| The
Westerner (1940) Cooper is Cole Hardin, a drifter caught in the middle
of a battle between homesteaders and corrupt Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan
in an Oscar-winning performance). Directed by William Wyler. photo |
| Northwest Mounted Police (1940) Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers (Cooper) must enlist the help of Canadian Mounted Police to capture a prisoner. Madeleine Carroll, Paulette Goddard, and Robert Preston co-star in this lavish Cecil B. Demille production (the director's, and Cooper's, first in Technicolor.) |
| Meet
John Doe (1941) Newspaperwoman Barbara Stanwyck cooks up a story for
a publicity stunt and chooses Long John Willoughby (Cooper) to play the
role of John Doe, hero to the common man. Typical (and typically well
done) Frank Capra story of good-triumphs-over-corruption. photo |
| Sergeant
York (1941) Cooper won his first Best Actor Academy Award for his
portrayal of real-life WWI hero Alvin York - a softspoken country boy
who must come to terms with conflict between his religious ideals and
duty to his country. Directed by Howard Hawks. photo |
| Ball
of Fire (1941) Delicious comedy with Cooper as one of eight professors
whose quiet orderly lives are knocked for a loop by uninhibited showgirl
Barbara Stanwyck. A real treat! Directed by Howard Hawks.
photo |
| The
Pride of the Yankees (1942) Poignant telling of the life and death
of baseball great Lou Gehrig. Teresa Wright costars in excellent film.
Directed by Sam Wood. photo |
| For
Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) Beautiful to look at (both stars and scenery),
but overlong and plodding story. Cooper is Robert Jordan, an American
who joins a group of guerillas in the Spanish Civil War. Ingrid Bergman
costars. Directed by Sam Wood. click for photo gallery |
| The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) Cooper as the crusading title character fighting the Japanese and the elements in WWII China. Laraine Day costars. Directed by Cecil B. Demille. |
| Casanova Brown (1944) Cooper as well-meaning bumbler who marries Isabel (Teresa Wright) after a brief courtship. He manages to burn her parents' house down, to which Isabel naturally takes exception. The couple separates, but Isabel has their child - whom Casanova is determined to raise on his own. Some amusing moments. Directed by Sam Wood. |
| Saratoga
Trunk (1945) Cooper's Clint Maroon, a Texas rogue whose rocky affair
with scheming spitfire Clio Dulaine (Ingrid Bergman) sets off a lot of
sparks. Sheer star-power carries a rather meandering script. Directed
by Sam Wood. photo |
