Your Favourite Performances from 1930 to present are...

[Swithin]

1932 Favorites

 

Best Actor

 

Boris Karloff (The Mummy)

Charles Laughton (Island of Lost Souls)

 

Best Actress

 

Marlene Dietrich (Blonde Venus)

Kay Francis (One Way Passage)

Zita Johann (The Mummy) ("Do you have to open graves to find girls to fall in love with?")

 

Best Supporting Actor

 

Bramwell Fletcher (The Mummy)

Eugene Pallette and Warner Oland (Shanghai Express)

C. Aubrey Smith (Love Me Tonight) ("I'd rather throw a bomb at her than have her wed a commoner.")

Ernest Thesiger (The Old Dark House) ("Have a potato.")

 

Best Supporting Actress

 

Aline MacMahon (One Way Passage) ("I've been a long way, and I've left a wide trail.")

Hattie McDaniel (Blonde Venus) ("I know when a white man's browsing.")

Eva Moore (The Old Dark House) ("No beds! They can't have beds!")

Lyda Roberti (Million Dollar Legs) ("When I start to dance, fire horses start to prance. And the whole department, wears asbestos pants!")

[kingrat]

Bogie, I'm glad you mentioned Lowell Sherman. And one of the biggest changes from 1931 to 1932 is that Clark Gable has graduated from supporting roles in A FREE SOUL and NIGHT NURSE to starring in RED DUST.

 

Bette Davis moves forward, too. I don't believe any of us mentioned THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD, but George Arliss was very impressed by working with her, and this helped Warner Brothers pay more attention to her. THE CABIN IN THE COTTON begins to feel like a "Bette Davis movie," even though Richard Barthelmess has the larger role.

[LawrenceA]

Here are the 1932 films you've listed that I haven't seen:

 

Air Mail

American Madness

Arsene Lupin

Back Street

A Bill of Divorcement

Blessed Event

Cabin in the Cotton

Call Me Savage

Devil and the Deep

Downstairs

Forbidden

Hold 'Em Jail

If I Had a Million

Jewel Robbery

Law and Order

Lawyer Man

Life Begins

Madame Butterfly

Make Me a Star

Million Dollar Legs

The Mouthpiece

Night After Night

One Way Passage

Payment Deferred

Penguin Pool Murder

The Phantom President

Skyscraper Souls

So Big

State's Attorney

 

only 29 titles...

[TomJH]

Ah, but, Lawrence, you have seen Boudu Saved from Drowning, a film I had never even heard of previously. There is a nice looking print of it on dailymotion,com (with a Criterion Collection label on it, yet). Unfortunately, there are no subtitles on the print, though, and my French is all but non existent.

[GregoryPeckfan]

Here are films you've listed which interest me in seeing :

 

(note, I'm not listing all films that I haven't seen, just films that intrigue me):

 

The Phantom President

Night After Night

The Old Dark Horse

One Hour With You

Blessed Event

If I Had a Million

Island of Lost Souls

Law and Order

Madame Butterfly

Million Dollar Legs

Cabin in the Cotton

Air Mail

American Madness

The Mouthpiece

Make Me A Star

Devil and the Deep

State's Attorney

Hold En Jail

Call Me Savage

[LawrenceA]

I was just getting a head start on 1933, and compiling my lists of performances. You'll have to forgive my lackluster offerings, because I went over the whole list several times, and I couldn't find a single category that I have 5 nominees for, let alone more. It's the problem of my not having seen these in 20+ or more years, and I just can't recall specifics, especially in the supporting categories. I have one listed for each of those, and that's it. And I won't have a juvenile choice at all (I must make the admission that I tend to find children in films irritating at best. There are many exceptions, but this will be the toughest category for me on a regular basis). I also have one film that I'm awarding a heretofore unused category award of Best Ensemble, because much like Grand Hotel, I can't recall or decide which category the individual performances belong in, and there are so many that a blanket ensemble award will serve better for me.

[GregoryPeckfan]

I was just getting a head start on 1933, and compiling my lists of performances. You'll have to forgive my lackluster offerings, because I went over the whole list several times, and I couldn't find a single category that I have 5 nominees for, let alone more. It's the problem of my not having seen these in 20+ or more years, and I just can't recall specifics, especially in the supporting categories. I have one listed for each of those, and that's it. And I won't have a juvenile choice at all (I must make the admission that I tend to find children in films irritating at best. There are many exceptions, but this will be the toughest category for me on a regular basis). I also have one film that I'm awarding a heretofore unused category award of Best Ensemble, because much like Grand Hotel, I can't recall or decide which category the individual performances belong in, and there are so many that a blanket ensemble award will serve better for me.

