A Personal List of the Class of ’41

The following is a personal choice of the top 10 American movies of 1941 plus their play-dates on LACMA’s “1941: Hollywood’s Extraordinary Year” retrospective:

1--”Citizen Kane”(Orson Welles): The most dazzling bravura display in the history of American movies. (Saturday, 8 p.m.)

2--”How Green Was My Valley”(John Ford): One of the cinema’s great explorations of reverie and family. (Friday, 1:20 and 8:20 p.m.)

3--”Sergeant York”(Howard Hawks): The biggest box-office hit of 1941, the bio-drama of pacifist turned World War I hero Alvin York (Oscar-winner Gary Cooper). (Aug. 30, 1 and 8 p.m.)

4--”The Maltese Falcon”(John Huston): In many ways, the finest American detective movie; the one that began the legend of Bogie. (Saturday, 8 p.m.)

5--”Suspicion”(Alfred Hitchcock): A chilling portrait of the erosion of trust in a wife (Oscar-winner Joan Fontaine) married to a charming wastrel (Cary Grant). (Sept. 7, 10 p.m.)

6--”The Lady Eve”(Preston Sturges): As brisk, literate, charming and packed with wit and surprise as movie talk gets. Oct. 26, 9:50 p.m.)

7--”Swamp Water”(Jean Renoir): The year’s most underrated film, by one of the world’s great filmmakers: a poetic melodrama of love and hate in the Okefenokee Swamp. (July 26, 2:40 and 9:40 p.m.)

8--”High Sierra”(Raoul Walsh): This W.R. Burnett-scripted thriller marks one of the apogees of the American gangster movie. (July 26, 1 and 8 p.m.)

9--”The Little Foxes”(William Wyler): From Lillian Hellman’s fiercely moralistic play, one of the movies’ great theatrical adaptations. (July 19, 1 and 8 p.m.)

10--”Dumbo”(Ben Sharpsteen): One of the great Disney feature cartoons: a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Elephant, done with matchless charm. (Aug. 3, 11:55 a.m. and 8:25 p.m.)

All screenings are in Bing Auditorium. Information: (213) 857-6010.