"The HTF 100 Great Films of the 1930's Challenge" - Page 30

Shanghai Express

This film is pretty good for it's time in using real Chinese actors for a film taking place in China, even if only as extras for the most part, and with one of the two main Chinese characters being half-white (played of course by a white actor).

There's an action subplot here, but it's not very exciting nor convincing (the villian's position and actions (both bad and 'nice') are unrealistic), but mostly it's a melodrama that is too one-dimensional. The feelings of the male lead for the female lead seem to go through these stages:

I hate you...I love you...I hate you...I hate you, but I love you anyway

The similar (if shorter sequence) by the Reverend provides the films only comic relief:

Anyone can tell by looking at you, you are the spawn of Satan...I saw you praying, you must be an angel

Good to have you back Brian, I was starting to think that something bad had happened.

The Champ - Since the very beginning of this challenge, this was one of the fims that I had most looked forward to seeing. In the end, I can say that it didn't dissapoint. Sure, there were some points where the story & acting were horribly dated but for the most part it worked very well for me. It contains an all-time classic ending, and several moving scenes. 1/2

The Divorcee - I've had an unhealthy infatuation with Norma Shearer ever since I first saw her. She's right at the top of my list for most attractive actresses of the 30s, but strangely I haven't seen many of her films. That said, I'm setting out to correct that, and I started with "The Divorcee". The film started out very weak with an over the top drunken car chase that ended badly, and I wasn't holding out much hope for the film, but it soon settled into a powerful mellow drama comparing male infidelity to female infidelity. I can only imagine how controversial this must have been 70+ years ago, especially since this is still a huge double standard today. In the end, I really enjoyed the film, and thought that the theme was still very timely....and of course it had Norma Shearer. 1/2 (I'll nominate this film if I have any left, if not I'll just reccomend it)

Just out of curiosity, I'd like to hear the opinions of the other participants in this thread as to the most attractive females of the 30s. Personally, I would put them approximately like this.

• Norma Shearer
• Jean Arthur
• Maureen O'Sullivan (For Tarzan's Mate alone)
• Joan Crawford
• Jean Harlow
• Marlene Dietrich
• Greta Garbo

*Bette Davis & Katharine Hepburn have never worked for me.

Paulette Goddard
Joan Fontaine
Olivia de Havilland
Greer Garson
Carole Lombard
Jean Arthur
Madeleine Carroll
Maureen O'Sullivan
Myrna Loy
Claudette Colbert
Irene Dunne
Kay Francis
Greta Garbo
Jean Harlow
Norma Shearer
Katherine Hepburn

As far as the "didn't work for me", I agree with Bette Davis, but would add

Joan Crawford
Marlene Dietrich
Vivien Leigh

Nice list George. I actually forgot about Paulette Goddard, or she'd be near the top of mine also. I tend to think of Fontaine & de Haviland as being 40s stars or they would rank on mine also. A couple of the women on your list I'm not very familiar with.

Come on fellas, Loretta Young. I watched a couple of her pre-codes last year and fell in love. Now I'm taping everything I can with her in it. She looks like a nice, sweet girl but there's something deep down that tells you she's dirty. :b

That's largely true, but they both were in major films (Gunga Din and Adventures of Robin Hood) in the 30s, so I thought they qualified.

Yep. Good choice. I've never seen her in any film before 1946, but she certainly qualifies for the 30s since she was apparently a child actress as far back as 1917.

You're definitely right, I just had them in my head as starting in the 40s even though I saw several movies by each as part of this challenge.:b



Another good one, that totally slipped my mind. I know she started in silent film, but the films I've seen with her were from the 40s, so once again I didn't think of her.

Ya forgot Mae West, though I'm afraid she'd hurt me. I'd put Ginger Rogers on there too.

I've seen around 15 Young films but they were all in the 30's except for LAUGH CLOWN LAUGH, which was with Lon Chaney and from the 1920's. Saturday I recorded RACHEL AND THE STRANGER w/Robert Mitchum, which will be my first time seeing an older Loretta.

Actually, I've been watching some 1930s Bette Davis films lately (like THE PETRIFIED FOREST and JEZEBEL) and she looks better to me than I ever thought she could. However, even by as early as 1940, not so much so.