Best Ensemble works.

 

That is the Screen Actors Guild version of the Best Picture.

 

I admit I usually find children irritating too.  You'll note that I tend to just list one or two.  So far, I've just mentioned two actors:

 

Jackie Cooper and Dickie Moore

[TomJH]

 

I must make the admission that I tend to find children in films irritating at best.

 

 

And you don't feel that much better about them on a golf course either. So who put Crazy Glue on this kid's hand?

[Bogie56]

Ah, but, Lawrence, you have seen Boudu Saved from Drowning, a film I had never even heard of previously. There is a nice looking print of it on dailymotion,com (with a Criterion Collection label on it, yet). Unfortunately, there are no subtitles on the print, though, and my French is all but non existent.

 

Has Boudu not been on TCM?

[TomJH]

Has Boudu not been on TCM?

 

Dunno. It's not a title I would have noticed. Unlike now.

[LawrenceA]

Has Boudu not been on TCM?

 

According to our encyclopedic friend MovieCollectorOH, Boudu was shown once, in January of 2010.

[Bogie56]

According to our encyclopedic friend MovieCollectorOH, Boudu was shown once, in January of 2010.

 

I just checked and I bought it on a PAL disc in England.  Not very expensive.

It was one of the 'buried treasures' in the 2nd year of the Toronto Film Festival if memory serves.

[LawrenceA]

I just checked and I bought it on a PAL disc in England.  Not very expensive.

It was one of the 'buried treasures' in the 2nd year of the Toronto Film Festival if memory serves.

 

I watched the Criterion DVD from Netflix about a decade ago.

[GregoryPeckfan]

I was just getting a head start on 1933, and compiling my lists of performances. You'll have to forgive my lackluster offerings, because I went over the whole list several times, and I couldn't find a single category that I have 5 nominees for, let alone more. It's the problem of my not having seen these in 20+ or more years, and I just can't recall specifics, especially in the supporting categories. I have one listed for each of those, and that's it. And I won't have a juvenile choice at all (I must make the admission that I tend to find children in films irritating at best. There are many exceptions, but this will be the toughest category for me on a regular basis). I also have one film that I'm awarding a heretofore unused category award of Best Ensemble, because much like Grand Hotel, I can't recall or decide which category the individual performances belong in, and there are so many that a blanket ensemble award will serve better for me.

I'm just the opposite.  I have seen most of the films in this year multiple times and very recently, especially the musicals and the comedies.  There are at least 30 movies I've seen where everything about them is fresh in my memory as a far as what is listed as 1933 on Wikipedia.  And I know there are more than that I have seen. 

[kingrat]

Notes on a few of the films Lawrence hasn't seen:

 

FORBIDDEN - Frank Capra directs this melodrama. Barbara Stanwyck stars as a woman who becomes the mistress of a prominent politician and has a child by him. Ralph Bellamy doesn't get the girl, then he does, and how well does that work out for him?

 

JEWEL ROBBERY - Kay Francis plays a rich woman with many jewels. William Powell is a suave and sophisticated jewel thief. Of course they're going to fall in love.

 

ONE WAY PASSAGE - Kay Francis plays a woman with very little time left to live. William Powell is being taken back to prison where he will be executed. Neither knows the other's secret. They meet on a boat crossing the Pacific. Aline MacMahon has a great part as a gal who's been around.

 

THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER - Based on the book by Stuart Palmer. This is the first of the Hildegarde Withers mysteries. Edna May Oliver plays Miss Withers, and James Gleason is Inspector Piper. The two make a surprisingly cute couple.

 

SO BIG - Based on the Edna Ferber novel. As is usually the case with Ferber, this is a two-generation saga, which doesn't always translate easily to the screen. This version, directed by William Wellman, is probably not quite so good as the 1950s version directed by Robert Wise, but both are worth seeing. Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman who, despite being widowed at an early age, becomes a prominent farmer. Her son then gets a good education, and one of the women he meets is a painter named Dallas (aren't they all?) played by Bette Davis. Unfortunately, Stanwyck and Davis have no scenes together. They are in one shot together, having conversations on different side of a room.

[TomJH]

Notes on a few of the films Lawrence hasn't seen:

 

JEWEL ROBBERY - Kay Francis plays a rich woman with many jewels. William Powell is a suave and sophisticated jewel thief. Of course they're going to fall in love.

