Man With A Movie List

Director: Sam Wood Year: 1935 Run-time: 1 hr 33 min - This film, not as good as Duck Soup , further cements my opinion of the Marx Brothers as a bit overrated.  However, it does have my favorite scene among the two movies, that where Harpo and Chico entertain children with separate musical acts.  I was enchanted by the excellent performances as well as the little gestures they add as they play piano and then harp.

Director: James Whale Year: 1935 Run-time: 1 hr 15 min - I was surprised by how good this film is, clearly superior to the original, which I'm not that fond of.  It delves so much more into the psychology of the monster character, integrating some of the more interesting aspects of the book.  The monster is developed as a tragic figure without dulling any of his terrifying inhumanity (indeed, this film I found to be much scarier than the original, without losing its camp fun). - If I have any complaints, it's that the ending is o anticlimactic.  Certainly, everyone wishes we could have more of the excellent Bride character.

Director: Jean Renoir Year: 1935 Run-time: 1 hr 30 min - This is a film about immigrants in the south of France, but in my opinion at least it doesn't have too much to say about the immigrant experience, except as it relates to class.  In some sense I suppose it matters that the woman leaves Toni in order to be with an abusive native-born man matters, but it's hard for me to say just how the story would be different if Toni himself was French.  But it is a top-class story about relationships, with a heavy dose of melodrama but always with its eye on practicalities.  If the acting was a bit better, it would rank among Renoir's top films, but as such it's still an excellent watch.

Director: Mark Sandrich Year: 1935 Run-time: 1 hr 41 min - Will there be any film on this list that's as charming as Top Hat ?  It's hard to imagine.  This is such a comforting film in these times - it's impossible to take seriously and impossible not to love.  It's amazing to think that musicals evolved from Love Me Tonight  to Top Hat  in just three years (no disrespect to the first film, which is still a favorite.) - Holy cow, the clothes.  It's wonderful to read that Ginger Rogers was so involved in the costume design.  The ostrich feather dress is iconic.  But Astaire too is a sharp dresser.  Part of the fantasy of this film is the idea that men can live in such clothes.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock Year: 1935 Run-time: 1 hr 26 min - The modern thriller has been refined so much that it would be difficult to place The 39 Steps  in the top 5, but that doesn't mean that this isn't an extremely fun film to watch.  Watching Hannay be so awful to Pamela when she still believes him to be a murder is pretty cringe-inducing, but it doesn't ruin the film.  There are so many astounding shots that make for a cinematography master-class.  I'll be thinking of the seamless transition from a scene inside the car to a shot following the car.  That one's not easy to pull off today.

Director: Josef von Sternberg Year: 1934 Run-time: 1 hr 44 min - This at first seemed like one of the lesser films from von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich, but on reflection I like it a lot.  The set design is phenomenal - the insane chairs with grotesques hovering above the backs, the skeleton at the dinner table.  It's a fever dream, and the fact that it's shot in enough darkness to make the cameras of the time period strain to pick up these backgrounds makes it even more astonishing. - This is from an era of period pieces when actors could just get away with American accents - I'm reminded of the excellent Youtube series on accents.  Surprisingly, I'm not entirely opposed to the old method - it allows the actors to be more naturally expressive.  It just sends a different directorial message, putting the emphasis more on commonalities between that time and place and now.  (It also inevitably comes off as insensitive to culture - I'm not saying we should ...

Director: Wu Yonggang - It's easy to see why this is often hailed as the "pinnacle" of Chinese silent film.  It's an accomplished melodrama that might have drawn inspiration from Borzage or von Sternberg (and seems of a similar lineage to Mizoguchi's early work), but carries a style distinct from these.  My heart was in my throat  near the end. - I was surprised to see equal access to education be such a prominent theme - there were definite parallels to modern educational segregation in the way that the other parents want the child of a prostitute out of their school (in this case for the sake of "reputation"). It definitely hit home.

Director: Basil Wright Year: 1934 Run-time: 38 min - Compared to Salt for Svanetia,  this doesn't have the same larger agenda of promoting Soviet unity and progression. It's actually a sympathetic portrait of a land on the edge of British colonialism, and melancholic about what the future would have in store for its people.  It isn't particularly interested in having the Sinhalese narrate their own story, instead choosing to recount a British sailor's account of the island (I didn't catch much of the narration, since the version I picked on Youtube had poor sound issues). Nevertheless it's the strongest documentary we've seen so far, unless you count Man with a Movie Camera .

Director: Jean Vigo Year: 1934 Run-time: 1 hr 29 min Source: Criterion Channel Streaming - This is one of those eternally influential films that doesn't resonate with me as much as it does many others, ranking as high as 12th on the latest Sight and Sound poll.  I don't dislike it, it just seems a bit slight to me.  There are some beautiful shots, and the romance is sweet although clearly doomed. - Along with Marius , it's another reminder that if you were middle-class and wanted to see the world before mid-century, then you needed to become a sailor.  What a hard life that would have been, and the rootlessness really infects this film and its poor heroine. - The film was heavily erotic for the time - the shots of the man and his wife longing for each other in different beds is pretty genius - the dotted shading is strangely evocative. - Michel Simon stars as the clown Pere Simon, a slight evolution of his character in Boudo Saved From Drowning  (which Ren...

Director: Frank Capra Year: 1934 Run-time: 1 hr 45 min - This is one of those movies that I could watch any day.  The romance isn't the most interesting thing about it. It's the premise of a high-class socialite (and a fast-talking newspaper man) getting a taste of real America via a cheap road trip, an idea which translates well to modern times.  This is the kind of America that's easy to be nostalgic for, if it ever really existed: a land of camp fire songs, and sleeping in hay bales, and taking the bus.  Gable's character is one of screwball's best, with his fast talk and left-field plans.  But Claudette Colbert holds her own against him. Clare and I loved it.

Director: Raymond Bernard Year: 1934 Run-time: 4 hr 49 min Source: Criterion Channel Streaming - This is frequently cited as the best adaptation of Hugo's novel, but even at nearly five hours, it's surprising how much is omitted.  It has a good Valjean, although his thoughts are occasionally brought out in this, whereas in the book he is almost a complete cipher.  Marius and Cosette seem a little more vapid, and Javert has no redeeming qualities.  I miss the omission of the convent scenes, although I understand they bear no relation on the larger plot (except for the reappearance of the cart driver). - It's quite fitting that Bernard would be the Frenchman to adapt this, as The Chess Player  had established him as a master of the blockbuster epic, particularly in balancing character and plot. - A recent ad email from Criterion Channel revealed that Wes Anderson is a big Bernard fan, including Les Mis.  It's an interesting comparison - obviously Bernard ...

Director: William A. Seiter Year: 1933 Run-time: 1 hr 4 min Source: Amazon Video - This is the first and perhaps only Laurel and Hardy film on the list. As a comedy, it's very different in style than Duck Soup, and I liked it a fair bit more.  The contrast between the two characters is delightful, and there's no modern equivalent to the comedy duo riffing on each other like this.  (The only example that comes to mind is Conan O'Brien and Jordan Schlansky.)  There's also no cinematic clown quite like Stan Laurel.  Plus the theme of husbands dominated by their wives plays surprisingly well against today's expectations. - Recently Steve Coogan starred with John C. Reilly in a biopic of Laurel and Hardy late in their careers.  I haven't seen the film, but I did see an interview with Coogan where he gave an impression of Laurel and one of his antics.  It was a funny bit, but at least compared to the Laurel of this film I'm not sure Coogan was the right fi...