Best films of the 1940s

A good family in a wholesome American town is visited by their favourite uncle, who may be on the run from something dark. His niece, who believes they have a special bond, is determined to figure out what it is.

A vivid collection of characters make up the family and the small town that are the setting and the image of "good" and "normal" against which the grotesque and cynical is contrasted. It is also a hilarious gentle satire of small-town American life, with hints of the themes of Lynch's Blue Velvet.

A good everyday American is wrongfully charged for sabotage of US war infrastructure, so on the run from the law he seeks out the real criminals.

In the Hitchcock style, the thriller plot is clear, tight and involving, but with hilarious comic asides played completely straight, so we can feel smart about being manipulated as we are being manipulated. The propagandist speeches about why Good Americans are fighting the war also seem simultaneously sincere and satirical, maybe simply calculated to serve the embedded audience of the time and the detached future audience, like me. Entertaining, satisfying, but somewhat superficial.