LawrenceA Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Swithin, I don't know THE LIGHT THAT FAILED. I'll need to hunt that one down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Swithin, I don't know THE LIGHT THAT FAILED. I'll need to hunt that one down. It's one I haven't seen either. I go back and forth on STANLEY AND LIVINGSTONE...it feels like it's a great movie, but I am not entirely convinced. I realised I didn't include JUAREZ or any other Bette Davis films on my list for '39 (she had four big films that year). Her screen persona usually turns me off, so I automatically discount her films, which is probably unfair. I do like her pairings with Miriam Hopkins, but that's because Hopkins upstages her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Swithin, I don't know THE LIGHT THAT FAILED. I'll need to hunt that one down. Ronald Colman makes my top ten lead performance list of 1939 with The Light That Failed. It's worth tracking down for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 My list: 1. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (on my all-time top 20 classics)2. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT3. LES MISERABLES4. 42ND STREET5. OF MICE AND MEN6. SAN FRANCISCO7. EN KVINNAS ANSIKTE8. THE PUBLIC ENEMY9. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS10. A FAREWELL TO ARMS Notable Directors: Lewis Milestone; Busby Berkeley; Frank Capra; George Cukor; and Richard Boleslawski. Most Creative Studios: Warner Brothers; Paramount; Hal Roach; Walt Disney; and MGM. Best Genres/Subgenres: the screwball comedy; the precode musical; and the literary adaptation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 1930 - 1939 1. Modern Times (1936) 2. The Wizard of Oz (1939) 3. A Night at the Opera (1935) 4. Gone With the Wind (1939) 5. Grand Illusion (1937) 6. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) 7. King Kong (1933) 8. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 9. Westfront 1918 (1930) 10. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932) With the exception of Westfront 1918 I have seen all of these films in a movie theatre with a full audience. It does mean something. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 1930 - 1939 With the exception of Westfront 1918 I have seen all of these films in a movie theatre with a full audience. It does mean something. You lucky sonuva...the theater experience does alter a film's impact. Growing up and living in a small town, I've had to rely on home video for classic, foreign and art house films. The little I lived in bigger cities (Jacksonville and Brooklyn), I never saw a movie at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 You lucky sonuva...the theater experience does alter a film's impact. Growing up and living in a small town, I've had to rely on home video for classic, foreign and art house films. The little I lived in bigger cities (Jacksonville and Brooklyn), I never saw a movie at all. I saw all of the Marx Brothers films at a large 99¢ Revue cinema that was always packed and full of smoke ... and it wasn't from cigarettes either. The laughter was thunderous. Great fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 The Thirties Ten Favorite Films 1. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT 2. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN 3. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT 4. THE ROARING TWENTIES 5. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON 6. MODERN TIMES 7. FRANKENSTEIN 8. KING KONG 9. M 10. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD Ten Favorite Male Stars 1. Spencer Tracy 2. James Cagney 3. Edward G. Robinson 4. Clark Gable 5. Cary Grant 6. Paul Muni 7. Boris Karloff 8. Jean Gabin 9. Gary Cooper 10. Errol Flynn Top Ten Female Stars 1. Myrna Loy 2. Claudette Colbert 3. Katharine Hepburn 4. Marlene Dietrich 5. Jean Arthur 6. Olivia de Havilland 7. Bette Davis 8. Sylvia Sidney 9. Greta Garbo 10. Joan Crawford Top Ten Directors 1. Fritz Lang 2. Jean Renoir 3. Charles Chaplin 4. Frank Capra 5. James Whale 6. Howard Hawks 7. John Ford 8. Rene Clair 9. Busby Berkley 10. Ernst Lubitsch My favorite genre of the 30's is a three-way tie. Horror really had it's first big commercial and artistic renaissance, with films like DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUMMY, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, WEREWOLF OF LONDON, and many more. The Gangster movie reached creative heights. And Comedy films were, imho, better here than they would be for the next 40 years, with the Marx Brothers, Chaplin, Fields, Laurel & Hardy, the screwball greats, etc. However, after all that, I'll say not one film from the 1930s made my top 25 of all time list! