Depression Year

Jesse Walker has now reached all the way back to the 1933.

The Perpetual Three-Dot Column (jessewalker.blogspot.com)

Sound had been licked, but Hollywood was in trouble.  It's a popular myth that movies were recession  (and Depression) proof. In fact, the studios were in bad shape in 1933--when the public needs to tighten its belt, the entertainment budget is an easy cut.

Also notable--1933 was the last year before the Production Code was strictly enforced.

So let's see what Jesse says are the top ten:

1. Duck Soup

2. Zero For Conduct

3. Snow-White

4. Land Without Bread

5. Hallelujah, I'm A Bum

6. I'm No Angel

7. Design For Living

8. Outskirts

9. Alice In Wonderland

10. International House

It's hard to argue Duck Soup wasn't number one. In fact, it'd be hard to argue it's anything else.

Zero For Conduct makes you wonder what Jean Vigo would have done if he hadn't died so young. (And though it's not that long I'm going to call it a feature.)

Snow-White is a fun Betty Boop short.

Land Without Bread is an amazing sort-of documentary (which I'm also going to call a feature--I'm being very generous today).

Hallelujah I'm A Bum is an unusual musical starring Al Jolson.  Its best feature is its Rodgers and Hart score (including rhyming dialogue). It's odd to see it on a top ten list, especially since the list is missing some very notable musicals from Warner Brothers.

I'm No Angel is one of two 1933 Mae West films that saved Paramount from bankruptcy. (Her career was arguably destroyed next year by the Production Code.) I like these films, but don't think I'd put them in the top ten.

Design For Living is a pretty solid Lubitsch comedy (though nowhere near as good as 1932's Trouble In Paradise).

I've never seen Outskirts, though I'd like to.

Alice In Wonderland is an oddity. (While Mae West was saving Paramount, this film was destroying it.) I'd call it more fascinating than entertaining.

International House is a surprisingly entertaining grab bag, stolen by W. C. Fields.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11. 42nd Street

12. Gold Diggers Of 1933

13. Baby Face

14. Lost In Sodom

15. Is My Palm Read

16. The Wizard Of Oz

17. The Mad Doctor

18. Three Little Pigs

19. The Sin Of Nora Moran

20. The Fatal Glass Of Beer

I'm glad to see 11 and 12 made it, but they should be in the top ten. (And the third big Warner Brothers musical, Footlight Parade, should be in the top twenty).

13 should maybe be in the top ten--perhaps the ultimate example of a pre-Code film.

14 is an experimental short (that I've never seen).

15 is another Betty Boop short. Director Dave Fleischer made over 30 cartoons in 1933, a number of them pretty good--yet another reason not to deal with shorts, especially in the 1930s.  Throw in Walt Disney, Laurel and Hardy, and a bunch of others, and where does it end?

Speaking of Disney (and others), 16, 17, 18 (Oscar winner) and 20 are shorts.

Haven't seen 19, though it looks like fun. 

Film that would make my top ten (or twenty):

Counsellor At Law

Employees Entrance

Footlight Parade (as mentioned above)

King Kong (surprised not to see this)

Sons Of The Desert

Other films I liked:

Bombshell, Dinner At Eight, Female, Flying Down To Rio, Heroes For Sale, Lady For A Day, Little Women, The Private Life of Henry VIII, She Done Him Wrong, The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse, Wild Boys Of The Road

Other films of note:

Ann Vickers, The Bitter Tea Of General Yen, Cavalcade (Oscar winner for some reason), Christopher Strong, College Humor, Dancing Lady, Ecstasy, Elmer The Great, The Emperor Jones, Ex-Lady, Gabriel Over The White House, The Ghoul, Going Hollywood, Hard To Handle, Hold Your Man, The Invisible Man, The Kennel Murder Case, Ladies They Talk About, Lady Killer, The Little Giant, Matinee Idol, Morning Glory, Night Flight, Night Of Terror, Our Betters, Passing Fancy, Penthouse, The Power And The Glory, The Prizefighter And The Lady, Queen Christina, Reunion In Vienna, Roman Scandals, So This Is Africa, State Fair, Tillie And Gus, Today We Live, Topaze, Tugboat Annie, The Vampire Bat, Voltaire, What! No Beer?