This is the time of the year when various top ten film lists appear. Coincidentally, there was an article in the paper today claiming that most older people do not go to the movies anymore. Blame was placed on the pandemic but most senior citizens, like myself, cannot watch or even follow today's movies with rapid cutting and computer special effects. So, here is a list of films that I have watched this year from the 1930s that have more than withstood the test of time. They not only bring me back to the world of my parents and grandparents, but I think my own children and grandchildren would enjoy them as much as I still do.
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| Greta Garbo |
Grand Hotel: This 1932 film stars the legendary Greta Garbo in her greatest role. The silent screen actress from Sweden did not miss a beat with the coming of sound. In a world reeling from the Great Depression, she plays a famous Russian ballerina who just wants to be alone. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer put together a huge production set in a posh Berlin hotel with spectacular photography, and an all-star cast that included John and Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, and a young Joan Crawford. It was a huge box office success and won the Academy Award for best picture.
It Happened One Night: Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert starred in this 1934 romantic “road” comedy about two strangers from completely different worlds who meet on a bus traveling from Florida to New York. Neither star wanted to be in this film, but under the guidance of director Frank Capra, they both turned in the most memorable performances of their careers. The film is filled with iconic scenes: bus passengers giving a rousing rendition of “the Man on the Flying Trapeze;” Colbert adjusting her stocking to hitch a ride; and Gable undressing in a motel cabin with only a blanket hung on a rope separating the two strangers. This sleeper film swept all the Academy Awards for 1934.
Dodsworth. Director William Wyler brought Sinclair Lewis’ best-selling 1929 novel to the screen in 1936. Walter Huston, in what some consider to be his finest performance, plays a wealthy industrialist who sells his business and sets off with his wife of 20 years to discover Europe, and re-discover themselves. Co-star Ruth Chatterton gives a powerful performance as a wife seeking more than wealth, and Mary Astor gives one of her usual fine performances. Selected as one of the most important films of all time by the Library of Congress, Dodsworth surpasses the book on which it is based.
Pygmalion. George Bernard Shaw wrote the screenplay adaptation of his own stage masterpiece about linguistics professor Henry Higgins’s wager to turn a low-class flower vendor into a “lady”. This 1938 film starred Leslie Howard, at the height of his career, before his untimely death in WWII, and Wendy Hiller, who would go on to become one of Great Britain’s greatest actresses. The film was later adapted into the famed musical, “My Fair Lady.”
The Petrified Forest. Leslie Howard stars in this 1936 adaptation of Robert Sherwood’s hit play. Bette Davis co-stars and demonstrates all the qualities that would make her a huge star. Also, Humphrey Bogart has a break-out role as Duke Mantee, a killer on the lam, who holds hostages in a bleak diner on the edge of the Arizona desert. Unfortunately, Bogart’s success led him to be typecast as a gangster for the next few years until he emerged as a leading man in 1941 with unforgettable films like the Maltese Falcon, and Casablanca.
Our Town: Thornton Wilder’s play about ordinary people and ordinary life in a small New England town at the beginning of the twentieth century, was an immediate success when it first appeared on stage in 1938. It won a Pulitzer prize and has become an enduring favorite. It was turned into a fine film in 1940 but poor DVD copies make it hard to watch today. For modern viewers I suggest a filming of a stage version originally performed in 2003 at the Westport Country Playhouse, and subsequently aired on PBS. This version stars Paul Newman as the stage manager. Newman, a Westport resident, was at the end of his career, but was coaxed to return to the stage after a long absence. His performance, supported by a cast of relative unknowns, matches anything he did in his illustrious career.
Sons of the Desert: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are regarded as the greatest comedy team in film history. They began during the silent era with some of its greatest comedy shorts, and became huge stars in the Thirties where, in addition to shorts, they appeared in a number of full-length classics. The best of these is the 1933 film, Sons of the Desert. The boys vow to attend the annual convention of their fraternal order, the Sons of the Desert, but they are opposed by their dominating wives , one carrying a shotgun over her arm on her return from duck hunting, and the other, played by Mae Busch, brandishing a large kitchen knife like an accomplished fencer. One gag follows another in this classic comedy that includes a charming rendition of the song, “Honolulu Baby.”
Swing Time: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are universally regarded as the greatest dance team of all time. Starting with their first appearance in Flying Down to Rio where they danced the Carioca, they appeared in a series of films whose dance numbers have never been equaled. No one else danced together as a team as they did. My personal favorite is Roberta, but Swing Time is generally regarded as their greatest film. It includes “Pick Yourself Up,” the most popular of all their numbers; the effervescent “Waltz in Swing Time;” the dramatic finale “Never Gonna Dance;” and the solo “Bojangles of Harlem,” Astaire’s spectacular homage to the great black dancer Bill Robinson. (click on the link, or view the brief video below. "Sheer Heaven."
Bonus pick. Woody Allen’s Radio Days is set in 1940 on the eve of the Second World War. It brings to life the world of the thirties as few films have done. The world is seen through the eyes of a young boy, obviously Allen, growing up in a Jewish neighborhood in Queens. The cast of characters is excellent, and the soundtrack is filled with the music of the day. This film is a perfect way to usher in the New Year.
Happy New Year!!!
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