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Post by berkley on Feb 2, 2022 17:40:21 GMT -5
1938, I have have seen at some point in my life:
Angels with Dirty Faces
Bringing Up Baby
Four Daughters
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars
This is surprisingly tough decision for me between Bringing Up Baby and Four Daughters: Cary Grant might be my favourite Hollywood star but I have never been a big fan of Katherine Hepburn. She doesn't spoil the movie for me, but she isn't a plus. Four Daughters is from one POV a sappy soap opera but I just found the story and the characters compelling. Also, I really like John Garfield and this is one of his first big parts, and I think the one that kind of put him on the map.
But in the end, I have to go with Bringing Up Baby: one of Grant's best-known rôles and deservedly so.
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Post by commond on Feb 2, 2022 18:06:38 GMT -5
I haven't seen The Adventures of Robin Hood. I should probably rectify that. Bringing Up Baby is definitely memorable. My pick would probably be Port of Shadows, which is another great Jean Cabin film from this era. I also love The Baker's Wife, which stars another great of the era, Raimu. The Masseurs and a Woman is one of my favourite Hiroshi Shimizu films, and I remember being in stitches watching Block-Heads.
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Post by coke & comics on Feb 2, 2022 18:52:24 GMT -5
I know more films for this year than the previous. And while Robin Hood would be a strong contender, I think The Lady Vanishes is my favorite of the year. I think it's my favorite British Hitchcock. Though I still have several more to see, whereas I'm almost done with American Hitchcock. He's perhaps my favorite director, with Spielberg the only contender.
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Post by badwolf on Feb 3, 2022 10:11:45 GMT -5
Bringing Up Baby, the film that got me into watching "old" movies and introduced me to "screwball comedies."
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Post by Mormel on Feb 3, 2022 12:46:54 GMT -5
For '37, I thought it was quite interesting to watch Lost Horizon and hear the full audio track play over still images of the actors sometimes, where parts of the original film had been lost. Do you guys know of any other movies that have had a similar 'patching up' after the original film was damaged?
With today's technology, they could try to re-make the lost scenes as faithfully as possible, with new actors and deepfaking the original actors' faces on them. Wonder if they'll ever try that, if they haven't already.
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Post by badwolf on Feb 3, 2022 14:53:49 GMT -5
For '37, I thought it was quite interesting to watch Lost Horizon and hear the full audio track play over still images of the actors sometimes, where parts of the original film had been lost. Do you guys know of any other movies that have had a similar 'patching up' after the original film was damaged? With today's technology, they could try to re-make the lost scenes as faithfully as possible, with new actors and deepfaking the original actors' faces on them. Wonder if they'll ever try that, if they haven't already. They've been patching animated sequences into early Doctor Who to replace lost episodes, I think. I think in some cases they have the audio but not the video, somehow.
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Post by berkley on Feb 3, 2022 15:35:02 GMT -5
For '37, I thought it was quite interesting to watch Lost Horizon and hear the full audio track play over still images of the actors sometimes, where parts of the original film had been lost. Do you guys know of any other movies that have had a similar 'patching up' after the original film was damaged? With today's technology, they could try to re-make the lost scenes as faithfully as possible, with new actors and deepfaking the original actors' faces on them. Wonder if they'll ever try that, if they haven't already. They've been patching animated sequences into early Doctor Who to replace lost episodes, I think. I think in some cases they have the audio but not the video, somehow.
Very interesting. I'd be willing even to just listen to the audio alone, but since they weren't designed as radio scripts there might be some need for a few visual clues or indicators at times. I think this is a good idea, depending on how they do it. |
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Post by commond on Feb 3, 2022 17:39:18 GMT -5
For '37, I thought it was quite interesting to watch Lost Horizon and hear the full audio track play over still images of the actors sometimes, where parts of the original film had been lost. Do you guys know of any other movies that have had a similar 'patching up' after the original film was damaged? With today's technology, they could try to re-make the lost scenes as faithfully as possible, with new actors and deepfaking the original actors' faces on them. Wonder if they'll ever try that, if they haven't already. They do the same thing in the restored version of A Star is Born from 1954. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 3, 2022 20:20:50 GMT -5
The Adventures of Robin Hood gets my vote for favorite movie of 1938!
There are a few other great movies from 1938 that I think are amazing movies, but Robin Hood is just so damn good, plus I’ve been watching it every couple of years since the 1980s.
