The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

An ongoing project to survey the best films of individual decades, genres, and filmmakers.
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swo17
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#351 Post by swo17 » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:15 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 10:22 am
I’ve seen 87/101, a high number helped by my time spent working thru the same titles that popped up on the All Time List a few years back. Is the plan to do a fresh round of that after all the decades lists are covered?
Sure
BenoitRouilly wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:35 am
If the numbers are handy, could you (swo17) indicate the total number of films cited (including also ran and orphans) as well as the number of also ran and the number of orphans, for statistical purpose.
Or maybe you will make an open access google sheet of the results... Otherwise I can count them myself, no worries.
Total films voted for: 420 (101 on the final list, 126 also-rans, 193 orphans)

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#352 Post by domino harvey » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:26 pm

Is there a running list of the eligible titles for the forthcoming All Time List yet? Maybe if I get a jumpstart this far out I can have them all watched by the time the redux rolls around

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#353 Post by TMDaines » Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:50 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:26 pm
Is there a running list of the eligible titles for the forthcoming All Time List yet? Maybe if I get a jumpstart this far out I can have them all watched by the time the redux rolls around
It is still about six years away by my reckoning!

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swo17
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#354 Post by swo17 » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:14 pm


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swo17
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#355 Post by swo17 » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:54 pm

Yikes, I initially left a bunch of films off of this list. Now fixed.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#356 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:57 pm

What accounts for films being on this tally that scored lower than others?

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swo17
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#357 Post by swo17 » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:58 pm

Placement in at least two top 10s, the idea being that these are the films with enough passion behind them to have a chance of standing up against contenders from other decades

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#358 Post by domino harvey » Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:25 pm

Thanks! Looks like at least one beheamoth from the previous incarnation, Napoleon, won’t be a factor this time. Y’all’s love of long movies killed me last round!

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#359 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Tue Feb 26, 2019 2:36 pm

I believe You Can't Take It With You is 1938, not 1939 as the list/excel sheet read. Sorry if that's pedantic.

I've seen 66 of the top 101, although that number becomes 40 out of the top 50. I spotted a number of titles I wished to get to in the viewing period that I just never got around to, probably highest on that list being The Edge of the World. Here's my top-ten:

1. Angel
2. Love Me Tonight
3. Stagecoach
4. It Happened One Night
5. The Spy in Black
6. Morocco
7. Grand Illusion
8. The Thin Man
9. Duck Soup
10. The Scarlet Empress


I'm pleased to see that my entire top ten has made it into the all-time tally, and will certainly cherish that running list for future viewings! Thank you again, Swo!

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Tommaso
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#360 Post by Tommaso » Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:22 pm

First of all, thanks as always for the hard work, swo! As expected, the final list is somewhat Hollywood-heavy, but given that the 30s were (at least in my view) the very best of all decades for US filmmaking, that's fine with me. However, I'm quite happy to see that some of my favourites like "Der Kongress tanzt" or "Der Student von Prag" even slightly improved the second time around, with the glorious "Maskerade" only losing a bit compared to the last round. I'm a bit surprised that "Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht" lost so much, though. Anyway, it seems that out of the 101 films I had actually seen 94, which didn't stop me to put some films on my list that probably must be regarded as obscurities. So here's my entire list:

1. Der Kongress tanzt (Charell 1931)
2. Maskerade (Forst 1934)
3. Vampyr (Dreyer 1932)
4. Ich bei Tag und du bei Nacht (Berger 1932)
5. Menschen am Sonntag (Siodmak/Ulmer et al. 1930)
6. Die drei von der Tankstelle (Thiele 1930)
7. Scarlet Empress (Sternberg 1934)
8. La grande illusion (Renoir 1937)
9. Le sang d'un poète (Cocteau 1930)
10. Ein blonder Traum (Martin 1932)
11. Trouble In Paradise (Lubitsch 1932)
12. Mädchen in Uniform (Sagan 1931)
13. Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (Lang 1933)
14. Die Privatsekretärin (Thiele 1931) / Dactylo (Thiele 1931)/ Sunshine Susie (Saville 1932) [the three alternate language versions of the same film]
15. Der Student von Prag (Robison 1935)
16. The Gay Divorcee (Sandrich 1934)
17. Love Me Tonight (Mamoulian 1932)
18. Sonnenstrahl (Fejös 1933)
19. Tabu (Murnau 1931)
20. Das Lied ist aus (Bolvary 1930)
21. Ninotchka (Lubitsch 1939)
22. Modern Times (Chaplin 1936)
23. Die 3-Groschen-Oper (Pabst 1931)
24. La regle du jeu (Renoir 1939)
25. Liebelei (Ophuls 1933)
26. Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, 1938)
27. Der blaue Engel (Sternberg 1930)
28. A Midsummer Night's Dream (Reinhardt/Dieterle 1935)
29. Viktor und Viktoria (Schünzel 1933)
30. Anna und Elisabeth (Wysbar 1933)
31. Zauber der Boheme (Bolvary 1937)
32. Katharina die Letzte (Kosterlitz 1936)
33. M (Lang 1931)
34. Earth (Dovzhenko 1930)
35. Queen Christina (Mamoulian 1931)
36. Emil und die Detektive (Lamprecht 1931)
37. Liliom (Borzage 1930)
38. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (Mizoguchi 1939)
39. Stagecoach (Ford 1939)
40. L'Atalante (Vigo 1934)
41. Spring Shower (Fejös 1932)
42. Amphitryon (Schünzel 1935)
43. Schlussakkord (Sirk 1936)
44. Night Nurse (Wellman 1932)
45. Le million (Clair 1931)
46. Der verlorene Sohn (Trenker 1934)
47. Fährmann Maria (Wysbar 1936)
48. Der träumende Mund (Czinner 1932)
49. Chanson d’Ar-Mor (Epstein 1932)
50. Pepe le moko (Duvivier 1937)

