Hitler Becomes Fuhrer

Jesse Walker has reached back to 1934.

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-year-of-laval-decree-ive-picked.html

Here are his top ten films of the year:

1. The Black Cat

2. It Happened One Night

3. L'Atalante

4. The Thin Man

5. Dames

6. The Scarlet Empress

7. Granton Trawler

8. The Mascot

9. Lieutenant Kije

10. Soldier's Story

I like a lot of the low-budget Universal horror of the era, and The Black Cat is among the best. Just not #1 best.

It Happened One Night is maybe Capra's best and screwball's best.  My #1.

L'Atalante would probably be #2.

I like The Thin Man a lot, though, as first of the series, they're still working things out. (Of course, they didn't know it was a series yet.)

The plot of Dames is forgettable, but who could remember anything but the Busby Berkeley numbers?  "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "Dames" may be his best ever one-two punch.

I like The Scarlet Empress, even if I find the Josef von Sternberg's Dietrich films a bit overrated.

The top six I enjoy.  The next four I haven't seen (and I think three of them are shorts).

Jesse's honorable mentions:

11. The Merry Widow

12. Ship Of The Ether

13. The Man Who Knew Too Much

14. Crime Without Passion

15. We Live In Prague

16. Ha! Ha! Ha!

17. The Song Of Ceylon

18. The Old Fashioned Way

19. A Dream Walking

20. Babes In Toyland

11 is a fun film where Lubitsch gets to spend a bunch of MGM's money. 13 is one of Hitchcock's better British films. 14 I'd like to see.

18 is pretty good W. C. Fields, though not his best of the year. Laurel and Hardy were best in shorts, but even in 20, where they're in supporting roles (though they're officially the leads), they can still be quite enjoyable.

Speaking of shorts, I don't deny the 30s was a great decade for them, but I don't think they should be listed alongside features.  So that takes out 12, 15, 16, 17 (a long short) and 19.

Other films that would make my top ten:

The Gay Divorcee

It's A Gift (the best W. C. Fields film of the year)

Twentieth Century

Other films I like:

Belle Of The Nineties, The Captain Hates The Sea, The Cat's-Paw, College Rhythm, Imitation Of Life, Little Miss Marker, Man Of Aran, Manhattan Melodrama, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Six Of A Kind, Tarzan And His Mate, Wonder Bar, You're Telling Me!

Other films of note:

The Affairs Of Cellini, Allez Oop, Anne Of Green Gables, Bright Eyes, Broadway Bill, Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, Charlie Chan In London, Cleopatra, Cockeyed Cavaliers, Come On Marines!, The Count Of Monte Cristo, Death Takes A Holiday, Easy To Love, Evelyn Prentice, Evergreen, Fashions Of 1934, Flirtation Walk, Forsaking All Others, Gambling Lady, Here Comes The Navy, Hips, Hips, Hooray!, Hollywood Party, The House Of Rothschild, Jimmy The Gent, Jew Suss, Judge Priest, Kentucky Kernels, Kid Millions, Lady By Choice, The Last Round-Up, Liliom, Little Man, What Now?, The Little Minister, Lorna Doone, The Lost Patrol, Madame Bovary, The Man From Utah, Mauvaise Graine, Les Miserables, Murder At The Vanities, Nana, Of Human Bondage, One Night Of Love, Our Daily Bread, The Painted Veil, The President Vanishes, The Return Of Chandu, Le Roi Des Champs-Elysees, Sadie McKee, Servants' Entrance, Spitfire, Stand Up And Cheer!, A Story Of Floating Weeds, Treasure Island, Twenty Million Sweethearts, Viva Villa!, What Every Woman Knows