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

[matrixschmatrix]

And I rewatched those early Marx Brothers films recently but frankly found them pretty much a chore between the comic set-pieces - and some of those are hardly deathless. There's just too much mediocre direction and dead air for any of the films to make the grade for me. Even my favourite, Duck Soup, suffers from this unevenness, and, laugh for laugh, I find the films trail way behind The Awful Truth or Bringing Up Baby.

I love the Marxes, but I'm not sure I disagree about the mediocre direction and occasional dead air- I think the reason I rate them really highly is that a.) a lot of the best stuff is in the throwaways that come between the big set pieces, particularly the little blink and you'll miss them Harpo moves or subtle Groucho wordplay, and b.) the best stuff is deathless, and reaches such a crescendo of humor that there are few things within the decade or otherwise to match them. I do think I rate their movies against one another by which have the fewest irritating interruptions, which is a big reason why Duck Soup rates so high.

I finally got to watch the WC Fields shorts set, and The Fatal Glass of Beer is on my list now. The "ain't a fit night out for man nor beast" running gag was parceled out perfectly, and the overall parody of a Griffith-y melodrama is dead on- particularly because Fields' facade as a caring father is so amusingly half assed. I'm not sure I've enjoyed a sound comedy short more than this one.

[zedz]

While we're playing these reindeer games, John Carradine tops out my list with four films (so far!)

None of his films have made it onto my list. My guesses: Prisoner of Shark Island, Stagecoach, Bride of Frankenstein and - um - Jesse James?

[swo17]

Cary Grant (four times, which surprised me)

Lemme guess: Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, Only Angels Have Wings, and Holiday?

Three out of four! But to be fair, I'd forgotten Grant was in the fourth.

Blonde Venus. What do I win?

[domino harvey]

Somewhat shockingly, I see that, in a five-way tie for second place showing of three films (alongside Hitchcock, Wellman, Ford, and Lubitsch), Capra has against all odds made a strong showing on my list-- but I feel I must give a last minute push for my favorite film of his, one that features prominently in my Top 5, American Madness. I never read people praising this film, and I can't figure out why-- it is one of the most gobsmackingly-effective examinations of loyalty I've ever seen. I'm somewhat immune to Capra's ploys for the most part, but no film from this era has effected me as emotionally as this one, and its underlying economic message is ever so prescient today.

[domino harvey]

While we're playing these reindeer games, John Carradine tops out my list with four films (so far!)

None of his films have made it onto my list. My guesses: Prisoner of Shark Island, Stagecoach, Bride of Frankenstein and - um - Jesse James?

Very close, three out of four. I haven't actually seen Bride of Frankenstein-- worth a look?

[tarpilot]

With all this Cary Grant talk flying around, can I count on any support for my top 20-bound Big Brown Eyes?

[domino harvey]

WAIT A MINUTE, STOP THE PRESSES: Edward Everett Horton is in seven of the films on my list!

[Murdoch]

Wow, 26 of mine are American. This probably won't change until we get to the 60s list.

[domino harvey]

Considering how the 40s/50s Hollywood cinema is the best movies ever were and ever will be, I wouldn't be surprised if my next two lists were ~90% American films.

[matrixschmatrix]

Haha, at the moment the directors in the lead for me, tied at three each, are Renoir, Lang, Hitchcock, and uh Norman Z. McLeod

I'm thinking about making up a preliminary 40s list before I start watching things specifically for the project, so I can compare and contrast- I'm excited about that one, since I don't think I would have had fifty suitable candidates going into the 30s list.

[Gropius]

Twentieth Century might get an even higher position than it has now before I turn this list in, and there's very few more ways for it to do so.

Twentieth Century is my current number three, behind two Sternbergs, although there may be some reshuffling. It just seems like the perfect, archetypal comedy of the decade, with Barrymore's electric ultra-staginess a memento of something that was lost in later decades' shifts towards more naturalistic acting conventions.

Another one I'd like to make a plug for - not sure quite how popular it is here - is Lubitsch's Design for Living. This is often written off as a tepid and dilute Coward adaptation, so I wasn't expecting too much, but it instantly became one of my favourites, right up there with Trouble in Paradise. March, Cooper and Hopkins make a great trio, and the whole thing is visually stylish throughout; quite apart from the romantic triangle, there's also the sociological dynamic of bohemian poverty versus commercial success. I haven't read Coward's play, which probably contains longer, wittier speeches, but on the basis of the synopsis, I think Ben Hecht's cuts and rejiggings may actually have improved it, from the standpoint of cinematic structure.

[zedz]

Very close, three out of four. I haven't actually seen Bride of Frankenstein-- worth a look?

Even though it didn't make my list, absolutely. It's an utterly one-of-a-kind movie. The Universal heads must have been apoplectic when they received this whatsit as the follow-up to their great horror success. And so, even today, Universal just politely pretends that it's a reg'lar ol' horror movie.

[matrixschmatrix]

Does anyone else have three or more silent movies in their top ten? I wonder if I'm just loving them extra hard because I wasn't around for the 20s list.

[Murdoch]

and uh Norman Z. McLeod

Speaking of him, how is Topper?

[matrixschmatrix]

I couldn't say, although it looks like... something. The only McLeod I've seen outside of the Fields and Marx box sets was his Alice in Wonderland, which was certainly memorable, if not actually good (and the Paleface, but obviously that isn't eligible).