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankGrimes Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 1938 1. Port of Shadows 2. Sidewalks of London 3. The Lady Vanishes 4. Holiday 5. Test Pilot 6. Room Service 7. The Dawn Patrol 8. Spawn of the North 9. You Can't Take It with You 10. Algiers 11. The Adventures of Robin Hood 12. Bringing Up Baby 13. La Bete Humaine 14. The Cowboy and the Lady 15. Vivacious Lady 16. Carefree 17. The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse 18. Of Human Hearts 19. Sinners in Paradise 20. Three Loves Has Nancy 21. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife 22. The Mad Miss Manton 23. Merrily We Live 24. Trade Winds 25. Charlie Chan in Honolulu 26. A Christmas Carol 27. Bank Holiday 28. Torchy Gets Her Man 29. En Kvinnas Ansikte (A Woman's Face) 30. If I Were King 31. The Shopworn Angel 32. Man-Proof 33. I Met My Love Again 34. A Slight Case of Murder 35. Always Goodbye 36. Blondes at Work 37. Santa Fe Stampede 38. Torchy Blane in Panama 39. The Divorce of Lady X 40. Jezebel 41. Angels with Dirty Faces 42. Blockade 43. The Texans 44. Four Men and a Prayer 45. The Devil's Party 46. Too Hot to Handle 47. Adventure in Sahara 48. A Yank at Oxford 49. Mystery House 50. The Adventures of Marco Polo 51. You and Me 52. The Renegade Ranger 53. The Invisible Menace 54. The Sisters 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 ...However, after all that, I'll say not one film from the 1930s made my top 25 of all time list! Yeah, only one film (IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT) hit my top 20 list. Most of mine are in the 40s, with three of them from 1947. I think the movies were still finding themselves in the first half of the 30s after the transition to sound. Even a director whose work I admire like John Ford experienced growing pains. But by the time we reach 1939 and the 40s, things have crystallized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I've been away for awhile, mostly in reaction to the spamming and login problems, hopefully now resolved. Bogie told me about this thread and I thought I'd check it out. Would it be cheating to refer back to Top Billed's "Decade favorites" thread to refresh my memory about my favorites? And are there any ground rules I should know about? It looks as it we're treating all films as eligible, rather than just the Hollywood product, and a Big Thumbs Up to that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 I've been away for awhile, mostly in reaction to the spamming and login problems, hopefully now resolved. Bogie told me about this thread and I thought I'd check it out. Would it be cheating to refer back to Top Billed's "Decade favorites" thread to refresh my memory about my favorites? And are there any ground rules I should know about? It looks as it we're treating all films as eligible, rather than just the Hollywood product, and a Big Thumbs Up to that. No rules, just lists of ten favorite films of the year. We've been trying to keep to one year a day. 1940 will be up tomorrow. You can list more per year or less, as you wish. Some people list favorite stars or performances each year, or thoughts on individual movies, how you first saw them, whatever. It's pretty loose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogie56 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Most of us have been listing 10 favourites in order and also including runner ups for each year starting with 1930. It is often the runner ups that not everyone has yet seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I haven't put up any 1938 favorites but Frank's list reminds me of a few: Too Hot too Handle is a hilarious film -- directed by the great Jack Conway. The film deals with rival newsreel companies trying to scoop each other and is incredibly timely -- outrageous even. Clark Gable's staging of a bombing scene in China is priceless as are his escapades in the Amazon. The whole cast is brilliant -- Myrna Loy, Walter Pidgeon, Walter Connolly, Leo Carillo. The Sisters -- one of my favorite Bette Davis films. The San Francisco earthquake makes an appearance. Bringing Up Baby -- Howard Hawks classic about a baby (Cary Grant) who can't find his "bone." The Lady Vanishes -- a favorite Hitchcock, with music so crucial to the plot. A Slight Case of Murder -- a fun Edward G. Robinson film. I love Ruth Donnelly in this film. Btw, Ms. Donnelly's uncle was the longtime Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey. and, not on Frank's list but certainly on mine, one of the Fox musical classics: