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"The HTF 100 Great Films of the 1930's Challenge" - Page 3

post #61 of 1024
10/7/02 at 8:33am
A Night at the Opera, which is just hilarious. I caught this on TCM and it was preceded by an interview with Kitty Carlisle, who plays the ingénue. Nothing great, but somewhat interesting.

Just sign here.
What’s that clause?
It’s all right, that’s in every contract. That’s what they call a sanity clause.
You can’t fool me. There ain’t no santy clause.

Quote:
"Remeber men, you're fighting for this woman's honor (which is probably more than she ever did)."

Legend has it that Margret Dumont never understood why that line was funny.
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post #62 of 1024
10/7/02 at 4:45pm
Gagged my way through Swing Time on commercial TV last night. Not my cup o' tea.

Every time you think you've seen it all, then up pops Fred Astaire in blackface. Yecch.

78 down, 22 to go.

Rob
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post #63 of 1024
10/7/02 at 6:40pm
I was going to evaluate each of the films I hadn't seen, or was rewatching as deserving or not in my personal top 100 of the 30s. But frankly, when trying to come up with my top 100 I realized that there are far less films than that from the 30s that I think are great. A lot of films on such a list would be ones I didn't hold in very high regard. So instead, I came up with a top 40, and I will use that as my yardstick.

Just finished watching Charge of the Light Brigade. Well done, but typical and pedestrian 1930s 'British in India' adventure film. I've seen a few of these, and in almost all cases, they just don't do it for me.

Top 40 - Not for me.
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post #64 of 1024
10/8/02 at 8:10am
I watched

Frankenstein over the weekend. It had been some time since I had seen it—what a treat to see it again with Boris, masterful as the monster. Really a fine performance. This, plus re-watching the Marx brothers films on TCM, made me realize that I did the right thing to just get all 100 in, regardless of whether I seen them or not—even if it was last year.
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post #65 of 1024
10/8/02 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 
I think I have everyone udated now.


My 30's films seen during challenge


-42nd Street 12/19/02
-Adventures of Robin Hood 11/09/03
-After the Thin Man
-All Quiet on the Western Front 3/16/04
-Another Thin Man
-Awful Truth 7/16/04
-Blue Angel 3/11/04
-Bride of Frankenstein 3/9/04
-Dodsworth 3/27/04
-Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
-Dracula
-Dracula Spanish
-Frankenstein
-Freaks 10/30/03
-Gone With the Wind (12/8/02)
-Gunga Din 11/16/03
-Holiday 11/07/03
-Horse Feathers
-Imitation of Life (12/8/02)
-Invisible Man
-It Happened One Night
-King Kong (3/20/04)
-L' Atalante 1/3/04
-Lady Vanishes, The 11/02/03
-Life of Emile Zola 1/16/03
-Little Women 1/16/03
-Lost Horizon 7/21/04
-M
-Modern Times 7/07/03
-Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 11/30/03
-Private Life of Henry VIII
-Public Enemy 3/21/04
-Rembrandt
-Rules of the Game 3/15/04
-San Francisco
-Scarlet Empress 3/25/04
-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 3/16/04
-Stage Coach 11/06/03
-Swing Time 5/15/03
-The Hunchback of Notre Dame
-The Mummy
-The Public Enemy
-Thin Man (Out of 5)
-Top Hat
-Trouble in Paradise 11/15/03
-Wizard of Oz 3/9/04
-Women, The 11/30/03
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post #66 of 1024
10/9/02 at 6:54am
My Man Godfrey -
I have viewed this film before, but watching it again was a treat. Great movie ... I think I will probably grab the Criterion DVD of this.

4 viewed, 96 to go.

Up next - King Kong, and then All Quiet On The Western Front.

- Jeff
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post #67 of 1024
10/9/02 at 7:28am
Watched

A Day at the Races, another of the Marx Brothers’ best. So many lines its hard to pick one, but:

Have you got a woman in there?

If I haven’t, I’ve wasted 30 minutes.
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post #68 of 1024
10/10/02 at 6:16am
Twentieth Century - Excellent comedy about the theater. I'm a big Howard Hawks fan and am ashamed that I never saw this movie before. I thought Barrymore was incredible. 1/2

Alexander Nevsky - Very engaging movie about Prince Alexander conquering the Germans. I really enjoyed this, although the battle scenes seemed to drag on a bit. Much of this movie seemed like a silent movie which I found interesting since it was made in 1938. This was my first Eisenstein movie, now I'm really looking forward to seeing "Battleship Potempkin".
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post #69 of 1024
10/10/02 at 8:26am
Rented the Spanish version of

Dracula, which I’d never seen. Very impressed. The copy I rented began with an interview with Lupita Tovar, who plays Eva. I found her commentary on how the movie (at the same time as the version in English) just fascinating. One group in the day and another (the Spanish-speaking actors) at night. It turns out that George Melford, the director did not speak Spanish, so he directed using an interrupter.

