MC Yearly Consensus - 1939

[Kurosawa Fan]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

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 tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB Power Search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Spinal]

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Wuthering Heights
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

[Eleven]

1. The Rules of the Game
2. Stagecoach
3. The Roaring Twenties
4. The Wizard of Oz
5. Only Angels Have Wings

[Raiders]

1. Only Angels Have Wings
2. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums
3. The Rules of the Game
4. The Roaring Twenties
5. Young Mr. Lincoln

[Kurosawa Fan]

I have The Roaring Twenties at home, so I'll watch that and then post my list.

[ledfloyd]

1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
2. Destry Rides Again
3. The Rules of the Game
4. The Wizard of Oz
5. Only Angels Have Wings

i need to see some ford films this year, doubtful i'll get to it this week.

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Of Mice and Men
2. The Roaring Twenties
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
5. Wuthering Heights

[dreamdead]

1. Rules of the Game
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
3. Only Angels Have Wings

Haven't seen Wizard of Oz in so long that I'll just leave it off. Ninotchka doesn't seem good enough, either, so I left it off.

[Sycophant]

1. The Rules of the Game
2. Wizard of Oz
3. Love Affair
4. The Roaring Twenties

EDITED to remove His Girl Friday from #2 spot.

[Eleven]

2. His Girl Friday

1940.

[Sycophant]

1940.
Whoops.

[soitgoes...]

1. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra)
2. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
3. Le Jour se lève (Marcel Carné)
4. Stagecoach (John Ford)
5. The Spy in Black (Michael Powell)
---------------------------------------------
6. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming)
7. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch)
8. Wuthering Heights (William Wyler)
9. The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh)

I have The Roaring Twenties too. Whether or not I get to it by the time this is tallied, I'm not certain.

[Grouchy]

1. Stagecoach
2. The Wizard of Oz
3. Gone with the wind

The only other I've seen is about the worst John Ford movie ever, Drums Along the Mohawk.

[soitgoes...]

The only other I've seen is about the worst John Ford movie ever, Drums Along the Mohawk.
Pretty much.

[Russ]

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Of Mice and Men
3. Stagecoach
4. Gone with the Wind
5. The Hound of the Baskervilles

[Yxklyx]

1. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming)
2. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
3. The Women (George Cukor)
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra)
5. Of Mice and Men (Lewis Milestone)

6. Stagecoach (John Ford)
7. Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks)
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle)
9. The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi)
10. Dark Victory (Edmund Goulding)

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Only Angels Have Wings
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. Gone With the Wind
5. The Rules of the Game

[origami_mustache]

1. The Rules of the Game
2. The Wizard of Oz
3. Only Angels Have Wings
4. Stagecoach
5. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

[EyesWideOpen]

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Gone With the Wind
3. Dark Victory

[Boner M]

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Stagecoach
3. Rules of the Game

Bah, I'm hopeless.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

only have seen Rules of the Game, so I guess I'll sit this round out.

[Kurosawa Fan]

The Roaring Twenties won't be making my top five, but I'm going to try to get in Destry Rides Again before Sunday. If not, oh well.

[Raiders]

Howard Hawks' best film was released this year. I have the feeling more people need to see it.

[Spinal]

Top Songs of 1939:

1. Judy Garland, "Over the Rainbow"
2. Glenn Miller, "Moonlight Serenade"
3. Kate Smith, "God Bless America"
4. Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit"
5. Louis Armstrong, "When the Saints Go Marching In"
6. Glenn Miller, "Little Brown Jug"
7. Kay Kyser, "Three Little Fishies"
8. The Ink Spots, "If I Didn't Care"
9. Glenn Miller, "Sunrise Serenade"
10. Will Glahe & His Orchestra, "Beer Barrel Polka"

source: tsort.info

[Spinal]

Time Man of the Year for 1939:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/1939.jpg

Joseph Stalin

[monolith94]

1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
2. Wuthering Heights
3. The Roaring Twenties
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
5. The Wizard of Oz

[monolith94]

For your consideration:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/Reviews/hbnd/sanctuary.jpg

Sanctuary!

[Spinal]

The year 1939 saw these significant television firsts:

* The BBC broadcasts the entirety of Magyar Melody live from His Majesty's Theatre. The 175-minute broadcast is the first showing of a full-length musical on television.

