Top 10 of the Decade: The 1930's

[lazarus]

10. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse – Lang

 

[purpleoscar]

In the end I found that I liked it even more than M.

 

[lazarus]

I found that I liked it even more in the end.

Not really a surprise here.

 

[hardyharhar]

I like purpleoscar's list. Dodsworth and Gunga Din make it in . And Mr Smith, though I prefer You Can't Take it With You from Capra just for the crazy family.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah that was a personal favorite of mine. I absolutely LOVE Jean Arthur.

Gunga Din is fantastic as well.

 

[bono_212]

And now that I've seen It Happened One Night, my list would be ever so slightly different.

 

[The Sad Punk]

I really need to see 42nd Street.

Nice to see all the strong love for M, even if I personally prefer Lang's follow-up Mabuse film, which I find a little bit more sophisticated, if not as iconic. If you guys haven't seen it there's a great criterion edition. And in the UK there's a brand new Mabuse set which containt Testament as well as the original 4-hour silent epic Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, and Lang's final film The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse from 1960 which is really underrated and has a lot of elements that would later become associated with the James Bond series.

Narrowly missed out for me, definitely should be on your to-watch list. And with that in mind, I'll see if I can come across this Mabuse set.

 

[cobl04]

Indeed.

mind = blown

 

[The Sad Punk]

You should watch them, Danny. Marx Brothers >>>> Queen.

 

[LMP]

Especially if you wanna 'ave a laff.

 

[Lancemc]

What's the time-table going to be for the rest of the threads?

 

[lazarus]

Yeah I guess it's time for the 50's.

 

[bono_212]

You should watch them, Danny. Marx Brothers >>>> Queen.

It's been about three years since last I watched a Marx Bros. movie, far too long.

 

[cobl04]

i think i saw one once. it was on the ABC at about 2 or 3 am one morning about three or four years ago, black and white. i remember a hotel room, moustaches, a dead body and a room service person... it was pretty funny.

 

[bono_212]

i think i saw one once. it was on the ABC at about 2 or 3 am one morning about three or four years ago, black and white. i remember a hotel room, moustaches, a dead body and a room service person... it was pretty funny.

That's Room Service. While I personally love that movie, it's pretty much one of their worst received films. If you liked it, there is hope for you yet, Cobbler.

 

[lazarus]

i remember a hotel room, moustaches, a dead body and a room service person...

Sounds like my last New Year's Eve.

 

[cobl04]

and they say New Year's Eve is overrated...

 

[hardyharhar]

Yeah that was a personal favorite of mine. I absolutely LOVE Jean Arthur.

Gunga Din is fantastic as well.

Haven't been able to get in here for over two weeks. Occasionally, I thought to myself, damn, I've missed a bunch of decade threads for sure. And I was having a great time with these.

I love Jean Arthur's truly screwball films. I would recommend The More the Merrier & Too Many Husbands. Similar plots, Too Many has husband Fred MacMurray sent off to war where he is presumed dead, Jean marries Melvyn Douglas. Fred returns of course. Who to choose.

More the Merrier has Jean living with roomie Charles Coburn. He has Joel McRae move in to so he can get the two of them together. Jean is already engaged to another man.

Fun stuff.

 

[INDY500]

Gods and monsters and wiseguys.

The Bride of Frankenstein (35) Whale
The Grand Illusion (37) Renoir
Gunga Din (39) Stevens
The Mummy (32) Freund
The Adventures of Robin Hood (38) Curtiz
Scarface (32) Hawks
King Kong (33) Cooper
M (31) Lang
Public Enemy (31) Wellman
Drums Along the Mohawk (39) Ford (strangely forgotten film but my dad's favorite)

 

[hardyharhar]

Like the list Indy. All those monsters (dracula, mummy, frankenstein, wolfman...) were terrific.

Drums Along the Mohawk (39) Ford (strangely forgotten film but my dad's favorite)

Always thought I may have had another kid somewhere out there I didn't know about

I couldn't pick a favorite Ford, but this one would be right at the top. Edna May Oliver carried out in her bed by marauding indians, another great bad guy turn by John Carradine. Great film. Mr Lincoln, Drums and Stagecoach in the same year. Then Grapes of Wrath next year. Not a bad run.

 

[INDY500]

Even though it would mean I'd most likely be dead now, I'm very jealous of the generation that got to spend their childhood at the movies in the 30's. Universal monsters, Warner gangsters, Errol Flynn, pirates, Tarzan, Western B movies, Roy Rogers, serials, W.C. Fields and Laurel & Hardy. Very jealous indeed, but we did get Raquel Welch, Sean Connery as Bond and Planet of the Apes in the 60's so can't complain too much.

Mr Lincoln is the Ford film I always forget about.

 

[lazarus]

I haven't seen Drums or Lincoln, unfortunately. Some big Ford blind spots for me, which is funny because I've seen a lot of very hard-to-find stuff from him like 7 Women, The Rising of the Moon, Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Sun Shines Bright, etc.

 

[bono_212]

Always thought I may have had another kid somewhere out there I didn't know about

It's not me?

 

[hardyharhar]

It's not me?

If your under 26 years old anything's possible. And I just saw in the LS that I would also get LM as a son-in-law. What a deal!! Congrats & good luck to both of you

 

[hardyharhar]

I haven't seen Drums or Lincoln, unfortunately. Some big Ford blind spots for me, which is funny because I've seen a lot of very hard-to-find stuff from him like 7 Women, The Rising of the Moon, Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Sun Shines Bright, etc.

Young Mr Lincoln is ok, not one of my favorites.

Don't think I've seen these others though, maybe a long time ago. Which would you recommend Lazarus, if not all?

 

[lazarus]

All. 7 Women is a great swan song, the guy definitely went out with a bang. The Sun Shines Bright is just beautiful; I'd put it in his Top 10 without blinking. And Gideon was a nice police procedural that had some suspense worthy of Hitchcock. Great color photography and London location shooting.

 

[bono_212]

A Nous la Liberté is really good - it is definitely a counterpart to Metropolis and a huge influence on Modern Times.

Funny that I have two prison related films in my list.

That's hot.

I decided to just post this in here, since it's relevant discussion, but yes, this film was excellent. A great little bit of slapstick with a moving story line. I am sad that I only found out afterwards that the version of the film I was watching had two semi-key scenes cut out of it, ones that helped aesthetically tell the story at any rate.

Thanks for the recommendation, Gump. This thread, and the others have been so great in adding films to the already expansive-must-see list I (and I'm sure others) have.

 

[MMP]

.

 

[gump]

I decided to just post this in here, since it's relevant discussion, but yes, this film was excellent. A great little bit of slapstick with a moving story line. I am sad that I only found out afterwards that the version of the film I was watching had two semi-key scenes cut out of it, ones that helped aesthetically tell the story at any rate.

Thanks for the recommendation, Gump. This thread, and the others have been so great in adding films to the already expansive-must-see list I (and I'm sure others) have.

Lad you liked it. It's definitely one of my favorite French films from that period (obviously, since it was in my list...). Which version did you get, by the way? It's a shame it wasn't complete...

You might want to check out Le Million as well, which is also very good. I have yet to see Under the Roofs of Paris, but is also pretty acclaimed.

I have a soft spot for French directors that did not stay under Vichy during the war, so Clair has some points in my book.

 

[Lancemc]

I feel like I'm going to come back to this thread in a couple months with an updated list. Probably the 40s too. So that's something.