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

[swo17]

Drôle de drame (aka Bizarre, Bizarre) is an absolute riot that I hope doesn't suffer too much from lack of availability. (Its HVE release has been OOP for a while though you can find used copies for ~$30--worth every penny, though is this perchance available on Hulu?) It has little in common with the other Carné/Prévert collaborations I've seen, which allows it to be superb in a wholly different way. There are some great comic perfomances on display, though honestly much of the humor is situational in nature, brimming up from under the surface as you realize the awesome ridiculousness of the plot and character motivations (i.e. a murderer intent on killing a famous author of detective novels because reading his books turned him into a killer). Also, the film is entirely in French, but is set in England for no apparent reason at all, which I find hilarious.

[Lighthouse]

The date given on IMDb is the relevant date for determining eligibility, even when it's clearly wrong.

Sans Lendemain will not be eligible until the 1940s list. On the bright side, this means you can include another film in your 1930s list.

It premiered in Dec 39 in Algier.
It was released in France in Mar 40, but it was already shot in Jan and Feb 39.

The films Ophüls made in his exile years in Europe are not that great imo. I like the Komedie om Geld (Netherlands 1936) the most.
Another good one from his early German films is the based on Smetana musical Die verkaufte Braut (1932), which contains some stunning scenes.

[swo17]

It premiered in Dec 39 in Algier.

I don't doubt that it was released in 1939, but it's still not eligible until we do the 1940s list per the IMDb rule. This isn't really up for debate. It doesn't do the film any good if some people vote for it in the '30s list and others in the '40s list and it doesn't score enough points to chart either time. I'm willing to make exceptions to the IMDb rule in some rare cases where the IMDb year is off by a long shot (i.e. ¡Qué viva México! is listed under the date of the 1979 reconstruction, but has been established as eligible for the 1930s list) but not when it's off by just a year. If anyone is that passionate about this film being considered a '30s film, feel free to submit a change to the IMDb.

[Lighthouse]

It was only for information. I don't care if this film is voted for in this list or in the 40s list.

[Tommaso]

I had/have the vague gut feeling that this might be another nonsensical recent change in the imdb listings, and to make sure I just looked up the two older 30s lists to find out in which decade it was placed here formerly. And the result was: it isn't in either the 2004 or the 2006 list! Something must have gone wrong then, or was it really completely unavailable at the time? It's one of Ophuls' great films IMHO, atmospheric, touching, with a great main actress and lots of style. I definitely thought of putting it on my list, but if its pushed back to the 40s, it will only rank higher there. Far less competition in that decade.

To change the topic:

.
Since you seem to have a marginally better general knowledge of the decade, perhaps you could recommend some other 30s titles that might appeal to a fellow Greenaway enthusiast. (I have a weakness for aesthetically lavish spectacle: The Scarlet Empress is my certain number 1, and the extraordinary Dieterle/Reinhardt Midsummer Night's Dream will be hovering somewhere in the top 10.) One that I still intend to check out before the deadline, on the strength of your recommendation earlier in the thread, is Willi Forst's Maskerade, which sounds great.

Check out Maskerade by all means, especially when you rate the Sternberg and the Dieterle so high (both are on my list, too). Totally different film of course, but those who care for style in their 30s films simply cannot be disappointed by it (nor by any other film by or with Willi Forst from the 30s).

As to further recommendations: truly obvious choices for the discerning Greenaway fan and other formalists are Riefenstahl's Triumph of the will and Olympia, of course. The latter is definitely on my list: even 75 years later, its visual inventiveness is amazing, and its imagery set the standard for anything you see in modern day sports transmissions on TV (mostly these are far inferior, of course). The former won't be on my list, not for content reasons, but simply because "Triumph" gets terribly boring in its second half; after all has been said and done, we still see those guys marching through Nuremberg for a seemingly endless period of time.