Some movies that might be considered as “almost contenders” are Bringing Up Baby, The Baker’s Wife, Jezebel, Alexander Nevsky, A Christmas Carol and The Mad Miss Manton.
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 8, 2022 11:36:55 GMT -5
Before I return later with my favories from 1938 (Spoiler Alert: One of them features a certain Tasmanian superstar), I have to mention that I just saw a 1937 favorite, "Captains Courageous," the other day on TCM, and it is stunning in so many ways; from the ensemble performances, and the sequences on open water, to the screenplay and the special effects, it is a gem. Freddie Bartholomew is wonderful as the poor little rich kid, turning what could have been a stereotyped portrayal into a boy of flesh and blood; Spencer Tracy is equally wonderful as the boy's surrogate father, Manuel, the simple, wise fisherman. As usual he breathes life into what could have been a by-the-books characterization. His final scene in the film left me with tears in my eyes. Seek this out if you haven't seen it or if it's been awhile.  PS: John Carradine is excellent; Lionel Barrymore gives his last performance on his feet before his crippling arthritis left him wheelchair-bound; and perhaps most surprising, Mickey Rooney gives a measured performance, not chewing one bit of sceney. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Feb 8, 2022 14:22:30 GMT -5
1938 was one of the best years for movies. Some of the best... Jezebel: A tale of the antebellum South meant to ride on and pre-empt Gone With the Wind. The casual racism is shocking, as one might expect, but the picture it draws of the mores of that bizarre society is part of the point of the picture. The acting is excellent all around, led by Bette Davis at the top of her game in the complicated role of an iconoclastic vixen.  You Can't Take It With You: Superb ensemble cast in an adaptation -- really a revison -- of the classic Kaufman-Hart play pitting the eccentrics against the snobs. Capra pulls out all the stops on what some would call "Capra-corn;" however, this may be the only one of his pictures in his classic era that deserves to be tarred with that brush, as his other classic about America all have a strong undertone of cynicism. This one really doesn't, but its farcical tone doesn't lend itself to too much realism. What a collection of character actors... Dub Taylor, Mischa Auer, Spring Byington, Eddie Anderson, Donald Meek, Ann Miler, Halliwell Hobbes; two sweet romantic leads, Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur; and the villainous Edward Arnold stymied and outwitted by the patriarch of the slightly off-kilter Vanderhof clan, Lionel Barrymore.  Angels With Dirty Faces: Warner Brothers did big city crime stories better than anybody. (Tell me Coppolla didn't rewatch this before filming Godfather II.) Cagney, Bogart, Ann Sheridan, the Dead End Kids, a Dickensian story of Fate, Chance and a smidgeon of hope. I love the ending that Slam_Bradley didn't, from Cagney's conversation with Pat O'Brien right up till that final line. Another of the brilliant Michael Curtiz's directorial triumphs.   A Christmas Carol: Reginald Owen changes faster than other film Scrooges, but he is very good, and the production values are superb, as is the case with all MGM films. It's a living Victorian Christmas card.Terry Kilburn is too big and too sappy as Tiny Tim, yes, but stick with it to see him look at the Christmas goose loningly and say, "Oh, I wish I could stroke it." Easy, Tim. We don't say the quiet part out loud in the Cratchit household.  Too many others to describe now: Holiday (Grant and Hepburn in an interesting rehearsal for The Philadelphia Story);
Boys Town (Tracy takes his second consecutive Oscar in an unashamedly cutesy, sentimental MGM with Mickey Rooney crying up a storm);
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, with a sequence in the caves that scared the spit out of me as a kid. It's still pretty creepy, especially with Victor Jory as the sociopathic Injun Joe.);
Shopworn Angel ( I'm a sucker for any James Stewart-Margaret Sullavan picture. This one is creaky and way too obvious, but the acting, especially Sullavan's, makes you want to see it through;
Dawn Patrol, a surprisingly hard-nosed account of the air war in World War One, its brutality and its dehumanizing toll; SLEEPER PICK: Three Comrades, also with the brilliant Margaret Sullavan as a fatalistic woman drawn to three friends, all German survivors of World War One. An excellent depiction of post-war Germany and the Lost generation. Based on the novel by Eric Maria Remarque. author of All Quiet on the Western Front, who knew from disillusionment. And like virtually everyone else, I bow to The Adventures of Robin Hood, of whoich there is no better example of serendipity in Hollywood. A feast for the eyes, ears, mind and heart, as other have so eloquently stated. I still thrill at hearing Lady Marian say, aghast, to Robin, who crashes the oleaginous Prince John's feast carrying a poached stag on his shoulders, "Why, you speak treason!" And the daring, dashing, audacious Robin's perfectly timed reply, "Fluently." Errol Flynn was a gift of the movie gods. It's so sad that his brightness shot across the sky so, so briefly.   What a frikkin' year for movies! |
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 8, 2022 15:20:55 GMT -5
You’re wrong about the Cratchit household ... they say all the parts very loudly, over and over!
