Should Films Talk?
Last week I noted how hard it would be to pick the top ten films from 1929, when Hollywood was in a dither. Well, that hasn't stopped Jesse Walker from making his list. And an interesting list it is, with quite a few shorts and experimental films, very few from Hollywood.
I agree the Oscar winner, The Broadway Melody, which must have seemed amazing back then, does not hold up. (Later films in the series, once they'd licked sound, are still pretty entertaining.) But I would definitely put Lubitsch's The Love Parade in the top ten. Okay, he's still working things out, but it's got a lot going for it. (If you want to read a guy who loves it even more, check out Ethan Mordden's great if idiosyncratic book on the Hollywood musical.)
What's Jesse's list?
1. The Man With a Movie Camera
This one is a lot of fun. Certainly deserves a place on the list.
2. My Grandmother
Never saw it. (Have seen David Lynch's Grandmother.)
3. A Cottage on Dartmoor
It'd be interesting to see early Anthony Asquith, but I don't know this film. (By the way, where's Hitchcock?)
4. Hallelujah!
Certainly interesting to see a film like this in the early days of sound before certain conventions would take over.
5. Nogent
Gee, I'm not catching any of these films.
6. Pandora's Box
Certainly this belongs. And Diary Of A Lost Girl would have made my top ten as well.
7. Un Chien Andalou
Bunuel's one of my favorite director, and he starts off his career with a bang. Or a slice.
8. Big Business
One of several great Laurel and Hardy films of the year.
9. The Skeleton Dance
Early, wonderful Disney (which, as Jesse notes, isn't really a Disney sort of Disney).
10. The New Babylon
I've seen a lot of silent Soviet stuff, but I guess there are a lot I've missed.
11. Diary of a Lost Girl (Georg Wilhelm Pabst)
12. Les Mystères du Château de Dé (Man Ray)
13. Tusalava (Len Lye)
14. Hyas and Stenorhynchus (Jean Painlevé)
15. The Hoose-Gow (James Parrott)
16. Brumes d'Automne (Dimitri Kirsanoff)
17. H2O (Ralph Steiner)
18. Black and Tan (Dudley Murphy)
19. La Perle (Henri d'Ursel)
20. Everything Turns Everything Resolves (Hans Richter)
Haven't seen any except 11, 12 and 15.
There are a few omissions. In particular, you've got Buster Keaton's last silent and the Marx Brothers' first talkie. Spite Marriage is far from Keaton's best, but even so-so silent Keaton is pretty special. The Cocoanuts suffers from the stiffness and creakiness of early sound, but even so the greatness of the Marx Brothers shines through. (And Harpo isn't affected at all.)
posted by LAGuy @ 12:02 AM
2 Comments:
I like Spite Marriage and The Cocoanuts, but they were both too uneven to make the list. (I have a few thoughts about Spite Marriage at the beginning of this review of Free and Easy.) The Love Parade was a quantum leap forward for Lubitsch -- he's one director whose talkies are far, far better than his silents -- but again, too uneven for the list. When it comes to Lubitsch/Chevalier collaborations, I like One Hour with You better.
Finally: You really ought to see My Grandmother and A Cottage on Dartmoor. The former is one of the great anti-Communist movies. The latter is better than Blackmail (another uneven picture that missed the list) and is unlike any of Asquith's sound films that I've seen.
Just want to note to everyone I saw Nogent and it was quite good. A very entertaining time capsule of life in France in the 1920s.
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