* Franklin D. Roosevelt, appearing at the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair, becomes the first President of the United States to give a speech that is broadcast on television.

* The first baseball game (Princeton vs. Columbia) is broadcast on television, from Baker Field in New York.

* The Walt Disney cartoon Donald's Cousin Gus airs on NBC's experimental station W2XBS (later WNBC-TV) in New York. This marked the first film cartoon to be televised in the United States.

* The first heavyweight boxing match is televised, Max Baer vs Lou Nova, from Yankee Stadium.

* The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, New York.

* The first televised college football game, Fordham vs Waynesburg College, at Randall's Island, New York.

* The first National Football League game is televised. The Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Eagles at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn.

[Qrazy]

1. The Rules of the Game
2. The Wizard of Oz
3. Stagecoach
4. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
5. Wuthering Heights

6. Ugly Duckling (Cutting)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p9riiSDkkA

[Yxklyx]

So I take it I'm only person to have seen The Women?

[Qrazy]

So I take it I'm only person to have seen The Women?

Yes.

[Raiders]

So I take it I'm only person to have seen The Women?

I've seen it, but apart some of the more memorable sequences (in particular is Norma Shearer's "I hate everybody!" rant) the film really isn't anything I found particularly special. Maybe I have to be a woman to really "get it," but for films that really get into the rhythm and cadence of a group of women, I'll take La Cava's humorous and yet humanist Stage Door.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Poop, my laptop is out of order and it has the "big list"... I'm working from memory and slight references so I hope I haven't left anything out. I have seen the Women, and bleh except for like two scenes that I don't remember. Interesting concept, terrible execution.

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Only Angels Have Wings
3. Love Affair
4. Wuthering Heights
5. Gunga Din

I feel like I'm forgetting something

[Philosophe_rouge]

I've seen it, but apart some of the more memorable sequences (in particular is Norma Shearer's "I hate everybody!" rant) the film really isn't anything I found particularly special. Maybe I have to be a woman to really "get it," but for films that really get into the rhythm and cadence of a group of women, I'll take La Cava's humorous and yet humanist Stage Door.
Missed this post, and yes Stage Door is a lot better as a film dealing with at least similar concepts. Neither is particularly memorable, but I'd take Door over Women any day

[Raiders]

Missed this post, and yes Stage Door is a lot better as a film dealing with at least similar concepts. Neither is particularly memorable, but I'd take Door over Women any day

Glad you agree on Cukor's film, but "boo" on your Stage Door "un-memorable" diss. It's easily one of my three or four favorite classic Hollywood films.

[Philosophe_rouge]

Glad you agree on Cukor's film, but "boo" on your Stage Door "un-memorable" diss. It's easily one of my three or four favorite classic Hollywood films.
I would honestly never have guessed, maybe I owe it a rewatch then. IT's been a while...

[Raiders]

I would honestly never have guessed, maybe I owe it a rewatch then. IT's been a while...

I wrote some on it in a failed thread over at the old site:

http://matchcut.org/viewtopic.php?p=450821#450821

[Philosophe_rouge]

I wrote some on it in a failed thread over at the old site:

http://matchcut.org/viewtopic.php?p=450821#450821
A wonderful write-up, I should really revisit it as I don't even remember any of the dialogue. I also agree with your take on Adam's Rib. A shame it was failed thread because I would have been interested

[Ezee E]

1. Wizard of Oz
2. Only Angels Have Wings
3. Stagecoach
4. Young Mr. Lincoln
5. Rules of the Game (I figured this would dominate)

[soitgoes...]

I watched The Roaring Twenties a day or two ago. It won't change my top 5, but it still falls in the top 10. Good solid gangster film that doesn't do much to separate itself from some of the other good solid gangster films from the thirties.

[koji]

Time Man of the Year for 1939:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/1939.jpg

Joseph StalinWow. What was TIME thinking? I guess the basis for this "honor" was the "peace treaty" Stalin signed with Hitler, which neither would care about. And who knows how many people Stalin had executed in the USSR in 1939. Thanks for posting it, Spinal.

