- I managed to see 42 movies released in 1932. These were my 10 favorites. There is a list of all the movies I watched with my full reviews at: http://www.imdb.com/list/CNHMAVcPFdc/?publish=save
1. Love Me Tonight
- (Rouben Mamoulian) – I don’t think there is another such perfect musical comedy until Singin’ in the Rain 20 years later.
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Jeanette McDonald and Maurice Chevalier – She doesn’t know he is a tailor!
Clip – “Isn’t It Romantic?” – I love this number!
2. I Was Born But … (Yasujiro Ozu) OK, I know that the idea of a Japanese silent film is off-putting but I promise you this one is great. The first time I saw it, it didn’t even have background music. Just complete silence and the pictures. And I forgot the total absence of sound in about 5 minutes. The story is just that funny and real and touching and … oh, I just love this movie.
- Our child heros are faced with these guys when they move into their new house
3. Fanny (Marc Allégret) – A young girl is left heartbroken and pregnant but surrounded by love and the humanity of Marseilles in the 1930’s. A beautifully written and acted film.
Trailer – no subtitles
4. Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch)- Sophisticated, sly comedy – what the famous Lubitsch touch is all about.
- Shadows say so much …
Clip
5. Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer) – A horror movie with no jump shots and a vampire movie with no bats or fangs. This dreamscape scares with its exquisite, spare, atmospheric black and white cinematography. The work of a master.
- An inn
6. The Old Dark House (James Whale) – Comedy and horror generally don’t mix in my book but they work like a charm in this film. I would rank this dark and stormy night story right up there with Whale’s more famous Frankenstein films.
10. Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg) – Von Sternberg avoids the excesses of some of his later Dietrich films and puts together an exciting fast-paced thriller. Dietrich and Anna May Wong are iconic in this one.
- Marlene Detriech, Lawrence Grant, Clive Brook and Anna May Wong
Clips from Shanghai Express set to “Shanghai Lil” by Gene Kardos and His Orchestra
8. Scarface (Howard Hawks) – Paul Muni is great as a ruthless killer with a weakness for his little sister. This movie has style.
- Tony (Paul Muni) doesn’t want his sister (Ann Dvorak) dating!
Re-release trailer
9. The Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton) – A true horror classic with a timeless performance by Charles Laughton as the sadistic and polymorphously perverse Dr. Moreau.
- Charles Laughton is Dr. Moreau
Re-release trailer
10. Wooden Crosses (Raymond Bernard) – Devastating and unforgettable film about the horrors suffered by a French battalion in World War I.
Shanghai Express…….oh my!!!! Marlena and Anna May are too perfect but I really could have done without Clive Brook. I find him to be a very wooden actor and also read somewhere that he was not a very nice man.
Scarface…..this one would never had made it by the censors. The underlying theme of incest (or at least thoughts of incest by Muni) would have had them running for the hills. George Raft makes a nice debut (or was it his debut?) and of course made the coin flip iconic.
Island of Lost Souls……Laughton really plays the sicko Dr. to perfection. He was not an attractive man and that made it even more menacing. This is the type of film that leaves a bad taste in your mouth….but it was great.