1930s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 3)

[Michael Kerpan]

In some ways, Yamanaka's other surviving film -- Kochiyama Soshun -- might be his most interesting film (esp. for Setsuko Hara devotees). But its relatively poor condition (and lack of a subtitled release) makes it a non-starter, I suspect. The other two Yamanaka films are, of course, big favorites. ;~}

I hope Shimizu gets some love (he has a chance, given the one Eclipse set) -- but Gosho and Shimazu (who both made some extraordinary films during the decade) are hopeless (maybe by the NEXT round some of their work will be accessible).

[Leo Wong]

Kochiyama Soshun (1936) - English subtitles.

[Murdoch]

True Confession - This is the most ridiculous screwball I've seen: Carole Lombard is the wife to Fred MacMurray's struggling lawyer and is mistakenly accused of murder after she takes a job and her boss ends up dead. There's a hilarious interrogation scene with Lombard trying to help the bumbling cop by inventing reasons why she would have killed her boss, and then admitting she didn't do it. And then Lombard, in perhaps the most ridiculous turn of the movie, confesses to the murder to give her husband his shot at a high-profile trial. John Barrymore has a supporting role

Spoiler

as another phony murderer who has a strange affinity for balloons.

If you're a fan of Screwballs I'd suggest it strongly, the movie rarely keeps a straight face (or at least Lombard doesn't) and it's such a wild ride it reminded me of Wellman's Nothing Sacred, if anything it's probably the only movie where someone mistakenly accused of murder wants everyone to think they did it!

[swo17]

So I just finished my Duvivier week, watching nine films of his from the decade in chronological order, and I feel a bit overwhelmed. It's a shame that realistically, given the fierce competition, I'll likely only be able to fit one or two of these on my list, because there's so much richness in all of these films. In particular, I was really impressed with his reinterpretations of The Golem and The Phantom Carriage, which really downplay the most famous/titular elements of the originals, so that when they do appear it's all the more powerful.

The film I feel most like shouting about from the rooftops though is Poil de carotte, a sort of supernatural take on something like L'enfance nue. This allows Duvivier to employ some nice, at times haunting, effects work, which works well to enhance the mood rather than just to call attention to itself. But the most moving moment of all relies not on effects but on the brave, heartrending performance of a child actor. Highly recommended! (Note: Be careful seeking this out--the only Poil de carotte available on DVD in the U.S. is of Duvivier's 1925 silent version.)

[Steven H]

I'm trying to watch as many Sturges written films from this decade as I can. So far The Good Fairy is excellent. Reginald Owen's Detlaff ranks highly among all-time film waiters, Margaret Sullivan looks perfect slurping down a big bowl of soup the size of her head and as for Herbert Marshall (I like him in everything), I think his beard steals a few scenes. I'm for Easy Living next, but any other favorite 30s Sturges?

[tojoed]

The film I feel most like shouting about from the rooftops though is Poil de carotte...

Thanks for reminding me of this, an absolute must.

Steven, Remember The Night is another fine Sturges scripted 30s film, directed by Mitchell Leisen. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, so you should need no further encouragement.

[Murdoch]

(Note: Be careful seeking this out--the only Poil de carotte available on DVD in the U.S. is of Duvivier's 1925 silent version.)

Thanks for pointing this out, the Amazon page is fairly confusing.

[movielocke]

The film I feel most like shouting about from the rooftops though is Poil de carotte...

Thanks for reminding me of this, an absolute must.

Steven, Remember The Night is another fine Sturges scripted 30s film, directed by Mitchell Leisen. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, so you should need no further encouragement.

Remember the Night is terrific. I thought it was forties though, or I'd have mentioned it.

[tojoed]

You're right - 1940. I was thinking of Sturges scripted films, but it just falls out of the time frame.

[Tommaso]

In particular, I was really impressed with his reinterpretations of The Golem and The Phantom Carriage, which really downplay the most famous/titular elements of the originals, so that when they do appear it's all the more powerful.

I haven't seen Le Golem yet, but with La Charette Fantome it may have been this 'downplaying' that left me a little underwhelmed, especially as in my view this is not really balanced by a much deeper characterisation of the main character compared to the silent version. And I also felt a little bit irritated about how closely Duvivier imitated the sets and mise-en-scène of Sjöström in the climactic moments at the end of his film. But indeed this is all only in comparison to the Sjöström film; taken on its own, the Duvivier version probably works really well.