Alexander's Ragtime Band 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I've been away for awhile, mostly in reaction to the spamming and login problems, hopefully now resolved. Bogie told me about this thread and I thought I'd check it out. Would it be cheating to refer back to Top Billed's "Decade favorites" thread to refresh my memory about my favorites? And are there any ground rules I should know about? It looks as it we're treating all films as eligible, rather than just the Hollywood product, and a Big Thumbs Up to that. Andy, I also went back and re-read the Underrated (by decade) threads we did a few years ago. I noticed that some of my choices have changed...and as you astutely observed, we didn't really bring non-English language films into the previous discussion. So this is a way to build on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 ...one of the Fox musical classics: Alexander's Ragtime Band I enjoy that film, too. The plot is predictable, but the music is fabulous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankGrimes Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 1939 1. Only Angels Have Wings 2. Destry Rides Again 3. Stagecoach 4. Gunga Din 5. The Hound of the Baskervilles 6. The Roaring Twenties 7. Son of Frankenstein 8. Frontier Marshal 9. The Rules of the Game 10. The Cat and the Canary 11. Gone with the Wind 12. Midnight 13. Ninotchka 14. Love Affair 15. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 16. The Man They Could Not Hang 17. Bachelor Mother 18. Charlie Chan in Reno 19. Charlie Chan at Treasure Island 20. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 21. The Return of Doctor X 22. Dark Victory 23. Five Came Back 24. Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence 25. Maisie 26. The Old Maid 27. Golden Boy 28. Union Pacific 29. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 30. Honeymoon in Bali 31. Jesse James 32. Each Dawn I Die 33. Another Thin Man 34. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 35. Day-Time Wife 36. Torchy Blane in Chinatown 37. Invisible Stripes 38. Dust Be My Destiny 39. Wuthering Heights 40. Drums Along the Mohawk 41. Torchy Runs for Mayor 42. Reno 43. Dodge City 44. At the Circus 45. The Spy in Black 46. Young Mr. Lincoln 47. The Rains Came 48. Beau Geste 49. Jamaica Inn 50. The Real Glory 51. Let Us Live 52. The Women 53. Idiot's Delight 54. The Phantom Creeps 55. The Gorilla 56. Charlie Chan in City in Darkness 57. Remember? 58. Allegheny Uprising 59. The Wizard of Oz 60. Lady of the Tropics 61. Blind Alley 62. They Made Me a Criminal 63. In Name Only 64. Tower of London 65. Buried Alive 66. Made for Each Other 67. The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle 68. Goodbye, Mr. Chips 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM108 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Thanks to everyone for their helpful responses. The inclusion of foreign films is helpful, though to be honest that wouldn't affect my choices all that much until World War II and afterwards. And since I'm way behind, I'll take the top 12 of the decade as a whole, in slightly different order than I'd listed them in Top Billed's earlier thread. This time I'm adding a tiny bit of commentary. 1. Libeled Lady To me this is the greatest of all American comedies, second overall only to Fernandel's The Sheep Has Five Legs (1952). To be honest, it's in a virtual tie with Bombshell, but I'm now putting it at the top because it wears even better upon endlessly repeated viewings. And if I needed a tiebreaker, it'd come down to one single line: "That's arson!" 2. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang There are so few pre-codes that don't have predictable "happy endings", and this is the best of that small but precious lot. "How do you live?" -- "I STEAL." The fact that it was based on a true story makes it all the more memorable. 3. So Big Three Stanwycks may seem a bit much, but they're all richly deserving. It's a bit of a weeper, but the way that "Missy" takes on roles from a teenager all the way to a weather-beaten middle age woman is nothing short of remarkable. I can't even imagine any other actress being able to pull it off with such utter conviction and believability. 