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Mask does a great job of translating all of my favorite aspects of the stories. The Englishmen are pretty terrible, but surprisingly interesting. That said there's no way they could steal the film from Loy who despite being basically a high ranking extra makes the film all sorts of marvelous. There's this great scene where it looks like she'll rape the lead character to death with whips and other such things. It's joyously Pre-code with her. Karloff's amazing too and gives an amazing speech that's completely racist against white people. Of course I didn't see those scenes until the DVD and was stuck with the '70s cut before that. It's funny actually when the film on rerelease got in trouble with the anti-defamation toward Asians groups what they cut out of the film was racism toward whity leaving all of the racism toward the Asians in. Weird backward culture we live in.

By the way Doctor X is more uninteresting then bad being on basically the same level as Mystery at the Wax Museum. It's actually really fascinating to see the early colour process and the ending is so messed up that you won't believe me if I told you it right now. The movie is just overlong if anything.

matrixschmatrix wrote:I watched Pépé le Moko tonight, and I was really impressed in a number of ways at once.

It's a great movie, isn't it? I love it, too, although I don't think, that it's opposed to French colonial rule, though it's one of the more complex and ambivalent films of French cinéma colonial - in contrast to its forerunner 'La Bandera' (1935), in which Duvivier glorified the dirty colonial war of the Spanish (and French) foreign legion in Northern Morocco in the late 20s. Btw, as far as I remember, Gabin doesn't portray a deserter (as he does in Quai de brumes), but an exiled working-class criminal, a cabinetmaker turned thief from the Parisian working-class neighbourhood Montmarte. (He plays a similar role in said 'La Bandera' as well as in other French films of the 30s).

Anyway, to come to my original question: Am I the only one on the board, who is fond of Feyder's historical farce La kermesse héroique / Carnival in Flanders with its beautiful set designs, its appropriation and transformation of Flemish paintings, its dollhouse atmosphere and, well, also its gender politics? I admit, I'm a (tiny) bit puzzled about its German funding and it's collaboration theme as well as the historical reactions and demonstrations, the film caused in Belgium and because of which it seems to be an excellent case for reception studies, but I'm pretty sure, it will make my list in the end ...

Pépé le Moko is one of my favourites of the 30s too.

Never seen anything else from Duvivier which was nearly as good

serdar002 wrote: Das Lied ist aus (Géza von Bolváry 1930)

I have by now seen most of the early Bolvarys, but this is by far the best, and the best of the so-called "Vienna films", surpassing in my opinion even Maskerade. The scriptwriter Walter Reisch himself called this one of the most important German films ever made (quote from Elsaesser's book on Weimar cinema who devotes a whole chapter to this film). The film's setting at first looks like the usual light musical comedy, and there are lots of brilliantly funny and frivolous scenes, but the overall tone is darker. Willi Forst plays a former Guards' officer down on his luck after the war, he's conservative, nostalgic and in the end

Spoiler

fails.

I cannot praise this film enough, too, though I wouldn't rate it higher than Maskerade, which is the more complex film. But apart from Forst, whose typical gentlemanly screen persona was established here and who gets to sing some of the best songs he ever committed to celluloid, the greatest attraction is Liane Haid and the chemistry that these two actors have with each other. And yes, the film is certainly very melancholic despite of many funny moments, and one of the truly great screen romances of the 30s.

If you're new to Forst as actor, Das Lied ist aus might be an ideal beginning indeed. And after this you will probably want to check out more Forst, for instance the dead funny Der Herr auf Bestellung (Bolváry 1930) or the more multi-layered Der Raub der Mona Lisa (Bolvary 1931), a film that asks many questions about the relationship between art and reality, a typical theme for Forst in his later works as a director. At least Das Lied ist aus and Der Herr auf Bestellung exist with subs somewhere.

Not yet with subs (though I bet this will change in the foreseeable future) is Forst's little known Ich bin Sebastian Ott (1939), a film not only directed by him, but also having him play the two main characters, a slightly 'boring' art expert and his 'evil' twin brother who replaces him for a scheme of art forgery. This film might be the highlight in Forst's investigation of the 'value' of art and its 'truth', which is not only shown by the evil doppelganger brother (is he a copy of the 'real' brother, or do both have the same right to be called the 'true' brother?), but also by a lot of discussions in the film about artworks and their copies. This could very much be called an "F is for Fake" of the 1930s.

Just a heads up, The Four Feathers and Divorce of Lady X are on TCM this Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

I managed to get some viewing in this week, mostly based on recommendations made recently by folks.