[Spinal]

Wow. What was TIME thinking? I guess the basis for this "honor" was the "peace treaty" Stalin signed with Hitler, which neither would care about. And who knows how many people Stalin had executed in the USSR in 1939. Thanks for posting it, Spinal.

Time selects the person they feel has had the most influence in a given year, regardless of whether that influence is positive or negative.

[Qrazy]

Yeah, after perusing it, I've come to realize that Time's Man of the Year is a fairly dogshit list.

http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa050400a.htm

[koji]

1. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
2. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming)
3. Mr. Smith goes to Washington (Capra)
4. Gunga Din (George Stevens)
5. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle) 5
****************************** *****************
6. Destry Rides Again (George Marshall) -
7. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming)
8. Ninochka (Lubitsch)
9. The Women (George Cukor)
10. Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford)

I have Only Angels Have Wings coming from Netfilx this weekend. I'm suprised I've missed that film. Another plus for this consensus.

[koji]

Time selects the person they feel has had the most influence in a given year, regardless of whether that influence is positive or negative. We don't have the article in which Time explained it's decision. If it said he was the biggest piece of shit in 1939, then it would be justified, I guess. But the cover is a complementary photo, which would make it appear that the article expressed positive thoughts. That said, I enjoy seeing the Time Man of the Year stuff.

[baby doll]

I need to see more movies from this year.

1. La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir)
2. Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks)
3. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch)
4. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Flemming / Mervyn LeRoy / King Vidor)
5.

[baby doll]

5. Rules of the Game (I figured this would dominate)Yeah, weird, seeing as it's kind of the greatest movie ever made.

[Spinal]

We don't have the article in which Time explained it's decision.

But we do! (http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1939.html)

[monolith94]

By the ruthless attack on Finland, he not only sacrificed the good will of thousands of people the world over sympathetic to the ideals of Socialism, he matched himself with Adolf Hitler as the world's most hated man.

Hardly a hagiography. Also, we should consider that, like nazi germany, human rights atrocity news-reporting was often very difficuly to get from the soviet union, for obvious reasons.

[Mysterious Dude]

Joseph Stalin's influence on the world in 1939 can hardly be understated.

[koji]

But we do! (http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1939.html)
I enjoyed reading that; it’s history as recorded at the time. In hindsight, it obviously over stated the importance of the Stalin-Hitler non-aggression pact, which would became meaningless. By the end of 1939, when the article was written, it wasn’t clear that the pact would become meaningless and that Hitler would capture France so easily. (In retrospect, that pact did allow Hitler to murder many Poles, which was not understood at the time.)

The stupidest quote: ”Joseph Stalin's actions in 1939, by contrast, were positive, surprising, world-shattering.”

The best quote: “The whole post-War I period was preoccupied with politics to a degree matched only by the 16th Century's preoccupation with theology.”

I could write much more about the article.

[Qrazy]

Joseph Stalin's influence on the world in 1939 can hardly be understated.

You're just saying that because they voted for You in 2006.

[Mysterious Dude]

You're just saying that because they voted for You in 2006.
Are you trying to diminish My influence upon the world in 2006?

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. Destry Rides Again
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
3. Stagecoach
4. The Rules of the Game

[Qrazy]

Are you trying to diminish My influence upon the world in 2006?

Nah, You pretty much owned that year.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Took me a day longer than I wanted, but I'll get to the results sometime this afternoon. I guess I'll leave things open until then in case anyone wants to add a last minute ballot/edit.

[Kurosawa Fan]

Polling is closed. Results will be posted tonight.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#10
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5880/destryvy3.jpg

Destry Rides Again
George Marshall

Kent, the unscrupulous boss of Bottleneck has Sheriff Keogh killed when he asks one too many questions about a rigged poker game that gives Kent a stranglehold over the local cattle rangers. The mayor, who is in cahoots with Kent appoints the town drunk, Washington Dimsdale, as the new sheriff assuming that he'll be easy to control. But what the mayor doesn't know is that Dimsdale was a deputy under famous lawman, Tom Destry, and is able to call upon the equally formidable Tom Destry Jr to be his deputy.


Writer/director Peter Bogdanovich noted in his book Who the Hell's In It, that Dietrich told him in the 1960s that she'd become pregnant with Stewart's child around the period of Destry Rides Again and opted for an abortion without ever telling Stewart.

