1938 Line-ups.

idioticbunny
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1938 Line-ups. Sept 5, 2017 18:18:38 GMT

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Post by idioticbunny on Sept 5, 2017 18:18:38 GMT

This year took me a long time mainly because I was working on my first feature-length script for a good part of last month. Finished it and decided to treat myself to a bunch of movies so I caught up. Pretty decent year, but nothing too memorable outside of the top five. Nevsky is really close to a perfect 10, but I think a bit more depth to the characters could've helped. But for what it's worth, this gives Battleship Potemkin a run for its money as Eisenstein's best. This more than makes up for October which was a huge disappointment. Brilliant work.

Carefree is easily my favorite Fred & Ginger film. Surprised it isn't talked about more. It was a breath of fresh air to actually have them put the story first for once and not rely on the same gimmick (two artists meet, fall for each other, etc etc). It's also probably my favorite of Ginger Rogers' performances in these, she was just so damn hilarious. Was very close to giving her my win, but Hiller was just too good in Pygmalion.

Olympia (the first part at least) had far too much commentary for my liking. I would've preferred Riefenstahl just stick to her visuals as I thought they were absolutely incredible (the diving and gymnastics sequences in particular were some of the best work I've seen this decade). Still, no denying its brilliance as well as influence, and it was nice that the propaganda was limited compared to her previous film.

Biggest surprise: Pygmalion. Anthony Asquith's 1929 Cottage on Dartmoor was one of my absolute favorites of last decade, so I was hoping he wasn't just a one-hit wonder and it was nice to see he wasn't. His montages were brilliantly filmed and edited, and in between the acting centerpieces of Howard & Hiller were fantastic to watch. Felt like if Hitchcock made a Frank Capra-esque picture.

Biggest disappointment: Bringing Up Baby. Normally I would blame the hype for causing me to feel disappointed with a film, because at least then there are still aspects to enjoy about it, I just didn't fall in love with it. But in this case, outside of the marvelously witty and zany performances of Grant & Hepburn, the script was just one big mess and I found the characters (particularly Hepburn's) absolutely grating. I'm sure the point was to put these two unlikable characters together and watch them be unlikable to each other (pretty much screwball in a nutshell), but there's usually a fine line between rude and plain annoying and I felt the film crossed it too often. Just wasn't my cup of tea, I guess. But those performances, particularly Grant's, far make up for it so that's why I still give it a decent 6/10. And because I don't think it's poorly made as a film, I solely blame the script.

Best Picture:
01. Alexander Nevsky.
02. Carefree.
03. Olympia.
04. Pygmalion.
05. Angels with Dirty Faces.
06. Quadrille.
07. You Can't Take It with You.
08. The Adventures of Robin Hood.
09. La Bête Humaine.
10. The Lady Vanishes.
-----------------
11. Holiday.
12. Bringing Up Baby.

Best Director:
01. Sergei M. Eisenstein & Dmitriy Vasilev - Alexander Nevsky.
02. Leni Riefenstahl - Olympia.
03. Anthony Asquith & Leslie Howard - Pygmalion.
04. Alfred Hitchcock - The Lady Vanishes.
05. Michael Curtiz - Angels with Dirty Faces.

Best Actor:
01. Cary Grant - Bringing Up Baby.
02. James Cagney - Angels with Dirty Faces.
03. Leslie Howard - Pygmalion.
04. Sacha Guitry - Quadrille.
05. Errol Flynn - The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Best Actress:
01. Wendy Hiller - Pygmalion.
02. Ginger Rogers - Carefree.
03. Katharine Hepburn - Bringing Up Baby.
04. Gaby Morlay - Quadrille.
05. Katharine Hepburn - Holiday.

Best Supporting Actor:
01. Lionel Barrymore - You Can't Take It with You.
02. Edward Arnold - You Can't Take It with You.
03. Pat O'Brien - Angels with Dirty Faces.
04. Lew Ayres - Holiday.
05. Ralph Bellamy - Carefree.

Best Supporting Actress:
01. Luella Gear - Carefree.
02. May Whitty - The Lady Vanishes.
03. Spring Byington - You Can't Take It with You.
04. Jacqueline Delubac - Quadrille.
05. Jean Arthur - You Can't Take It with You.