But much more endearingly, I would recommend Amphitryon by Reinhold Schünzel (1935), a version of the old Greek story with a highly satirical take on the Nazi regime (or so the general consensus says, I'm not quite sure about this), with completely artificial sets and staging, fine music and beautiful ladies. One of the real classics of German filmmaking in the 30s. Somewhat less of a classic, and certainly a little more silly, but equally enchanting is Gerhard Lamprecht's Prinzessin Turandot (1934) (the story should be well known from Puccini's opera, though this isn't an adaptation of that work), again with over-the-top stage design, amazing camerawork by Fritz Arno Wagner (the man who shot "Nosferatu" and "Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse", and also Amphitryon), and starring the wonderful Käthe von Nagy and everybody's darling in Germany at the time, Willy Fritsch (who is also in Amphitryon.)

Which finally brings me to my ultimate and greatest recommendation, the film which will be #1 on my list, and which is probably my favorite film of all times, only rivalled by "The Red Shoes", and that is Der Kongress tanzt (1931), directed by Erik Charell. This was the first film Charell ever directed (and he directed only one more, "Caravan" in 1934, which I don't know), but he was a very successful stage director at the time and was specifically hired for this film by Erich Pommer of UFA-Production for this film, the most expensive and lavish production UFA had ever made (yes, it seems to have cost more than even "Metropolis"...) until then. Starring in it was the 'dream couple' of the Weimar film: the aforementioned Willy Fritsch and the lovely and most endearing Lilian Harvey, famously dubbed "The sweetest girl in the world" by the UFA marketing department, and right they were. But the star potential seems endless: Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, Adele Sandrock... it seems UFA really tried to put everything they had into this film, and often this goes wrong. But not here.
At first glance, Der Kongress tanzt may be seen as nothing more than a typical romatic German sound film operetta, in this case set in the time of the Vienna congress of 1815. The story is simple: lots of European monarchs come together in Vienna to newly distribute the continent among themselves. Among these is the Czar of Russia (Fritsch), and as he's a handsome fellow, no wonder that the simple salesgirl Christel (Harvey) falls for him. But the czar has a doppelganger doing his state business for him, and of course some misunderstandings arise from that. And then there's the evil Count Metternich (Veidt) who has plans of his own...
Well, this is all very bluntly put and can't account for this marvel of filmmaking, which constantly questions appearances and functions on various levels (not unlike Maskerade in this respect), and under its glossy surface there lurks a highly satirical film, which (again like Maskerade) however doesn't distract from seeing it as a purely enchanting, dreamlike piece of filmmaking.

This aspect is best expressed in the most famous sequence of the film (which is to this film what the ballet sequence is to "The Red Shoes"): Lilian Harvey's coach ride through the town to the czar's residence. Technically it's still completely amazing, as this lengthy and difficult-to-film sequence is for the most part done without cuts, and thus it's really sucking the viewer into the joy that our leading lady feels about this unexpected invitation. And at that moment she gets to sing the film's (and her) signature tune, which rendered into English goes like this: "This can only happen once/this won't ever come again/ this is too good to be true". And that last line, to me, is the key to the whole film: the enchantment and glossyness of all we see (and also in other films) is indeed too good to be true, and the rest of the film will be concerned with breaking up the artifice and showing us the truth beneath this glorious recreation of ancient Vienna: Veidt's political machinations, and of course the unhappy ending of the love affair. In the end we have the great Paul Hörbiger singing again the "Heurigenlied", the second famous song from this film and nominally a celebration of the old Vienna, but by then it sounds sad, reminding us that fairy tales like this, and the Vienna depicted here, have never been true; not even on screen.

All right then: it's obvious I can't praise this film high enough; it expresses everything that the Weimar sound film stands for and adds more than a bit on top of it. Der Kongress tanzt is perfection in any conceivable way: direction, acting, stage design, script, you name it. If you don't watch it, you'll miss one of the greatest German films ever made. And surprisingly it's even available on an unexpensive disc from Universum, unfortunately without subs. But a subbed version is floating around, and I can also upload the inofficial, though pretty much definitive subs somewhere if this should be required. And needless to say, I make this my second and last SPOTLIGHT FILM.
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[swo17]

I had/have the vague gut feeling that this might be another nonsensical recent change in the imdb listings, and to make sure I just looked up the two older 30s lists to find out in which decade it was placed here formerly. And the result was: it isn't in either the 2004 or the 2006 list!

