1937 BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR!

This is my choice (choices) for Best Picture for the year 1937.  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). 

And the nominees on the entries from every edition of 1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die are...
Captains Courageous
Song at Midnight
Grand Illusion
Stella Dallas
Make Room for Tomorrow
The Life of Emile Zola
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Awful Truth
Pepe Le Moko

                  

And the winner for the Best Picture of 1937 is…Make Way for Tomorrow

Make Way for Tomorrow

"The most depressing damn film I've ever seen!" Or something to that effect was Orson Welles's commentary on Make Way For Tomorrow.

Leo McCarey's film is about a family's struggle with what to do about aging parents with nowhere to go. Comparable to Ozu's Tokyo Story, it is a rarity among Hollywood movies of the time (and today for that matter) to deal with older people and their struggles as a main focus. It's also a rarity that there are no headline stars to be seen, which actually works in the film's favor. A gem of a movie in my book.

Make Way for Tomorrow

And the Award for Unique and Artistic Picture of 1937 is...Grand Illusion

Grand Illusion

Some of my favorite films (“2001,” “8 ½” and “Clockwork Orange”) struck a chord with me much more on the second viewing than the first. Jean Renoir’s “Rules of the Game,” is the best example of this for me. On the first viewing, I didn’t really get it, but on the next viewing, it became one of my favorite films.

Renoir’s other classic “Grande Illusion” may fall into that category too. On this, my first viewing, I saw a lot of great cinematic touches: The German officer and French officer’s common traits, including duty to country, the use of musical motifs for effect, the loneliness war brings to the German widow, groups of soldiers playing as children and children playing as soldiers, the French drag show turning into the patriotic “Marseilles” after a French victory, etc. Now that I’ve starting naming them, they seem to be numerous.

Notable performances include: Dita Parlo in a small role as the war widow, Erich Von Stroheim as the surprisingly sympathetic German officer, and Marcel Dalio as Rosenthal, a much less straight laced character here than I remember him playing in “Rules of the Game.”

What is the Grand Illusion? That this is the war to end all wars, that life changes when you pass imaginary borders or that true love wins out. Or is it something more sinister?

Grand Illusion

1939 BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR!

This is my choice (choices) for Best Picture for the year 1939.  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). 

This year is often noted as being the best year of the Classic Movie era. There are a lot of potential choices here, but my two winners seem pretty clear.

And the nominees on the entries from every edition of 1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die are...
Stagecoach
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
Babes in Arms
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Wizard of Oz
Destry Rides Again
Only Angels Have Wings
Gone with the Wind
Daybreak
Gunga Din
Ninotchka
The Rules of the Game
Wuthering Heights

                    

And the winner for the Best Picture of 1939 is…The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz

Gone With the Wind...Stagecoach...Mr. Smith...Ninotchka...
so many potential winners for this category this year, but I simply couldn't go against the beloved classic, The Wizard of Oz. I've seen this movie probably twenty times and Dorothy's adventures in the land of Oz never seems to get old. Wonderfully cast with that delightfully whimsical story that we all know by heart with special effects that still seem pretty fresh, I'm always going to vote for Dorothy...and Toto, too..

The Wizard of Oz

And the Award for Unique and Artistic Picture of 1939 is...The Rules of the Game

The Rules of the Game

I first saw The Rules of the Game during a summer film comedy class at university during the 80’s. It wasn’t the typical comedy I was used to in this class, but I did like this French comedy of manners and social class from director Jean Renoir. I took a History of Film class (So I like classes where you get to watch movies!) the next year and saw this film again and really began to appreciate it so much more. It’s so smooth and so perfectly done it strikes me as a rare combination of slapstick silliness, ballet, operatic drama all spread over the canvas of the director which is certainly on a par with anything that his father Auguste painted. I have seen The Rules of the Game about five times over the years and it is definitely a movie to be watched and appreciated over several viewings over any cinephile's lifetime. Despite heavy competition from this year, I've got to go with Rules of the Game for the win.

