Man With A Movie List

Director: Leontine Sagan Year: 1931 Run-time: 1 hr 38 min Source: Youtube (there is a version in multiple parts with English subs, but it requires searching) Notable For : This is a film with a complicated legacy.  On the one hand, it could be considered the first popular internationally known film to prominently feature a female romantic relationship.  In Weimar Germany, this was not the taboo subject that you might imagine.  Characters in  Morocco  and Pandora's Box  were more or less explicit in their desires, and some contemporary critics of Madchen in Uniform  thought that it could have gone further in that direction, requesting additional kissing scenes.  On the other hand, it's not fair to call it a film about lesbianism, since this is a story about a young orphan and her largely unreciprocated attraction to her caring governess.  The intended message here is about the cruelties of the Prussian boarding school system. Verdi...

Director: James Whale Year: 1931 Run-time: 1 hr 11 min Source: Amazon Video Notable For : It's the most iconic adaptation of Mary Shelley's great novel (here she's unfortunately credited as Mrs. Percy Shelley) and the second and probably the most successful in Universal's series of monster movies from this period.  Boris Karloff's performance as the monster with a hint of humanity was compelling for audiences of the time, and the film was a huge commercial success. Verdict :  It's not a bad film by any stretch, but it's not as interesting to me as Nosferatu  before it, and not nearly as gripping as Shelley's novel.  One could say that there are "shades" to Karloff's character, but there are also silly artifices working against that notion, such as the scientist's use of a "criminal's brain".  A modern viewer isn't going to find much that's thrilling in Frankenstein  - the most compelling aspect of the film t...

Director: Alexander Korda Year: 1931 Run-time: 2 hr 7 min Source: Criterion Channel Streaming Notable For :  Adapted from a play by Marcel Pagnol, Marius is the first in a trilogy of films set in Marseille that develops Pagnol's rich and diverse cast of characters.  Pagnol's dialogue deftly maneuvers between comedy and dramatic poignancy.  Few films of this era can make appropriate use of so many wonderful characters, including but not limited to Marius himself, his paramour Fanny, and their respective parents Cesar and Alida.  Korda's direction respects the script but enhances the sense of place, a small, comfortable town on the French coast which Marius longs to escape.  It's a landmark French film that mixes drama and comedy in a different way than Chaplin pioneered. Verdict :  Marius is an accessible, charming film that deserves a bigger audience (although it certainly has its champions).  The performances are strong, and though the story is...

Director: Mario Peixoto Year: 1931 Run-time: 2 hrs Source: Criterion Channel Streaming Notable For :  Peixoto is a one-time Brazilian director who created what may be the greatest cult silent film.  Formally as experimental as Vertov's work, Peixoto used a poetic, non-narrative structure to explore the frailty ("limits") of human experience.  With four recurring characters, but almost no dialogue, interpretation of the film is left open-ended, but unlike in Dovzhenko's work, the symbolism is almost always universal and easy to parse, and the emotions of the characters are at the forefront.  Verdict:  It's not an easy film, and at two hours it tests the viewer's patience, but I can certainly see why it remains very beloved, and have respect for the dedicated historians who heroically managed to keep it intact throughout the decades.  The pressures of pushing forward in the list don't often allow me to revisit films, but this is one I could see return...

Director: Fritz Lang Year: 1931 Source: Criterion Channel Streaming Wikipedia Analysis from One Hundred Years of Cinema Roger Ebert's Review Notable For:   This is Lang's first sound film and one that he would later call his magnum opus.  The depiction of a serial killer is surprisingly nuanced for the era.  The film is frank about the terror his actions cause but at least tries to understand his compulsions, and directly questions the audience on whether it's right to kill someone who can't control himself.  There are a number of classic scenes here - certainly Lang's editing and use of montage were in top form here. Verdict :  Although it doesn't displace Metropolis  in my mind, it's definitely a masterpiece.  In addition to everything laid out previously, I find it effective as an attempt at greater realism in crime fiction, in comparison to Fantomas  or even Lang's earlier film Spies  (although the more outlandish depiction of...

Director: Charlie Chaplin Year: 1931 Run-time: 1 hr 27 min Source: Criterion Channel Wikipedia Roger Ebert's Analysis Gary Giddins' Essay for The Criterion Collection Notable for : It's Chaplin's most renowned film, being the best example of his "Tramp character" as well as his innovative intermixing of comedy and tearful drama.  It's also a deliberate throwback, a silent film made three years after the advent of sound, which Chaplin knew signaled the end of the art form that he had pioneered.  Nevertheless it became a box office smash, and a sign that moviegoers were looking for comfort and familiarity in the midst of the Depression.  Chaplin controlled every inch of this film, frequently firing (and re-hiring) his put-upon actors, shooting hundreds of takes of the shortest scenes, and manipulating every twist of his audience's emotional state.  In return, it's likely become one of the most analyzed films in history, with many differen...

Director: Luis Buñuel Year: 1930 Run-time: 1 hr 3 min Source: Kanopy Notable For : This is Buñuel's second film, also a collaboration with Dali.  It's also considerably longer than Un Chien Andalou , and while it's still dream-like in the surrealist tradition, it's more thematically coherent.  Specifically, it takes aim at Catholic and bourgeois values, specifically sexual mores.  It's very deliberately provocative, especially the ending, although as with the previous film it's difficult to decipher any particular message.  However, it was enough to get it attacked by right-wing mobs and eventually even banned. Verdict : As with the last film, it's not easy to judge, since it evades any obvious analysis.  The two films are certainly enjoyable in their own way, and despite the greater length I had no trouble paying attention.  The second film lacks some of the stranger images that Un Chien Andalou conjures up, but it makes up for it by putting togeth...