The results for 1946 were completed, however, and show us a full list of the films released in that year that could have made up the Brattle's festival lineup. While it's a bit much to ask the Brattle to acquire and screen all 25 films from the list, it's instructive to see what was included--and what got omitted.
Films that are included in the Brattle series are shown in bold type:
Film, Avg.
THE KILLERS, 24.4
The Big Sleep, 24.2
The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers, 20.8
The Dark Corner, 20.6
Gilda, 20.3
The Postman Always Rings Twice, 20.3
Black Angel, 19.6
Notorious, 17.8
Somewhere In The Night, 17.5
The Blue Dahlia, 16.8
The Chase, 16.0
The Stranger, 15.8
Nobody Lives Forever, 14.2
Nocturne, 13.3
Night Editor, 12.4
Decoy, 11.9
Deadline At Dawn, 11.6
Crack-Up, 11.5
The Dark Mirror, 11.0
The Locket, 11.0
The Spiral Staircase, 10.1
Humoresque, 9.3
Shock, 7.9
So Dark The Night, 7.5
Strange Impersonation, 7.5
Panique (WI), 0.6
THE VERDICT and GREEN FOR DANGER didn't make the initial cut to be among the 25 films eligible for voting.
You can make a really good festival out of the 11 films from the 1946 list not included that ranked the highest:
THE KILLERS
MARTHA IVERS
THE DARK CORNER
SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT
THE CHASE
NOBODY LIVES FOREVER
NOCTURNE
NIGHT EDITOR
DECOY
DEADLINE AT DAWN
CRACK-UP
And we shouldn't turn up our noses at THE DARK MIRROR, HUMORESQUE or THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, either.
Our voting for the films at the bottom of the list reminds us of just how concerted an effort amongst a certain cadre of writers/critics has been undertaken to elevate the standing of SO DARK THE NIGHT. This was a fine list, and while I might knock THE BIG SLEEP down a few notches, the NOTY project was turning out excellent results before it had its plug pulled. (Note the position of NOTORIOUS on this list--probably still somewhat low, but by this time the voters were more on board with the idea that it belonged in the noir category.)
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