4. Stella Dallas Even soap operas have their moments, and when I watch Stanwyck in Stella Dallas, taking every punch and thinking only of her daughter, it forced me to have a new sense of respect for this much-maligned genre. How can even the most hardboiled cynic not be moved virtually to tears by the sight of her standing outside her daughter's wedding, wanting so desperately to be part of the celebration but knowing that her daughter wouldn't be able to handle it? 5. Red-Headed Woman I still can't believe how this one ever made it past the censors, even the pre-code look the other way version. To summarize: Harlow wrecks one marriage after another; Harlow brings shame to one of the town's leading families; Harlow blackmails her marks and laughs all the while doing it; Harlow's "punishment" consists of winding up at a French race course, the mistress of a Sugar Daddy, and with her chauffeur waiting for her on the side! I repeat: How in the h e l l did Red-Headed Woman not get thrown into a bonfire? 6. Bombshell I had this as #1 previously, but it doesn't wear quite as well as Libeled Lady after 5 or 6 viewings, even though it's still very close. The highlight here is the look on Harlow's face when she stumbles across the collection of character actors in the studio whom she'd thought had been a family of New England swells. I still crack up every time I think of C. Aubrey Smith complaining that Lewis Stone is now getting all of the roles that he used to get. And then there's Lee Tracy, and what more can anyone say about this human hummingbird of perpetual motion? 7. Heroes For Sale Next to I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang, this Barthelmess film is my favorite "political" pre-code, only slightly marked down for its somewhat strange (though uplifting, I'm sure) final note, with our hero having been betrayed and persecuted over and over by big shots and Red Squads, and yet in the face of it all maintains hope for the future. 8. Baby Face The plot is fairly conventional, and the ending a rather unbelievable sellout to the censors, but God, does Stanwyck ever play her part to perfection. Although I have to say that the highlight for me was the prelude in the coal town with her pimping father, rather than the rest of the film set in New York. But then there's Theresa Harris, with one of the few roles for African American women that didn't involve yassuhs and nomams and little else. She was a perfect complement to Stanwyck's Lily. 9. Rain Crawford hated this movie, but IMO it's up there with Mildred Pierce and Sudden Fear, which to me is saying a lot. Like Red-Headed Woman, this is another movie that it's hard to imagine having slipped past the gatekeepers, given its devastating portrait of ministerial hypocrisy as played to perfection by Walter Huston 10. A Man to Remember Like So Big, this is one of the more memorable films of "ordinary" people who in fact are as extraordinary as anyone. 11. 42nd Street / Footlight Parade Has there ever been another movie with so much great music and so many memorable lines? --- "Get a load of Minnie the Mountaineer" ---"That's Anytime Annie--the only time she ever said no, she didn't hear the question." ---"Must have been tough on your mother, not having any children." 12. Bringing Up Baby I'm in the camp that maintains that Hepburn was at her best with Grant rather than Tracy, and other than those two Harlow movies above, this is my favorite screwball of the era. Grant had the perfect comic touch to complement Hepburn's classic scatterbrain, and I only wish they'd been paired a lot more often. One more I'd add to the list that I hadn't watched before: Vigil In The Night., which is in the category of So Big and A Man to Remember, and beautifully portrayed by Carole Lombard, who was far more than a screwball actress. If Lombard had never played in another movie, her entire career would have been noteworthy for his film alone. OOOPS.... For some reason I repeated my earlier omission of foreign films, so I have to add a few of them without commentary before calling it a night. At some point I'll combine them into an overall ranking. M The Testament of Dr. Mabuse Port of Shadows La Bandera Gueule d'Amour Grand Illusion Threepenny Opera La Bete Humaine Le Jour Se Leve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 Frank...GOODBYE MR. CHIPS all the way at the bottom? You disliked it that much? Also, I don't know FRONTIER MARSHALL; one more to look for. Andy, welcome! Great list, and I like the commentary. I haven't heard of HEROES FOR SALE, and if it's comparable to I AM A FUGITIVE...I should like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Andy-- I'm glad you mentioned RAIN, which I also like a lot. Again, we have Lewis Milestone giving us a very poetic film about a very un-poetic subject. LIBELED LADY is another fave of mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Frank...GOODBYE MR. CHIPS all the way at the bottom? You disliked it that much? After seeing the superb early 50s British film THE BROWNING VERSION with Michael Redgrave