MC Yearly Consensus | 1940 |

[Llopin]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and eventually a groovy top 10 will be constructed. Use IMDb dates, fools!

IMDb power search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

The point system is as follows:

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the thread is locked, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before a mod locks the thread.

Let the pimping begin.

[dreamdead]

I seem unable to locate a copy of The Mortal Storm, so...

1. Pinocchio
2. The Shop Around the Corner
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. Rebecca
5. Grapes of Wrath

HM: His Girl Friday

Can't remember a damn thing: Fantasia

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. His Girl Friday
2. The Philadelphia Story
3. Rebecca
4. The Shop Around the Corner
5. Christmas in July

[Boner M]

1. Rebecca
2. Pinocchio
3. His Girl Friday

Eek! I've also seen The Grapes of Wrath about 10 years ago and can't remember a damn thing, and The Philadephia Story about 5 years ago, which I liked a bit but needs a repeat.

Eek again!

[Mysterious Dude]

1. His Girl Friday
2. Rebecca
3. The Grapes of Wrath
4. Fantasia
5. The Great Dictator

[Grouchy]

1. Fantasia
2. Rebecca
3. His Girl Friday
4. The Great Dictator

[Raiders]

1. His Girl Friday
2. The Mortal Storm
3. Pinocchio
4. The Shop Around the Corner
5. Fantasia

[monolith94]

1. Rebecca
2. The Philadelphia Story
3. Fantasia
4. Pinocchio
5. The Great Dictator

[Russ]

1. Fantasia
2. His Girl Friday
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. The Bank Dick
5. Christmas in July

[Eleven]

1. His Girl Friday
2. Christmas in July
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. Pinocchio
5. Foreign Correspondent

[Melville]

1. His Girl Friday
2. The Grapes of Wrath
3. Rebecca

I think I might vote for both Fantasia and Pinocchio if I could remember them.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I can't say this is one of my favourite years, I need to revisit a lot of films though...

1. His Girl Friday
2. The Shop Around the Corner
3. Philadelphia Story
4. Rebecca
5. The Mark of Zorro

[Spinal]

1. His Girl Friday
2. The Grapes of Wrath
3. Pinocchio
4. Rebecca

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. The Shop Around the Corner
2. The Philadelphia Story
3. His Girl Friday
4. The Grapes of Wrath
5. Foreign Correspondent

[Sycophant]

In our consensuses, this is they year I've seen the most from since 1990...

1. The Great Dictator
2. Christmas in July
3. The Shop Around the Corner
4. Pinocchio
5. His Girl Friday

[Raiders]

I wish more people would see Borzage's film. It almost made my top 100. I realize few would probably love it like I do, but it'd still be nice for it to get some recognition.

[Spinal]

The Shop Around the Corner would be my #5, but I'm only listing films that are ***1/2 or above.

[dreamdead]

I wish more people would see Borzage's film. It almost made my top 100. I realize few would probably love it like I do, but it'd still be nice for it to get some recognition.

I love teh Stewart and, truth be told, I'm cycling through your blog on year-dates for recs before the deadlines come up. Is it available on dvd anywhere? I didn't see it at Netflix...

[Raiders]

The Shop Around the Corner would be my #5, but I'm only listing films that are ***1/2 or above.

Then I think the clear problem here is your low rating for it. I'll even loan a half star from my four if it would help.

[Raiders]

I love teh Stewart and, truth be told, I'm cycling through your blog on year-dates for recs before the deadlines come up. Is it available on dvd anywhere? I didn't see it at Netflix...

Nah, only on VHS. It is however #4 on TCM's user voting for films to be released on home video. Go to the film's page on TCM's website and vote for it.

[Robby P]

1. The Shop Around the Corner
2. His Girl Friday
3. Rebecca
4. Foreign Correspondent
5. Fantasia

[Yxklyx]

1. His Girl Friday
2. Fantasia
3. The Grapes of Wrath
4. Christmas in July
5. The Shop Around the Corner

[Spinal]

Top Songs of 1940:

1. Artie Shaw, "Frenesi"
2. Glenn Miller, "In the Mood"
3. Tommy Dorsey, "I'll Never Smile Again"
4. Bing Crosby, "Only Forever"
5. Glenn Miller "Tuxedo Junction"
6. Glenn Miller, "Woodpecker Song"
7. Glenn Miller, "Careless"
8. Glenn Miller, "When You Wish Upon a Star"
9. Bing Crosby, "Trade Winds"
10. Andrews Sisters, "Ferry Boat Serenade"

source: goldenoldies-records.com

[Sycophant]

Glenn Miller. Rocking the fucking house.