Der Kongresse Tanzt - I had trouble getting into this one, though I think it was mostly due to being pretty tired when I watched it. I really shouldn't watch subtitled films when I'm having trouble staying awake. I did find the camera really stellar though and I thought it was an interesting reversal, where the woman was doing the pursuing. I am inclined to give this one another chance once my hectic schedule calms down.

Wife, Be Like A Rose - Still haven't managed to make it through the Naruse silent box yet, but thought I would give this one a shot and I was really impressed. Naruse has that remarkable ability to give great deals of emotion and depth to his characters, while also remaining somewhat ambiguous. The ending was particularly jolting in this respect, as Etsuko, who I found largely unsympathetic throughout the film, save for the circumstance of her husband having left her, becomes perhaps the most sympathetic character in one shot. Pretty awesome stuff and Naruse's use of sound is really effective, particularly the repetition of the song the little boy sings. Really strong film.

Movie Crazy - I am a big Harold Lloyd booster, but I had yet to see any of his talkies, so I went with masterofoneinchpunch's recommendation for this film. I can tell you that the film isn't a masterpiece, but it did make me exceedingly happy and it was really great to see Lloyd incorporate plenty of silent-style slapstick, while also working in some very funny dialogue. The final climactic fight scene is pretty great, mixing equal parts brutality and laughs to stand out. The sequence contains a masterful tracking shot, where the camera follows the directions of the on-screen movie director and pans to the various cameramen, lighting and props in one fluid take.

The film reminded me of another very underrated film from the same year, Make Me A Star, which is probably best known for a bunch of Paramount cameos, but really should be better known for Stuart Erwin's impossibly earnest performance. Erwin stars as a would be actor who comes to Hollywood only to become the butt of a massive joke, as he gets his break as a cowboy star, only to discover that the film he is making is not the serious cowboy picture he thinks, but rather a parody with him at the centre. Erwin is pretty amazing as he never quite realizes what is going on around him, but is so earnest and sincere in his desire to be a good actor and he just comes off as such a nice guy that it creates this intensely strong sense of discomfort as the world around him reveals itself to be oh-so-cold. Erwin's performance, combined with the unexpected presence of Joan Blondell in a Paramount feature and a rather ambiguous ending make it a really fascinating film, that I would recommend. Not sure if will make my list, but worth a look I think.

As next country we get to

Great Britain

Inexplicably British cinema is always underrated, but this is the one decade where I guess the low esteem is justified - at least for the feature film. The British cinema starts very badly 1930-33 with the major talents struggling and later on there are simply few or no directors who can turn out distinctive masterpieces which has nothing to do with the zillions of quote quickies made. The quality at the top simply isn't there, it's a pervasive mediocrity.
It's pointless to talk about Hitchcock here, the British films are sometimes fine, sometimes interesting, the American ones are better. The other great directors all really flower in the 40s, but if you take a small film like Bank Holiday by Carol Reed you immediately see the difference a good director and a good script make. Despite some clunky comic relief the central story is touchingly and sensitively told. There's one knockout masterpiece in this era however and that's Pygmalion which successfully merges good writing, acting and direction into a unified one. It's serious and witty, bound to its time and timeless. And the third example is obviously Edge of the World, no words needed her.
And when you watch these films you are slightly less disposed to excuse the rest of the British output, the stiff colonial adventures, the prestigious costume films even if they are witty like Henry VIII, the agreeably funny Jessie Matthews or Will Hay films, well executed genre films like Dark Journey or Knight without Armour, the bombastic, speechy Things to come. There's no lack of ambition, but only very rarely the extra bit of inspiration which turns good or nice films into great ones. I'd like to mention however Rembrandt as the film among all these prestige films that genuinely surprised me not the least through Laughton's unusually subtle portrayal and the casually painterly style.
There are very few oddball or experimental pictures, Borderline isn't as successful as you'd hope it would be, but there's one intensely curious film and that's Feher's Robber Symphony which is ... erm ... let's say a kind of musical. Shot silently, dubbed but anyway relying on music and eccentric to the nth degree this defies easy description. Not my cup of tea, but fans of unusual films should search this film on the Dutch Film Museum DVD. We all know about Len Lye which leads us to the truly important contribution of British cinema of the decade.
Admittedly the discussion about documentaries was often one about their social role, but this overlooks the immense playfulness and breadth of achievement. There's Weather Forecast Evelyn Spice' evocation of a storm via cutting and soundtrack. There's the incredibly erratic and complex Song of Ceylon which starts out with the eerie voice over later contrasting modernity and ancient culture. There's Coal Face the stunner of the decade with its artificial treatment of bleakest facts. There's Night Mail though the whole film isn't as impressive as its finish. There are comedic approaches, there are first interview based attempts (Housing Problems), there's room for Flaherty's monumentall approach with Man of Aran which regardless of its truth is an impressive paean to men's ability to master life. and there's the start of Jennings with Spare Time. It's really strange to see all the talent collected here, the freshness, the willingness to experiment, to tell things again and again in a new way and at the same time to watch the mostly uninspired films. I hope the GPO sets and the Land of Promise box are in everyone's possession and have a sufficient impact in the poll.

