Do you have “comfort movies” you turn to when you feel off-kilter?
Comfort movies are like comfort food. They may not solve the world’s problems, but they fortify you enough to take another whack at the obstacles you face.
We (yours truly) have a lot of comfort movies, but when we sifted through them to see which ones mattered most, we noticed something strange.
Many of our choices were released in 1942.
There’s something about films released in this year that appeal to us. Although 1939 is considered Hollywood’s Golden Year, we find the films from 1942, overall, far more fascinating.
Here are five of our 1942 comfort films, in no particular order.
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Bette Davis stars as – wait for it – a spoiled, headstrong woman who brings misery to everyone she knows, including her sister (Olivia de Havilland) and her creepy sugar-daddy uncle (Charles Coburn). This film may seem like an odd choice, but we’re always so glad we don’t have these characters’ problems.
Why It’s A Comfort Movie: In This Our Life has a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. While Davis is theatrical and fabulous, de Havilland is sheer inspiration. She plays a woman cheated out of Everything, yet discovers strength in forgiveness.
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Rita Hayworth, Fred Astaire, and a forbidden romance. Image: Alamy/Pinterest
You Were Never Lovelier takes place in Buenos Aires, where everyone is beautiful and wealthy. Fred Astaire is a dancer who tries to wangle an employment contract with a swanky hotel owned by Rita Hayworth’s father (Adolphe Menjou). Astaire and Hayworth dance, and fall in love, despite Menjou’s furious objections.
Why It’s a Comfort Movie: Very funny lines, and Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth.
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Claudette Colbert leaves her husband (Joel McCrea) and travels to Florida so she can get a divorce and marry a rich man. But Colbert’s motives are altruistic: She wants to secure funding so McCrea can build an airport. If you like witty films with quirky characters, The Palm Beach Story is for you.
Why It’s A Comfort Movie: You’ve probably guessed this is a Preston Sturges screwball comedy, with over-the-top costumes and sets. Get in and hang on!
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Joan Crawford is a wealthy, self-centred Parisian who loses her home and her boyfriend when the Nazis invade France. Her extravagant lifestyle was stolen, but when she decides to work against occupying forces, she does so for her country, not her lost fortune. John Wayne also stars, but our Joan is the Hero du jour.
Why It’s a Comfort Movie: Crawford knows how to cultivate our sympathy, and she makes us believe we could be resistance workers, too, if the need arose. There are many similarities between this film and the one below, yet Reunion in France doesn’t feel like a knockoff.
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Humphrey Bogart is the owner of a nightclub/casino in the Moroccan desert, a place where European refugees haggle and dream of boarding the Plane to Lisbon whilst sipping cocktails. When Bogart’s ex (Ingrid Bergman) unexpectedly arrives, he realizes there’s more At Stake Here than financial gain.
Why It’s A Comfort Movie: Casablanca is not perfect, but the experience is so engrossing you don’t care. Also, Claude Rains has some of the best lines in classic film.
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What are your comfort movies?
This post is part of the CLASSICS FOR COMFORT SPRING BLOGATHON, hosted by the CMBA.
Silver Screenings 
So many wonderful films there, Ruth. You Were Never Lovelier is such a lovely film and a great favourite of mine. Hope all well with you.
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You Were Never Lovelier is my fave Astaire/Hayworth film. It oozes charm, doesn’t it?
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Ha! Wait until I tell my daughter Janet that In This Our Life makes your comfort food movie list! Just the thought of “Stanley” makes her blood pressure rise. Of course, I only showed it to her in the last year so she hasn’t developed the sense of satisfaction in the ending as of yet.
I do find great comfort in You Were Never Lovelier. And nothing pleases me more that Preston Sturges at his best.
Funny thing about your 1942, over the years I have discovered that many of my favourite movies are from 1944. What was in the water?
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Haha! I’m so glad you also have a kind of unusual year for favourite films. I never realized my predisposition towards 1942 films until this blogathon.
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Crawford and Wayne in a movie together? Not a pairing I would’ve ever imagined.
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Me either. And for John Wayne to be third fiddle? To his credit, he knows he’s in a Joan Crawford movie, and he doesn’t try to one-up her.
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I wrote an article years ago about certain books being comfort food. I’ll have to think on which films would fit that bill. I love this!
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Oh yes, let me know which films you would consider to be your “comfort movies”. 🙂
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Bravo for including You Were Never Lovelier. The pure joy on Rita’s face when she is dancing is a thing of beauty. Reunion in France is on my must see list. I never want to miss Joan at her peak. As always, your choices are Grade A.