"In arguably the best of comedy westerns, Stewart, slow on the drawl, is at his humorous peak, superbly underplaying opposite the overplaying, but equally effective, Dietrich." - Channel4 Film

[Kurosawa Fan]

I'll have to do the rest when I get home from work tonight. Sorry for the delay guys, work has been busy as hell lately.

[Spinal]

Writer/director Peter Bogdanovich noted in his book Who the Hell's In It, that Dietrich told him in the 1960s that she'd become pregnant with Stewart's child around the period of Destry Rides Again and opted for an abortion without ever telling Stewart.

Yikes!

[dreamdead]

Writer/director Peter Bogdanovich noted in his book Who the Hell's In It, that Dietrich told him in the 1960s that she'd become pregnant with Stewart's child around the period of Destry Rides Again and opted for an abortion without ever telling Stewart.


I thought Stewart was one of the actors who didn't mess around. Awww man.

:sad:

[Grouchy]

Writer/director Peter Bogdanovich noted in his book Who the Hell's In It, that Dietrich told him in the 1960s that she'd become pregnant with Stewart's child around the period of Destry Rides Again and opted for an abortion without ever telling Stewart.
Hah! Now that's a true Hollywood secret if I ever heard one.

And, huh, why would you be feel disappointed by Stewart? Because he porked Marlene Dietrich? Who wouldn't? I'm in awe of the choice she made, though.

[dreamdead]

Never mind about Stewart. Didn't check to see if he was married during this time period. He wasn't. Regardless, it's just my personal ethics on display. Don't mind me.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#9
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4746/miceandmenvz3.jpg
Of Mice and Men
Lewis Milestone

George (Meredith) and half-wit Lenny (Chaney) work on a western ranch during the Great Depression, dreaming of the autonomy of owning and operating their own ranch some day.

This was one of many films to be banned in Australia between 1928 and 1941 by the Chief Censor, Creswell O'Reilly. Curley's wife is unnamed in the original novel, in the play, and in all later film and television versions, but in the 1939 film, she is named Mae. This was one of the first films where the action of the story commences several minutes before the opening credits start. Lon Chaney Jr. wore special shoes to play Lennie. These increased his height by six inches. The four Oscars the film was nominated for was Best Picture, Best Sound Recording , Best Musical Score, Best Original Score.

"Lewis Milestone, himself once an itinerant worker, does a good though not peak job, actually getting in a precredits sequence, the first ever for a Hollywood film. However, the film is horribly miscast at almost every turn to the point one wonders if the cast wouldn't have been better doing Shakespearean theatre, which reflects poorly on Milestone because he chose lesser known actors (normally a good thing) for the hotly contested parts supposedly because of how suited they were to the parts. Burgess Meridith is a complete fish out of water, an urban wannabe pretty boy who fits into this rugged life about as well as a lake in a desert. Betty Field also completely misportrays Curly's wife, making her an obnoxious and oversexed rather than lonely and unknowingly sexy. I hate to say it, but the 1992 remake which is much more faithful to the source material and perfectly cast, is far superior to the original." - Mike Lorefice

[dreamdead]

Huh. Interesting to see a semi-beatdown instead of the usual bravura comments re: Of Mice and Men. I'll be honest. I have fond memories of the '92 adaptation.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#8
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/4548/gwtwtk0.jpg
Gone With the Wind
Victor Fleming

Scarlett O'Hara is in love with drippy Ashley Wilkes, and is devastated when he announces that he plans to marry his cousin Melanie. She pleads with Ashley to marry her instead, but then, on the first day of the Civil War, she meets mercurial Rhett Butler. A man to match her strength of character and romantic desires, Butler changes the course of her life. Despite hunger, and the burning of Atlanta, Scarlett survives the war and its aftermath, but at a heavy cost.