Lupita said that they were driven to produce a better picture than the English one. I will have to re-watch the English-speaking one quickly so I can fairly comment.

No quote, as my Español is not good enough to enable me to pick out a good one.
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post #70 of 1024
10/10/02 at 10:35am
Finally saw my 1st one for the challenge. Watched The Thin Man DVD last night and thought it was excellent. A well done Sherlock Holmes-esque detective story with a lot of laughs. William Powell and Myrna Loy play off each other wonderfully. Contained a surprising and enjoyable amount of sexual innuendo. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the Thin Man films.
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post #71 of 1024
10/10/02 at 12:12pm
The Women A bit of a bore to sit through. One of the early "chick flick" films.

26 down, 74 to go.
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post #72 of 1024
10/10/02 at 12:37pm
24 left after taking in Errol Flynn's star-making performance in Michael Curtiz's Captain Blood.

Not quite as action-packed as The Sea Hawk or The Adventures of Robin Hood (then again, few films from any era are) but nearly as good.

Flynn plays Peter Blood, an Irish doctor accused of treason by England's King James for assisting a wounded rebel. On a whim, James commutes the rebels' sentences from hanging to slavery in the Caribbean (it is interesting, and I'm sure not wholly accurate, that the vast majority of the slaves in this film are white men).

Luck intervenes in the form of an attacking Spanish galleon and Blood as his fellow slaves commandeer the vessel and start life anew as a quasi-Utopian pirate society. Thrown in for good measure are Flynn/Curtiz swashbuckler regulars Basil Rathbone as a French pirate captain and Olivia de Havilland as the niece of Blood's slavemaster and his eventual love interest.

The film unfolds like a good adventure novel, deftly weaving character-development with action, betrayals, and romance on the high seas. Also notable as the first film score from the great Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Good stuff.

Evan
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post #73 of 1024
10/11/02 at 7:39am
Hail, Hail Fredonia

I caught up again with old friend

Duck Soup and what a treat. I’ve always enjoyed this the most of all of the Marx Brothers and pretty much spent the hour laughing. Both the hat and the mirror business are just too funny.


Remember while you’re out there risking life and limb, we’ll be in here thinking what a sucker you are.
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post #74 of 1024
10/14/02 at 8:31am
I’ll never take that drug again!

Prophetic words indeed. I had not seen

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for many years, and had forgotten what a fine movie it is.
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post #75 of 1024
10/14/02 at 9:28am
King Kong -
Pretty entertaining movie, if a bit of a stretch at times. Overall I liked it.

Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde -
Great performance and an interesting story.

6 viewed, 94 to go.

Up next - Halfway through Little Women, though I think TiVo missed the end of it!

- Jeff
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post #76 of 1024
10/15/02 at 12:05pm
Why you speak treason.

2, 3, 4

Fluently


Finally managed to view my time shift of

The Adventures of Robin Hood. Errol Flynn at his most dashing and a fun supporting cast, including Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains. Great fun, even if Flynn manages to dodge more arrows that a John Woo hero dodges bullets. And you have to love that early Technicolor.
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post #77 of 1024
10/16/02 at 8:13am
I managed to catch up with

The Good Earth, a two-hour plus monument to Hollywood production values. It has everything that one would expect, large cast, locust plagues, poverty, riches, and a money-can’t-buy-happiness plot that telegraphs every move.
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post #78 of 1024
10/16/02 at 8:43am
Lew, you is flyin'!

I've been lagging due to 18 credits worth of mid-terms (thankfully, I'm nearly through that hell), but I should be back on track soon.

Even so, I think Lew's gonna beat me by a year or two.

Evan
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post #79 of 1024
10/16/02 at 2:12pm
Just finished rewatching King Kong which I hadn't seen for a long time. It's hard to be fair to this movie. The effects were spectacular for 1933, but dated today. As a matter of fact, I couldn't stop thinking of the Abominable Snowman from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer whenever I saw Kong. And the killer brontosaurus was pretty funny too.

However, it's still a pretty good movie, and I'd put it in my top 40 of the 30's, though pretty near the bottom of that list.
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post #80 of 1024
10/16/02 at 3:09pm
Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hyde
It started out a little slow, but it was a solid story with good performances. The film is a bit dated though.

27 down, 73 to go

Lew, you are my hero! I envy your rate of movie watching.
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post #81 of 1024
10/17/02 at 10:42am
I completed my Dracula requirement last night.