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I know exactly what you mean about the joy on Rita’s face when she’s dancing! A while back TCM had Rita as their star of the month and I recorded all of her films that they showed. Some I’d already seen but there were some new ones for me. She certainly had a troubled life and lots of demons from her abusive childhood. But her love of dancing shines through all of that. Thank heaven Harry Cohn pulled the necessary strings to have her dance not only with Fred Astaire (twice) but Gene Kelly as well. After the success of Cover Girl, Cohn / Columbia bought the rights to Pay Joey in order to reunite Rita and Gene. But MGM refused to loan Gene out – what a terrific dancing film that could have been!
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I didn’t realize Gene Kelly was considered for that film. He would have been terrific! I’m going to keep that in mind next time I watch Pal Joey. Thanks for the info! 🙂
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You must, MUST see Reunion in France. It’s sheer melodrama and it’s well done. I love Joan C. in this film.
As for Rita H., you’re right – she does seem to have pure joy when she dances. It’s a treat to watch her.
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I must confess to not seeing any of these (except Casablanca, of course), but they do sound comforting.
And … well, thanks for not including An Affair to Remember, which I’ll never review out of my deep respect for Nora Ephron. 🙂
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As much as I respect An Affair to Remember, it isn’t one of my top picks…
I should probably know this, but what is the story with that film & Nora Ephron?
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Nora’s film Sleepless in Seattle owes a heavy debt to An Affair to Remember.
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Yup, it sure does. I adore Sleepless in Seattle, and I wrote a post about it a long time ago talking about these two films, along with the original, Love Affair (1939) – which is one of my faves. Watching the three of them in a row is a terrific experience.
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Wonderful topic! And I love your list – will need to give Reunion in France a try. Fred and Rita are so marvelous together! Casablanca not a perfect film? Will need to read more of your blog posts to figure out why. The divine Bette and Preston Sturges – wow, what a year! My comfort films include Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Cover Girl, and Postcards from the Edge. If I need a good therapeutic cry, there’s always Ben Hur and Castaway.
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I love your comfort film choices! As it happens, I saw Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the first time a couple of years ago, and I immediately fell in love with it. (Not sure why it took me so long to see it in the first place…) Thanks for dropping by!
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You should definitely see Above Suspicion with Joan and Fred MacMaurray. I love it way more than reunion in France. Joan and Fred are on their European honeymoon and r recruited to do some spying
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I have seen Above Suspicion, and it’s well worth it. I never would have thought to pair Joan Crawford with Fred MacMurray!
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When it comes to comfort movies, it’s hard to go wrong with Preston Sturges and PALM BEACH STORY is an entertaining outing!
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Haha! So true! I love Mary Astor’s outrageous character in this film.
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Some fine choices. For my own list, I would include Casablanca, and the Palm Beach Story, as well. In Search of the Castaways, Night at the Opera, the Circus (or, really, any Chaplin film qualifies), Vertigo, Roman Scandals, to name a few others.
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Do you know, I still have not seen A Night at the Opera? (And I call myself a classic movie blogger. Sheesh!) In Search of the Castaways is another one I haven’t seen. Thanks for recommending!
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You are in for a treat with both films. Night at the Opera is brilliant. I have long maintained that Harpo’s solo performance of the song “Alone” is one of the highest moments in film. In Search of the Castaways is a lot of fun, too, and Maurice Chevalier’s character is truly insane. Castaways deserved a sequel.
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Awww, I love this post. I haven’t seen two of these yet, so thank you!
For me, comfort movies are anything and everything with Myrna Loy and William Powell, especially those first four Thin Man movies. 😉 but any of their movies works magic on me. Palm Beach Story is definitely one too!
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I love, LOVE the first few Thin Man movies. A few years ago, a local video store sadly went under, but before they closed their doors for good, they sold all their DVDs & Blu-rays. Guess who scooped up nearly the entire Thin Man series! What a find!
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Hello Ruth. The Palm Beach Story is hilarious. Sturges was something else. I wonder how well-known his movies are.
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I wonder, too, how well known they are. He really had vision, didn’t he? What a treat to it would’ve been to see this films on the big screen when they were first released!
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Must rewatch the Crawford one!
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I hope you get the chance to see it again. It’s not well known, but it’s one of my fave Joan Crawford films.
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What a great theme to pick all these films from one year – and 1942 was certainly a stressful year. Some comedies, drama, musicals, but all satisfying.
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You said it! I never thought I was a 1942 “fan”, but here we are. It was so hard to narrow it down to five, but I think everyone faced that challenge.
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A wonderful list! YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER is one of my all-time, all-time comfort favorites. My parents took me to see it *five* different times at Los Angeles “revival” theaters when I was growing up so I associate it with very happy times and falling in love with classic films.
THE PALM BEACH STORY is a particular favorite as well.
Thank you for this great list!!
Best wishes,
Laura
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You got to see You Were Never Lovelier on the big screen?! More than once?! Awesome! I bet it was spectacular in the theatre.
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Any film that has Cary Grant in it. He was an amazing actor 😃
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Haha! Yes, I totally agree with you!
