The Beginning And The End

We finish Jesse Walker's top ten lists with the best of 1931.  It was an exciting time for film.  Sound had taken over and no one was sure what would happen next.

Here's the list:

(https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2022/01/five-directors-do-double-duty-weve.html)

1.  Bimbo's Initiation

2.  Monkey Business

3.  Philips-Radio

4.  M

5.  Le Million

6.  La Chienne

7.  Frankenstein

8.  A Nous La Liberte

9.  Blonde Crazy

10.  Safe In Hell

Overall a fine list, but "Bimbo's Initiation" is a short and "Philips-Radio" is a longish piece of promotion.   I just don't think they can be compared to features.

Monkey Business is certainly a top five, as are all Marx Brothers films at Paramount.

The foreign directors show well here--M, Le Million, La Chienne and A Nous La Liberte.  All are classic or near-classic.

Frankenstein is one of the great horror films.  Blonde Crazy is fun.  Haven't seen Safe In Hell, though it's on my list.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  Marius

12.  The Smiling Lieutenant

13.  The Threepenny Opera

14.  Douro, Faina Fluvial

15.  Night Nurse

16.  Kameradschaft

17.  Mask-a-Raid

18   A Bronx Morning

19.  Waterloo Bridge

20.  Bosko The Doughboy

Pretty good list.  14, 17, 18 and 20 are shorts. Though I must ask, if you're going to choose shorts, why no Laurel and Hardy?

The rest are worthy choices.

Here is where I list other films that might have made my top ten or twenty, but I must make special note of Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.  It often makes lists of the top ten films of all time.  To me, it's one of his three greatest films, along with The Gold Rush and Modern Times.

Jesse and I have been at it before over Chaplin.  I believe Chaplin may be the greatest artist ever on film, and I've seen how his best work still plays in front of audiences. In fact, just last year I showed City Lights to my movie group and it went over as big as ever.  Someday, I hope Jesse will stumble into a theatre showing old movies (if they still have those) and become a convert.

Other films I'd consider for my top twenty:

Caught Plastered or Cracked Nuts (if you're in the mood for Wheeler and Woolsey)

The Criminal Code

Dishonored

Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde

Dracula

The Front Page

Little Caesar

Pardon Us

The Public Enemy

Platinum Blonde

Tabu

Other films of note:

Alexander Hamilton, An American Tragedy, Arrowsmith, The Champ, Cimarron, Connecticut Yankee, Delicious, Dirigible, Dreyfus, Five Star Final, Flying High, A Free Soul, The Guardsman, Hell Divers, The Maltese Falcon, Mata Hari, The Millionaire, The Miracle Woman, On Purge Bebe, Parlor Bedroom And Bath, Politics, Private Lives, Sidewalks Of New York, The Sin Of Madelon Claudet, Skippy, Strictly Dishonorable, Susan Lenox (Her Fall And Rise), Trader Horn

Wolves, Devils And Stanwyck

I've always felt there was something special about the early years of talkies in Hollywood.  Let's say from 1931 (when they've not only adapted to sound but got the technical problems licked) to 1941. What happened in 1941?  The War.

I'm not saying movies fell off a cliff (though it certainly affected films overseas--don't look for too many foreign titles to make today's list), but the energy and attitude I love in so many 1930s films seems to go missing somewhere around 1942.

Which is a long-winded way of saying Jesse Walker has come up with his top ten film list of 1941:

(https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2022/01/one-year-two-devils-ive-told-you-my.html)

1.  Citizen Kane

2.  The Maltese Falcon

3.  Never Give A Sucker An Even Break

4.  The Sea Wolf

5.  Meet John Doe

6.  Hellzapoppin'

7.  Schichlegruber: Doing The Lambeth Walk

8.  The Wolf Man

9.  Ball Of Fire

10.  The Lady Eve

Citizen Kane has become such a monument it's hard to talk about. But forget the innovation, it's still a fine, imaginative investigation into the fictional life of the title character.

I've never loved The Maltese Falcon. It's a well-done version of the story, but it's not, say, The Big Sleep.

It's quite impressive how W.C. Fields blossomed late in his career, and Never Give A Sucker An Even Break is Exhibit A.

The Sea Wolf is pretty well done.

Meet John Doe is the third in Capra's unofficial trilogy of regular guys against the system.  But this time he's bitten off more than he can chew.  Mr. Deeds is the best, because Capra keeps it small and charming.  Mr. Smith he pulls off pretty well.  But John Doe, after a good start, loses itself.  They shot a bunch of endings, probably because there was no way to pull it off.

I would love to have seen Hellzapoppin' in its original Broadway run, but the closest we can get (and it's not too close) is the movie version.  It's great in the anarchistic opening section, but not quite so strong when it settles down into something approaching a story.

7 is a short.

The Wolf Man showed Universal wasn't quite done with new monsters, and it holds up. (Good year for wolves.  How about The Sea Wolf Vs. The Wolf Man?)

The only trouble with Ball Of Fire and The Lady Eve is they're ranked too low. Both classics.  Quite a year for Barbara Stanwyck, with three films in the top ten.

Honorable mentions:

11.  Sullivan's Travels

12.  Suspicion

13.  Tortoise Beats Hare

14.  The Devil And Daniel Webster

15.  Hold Back The Dawn

16.  Among The Living

17.  Dumbo

18.  Ladies In Retirement

19.  The Devil And Miss Jones

 20.  The Iron Crown

11 should be top ten, though Jesse is right to put it below The Lady Eve.  12 is one of Hitchcock's more underrated films--I like the ending.  13 is a short.  14 is an oddity.  15 shows Brackett and Wilder could do drama about as well as comedy.

