Category Archives: Top Ten Lists

Favorite movies per year

My Top 10 for 1930

Posted on March 16, 2013 | 2 comments

I saw 26 movies that were released in 1930 and these were my 10 favorites. The complete list with my reviews is available here: http://www.imdb.com/list/gHnKv0802xI/ .

1. The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg)

This masterfully told story of how a pompous and proud professor is slowly brought low by his infatuation with a free-spirited music hall singer made Marlene Dietrich a star but I always come back for Emil Jannings.

Marlene Dietrich sings “Falling in Love Again”

2. All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone)

The horrors of war told from the perspective of the enemy in what is still one of the most moving anti-war films ever made.

Re-release trailer

3. Á propos de Nice (Jean Vigo)

I love the way Jean Vigo’s films are so full of life and this city symphony is no exception.

Clip

4. City Girl (F. W. Murnau)

I had not heard of this film before beginning my review of 1930. Now I think it is the near equal of F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise</em.. I wonder if those shots in the fields inspired Days of Heaven.

Gorgeous tracking shot of lovers running through wheat fields

5. Under the Roofs of Paris (René Clair)

Another captivating musical souffle from René Clair. I am crazy about these.

6. Hell’s Angels (Howard Hughes)

The flight and battle scenes are simply fantastic, especially when you consider the technology of the time.

Clip – “You fools!”

7. Animal Crackers (Victor Heerman)

The Marx Brothers make me laugh.

“Hello, I Must Be Going/Hurray for Captain Spaulding”

8. Salt for Svanetia (Mikhail Kalatozov)

Propaganda “documentary” about how the Bolsheviks rescue a Georgian village from ïgnorance and salt depravation by building a road. The cinematography is so beautiful that I forgave it everything.

Clip

9. Anna Christie (Clarence Brown)

Garbo gives a fine performance in her first talkie but my favorite performance was by Marie Dressler as her father’s boozy pal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Rvqm5XR7E

the whiskey scene

10. Walk Cheerfully (Yasujiro Ozu)

A gentle early comedy by one of my favorite directors with an uncharacteristic gangland backdrop.

Excerpt

2 Comments

Posted in Top Ten Lists

My Favorite Films of 1931

Posted on March 15, 2013 | 7 comments

I saw 37 movies that were released in 1931 and these were my 10 favorites. The complete list with my reviews is available here: http://www.imdb.com/list/Fu6-KI2OuCE/

1. City Lights (Charles Chaplin) – My heart belongs to Buster Keaton but even I must admit that no one ever equalled this. The last three minutes are a master class in pure cinema.

the ending

2. M (Fritz Lang) – A masterpiece.

3. La Chienne (Jean Renoir) – I love it when I discover a new film for my non-existent all-time top 100 list and this was one. I prefer this to Lang’s remake, Scarlet Street, which I also love.

Clip

4. Frankenstein (James Whale) – Every time I see this I am moved all over again by Karloff’s sensitive performance as the Monster.

Re-release trailer

5. Marius (Alexander Korda) – The first part of Marcel Pagnol’s “Marseilles” or “Fanny” Trilogy. This is a richly human film filled with marvelous character parts and emotion. The dialogue is wonderful without being too stagey.

6. Le Million (Rene Clair) – I find Clair’s musical souffles totally enchanting and is my very favorite.

7. Comradeship (“Kameradschaft”) (G.W. Pabst)- Story of how German miners come to the rescue of their French comrades trapped underground near the border. The special effects, sound, and photography are amazing for such an early effort. Added to this are a suspenseful story and an accomplished ensemble cast.

8. The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch) – How can you go wrong with a pre-Code Lubitsch musical featuring numbers such as “Jazz Up Your Lingerie”?

Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins sing “Jazz Up Your Lingerie”

9. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian) – Mamoulian always makes interesting use of his camera and I thought March deserved his Oscar.

Clip – Hyde forces Ivy to sing

10. The 3 Penny Opera (“Die 3 Groschen-Oper”)(G.W. Pabst) – I’ve read a lot of folks don’t care for this because they don’t think it does justice to the Brecht and Weill stage musical. Well I haven’t seen that and I just loved this film. The acting is fantastic and the production is so stylish that the frames could have leapt directly out of a Georg Grosz painting.

Clip – “Mack the Knife”

The last two movies were in a dead heat with the following films: Waterloo Bridge, The Front Page, Bad Girl, and Tokyo Chorus.

7 Comments

Posted in Top Ten Lists

Tagged 1930s

My Favorite Films of 1932

Posted on March 14, 2013 | 1 comment

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.

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEpHOnoE3bY

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.