment would have you believe. Ingrid Bergman gives a tour de force performance as the naive wife whose husband, played by Charles Boyer, tortures her into questioning her own reality, with Joseph Cotton and Angela Lansbury turning in memorable supporting roles.
Year Eligible: 1944 (Nominated)
Additional audio from Gaslight (1944)
(Explicit language, as always)
Bing Crosby stars as a hip, crooning priest brought in to pull a New York City church out of financial straits. At least, that’s the proposed arc of Going My Way for the first 20 minutes of this year’s Best Picture winner, but this over long movie careens from one dangling plot thread to another. Despite that, it’s rather pleasant, if you don’t look at it too hard… which, of course, is the whole idea of Screen Test of Time.
Year Eligible: 1944 (Won)
Additional audio from Going My Way (1944)
(Explicit language, as always)