Flickers in Time

My Favorite Films of 1933

Posted on March 21, 2013 | 3 comments

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.

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Posted in Top Ten Lists

Tagged 1930s, 1933

Twentieth Century

Posted on March 19, 2013 | 2 comments

Twentieth Century
Directed by Howard Hawks
1934/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Second Viewing

Oscar Jaffe worms his way into Lily Garland’s Heart

Theater empresario and master manipulator Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) discovers lingerie model Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard), changes her name to Lily Garland, and bullies her into stardom. They become lovers but his posturing and possessiveness finally drive her away to Hollywood. They meet again on the Twentieth Century Limited, which is taking Oscar from Chicago to New York after a flop and Lily from Hollywood to New York where she has signed to work with another director. The fireworks continue on the train as Oscar seizes on Lily as his last chance to get the financing he needs to save his theater.

Oscar Jaffe: I’m offering you a last chance to become immortal.
Lily Garland, aka Mildred Plotka: Then I’ve decided to stay mortal with responsible management.

This early screwball comedy, written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, is a lot of fun. Barrymore is especially good as the totally phony and ultra-flamboyant producer. Carole Lombard starts out sane and builds to a fever pitch of diva-itis after her character becomes a Hollywood star. Roscoe Karns and Walter Connelly are excellent as Oscar’s assistants.

When we get the two characters emoting at full blast on the train, the histrionics can go straight over the top but, even in those scenes, there is the wry humor of the assistants to enjoy. Separately both Barrymore and Lombard are hilarious. I can imagine that John Barrymore had a grand time sending up theatrical producers. I loved those crazy chalk marks on the floor and the whole concept of putting on the Passion Play on Broadway complete with camels and an ibis.

Clip – “Anathema, child of Satan!

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Posted in 1934

Tagged 1930s, 1934, Hawks, Hollywood

Street Without End

Posted on March 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

Street Without End (“Kagirinaki hodô”)
Directed by Mikio Naruse
1934/Japan
Shochiku Company
First Viewing

Hikaru: Don’t you see how I’m suffering?
Sugiko: I don’t think suffering is enough.

Sugiko works as a waitress in a Tokyo tea room. It looks like the world is her oyster. She has just received a proposal from her boyfriend and an offer from a movie studio for work as an actress. Then a rich young man hits her with his car. She loses her boyfriend due to a misunderstanding but the driver is falling for her. Can true love conquer the objections of his snobbish aristocratic family?

Street Without End 2

Naruse really hit his stride in this, his final silent film. I liked the way I was kept off guard with where the plot was taking me. It all felt very fresh. The film is bracketed with shots of life on a busy downtown Tokyo Street, which were an enjoyable slice of history. It’s a bit melodramatic but excellent nonetheless.

The complete film was available on YouTube as of May 23, 2020.

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Posted in 1934

My Favorite Films of 1929

Posted on March 17, 2013 | 6 comments

I watched 21 films for 1929. You can find the complete list with reviews here: http://www.imdb.com/list/8EJ4UrbiwEA/ . These were my ten favorites.

1. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I love the inventiveness and energy of this city symphony.

The city awakens

2. The Cocoanuts (Robert Florey and Joseph Santley)

The Marx Brothers made me laugh right out of the box! But where did they get those chorus girls for “The Monkey Doodle-Do”?

3. Pandora’s Box (G. W. Pabst)

Two words: Louise Brooks.

Clip

4. Piccadilly (E.A. DuPont)

Three words: Anna May Wong. Actually, this is a masterfully directed film as well with some standout choreography of large groups of people.

Gorgeous photography in pub/dance hall

5. Hallelujah! (King Vidor)

There is a sincerity in the portrayal of simple country folk that transcends any stereotyping in this all-black musical. And the singing, from spirituals to blues to Tin Pan Alley, can’t be beat.

Clip – Chick’s song and dance in the gambling joint

6. The Great Gabbo (James Cruze)

Erich von Stroheim is fantastic as an egocentric ventriloquist whose personality is slowly splitting between a persona who cannot relate to others and the kind and funny puppet who does his engaging with the world. The story is good enough to forgive the film’s ludicrous musical numbers.

Highlights

7. Asphalt (Joe May)

This late German silent was a complete delight to me, from its amusing beginning to its melodramatic end. I drank in the gorgeous expressionist lighting and super-stylish design.

Excerpt – seduction

8. Diary of a Lost Girl (G. W. Pabst)

Worth seeing just for the natural performance of the fabulous Louise Brooks as the lost girl.

Clips set to “Dear Diary” by Pink (I love this video!)

9. The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch)

These Pre-Code Lubitsch musicals are hard to beat when one is looking for a good time.

Clip – “My Love Parade”

10. Applause (Rouben Mamoulian)

The movie’s claim to fame is the fluidity with which Mamoulian uses the camera in this very early sound film. Helen Morgan is also simply fantastic as a worn-out burlesque star.