Dracula (Spanish Version) - First off, I was surprised by how much longer this version was compared to the Lugosi version (Approx. 30 minutes). Overall, I thought this version was a bit better - it seemed to flow more, but the big impact lines just aren't right without Lugosi saying them. Overall, I'd call the pair a dead heat.
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post #82 of 1024
10/17/02 at 2:53pm
Dinner at Eight 1/2 The story was pretty slow. I never really got into the movie.

28 down, 72 to go
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post #83 of 1024
10/17/02 at 2:54pm
Quote:
I've been lagging due to 18 credits worth of mid-terms
Eric, I can only comment that you are putting your time to productive use.

I left off worring about mid-terms a long time ago.
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post #84 of 1024
10/18/02 at 3:47pm
23 left, after I managed to find 75 minutes of free time for James Whale's The Old Dark House. Yet another classic from Whale, whose films are among the most artful of of the American horror genre. I prefer him to Browning, although the latter's films are a bit more creepy due to their wallowing in human misery and deformity. Whale's pictures are much less creaky, and infused with an overt wit that is often missing from Browning's films.

The Old Dark House is no exception. It should say something about a film wherein Raymond Massey among the most normal of the characters. He, his wife (Titanic's Gloria Stuart, looking lovely), and a ladies man friend of theirs (Melvyn Douglas) are stranded by storm in the Welsh countryside, and look for shelter in an imposing, dilapidated mansion home to a family of eccentrics and their scarred butler (played by Boris Karloff), whose only form of speech is seriously disturbing grunts.

It's a now cliched scenario, but Whale manages to keep it afloat thanks to the home's unforgettably dysfunctional family, Karloff terrorizing everyone after becoming drunk, and a palpable sense of being trapped in a plush, candlelit prison where from no escape is possible.

Yet another highly recommended film--I guess they wouldn't be considered "Great Films" without some basis in reality (George Kaplan's world excepted ).

Evan
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post #85 of 1024
10/19/02 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 
The Turner Classic Movie Dates for January have been put up in the 3rd post of this thread.

I'm a little miffed with myself because I forgot to tape a few of the flicks in the last week. Particularly "Dinner at Eight" which is not aired as often as many of the other films

Have not watched much in the last week as I am on a horror movie kick right now. Though I did view Dracula today and feel that's it's a better film than some of it's reputation for being the most creaky and outdated of the Universal horror flicks, would suggest. A lot of great spooky atmosphere goes a long way with me

I hope to view The Spanish version tonight.

I will also later try to get up the AMC air times for some of the 30's horror flicks that will be showing in the last week of October. Sure I think AMC sucks, but We don't have to worry about films from the 30's being panned and scanned.
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post #86 of 1024
10/21/02 at 8:43am
How does a war start?

Well, its when one country offends another country.

What? How could a mountain in Germany offend a field in France?

No it’s when one people offend another people.

Well, I’m not mad at the French. I don’t even know any French. … Maybe it’s the fault of the English. No, I don’t even know any English. Why would I want to shoot them?

I worked in a time-shift for

All Quiet on the Western Front, which remains a powerful adaptation of Remarque’s novel. The acting might seem a bit ‘stagey’ today, but otherwise this film retains it’s strength and sends a universal message about war and its effect on those in combat.
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post #87 of 1024
10/22/02 at 5:56am
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - The best version of this story that I've seen to date. I thought that the transformation effects were incredible for the time and at least as good as "The Wolfman" which didn't follow for almost 10 years. This has got to be one of the earliest movies to experiment with first person perspective. I also didn't realize that it was JEEKEL and not JECKEL. 1/2

Dinner at Eight - Very enjoyable movie, but I didn't find as much comedy as some of the reviewers seemed to believe there was. Although there were several lines that made laugh quite a bit. I think that this is the first complete Harlow movie that I've seen.
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post #88 of 1024
10/22/02 at 7:52am
Gin—it’s my only weakness

It is surprising how well

The Bride of Frankenstein holds up today. There are many parts that are disturbing, some that are poignant and plenty of humor to keep those parts from getting too saccharin. And of course there is the score, by Franz Waxman, which I still find one of the finest ever.


Our mad dream is only half-realized. Alone you have created a man. Together, we will create his mate.

You mean?

Yes! A woman. Now that should be really interesting.
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post #89 of 1024
10/22/02 at 2:45pm
David Copperfield 1/2
I never read the book, but it seemed like a lot was missing from the movie. I have seen a lot of Cukor movies lately and have not been real impressed to this point.
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post #90 of 1024
10/23/02 at 6:00am
Well, I ended up seeing Dinner At Eight and here are my thoughts. I began watching it thinking I would be getting ready for a good comedy and it ended up being more of a drama. Pretty good but I wouldn't rate it in my tops for the 30's.

Also saw The Public Enemy and thought that Cagney was great but the rest were kind of flat. A good movie but once again not great.
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