On Thu, 21 Jun 2007, Ray Saintonge wrote:
The film was written in such a way as to keep the fact secret until a particular point. If you already know the secret then you are seeing the film in a way other than that which the writer intended. If the film wasn't spoilt by knowing the secret early, why would the writer have bothered to keep it secret?
The simple fact remains that this film was released in 1941. Are there any other films from the era that we would treat the same way?
I don't view a lot of 1941 films, so I don't know. I'd leave it to the people who do know, such as the people writing the articles about such films.
And if anything, you're really arguing for no year limit at all. Yeah, it's from 1941--and that makes little difference in the existence of lots of people who haven't seen it.