I watch the 1938 version every year around Christmas, usually more than once.
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Post by Mormel on Feb 9, 2022 11:24:15 GMT -5
One project I set about on for myself shortly after the pandemic started, was to watch all winners of the Best Picture Oscar, and 'You Can't Take It With You' was definitely a delight to watch.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202 
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Post by Confessor on Feb 11, 2022 6:59:56 GMT -5
I got nothing for 1938.  Haven't seen any of the films from that year. I also misspoke a few pages back when I said that 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the earliest film I've ever seen in full: that would actually be King Kong from 1933 -- which is obviously a total masterpiece. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 15, 2022 15:42:24 GMT -5
Finally on to 1939 (I've been busy). 1939 is frequently cited as the best year for movies ever. Or at least the best year for Hollywood movies. I'm certainly not going to argue that it is. I'm probably not going to argue that it's not...though I suspect I think that it's not. My favorite movie of the year comes down to two films, one of which is one of the usual suspects and one that isn't. Speaking of the usual suspects, a number of them just aren't going to show up for me. I actively dislike Gone With the Wind. I recognize that it's technically a great film, but even without the "Lost Cause" apologia it bores the crap out of me. I actually like The Wizard of Oz a lot more than I did in the past, but it still isn't a favorite. I've never seen The Rules of the Game (French films are largely just a blank spot for me). I've also never seen Ninotchka. And if they couldn't make me read Wuthering Heights for a grade, there is no damn way I'm going to watch a movie of it. Ultimately my favorite film of 1939 comes down to... Stagecoach - This was the film that made John Wayne a star and showed John Ford that he could make westerns and make money. And while it was not (as is occasionally averred) the first A-western since The Big Trail bombed, it was one of a very few. And it was huge. Both box office and influence. Orson Welles reported watching it over 40 times as he prepared for Citizen Kane. For all that it's somewhat atypical compared to the westerns to come. It's been compared to "Grand Hotel in a stagecoach." And while that's probably stretching things, it's definitely a character study of archetypal characters. But the action definitely gets going in the third act and the stunt-work by Yakima Canutt still holds up as some of the best ever filmed. It's 1939 so there's plenty to be criticized about the depiction of both Native Americans and Latinos. But it probably should be noted that Ford employed a whole passel of Navajos while he was filming in Monument Valley and those jobs paid very well to a population with incredibly high unemployment. Gunga Din - Just a great adventure film, for my money almost (but probably not quite) on par with The Adventures of Robin Hood. While the title is taken from Kipling's poem, the film really owes more to his "Soldiers Three" stories. Cary Grant, Victor McLaglin and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (in absolutely his best role) are super fun as the stars of the film. And, yeah, it's 1939 and the depiction of the Indian people is pretty deplorable. But the damn movies is so fun that I have to give it a pass. The movie was the sixth highest grossing of the year (it did particularly well in rural states) but was extremely expensive to make. It is, however, a very clear influence on a number of later film-makers, in particular, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Ultimately, though it's kind of close, my favorite film of 1939 is Stagecoach. It was the bar against which all other westerns would be measured for at least 15 years. Thoughts on other films from 1939 not previously mentioned. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - 30 years ago this would have gotten more consideration. But honestly I feel that it was hopelessly naïve at the time and is even more hopelessly naïve now. The Roaring Twenties - You have to love Cagney and Bogie in the same film. It's been quite a while since I've seen this one. Still one of the great gangster films. Son of Frankenstein - I loved this as a kid. It's honestly been so long since I've seen it I have no idea how it would hold up. The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Same with this one. I know that Charles Laughton was excellent as Quasimodo. It's just been so long. But this played a lot on the late show when I was a kid. The Flying Deuces - One of the better Laurel and Hardy features, but not as good as a few we've seen previously. And we have 1939 in film as a mind jog. |
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Haven't seen any of the films from that year.