[ledfloyd]

1. His Girl Friday
2. The Great Dictator
3. Rebecca
4. The Philadelphia Story
5. The Shop Around the Corner

there are a few others that i can't remember that well. like theif of baghdad or fantasia or pinnochio.

[Derek]

1. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch)
2. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock)
3. Fantasia (Disney, various)
4. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor)
5. Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock)
______________________________ ________

6. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford)
7. Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske & Ben Sharpsteen)
8. The Bank Dick (Edward F. Cline)
9. Christmas in July (Preston Sturges)
10. The Great McGinty (Preston Sturges)

Obviously I need to give His Girl Friday another look,

[BirdsAteMyFace]

1. His Girl Friday
2. The Philadelphia Story
3. Fantasia

[Llopin]

Paintings Made in 1940


http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/lg/1/5/Edward-Hopper-Gas-15312.jpg
Edward HOPPER - Gas

http://bib.us.es/guiaspormaterias/ayuda_invest/bellas_artes/img/kahlo-self5.jpg
Frida KAHLO - Self-portrait

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/upload/2007/07/dali_voltaire.jpg
Salvador DAL� - The Slave Market with Disappearing Bust of Voltaire

http://www.iupui.edu/~lmena1/dali/war.jpg
Salvador DAL� - The Face of War

[Dillard]

1. Rebecca
2. The Grapes of Wrath
3. The Great Dictator
4. The Bank Dick
5. Pinocchio

[Spinal]

Great idea with the paintings list!

[Boner M]

I wish more people would see Borzage's film. It almost made my top 100. I realize few would probably love it like I do, but it'd still be nice for it to get some recognition.
I've wanted to see it ever since seeing it on Adrian Martin's Sight & Sound top ten, and I really loved Borzage's Moonrise (and really liked History is Made at Night).

[Dillard]

Great idea with the paintings list!

Yeah, I love that Hopper painting. The colors in the actual painting are incredible.

[Dillard]

http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/lg/1/8/Edward-Hopper-Gas--1940-180534.jpg

This is a little better. In this image you get a better sense of the evening.

[Dillard]

Here's another Hopper from 1940: Office at Night

http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2007-05/edward-hopper-office-at-night.jpg

[Grouchy]

Edward Hopper rocks so much.

Are you guys sure we're gonna get a top10 outta this? I have the feeling everyone's voting for the same 7 movies.

[Raiders]

Are you guys sure we're gonna get a top10 outta this? I have the feeling everyone's voting for the same 7 movies.

My quick, unofficial count, shows 13 films mentioned so far. I do believe that for the majority of the '30s, we'll probably have to only do a top five or something.

[Spinal]

How about this? A film must be mentioned by at least three posters to be considered for the final list. If we do not have 10 such films for a given year, we will have a top 9, or top 8 or however many films get legitimate support.

[Raiders]

How about this? A film must be mentioned by at least three posters to be considered for the final list. If we do not have 10 such films for a given year, we will have a top 9, or top 8 or however many films get legitimate support.

I don't know. If a film is only mentioned twice, but put in first place both times, it would garner more points than a film mentioned three times but placed only at the fourth and fifth positions.

I would say it makes more sense to say a film must have at least 8 or 10 points rather than number of times mentioned.

[Grouchy]

I don't know. If a film is only mentioned twice, but put in first place both times, it would garner more points than a film mentioned three times but placed only at the fourth and fifth positions.

I would say it makes more sense to say a film must have at least 8 or 10 points rather than number of times mentioned.
Yeah, I agree with this.

[Derek]

I think we need a poll to decide this. Or perhaps a poll to determine the necessity of having a poll to decide?

But really, I like Raiders idea because it will get lesser known films of the 20s and 30s a bit more recognition.

[Mysterious Dude]

I think we need a poll to decide this. Or perhaps a poll to determine the necessity of having a poll to decide?As long as we have the option of punching Spinal. Or possibly killing him.

