I just completed watching 63 films that were released in 1933. A complete list, with reviews, can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/list/LPudKpTiH0A/ . It was tough to limit myself to just 10 favorites!
1. Gold Diggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy) — This movie captured my heart the first time I heard Ginger Rogers singing “We’re in the Money” in Pig Latin and I’m still loopy for it decades later.
Clip – “We’re in the Money”
2. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang) — I love the atmosphere of dread Lang creates in this movie and the wonderful performance by Oscar Wernicke as the crass but clever inspector Lohmann.
Clip – Intro in the counterfeiting press
3. Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo) — This highly inventive short film is full of youthful anarchic energy and surrealist touches.
Clip – Dormitory rebellion/pillow fight
4. King Kong (Marien C. Cooper) — The granddaddy of all special effects films and still pretty amazing.
Re-release trailer
5. Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch) This sly comedy about a menage a trois could only have been made in pre-Code Hollywood. The Ben Hecht screenplay sparkles as bright as the acting and direction.
Criterion DVD – Three Reasons
6. 42nd Street (Lloyd Bacon) — Warner Bros. backstage musical bliss.
Clip – “I’m Young and Healthy”
7. Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Hiroshi Shimizu) — The absolutely poetic outdoor shots of Yokohama were a revelation in this, my introduction to director Shimizu.
8. Dinner at Eight (George Cukor) — All the actors, including both the Barrymore brothers, do themselves proud but my favorite parts feature Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery as a bickering couple.
Clip – Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery argue
9. Counsellor at Law (William Wyler) — Truly the best performance I have seen by John Barrymore and the wisecracks fly around the law office about as fast as in The Front Page.
10. The Invisible Man (James Whale) — Claude Rains makes an unforgettable US film debut as the title character with his resonant voice. James Whale again shows his deft hand at mixing wit with violence and doing justice to both
Trailer
Just missed the Top 10: The Mayor of Hell, Little Women, Woman of Tokyo, Lady for a Day, Morning Glory and Sons of the Desert.
List of Shame (movies I wish I had seen): Alice in Wonderland, Ecstasy, Libelei, The Story of Temple Drake, Madame Bovary, Tugboat Annie, etc.