 

 

Another thing about the charming Jewel Robbery: it's a Warner Brothers film that successfully emulates the sophistication associated with Ernst Lubitsch. In fact, just looking at it, I'd swear it was a Paramount film.

[Swithin]

I'm late to this thread and just realized I forgot an important 1932 Best Actress in my list:

 

[GregoryPeckfan]

Another thing about the charming Jewel Robbery: it's a Warner Brothers film that successfully emulates the sophistication associated with Ernst Lubitsch. In fact, just looking at it, I'd swear it was a Paramount film.

I love this film and One Way Passage.  Anything with William Powell is fabulous.  I have gotten to know Kay Francis really well too thanks to TCM.

[Kay]

Make Me a Star is a film I caught on TCM fairly recently. For a comedy it's a surprisingly downbeat little film. It's about a young, naive fellow who dreams of becoming a big cowboy movie star, and he takes off to Hollywood with his ambitions. He's unshakably self-assured, but incurably incompetent. To others around the lot he is a found to be a bit pitiful, but he's persistent and soon befriends a comedienne played by Joan Blondell, (who I happened to notice made Tom's Best Actress list for this.)

 

I found Stuart Erwin's performance in this film surprisingly touching. He is someone so totally illusioned that one can't help but laugh at him, but his serious nature makes you feel guilty about laughing. He seems like a realistic character, and one that I think I would feel awkward to know personally, given my own crude mannerisms and cynical outlook. Erwin's delicate rendering of this person impressed me a great deal and he was a special inclusion in my list.

[Swithin]

I love this film and One Way Passage.  Anything with William Powell is fabulous.  I have gotten to know Kay Francis really well too thanks to TCM.

 

I once had a party to show the video of One Way Passage.  I made Paradise Cocktails.

[Bogie56]

Here are the films from 1932 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet.  I’ve recorded many of these but I’ve got my work cut out.

 

Arsene Lupin with Lionel Barrymore

Back Street with Irene Dunne

A Bill of Divorcement with Katharine Hepburn and Billie Burke

Call Her Savage with Clara Bow

The Dark Horse with Warren William and Vivienne Osborne

Downstairs with John Gilbert, Paul Lukas and Olga Baclanova

Emma with Marie Dressler

Fanny with Raimu

Hold ‘em Jail with Edgar Kennedy

Jewel Robbery with Warren William and Kay Francis

Kongo with Walter Huston and Virginia Bruce

Lawyer Man with William Powell and Joan Blondell

Make Me a Star with Joan Blondell and Stuart Erwin

The Match King with Warren William

Me and My Gal with Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett

The Mouthpiece with Warren William

Night After Night with Mae West

One Way Passage with Anna Mae Wong and Aline MacMahon

Rasputin and the Empress with Ethel and John Barrymore

Red Headed Woman with Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Una Merkel and May Robson

Sign of the Cross with Charles Laughton and Claudette Colbert

Skyscraper Souls with Warren William

So Big with Bette Davis

State’s Attorney with John Barrymore

Taxi with James Cagney

Thirteen Women with Myrna Loy

This Is the Night with Roland Young and Charles Ruggles

Winner Take All with Guy Kibbee and Dickie Moore

 

And I would like to see these again …

 

Blonde Venus for Herbert Marshall, Hattie McDaniel and Dickie Moore

Grand Hotel for Jean Hersholt and Lewis Stone

I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang for Glenda Farrell

Love Me Tonight for Charles Ruggles and C. Aubrey Smith

Million Dollar Legs for Lyda Roberti

The Most Dangerous Game for Leslie Banks

The Mummy for Zita Johann and Bramwell Fletcher

Red Dust for Donald Crisp

Scarface for Karen Morley

[TomJH]

None of the following films listed by others could have made it on my list.

 

Those I have yet to see for the first time:

 

So Big

Life Begins

Air Mail

Fanny

Boudu Saved from Drowning

Forbidden

Cabin in the Cotton

 

Those I should see again to properly assess them:

 

Emma

One Way Passage (where I recall liking)

What Price Hollywood

Madame Butterfly

Law and Order (which I recall liking)

Phantom President

 

 

[TomJH]

A comment on a couple of the films on Bogie's yet-to-see list:

 

DOWNSTAIRS was a John Gilbert film made at a point in his faltering talkie career in which he desperately needed a hit. This is the most striking of Gilbert's vehicles of that period, not only in terms of writing and performances, but because it is so utterly unexpected that a former romantic leading man would agree to play such a scoundrel.

