Man With A Movie List

Director: Charlie Chaplin Year: 1940 Run-time: 2 hrs 4 min - There's too much to unpack about this short article, but suffice it to say that the stars must have been aligned in order for Chaplin to get to make this film about his ostensible doppleganger in 1940, when the U.S. was a neutral spectator to the war in Europe. The Hitler parody is funny, but most of the time it isn't over-the-top, and it often becomes quite frightening at the same time (see the famous "balloon globe" scene). This film is in many ways the apotheosis of Chaplin's desire to control his audience's experience, which even in a sound film (Chaplin's first) he is still able to do remarkably well. The pivot to honesty in the last scene is incredibly moving.  I'm not sure if it's my favorite of Chaplin's films, but it's certainly the most essential.

Director: Ben Sharpsteen and others Year: 1940 Run-time: 2 hr 6 min - It's hard to know what to say about Fantasia , which has been a staple for me and my wife since early childhood, except to say that it holds up. On my most recent viewing, I found the tempos and arrangements a bit slow and dull, respectively, but the animation astounding. Sorcerer's Apprentice  is overrated, the last three pieces are all astoundingly weird and awesome (including Night on Bald Mountain , which has already had an animated accompaniment on this list that's much more avant-garde). It made me realize how much I miss plot-less and sensory experiences in animated film. I love Studio Ghibli and Pixar and have been watching many of their films since they appeared on HBO Max, but those films usually have strong plots to keep kids engaged (kids have different attention-based needs I suppose).

Directors: Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske Year: 1940 Run-time: 1 hr 28 min - I find Pinocchio  to be alternately tragic and vaudevillian. As a morality tale, it's oppressive, with the protagonist falling headlong into all sorts of terrible vices from the get-go. (The famous lie-detecting nose bit is actually the most understated.) As a piece of Disney animation, it's chock full of wonderful details and expressions in just about every character. Certainly the lead character himself moves like no other cartoon before or since, but Jiminy Cricket also has a strange dance-like gait as well that makes this film entrancing to watch. - As a landmark in Disney's pivot towards serious, emotional feature films, it's probably more of a landmark than the pretty but asinine Snow White , but it's not even close to my favorite animated films.

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi Year: 1939 Run-time: 2 hr 22 min - This is a stellar romance from Mizoguchi, often called his best pre-war piece, but it's most fascinating for being a frank description of Kabuki actors in the 19th century. It's very hard to understand as a Westerner, but the strange culture and art form is crucial to understanding the story, which centers on an actor and adopted son of a famous Kabuki idol (who will pass on his famous name) struggling to live up to his inheritance, and getting honest criticism from the wet nurse to a biological son of the same actor.  It's a credit to Mizoguchi that the strength of the story passes unscathed through the culture shock. - Although the patient and ever-enduring female lead that is a staple of Mizoguchi films is here, the male lead has a little more backbone than usual, and develops in a fascinating way over the course of the story, which takes place over multiple years and goes through highs and lows of the ac...

Director: George Marshall Year: 1939 Run-time: 1 hr 35 min - One of the list's greatest features is its international outlook.  But it can be a bit confounding. In a year often identified as one of the greatest in Hollywood's history, our list-maker picks just five films, with the single American entry not being  The Wizard of Oz  or Gone with the Wind, but the quirky little Western Destry Rides Again . It's an oddball choice, but not one without merit.  Jimmy Stewart makes his list debut opposite our old friend Marlene Dietrich in this Western that parodies most of the tropes before they were entrenched in the 50's (and then later subverted in the 60's and 70's). - In this era of police violence, a story of a sheriff who refuses to wear a gun is so refreshing that I wish I could somehow inspire a resurgence of this film. - Marlene Dietrich very consciously plays against type here - the story goes that she was encouraged to do so by Josef von Sternberg h...

Director: Jean Renoir Year: 1939 Run-time: 1 hr 50 min - This is Renoir's grand opus, his most famous film, at least after it came back into favor after the war (it was a notorious flop upon release).  If I was forced to choose, I might call it my favorite film of the 1930's.  But it's not very representative of that era, not fitting neatly into any particular movement.  Renoir was as much a pioneer of poetic realism as Carne, but with this one he consciously rejected the style and tried to make something that was, to paraphrase the man himself, more Voltaire than Flaubert. But in confronting class hierarchy directly, he created something that felt more honest than anything he had made before, while being at the same time breathtaking and often bitingly funny. - Class conflict was a preoccupation of Renoir's previous films going back at least as far as Boudu Saved From Drowning , but many other of Renoir's themes can be found here as well, including the relati...

Director: Marcel Carné Year: 1939 Run-time: 1 hr 33 min - Carné's films up to now have demonstrated that his model of poetic realism was a clear predecessor to film noir in their nihilism and broken men.  Le Jour Se Lève  continues those themes, but in a resolutely unromantic way that doesn't glorify the actions of its desperate lead.  As such, it's probably the strongest of Carné's films so far on the list.  The dialogue is rarely dressed up or snappy, but it creates a stifling mood that reveals how little hope the characters have for breaking out of their destinies. It's not a joyous film to watch, but it's a significant step forward for moviemaking. - This may be the last we see of Gabin on the list, although I haven't peeked too far ahead. If so, it would be an interesting note to go out on.  Gabin was unique among big film stars for his understatedness. He was always willing to let go of his ego to further the story.