When Gary Cooper turned down the role for Rhett Butler, he was passionately against it. He is quoted saying both, "'Gone With The Wind' is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history," and, "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." The film had its first preview on 9 September 1939 at the Fox Theatre in Riverside, California. In attendance were David O. Selznick, his wife Irene, investor Jock Whitney and editor Hal C. Kern. The latter called for the manager and explained that his theater had been chosen for the first public screening of "Gone With the Wind" though the identity of the film was to remain undisclosed to the audience until the very moment it began. People were permitted to leave if they didn't want to hang around for a film that they didn't know the name of, but after they'd gone, the theater was to be sealed with no re-admissions and no phone calls. The manager was reluctant but eventually agreed. His one request was to call his wife to come to the theater immediately, although he was forbidden to tell her what film she was about to see. Indeed, Kern stood by him while he made his phone call to ensure he maintained the secret. When the film began, the audience started yelling with excitement. They had been reading about this film for nearly 2 years, so were naturally thrilled to see it for themselves.
The fact that Hattie McDaniel would be unable to attend the premiere in racially segregated Atlanta annoyed Clark Gable so much that he threatened to boycott the premiere unless she could attend. He later relented when she convinced him to go.

"David O. Selznick wanted Gone with the Wind to be somehow more than a movie, a film that would broaden the very idea of what a film could be and do and look like. In many respects he got what he worked so hard to achieve in this 1939 epic (and all-time box-office champ in terms of tickets sold), and in some respects he fell far short of the goal. While the first half of this Civil War drama is taut and suspenseful and nostalgic, the second is ramshackle and arbitrary. But there's no question that the film is an enormous achievement in terms of its every resource--art direction, color, sound, cinematography--being pushed to new limits for the greater glory of telling an American story as fully as possible. Vivien Leigh is still magnificently narcissistic, Olivia de Havilland angelic and lovely, Leslie Howard reckless and aristocratic. As for Clark Gable: we're talking one of the most vital, masculine performances ever committed to film." -Tom Keogh

[Kurosawa Fan]

#7
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8716/wutheringheightsnf3.jpg
Wuthering Heights
William Wyler

The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns from a trip to the city, bringing with him a ragged little boy called Heathcliff. Earnshaw's son, Hindley, resents the child, but Heathcliff becomes companion and soulmate to Hindley's sister, Catherine. After her parents die, Cathy and Heathcliff grow up wild and free on the Moors and despite the continued enmity between Hindley and Heathcliff they're happy-- until Cathy meets Edgar Linton, the son of a wealthy neighbor.

MGM felt that script was too dark for a romance movie, so it asked several writers to do a rewrite on the script; the studio even asked a young John Huston, who said that the script needed no rewrite, it was perfect as it was. Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier apparently detested each other. Legend has it that when William Wyler yelled "Cut!" after a particularly romantic scene, Oberon shouted back to her director about her co-star "Tell him to stop spitting at me!" Laurence Olivier found himself becoming increasingly annoyed with William Wyler's exhausting style of film-making. After yet another take, he is said to have exclaimed, "For God's sake, I did it sitting down. I did it with a smile. I did it with a smirk. I did it scratching my ear. I did it with my back to the camera. How do you want me to do it?" Wyler's retort was, "I want it better."

"Wuthering Heights" will have to depend on class audiences. Its general sombreness and psychological tragedy is too heavy for general appeal. With that setup, and lacking socko marquee dressing, picture is more of an artistic success for the carriage trade." - Variety review, 1939

[Kurosawa Fan]

#6
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9181/roaringtwentiesvo0.jpg
The Roaring Twenties
Raoul Walsh

After the WWI Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

Based on the life and career of real-life bootlegger Larry Fay. Unlike James Cagney's Eddie Bartlett, however, Fay stood 6'3" inches tall, and was long-jawed and gangly. Unlike the movie's Eddie Bartlett, Larry Fay died on New Year's Day of 1932. Dwindling finances had forced him to cut costs at his New York nightclub, the El Fay; after telling the doorman at the club that his pay was going to be reduced, the doorman pulled a revolver and shot Fay four times. Fay collapsed backward onto a sofa and died. A montage features a shot of gangsters bombing a storefront. This shot is actually an alternate angle of the bombing of a store in The Public Enemy (1931), and the same shot is notably also used in a similar montage for Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). This marked the end of James Cagney's cycle of gangster films for Warner Bros. Cagney wanted to diversify his roles and would not play a gangster again until White Heat (1949), ten years later.