Mae West ain't my type, but Ginger Rogers certainly deserves a place on my list of 30s babes.

How the heck did I forget Ginger? Wow, I bring up sex, and this is the most active this thread has been in over a year.:b

General Spanky - I've always been a big "Our Gang" fan, and have had this movie on my "To See" list for several years, but never got around to it until I got my Tivo. Anyway, the film was mildly amusing, but I wouldn't really call it an "Our Gang" picture since it only had Spanky, Buckwheat, & Alfalfa. It was set during the Civil War, and hence Buckwheat was a Slave (which many people objected to), but in my mind that's accurate to the film, and not racism. I had a few good laughs, and it had a warm ending, but nothing special. I kept thinking during the film, "Why did they never make a proper Our Gang movie?". It seems to me that they could have easily taken the theme so often used by Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland (i.e. let's hold a big show and save the orphanage), and adopted it to a feature length "Our Gang" comedy. That would've been something to see, instead we got this.

Libeled Lady - This may be the best film that I've seen that wasn't on the original list. I'm kind of surprised that it wasn't there. Harlow was near the end, and her acting was still a bit suspect, but overall the cast was quite good. The comedy was excellent, and the plot equally intriging. It's definitely the best Powell/Loy movie that I've seen so far. 1/2

Sisters of Gion (Gion no shimai) -
03/11/2005
35mm print

Probably my favorite Mizoguchi so far, damn good film on all levels. It's touching, wrenching, funny and poigant. Mizoguchi strikes an incredible balance dancing around the world of the geishas and the men that keep them in business.

Wonderful film, the only flaw is the somewhat overwrought plea by the main character at the end of the film. but Mizoguchi seemed to be prone to moralizing with the ends of his films.

In brief: Furusawa, A wealthy businessman has just gone bankrupt, his belongings are being auctioned. His wife is ashamed and their whole family is planning on leaving for the country to stay with her family. Instead he bails out on them to go live with his geisha mistress, Umekichi, the elder of two sisters (the younger is still a prostitute or a junior geisha and not a full geisha yet)--this puts them in dire straits because he's mooching off them and they're already months behind in their bills. Omocha, the younger sister complains Furusawa doesn't care for Umekichi at all and will just leave whenever its convenient without a second thought. The older counters that it will reflect well on them to sustain him rather than throwing him out, patrons want to believe their girls are doting not profiteers with no sympathy.

They go to their mistress at the brothel house, who tells Omocha that she needs to work over Kimura, the young kimonomaker apprentice who's been to see her many times. Umekichi needs a fine new kimono for a dance competition and the only way they could possibly afford that sort of kimono is to have someone give it to them, like a young apprentice kimono maker. Omocha complys, but clumsily and very obviously, she has no subtlety and it's a wonder Kimura gives it to her, she's so clearly focused on material things.

Meanwhile, Umekichi is having a dinner with Jurakudo, an older gentleman who deals in rare scrolls. He's distraught Furusawa has been ruined and at the earlier auction he bought back many scrolls he'd sold Furusawa originally. Jurakudo gets very drunk and she takes him to her house. There he gets more drunk and meets Furusawa who hits him up (successfully) for money. Omocha is supposed to take him home, but when he passes out in the car she directs the cab to take them to a nice hotel. The next morning she convinces Jurakudo to become Umekichi's new patron if he gives Omocha money to quietly get Furusawa out of town and Jurakudo's way.

And so begins the complex web of sex, love, deceit, and manipulation. It's a wonderful and powerful movie. I'd like to nominate it if possible, it's definitely better than many of the others I'd chosen without seeing them.

Adam

The Scarlett Empress - Another great film that didn't make the original list. This was quite an interesting period piece, although I question the authenticity of the set design, and some of the character's actions. Even with those subtractions, my attention was thoroughly held throughout the runtime, and Dietrich was as gorgeous as ever. 1/2

Babes in Arms - This movie started out with a big POW, with Garland singing "Good Morning" while Mickey pounded it out on a Piano. I was really enjoying it, but it quickly back-stepped into a routine plot with everyone struggling, and the kids will have to put on a show to save everything. That normally works for me, but in this case the songs were just routine, and the spectacle less than that. This is still a very fun film to watch, just nothing special.

