Wednesday, November 2, 2016


      

Watchingwell   





           Curated classic films







    








The 1930s

     A while ago, I was challenged to come up with an essential list of American films that one should know in order to be "film literate". By literate, I mean not just knowing the best American films -- this is disputable, but films that, either in whole or in part, have become icons of American culture.

     It started out as a fun exercise, but it soon became clear that it was harder than I thought.  I couldn't limit my list to any reasonable number.  So after a while, I decided to compromise with myself and divide the list into decades and groups. Even this was hard, but I began with the 1930s and 50 films that fit my criteria. I excluded animated films and shorts for this list. You may question my choices -- the lack of westerns, for example, but, the 30s were noted for lavish productions that made the audience forget the depressing Depression and the great westerns came later. Now I may have forgotten some and it is of course strictly IMO, but you try to do it. 

     So, if you can only see 10 films from the 1930s, these are the ones (in alphabetical order).


1. A Night at the Opera (1935).  If you've never seen a Marx Brothers film, this is the place to start. Then see them all. This one contains the stateroom scene and destroys Il Trovatore.






2. Bringing Up Baby (1938). Ever wondered what is a screwball comedy, anyway?  This is it.  Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, directed by Howard Hawks. Gold Standard.





3. Gone With the Wind (1939). Sure, now we laugh at Hollywood's version of the Civil War, but this was the biggest film of the most illustrious year of American film. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh and a cast of thousands. Can't get more iconic. I mean, it's the best known Carol Burnett skit.






4. It Happened One Night (1934). Frank Capra's signature comedy of the runaway bride genre. Starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Academy Awards all around.





5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Another Frank Capra classic, starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur. An idealistic guy fills a Senate vacancy and learns how Washington really works. 




6. My Man Godfrey (1936). Another screwball comedy, this time showcasing the inimitable screen personalities of Carole Lombard and William Powell in the rich, but crazy, family genre.





7. Ninotchka (1939). Yes, another film from 1939.  'Garbo laughs' is how they sold this witty Ernst Lubitsch comedy.  Starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.







8. Top Hat (1935). One of the best Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire musicals, certainly the most iconic. Dreamy dancing, Irving Berlin score.







9. The Thin Man (1934). The first in the franchise, based on the Dashiell Hammett story, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as the wise-cracking couple, Nick and Nora Charles, who, with their dog, Asta, have fun solving a murder mystery.





10. The Wizard of Oz (1939). Yes, 1939! The film that never ages.  A wonderfully whimsical, creative tour de force, starring Judy Garland and an all-star cast.






     So, what if you had time for 20 must-see films from the 1930s? OK. Here are my picks for 11-20. (Also alphabetically)



11. The Awful Truth (1937). Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in their most stylish selves, dissolving their marriage while annoying each other with sophisticated comedy dialogue. Academy Award for director, Leo McCarey.

12. Duck Soup (1933).  I know I already said to see all the Marx Brothers films, but this is the one you should see second. Groucho leads Freedonia into war. The mirror scene is possibly the funniest comedy sequence ever in a talkie.

13. Forty-Second Street (1933). Ruby Keeler taps, Busby Berkely choreographs in the prototypical Broadway musical. The line "Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" was voted as the #87 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).


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14. Grand Hotel (1932). Greta Garbo wants to be left alone, but John Barrymore changes her mind. Joan Crawford is kind to Lionel Barrymore and they all team up against Wallace Beery. 


15. Modern Times (1936). For those of you who might never have had the chance to watch Charlie Chaplin, this is his brilliant protest against the dehumanizing, mechanized world. Also starring Paulette Goddard.


16. The Public Enemy (1931).  Directed by 
William Wellman, probably the best known of the early Warner Brothers gangster films, it introduced the tough guy persona of James Cagney from which he could never quite disconnect throughout his career. Also starring Mae Clarke with the citrus facial and Joan Blondell and Jean Harlow in minor roles.

17. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Erroll Flynn at his swashbuckling best with Olivia de Havilland as Marian and Basil Rathbone as bad Sir Guy. Academy Award winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

18. Swing Time (1936). My personal favorite Rogers/Astaire musical with the Jerome Kerns/Dorothy Fields score, including  the Academy Award winning song, "The Way You Look Tonight". Direction by George Stevens makes this a cut above.