What's your opinion about Pepe le Moko and The Great Waltz, swo?

[knives]

We really should have a more in depth Leisen discussion next list. He often times feels like the last tendril of old Hollywood at times (though I may be overstating because I recently rewatched To Each His Own. We do have Midnight and Death Takes a Holiday for this list though and both are worth consideration (though I doubt I'll be having either).

[swo17]

I haven't seen Le Golem yet, but with La Charette Fantome it may have been this 'downplaying' that left me a little underwhelmed, especially as in my view this is not really balanced by a much deeper characterisation of the main character compared to the silent version. And I also felt a little bit irritated about how closely Duvivier imitated the sets and mise-en-scène of Sjöström in the climactic moments at the end of his film. But indeed this is all only in comparison to the Sjöström film; taken on its own, the Duvivier version probably works really well.

I was just trying to say that I was expecting these films to borrow a lot more than they did from their sources. (And Golem is probably even more of a departure in this respect.) La charette fantome may take some of its visual cues directly from Sjöström but they feel much more alien in this context than in the original, which is nearly wall-to-wall with the ghost horses. I don't know that either will make my list but I'm still glad I sought them out.

What's your opinion about Pepe le Moko and The Great Waltz, swo?

Pépé is so great obviously that I assumed I didn't even have to mention it. It feels like probably Duvivier's most assured effort. Credit is due all around but much of it has to go to Mireille Balin, who just has one of those faces that when the camera closes in on it you know you're watching a great film.

Great Waltz I haven't managed to track down yet but I'm hoping to remedy that soon...

I'm trying to watch as many Sturges written films from this decade as I can. So far The Good Fairy is excellent. Reginald Owen's Detlaff ranks highly among all-time film waiters, Margaret Sullivan looks perfect slurping down a big bowl of soup the size of her head and as for Herbert Marshall (I like him in everything), I think his beard steals a few scenes. I'm for Easy Living next, but any other favorite 30s Sturges?

I was going to wait to watch some more screwballs before bringing this one up, but I'll heartily second your recommendation for now. This is my favorite mode of comedy I think, with the plot repeatedly jumping from one train to the next through a series of random coincidences that only make a lick of sense in the world the film has established. And Sturges' script is just about at peak level here already.

[matrixschmatrix]

Oh, Lord, just made it through You Can't Cheat an Honest Man- I love Fields (and I would actually like to put It's a Gift on as my spotlight) but this one is painful. It's got some fantastic Fields bits, but it's about a third Fields and two thirds Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Between him and the caricatured minorities, I feel like I just sat through a Jeff Dunham show.

[the preacher]

Since I will limit myself to one film per director, as much as I love Poil de carotte (I voted for the similar Visages d'enfants in the 20s) my Duvivier's choice will probably be La belle équipe although none of the two endings is entirely satisfactory.

Okay, another would-be orphan favorite of mine: Mario Camerini, especially Gli uomini, che mascalzoni!, starring a very young Vittorio De Sica.



Il signor Max is highly recommended too.

[Tommaso]

Pépé is so great obviously that I assumed I didn't even have to mention it. It feels like probably Duvivier's most assured effort. Credit is due all around but much of it has to go to Mireille Balin, who just has one of those faces that when the camera closes in on it you know you're watching a great film.

Glad to hear your words about Balin, as I seem to remember that many people (or reviewers) didn't seem to like her in this film, saying she was too silky and unemotional. But I never agreed with that. She's simply iconic and Duvivier's camera indeed does all to bring this out perfectly. Pepé is Top 10 for me, no doubt, but I really wonder whether I should include another Duvivier, too (probably not, but I'll have to do the catching-up that you already did).

Very nice, though perhaps a bit untypical is also Allo Berlin? Ici Paris!; a very funny bilingual comedy that plays more like a Weimar than a French film. Which for me is a special treat, of course