Looking back at the last '30 list, no Ophuls film made the final list at all, not even in the also rans.

[Tommaso]

Which is completely shocking, again. Not even "Liebelei"... which only shows how blessed we are these days, with fans being much better connected (technically and, as a result, privately)...

[zedz]

Yes, I think that was primarily down to availability. The big revolution regarding officially 'unavailable' films occurred towards the end of the last round of the Lists Project (in time for the remarkable 90s outcome). Earlier in the cycle we were still very much constrained by DVD availability, and the very rare exceptions (e.g. 30s Gremillon) were largely down to the circulation of hand-distributed discs by passionate partisans rather than more democratic and widespread distribution networks.

[Gropius]

Thanks for those German recommendations, Tommaso: will definitely be looking them up via the unofficial channels. It is of course a shame that so little of that work is more widely known.

The problem when compiling a list of 50 is that so many 'canonical classics' clamour to be included (e.g. I've got no especial love for La Règle du jeu, and might prefer something as technically inferior as Freund's The Mummy, but leaving the former off entirely seems a bit too perverse). There's also the confusing circular phenomenon, which I'm sure has often been remarked upon, that one may prefer film X to film Y, and rank them accordingly, only to find that one prefers film Z to film X but also prefers film Y to film Z. It's like one of those Escher illusions. Films tend to have proportional relationships to each other in one's mind that cannot accurately be expressed in linear terms.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Earlier in the cycle we were still very much constrained by DVD availability, and the very rare exceptions (e.g. 30s Gremillon) were largely down to the circulation of hand-distributed discs by passionate partisans rather than more democratic and widespread distribution networks.

This nudge just reminded me that a restored Lumiere d'été is due at the end of the year after being shown appropriately at the Lumiere festival in Lyon
http://www.festival-lumiere.org/actuali ... e,726.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ann Harding]

Drôle de drame (aka Bizarre, Bizarre) is an absolute riot that I hope doesn't suffer too much from lack of availability. (Its HVE release has been OOP for a while though you can find used copies for ~$30--worth every penny, though is this perchance available on Hulu?) It has little in common with the other Carné/Prévert collaborations I've seen, which allows it to be superb in a wholly different way. There are some great comic perfomances on display, though honestly much of the humor is situational in nature, brimming up from under the surface as you realize the awesome ridiculousness of the plot and character motivations (i.e. a murderer intent on killing a famous author of detective novels because reading his books turned him into a killer). Also, the film is entirely in French, but is set in England for no apparent reason at all, which I find hilarious.

Well, there is a very good reason for the film to take place in England. The script by Prévert is based on an English novel, His First Offence by J. Storer Clouston. I read the book and I was surprised to discover how faithful to the original the film is. The comic quality of the story is pure Anglo-Saxon nonsense. And actually, the French public at the time didn't have a clue and didn't like it. Nowadays, it's a great classic. If you are looking for it, there is a French DVD (with English subs) at a reasonable price.

[Lighthouse]

The problem when compiling a list of 50 is that so many 'canonical classics' clamour to be included (e.g. I've got no especial love for La Règle du jeu, and might prefer something as technically inferior as Freund's The Mummy, but leaving the former off entirely seems a bit too perverse). There's also the confusing circular phenomenon, which I'm sure has often been remarked upon, that one may prefer film X to film Y, and rank them accordingly, only to find that one prefers film Z to film X but also prefers film Y to film Z. It's like one of those Escher illusions. Films tend to have proportional relationships to each other in one's mind that cannot accurately be expressed in linear terms.

I would clearly take those I like the most. If you prefer to re-watch The Mummy instead of Rules of the Game, skip the rules and take the Mummy.

I'll take those I enjoyed the most (but for being the most enjoyable they are also the best for me).
Two good examples are M and The Blue Angel, which are both overrated films for me. Especially The Blue Angel, to which I prefer every other of the Sternberg/Dietrich films.

