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One week left. PM me with your lists. I might follow the leads of previous compilers and post some preliminary facts and figures in the coming week.

See above for rules and regulations.

30s List Progress Report

5 lists have been received and compiled. Thus far, films by the following directors have been voted for. Where more than one film by a given director has been voted for, the number of different films is indicated in brackets. An awful lot of these films, however, have only been voted for by one person, so they're not yet in the running for the final list.

Bacon
Berkeley
Borzage (2)
Browning (2)
Bunuel (2)
Capra
Carne (2)
Chaplin (2)
Clair (3)
Cocteau
Cooper / Schoedsack
Cornell (2)
Cukor (3)
Curtiz (2)
Dovzhenko
Dreyer
Duvivier (3)
Dzigan
Eisenstein (3)
Epstein
Fischinger (3)
Flaherty
Fleming (3)
Ford (3)
Freund
Gance
Gosho (2)
Gremillon (4)
Hand (2)
Hathaway
Hawks (4)
Hill
Hitchcock (7)
Kalatozov
La Cava (2)
Lang (3)
Leisen (3)
Leyda
Lubitsch (3)
Lye (2)
Machaty
Mamoulian (2)
McCarey (2)
Medvedkin
Menzies
Mizoguchi (3)
Murnau (2)
Naruse (3)
Ophuls (2)
Ozu (8)
Powell
Pudovkin
Renoir (9)
Riefenstahl
Sandrich (3)
Shimazu (2)
Shimizu (6) (hope I got those two right!)
Sirk
Starewicz
Stevens
Ulmer
Van Dyke
Vertov
Vigo (2)
von Sternberg (6)
Walsh (2)
Watson / Webber
Watt / Wright
West
Whale (3)
Wood
Wyler
Yamanaka (3)

More stats:

158 films have been voted for. So far, only 49 have attracted the 2 or more votes required to make the final list. Some films I had assumed were shoo-ins have not yet met the two-vote threshhold.

Only 4 films have appeared on every list submitted so far, and two of them are by the same director. The other two are by the directors with the greatest number of individual films nominated.

The current winner is one of those four films, and it's a film I'd never have picked in a million years. At present, the top two films on the list are unavailable on DVD in R1 or R2. The film I guess many of us would have bet on for the number 1 spot is not presently in the top 5.

All of this is, of course, subject to change! Don't forget to PM your list before the end of the month.

zedz wrote:Only 4 films have appeared on every list submitted so far, and two of them are by the same director. The other two are by the directors with the greatest number of individual films nominated.

One of these last two must be Rules of the Game, the only Renoir film I put on my list - at number 50!

zedz' hints make me wonder - since my favorites, the Eisensteins, are all available in r1 or r2, could it be that I Was Born But... , my number 3 pick, is currently on top? If so, how exciting.

I wouldn't mind seeing that preliminary list at some point ... before it gets spoiled by the likes of Grand Illusion! :)

Zedz, yeah, there are two directors with very similar names, Shimazu Yasujiro and Shimizu Hiroshi. Very different filmmaking styles, both fantastic

yoshimori wrote: I wouldn't mind seeing that preliminary list at some point ... before it gets spoiled by the likes of Grand Illusion!

If anybody who has already voted would like to know the current, rather startling, top ten, PM me. No vote, no leak, though.

1930s List Update:

I've now received nine lists and we've just reached a quorum, with exactly 100 films (out of 210 voted for) attracting 2 or more votes.

The top 10 now looks quite different from the whimsical line-up we had a few days ago, but it's still interesting. The top three films, which seem to be settling into their final positions already and pulling away from the rest of the field, are all from the same country. At number 1 is the only film which has appeared on every single list submitted.

Number 4, with a bullet (it was barely bubbling under a few days ago), is unlikely to sustain its late run, as it's one of those frustrating masterpieces unavailable on DVD.

Numbers 4 through 9 are all within a dozen or so points of one another, so the next list to come through is likely to completely change the picture. Number 10 (our former number 1, sinking slowly back into obscurity, having gained no new votes) leads the next tight cluster of films.

You've still got a few days to PM me your list. See above for rules and regulations.

OK, another day, another reminder to vote, another semi-meaningless regurgitation of statistics.