[Spinal]

I don't know what to do other than to leave it up to the thread starter to determine in any given poll what constitutes legitimate support. We will try to be consistent, but until we see an actual range of numbers, it's hard to make a blanket call.

So, tabulators, feel free to cut off your final lists at a point that seems logical. Do not include films just because they are next in line. Feel free to PM me counts if you want assistance making this call.

[Ezee E]

1. Pinocchio
2. His Girl Friday
3. Grapes of Wrath
4. The Bank Dick
5. Fantasia

[Lazlo]

1. The Philadelphia Story
2. Rebecca
3. Foreign Correspondent
4. The Grapes of Wrath
5. Pinocchio

[Spinal]

1940 in sports:

* The 1940 Summer Olympics to be held in Helsinki, were cancelled due to outbreak of World War II.

* The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, 4 games to 3.

* Minnesota Golden Gophers, Stanford Indians, and the Boston College Eagles three way tie for National college football champions.

* Chicago Bears crush the Washington Redskins 73-0 for the NFL championship.

* The New York Rangers defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 2 to win the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup.

* Indiana won the NCAA men's basketball national championship with a 60-42 victory over Kansas.

[soitgoes...]

1. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor)
2. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford)
3. The Westerner (William Wyler)
4. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks)
5. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock)
---------------------------------------------
6. The Mortal Storm (Frank Borzage) - Sorry Raiders. I liked it a lot though. I gave it an 8.5.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. The Thief of Baghdad
2. The Grapes of Wrath
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. Pinnochio
5. Rebecca

damn you, world war II !!!

[origami_mustache]

1. His Girl Friday
2. Rebecca
3. The Great McGinty
4. Pinocchio
5. Fantasia

[koji]

1. His Girl Friday (Hawks)
2. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor)
3. The Shop Around the Corner (Lubitsch)
4. Gaslight (Thorold Dickinson)
5. The Great Dictator (Chaplin)

Surprises me that Gaslight is receiving no support.:confused:

[Llopin]

People Who Died in 1940

Flora Finch, English-born actress and comedienne (b. 1869)
Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (b. 1868)
Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891)
Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
Tinsley Lindley, English footballer (b. 1865)
Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (b. 1902)
Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b. 1868)
Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
Smedley Butler, U.S. general (b. 1881)
Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b. 1879)
Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man in the world (infection) (b. 1918)
Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinettist (b. 1892)
Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (b. 1875)
Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)
Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (b. 1860)
J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)
Jan KubelÃ*k, Czech violinist (b. 1880)
Kyösti Kallio, President of Finland (b. 1873)
F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)

[EyesWideOpen]

1. The Philadelphia Story
2. His Girl Friday
3. Rebecca
4. Pinocchio
5. The Bank Dick

[Llopin]

Okay, I'm going to leave this open for 24 h and then I'll start the tally. So, no more votes?

[Yum-Yum]

Okay, I'm going to leave this open for 24 h and then I'll start the tally. So, no more votes?

1. His Girl Friday
2. Rebecca
3. The Philadelphia Story

[Velocipedist]

1. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock)
2. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch)
3. Christmas in July (Preston Sturges)
4. Fantasia (Walt Disney)
5. The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin)

Meh.

[origami_mustache]

Watched The Great McGinty tonight. A pretty solid script with some funny moments and an overall impressive directing debut for Sturges considering the severe budget constraints. This is the third film I've seen from Sturges and they all involve the lead characters pretending to be someone they aren't until the character arcs lead them to epiphany, which seems to work well, however I'd like to see a different formula from him next time.

[Sycophant]

Watched The Great McGinty tonight. A pretty solid script with some funny moments and an overall impressive directing debut for Sturges considering the severe budget constraints. This is the third film I've seen from Sturges and they all involve the lead characters pretending to be someone they aren't until the character arcs lead them to epiphany, which seems to work well, however I'd like to see a different formula from him next time.The Miracle of Morgan's Creek or Unfaithfully Yours.

[jesse]

01) The Letter
02) The Philadelphia Story
03) Fantasia
04) Rebecca
05) Boom Town

Least favorite: The Grapes of Wrath.