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

For those on a Duvivier kick at present try not to overlook 'Une Tete d'un Homme'. Like that other early paradigm of radical sound usage 'La Petite Lise' , but fighting from the opposite corner, Duvivier comes across like a proto-Phil Spector with a Wall of Sound that takes in Chanteuses of the street (something that would become a motif for his later films) both in a mash up mix and as recitative in its own right. Perhaps most startling is the subjective use of displaced source that defies conventional perspective.
A strange blend of Simenon and Dostoevsky with a lugubrious Maigret ( Harry Baur) who seems decidedly torpid compared to the unhinged murderer played by Inkijinoff- how this name conjures up comic strip bomb wielding anarchists in floppy hats and capes. Nominally playing a czech but whose asiatic Siberian appearance adds weight to his 'deranged alien' antics Inki sure knows how to chew up the scenery and ventilate all that Revolutionary theatre stuff picked up under Meyerhold. Rather than sedate the poor chap Duvivier adds fuel to the fire by employing huge monumental close ups,some quite often as still as if we are looking at a museum bust.
BTW No need for a spoiler alert re the identity of the murderer since that is signalled early on.The search is not for a who dunnit but more of a why dunnit.
Finally ,attesting to Duvivier's astuteness, is the sign off song by Damia which seems to portend the burgeoning gloomy poetic realism trend with the refrain -"all is mist -all is grey".

It's not going to knock La Belle Equipe off my list as top notch Duvivier but is well worth a spin.

[swo17]

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man

I was actually hoping to hear from domino about this one, knowing how fond he is of ventriloquism. You have to admire a guy who is willing to commit to his act even when he is several miles away from his audience and staring at the precipice of death. Sorry, not admire, throw things at.

Since I will limit myself to one film per director...

I believe you've mentioned doing this in past lists projects and I have to reiterate that I find it a little silly. Sure, it will end up working out this way for most directors anyway, but I've always thought that putting a director multiple times on my list is a way to signify just how much I love his/her work. I would think it unfortunate if your second favorite film from one of your favorite directors got left off in favor of a film you like less, just because it happens to be your favorite film from a lesser director. Furthermore, if everyone were to do this, the vote splitting would become unbearable and I wouldn't be able to tabulate the final list on my computer because my tears would short out the keyboard.

For those on a Duvivier kick at present try not to overlook Une Tete d'un Homme.

Yes, I particularly liked the early sequence where the murder was discovered, just brilliantly shot.

[matrixschmatrix]

It Happened One Night

For maybe the first forty-five minutes of this, I thought I hated it. Gable was being a paternalistic, domineering asshole like something out of a bad Robert Heinlein book (including a spanking!), Colbert's character seemed about two steps behind anything that happened, and the situation- a combination of poor little rich girl and the taming of the upperclass bitch- seemed about the least likable thing possible.

I think the moment I started to thaw is when Colbert begins keeping up with Gable's improvisation as a married lowerclass couple. The actual improv- haha, they have screaming matches, and he probably hits her!- was pretty unpleasant, but the dynamic between the characters changed, and both became rapidly more likable. I really enjoyed Gable's blowhard discoursing about the various minutiae about which he considered himself an expert- piggyback rides being a particular favorite- and Colbert's character started to be pretty fun when she switched into the mode wherein she was delighted by everything around her, because she was free of her stifling upbringing.

The movie never entirely won me over- I spent a lot of it wishing I was watching the Lady Vanishes or a Preston Sturges movie instead, and whenever the movie let Gable take over without undercutting his dominance it made me a little queasy- but I can understand the charm of it, and when it was ticking in high gear it could be pretty damn funny.

[Steven H]

I'm trying to watch as many Sturges written films from this decade as I can. So far The Good Fairy is excellent...

I was going to wait to watch some more screwballs before bringing this one up, but I'll heartily second your recommendation for now. This is my favorite mode of comedy I think, with the plot repeatedly jumping from one train to the next through a series of random coincidences that only make a lick of sense in the world the film has established. And Sturges' script is just about at peak level here already.

In some ways The Good Fairy sidles up nicely to his later films, I think. I'm thinking specifically here of the bizarre and hilarious film-within-a-film where the male lead just repeats "GO!" in a number of different intonations and "arty" framings while the weeping woman cries his name in a sort of melodramatic call and response. The hilarious comparison between audience response to this and Margaret Sullivan becoming entranced, so nicely shaping her character's naive view of the world, is another moment that can match the wit found in his 40s work.

I'll be surprised if Pepe le Moko doesn't make the top ten of the forum, honestly (it'll be in mine). I need to have a whole Duvivier week myself, swo. Also, I don't know how I could include just one film per director. With names like Ozu, Lubitsch and Renoir (not to mention others) just looming so largely for me with this decade, it'd be impossible.