11 lists have been submitted, and here are the 20 most popular directors so far, according to total number of points scored.

Jean Renoir (1301)
Ozu Yasujiro (866)
Mizoguchi Kenji (678)
Jean Vigo (596)
Alfred Hitchcock (552)
Howard Hawks (549)
Fritz Lang (548)
Josef von Sternberg (480)
Charles Chaplin (478)
Ernst Lubitsch (476)
Luis Bunuel (448)
John Ford (363)
Leo McCarey (320)
Yamanaka Sadao (279)
Sergey Eisenstein (265)
Jean Gremillon (252)
Oskar Fischinger (229)
Raoul Walsh (215)
Frank Borzage (207)
Frank Capra (206)

Of course, a lot of those votes are split between several films. Renoir may seem to be way ahead of everyone else, but those votes are split across nine films (as Ozu's are across eight and Hitchcock's seven). Vigo, Bunuel, Eisenstein and Yamanaka have obviously got a competitive advantage in this respect.

And this list may have the least cultural diversity of all the ones compiled to date. Out of 229 films nominated, 126 are American, with France (34) and Japan (29) coming way up the rear. All in all, only 11 countries are featured, and four of those are in the form of one-off votes for a single film (welcome Czechoslovakia, China, Italy and Brazil!)

1930s List - September 2006

1. The Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)
2. L'Atalante (Vigo, 1934)
3. City Lights (Chaplin, 1931)
4. M (Lang, 1931)
5. Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch, 1932)
6. La Grande Illusion (Renoir, 1938)
7. Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
8. L'Age d'or (Bunuel, 1930)
9. Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, 1938)
10. Bringing Up Baby (Hawks, 1938)
11. Vampyr (Dreyer, 1932)
Zero de conduite (Vigo, 1933)
13. The Testament of Dr Mabuse (Lang, 1933)
14. Boudu Saved from Drowning (Renoir, 1932)
15. Stagecoach (Ford, 1939)
16. The Scarlet Empress (von Sternberg, 1934)
17. The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock, 1938)
18. Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks, 1939)
19. The 39 Steps (Hitchcock, 1935)
Duck Soup (McCarey, 1933)
21. Earth (Dovzhenko, 1930)
22. Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Mizoguchi, 1939)
23. The Wizard of Oz (Fleming, 1939)
24. I Was Born, But. . . (Ozu, 1932)
25. The Blue Angel (von Sternberg, 1930)
26. Bride of Frankenstein (Whale, 1935)
27. Humanity and Paper Balloons (Yamanaka, 1937)
28. Tabu (Murnau, 1931)
29. It Happened One Night (Capra, 1934)
30. Le Crime de M. Lange (Renoir, 1936)
31. The Thin Man (Van Dyke, 1934)
32. Fury (Lang, 1936)
33. La Bete Humaine (Renoir, 1938)
34. The Blood of a Poet (Cocteau, 1930)
Freaks (Browning, 1932)
36. Las Hurdes (Bunuel, 1933)
37. King Kong (Cooper / Schoedsack, 1933)
38. A Story of Floating Weeds (Ozu, 1934)
39. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Capra, 1939)
40. Osaka Elegy (Mizoguchi, 1936)
41. Young Mr Lincoln (Ford, 1939)
42. Pepe le Moko (Duvivier, 1937)
43. Quai des Brumes (Carne, 1938)
44. A Day in the Country (Renoir, 1936)
45. The Public Enemy (Wellman, 1931)
The Roaring Twenties (Walsh, 1939)
47. Olympiad (Riefenstahl, 1938)
48. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Curtiz, 1938)
The Only Son (Ozu, 1936)
Top Hat (Sandrich, 1935)
51. The Awful Truth (McCarey, 1937)
52. Shanghai Express (von Sternberg, 1932)
53. A Night at the Opera (Wood, 1935)
Sisters of the Gion (Mizoguchi, 1936)
55. Frankenstein (Whale, 1931)
56. My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1936)
57. Scarface (Hawks, 1932)
Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (Yamanaka, 1935)
59. An Inn in Tokyo (Ozu, 1935)
60. All Quiet of the Western Front (Milestone, 1930)
61. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Hand, 1937)
62. Design for Living (Lubitsch, 1933)
63. Love Me Tonight (Mamoulian, 1932)
64. Ninotchka (Lubitsch, 1939)
Toni (Renoir, 1935)
66. Le Jour se leve (Carne, 1939)
67. Sabotage (Hitchcock, 1936)
68. Porky in Wackyland (Clampett, 1938)
69. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Le Roy, 1932)
70. Morocco (von Sternberg, 1930)
La Petite Lise (Gremillon, 1930)
72. Bezhin Meadow (Eisenstein, 1937)
73. Happiness (Medvedkin, 1932)
Man of Aran (Flaherty, 1934)
75. The Goddess (Wu, 1934)
History Is Made at Night (Borzage, 1939)
77. Lost Horizon (Capra, 1937)
78. Deserter (Pudovkin, 1933)
79. The Informer (Ford, 1935)
80. A nous la liberte (Clair, 1931)
81. Blonde Venus (von Sternberg, 1932)
82. The Man Who Knew Too Much (Hitchcock, 1934)
83. La Chienne (Renoir, 1931)
84. Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1935)
85. Rose Hobart (Cornell, 1936)
86. Make Way for Tomorrow (McCarey, 1937)
87. Gueule d'Amour (Gremillon, 1937)
Le Million (Clair, 1931)
89. Salt for Svanetia (Kalatozov, 1930)
Bimbo's Initiation (Fleischer, 1931)
The Devil Is a Woman (von Sternberg, 1935)
92. Study No 7 (Hungarian Dance) (Fischinger, 1931)
93. After the Thin Man (Van Dyke, 1936)
Angels with Dirty Faces (Curtiz, 1938)
95. Destry Rides Again (Marshall, 1939)
It's a Gift (McLeod, 1934)
97. Stage Door (La Cava, 1937)
98. Goodbye Mr Chips (Wood, 1939)
Trade Tattoo (Lye, 1937)
100. Dodsworth (Wyler, 1936)