[Llopin]

And my votes:

1. Foreign Correspondent
2. His Girl Friday
3. A Chump at Oxford
4. The Great Dictator
5. Rebecca

VOTING CLOSED.

[Llopin]

#10

http://hitchcock.tv/mov/foreign_correspondent/correspondent.gif

Foreign Correspondent
director: Alfred Hitchcock

Johnny Jones is an action reporter on a New York newspaper. The editor appoints him European correspondent because he is fed up with the dry, reports he currently gets. Jones' first assignment is to get the inside story on a secret treaty agreed between two European countries by the famous diplomat, Mr. Van Meer. However things don't go to plan and Jones enlists the help of a young woman to help track down a group of spies.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including best picture. Producer Walter Wanger had had the story in development for several years. Originally it was about the Spanish Civil War but that had ended too quickly and had therefore lost its relevance to audiences. Wanger insisted that the film be politically up-to-date so rewrites were happening constantly throughout production. Ultimately, 14 writers in all were involved in bringing the story to the screen.

Director Alfred Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper for the lead instead of Joel McCrea, but Cooper wasn't interested in doing a thriller (Cooper later admitted to Hitchcock that he'd made a mistake in turning down the lead). Hitchcock had wanted either Barbara Stanwyck or Joan Fontaine for the female lead.

"It is highly entertaining with many great set pieces, showing a good ear for comedy, and though not one of H's best films it still has some unforgettable scenes such as a mysterious Dutch windmill used as a Nazi hideout, a blood-curdling assassination attempt on the observation deck in Westminster Chapel and a trans-Atlantic clipper plane bound for the States that crashes in the sea" - Dennis Schwartz

[Llopin]

#9

http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/65/08/88/18827189.jpg

Christmas in July
director: Preston Sturges

An office clerk loves entering contests in the hopes of someday winning a fortune and marrying the girl he loves. His latest attempt is the Maxford House Coffee Slogan Contest. As a joke, some of his co-workers put together a fake telegram which says that he won the $25,000 grand prize. As a result, he gets a promotion, buys presents for all of his family and friends, and proposes to his girl. When the truth comes out, he's not prepared for the consequences.

Preston Sturges wrote the play, "A Cup of Coffee" in 1931, but it was produced off-Broadway in New York in 1988. The set to this movie was open because Sturges loved visitors to observe what he was shooting. Sturges helped invent the gadget sofa demonstrated in the department store scene. The directo made a cameo appearance as the man listening to the radio while his shoes are being cleaned.

"One of the great pleasures of Sturges's movies was the stock company of superb character actors who were the heart and soul of all his films, and Christmas is packed with them. It remains a wonderful present that's perfect for anytime of the year" - Michael Scheinfeld

[Sycophant]

This makes me want to change my avatar back. I will when I get home.

"Mine was Lithuanian" indeed. :pritch:

[Llopin]

#8

http://chilangabanda.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/2050-b.jpg

The Great Dictator
director: Charles Chaplin

In Chaplin's satire on Nazi Germany, dictator Adenoid Hynkel has a double... a poor Jewish barber... who one day is mistaken for Hynkel.

Charles Chaplin got the idea when a friend, Alexander Korda, noted that his screen persona and Adolf Hitler looked somewhat similar. Chaplin later learned they were both born within a week of each other, were roughly the same height and weight and both struggled in poverty until they reached great success in their respective fields. When Chaplin learned of Hitler's policies of racial oppression and nationalist aggression, he used their similarities as an inspiration to attack Hitler on film. It was Chaplin's biggest box-office hit.

Some reports refute Charles Chaplin's claims of ignorance as to the true extent of Nazi atrocities, stating that Chaplin was very much aware of the various goings-on, but decided to make the film anyway as an attack on Nazi ideology.