19. Stagecoach (1939). John Ford directing John Wayne and an ensemble in the first use of the Monument Valley setting. A group of people  go on a journey, real and symbolic, and face life-threatening events.  Beautiful photography.


20. The Women (1939). Mud wrestling dressed in a Anita Loos script, from the play by Clare Booth Luce. Directed by George Cukor, starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Paulette Goddard and others, this is worth watching just to see the all-women cast.





    When you get past 20, it's harder to say for sure which has more cultural significance. So, I offer the next group for people who are really into becoming familiar with the films of the 1930s or are just curious to see if my list would match their picks.



21. Dracula (1931). Bela Lugosi, Hungarian accent, cape.  Oooooh, scary.


22. Easy Living (1937). Social satire by Preston Sturges with Jean Arthur as a working girl and Edward Arnold playing a role he perfected -- a Wall Street financier.  


23. Gay Divorcee (1934). Just to watch Fred and Ginger dance to "Night and Day".


24. Golddiggers of 1937 (1936). Musical direction by Busby Berkeley, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, this is my favorite of the 'Golddiggers' because of Glenda Farrell's part which she turns into a scene stealer.

25. King Kong (1933).  Big ape, Empire State Building, Fay Wray.


26. Libeled Lady (1936). Spencer Tracy, William Powell, Myrna Loy are good, as usual, but Jean Harlow is a scream.


27. Little Caesar (1931). Launched the gangster genre and the career of Edward G. Robinson.



28. Love Affair (1939). The original shipboard romance with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. 



29. Only Angels Have Wings (1939). Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth. Flyers on dangerous missions in South America, directed by Howard Hawks.



30. She Done Him Wrong (1933). You've got to see at least one Mae West film just to hear the dialogue she got away with.



31. San Francisco (1936).  Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable star in the often-used theme of the boyhood friends who clash as adults. Jeanette MacDonald sings, "San Francisco" just as the earthquake begins in 1906 .


32. Doddsworth (1936). Well-acted, poignant adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, with a great supporting performance by Mary Astor.


33. Frankenstein (1931). Boris Karloff as the monster.  Colin Clive screaming madly, "It's Alive!"


34. Hands Across the Table (1935). Another opportunity to watch a Carole Lombard comedy and the chemistry between Carole and Fred MacMurray.


35. History is Made at Night (1937). Crazed husband drives a radiant Jean Arthur into the arms of Charles Boyer. 


36. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1933). Gritty, realistic look at the criminal injustice system through the eyes of Paul Muni.


37. Lost Horizon (1937). Shangri-La is brought to life with Ronald Colman finding Paradise in the Himalayas with Jane Wyatt.


38. Stage Door (1937).  Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Eve Arden, Lucille Ball, Gail Patrick, Ann Miller and others trying to make it on Broadway. 


39. Wuthering Heights (1939). William Wyler directs a pretty faithful adaptation of Emily Bronte, but Laurence Olivier really sells it, with the help of a score by Alfred Newman and photography by Gregg Toland.


40. You Can't Take it With You (1938). The crazy family of Jean Arthur who loves the son (James Stewart) of the terriibly rich family headed by -- you   guessed it -- Edward Arnold.


41. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Great and still powerful Academy-Award winning anti-war film.


42. A Slight Case of Murder (1938). This is Edward G. Robinson as a gangster again, only this time in a clever comedy gem from a play by Damon Runyan and Howard Lindsay.


43. City Lights (1931). Some say this is Chaplin's best. A silent masterpiece.


44. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). John Ford directs Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda as settlers in a beautifully photographed revolutionary America, where the Iroquois are in their way. 



45. Golden Boy (1939).Clifford Odets play about a young man who abandons music for boxing.  Barbara Stanwyck and William Holden in his breakout role.


46. Manhattan  Melodrama (1934). Clark Gable and William Powell grow up together, but have their friendship tested as adults on opposite sides of the law. With Myrna Loy.


47. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town  (1936).  Capra classic about a man so unpretentious that he is accused of being insane.  Jean Arthur and Gary Cooper, who turns in one of his best performances.


48. Queen Christina ((1933). Garbo's greatest role with the most famous close-up in all of film.


49. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938). You've got to see one Shirley Temple film to see why she was such a big deal.


50. Theodora Goes Wild (1936).  Irene Dunne tries to lead a double life in this delightful comedy, but Melvyn Douglas knows her secret and ruins everything.


    What do you think? I'd be interested in your comments.