I received nineteen lists, which collectively nominated 283 different films, just over half of which (147) appeared more than once and were thus eligible for the final list.

In the end, no film appeared on every single list (after the sixth ballot was received, the only contender for that honour was L'Atalante, but it failed to make the last list submitted, and was thus, after leading handsomely for the longest time, pipped at the post by the Renoir).

After a surprising start which saw Japanese cinema crowding the top spots, this soon turned into World Cinema 101, circa 1955. Number 1 a week ago, scoring high on the first five lists submitted, was Ozu's The Only Son, but it failed to rate a mention on any subsequent list. The three Ozus in that initial top 10 all steadily slipped, and though Mizoguchi's Chrysanthemums and Yamanaka's Balloons struggled valiantly to fight the Hollywood tsunami, in the end no Japanese films made the top 20.

Hollywood dominated - apart from a handful of canonical classics only French and Japanese cinema had any consistent presence on individual lists. Experimental cinema was almost wholly ignored - you'll see a maimed handful appear near the bottom of the list (L'Age d'or is such a glaring exception that it's surely bought its place with auteurist brownie points).

You'll have to look a fair way down the list for the few surprises - or off the list entirely, to note, for example, the omission of Gone with the Wind (which was tied at 102). For me, that omission is the single most heartening feature of this list. And I swear I did nothing to influence it (other than not voting for the film, obviously)!

In a while I'll post the list of also-rans. Any other requests for (easy) statistical analyses, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

The following films - in order of popularity - also appeared on more than one list, but didn't make the top 100.