The Mind Reader (1933) - I caught this film pretty much on accident as part of Steven Sondheim's night of programming on TCM. I was so caught up by Robert Osbourne's introduction that I decided to give it a go. The basic plot is that of a fake fortune teller and his relationship struggles after his girlfriend finds out that he's a fake. A fairly routine plot, but very well done, and I found myself very involved throughout the fairly short (70m) runtime. I would give it an even higher rating if it weren't for the horribly tacky ending which I won't reveal here. Since this film was released right around the time of the production code's launch, I wonder if the ending was forced upon them? I'll have to do a little research and see what I can find.

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man - ½
04/01/2005
OARVHS

Funny Fields film with only about 50% Fields. The film belongs to Charlie and his partner though, they're actually fabulous, funny, and convincing entertainers. Fields just trys too damn hard to be funny every second, which makes watching him a bit tedious and annoying, though he does have some brilliant moments, such as the snake thing at the end.

Adam

A Christmas Carol -
OARVHS
04/03/3005

We all know the story, and it's one of the best ever written. And this version is done to a delightful perfection that made me smile and grin at so many little things. Just a perfect, wonderful little film that trusts the material for a pure adaptation (even if I was spotting little cuts and changes along the way) that works wonderfully well.

Adam

L' Age d'or

I'm posting longer thoughts about this in the S&S thread, but I'll just say that this is my least favorite most hated film in this challenge. There are hardly words for me to express my disdain for this film.

Rewatched it Happened One Night today... bump up to a pure 4 stars from 3.5 stars just on sheer charm and all the effortless quality of the film (while working really hard).

Gable is great. dialogue is brilliant. On the story, road trip is cool, as is the newspaper angle, not so hot on the marraige hook though (same thing with the Philadelphia Story, I prefer the honest anarchy of Bringing up Baby). Claudette Colbert is excellent but a hair shy of Gable's perfection and her character is annoyingly femininish at times. Too many great scenes to list.

Capras in descending order (top is favorite):
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
It's a Wonderful Life
You Can't Take it With You
It Happened One Night
Mr Deeds Goes to Town
Lost Horizon
Lady for a Day

George,

I'm glad to see you liked "L' Age d'or". I think it was second least favorite by a notch over "Goodbye Mr. Chips. The only saving grace was the originality, but it wasn't entertaining in the least.


Blockheads - As I've stated previously, of all the classic comedy teams, Laurel & Hardy holds up the worst for me. In general, their comedy is just a bit too tame for my taste, so I went in to this film with a bit of hesitance. It started out very slow with the whole bit about Stan not knowing the war was over which was quite lame, and several of the following bits were equally lame. At this point, I actually turned the film off, with the thought that I may not finish it. Last night, I had some time and I wanted to remove it from the Tivo, so I finished it off. Shortly after the point that I left off, the movie picked up considerably. The long bit with them going up & down the stairs and Stan saying "Is there going to be a fight?", had me laughing quite readily. Then I was shocked to seem some adulterous jokes, considering this was 1938 and L&H. Overall the second half of the movie was considerably better, but still not enough to save it completely. 1/2

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -
04/08/2005
OARDVD
rewatch

Classic and perfect film. It's amazing to see how far Disney's animation progressed between here and Bambi. the animation ofthe animals is incredible in this film, but they don't have the realistic movement of weight and delicacy of movement that makes Bambi so incredibly real. I'd also forgotten just how many of Snow White's sequences depended on Silly Symphonies-esque gags, storytelling, and timing. The cleaning of the house or the Dance with the Dwarfs to take two major examples (I actually first saw these sequences as stand alones as part of sing along tapes, back before Snow White had been released on video).

Just an amazing little film, full of stunning moments and joyous delight. It's easy to see why it became the top grossing film of all time before Gone With the Wind came along.

I think my favorite part is the Japanese esque woodetching around Snow White's coffin that fades into the regular style. So powerfully expressive. Too bad you only see that expressive technique and open-mindedness in anime these days (excepting Beauty and the Beast's prologue).