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Several years ago I posted a piece called Vintage Years that was inspired by a post on Peter Bogdanovich’s blog titled The Greatest Year. He explained his role in how 1939 became “the year” and how he actually believes the great years were 1939 – 41. In a reply to one of the comments on my post I said that I’d include 1937 – 1942 (more democratic, I guess), and your post reminded me why. I’ve seen most of those you list and have comforted myself with a couple of them already – The Palm Beach Story and Casablanca. Great post, as always, Ruth!
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Thanks! I’m going to drop by to read your Vintage Years post, because I think I’d agree.
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What a great list! Personally, I lean towards science fiction when I’m looking for comfort–the same kind of escapism, I suppose:-)
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That’s my husband’s choice, too. He’s introduced me to some terrific films.
Speaking of science fiction, have you been watching the Amazon Prime series Upload? It’s smart and cheeky, and I think you might like it.
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No, but thanks for the recommendation!
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You have an electric taste when it comes to Hollywood classics. I’ve only seen Casablanca and which is one of my all time favorites. If we talk about 40s, the decade was monumental for noirs. The Third Man will be my favorite from that decade!
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Oh yes, The Third Man is a terrific and disturbing film, one that sticks with you. Orson Welles is the perfect choice as Harry Lime, isn’t he?
What are some of the noirs that stand out in your mind from the 1940s?
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Orson Welles is terrific both as an actor and director. Long live our Citizen Kane!
I’m afraid I haven’t watched much noirs from the 40s. Though it was Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, and Double Indemnity which really enticed me. Recommendations are welcomed from your end, please.
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Some of my faves are Out of the Past (1947), Detour (if you can find a restored version), The Asphalt Jungle (1950). If you get a chance, you might like Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958), which he directed & starred in, and has an amazing opening establishing shot.
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Sounds intriguing, I’ll definitely check all of them but it’ll a hell lot of time.
Anyway, are you into foreign cinema? I mean, the works of Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa and other stuff?
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Yes, some foreign cinema, but £ really need to expand my horizons in that area. So far, have seen (and love) Kurosawa, S. Ray, Rossellini, etc. No Bergman yet.
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Wow, seems like I need to explore the ones which you have seen. Have only seen a spoonful of Kurosawa, the ones include Rashomon, High and Low, and Ikiru. My next pick will definitely be Seven Samurai of his.
It’s shameful despite of being an Indian, I haven’t gotten myself in Satyajit Ray. Very soon I’ll and let you know.
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You Were Never Lovelier is one of my favorite musicals. Rita dances with such joy, and that I’m Old Fashioned number is so adorable. I love Astaire and Hayworth together, and much prefer this to the other film. The Palm Beach Story took longer for me to love than other Sturges films, but once I fell for it, I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t before. It’s one of the ones I re-watch the most. The Ale and Quail Club alone!
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I discovered You Were Never Lovelier a couple of years ago and wondered why it took me so long to come across it. It’s a true gem.
As for The Palm Beach Story, it has some of the best and quirkiest characters of any film, including the esteemed members of the Ale & Quail Club – as you pointed out. This movie makes me laugh just as hard as the first time I saw it.
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I love THE PALM BEACH STORY, too! Preston Sturges can’t be beat. Thanks for these great picks!
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The Palm Beach Story never gets old, does it? It’s fresh and funny and très original. It’s my fave Mary Astor role.
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Hmmm…watched Casablanca many times, but never considered it comfort food…there’s so much there to digest and weep over. I tend to stick with frothier fare like “Meet Me In St. Louis” when I need a mental break. You’re making me expand my idea of what I consider comfort film.
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Yup, there are times a person needs pure frothiness in a movie, especially during times like these. What are some other films you turn to in sad or challenging times?
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“Coming to America,” “To Catch a Thief,” and “Drunken Master” are some of my go-to films.
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Ooh – To Catch a Thief! That’s one of my faves. Haven’t seen Drunken Master – will keep an eye out for it.
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Very interesting choices! The only movie I’ve seen out of this collection is ‘Casablanca’, but the other choices sound intriguing! Do you know when the next Great Villain Blogathon will take place? I already chose a topic to write about and I’d like to choose it as my submission for the blogathon.
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Hey, thanks for asking! I’m not sure when the next Villain blogathon will be. We normally have it in the spring (April or May), but it just didn’t work out this year. We’ll have to give it a try again next year. 🙂
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You’re welcome and thanks for the heads up! At least I have guaranteed content for 2021! 😀
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Never thought of a movie as comfort food. I just go to the kitchen and make it! 🤣😂🤣😂
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Haha! That is probably the best way to go.
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We could all do with a feel-good film at the moment. Oh, for a time machine to take me back to the days of Howard Hawks and Preston Sturges!
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Ha! You said it! Those were some fabulous movie years.
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