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
posted by LAGuy @ 11:30 AM
3 Comments:
Just for you, I will note that I like Modern Times better than A Nous La Liberte, even though all my preconceptions about Chaplin and Clair had me expecting to prefer the latter.
A few questions.
How can you have Frankenstein and not Dracula?
How can you list all those cartoons and no Disney, who was the class of the field then.
How can you mention all those great directors and no Murnau or von Sternberg?
I'm assuming Bimbo's Initiation is a Fleischer cartoon that I haven't seen. I have several Boops very high on my list in the following years but no cartoons for 31. Speaking of shorts, the 20s and 30s really feels like it was the golden age for short films, but oddly I haven't seen that many from this year. The only one to make my top ten list is Jean Taris. The only others I want to really note are City Lights, which is my favorite Chaplin (though I'm long overdue for a rewatch of Modern Times), and Dracula. I think it's lesser or maybe Middling Browning, and even like other later Lugosi films much better, but not only would you not have those films without Dracula. The Return of the Vampire and The Ape Man in particular, but also Browning's followup, Mark of the Vampire (which references Dracula almost directly and also has Lionel Barrymore delivering one of the best lines in cinema: "But my vampire plot was so simple!")
1. City Lights
2. Frankenstein
3. Monkey Business
4. Little Caesar
5. M
6. Jean Taris, Swimming Champion
7. Dracula
8. À Nous la Liberté
9. The Public Enemy
10. Trader Horn
Since this is the end, I guess I'll just mention my favorite films of 1921, which are both Buster Keaton shorts: The Playhouse and The Goat. I've seen at least 10 other things from that year, but nothing nearly as special as those two. 1922 has some great stuff though, so if this happens again I'll see you next year. Enjoyed the lists, if I ever start watching a lot of movies again, I'll be sure to check out some of those that I've missed.
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