Opening – keep your eyes on that moving camera

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Maniac (1934)

Posted on March 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

Maniac
Directed by Dwain Esper
USA, 1934
Roadshow Attractions
First Viewing

Dr. Meirschultz admires his heart.

When he isn’t busy being a maniac, Dr. Meirschultz conducts experiments aimed at raising the dead. His idiot assistant, Don Maxwell, apparently owes the doctor plenty for taking him in after he flopped as an impersonator on the vaudeville circuit. When the doctor suggests that Maxwell shoot himself so that he can be an experimental subject, Maxwell shoots the doctor instead. He then makes himself up as the doctor and assumes his personality, becoming a maniac himself. In the meantime, we see various young women bare their breasts (I suspect this was the raison d’etre for the film), a man does a astoundingly bad tranformation to a monster, and Maxwell eats a “cat’s eyeball”. There are several “educational” intertitles with clinical descriptions of mental illnesses. Clearly, nobody planned to have this thing passed by the Hayes Office.

Buckley (after getting hypo of adrenaline): Oh! Stealing through my body! Creeping though my veins! Pouring in my blood! Oh, DARTS OF FIRE IN MY BRAIN! STABBING ME! I CAN’T STAND IT! I WON’T!

At 56 minutes, I had at least 5 LOL moments so I count this as a success on the bad movie front. I often wonder if the people involved really knew how bad these things were and were playing up the cheese factor. The acting is just so over the top here that it’s hard to think the actors weren’t trying for that effect!

Transformation scene

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Posted in 1934

Tagged 1930s, 1934

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.

the whiskey scene

10. Walk Cheerfully (Yasujiro Ozu)

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

Excerpt

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The Rise of Catherine the Great

Posted on March 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Rise of Catherine the Great
Directed by Paul Czinner
UK, 1934
London Films Production
First viewing

Catherine: “I am a woman like your mother and your sisters. I know that it is a bad wife who leaves her husband because he has been cruel. But it is a good mother who will fight everyone to save her children. You are my children. I come to you as the mother of all Russia.”

Empress Elizabeth of Russia (Flora Robson) is determined that her indolent, debauched nephew Grand Duke Peter (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) should wed a German princess. He resists this idea until he meets the lady in question (Elisabeth Bergner), who has loved him dearly since childhood. Upon their marriage, she is renamed Catherine. Sadly, Peter descends slowly into madness but Catherine stands by her man until his public humiliations become too much to bear. It is not giving too much away to say she goes on to become Catherine the Great but in this version the death of Peter is strictly against her orders. All poor Catherine was ever looking for was a little love.

“Can anyone love someone like me?”

It is impossible to watch this film without comparing it to Josef von Sternberg’s weird but wonderful The Scarlet Empress released the same year. That is definitely the superior of the two films primarily because Bergner cannot hold a candle to Marlene Dietrich.

However, if taken alone, The Rise of Catherine the Great is not half bad. Flora Robson is excellent as the randy but principled Elizabeth and, while Fairbanks, Jr. struck me as too bland at the beginning of the film, he really grew on me. Bergner, the wife of director Czinner, was a famous Austrian actress and this was her first English speaking role. She is competent but unfortunately her sometimes wide-eyed coquettishness and petite stature make her look like she’s playing dress-up in those period costumes. Speaking of costumes, they and the sets are lavish and wonderful.

Ending

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Posted in 1934

Tagged 1930s, 1934, Korda

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.

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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

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.

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Posted in Top Ten Lists

Tagged 1930s

The Private Life of Don Juan

Posted on March 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Private Life of Don Juan
Directed by Alexander Korda
UK, 1934
London Film Productions
First viewing

Lobby card featuring Merle Oberon and Douglas Fairbanks

Don Juan: “All girls are different. All wives are alike.”

An aging Douglas Fairbanks plays an aging Don Juan in this pleasant comedy. Don Juan is tiring after 20 years in the saddle and when an imposter is killed in a duel happily attends his own funeral. The only problem is that when he wants to reclaim his identity, no one will believe him. Merle Oberon is top-billed as a fiery Spanish dancer although Benita Hume has the bigger part as a woman plotting to keep the Don as her own. I loved the Spanish flavored score. Fairbanks looks pretty tired but carries the film with his humor. He was a very good sport! This was his last film. He would die in 1939 at age 56.

Excerpts – scenes of Merle Oberon with Douglas Fairbanks

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Posted in Movie Reviews

Tagged 1930s, 1934, Britain, Korda

Flickers in Time

My Favorite Films of 1933

Twentieth Century

Street Without End

My Favorite Films of 1929

Maniac (1934)

My Top 10 for 1930

The Rise of Catherine the Great

My Favorite Films of 1931

My Favorite Films of 1932

The Private Life of Don Juan

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