1949

——THE ESSENTIALS——

ADAM’S RIB (George Cukor)

  It was no secret in Hollywood (or even Pasadena, for that matter) that Spencer Tracy, a married man, and Katharine Hepburn were lovers. Maybe you could tell in the six films they made together, maybe not.  But their screen relationship was something else. They just clicked. ADAM’S RIB is the best of the bunch, with a sizzling screenplay by Garson Kanin & Ruth Gordon and direction by Hepburn’s favorite, George Cukor.

THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed)

  For a good while, it was assumed that Orson Welles must have contributed to the direction of THE THIRD MAN, as well as playing the memorable Harry Lime. The man himself has set the record straight that, beyond penning his classic “cuckoo clock” monologue, Welles was content to let Carol Reed do his job. Reed often does get lost in the shadows. Parallelling the career of that other great British director, David Lean, Reed himself has a few good films to his credit. This one is perhaps his best.