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BenoitRouilly
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#361 Post by BenoitRouilly » Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:30 pm

swo17 wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:15 pm
Total films voted for: 420 (101 on the final list, 126 also-rans, 193 orphans)
Thanks a lot.

My top10 was :

1) An Inn in Tokyo (1935) OZU - #60 on the Top101
2) I was born but... (1932) OZU - #31
3) A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) OZU - Also ran (52pts)
4) Alexander Nevski (1938) EISENSTEIN - #86
5) Modern Times (1936) CHAPLIN - #4
6) The Only Son (1936) OZU - #44
7) M (1931) LANG - #11
8) The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939) MIZOGUCHI - #28
9) Vampyr (1932) DREYER - #3
10) L'âge d'or (1930) BUÑUEL - #37

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#362 Post by Michael Kerpan » Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:49 pm

Given that Tokyo Inn is officially pretty much not available -- I guess it did pretty well. ;-)

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#363 Post by domino harvey » Tue Feb 26, 2019 10:40 pm

TOP 10 + ORPHANS

01 Twentieth Century
02 Stagecoach
03 Holiday
04 My Dear Miss Aldrich
05 American Madness
06 I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang!
07 Bad Girl
08 Partie de campagne
09 Only Angels Have Wings
10 Marius

17 Counsellor at Law
22 Arsene Lupin
32 A Girl’s Best Years
33 White Woman
34 Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
37 Friends of Mr Sweeney
39 5th Ave Girl
41 the Mind Reader
44 La Cucaracha
46 Little Caesar
48 Good Girls Go to Paris
49 Blonde Cheat


The Orphan Rescue round managed to knock me down to a survivable 12 orphans, so thanks everyone for seeing the light on some of these. Maybe by the next round there will actually be a release of My Dear Miss Aldrich people can see commercially!

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#364 Post by dustybooks » Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:05 pm

I've never done this before but I reckon I'll join in..

1. City Lights
2. The 39 Steps
3. Dodsworth
4. Snow White (Fleischer)
5. Freaks
6. The Lady Vanishes
7. M
8. All Quiet on the Western Front
9. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
10. The Wizard of Oz

My orphans:
20. Sisters of the Gion
22. The Private Life of Henry VIII
33. The Scoundrel

Many thanks to the person who helped me get The Dawn Patrol onto the also-rans list!

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#365 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:12 pm

Re: Powell. I've seen Contraband but not The Spy in Black - how do they compare quality-wise?

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#366 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:53 pm

Rayon Vert wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:12 pm
Re: Powell. I've seen Contraband but not The Spy in Black - how do they compare quality-wise?
I watched them basically back to back about a year ago–-went through all of Powell/Pressburger up through A Matter of Life and Death––and personally I thought it was just as wonderful as what came around it. There's no skipped beat, as it were. It fits nicely with The Spy in Black as a sort of comic variation on it. A sort of complicated wartime espionage plot featuring deftly drawn characters who feel more fleshed out than the average wartime film.

I saw it in a ragged print compared with the clean, stable Criterion Spy, but it had enough charm and zing that I didn't mind. I think of P&P's early stuff as basically being a series of small, steadily progressing films until you reach Colonel Blimp, which takes the subtle characterization, mellow but present propaganda and satire, command over tone and atmosphere, and wonderfully clear direction of all the early stuff and makes an epic––sort of the equivalent of Joyce going from Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist into Ulysses.

Which is all to say, if you like the rest of the early stuff, you'll enjoy Contraband.

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Rayon Vert
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#367 Post by Rayon Vert » Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:57 pm

I think you misunderstood me - it's Contraband I've seen and The Spy in Black that I haven't.

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#368 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:00 am

Ha! I did misread. Basically reverse the formula. The Spy In Black has a stronger narrative arc, a more broody atmosphere, but is still quite a lot of fun, twisty and turny, and features a totally incredible (and heartbreaking) central performance by Conrad Veidt. It's got all the nuance you'd hope out of a P&P propaganda piece, and has this wonderful fog-ridden pastoral British atmosphere.

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#369 Post by Rayon Vert » Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:01 am

Thanks. I'll make sure to catch it. I will probably revisit Contraband for the next project, my memory of it is dim.