Wife Be Like a Rose! (Naruse)
The Invisible Man (Whale)
Gone with the Wind (Fleming)
Horse Feathers (MacLeod)
The Women (Cukor)
The Big Trail (Walsh)
Twentieth Century (Hawks)
Passing Fancy (Ozu)
Que Viva Mexico! (Eisenstein)
Mad Love (Freund)
42nd Street (Bacon)
Drole de Drama (Carne)
Every Night Dreams (Naruse)
Camille (Cukor)
City Girl (Murnau)
Under the Roofs of Paris (Clair)
The Black Cat (Ulmer)
Grand Hotel (Goulding)
The Mascot (Starewicz)
Swingtime (Stevens)
Hunchback of Notre Dame (Dieterle)
Libeled Lady (Conway)
The Bat Whispers (West)
Captains Courageous (Fleming)
Peter Ibbetson (Hathaway)
Doctor X (Curtiz)
The Most Dangerous Game (Pichel / Schoedsack)
The Fatal Glass of Beer (Bruckman)
What Did the Lady Forget? (Ozu)
The Smiling Lieutenant (Lubitsch)
Jack's Dream (Cornell)
Lot in Sodom (Watson / Webber)
Mr Deeds Goes to Town (Capra)
The Petrified Forest (Mayo)
The Prisoner of Shark Island (Ford)
Tomato's Another Day (Watson / Wilder)
Easy Living (Leisen)
Little Caesar (Le Roy)
The Old Dark House (Whale)
Footlight Parade (Bacon)
A Colour Box (Lye)
You Only Live Once (Lang)
Holiday (Cukor)
Minnie the Moocher (Fleischer)
She Done Him Wrong (Sherman)
Dracula (Browning)
The Merry Widow (Lubitsch)

As usual, if you feel like defending your darlings, please do so in the dedicated thread.

zedz wrote:1930s List - September 2006

1. The Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)
2. L'Atalante (Vigo, 1934)
3. City Lights (Chaplin, 1931)
4. M (Lang, 1931)
5. Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch, 1932)
6. La Grande Illusion (Renoir, 1938)
7. Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
8. L'Age d'or (Bunuel, 1930)
9. Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, 1938)
10. Bringing Up Baby (Hawks, 1938)

Top from 2004 list:

1. Rules of the Game (Renoir)
2. L'Atalante (Vigo)
3. M (Lang)
4. Grand Illusion (Renoir)
5. Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch)
6. City Lights (Chaplin)
7. Modern Times (Chaplin)
8. Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein)
9. Bringing Up Baby (Hawks)

Too similar-- I was hoping for something surprising...

zedz wrote: Experimental cinema was almost wholly ignored - you'll see a maimed handful appear near the bottom of the list (L'Age d'or is such a glaring exception that it's surely bought its place with auteurist brownie points).

I'm not sure how you're defining "experimental cinema", but I would count Zero for Conduct, Blood of a Poet and Las Hurdes in the category, giving four in the top 36. I think experimental cinema is represented just fine- albeit with the obvious choices.

GringoTex wrote:

zedz wrote: Experimental cinema was almost wholly ignored - you'll see a maimed handful appear near the bottom of the list (L'Age d'or is such a glaring exception that it's surely bought its place with auteurist brownie points).

I'm not sure how you're defining "experimental cinema", but I would count Zero for Conduct, Blood of a Poet and Las Hurdes in the category, giving four in the top 36. I think experimental cinema is represented just fine- albeit with the obvious choices.

Actually, you're right about Blood (another auteurist title), but I'd classify Zero as a narrative film (albeit a pretty eccentric one) and Las Hurdes as a documentary (ditto). By experimental I was meaning explicitly avant-garde stuff along the lines of Watson's collaborations or Lye and Fischinger's abstractions.

zedz, would it be possible to include the point totals for the list? I'm curious about how close the rankings were.

davidhare wrote:True, but the remaining 90 are a sea change.

There's precisely a 25% turnover between the 2004 list and this one. Out:

47. (Tie) The Black Cat (Ulmer)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (LeRoy)
51. Invisible Man (Whale)
59. The Smiling Lieutenant (Lubitsch)
63. Gone With the Wind (Fleming)
65. Under the Roofs of Paris (Clair)
67. Twentieth Century (Hawks)
70. (Tie) Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Capra)
Swing Time (Stevens)
76. Young and Innocent (Hitchcock)
79. Ruggles of Red Gap (McCarey)
81. Queen Christina (Mamoulian)
84. Rich and Strange (Hitchcock)
86. (Tie) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Mamoulian)
You Only Live Once (Lang)
88. She Done Him Wrong (Sherman)
89. Secret Agent (Hitchcock)
91. Mad Love (Freund)
92. The Women (Cukor)
93. Doctor X (Curtiz)
94. One Hour With You (Cukor and Lubitsch)
95. Holiday (Cukor)
97. (Tie) Dracula (Browning)
The Most Dangerous Game (Pichel and Schoedsack)
100. Wuthering Heights (Wyler)

replaced by:

27. Humanity and Paper Balloons (Yamanaka, 1937)
43. Quai des Brumes (Carne, 1938)
45. (Tie) The Public Enemy (Wellman, 1931)
The Roaring Twenties (Walsh, 1939)
57. Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (Yamanaka, 1935)
59. An Inn in Tokyo (Ozu, 1935)
64. Toni (Renoir, 1935)
69. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Le Roy, 1932)
70. La Petite Lise (Gremillon, 1930)
72. Bezhin Meadow (Eisenstein, 1937)
75. (Tie) The Goddess (Wu, 1934)
History Is Made at Night (Borzage, 1937)
78. Deserter (Pudovkin, 1933)
79. The Informer (Ford, 1935)
87. Gueule d'Amour (Gremillon, 1937)
89. (Tie) Salt for Svanetia (Kalatozov, 1930)
Bimbo's Initiation (Fleischer, 1931)
The Devil Is a Woman (von Sternberg, 1935)
92. Study No 7 (Hungarian Dance) (Fischinger, 1931)
93. (Tie) After the Thin Man (Van Dyke, 1936)
Angels with Dirty Faces (Curtiz, 1938)
95. (Tie) Destry Rides Again (Marshall, 1939)
It's a Gift (McLeod, 1934)
98. (Tie) Goodbye Mr Chips (Wood, 1939)
Trade Tattoo (Lye, 1937)

Significantly up in rank (ten or more slots):

13. The Testament of Dr Mabuse (Lang, 1933) from 32
14. Boudu Saved from Drowning (Renoir, 1932) from 38
17. The Lady Vanishes (Hitchcock, 1938) from 31
22. Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Mizoguchi, 1939) from 33
24. I Was Born, But. . . (Ozu, 1932) from 34
28. Tabu (Murnau, 1931) from 45
29. It Happened One Night (Capra, 1934) from 55
30. Le Crime de M. Lange (Renoir, 1936) from 50
31. The Thin Man (Van Dyke, 1934) from 46
32. Fury (Lang, 1936) from 53
33. La Bete Humaine (Renoir, 1938) from 54
39. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Capra, 1939) from 69
40. Osaka Elegy (Mizoguchi, 1936) from 52
42. Pepe le Moko (Duvivier, 1937) from 99
48. (Tie) The Adventures of Robin Hood (Curtiz, 1938) from 58
The Only Son (Ozu, 1936) from 64
55. Frankenstein (Whale, 1931) from 74
61. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Hand, 1937) from 82
64. Ninotchka (Lubitsch, 1939) from 83
67. Sabotage (Hitchcock, 1936) from 89
70. Morocco (von Sternberg, 1930) from 95

Significantly down in rank (ten or more slots):

23. The Wizard of Oz (Fleming, 1939) from 10
34. Freaks (Browning, 1932) from 24
36. Las Hurdes (Bunuel, 1933) from 19
44. A Day in the Country (Renoir, 1936) from 25
52. Shanghai Express (von Sternberg, 1932) from 30
53. (Tie) A Night at the Opera (Wood, 1935) from 41
Sisters of the Gion (Mizoguchi, 1936) from 34
56. My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1936) from 29
60. All Quiet of the Western Front (Milestone, 1930) from 37
62. Design for Living (Lubitsch, 1933) from 44
63. Love Me Tonight (Mamoulian, 1932) from 26
73. Happiness (Medvedkin, 1932) from 61
80. A nous la liberte (Clair, 1931) from 47
82. The Man Who Knew Too Much (Hitchcock, 1934) from 66
85. Rose Hobart (Cornell, 1936) from 23
86. Make Way for Tomorrow (McCarey, 1937) from 29
87. Le Million (Clair, 1931) from 61
97. Stage Door (La Cava, 1937) from 84
100. Dodsworth (Wyler, 1936) from 79

Precisely the same in rank on both lists:

1. The Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)
2. L'Atalante (Vigo, 1934)
5. Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch, 1932)
7. Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
57. Scarface (Hawks, 1932)
77. Lost Horizon (Capra, 1937)

All the 2004 picks that disappeared were Hollywood productions except four (three British Hitchcocks and a Clair). More than half of their replacements are foreign productions. So if you're troubled by American dominance of the list, at least know it's trending away from being quite so dominant. It will be interesting to see if that pattern continues with the 1940s list, the orignal list being the most Hollywood-dominated entry in this project.