"The film exposes the farcical base of fascism, bursting the swollen bubble of reactionary pomposity with deafening finality - the result is an incredibly effective satire. No wonder Hitler, Mussolini and Franco banned it outright" - Jamie Russell

[Llopin]

#7

http://www.beanstudios.com/newsletters/images/2006-42.jpg

Fantasia
director: various

A collection of animated interpretations of great works of Western classical music

Igor Stravinsky, the composer of the "Rite of Spring" (who, until 1971, was the only one of the composers still living whose music was featured in the film) hated Leopold Stokowski's re-orchestration and re-organization of the piece (the original order of the sections was jumbled, and two of them were completely left out of the Disney version). Bela Lugosi served as a live-action model for Chernabog, the demon in "Night on Bald Mountain." Lugosi spent several days at the Disney studios, where he was filmed doing evil, demon-like poses for the animators to use as a reference. However, Bill Tytla, the animator in charge of Chernobog, was dissatisfied with Lugosi's performance, and had sequence director Wilfred Jackson pose for the cameras. Thus it was Jackson, not Lugosi, who appeared on-screen as Chernobog.

A segment featuring Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" was animated and intended as part of the original release but cut due to the film's already excessive length. "Clair de Lune" was reworked and rescored as the "Blue Bayou" sequence in Make Mine Music (1946).

"If in a particularly caustic mood, one could designate Fantasia as the ultimate middlebrow movie—reaching for the status of high art by elevating cartoons and lowering classical music onto the same warming bench. It does reach, grandly and unhesitantly—what’s doubtless and perhaps most striking about the film is that it still stands utterly alone; like a genre unto itself, or perhaps, one that never really spawned the imitators it perhaps should have, it forever remains firmly rooted in its time, its ambition, its crossroads" - Michael Korelsky

[Llopin]

#6

http://images.greencine.com/images/article/grapes-of-wrath.jpg

The Grapes of Wrath
director: John Ford

Oklahoma in the Thirties is a dustbowl and dispossessed farmers migrate westward to California. After terrible trials en route they become little more than slave labor. Among the throng are the Joads, who refuse to knuckle under.

Won 2 Oscars. Darryl F. Zanuck was heavily involved in all aspects of the production as he saw it as a personal project. In fact, so meticulous and carefully thought through was his editing of Nunnally Johnson's screenplay, that Johnson himself praised Zanuck for his attention to detail. Prior to filming, the producer sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had been exaggerating about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that, if anything, Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.

The novel's original ending was far too controversial to be even considered for a film in 1940. It involved Rose-of-Sharon Rivers (Dorris Bowdon) giving birth to a stillborn baby and then offering her milk-filled breasts to a starving man, dying in a barn. The film was banned in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin in 1940 because of its showing that even the poorest Americans could afford a car.

"The novel and movie do last, I think, because they are founded in real experience and feeling. My parents were scarred by the Depression, it was a remembered devastation I sensed in their very tones of voice, and The Grapes of Wrath shows half a nation with the economic rug pulled out from under it" - Roger Ebert

[Llopin]

#5

http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/rsz/434/x/x/x/medias/nmedia/18/36/21/31/18462223.jpg

The Shop Around the Corner
director: Ernst Lubitsch

"Matuschek's" is the gift shop around the corner. Among the staff is Alfred Kralik, a likeable young man who's in love with a woman he has never met and whose name he doesn't even know (their "romance" has been conducted through a post office box). When Klara Novak comes to work as a clerk in the shop, the sparks begin to fly: she and Alfred can't stand each other. Of course, what neither knows is that Klara is the woman Alfred has been romancing through the mail!

All scenes were reportedly shot in sequence. Lubitsch delayed the start of the movie until both James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan were available. In the mean time, he filmed Ninotchka. In his book "Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise", the director called this film "the best picture I ever made in my life". In it, it also refers to the movie as the most meaningful tribute possible to the owner and employees of the long vanished Berlin clothing firm of S. Lubitsch.

"With consummate deftness, Lubitsch scratches the surface of ordinary characters and circumstances and reveals the reality behind the deceptive appearances — the substance and doubts beneath the vain posturing, the false heart behind the smiling face, the poetic soul behind the prosaic demeanor — and serves all of it up with soufflé-like lightness." - Stephen D. Greydanus

[Llopin]

#4

http://www.remotecentral.com/dvd/pinocchio-3.jpg

Pinocchio
director: Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen

Inventor Gepetto creates a wooden marionette called Pinocchio. His wish that Pinocchio be a real boy is unexpectedly granted by a fairy. The fairy assigns Jiminy Cricket to act as Pinocchio's "conscience" and keep him out of trouble. Jiminy is not too successful in this endeavor and most of the film is spent with Pinocchio deep in trouble

Although a flop initially, the 1945 re-release bought it into profit. Disney, more than any other studio, would effectively market re-releases to take advantage of its films reaching each new audience generation. This marketing plan would allow once costly flops (such as Fantasia) to eventually post handsome profits. And since virtually all its pre-1959 animated library are considered classics, the studio is able to reap huge profits with the advent of new media formats and limited-time purchase availability within a particular format.