[matrixschmatrix]

I'll be surprised if Pepe le Moko doesn't make the top ten of the forum, honestly (it'll be in mine). I need to have a whole Duvivier week myself, swo. Also, I don't know how I could include just one film per director. With names like Ozu, Lubitsch and Renoir (not to mention others) just looming so largely for me with this decade, it'd be impossible.

I think I'm going to stick to one entry per director for my top ten, at least- otherwise I'd wind up filling it with just Ford, Lang, and Renoir. Which may mean M will wind up at number 11, but hell, these lists are inevitably going to be sort of artificial, and I'm sure M will wind up pretty highly placed regardless.

[Murdoch]

I don't get the limitations people put on their list with directors, my top ten alone has three Hawks in it and that definitely won't be the last of him!

[domino harvey]

I think the Top 10 could realistically be only Howard Hawks

[knives]

I think my top seven is going to be just von Sternberg which has to be some sort of embarrassment.

[Murdoch]

Von Sternberg will probably give Hawks a run for his money on my list, and then there's Duvivier... Limiting to one would be insanity for me.

[zedz]

A quick run-through of dead certs of mine that might have been overlooked or underhyped.

Rapt - Stunning early sound feature by Dmitri Kirsanov that boasts incredibly fluid filmmaking, gorgeous location shooting, and thrilling refinement of the intelligent experimentalism of Menilmontant. This film, along with those early sound Gremillons, gives an idea of what cinema might have been like if the visual sophistication and invention of the late silent era had continued unabated and incorporated equally bold experiment with the soundtrack. Thus Kirsanov's impressionism extends to the brilliantly programmatic Honegger score. They even use backwards tapes (or presumably backward optical soundtrack) at one point.

Mor'Vran - From the great imaginary box set 'The Breton Films of Jean Epstein'. I've bleated on about this film many times in the past, so I'll spare you just this once.

Peter Ibbetson - Easily one of the strangest films to emerge from Hollywood - more Cocteau than 'Hathaway' - and every time I watch it I get drunk on its oddity.

Four Seasons of Children - The greatest Shimizu I've seen, even better that Mr Thank You, which is also in my top twenty. There are a number of sequences here that are among the best things in Japanese cinema. Again, I've raved at greater length in the appropriate thread.

Dainah la metisse - Trailing behind La Petite Lise, naturally, but what wouldn't be? This stunted half-film is mysterious and unsatisfying, but that sequence of the magic show is one of the most thrilling pieces of 30s filmmaking.

Salt for Svanetia - One of the great Soviet montage-fests, and the subject is a visual gift to boot. I'm also doing the hokey-cokey with Enthusiasm at the bottom of my list.

Stage Door - A great old-fashioned comedy / drama, very lithely executed. Sheer enjoyment.

Thru the Mirror - Mickey does Alice in one of Disney's most visually inventive and accomplished shorts. Disney has to get some kind of acknowledgement on my list, so this is the one I've settled on.

Children's Party - Ditto Joseph Cornell. Rose Hobart is likely to be the Cornell lightning rod, if anything is, but this is the film I can't get out of my head.

The Big Trail - Storywise it's sort of hokey, but Walsh's visual chops sweep all that aside. This is quite possibly the most visually spectacular western ever shot.

Footlight Parade - My Busby Berkeley pick, even though it's an oddly lumpy, back-loaded musical. Although there are more spectacular individual numbers elsewhere, they tend to be stuck in drabber, sillier films, and I don't know if any moment can beat Cagney's entrance in the climactic number.

Broadway Melody of 1936 - On the one hand, many of the same complaints could be made about the generic form of this musical, but on the other hand: Eleanor Powell. When she gets going she's a force of nature, and her numbers are sheer cinematic joy.

Theodora Goes Wild - A really satisfying table-turning screwball comedy. It's not just a very effective snook-cocking at the Hays Office, it's - with a little imagination - a film about the Hays Office, and Hollywood's sycophantic, hypocritical relationship with it.

S.S. Ionian - Maybe the oddest choice on my list, but I just love how devious this film is as a piece of propaganda. Jennings dresses up his very pointed message in just about the drabbest finery he can contrive, forcing propaganda of extraordinary subtlety and impact to masquerade as propaganda of the bluntest, most hopelessly ineffectual sort. Of course, it helps that I also love the lulling dullness of the cover story and that Jennings is a master of even the least prepossessing filmmaking rhythms.

Plus, I included La Cartomancienne on my list last time, but I really need to look at it again to see whether it deserves to keep its place.