1931 BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR!

This is my choice (choices) for Best Picture for the year 1931.  My criteria is that I can only use films that are on the 1001 list. To make it a little easier on myself, I am using the rules of the first Academy Award and name a winner for Best Picture (won by Wings for 1927-1928) and Best and Unique and Artistic Picture (won by Sunrise from 1927-1928). 

So many classics from this year, but what holds up the best?

And the nominees on the entries from every edition of 1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die are...
Tabu
Dracula
Frankenstein
City Lights
The Public Enemy
M
La Chienne
Limite

                    

And the winner for the Best Picture of 1931 is…M

M

It's hard to go against Frankenstein, but....

Fritz Lang’s M is considered by many to be the greatest of movies to come out of Germany during the pre-Nazi era. It’s difficult for me to not look at the story of a serial child murderer without thinking how it foreshadows the ascension of the most prolific serial killer of the century.

The film works as a police procedural of sorts, though the audience knows who the killer is long before the authorities do. The great conflict in the film is the competition between the police trying to find the killer and those in the criminal underworld who want to find the murderer for their own reasons.

The “kangaroo court” scene where the child murder is put on trial by criminals is truly the highlight of the film.

And let us not forget Peter Lorre’s memorable defense of himself before this tribunal of criminals:

Do you all want to kill me?
You just want to wipe me out?
But you can’t murder me just like that!
I demand to be handed over to the police!
I demand to be brought before a real court of law!

M will most likely be playing soon at a college film class near you.

This film would have been a fit for either of these categories, so I'm already seeing potential issues with placing these films in the proper category as I progress.

M

And the Award for Unique and Artistic Picture of 1931 is...City Lights

City Lights

Charlie Chaplin wasn't just the most popular comic actor of his day, he was also a great artist. There are plenty of funny moments here, but City Lights may be best remembered for his poignancy and heart. It was also unique to Chaplin that he was able to make such a successful silent film so late after the advent of "talkies." Modern Times is still my favorite Chaplin, but City Lights gets my Artistic Picture Award for 1931.

City Lights

DR. MABUSE, THE GAMBLER (1922, GERMANY)

Mabuse in disguise

in Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler

I feel lucky that when I was growing up there were many opportunities to see silent features and shorts on television. It was clearly the silent comedies I gravitated too because many of the great gags by the comedy masters were timeless and actually enhanced by having no dialogue to get in the way.

Silent dramas were a different matter. I thought (and sometimes still think, honestly) viewing a more serious film without the aid of the verbal cues we are use to isn't always easy to do. Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler is a good example. The plot is a lot to keep up with. We have Dr. Mabuse, the criminal mastermind and master of disguise and all his henchman and all the people he dupes and we have law enforcement trying to put the pieces of the puzzle of his many crimes together and it requires a lot of concentration (at least it did for me) to keep it all straight. The movie is also well over four hours long, depending on what version you happen to watch.

But I hung with it and the plot, even though I wasn't catching as much as I would have liked in the beginning, about an hour in to Mabuse the style and the visual language of the story eventually began to click with me and I enjoyed the second half of the film very much. I'd even go as far to say that I found the overall viewing experience of Mabuse quite rewarding, as director Fritz Lang was clearly a master of the medium even at that early stage of his career.

Mabuse returns: Lang brought back the Mabuse character in sound films in 1933 (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) and The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960).

Rudolf Klein-Rogge: Klein-Rogge (Dr. Mabuse) played important parts in several Lang films, including: Metropolis, Spies, and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. His first screen credit is in the classic Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as "Man with the Knife."

Favorite title card: "Eat cocaine, limp dick!"

Dr. Mabuse deals while surrounded by a couple of his henchmen

in Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler

SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR (1948)

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE

(Post 4 of 50)

I have some mixed emotions about Secret Beyond the Door. It's a Fritz Lang movie, so it has a lot of the style that is typical of one of the great directors of his era. It's also a film noir, which is certainly a favorite genre of mine. The problems for me are in the plot. The story of a woman who marries a mysterious man, who may either love her madly or want to kill her tends to be a bit confusing at times. At times this confusion adds to the mystery of the plot, but at other times it makes the whole deal a bit convoluted. The overuse of voice over narration from the main character played by Joan Bennett tends to be way too much after time. I did like when the husband played by Michael Redgrave takes over the voice over narration later in the film. 

Still not the first place to go for one going through the catalog of the films of Fritz Lang.

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to…Natalie Schafer. This film is reminscent of Alfred Hitchock's Reebcca, though not as good. It even comes with its version of Rebecca's Mrs. Danvers character in the part of Caroline played by Anne Revere. But I think Revere comes across as kind of a "Mrs. Danvers lite." She even starts a Mrs. Danvers style fire! But in her defense, it's hard to top Judith Anderson's Danvers from Rebecca by anyone playing this type of role.

So, I'm going to give the award to Natalie Schafer, who is forever known as Lovey Howell from Gilligan's Island. Schafer plays essentially a younger version of Mrs. Howell here. I mean, could she really play anything buy a society dame? She also gives the movie some much needed laughs as Joan Bennett's gossipy friend.

METROPOLIS (1927, GERMANY)

Those big bold eyes of Brigitte Helm. The beautifully symmetrical head. This is the lasting image for me from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. In her role of Maria, Brigitte has to be a convincing spiritual leader, yet mesmerizing enough for John Frederson’s son to fall in love with her and then be a robot that is pure evil and deception. She does all this perfectly. According to IMDB, she didn’t continue her career after 1935. Too bad.

Properly regarded as one of the first great Science Fiction films, though its legacy may be seen more in films about worker rights like Norma Rae rather than latter day Sci-Fi films such as The Fifth Element. “There can be no understanding between the hands and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.” This theme is pounded home again and again in this film and presumably Thea Von Harbou’s novel as well.

I first saw this film at Ansley Mall in Atlanta when it was re-released in the mid 80’s. The older DVD copy I have isn’t exactly top quality and I have no idea what the story is with the music. During the most dramatic parts of the movie, I have to hear Mendelssohn. Symphony No. 4, which is so associated with the bicycling movie Breaking Away that it seems horribly out of place here.

Gerald Mast in “A Short History of Movies” sees a lot of problems with the film. He calls Metropolis, “a series of stunning pictures with the silliest, wateriest intellectual and dramatic paste holding them together. Well, Hitler did like it and Queen used it as background for their video for Radio Gaga. I forgot my point.

“1001 Movies” states there is a newly restored version out that has been out in recent years. Hopefully, this version also has a new score.