 

Gilbert wrote this story in which he plays a chauffeur hired by an affluent family who uses his charms on family members and servants in order to solidify a position of influence among them. He will resort to seducing servants, one of them a naïve, middle aged family cook so that she will give him her life savings, as well as blackmail a family member when he is threatened with dismissal.

 

Gilbert skillfully proves in his uncompromising portrayal of a cad that he clearly possessed the stuff to be a solid character actor. But the film also has an array of fine performances from the rest of the cast, as well, including Virginia Bruce (Mrs. Gilbert for two years or so), Paul Lukas and Olga Baclanova.

 

The film also has a pre-code moment of remarkable frankness in its dialogue in a very strong confrontation scene between sexually repressed husband Lukas and Virginia Bruce, his wife, confessing to an affair in which she acknowledges, in a dig at that husband, having experiencing a sexual awakening in that illicit relationship that she had never known before.

 

THE MOUTHPIECE and STATE'S ATTORNEY. Warren William was sometimes referred to as "a poor man's John Barrymore." In these two films both actors play flamboyant attorneys, with the two actors in most enjoyable form in roles that they could have probably exchanged with one another.

 

Williams plays a lawyer in The Mouthpiece who in one scene (to prove his crooked client "innocent" of a crime) swallows the contents of a bottle marked poison in front of the jury to prove his "belief" in his client's innocence. That startling act has the jury members filing out to make a decision but checking back in on William, who sits "nonchalantly" in the courtroom acting "unconcerned." But what the jury doesn't know as they find the accused innocent is that lawyer William is quickly disappearing to have his stomach pumped.

 

State's Attorney has Barrymore as the high priced lawyer of a big boss gangster, openly contemptuous of that gangster while at the same time selling his soul for all the money he can get. But Barrymore also plays scenes outside the courtroom in which he spends much of his time drunk. It was the first time that the off screen Barrymore's well known addiction issues started to blend into his on screen image.

 

SIGN OF THE CROSS is a spectacle that allowed Cecil B. DeMille to indulge in one of the kinkiest, most sexually depraved and, during the Roman Colosseum scenes, sadistic films of the pre-code era. All in the name of showing the o r g y loving Christian-torturing side of pagan Rome.

 

There's Claudette Colbert as Queen Poppea bathing in a s s e s' milk (including an unexpected quick pre-code peak at one of her nipples), telling a visiting patrician woman to doff her clothes and join her, while two little kittens lap at the milk. There's Charles Laughton hamming it up as an effeminate Nero. And if that isn't enough fun for you there is a moment in which "pure" Christian girl Elissa Landi has a Roman party girl dance seductively around her in a scene ripe with lesbian overtones.

 

But the wildest sequence of all is the "Games" in the Colosseum: gladiators battling, with Nero giving a casual thumbs down to one of the defeated ones pleading for mercy; pygmy warriors fighting wild Amazon-type women, one of them holding one of the pygmies over her head, impaled on her saber; death-by-tiger; death-by-elephant; a beautiful almost naked woman stretched out screaming as crocodiles close in upon her; another woman (beautiful and all but naked, of course) tied to a stake as a gorilla approaches her. Throughout all this chaos and cruelty there are numerous reaction shots of the Roman spectators, many happy and beaming, a few bored or indifferent, some tearful, some looking aroused. It is DeMille at his most perverse and sadistic.

 

With all these pagan scenes, however, beware of the any of the scenes in the same production of the Christians, often shown heavily steeped in prayers. These scenes are so slow and dull that you cannot wait for the director to get us back to those wicked pagans once again.
 

[LawrenceA]

Well put, Tom, regarding SIGN OF THE CROSS. It's a rather incredible, over the top spectacle. I recommend it, with the caveat that it's de Mille, so know that the script will be hamfisted. It's good, dumb fun.

[kingrat]

If you've only seen Myrna Loy in the Thin Man series, The Best Years of Our Lives, etc., it may be a shock to see her as a scheming Eurasian villain in THIRTEEN WOMEN. This is how she was typecast in her early career. Sorority girls have been cruel to the Eurasian outsider, so she determines to have revenge on them, making use of her supposed psychic powers.

 

ME AND MY GAL, directed by Raoul Walsh, is sort of a police vs. bad guys film, but as the title suggests, the best part is romantic comedy, with flatfoot Spencer Tracy and diner waitress Joan Bennett making a really cute couple. Joan was a peroxide blonde in those days. One scene parodies STRANGE INTERLUDE, referred to as "Strange Inner Tube."

 

THE MATCH KING was based on the life of Ivar Kreuger, who had risen from nothing to become a wealthy industrialist. He originated the "three on a match" superstition, the better to sell more matches.