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

1930 BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR!

This is my choice (choices) for Best Picture for the year 1930.  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). 

I found this year to have one easy choice and one difficult one.

And the nominees on the entries from every edition of 1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die are...
The Blue Angel
L'Age of d'Or
Earth
Little Caesar
All Quiet on the Western Front
A Nous la liberte'
Le Million

                    

And the winner for the Best Picture of 1939 is…All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

I would be hard pressed not to put All Quiet on the Western Front as Best Picture. The only question is whether to put it under Unique and Artistic Production or as Best Picture. Despite it's literary pedigree, I'm putting it as the winner of Best Picture as it was a hit and is still regarded as one if not the classic American movie of the early talkie era.

All Quiet on the Western Front

And the Award for Unique and Artistic Picture of 1939 is...The Blue Angel

The Blue Angel

Despite stiff competition here from three French films, I'm going with Von Sternberg's classic tale of Lola Lola the cabaret singer portrayed to the hilt by Marlene Dietrich. But it is the sad descent of the academic Professor Rath (Emil Jannings) that is the movie's somber heart and center.

I do wonder if I should see A Nous a Liberte' again. Would that have been a better choice? It's just been a few years since I've seen it now. No wonder so many Academy winners are movies released late in the year!

The Blue Angel

1929 BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR!

This is my choice (choices) for Best Picture for the year 1929.  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). 

The 1001 list gives you pretty slim pickin's for some years and too many choices for other years. With only four movies, this is definitely a slim year.

And the nominees on the entries from every edition of 1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die are...
Blackmail
The Man with the Movie Camera
Pandora's Box
A Throw of the Dice

And the winner for the Best Picture of 1939 is…Pandora's Box

                 Pandora's Box                    

Close choices here, but I'm giving this to the hedonistic adventures of Lulu (Louise Brooks) in G. W. Pabst's tale of a wild woman. It's certainly an interesting story and Brooks is pretty iconic in this role. A Throw of the Dice is an entertaining epic and as for Hitchcock's experimental Blackmail, I'll have lots of awards in this category in later years for Mr. Hitchcock.

Pandora's Box

And the Award for Unique and Artistic Picture of 1929 is...The Man with the Movie Camera

The Man with the Movie Camera

The experimental The Man with the Movie Camera is about the only film from this list from this year that could win this category. This film invites you into a movie theater and begins to show you a world outside the realm of traditional cinematic language. The shots of the late twenties Soviet Union is even more interesting without the confines of traditional narrative. Director Dziga Vertov shows the mechanics of society through machinery, trolleys or people just going to work. I also like the fact that Vertov appears with his camera throughout, reminding us this is a movie in case we begin to forget.

The Man with the Movie Camera

1928 BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR!

This is my choice for Best Picture for 1928. 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 Unique and Artistic Picture (won by Sunrise from 1927-1928).

And the nominees for every entry from 1928 from every edition of 1001 Movie You Must See Before You Die are...

The Crowd
The Docks of New York
An Andalusian Dog
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Storm Over Asia

And the winner for Best Picture of 1928 is...The Crowd

The Crowd

As tempting as it is to give out these early awards to Buster Keaton movies, I'm going with King Vidor's The Crowd for this one. One of several excellent pictures of the last real year of silents, this film depicts a couple and their struggle to survive under tight circumstances in real and stark terms, and showed a technically adept filmmaking style that we didn't seem to see too much during the early talkies.

 The Crowd

And the Award for Unique and Artistic Picture of 1928 is...Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

You can make a case for Luis Bunuel's influential An Andalusian Dog for this award for this year, but I'm going with Carl Theodor Dreyer's intense epic of the last days of Joan of Arc. It's a truly harrowing and draining piece, though you probably have to be in the right mood before sitting down to watch this one.

Joan of Arc