I think I've seen 16 and it's only okay.  17 is Disney still in a Golden Age and it's quite something.  18 I haven't seen.  19 is a fine comedy--maybe top ten. Haven't seen 20.

Here are some other films that might make my top ten or twenty:

Man Hunt

Road To Zanzibar

You'll Never Get Rich

Other films of interest:

All Through the Night, Andy Hardy's Private Secretary, Babes On Broadway, The Big Store, The Black Cat, The Bride Came C.O.D., Buck Privates, Charley's Aunt, Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, The Farmer's Wife, The Flame of New Orleans,  Flying Blind, French Without Tears, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, High Sierra, Hold That Ghost, How Green Was My Valley, I Wake Up Screaming, In the Navy, Kipps, Life Begins for Andy Hardy, The Little Foxes, Major Barbara, Manpower, Men Of Boys Town, Million Dollar Baby, Mr. & Mrs. Smith,  Mr. Bug Goes To Town, Mysterious Island, Penny Serenade, Playmates, Sergeant York, Shadow of the Thin Man, The Shanghai Gesture, Sun Valley Serenade, Swamp Water, That Hamilton Woman, That Uncertain Feeling, They Died With Their Boots On, Tobacco Road, Tom Dick and Harry, Two-Faced Woman, Western Union, When Ladies Meet, A Yank In The RAF, You're in the Army Now, Ziegfeld Girl

Greeting A New Year

Jesse Walker is now back to 1951:

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2022/01/hello-2022-and-1951-too-this-blog-has.html

This was the year An American In Paris won the Oscar for Best Picture.  Hard to explain--it's a well-done MGM musical, but hardly their best (though I suppose doing Gershwin in Paris helped convinced the voters it was high art).  But what is Jesse's top ten?

1.  Ace In The Hole

2.  Strangers On A Train

3.  The Thing From Another World

4.  A Streetcar Named Desire

5.  The Tales Of Hoffman

6.  The Lavender Hill Mob

7.  Miracle In Milan

8.  The Man In The White Suit

9.  Pandora And The Flying Dutchman

10.  Bellissima

Note the top four films are from four major Hollywood directors.  Ace In The Hole was probably Wilder's most bitter film, and thus a flop, but it holds up pretty well.  Many of Hitchcock's 50s films are overpraised, but Strangers On A Train is one of his best.  The Thing--which is a Hawks film, no matter what they say--was in a genre then considered disreputable (now mainstream), but the Hawksian no-nonsense characters and plot pull it out of B-picture status and makes it a lot of fun. Streetcar is a classic American play, and while I think the stage is where it works best, Kazan did a solid job adapting it to screen.

The Tales Of Hoffman looks beautiful, like much of Powell and Pressburger, but I don't think it's for me.  I feel somewhat the same of Pandora And The Flying Dutchman.

The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man In The White Suit may be the two best examples of Ealing Studios comedies (starring Alex Guinness)--not sure which one I prefer.

Miracle In Milan is okay (haven't seen it in a long time) and I haven't seen Bellissima.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  People Will Talk

12.  The African Queen

13.  Four Ways Out

14.  Diary Of A Country Priest

15.  On Dangerous Ground

16.  He Ran All The Way

17.  Susana

18.  Rabbit Fire

19.  The Man From Planet X

20.  The Tall Target

Looking at the list, I see more big-name Hollywood directors, but are the films among their best.  Usually not.  For instance, 11 is an intriguing film that doesn't quite work.  12 is vastly overrated.  (In general, both Manckiewicz and Huston are overrated, not that they didn't make some fine movies.)

Haven't seen 13.  14 is one of Bresson's best.   15 is okay Ray.  16 is alright.  17 is Bunuel in his Mexican period--not one of his great works, but pretty good.  18 is a short. Once you accept 19 is very low budget Ulmer (is there any other kind?) you can enjoy it.  20 is period piece noir--passable at best.

Here are some other films that would have made my top ten or twenty:

Detective Story

The River

Royal Wedding

The Steel Helmet

Other films of interest:

Abbott And Costello Meet The Invisible Man, Alice In Wonderland, Angels In The Outfield, Atoll K, Bedtime For Bonzo, The Big Night, The Blue Veil, Bride Of The Gorilla, Bright Victory, The Browning Version, Bullfighter And The Lady, Call Me Mister, Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N., Come Fill The Cup, Comin' Round The Mountain, Cry The Beloved Country, David And Bathsheba, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Dear Brat, Death Of A Salesman, Decision Before Dawn, Double Dynamite, Early Summer, Father's Little Dividend, Flight To Mars, Flying Leathernecks, Ghost Chasers, Go For Broke!, Golden Girl, The Great Caruso, The Harlem Globetrotters, Here Comes The Groom, The House On Telegraph Hill, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, I Want You, I Was A Communist For The FBI, I'll See You I My Dreams, The Idiot, Jim Thorpe – All-American, Kind Lady, The Lady Of Musashino, The Lemon Drop Kid, Let's Go Navy!, Lost Planet Airmen, The Magic Box, The Mating Season, Miss Oyu, The Model And The Marriage Broker, Murder Inc., My Favorite Spy, No Highway In The Sky, On Moonlight Bay, On The Riviera, Peking Express, A Place In The Sun, Quo Vadis, The Red Badge Of Courage, Rich Young And Pretty, Scrooge, Show Boat, Sirocco, The Stooge, The Strip, Summer Interlude, Superman And The Mole Men, That's My Boy, Three Arabian Nuts, Too Young To Kiss, Two Tickets to Broadway, The Well, Westward the Women, When Worlds Collide