The August 1993 issue of Playboy cited 43 instances of violence and other unfavorable behavior in this film, including 23 instances of battery, nine acts of property damage, three slang uses of the term "jackass", three acts of violence involving animals, two shots of male nudity, and one instance of implied death.

"It’s an exciting and sometimes, for younger kids, scary adventure, complete with troublesome cigar smoking and pool-playing young delinquents and nasty adults galore. Pinocchio runs into temptation at every turn and makes the same kinds of decisions most kids make – sometimes safe but often in favour of experimentation" - Brian Webster

[Llopin]

#3

http://home.nau.edu/images/userimages/nau_boles/5445/philadelphia-story.jpg

The Philadelphia Story
director: Georke Cukor

After getting a divorce from C. K. Dexter Haven, Tracy Lord prepares to marry again...however, in the days before her wedding, Haven and a reporter, posing as her brother's friend, show up at her doorstep. From there, Tracy is forced to choose among her past love, her present love, and her new love

The film was shot in eight weeks, and required no retakes. During the scene where James Stewart hiccups when drunk, you can see Cary Grant looking down and grinning. Since the hiccup wasn't scripted, Grant was on the verge of breaking out laughing and had to compose himself quickly. Stewart thought of hiccuping in the drunk scene himself, without telling Grant. When he began hiccuping, Grant turned to Stewart saying, "Excuse me." The scene required only one take. Stewart wasn't at all comfortable with some of the dialog, especially in the swimming pool scene, which also required him to act in a dressing gown. He said at the time that if he'd played the scene in just a swimming costume it would have been the end of his career.

Stewart had no plans to attend the Oscar ceremony the year he was nominated for this film. Just before the ceremony began, he received a call at home "advising" him to slip into a dinner jacket and attend the ceremony. He did and he received the award for Best Actor. This was in the days before an accounting firm kept the Oscar voting results secret. He himself was of the opinion that his Best Actor Oscar was "...deferred payment for my work on Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)".

"I don't think the film would have worked nearly so perfectly without Grant, who was ignored at that year's Academy Awards because his character's struggles are largely internal. Add Hepburn's persona, beautifully explored here in all its wonder, and Stewart's likeability, and George Cukor's sensible, subtle, and lovingly unrushed direction of a firecracker script…the result is a studio picture far deeper and richer than its whimsical surface style might lead you to believe" - Jeremiah Kipp

[Llopin]

#2

http://cinequeentiende.files.wordpres s.com/2007/05/rebecca2.jpg

Rebecca
director: Alfred Hitchcock

Maxim de Winter, still troubled by the death of his first wife Rebecca, falls in love with a shy ladies' companion. They get married, but the second Mrs. de Winter discovers that Rebecca still has a strong hold on everyone in the house, particularly on Mrs. Denvers, the housekeeper, who begins driving the young wife to madness.

Over 20 actors were tested for the role of Mrs. de Winter, which eventually went to newcomer Joan Fontaine. One of them was Vivien Leigh, who Laurence Olivier was pressing for, as they were a couple at the time. In her autobiography, Maureen O'Hara states that she was the first choice for the lead role. Because Olivier wanted Leigh to play the lead role, he treated Joan Fontaine horribly. This shook Fontaine up quite a bit, so Hitchcock decided to capitalize on this by telling her EVERYONE on the set hated her, thus making her shy and uneasy - just what he wanted from her performance.

Due to the success of this film in Spain, the specific jackets that Fontaine wears during the film began to be known as "rebecas". The word "rebeca" is still used nowadays to refer to this item of clothing.