Best Original Screenplay:
01. Quadrille.
02. Angels with Dirty Faces.
03. Carefree.
04. Bringing Up Baby.
05. Alexander Nevsky.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
01. Pygmalion.
02. You Can't Take It with You.
03. Holiday.
04. La Bête Humaine.
05. The Lady Vanishes.

Best Ensemble:
01. You Can't Take It with You.
02. Quadrille.
03. Angels with Dirty Faces.
04. Holiday.
05. The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Best Editing:
Alexander Nevsky.

Best Cinematography:
Alexander Nevsky.

Best Art Direction:
The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Best Costume Design:
The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Best Makeup:
The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Best Visual Effects:
The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Best Sound Design:
Alexander Nevsky.

Best Original Score:
Sergei Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky.

Best Original Song:
"I Used to Be Color Blind" - Carefree.

Lol, didn't realize how much Alexander Nevsky and Robin Hood dominated my tech categories. But they're totally deserving.

Anyway, I've got a pretty good list of what to check out for 1939. Gone with the Wind, Only Angels Have Wings, Stagecoach, The Rules of the Game, The Hounds of the Baskervilles, and re-watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are pretty much my priorities. Anything else is up for grabs. I've also seen The Wizard of Oz like a trillion times so got that down pat.

Also, stephen : Wondering if the next Thin Man is worth checking out as well.

Last Edit: Sept 14, 2017 19:54:12 GMT by idioticbunny

stephen
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1938 Line-ups. Sept 5, 2017 18:24:55 GMT idioticbunny likes this

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Post by stephen on Sept 5, 2017 18:24:55 GMT

I won't be able to get you my 1939 recommendations until tomorrow, but I think that while the first two Thin Man films are far and away the best of the series, the chemistry never goes away in the successive movies in the franchise, so I think you'd still enjoy them as they are.

Good morning, Oscar Buzz. I'm listening.

idioticbunny
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1938 Line-ups. Sept 5, 2017 19:29:57 GMT

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Post by idioticbunny on Sept 5, 2017 19:29:57 GMT

Sept 5, 2017 18:24:55 GMT stephen said:

I won't be able to get you my 1939 recommendations until tomorrow, but I think that while the first two Thin Man films are far and away the best of the series, the chemistry never goes away in the successive movies in the franchise, so I think you'd still enjoy them as they are.

Awesome! I'm glad to hear it. Especially with the first two Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes films the next year as well, my girlfriend's going to love 1939 :laugh:

taranofprydain
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1938 Line-ups. Sept 6, 2017 19:50:22 GMT

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Post by taranofprydain on Sept 6, 2017 19:50:22 GMT

Really happy you liked Carefree so much! And Pygmalion is great. Kind of surprised you didn't take more to Bringing Up Baby, but that's that I guess. (The 1972 film What's Up Doc is a super loose remake of sorts. Madeline Kahn has a great supporting performance as a stuffy, highly neurotic and emotional fiancee)

1939 recs:
Gone with the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
Gunga Din
The Women
Love Affair
Of Mice and Men
Midnight (hilarious)
Stagecoach
Wuthering Heights
Intermezzo
Ninotchka
The Old Maid
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Goodbye Mr Chips
Dark Vidctory
In Name Only
Drums Along the Mohawk
Another Thin Man
bachelor Mother
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Young Mr. Lincoln
The Cat and the Canary
Golden Boy
the Rains Came
On Borrowed Time
the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Babes in Arms (minus the blackface sequence)

idioticbunny
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1938 Line-ups. Sept 7, 2017 0:32:40 GMT taranofprydain likes this

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Post by idioticbunny on Sept 7, 2017 0:32:40 GMT

Sept 6, 2017 19:50:22 GMT taranofprydain said:

Really happy you liked Carefree so much! And Pygmalion is great. Kind of surprised you didn't take more to Bringing Up Baby, but that's that I guess. (The 1972 film What's Up Doc is a super loose remake of sorts. Madeline Kahn has a great supporting performance as a stuffy, highly neurotic and emotional fiancee)

1939 recs:
Gone with the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
Gunga Din
The Women
Love Affair
Of Mice and Men
Midnight (hilarious)
Stagecoach
Wuthering Heights
Intermezzo
Ninotchka
The Old Maid
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Goodbye Mr Chips
Dark Vidctory
In Name Only
Drums Along the Mohawk
Another Thin Man
bachelor Mother
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Young Mr. Lincoln
The Cat and the Canary
Golden Boy
the Rains Came
On Borrowed Time
the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Babes in Arms (minus the blackface sequence)

Thanks! Yeah, I'm really surprised that Carefree isn't discussed more, honestly. It's by far the most inventive, hilarious, and emotional of all the Fred & Ginger films (at least, that I've seen thus far). I like the fun, carefree (heh heh), and song-and-dance filled nature of their other films, but this one just resonated with me so much more and still maintains a sense of breeziness to it.