Next!

Doing the 30s wasn't too arduous, so I'm happy to tackle the 40s. The idea was to leave three months between lists, but that would take us up to Christmas / New Year, which won't work, so let's make the 1940s lists due January 31, 2007.

In the meantime, I'll make a start on a "best available editions" version of the 1930s list. It'll be very patchy at first, so please post any additions / corrections.

1930s List - Best Available DVD Editions

This is pretty rough and ready, so please post any corrections / additions. All R1 unless noted. All foreign language films have English subtitles in these editions (as far as I know) - we may want to add unsubbed releases if that's all there is.

The Rules of the Game - CRITERION
L'Atalante - ARTIFICIAL EYE
City Lights – WARNER R2
M - CRITERION
Trouble in Paradise – CRITERION
La Grande Illusion – CRITERION
Modern Times – IMAGE / WARNER R2
L'Age d'Or - BFI
Alexander Nevsky – CRITERION (N.B. soundtrack issues)
Bringing Up Baby – WARNER
Vampyr
Zero de Conduite – ARTIFICIAL EYE
The Testament of Dr Mabuse – CRITERION
Boudu Saved from Drowning - CRITERION
Stagecoach - WARNER
The Scarlet Empress – CRITERION (dirty) / UNIVERSAL R2 (cropped)
The Lady Vanishes – CONCORDE R2
Only Angels Have Wings - SONY
The 39 Steps - CRITERION
Duck Soup - UNIVERSAL
Earth - KINO
Story of the Late Chrysanthemums
The Wizard of Oz - WARNER
I Was Born, But. . .
The Blue Angel – EUREKA / KINO, forthcoming from MoC
Bride of Frankenstein - UNIVERSAL
Humanity and Paper Balloons - MoC
Tabu – IMAGE?
It Happened One Night - SONY
Le Crime de M. Lange - STUDIO CANAL R2 (no subs)
The Thin Man - WARNER
Fury - WARNER
La Bete Humaine - CRITERION
Freaks - WARNER
The Blood of a Poet - CRITERION
Las Hurdes - FILMS SANS FRONTIERES R2 (extra on Los Olvidados, no subs)
King Kong - WARNER
A Story of Floating Weeds - CRITERION
Mr Smith Goes to Washington - SONY
Osaka Elegy
Young Mr Lincoln - CRITERION
Pepe le Moko - CRITERION
Quai des Brumes - CRITERION
A Day in the Country - BFI
The Roaring Twenties - WARNER
The Public Enemy - WARNER
Olympiad
The Adventures of Robin Hood - WARNER
The Only Son - PANORAMA R3
Top Hat - WARNER
The Awful Truth - SONY
Shanghai Express
Sisters of the Gion
A Night at the Opera - WARNER
Frankenstein - UNIVERSAL
My Man Godfrey - CRITERION
Scarface – UNIVERSAL R2
Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo
An Inn in Tokyo -PANORAMA R3
All Quiet of the Western Front
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - DISNEY
Design for Living – UNIVERSAL (The Gary Cooper Collection)
Love Me Tonight - KINO
Ninotchka - WARNER
Toni - MoC
Le Jour se leve
Sabotage – CONCORDE R2?
Porky in Wackyland – WARNER (Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol 2)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang - WARNER
La Petite Lise
Morocco – UNIVERSAL (Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection)
Bezhin Meadow - CRITERION
Man of Aran – HVE / forthcoming MoC
Happiness – ARTE VIDEO R2 (bonus on Le tombeau d'Alexandre)
History Is Made at Night
The Goddess – SF Silent Film Festival
Lost Horizon - WARNER
Deserter
The Informer - WARNER
A nous la liberte - CRITERION
Blonde Venus - UNIVERSAL (Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection)
The Man Who Knew Too Much – CARLTON R2 / CONCORDE R2
La Chienne
Triumph of the Will - SYNAPSE
Rose Hobart – NFPF (Treasures from American Film Archives) / VOYAGER (The Magical Worlds of Joseph Cornell)
Make Way for Tomorrow
Le Million - CRITERION
Gueule d'Amour - RENE CHATEAU R2 (no subs?)
Bimbo's Initiation
Salt for Svanetia – KINO (Turksib / Salt for Svanetia)
The Devil Is a Woman - UNIVERSAL (Marlene Dietrich Glamour Collection)
Study No 7 (Hungarian Dance) – CVM
Angels with Dirty Faces - WARNER
After the Thin Man - WARNER
Destry Rides Again - UNIVERSAL
It's a Gift - UNIVERSAL
Stage Door - WARNER
Trade Tattoo
Goodbye Mr Chips - WARNER
Dodsworth - MGM