"Walsh's swift camerawork is almost an extension of Cagney's swift gait. Both seem to be landing each step on the front side of their feet, and the effect is that the camera is anticipating the catharsis between nitroglycerine crime partners Bartlett and Hally to tip the scales of moral alignment back to zero." - Eric Henderson

[Kurosawa Fan]

#5
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/4794/stagecoachcx0.jpg
Stagecoach
John Ford

A simple stagecoach trip is complicated by the fact that Geronimo is on the warpath in the area. The passengers on the coach include a a drunken doctor, two women, a bank manager who has taken off with his client's money, and the famous Ringo Kid, among others.

Asked why, in the climactic chase scene, the Indians didn't simply shoot the horses to stop the stagecoach, director John Ford replied, "Because that would have been the end of the movie." When the film was being cast, John Ford lobbied hard for John Wayne but producer Walter Wanger kept saying no. It was only after constant persistence on Ford's part that Wanger finally gave in. Wanger's reservations were based on Wayne's string of B-movies, in which he came across as being a less than competent actor, and the box office failure of Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail (1930) in 1930, Wayne's first serious starring role. This was John Wayne's 80th film.

"But in Ford's vision, we're all little guys, even larger-than-life types like Wayne. It's there in his signature shot—men and women dwarfed by his Monument Valley's timeless, towering peaks, living in the shadow of eternity, knowing it, but carrying on and finding meaning anyway." - Keith Phipps

[Kurosawa Fan]

#4
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/9590/onlyangelshavewings2uu1.jpg
Only Angels Have Wings
Howard Hawks

While waiting for her boat, Bonnie Lee stops at a small airport in South America. The pilots there deliver mail over a dangerous and usually foggy mountain pass. Geoff Carter, the lead flyer, seems distant and cold as Bonnie tries to get closer to him. Things heat up as Judy MacPherson, Geoff's old flame, shows up with her husband who is an infamous pilot.

When Rita Hayworth couldn't play her drunk scene well enough, Hawks told Cary Grant to throw a bucket of water on her head, dry her hair, and to only say his lines. Howard Hawks and Jean Arthur did not get along during filming. Arthur was not used to Hawks' highly improvisational style, and when Hawks wanted Arthur to play Bonnie much in a subtly sexy way (not unlike his other "Hawksian women"), Arthur flatly said, "I can't do that kind of stuff." Hawks told Arthur at the end of the shoot, "You are one of the few people I've worked with that I don't think I've helped at all. Someday you can go see what I wanted to do because I'm gonna do this character all over again." Years later Hawks returned home to find Arthur waiting for him in his driveway. She had just seen his To Have and Have Not (1944) and confessed, "I wish I'd done what you'd asked me to do. If you ever make another picture with me, I'll promise to do any goddamn thing you want to do. If a kid [Lauren Bacall] can come in and do that kind of stuff, I certainly could do it." Hawks and Arthur never collaborated again. This film was supposed to be among the 12 American titles selected for the first ever Cannes Film Festival, set for September 1, 1939. Sadly, the war would delay the inauguration of the festival by seven years.

"Part of the film's ingenuity lies in the positioning of familiar Hawksian professionals (often an isolated male "group") as white Americans in a South American mountain-and-jungle terrain. Not only is the exotic, romantic appeal of boyish adventure there (a familiar angle in the director's films), but the setting also stresses that these professionals are in some way out of place or, more accurately, that they are in a different place than the one that shaped them and provided them with their deepest values and mores." - Zach Campbell

[Kurosawa Fan]

#3
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/5371/mrsmithletters1xl3.jpg
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Frank Capra

Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed on a lark by the spineless governor of his state. He is reunited with the state's senior senator--presidential hopeful and childhood hero, Senator Joseph Paine. In Washington, however, Smith discovers many of the shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss, Jim Taylor. Taylor first tries to corrupt Smith and then later attempts to destroy Smith through a scandal.

The film was bitterly denounced by Washington insiders angry at its allegations of corruption, yet banned by fascist states in Europe who were afraid it showed that democracy works. One of the real senators from Montana walked out of the screening he attended in disgust. The Washington press corps were highly indignant at the way they were portrayed in the film. Consequently a great deal of the initial reviews from the capitol were very negative. One of their chief objections was that the film made them all out to be drinking too much. In 1942, when a ban on American films was imposed in German-occupied France, the title theaters chose Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) for their last movie before the ban went into effect. One Paris theater reportedly screened the film nonstop for thirty days prior to the ban.