in a similar role, one can't help but think of GOODBYE MR. CHIPS as a well-meaning high school play. Seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankGrimes Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 Frank...GOODBYE MR. CHIPS all the way at the bottom? You disliked it that much? Also, I don't know FRONTIER MARSHALL; one more to look for. Yeah, it's one of the my most disliked films of all. I can't get into a British boarding school for boys flick. I only like the Greer Garson segment in the film. That's about it. Frontier Marshal is pretty much My Darling Clementine before My Darling Clementine. It's rather entertaining. An excellent job by you and everyone else of ranking their favorites. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankGrimes Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 The 1930s 1. M 2. The Invisible Man 3. Only Angels Have Wings 4. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse 5. Destry Rides Again 6. The 39 Steps 7. Tabu: A Story of the South Seas 8. Peter Ibbetson 9. Port of Shadows 10. King Kong 11. Morocco 12. Sidewalks of London 13. The Mummy 14. You Only Live Once 15. Mad Love 16. Vampyr 17. The Smiling Lieutenant 18. Frankenstein 19. Make Way for Tomorrow 20. Scarface 21. Love Me Tonight 22. Stagecoach 23. Gunga Din 24. The Thin Man 25. It Happened One Night 26. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 27. The Lady Vanishes 28. The Hound of the Baskervilles 29. Modern Times 30. The Devil-Doll 31. The Informer 32. Baby Face 33. The Awful Truth 34. The Roaring Twenties 35. The Blue Angel 36. The Bride of Frankenstein 37. The Old Dark House 38. The Most Dangerous Game 39. Young and Innocent 40. Sabotage 41. The Hurricane 42. Dracula 43. Holiday 44. Pilgrimage 45. Libeled Lady 46. My Man Godfrey 47. Test Pilot 48. The Prisoner of Shark Island 49. Flesh 50. Robin Hood of El Dorado Based off my top 100 films for the decade: Favorite Director 1. John Ford 2. Alfred Hitchcock 3. Fritz Lang 4. James Whale 5. Leo McCarey 6. Howard Hawks 7. Henry Hathaway 8. Karl Freund 9. Josef von Sternberg 10. Rouben Mamoulian 11. Ernest B. Schoedsack 12. Tod Browning 13. Frank Capra 14. Gregory La Cava 15. Raoul Walsh I'm surprised Jean Renoir didn't make the cut, but he's a favorite of mine for the decade. Actors 1. Cary Grant 2. Boris Karloff 3. William Powell 4. Peter Lorre 5. Gary Cooper 6. Charles Laughton 7. Basil Rathbone 8. Spencer Tracy 9. Maurice Chevalier 10. Henry Fonda 11. Clark Gable 12. Adolphe Menjou 13. Jean Gabin 14. Lionel Barrymore 15. James Stewart 16. Bela Lugosi 17. Humphrey Bogart 18. Claude Rains 19. Victor McLaglen 20. Marx Brothers Stunned that Edward G. Robinson didn't score well enough to make the cut. He's easily one of my favorites for the decade. I also like Robert Montgomery, Will Rogers, Errol Flynn, and James Cagney. I'd say William Powell is my very favorite of the decade, subjectively. Actress 1. Myrna Loy 2. Marlene Dietrich 3. Sylvia Sidney 4. Gloria Stuart 5. Fay Wray 6. Miriam Hopkins 7. Claudette Colbert 8. Katharine Hepburn 9. Jean Arthur 10. Madeleine Carroll 11. Carole Lombard 12. Vivien Leigh 13. Paulette Goddard 14. Dorothy Lamour 15. Maureen O'Sullivan Absolutely shocked that Barbara Stanwyck did not make the cut using a point system with my top 100 films. She's certainly in my top five for the decade. Myrna is probably at the top, though. Also love Carole and Jean. Others I like who are not on my objective list are Jean Harlow, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swithin Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 After seeing the superb early 50s British film THE BROWNING VERSION with Michael Redgrave in a similar role, one can't help but think of GOODBYE MR. CHIPS as a well-meaning high school play. Seriously. I so want to love Goodbye Mr. Chips -- two of my favorite actors; a great subject -- but there's something about it. Maybe it just chugs along in too linear a fashion. But I do enjoy it. I also enjoy The Browning version (I love Rattigan). But that wife is too too flat a character! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 I so want to love Goodbye Mr. Chips -- two of my favorite actors; a great subject -- but there's something about it. Maybe it just chugs along in too linear a fashion. But I do enjoy it. I also enjoy The Browning version (I love Rattigan). But that wife is too too flat a character! Interestingly, in addition to writing the stage play and screenplay for THE BROWNING VERSION, Rattigan also wrote the screenplay for the 1969 remake of GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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