Depressing
My friend Jesse Walker has been naming the top ten films of the year in decades ending in "9." He just got back to 1939 and I think that's it. Even if he did want to do 1929, it would be hard to pull off. 1929 was the year that silent films essentially ended (in Hollywood, anyway) while sound was still in its infancy. Some early sound films are okay, but most are primitive and hard to sit through.
I guess you could work out a top ten list, but half of them would be Laurel & Hardy shorts.
I guess you could work out a top ten list, but half of them would be Laurel & Hardy shorts.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:20 AM
8 Comments:
How about The Cocoanuts, Pandora's Box, Diary Of A Lost Girl, Hallelujah!, Spite Marriage, Queen Kelly, The Love Parade, Blackmail. The Skeleton Dance and Un Chien Andalou.
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I've been delayed by a couple of other writing projects (plus my usual workload), but I plan to put up a list this weekend. It has a larger than usual selection of experimental films, for the exact reason you laid out here -- with narrative features, even the good stuff (say, THE LOVE PARADE) is weighed down by the fact that most directors haven't quite figured out how to pace their dialogue and otherwise use this new tool of sound.
Meanwhile: I don't think I've seen any Laurel & Hardy shorts from that year! Recommend your favorite one, and maybe I'll find the time to watch it before I publish my picks.
(P.S. to Anon: Four of the movies you mention are on my list.)
The Man With a Movie Camera
Yeah, that one's on the list too.
By 1929, Laurel and Hardy were a well-established comedy team. It was the year they made the change from silents to talkies, and they barely broke their stride. (In fact, I'd say Laurel And Hardy are the only major silent clowns who got better with sound. Some might make a case for W. C. Fields except I don't think he was a major silent clown.)
They were making a short a month then, and among the silents you've got Big Business, Liberty and Double Whoopee. Then sound comes in and you've got Men O' War, Perfect Day and The Hoose-Gow.
I suppose Big Business, with its template for escalating destruction, is the best known, though Liberty and Men O' War are probably just as good.
Thanks. I found Big Business online & enjoyed it. I also found this online & enjoyed it.
It's pretty good. Stan and Ollie dancing in Way Out West is a fan favorite, and both Mary Tyler Moore and Billy Crystal (on separate occasions) inserted themselves into that sequence so they could dance with them.
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