[Gropius]

Very close, three out of four. I haven't actually seen Bride of Frankenstein-- worth a look?

Even though it didn't make my list, absolutely. It's an utterly one-of-a-kind movie. The Universal heads must have been apoplectic when they received this whatsit as the follow-up to their great horror success. And so, even today, Universal just politely pretends that it's a reg'lar ol' horror movie.

I expect this will be in the upper half of many voters' lists (charted 26 last time): it's a mélange of grotesque artifice and camp eccentricity, with a dash of soft-centred humanism as the monster fleetingly befriends a blind hermit. If for no other reason, watch it for Ernest Thesiger's Dr. Pretorius, which for my money rivals any other performance of the decade. The only slight disappointment is that Elsa Lanchester's titular bride doesn't get more screen time.

As for Topper, I've heard good things about both it and the Thorne Smith source novel; Smith was also responsible for the body-swap comedy Turnabout (dir. Hal Roach, 1940). One for the unrealistically long need-to-see-before-the-deadline list: it's always good to dream that there may still be a hypothetical unseen 50 greater than one's current selection.

[zedz]

Does anyone else have three or more silent movies in their top ten? I wonder if I'm just loving them extra hard because I wasn't around for the 20s list.

Only two in my top ten, but eleven overall. Considering how highly developed silent film language had become at the end of the 20s and how slow the pick-up of sound technology was in many non-American countries, there are an awful lot of great silent movies from the 30s that you'd be foolish to ignore.

[swo17]

Only two in my top ten, but eleven overall.

I don't understand--I thought Chaplin only made two films in the '30s.

[knives]

So, Stage Door, Twentieth Century, and Top Hat are all coming up on my Netflix queue- any advice about which one I should prioritize? Also, if I watch all three in a row, will I turn gay?

Twentieth Century (which is the only Hawks on my list) is the way to go. While he won't be well represented on my list Barrymore is really the best actor of the decade and this is arguably his best role ever.

[sinemadelisikiz]

Another one I'd like to make a plug for - not sure quite how popular it is here - is Lubitsch's Design for Living. This is often written off as a tepid and dilute Coward adaptation, so I wasn't expecting too much, but it instantly became one of my favourites, right up there with Trouble in Paradise. March, Cooper and Hopkins make a great trio, and the whole thing is visually stylish throughout; quite apart from the romantic triangle, there's also the sociological dynamic of bohemian poverty versus commercial success. I haven't read Coward's play, which probably contains longer, wittier speeches, but on the basis of the synopsis, I think Ben Hecht's cuts and rejiggings may actually have improved it, from the standpoint of cinematic structure.

I actually like this one better than Trouble in Paradise, for pretty much the same reasons, though I was pretty sure I was alone in that regard. There's something about Trouble that has never quite won me over. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but sometimes watching the film feels like sitting next to the creepy guy at the bus stop who constantly nudges and winks at you, laughing at a joke you don't find funny. It doesn't really come off as effortless to me. When I think about it, I always just assume that I missed something, but each rewatching leaves me cold. Ah, you can't win them all . . . (Is everyone going to throw rocks at me now?)
As far as strong showings on my current list, Dita Parlo isn't doing too bad. And the silent film showing is pretty strong (10 is my estimate at the moment). Though I feel like my top 50 changes every time I look at it.

[matrixschmatrix]

Does anyone else have three or more silent movies in their top ten? I wonder if I'm just loving them extra hard because I wasn't around for the 20s list.

Only two in my top ten, but eleven overall. Considering how highly developed silent film language had become at the end of the 20s and how slow the pick-up of sound technology was in many non-American countries, there are an awful lot of great silent movies from the 30s that you'd be foolish to ignore.

Hmm- as I recall, you're a purist on what comprises a 'silent' movie, so I'm not sure I could guess what those 11 are- obviously the Murnaus and I would guess some Ozu, but a lot of my guesses beyond that- L'Age d'Or, City Lights, etc.- have synchronized soundtracks of some kind.

[Tommaso]

All right, I suppose I'm in the obscure minority here, but so far I have 22 German (including two Austrian) films on the list, followed by 10 for France, 5 for the USA, and the rest rather evenly distributed (including one Czech film); most represented directors are Renoir and Sternberg with three each, with highest rank at #4 and #8, respectively. Only two silents. Most represented actors are Fritz Rasp and Lilian Harvey. Guys, you really need to see more European films

[Murdoch]

Does anyone else have three or more silent movies in their top ten? I wonder if I'm just loving them extra hard because I wasn't around for the 20s list.

I've two in my top ten (Japanese Girls at the Harbor and Au Bonheur des Dames), does Romance Sentimentale count as a silent film?

[sinemadelisikiz]

While he won't be well represented on my list Barrymore is really the best actor of the decade and this is arguably his best role ever.

Have you seen Svengali? It's fantastic if just for his creepy hypno-stare (oh, and this shot).

[knives]

Please tell me that's on DVD somewhere. That clip was too good for the Internet.

As to the silents I've got 9 as of now, with one in my top ten if post synch not developed in production counts. I also have seven Japanese films, 20 American (much less than I originally thought), and six French titles. At least so far. If anything is likely to grow though it will be the Japanese titles.