Wu.Qinghua wrote:It's a great movie, isn't it? I love it, too, although I don't think, that it's opposed to French colonial rule, though it's one of the more complex and ambivalent films of French cinéma colonial - in contrast to its forerunner 'La Bandera' (1935), in which Duvivier glorified the dirty colonial war of the Spanish (and French) foreign legion in Northern Morocco in the late 20s. Btw, as far as I remember, Gabin doesn't portray a deserter (as he does in Quai de brumes), but an exiled working-class criminal, a cabinetmaker turned thief from the Parisian working-class neighbourhood Montmarte. (He plays a similar role in said 'La Bandera' as well as in other French films of the 30s).

Pépé's not a deserter, but Pierrot is. It's possible the movie didn't set out to oppose French colonial rule, but I think it's fairly honest in depicting the Casbah- I'm not sure there's any way to do so without reinforcing just how inappropriate and ineffectual French governance was.

Wu.Qinghua wrote: Anyway, to come to my original question: Am I the only one on the board, who is fond of Feyder's historical farce La kermesse héroique / Carnival in Flanders with its beautiful set designs, its appropriation and transformation of Flemish paintings, its dollhouse atmosphere and, well, also its gender politics? I admit, I'm a (tiny) bit puzzled about its German funding and it's collaboration theme as well as the historical reactions and demonstrations, the film caused in Belgium and because of which it seems to be an excellent case for reception studies, but I'm pretty sure, it will make my list in the end ...

It's likely to make my list and is easily my favorite Feyder. Not only is it hilarious, but in the guise of simple humour I think it manages a fairly complex take on sexual politics (most of the time).

myrnaloyisdope wrote:
Wife, Be Like A Rose - Still haven't managed to make it through the Naruse silent box yet, but thought I would give this one a shot and I was really impressed. Naruse has that remarkable ability to give great deals of emotion and depth to his characters, while also remaining somewhat ambiguous. The ending was particularly jolting in this respect, as Etsuko, who I found largely unsympathetic throughout the film, save for the circumstance of her husband having left her, becomes perhaps the most sympathetic character in one shot. Pretty awesome stuff and Naruse's use of sound is really effective, particularly the repetition of the song the little boy sings. Really strong film.

Glad someone else loved this, which will be my highest rated Naruse. The sound design was really effective for my too. It's not something I'm typically aware of, but in here it's such an important storytelling device that I almost think the film would be incomprehensible with an ordinary design.

matrixschmatrix wrote:Pépé's not a deserter, but Pierrot is. It's possible the movie didn't set out to oppose French colonial rule, but I think it's fairly honest in depicting the Casbah- I'm not sure there's any way to do so without reinforcing just how inappropriate and ineffectual French governance was.

Ooops ... Im sorry for misreading your post, matrixschmatrix.

lubitsch wrote:There's Coal Face the stunner of the decade with its artificial treatment of bleakest facts. There's Night Mail though the whole film isn't as impressive as its finish.

Btw, having seen Night Mail and 'Coal Face' on bigger screens, I'd like to put in a good word for the former, too. I admit, that many will agree with your appraisal of the more poetic end, but in my opinion, the rest of the movie doesn't disappoint in no way with its meticulous description of technical devices as well as work processes, its eulogy on the ordinary postal as well as railway workers and its praise of efficient, well-run public enterprises, working for the benefit of the population as a whole. It's a marvelous message in a bottle, dating back to the era of Fordism, though it may primarily be one for the big screen.

lubitsch wrote:And the third example is obviously Edge of the World, no words needed her.

With this I want to emphasize again that The Spy in Black is available on Hulu and I actually consider it the better Powell (and Pressburger) film of the decade. Actually while they are hit and miss Criterion has put up dozens of British films on Hulu so all the Americans really should take up the free week for the list. Don't miss The Divorce of Lady X either.

lubitsch wrote:It's pointless to talk about Hitchcock here, the British films are sometimes fine, sometimes interesting, the American ones are better.

I think the one exception - which in my opinion stands comparison to any of the American films - is The Lady Vanishes, which has the great asset of Frank Launder's and Sidney Gilliat's wittily comic script, and a strong supporting cast including the double act of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as the chauvinistic tourists (although not everyone will find them amusing). One of the great 'train films' of the decade, along with Twentieth Century and Shanghai Express.