I really, really wanted to love Bringing Up Baby more - especially since I'm a fan of screwball and Cary Grant is one of my favorite actors. But man, the style of it and the main characters were just too much for me. Felt far too mean-spirited and aggravating for my taste. Like I think comedy stems from tragedy, but it shouldn't cross the line into me wanting to pull my hair out every ten or twenty minutes. Maybe I'll have to revisit it again one day under a different mindset.

Thanks for the lengthy recommendations, of course. Pretty much covered all the ones on my list except The Roaring Twenties, The Rules of the Game, and Only Angels Have Wings. I didn't realize they re-made The Cat and the Canary so soon, though. I was a big fan of the 1927 version, so I can't imagine it'd be much better. Also I'm kind of on the fence about whether to include Gunga Din as one of the last couple spots to fill for the year. I love Cary Grant, but the story doesn't sound all too interesting to me. Yet I keep seeing it pop up on all sorts of best of the year lists for 1939.

taranofprydain Badass Posts: 1,265 Likes: 330	1938 Line-ups. Sept 7, 2017 0:38:39 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by taranofprydain on Sept 7, 2017 0:38:39 GMT I forgot to include The Story of Vernon and Irene Caste for 1939. Its Fred and Ginger again, this time in a musical drama with a tragic ending. Its wirth a look.

idioticbunny
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1938 Line-ups. Sept 7, 2017 0:40:17 GMT taranofprydain likes this

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Post by idioticbunny on Sept 7, 2017 0:40:17 GMT

Sept 7, 2017 0:38:39 GMT taranofprydain said:

I forgot to include The Story of Vernon and Irene Caste for 1939. Its Fred and Ginger again, this time in a musical drama with a tragic ending. Its wirth a look.

I might pass for now just because there are so many other movies I want to check out for the year, but I'll most definitely be coming back to it. Certainly wouldn't want to drain myself completely of all Fred & Ginger right away! Would love to come back to them in the future

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1938 Line-ups. Sept 8, 2017 4:11:57 GMT

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Post by tobias on Sept 8, 2017 4:11:57 GMT

Sept 5, 2017 18:18:38 GMT idioticbunny said:

Olympia (the first part at least) had far too much commentary for my liking. I would've preferred Riefenstahl just stick to her visuals as I thought they were absolutely incredible (the diving and gymnastics sequences in particular were some of the best work I've seen this decade). Still, no denying its brilliance as well as influence, and it was nice that the propaganda was limited compared to her previous film.

Ah yeah, I would assume the commentary might be kind of distracting if you get it on subtitles (because it's in essence not really interesting information). Watching the film in german, it feels a lot more casual. Still glad you liked it.

Also glad you liked Pygmalion. It's definitely less talked about than it deserves and it's the film that made George Bernhard Shaw the only person to ever win both the Academy Award (for the script) and a nobel prize (for litterature - though of course he got that for his work in general, not for the script).

Biggest disappointment: Bringing Up Baby. Normally I would blame the hype for causing me to feel disappointed with a film, because at least then there are still aspects to enjoy about it, I just didn't fall in love with it. But in this case, outside of the marvelously witty and zany performances of Grant & Hepburn, the script was just one big mess and I found the characters (particularly Hepburn's) absolutely grating. I'm sure the point was to put these two unlikable characters together and watch them be unlikable to each other (pretty much screwball in a nutshell), but there's usually a fine line between rude and plain annoying and I felt the film crossed it too often. Just wasn't my cup of tea, I guess. But those performances, particularly Grant's, far make up for it so that's why I still give it a decent 6/10. And because I don't think it's poorly made as a film, I solely blame the script.

