As The Storm Clouds Gather

1938.  War is in the offing, but Hollywood is still in the midst of the first full glorious decade of sound.  And Europe is still free enough to keep the cameras turning.

So what is Jesse Walker's top ten list for the year?  Let's find out:

1. Porky in Wackyland
2. La Bête Humaine
3. The Lady Vanishes
4. Port of Shadows
5. Bringing Up Baby
6. You Can't Take It With You
7. Algiers
8. Holiday
9. Les Disparus de St. Agil
10. If I Were King

"Porky" is a (classic) short, so shouldn't be here.

La Bete Humaine is a fine film (made by Renoir in between The Grand Illusion and Rules Of The Game).

Now that Hitchcock has been consecrated, we forget for years critics bemoaned his Hollywood output, saying he'd lost the magic of his British work.  Films like The Lady Vanishes were the reason why.

I've never gotten around to seeing Port Of Shadows, or, for that matter, Les Disparus de St. Agil.

Bringing Up Baby would be my #1 for the year.

I have mixed feelings about You Can't Take It With You.  It's a good film, though not quite up to Capra's best from the decade.  Still, I wonder how much of this is because I'm annoyed that he took a perfectly fine (Pulitzer Prize-winning) play and turned it into a very different Capra movie.

Algiers is pretty good.  Holiday is a gem.  If I Were King isn't bad, though mostly, I'd guess, due to Preston Sturges' screenplay.

Honorable mentions:

11. Pygmalion
12. They Drive By Night
13. Quadrille
14. Goonland
15. The Chess Player
16. Hôtel du Nord
17. The Childhood of Maxim Gorky
18. The Adventures of Robin Hood
19. Cotillion
20. Merrily We Live

11 is the most--really only--successful film adaptation of GBS.  Should be top ten (and it almost is).  I'm a fan of 12--maybe it should have been top ten, too.  Haven't seen 13.  14 is a Popeye short.  Haven't seen 15 or 16--Jesse is sure up on his French films.  Haven't seen 17 either.  18 is classic adventure--should be top ten.  19 is a short.  20 is a minor, enjoyable rip-off of My Man Godfrey.

Other films that would make my top ten:

Carefree (even lesser Astaire and Rogers at RKO is great)

A Damsel In Distress (even Astaire without Rogers at RKO is great)

Olympia

You And Me (Jesse mentions it, and I've always had a soft spot for this bizarre movie)

Other films I liked:

Alexander Nevsky (Jesse likes Ivan, so what's wrong with Alexander?), The Big Broadcast Of 1938, Block-Heads, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (the first half, anyway), The Citadel, College Swing, Room Service (though it's the first Marx Brothers film not to be a classic), A Slight Case Of Murder, Test Pilot, Too Hot To Handle, Vivacious Lady

Other films of note:

The Adventures Of Marco Polo, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, Alexander's Ragtime Band, The Amazing  Dr. Clitterhouse, Bank Holiday, Blonde, Boys Town, The Buccaneer, A Christmas Carol, Cocoanut Grove, The Dawn Patrol, The Divorce Of Lady X, La Femme Du Boulanger (Jesse likes French films so much but apparently not this one), La Marseillaise, Fools For Scandal, Four Daughters, Four’s A Crowd, The Girl Of The Golden West, Hard To Get, Having Wonderful Time, Her Jungle Love, I Am The  Law, J’Accuse!, Judge Hardy’s Children, Just Around The Corner, Kentucky, Kidnapped, Little Miss Broadway, Love Finds Andy Hardy, Mad About Music, The Mad Miss Manton, Marie Antoinette, Men With Wings, Mr. Moto’s Gamble, My Bill, Of Human Hearts, In Old Chicago, Out West With The Hardys, Paradise For Three, Prison Break, Professor Beware (really the end of Harold Lloyd), Radio City Revels, Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm, The Shopworn Angel, Sidewalks Of London, The Sisters, Suez, Sweethearts, That Certain Age, There Goes My Heart, Three Comrades, We’re Going To Be Rich, A Woman’s Face, A Yank At Oxford, Young Dr. Kildare, The Young In Heart