But generally speaking, of course I agree that the real British contribution to world cinema was the documentary movement. Coal Face and Rotha's Shipyard will be the representative titles on my list, but the GPO output is full of minor masterpieces (Granton Trawler, Weather Forecast, Spare Time, etc). (As a British viewer, it always strikes me that the Post Office of the 1930s seems to have been a much more efficient institution than the quasi-privatised mess of the 21st century.)

Actually I find The Lady Vanishes to be his most middle of the road for the decade. I greatly prefer Young and Innocent and The 39 Steps the later of which I would put on par with any of his American films. I also get some stylistic enjoyment out of Rich and Strange even if it's very weak.

Absolutely, those are the two that are making my list

Of the ones I've seen, the standouts were Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, and The Man Who Knew Too Much. Sabotage is perversely fascinating, though- not just the bomb sequence, which actually works at this point because it plays so much against your expectations of Hitchcock based on his later movies, but also the relatively squalid, desperately unhappy background- it's as though we spend a whole movie in the horrible Scottish household from The 39 Steps.

39 Steps is the breeziest 86 minutes I've experienced, thanks to how pitch-perfect the script and performances are. The scene where Donat improvises a speech at a political rally was hilarious.

That scene's probably the highlight of Donat's career, but I really adore his reaction to the woman claiming to be a spy. It basically amounts to if you say so and has me wheezing every time I watch it. All that I suspose makes the tense scenes all the better. I know Hitchcock was already a decade into the game, but it never ceases to amaze me how well the film jumps from suspense to comedy and back.

Wow, I was assuming that some elements of Sturges' personality would be visible in The Good Fairy, but I wasn't expecting to be more Sturges-ey than the stuff he directed- the whole thing felt spun out of nothing, like cotton candy, to the degree that I don't think what plot there was kicked in until about halfway through (and I barely noticed it when it did.) Margaret Sullavan might be the most adorable person I've ever seen, and I think Herbert Marshall was as good here as he was in Trouble in Paradise.

If you really want to see Sturges shine through in something where it makes no sense for it to you have to check out The Invisible Man. He didn't get any credit for it, but he doctored the whole script into this grand comedy (nuts in May) that fits Whale like a glove.

Haha, something tells me there's going to be like forty horror movies on your list

I wish. I'm really tempted to put The Invisible Man and Frankenstein on my list, but I already have about three Whale's. No where my list is going to be basically all horror is likely to be the '70s.

Looking at my list, it's actually probably more comedy than any other genre, which surprises me- of course, I like comedies, but I've always felt that if anything I don't give them enough credit, and I'd be surprised if there's more than a few that make it for the 40s (apart from Sturges, who is going to be up there with Welles for "people whose entire filmography I want to include"). I suppose the screwball comedy is, alongside the Universal horrors, sort of the definitive genre of the decade, though- as noir is to the 40s.

Yeah, they're definitely how I view the decade. I actually went to count and surprisingly so far I only have seven horrors compared with eight comedies (that is excluding to only as horror the many horror comedies I have)

Wu.Qinghua wrote:Anyway, to come to my original question: Am I the only one on the board, who is fond of Feyder's historical farce La kermesse héroique / Carnival in Flanders with its beautiful set designs, its appropriation and transformation of Flemish paintings, its dollhouse atmosphere and, well, also its gender politics? I admit, I'm a (tiny) bit puzzled about its German funding and it's collaboration theme as well as the historical reactions and demonstrations, the film caused in Belgium and because of which it seems to be an excellent case for reception studies, but I'm pretty sure, it will make my list in the end ...

As a Spanish man I love those Flemish girls, haha. But my vote is for the overromantic Le grand jeu: Great camerawork, editing, sets, atmosphere and... sex, lots of sex.

the preacher wrote:

Wu.Qinghua wrote:Anyway, to come to my original question: Am I the only one on the board, who is fond of Feyder's historical farce La kermesse héroique / Carnival in Flanders with its beautiful set designs, its appropriation and transformation of Flemish paintings, its dollhouse atmosphere and, well, also its gender politics? I admit, I'm a (tiny) bit puzzled about its German funding and it's collaboration theme as well as the historical reactions and demonstrations, the film caused in Belgium and because of which it seems to be an excellent case for reception studies, but I'm pretty sure, it will make my list in the end ...

As a Spanish man I love those Flemish girls, haha. But my vote is for the overromantic Le grand jeu: Great camerawork, editing, sets, atmosphere and... sex, lots of sex.

Le grand jeu is indeed a great film. Unfortunately I don't have a copy anymore.