"Rebecca's smart extrapolation on themes inherited from gothic thrillers and Brontë novels allows the director to begin with a suspenseful romance that barely keeps its subtext under the surface, and smuggle in a story of one woman's immersion into the sexual expectations of her era" - Keith Phipps

[Llopin]

#1

http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/40_image/friday.jpg

His Girl Friday
director: Howard Hawks

Hildy Johnson has divorced Walter Burns and visits his office to tell him that she is engaged to another man and that they are going to get married the day after. Walter Burns can't let that happen and frames the other man, Bruce Baldwin, for a lot of stuff getting him into trouble all the time, while he tries to steer Hildy back into her old job as his employee (editor of his newspaper).

During the 1930s, Howard Hawks was hosting a dinner party when the topic of dialogue was brought up. He pulled out a copy of "The Front Page" to demonstrate the snappy exchanges between characters, taking the role of Burns. A female guest took the role of Hildy. While reading, Hawks realized the dialogue sounded much better with a female reading, and quickly secured the rights for the film from Howard Hughes. Ben Hecht (the author of "The Front Page") approved the gender change and the screenplay was put into production. The play had a famous last line: "The son-of-a-bitch stole my watch!" While the line and the plot points leading up to it didn't fit into "His Girl Friday", they did pay homage to it by having the first crime that Burns framed Baldwin for be the theft of a watch.

One of the first, if not the first, films to have characters talk over the lines of other characters, for a more realistic sound. Prior to this, movie characters completed their lines before the next lines were started. Rosalind Russell thought, while shooting, that she didn't have as many good lines as Cary Grant had, so she hired an advertisement writer through her brother-in-law and had him write more clever lines for the dialog. Since Hawks allowed for spontaneity and ad-libbing, he, and many of the cast and crew didn't notice it, but Grant knew she was up to something, leading him to greet her every morning: "What have you got today?".

"This is a flawless comedy, with Hawks leading his stellar cast through a typically fast-paced, non-stop barrage of witty wordplay and comic scenarios. The dialogue crackles with energy and verve, and the performers stand up to the task in every way. The classic screwball era may well have provided some of the best comedies of all time, and His Girl Friday is one of the best of the best" - Ed Howard

[Llopin]

Totals:

1. His Girl Friday 103
2. Rebecca 77
3. The Philadelphia Story 61
4. Pinnochio 46
5. The Shop Around the Corner 45
6. The Grapes of Wrath 43.5
7. Fantasia 39.5
8. The Great Dictator 27.5
9. Christmas in July 19.5
10. Foreign Correspondent 19

All-american year. Grant, Hitch and Stewart ruling over!

[Velocipedist]

Sturges made it! Lubitsch made it! :pritch:

[Spinal]

Totals:

1. His Girl Friday 103
2. Rebecca 77
3. The Philadelphia Story 61
4. Pinnochio 46
5. The Shop Around the Corner 45
6. The Grapes of Wrath 43.5
7. Fantasia 39.5
8. The Great Dictator 27.5
9. Christmas in July 19.5
10. Foreign Correspondent 19

All-american year. Grant, Hitch and Stewart ruling over!

Excellent work! Any near misses that you can tell us about? Also, can we get country of origin in the future? Not that it would have been terribly enlightening in this case.

[Llopin]

Excellent work! Any near misses that you can tell us about? Also, can we get country of origin in the future? Not that it would have been terribly enlightening in this case.

Sure thing.

About the misses, I didn't really post them because the other movies are far behind (circa 10 points or less). The Bank Dick (with 10.5) is the only one worth mentioning. The rest are mostly one-vote wonders.

[Spinal]

About the misses, I didn't really post them because the other movies are far behind (circa 10 points or less). The Bank Dick (with 10.5) is the only one worth mentioning. The rest are mostly one-vote wonders.

Ah, good to know.

[Sycophant]

Awesome! Thus far, this is the year from which I've seen the most (80%). And I love them all! :pritch:

[ledfloyd]

Sturges made it! Lubitsch made it! :pritch:

i need to see more sturges. glad lubitsch got good placement.

[Yxklyx]

is Pinocchio on DVD - just that Netflix doesn't carry it?

[Sycophant]

is Pinocchio on DVD - just that Netflix doesn't carry it?
Oh, sorry, if you want that, you're going to have to check in the Disney Vault (TM).

[Mysterious Dude]

Disney is one of the most irritating corporations ever.

[Yxklyx]

Disney is one of the most irritating corporations ever.


That's what I figured.



Ménilmontant (1926) ****


I liked this one quite a bit as well.