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#370 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:50 am

My top 10:

60 An Inn in Tokyo
80 Apart from You
38 Mr. Thank You
99 Humanity and Paper Balloons
119 It's a Gift
22 The Roaring Twenties
119 By the Bluest of Seas
26 Tabu
## Fighting Soldiers
28 The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

All my orphans:

Fighting Soldiers
Alone
The Girl with the Hat Box
Jirokichi the Rat
Woman in the Mist
Man on the Flying Trapeze
The Water Magician
The Lady Next Door and My Wife
Mud and Soldiers
Morning's Tree-Lined Street
Forget Love for Now
Our Neighbor, Miss Yae
Portrait of Shunkin: Okoto and Sasuke

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

#371 Post by nitin » Wed Feb 27, 2019 4:06 am

My top 10:

1. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
2. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
3. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
4. Modern Times (1936)
5. The Testament Of Dr Mabuse (1933)
6. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
7. The 39 Steps (1935)
8. Stagecoach (1939)
9. Camille (1936)
10. Morocco (1930)


My orphans:

Annie Oakley (1935)
China Seas (1935)
Gunga Din (1939)
Kid Galahad (1937)
Secret Agent (1936)

Thankfully at least one other person voted for Mayerling, Camille, Jezebel, La Bête Humaine, Baby Face and The Petrified Forest

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#372 Post by BenoitRouilly » Thu Feb 28, 2019 6:12 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 8:49 pm
Given that Tokyo Inn is officially pretty much not available -- I guess it did pretty well. ;-)
Thank you for voting it at #1 on your list.
Why is it not available on home video? Is the master print too damaged for a restauration?
BenoitRouilly wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:30 pm
My top10 was :

1) An Inn in Tokyo (1935) OZU - #60 on the Top101
2) I was born but... (1932) OZU - #31
3) A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) OZU - Also ran (52pts)
4) Alexander Nevski (1938) EISENSTEIN - #86
5) Modern Times (1936) CHAPLIN - #4
6) The Only Son (1936) OZU - #44
7) M (1931) LANG - #11
8) The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939) MIZOGUCHI - #28
9) Vampyr (1932) DREYER - #3
10) L'âge d'or (1930) BUÑUEL - #37
The rest of my top50:

11) Partie de campagne (1936) RENOIR
12) Man of Aran (1934) FLAHERTY
13) Le sang d'un poète (1932) COCTEAU
14) À propos de Nice (1930) VIGO
15) Zemlya / Earth (1930) DOVZHENKO
16) People on Sunday (1930) SIODMAK/ULMER/ZINNEMANN
17) City Lights (1931) CHAPLIN
18) Tokyo Chorus (1931) OZU
19) Zéro de conduite: Jeunes diables au collège (1933) VIGO
20) Las Hurdes / Land Without Bread (1933) BUÑUEL
21) L'Atalante (1934) VIGO
22) Tabu (1931) MURNAU/FLAHERTY
23) Limite (1931) PEIXOTO
24) Fury (1936) LANG
25) The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) LANG
26) Wild Rose (1932) SUN Yu
27) City Girl (1930) MURNAU
28) Arigatô-san (1936) SHIMIZU
29) Drôle de drame (1937) CARNE
30) Happiness (1935) MEDVEDKIN
31) La divine (1934) WU Yonggang
32) By the Bluest of Seas (1936) BARNET
33) Glass Eye (1930) BRIK/JEMTCHOUJNY
34) Big Road (1934) SUN Yu
35) The Story of a Cheat / Le roman d’un tricheur (1936) GUITRY
36) Petter Ibbetson (1935) HATHAWAY
37) Passing Fancy (1933) OZU
38) Duck Soup (1933) McCAREY
39) Le quai des brumes (1938) CARNE
40) The Lady and the Beard (1931) OZU
41) Le roman de renart (1930) STAREWICZ
42) Salt of Svanetia (1930) KALATAZOV
43) Romance sentimentale (1930) EISENSEIN
44) Ruggles of Red Cap (1935) McCAREY
45) Where are the dreams of youth ? (1932) OZU
46) ¡Qué viva México! (1934) EISENSTEIN
47) Mor vran (1931/EPSTEIN/France) DOC
48) Bezhin Meadow (1937) EISENSTEIN
49) Spring Silkworms  (1933) CHENG Bugao
50) Prix de Beauté (1930) GENINA

& My orphans :

## Tokyo Chorus (Ozu)
## Wild Rose (Sun)
## Glass Eye (Brik)
## The Story of a Cheat (Guitry)
## The Lady and the Beard (Ozu)
## Romance sentimentale (Eisenstein)
## Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (Ozu)
## Mor'Vran (Epstein)
## Spring Silkworms (Cheng)
## Prix de beauté (Genina)

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

#373 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:01 pm

Yes. Tokyo Inn's (best -- and maybe only) source materials are pretty deteriorated in spots. Not enough to bother me -- but surely enough to scare off DVD/Blu Ray producers....

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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

#374 Post by Shrew » Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:04 pm

Tokyo Inn was on Filmstruck (RIP), which is how I saw it.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

#375 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:25 pm

Shrew wrote:
Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:04 pm
Tokyo Inn was on Filmstruck (RIP), which is how I saw it.
I missed seeing it there, I guess. Maybe it will be back soon...

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