The Underrated Thirties

[TopBilled]

>Once we get much past the 60's or 70's I'm not sure I've even seen enough movies to list more than a few for each year.

 

Well you could include films that look most interesting, that you plan to watch...? Just a thought.

[speedracer5]

Here is my list for 1939

 

Gone With the Wind

The Wizard of Oz

Dodge City

Gunga Din

Another Thin Man

The Women

Dark Victory (in spite of Bogart's terrible Irish accent)

Five Came Back

Golden Boy

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

Wuthering Heights

[speedracer5]

I don't think it matters if a particular actor/actress dominates your list. A lot of my later 30s through mid 40s lists are dominated by Errol Flynn and I don't care! I'm shameless.

 

I also usually find the Powell/Loy films enjoyable, as well as the films of the Hepburns, Grant and Davis. Movies featuring my favorite film personalities tend to find their way onto my favorite film lists. A movie featuring actors I like has to be particularly bad for me not to enjoy it. Case in point: "Sylvia Scarlett," great cast, terrible film.

 

I may not be as discerning or as technical as others on this board when it comes to determining "the best of 19xx." If I found the movie enjoyable, it may merit a spot on the list.

[AndyM108]

We'll let some of the others catch up and post some more of their lists...but I plan to start a thread for the Underrated Sixties. I am going to do this all the way up to 2009. That gives us five more decades of classics to plow through!

 

In for a dime, in for a dollar. I'm going to post my top 10 of the 1940's over in the 40's (or I should say 1940) thread, and then do the same thing for the 1950's. I imagine it'll be harder for me to narrow it down in those two decades, but I'll know for sure when I start doing it.

[TopBilled]

>I'm going to post my top 10 of the 1940's over in the 40's (or I should say 1940) thread, and then do the same thing for the 1950's. I imagine it'll be harder for me to narrow it down in those two decades, but I'll know for sure when I start doing it.

 

Technically, it should be easy. Just take the number one film for each of the ten years and that becomes your list for the decade. Of course you have to decide which year was strongest (top) and which year was weakest (bottom) and where everything else stacks up in between!

[AndyM108]

*I'm going to post my top 10 of the 1940's over in the 40's (or I should say 1940) thread, and then do the same thing for the 1950's. I imagine it'll be harder for me to narrow it down in those two decades, but I'll know for sure when I start doing it.*

 

Technically, it should be easy. Just take the number one film for each of the ten years and that becomes your list for the decade. Of course you have to decide which year was strongest (top) and which year was weakest (bottom) and where everything else stacks up in between!

 

The way I did it was to select all the movies from 1940 through 1949 and then sort them by ranking. All 40+ movies I gave a "10" to were eligible, and then from those I chose my top dozen. If I'd simply chosen the top one from each year it wouldn't have worked, since the lower choices from some years (like 1946 or 1947) were many times much higher rated than the top choices from other years (like 1943). I put the top 12 movies on the 1940 thread, and I've now ranked the years by the number of (U.S. only) "10" titles in them. 1948 eked out 1947 and 1949 for the "best" year of the decade.

[skimpole]

Thanks to the movies I saw last month, I can how honestly say I have a top 10 for 1931:

 

1. M

2. City Lights

3. Monkey Business

4. Tabu

5. La Chienne

6. Le Million

7. Blonde Crazy

8. The Smiling Lieutenant

9. Enthusiasm

10. Platinum Blonde