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is typically Capra, punchy, human and absorbing-a drama that combines timeliness with current topical interest and a patriotic flavor blended masterfully into the composite whole to provide one of the finest and consistently interesting dramas of the season. The picture is a cinch for top grosses in the key runs, with hold*overs the rule rather than exception. It's meaty and attention arresting for the subsequent run houses, and a topflight attraction for general audiences. - Variety review, 1939

[Kurosawa Fan]

#2
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/7230/rulesofthegamebu4.jpg
The Rules of the Game
Jean Renoir

Aviator André Jurieux has just completed a record-setting flight, but when he is greeted by an admiring crowd, all he can say to them is how miserable he is that the woman he loves did not come to meet him. He is in love with Christine, the wife of aristocrat Robert de la Cheyniest. Robert himself is involved in an affair with Geneviève de Marras, but he is trying to break it off. Meanwhile, André seeks help from his old friend Octave, who gets André an invitation to the country home where Robert and Christine are hosting a large hunting party. As the guests arrive for the party, their cordial greetings hide their real feelings, along with their secrets - and even some of the servants are involved in tangled relationships.

Director Jean Renoir recut the film numerous times, due to poor initial reception and damage to the negatives during World War II. When the film opened in 1939, initial reception of it was so bad that one viewer lit a newspaper and tried to burn the theater that it was playing in. There were even threats to other theaters. Despite now being considered one of the best films made by many historians, the picture almost became a lost art. Claiming that it was bad for the morale of the country (due to impending war), the French government banned the film about a month after its original release. When Germany took over France the following year, it was banned by the Nazi party as well, who also burnt many of the prints. Allied planes then accidentally destroyed the original negatives. It was thought to be a lost picture. In 1956, some followers of director Jean Renoir found enough pieces of the film scattered throughout France to reconstitute it with Renoir's help. Renoir claimed only one minor scene was missing from the original cut.

"But there is a subterranean level in Renoir's film that was risky and relevant when it was made and released in 1939. It was clear that Europe was going to war. In France, left-wing Popular Front members like Renoir were clashing with Nazi sympathizers. Renoir's portrait of the French ruling class shows them as silly adulterous twits, with the working classes emulating them within their more limited means." - Roger Ebert

[dreamdead]

Capra's film was probably one of the top ten films I watched for the first time last year. Just breathtaking filmmaking, and the more research you do into how the government reacted to this film the more you realize how much force the film industry could once wield. It's inspiring stuff.

[Kurosawa Fan]

#1
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4774/wizardofoz00tr5.jpg
The Wizard of Oz
Victor Fleming

When a nasty neighbor tries to have her dog put to sleep, Dorothy takes her dog Toto, to run away. A cyclone appears and carries her to the magical land of Oz. Wishing to return, she begins to travel to the Emerald City where a great wizard lives. On her way she meets a Scarecrow who needs a brain, a Tin Man who wants a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who desperately needs courage. They all hope the Wizard of Oz will help them, before the Wicked Witch of the West catches up with them.

Judy Garland's dress and blouse were in reality not white but pale pink. True white did not photograph properly in Technicolor and made the blue of her checked dress seem too bright. Some sources say that the transition between Dorothy's house (in sepia tone) and Munchkinland (in color) was achieved by the substitution of a stand-in wearing a dress that had been dyed to appear as if it were sepia tone itself. This would seem plausible, given that Dorothy walks completely off camera as the sepia tone section ends, and then back on again after the color section has already begun. However, others say that this effect was achieved in post-production, when individual frames were painstakingly hand-stenciled in sepia using a technique similar to hand-coloring used in the silent film era. It may well be a combination of both. The film received a mention in the Guiness Book of World Records as the film to which a live-action sequel was produced after the longest period of time (Return to Oz was released 46 years after The Wizard of Oz).