Those Vigos are Artificial Eye and the best Lady Vanishes is in the German Early Films collection (the Criterion is very weak by comparison). The Image City Lights is oop, but has the right AR. The M2k/Warner looks great, but is cropped.

The Blue Angel is coming from MoC, eventually, and hopefully with the right AR. Tabu is coming from MoC too.

Judgment call on Cocteau's Orpheus: 2004 list and Criterion have it as 1949; IMDB as 1950. Was there some reason why the 2004 list allowed it? Shall it be eligible for the 1940s or the 1950s list?

On Cornell, I think the best one-stop shopping is an amazing DVD-Rom called The Magical Worlds of Joseph Cornell (Voyager Foundation). One disc has an array of short films, including Rose Hobart and Larry Jordan's Cornell 1965 (the only known footage of Cornell himself) and the ROM has a terrific presentation of his box art work from public and private collections in 3-d, with sources, commentary, etc. A real treat.

scotty wrote:Judgment call on Cocteau's Orpheus: 2004 list and Criterion have it as 1949; IMDB as 1950. Was there some reason why the 2004 list allowed it? Shall it be eligible for the 1940s or the 1950s list?

The rule is that IMDB is right, even when it's wrong. The 2004 inclusion may have been because IMDB have since changed their minds. A similar situation occurred with The Colour of Pomegranates, which fell through the cracks of my lists, even though it's one of my very favourite films, because IMDB changed the date from 1970 to 1968 after I'd checked it for my 60s list.

Or it could just have been an oversight - I think Breathless made it through to the first draft of the 1950s list and then had to be removed.

So the moral is: don't waste a vote on Orphee next time around - unless IMDB redate it in the next few months.

MAN OF ARAN has a pretty decent HVe release on disc, at present, and will avoid the PAL speedup (since this is a talkie... albeit in the barest sense of the word) of the R2 when it comes. Pretty much on a par with their LOUISIANA STORY. HVe's of almost CC telecine & authoring quality.

Just dropping in to campaign a little for Norman McLaren's Begone Dull Care while my mind is still blown...

-Toilet Dcuk

Yes! That's the first McLaren film I ever saw and it has remained a favorite of mine. It's a dazzling "collaboration" with fellow Canadian Oscar Peterson, who was one of the most amazing technicians and showmen among pianists of the era. The exhuberance of the McLaren's work was perfectly matched to him.
As a sidenote, I love the strong McLaren following that has developed (or emerged) on the forum in the last few years. I remember when he was scarcely ever mentioned by anyone, which was sad.

While we're (sort of) off-topic, I'm being continually blown away by the McLaren set. I've seen an awful lot of these films over the years (you probably have too), but seeing them all together as a body of work is pretty amazing.

Begone Dull Care is a tour-de-force and a good pick for the forties. I've also long been partial to A Little Phantasy on a Nineteenth Century Painting - the ideal short for Lewton's Isle of the Dead.

For future lists, I've also been blown away by Blinkity Blank, which gets better and richer every time I see it, and The Flicker Film, which I'd never seen before.

Back on topic - a reminder that 1940s lists will be due at the end of January. Same rules as usual apply (see above). According to those rules, films in two parts are to be voted on as a single entity, which presents a quandary as regards Ivan the Terrible, which imdb splits between the 40s and 50s. That Sergey always seems to be a troublemaker.

So I'm going to declare Ivans I and II as a single 1940s entity for the purpose of the next voting round. OK?

A nice holiday gift from you all: a vote for Now, Voyager and Humoresque.

Grazie...and may you all have a smashing holiday season!