So both won't make my list,even if they are generally considered as "classics".

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

The comic quality of the story is pure Anglo-Saxon nonsense. And actually, the French public at the time didn't have a clue and didn't like it. Nowadays, it's a great classic. If you are looking for it, there is a French DVD (with English subs) at a reasonable price.

It is also, by way of added inducement, the only time you will see Jouvet sporting a Glengarry at a rakish angle.

[Ann Harding]

The comic quality of the story is pure Anglo-Saxon nonsense. And actually, the French public at the time didn't have a clue and didn't like it. Nowadays, it's a great classic. If you are looking for it, there is a French DVD (with English subs) at a reasonable price.

It is also, by way of added inducement, the only time you will see Jouvet sporting a Glengarry at a rakish angle.

Absolutely right. I still remember the roars of laughter that shook the cinema where I first saw him dressed as a Scotsman.

[knives]

Borzage's History is Made at Night is available on Hulu in none Plus form. All ye Americans better watch it.

[serdar002]

Musical comedy is Tommaso's specialty, so I'll recommend some of my favorite German language dramas of the decade.

"Ariane 1931" and "Der träumende Mund 1932" (AKA Dreaming Lips, remade by Resnais as Mélo), both directed by Paul Czinner

I've already mentioned the two films in the Carl Mayer thread. They are the only sound films Elisabeth Bergner was able to make in Germany, she was a star of the Berlin stage and you'll see her fooling around, humming bits of music or just sitting and thinking, all done in an improvised and totally free manner you'd more expect in a film of the 60s. Add to this a restrained and oblique script and mise-en-scène, with a sudden outburst at the end of Ariane and a slow muting-down at the end of the second film.

"Der Student von Prag" - Arthur Robison 1935
Robison's last film and his expressionistic heritage from the silent era is evident, especially in the finale. (I haven't seen the previous versions of 1913 and 1926.) The first part might look like an ordinary and slightly stuffy musical comedy in a Biedermeier setting, but on subsequent viewings the film takes on a dark mood right from the beginning, even the carousing at the inn seems hectic and false and desperate. Anton Walbrook's best performance of the 30s, he acts his final scene "with beauty and grace", to quote an eminent connoisseur from IMDB. And all over it Theodor Mackeben's elegiac soundtrack.

None of the films are out on DVD, but subtitled versions exist in the usual places.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Too late for the poll but for lovers of Gremillon,Bernard,Carne, Gance and Siodmak I have just posted sone info on the Gaumont thread

[Tommaso]

Why too late? I thought voting is due on July 31?

[knives]

They're being released in Sept.

[swo17]

This is just a reminder that, as Tommaso indicated above, lists are due by the end of the month. As you're preparing your lists, you are encouraged to take note of films that you're listing that you feel others might not have considered / might not be aware of and make a case for them in this thread, if you haven't already. Now would also be a good time to go back and review the first post of this thread, especially the spotlight section. It's never too late to make new spotlight suggestions either. Or wait, it actually is too late, after this month.

As for me, I now have a completely bulletproof top 50 raring to go, which I will put to the test by watching like a hundred more films this month.

[knives]

I'll take you up on that offer though it will be tremendously difficult not to just list what is presently my fifty (I have about 30 waiting to be seen). This is really a jam packed decade and I've only skimmed the surface with roughly 300 (still over a 400% increase from what I started with).


Le Schpountz
This is easily the best discovery I've had for this list and one of the funniest and most complex morally jokes I've ever seen. It really tries to be everything and actually manages to accomplish such a feat through a perseverance not unlike it's Quixote protagonist.

Wife! Be Like a Rose
This is just a stand in for all of the Naruse's that will be on my list because it's probably the most difficult to find. This was chosen as the first Japanese sound film to get US distribution and for good reason. The sexual Politics and style is just as great as anything else he's ever done. No joke the sound design here is amazing and an audio experiment on the level of the early German visuals. Tackling in a more honest fashion than even modern films on the subject of divorce the characters here really do give birth to the type that Naruse and eventually Immamura would dedicate their careers to.