"Cultural appropriation still can't quite mask the fact that Wizard of Oz is absolutely barmy. It's a multimillion-dollar super-production based on L. Frank Baum's born-from-poverty series of mundane, Great Plains fantasy books. Its switch from sepia to color cinematography reverses the standard parameters of which hues represent dreams and which represent realism—we've been associating sugar plum color wheels with our attainable aspirations ever since." - Eric Henderson

[Kurosawa Fan]

Final Scores:

1. The Wizard of Oz - 73.5
2. The Rules of the Game - 61.5
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - 43.5
4. Only Angels Have Wings - 34
5. Stagecoach - 33
6. The Roaring Twenties - 17
7. Wuthering Heights - 16
8. Gone With the Wind - 13.5
9. Of Mice and Men - 11.5
10. Destry Rides Again - 9

11. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - 7.5
12. Love Affair - 7
13. Gunga Din - 5.5


The rest received only one vote.

[Spinal]

Hooray for the upset win!

[Qrazy]

Boo for the upset win. I didn't realize we Matchcutters were such populists.

[Eleven]

Ambivalence for the upset win.

:|!

[Sycophant]

"Cultural appropriation still can't quite mask the fact that Wizard of Oz is absolutely barmy. It's a multimillion-dollar super-production based on L. Frank Baum's born-from-poverty series of mundane, Great Plains fantasy books. Its switch from sepia to color cinematography reverses the standard parameters of which hues represent dreams and which represent realism—we've been associating sugar plum color wheels with our attainable aspirations ever since." - Eric Henderson
I like this.

And, uh... how exactly is this an upset?

[dreamdead]

And, uh... how exactly is this an upset?

I think it was Edward Copeland who considers this the best film of all time. And it didn't even win its year with us. That, kids, is an upset. I'm a little surprised, but reconciled myself to this reality early on as the voting continued.

[Raiders]

Great to see the true best film of the year still cracking the top five at #4.

[dreamdead]

Great to see the true best film of the year still cracking the top five at #4.

:eek:

I rather treasured watching this one last year, and that ending is a marvel in keeping to the spirit of the characters even as it captures the desired Hollywood ending, but do you have any extended thoughts on why you treasure it so? Especially over Capra and Renoir.

[Yxklyx]

I still can't get over the fact that they risk their lives for the FUCKING MAIL!

[Raiders]

:eek:

I rather treasured watching this one last year, and that ending is a marvel in keeping to the spirit of the characters even as it captures the desired Hollywood ending, but do you have any extended thoughts on why you treasure it so? Especially over Capra and Renoir.

Well, Capra's film is a bit idealistic for me, and I love the Renoir film just as much as Hawks', I suppose. I don't really know what to say too in depth about the film. It is just so perfectly executed. It is the ultimate Hawks film. I don't think any of his other films so succinctly, smartly and effective contain all his motivations and motifs as a filmmaker. The film creates its own insular world for these men. Yet, while honoring their camaraderie, it also subtly chastises the genre, showing the typical glorification of skill and dare-deviling to be folly and that the real drama and interest lie with those you leave on the ground. The scene of men standing in the fog listening only to the waning hum of an airplane is masterful and emotionally resonant in the way Hawks has the piano music abruptly fade into the drone of terror. In essence, the pub is their universe, the typical masculine center, and everything around it is the real world trying to get in. From Jean Arthur's love interest to the threat of death constantly trying to break into the pub and defeat these men, Hawks creates in the pub the center of the male mind trying to put up a smile and stay positive while those around you are falling down. I love the shot at the end with Grant basked in darkness, dwarfed by Arthur as she enters only to have her come down into the light with him. The film had finally reduced its world only to their two faces, one masculine, one feminine. Perhaps the essence of life and happiness lie not where most films of this sort would place it.

[ledfloyd]

Capra's film was probably one of the top ten films I watched for the first time last year. Just breathtaking filmmaking, and the more research you do into how the government reacted to this film the more you realize how much force the film industry could once wield. It's inspiring stuff.
Stewart's performance is absolutely brilliant. Glues you to the screen. Idealistic or not, the ending of that film always makes me feel a bit patriotic.

I kinda hoped we would get it right and not have Gone With the Wind on our list... Oh well.

[origami_mustache]

Rules of the Game was my number one but, hooray for Wizard of Oz...

<<< from Kansas haha

[Grouchy]

I kinda hoped we would get it right and not have Gone With the Wind on our list... Oh well.
If anything, it's too low.