The Rules of the Game

THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939, FRANCE), LA CHIENNE (1934, FRANCE), THE GOLDEN COACH (1952, FRANCE)

THIS WEEK'S FILMS

The players scramble over the chessboard

in Rules of the Game

I first saw The Rules of the Game during a summer film comedy class at university during the 80’s. It wasn’t the typical comedy I was used to in this class, but I did like this French comedy of manners and social class from director Jean Renoir. I took a History of Film class (So I like classes where you get to watch movies!) the next year and saw this film again and really began to appreciate it so much more. It’s so smooth and so perfectly done it strikes me as a rare combination of slapstick silliness, ballet, operatic drama all spread over the canvas of the director which is certainly on a par with anything that his father Auguste painted. I have seen The Rules of the Game about five times over the years and it is definitely a movie to be watched and appreciated over several viewings over any cinephile's lifetime.

Michel Simon's everyman falls for the pretty bitch
in La Chienne

Renoir’s La Chienne is an interesting film about an unhappy middle-aged married cashier that falls in love with a pretty younger woman whose devious motivations are geared towards using the poor man for his money and is assisted in her nefarious scheme by her boyfriend/pimp. Like Rules of the Game, La Chienne also explores class in a natural but complex way and in a way that can only lead to a tragic conclusion.

All the world's a stage...Anna Magnani in The Golden Coach

Renoir’s later The Golden Coach really takes on this class theme head on featuring the plot of a viceroy that falls head over heels in love with a commoner (an actress, gasp!) and must make choices between his status and position over true love. But does she love him? And if so, how? And others fall for her too, what are her feelings for them? I like the fact that the actress is played by Anna Magnani, who isn’t traditionally beautiful, but has a charismatic appeal that makes it easy to understand why all these men fall for her. All of this plot revolves around the golden coach of the title, a bauble of status which all seem to strive for, but only has value when given away by the possessor.

Jean Renoir as Octave in Rules of the Game

A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (1934, FRANCE)

HULUPALOOZA!! (Post 4 of 12)

A Day in the Country is Jean Renoir's forty-minute unfinished romantic romp through the countryside that is not without it's charms and is somewhat reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman's later Smiles of a Summer Night. The problem is that the film was never completed due to bad weather and the short version we see is a later edited version. This certainly would not be the first Renoir film to go to if you haven't seen any of his movies before (My choice would be Rules of the Game), but to tell you the truth, for me, Renoir films tend to get better through repeated viewings.

Maybe I'll give this one another shot. 

BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (1932, FRANCE)

HULUPALOOZA!! (Post 2 of 12)

Boudo Saved From Drowning

I remember when Down and Out in Beverly Hills came out in 1986, seeing reviews mention that it was a remake of the 1932 French film listed here. Down and Out in Beverly Hills was pretty funny, depicting how a affluent Beverly Hills family takes in a derelict that attempts to drown himself in their swimming pool and this derelict eventually takes over and changes their life.

Boudu Saved From Drowning  follows the same plotline in a Parisian setting and is fun...though didn't generate as many laughs as the later film. The culture and class clash here is well depicted as the family tries to reform the tramp, but he ends up reforming them even more. And the final wedding scene is a hoot.

Director Jean Renoir explores these class differences in even greater depth in Rules of the Game.

GRAND ILLUSION (1937, FRANCE)

Some of my favorite films (“2001,” “8 ½” and “Clockwork Orange”) struck a chord with me much more on the second viewing than the first. Jean Renoir’s “Rules of the Game,” is the best example of this for me. On the first viewing, I didn’t really get it, but on the next viewing, it became one of my favorite films.

Renoir’s other classic “Grande Illusion” may fall into that category too. On this, my first viewing, I saw a lot of great cinematic touches: The German officer and French officer’s common traits, including duty to country, the use of musical motifs for effect, the loneliness war brings to the German widow, groups of soldiers playing as children and children playing as soldiers, the French drag show turning into the patriotic “Marseilles” after a French victory, etc. Now that I’ve starting naming them, they seem to be numerous.

Notable performances include: Dita Parlo in a small role as the war widow, Erich Von Stroheim as the surprisingly sympathetic German officer, and Marcel Dalio as Rosenthal, a much less straight laced character here than I remember him playing in “Rules of the Game.”

What is the Grand Illusion? That this is the war to end all wars, that life changes when you pass imaginary borders or that true love wins out. Or is it something more sinister?