Bride of Frankenstein
We've had a lot of discussion on Son, but not Whale's grand masterpiece of gothic fantasy that manages to turn camp into an abstraction. This film is like being thrown through a painting as the crackling of the damned fill the ears and it really is as hilarious and wonderful and experience as that sounds.

History is Made at Night
Who would have thought that Colin Clive would become one of the most appearing actors on my list? I just want to take this moment to remind everybody that this (and A Farewell to Arms also by Borzage) are available on regular Hulu right now. There is literally no reason not to see those two films by one of the greatest directors ever.

The Spy in Black
I've already talked up the wall about this film, but I want to emphasize again just how great this first collaboration of the Archers is. It's also a great example of what makes that second P so important to the equation.

Children in the Wind
Shimizu is really close to being my favorite Japanese director and this is such an important and great film that it honestly is a disservice to yourself to not watch it. Not only is it the grandfather of The 400 Blows (or probably more accurately L'enfance nue) with all of the technical and emotional power that entails, but it's one of the most naked and honest appearing looks at that time period in Japan I've ever seen. There's a level of fascination for everybody.

Man's Castle
I promise I won't promote anymore of my Borzage choices, but I have to mention this rarity. On his second chance to make Liliom he really hits it out of the park not only giving us Tracy's best performance and a female lead almost to the level of Gish in Broken Blossoms but a story that utilizes his hopeful naivety in a way that simply can't be beat. It's also a rare step away from the Stahl-esque form of melodrama that he perfected in the silent era.

The Old Dark House and Journey's End
These two Whale films might fall to the wayside but they're the perfect distillation of his two filmic personalities. One's a hilarious fantasia that makes camp a virtue like no one else would until John Waters and the other a claustrophobic look at a deep and personal subject that hits a rare level of unassuming melancholy.

Limite
I'm assuming most are aware of this film which at times feels like a lost Vigo, but I want to mention it again just in case.

Varastettu kuolema
Firstly I would like to thank (the great) Swo for uploading the best available version of this on the front page of the thread. As to the film itself, well, if Kiss Me Deadly is where Lynch's DNA comes from than this is the first step of that film. This is an almost hilarious just plain bizarre Finnish proto-noir that exists in the twilight zone.

The Devil-Doll
I'm not typically a Browning fan, but any film that spends most of it's time with Lionel Barrymore in drag shrinking people that still can make me cry in it's closing moments is a great movie.

The Old Mill, Porky in Wackyland, and Swing You Sinners
These three animation shorts are the perfect summation of what makes their directors and studios (where applicable) great. I'm not sure what else to say, except that as much passion as can be given to a short film I've given to these three.

The Divorce of Lady X
This is possibly the best screwball I've ever seen and just for Merle Oberon in that cape this is a must see. Olivier gives a performance unlike any of his other leading man jobs instead coming off as Crispin Glover. I hope I don't need to explain how that makes the proceedings wonderfully weird. It's also the rare screwball to look at why a screwball plot is actually pretty terrible.

Vibración De Granada
I don't think I have brought up this short documentary by Jose Val del Omar yet, but it's the first time around where his artistry gets the better of him and produces a phenomenal work. Zedz made a really great comparison to Eaux d'artifice and that's exactly what you'll get.

Intermezzo
I'm talking about the Swedish version just released by Kino, not the later remake also starring Bergman. I think I said it perfectly enough the first time so here's a link instead of more blather.

[Murdoch]

I'll give a shout-out for Len Lye (he was mentioned early in the thread, but it's always good to revive interest). Trade Tattoo and Birth of the Robot are locks for my list, and just to give people nightmares here's his Peanut Vendor.

[knives]

I always thought that was a Dave Fleischer short. Could two short films have been made of that song in the same year?

[swo17]

Who would have thought that Colin Clive would become one of the most appearing actors on my list?

Since no one asked, mine right now look like Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, and Michel Simon, each with three films to their name. Those are maybe kind of boring choices though.

[Murdoch]

I had to suppress myself from voting for every Carole Lombard movie from the decade.