You know, I was looking at your list and I thought that it was pretty cool to see Nevsky (which is my favorite Eisenstein), Olympia and Pygmalion on top but looking further down, I'm actually incredibly surprised as in this rare case, I've seen all your 5 lowest picks (while usually it would be some more obscure stuff I might not even have heard about) and I think that Robin Hood, Holiday & La Bête Humaine are all good films, while The Lady Vanishes is a really good film and Brining Up Baby is fantastic. So I guess we have to disagree on those.

I'm particularly surprised about The Lady Vanishes as you're a big Hitchcock fan but I suppose it was the humor?

As for 1939 make sure to put Ninotchka on your list. Le Jour Se Leve, The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums & Sans Lendemain are also all well worth a consideration but I'm not 100 % convinced they're your kind of thing. I would suspect Sans Lendemain would still be the most up your alley, while I could see you loving Last Chrysanthemums just as well as I could see you hating it. Le Jour Se Leve is a bit of a proto-noir kind of film, personally I thought the way it was narrated suited the story wonderfully and brought through the desparation of the main character but I don't know if you would feel the same way about it.

"You see things; and you say Why? But I dream things that never were and I say Why not?" - George Bernhard Shaw

idioticbunny
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1938 Line-ups. Sept 8, 2017 16:50:57 GMT

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Post by idioticbunny on Sept 8, 2017 16:50:57 GMT

tobias

Yeah, this is why I really regret not studying more languages when I had the chance in school. It would make watching all these foreign films so much more enjoyable when I can just look at what's happening on screen/ the performances instead of having to dart my eyes down quickly to read everything. Especially in really talky pieces like Sacha Guitry's work. Thankfully, I've honed down the ability to look down quickly enough and capture the words like a mental picture so I can keep my eyes on everything else, but yeah, I'm sure it would have felt much more casual if I didn't have to read it. Thankfully, she limited the commentary to just names and countries (i.e. "Johnson, U.S.A."), but I still think when it was just her visuals and the bombastic music, it was far more fulfilling.

Pygmalion is super underrated. Granted, I know My Fair Lady (which, from what I know, is a musical remake) has received the majority of the acclaim, so as long as the story is getting its due. But I think what made this one special was Anthony Asquith's way of using montage and camera angles that made it so profound to me. Will definitely want to seek out more of Shaw's work if any of it is filmed.

Actually, the only movie I actively disliked from the year was Bringing Up Baby. The rest are still a 7/10 which is equivalent to "good" by my definition. I actually thought Renoir impressed again with La Bete Humaine. I didn't think it was anything special, but it was better than all his work pre-La Grande Illusion in my opinion. Curious to see if he keeps up the streak for 1939's Rules of the Game. Robin Hood was a hell of a lot of Technicolor fun, so I actually really enjoyed that one. Just proves how good the ones above it are. Holiday was kind of a mess, but that was mostly because it didn't seem to know which characters it wanted to give focus, but the acting and humor really elevate it.

The only other one that might be considered a disappointment is The Lady Vanishes, but that's only a disappointment by Hitchcock standards. I actually didn't get much humor from it compared to other works of his, so maybe that just went over my head. I also hated Redgrave's character; I thought he was a pig in the beginning and he never really earned the nice guy treatment he got by the film's end outside of condescendingly helping the main character. Regardless, I still loved Hitchcock's techniques and the film further proves his ability (hence why he makes my top 5 for Director). But all in all, only disliked Bringing Up Baby, so we only have to disagree on that one

I definitely want to see Ninotchka. I've not been big on Garbo, but I love the idea of her paired with Lubitsch. It just sounds like a plan built for success. I couldn't find any copies of Le Jour se Leve (not ones with English subtitles anyway), but I'll most likely be checking out The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums as I've heard good things and my knowledge of Asian cinema this decade is lacking. Thanks again for the recommendations. I hadn't heard of Sans Lendemain, so I'll be sure to add that to my ever-growing watch-list.

tobias Full Member Posts: 824 Likes: 396	1938 Line-ups. Sept 8, 2017 23:01:44 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by tobias on Sept 8, 2017 23:01:44 GMT idioticbunny - Finding Le Jour Se Leve could be a tad hard, yeah. I was lucky that it ran on our german-french TV station and I recorded it.
	"You see things; and you say Why? But I dream things that never were and I say Why not?" - George Bernhard Shaw