Adam

The 100-films list in the first post is really stunningly US-focused (84 films) and simply offensive to every other major film country in the 30s. It's loaded with insignificant US genre films and leaves out many European classics. Dissapointing to see such a jingoistic mess on this forum.
Sorry for the harsh words but that's a bit too much to swallow.

Totally uncalled for.

Try "familiarity" instead of "jingoism" and you might possibly have a point. The majority of the initial voters (of which I was one) were from North America or the U.K. It's difficult enough to find certain English-language films from the 1930s, much less those of Europe or Asia (forget about them, Armin?).

So we basically voted on what we were acquainted with. I've loved many of the Ozu, Vigo, Bunuel, Eisenstein, Dreyer, Renoir, Lang, von Sternberg, etc. films I've seen from the period. A few of those even made our list. But there are plenty of other classics that are, alas, not even available on VHS over here.

Guess that makes us voters, classic film lovers all (I'm 240 deep into the S&S list despite being just 24, without a region-free player or a net flix account), cinematic xenophobes.

Give me a break.

I resent your post greatly, sir.

Evan

P.S. Feel free to list some alternate titles for us. Just make sure that they are available in dubbed and colorized versions, though, or else we'll probably avoid them.

Armin,

You're a bit late to the party. I was taught as a child that if you don't have anything good to say, that you shouldn't say anything at all. I have no problem with people being critical, but when you drop into a thread that's three years old, insult everyone in the thread, and offer no support for your argument, then you aren't exactly being constructive.

The list may be slanted toward Hollwood films, but in all reality the bulk of films made in the 30s were out of Hollywood. The initial list contains ten films out of the 102 that are in a language other than English, and several others from Britain. It may have some bias, but it's not near as bad as you are trying to portray. On top of that, a great number of additional foreign films have been viewed and nominated by the participants in this thread, including myself.

Next time before attacking people, you should back off and maybe read the WHOLE thread. Personally, I'm insulted by your post, and any merit that it might have is destroyed by the way you presented it.

Bask to the task at hand.

Test Pilot - Victor Fleming directed this film the year before his greatest triumphs with "Oz" & "Gone with the Wind". The phenomonal cast includes Clark Gable as a test pilot along side Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, & Lionel Barrymore. Overall, the films is a strange mix of mellowdrama, action, & comedy that is great at times, and just OK at others. I didn't feel drawn into the drama as much as I wish, and therefore can't give the film a great rating, but nonethelss it kept my attention for the full runtime, and in the end I felt entertained.

First--welcome to the forum Armin. I notice from your profile that you have not made very many posts, so perhaps you are not so familiar with the regular contributors to this thread (and other, similar ones) as those of us who have watched all (or nearly all) of these films.

Of course 30 pages of a thread is pretty hard to wade through, but if you had, you would have realized that Adam, Evan, Eric, Brook and others love many films that are not in the English language and many that have no language. The thread is sprinkled with debates as to their merits. And while our opinions differ on specific films, you might also like to know that in the process of reconsideration of the list, many of us have nominated films that are not in English.

I appreciate that you may feel the list has too many of certain types of films (personally I think that there are too many Universal horror films of the period), but I find it difficult to understand why you dismiss this list with its inclusion of Chaplin, Hitchock, Ozu, Eisenstein, John Ford, Buñuel, the Marx Brothers, Vigo, Hawks, Wyler, Renior, Capra, Lubitsch, Korda, Riefenstahl, Disney, Fleming, Von Sternberg, Cukor and Whale among many others.

I could make a similar (and longer) list of actors who did some very fine work in these films, but it would take me longer that I care to spend.

True, I could come up with a list of names who are not included, but if you are going to be so critical of those who helped compile the list, you might at least provide alternative selections.

That is what those of us who have actually watched all of these movies are engaged in doing.

In any case we all (presuming to speak for others as well as myself) welcome reasoned debate and discussion.

Here is hoping that you can add to our understanding of films from that period.

Perhaps we can do the same for you.

While I understand that English is not your native language, you might in the future avoid using words such as "jingoistic", as we native English speakers tend to react emotionally to such phrases, the more so when used (as in your case) inaccurately (not necessarily a critism, as I'm sure that you did not understand the definition).