Ten Best Films of the 1930's

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Re: Ten Best Films of the 1930's

Post by ksrymy »

Ten Best Films of 1930

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (Lewis Milestone)
2. The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg)
3. L'age d'Or (Luis Buñuel)
4. Hell's Angels (Howard Hughes)
5. The Divorcee (Robert Z. Leonard)
6. Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)
7. The Big House (George Hill)
8. Anna Christie (Clarence Brown)
9. The Royal Family of Broadway (Cyril Gardner & George Cukor)
10. The Dawn Patrol (Howard Hawks)

Ten Best Films of 1931

1. M (Fritz Lang)
2. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin)
3. The Front Page (Lewis Milestone)
4. Mata Hari (George Fitzmaurice)
5. Cimarron (Wesley Ruggles)
6. Frankenstein (James Whale)
7. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian)
8. The Champ (King Vidor)
9. The Public Enemy (William A. Wellman)
10. Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy)

Ten Best Films of 1932

1. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy)
2. Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer)
3. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (Howard Hawks)
4. Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding)
5. Freaks (Tod Browning)
6. Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg)
7. I Was Born, But... (Yasujiro Ozu)
8. Bird of Paradise (King Vidor)
9. Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg)
10. Tarzan the Ape Man (W.S. Van Dyke)

Ten Best Films of 1933

1. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey)
2. Dinner at Eight (George Cukor)
3. King Kong (Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack)
4. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra)
5. Cavalcade (Frank Lloyd)
6. Lady for a Day (Frank Capra)
7. The Bowery (Raoul Walsh)
8. The Invisible Man (James Whale)
9. 42nd Street (Frank Lloyd)
10. Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo)

Ten Best Films of 1934

1. It Happened One Night (Frank Capra)
2. The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg)
3. L'Atalante (Jean Vigo)
4. Imitation of Life (John M. Stahl)
5. Of Human Bondage (John Cromwell)
6. The Thin Man (W. S. Van Dyke)
7. The Gay Divorcée (Mark Sandrich)
8. The Count of Monte Cristo (Rowland V. Lee)
9. Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian)
10. Cleopatra (Cecil B. DeMille)

Ten Best Films of 1935

1. The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock)
2. The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale)
3. Captain Blood (Michael Curtiz)
4. Mutiny on the Bounty (Frank Lloyd)
5. The Informer (John Ford)
6. Ruggles of Red Gap (Leo McCarey)
7. Anna Karenina (Clarence Brown)
8. David Copperfield (George Cukor)
9. A Tale of Two Cities (Jack Conway)
10. Top Hat (Mark Sandrich)

Ten Best Films of 1936

1. Dodsworth (William Wyler)
2. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
3. My Man Godfrey (Gregory LaCava)
4. Fury (Fritz Lang)
5. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Frank Capra)
6. The Story of Louis Pasteur (William Dieterle)
7. Show Boat (James Whale)
8. These Three (William Wyler)
9. Swing Time (George Stevens)
10. Theodora Goes Wild (Richard Boleslawski)

Ten Best Films of 1937

1. Make Way for Tomorrow (Leo McCarey)
2. The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey)
3. Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir)
4. Lost Horizon (Frank Capra)
5. The Life of Emile Zola (William Dieterle)
6. A Star Is Born (William A. Wellman)
7. The Hurricane (John Ford)
8. Camille (George Cukor)
9. Night Must Fall (Richard Thorpe)
10. Dead End (William Wyler)

Ten Best Films of 1938

1. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks)
2. The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock)
3. Angels with Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz)
4. Jezebel (William Wyler)
5. You Can't Take It With You (Frank Capra)
6. The Citadel (King Vidor)
7. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz & William Keighley)
8. Pygmalion (Anthony Asquith & Leslie Howard)
9. Boys Town (Norman Taurog)
10. Holiday (George Cukor)

Ten Best Films of 1939

1. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
2. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming)
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra)
4. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming)
5. Dark Victory (Edmund Goulding)
6. Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks)
7. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch)
8. Wuthering Heights (William Wyler)
9. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle)
10. Stagecoach (John Ford)
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Post by criddic3 »

This is actually more difficult than I thought it would be.

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
3. King Kong (1933)
4. It Happened One Night (1934)
5. Top Hat (1935)
6. City Lights (1931)
7. Mutiny On the Bounty (1935)
8. Dead End (1937)
9. Dracula (1931)
10. Of Mice and Men (1939)
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Post by Big Magilla »

Giving credit where it's due, the "crap on a stick" comment came from a poster on the site set up by those banished from the guru's site, but you're right, it's not the opinions so much as the inarticulate dismissiveness of others' opinions that irks me. Someone did come to the defense of The Last Hurrah, bu, alas, to no avail, as the dumbass no it all had the last rebuttal with his "crap on a stick" comment.
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Post by Damien »

Big Magilla wrote:I went to another site where John Ford was discussed. One no-nothing, who purports to be an expert on classic films, calls The Infomer, The Hurricane and The Last Hurrah "minor Ford" and The Searchers "a bad film". Another calls The Informer "crap on a stick".

The problem on these other sites is not the opinions but the manner in which the opinions are stated. It would be one thing for a person to say something along the lines of "The Informer has not held up well, and its expressionism seems to be decorative than meaningful, and Ford's Madonna-whore complex is at its most simplistic." But I mean "crap on a stick" -- could this person possibly be any less articulate? Of course the guru at Gold Derby is largely responsible for this he never articulates the reasons behind his opinions.

How anyone could call The Last Hurrah "minor Ford" is beyond me, as so much about it is a summation of what Ford is all about.
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Post by Okri »

I went to another site where John Ford was discussed. One no-nothing, who purports to be an expert on classic films, calls The Infomer, The Hurricane and The Last Hurrah "minor Ford" and The Searchers "a bad film".


Maybe I should watch them again, but I can't get over how much I loathed The Searchers.
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Post by Heksagon »

I see that I haven’t yet posted a list of my own here. I don’t know if this list is really worth anything; I have seen only very few films made in this period (I haven’t seen e.g. Make Way for Tomorrow)

1. The Crime of Mr. Lange (Jean Renoir)
2. The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey)
3. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
4. Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming)
5. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey)
6. Dodsworth (William Wyler)
7. Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
8. M (Fritz Lang)
9. King Kong (Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack)
10. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks)
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Post by Precious Doll »

Top Ten 1930

1. Morocco (Josef von Sternberg)
2. City Girl (F W Murnau)
3. Madame Satan (Cecil B DeMille)
4. Earth (Alexander Dovzhenko)
5. L’Age D’or (Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali)
6. The Unholy Three (Jack Conway)
7. Anna Christie (Clarence Brown)
8. Blood for a Poet (Jean Cocteau)
9. Boderline (Kenneth MacPherson)
10.The Big House (George Hill)

Top Ten 1931

1. M (Fritz Lang)
2. The Miracle Woman (Frank Capra)
3. Madchen in Uniform (Leontine Sagan)
4. City Lights (Charles Chaplin)
5. Le Million (Rene Clair)
6. Night Nurse (William A Wellman)
7. Le Chienne (Jean Renoir)
8. Possessed (Clarence Brown)
9. A Nous la Liberte (Rene Clair)
10.Que Viva Mexico (Sergi Eisenstein)

Top Ten 1932

1. I Was Born But (Yasjuiro Ozu)
2. Freaks (Tod Browning)
3. The Red Headed Woman (Jack Conway)
4. Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg)
5. A Most Dangerous Game (Ernest B Schoedsack & Irving Pichel)
6. I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy)
7. Red Dust (Victor Fleming)
8. Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch)
9. Bird of Paradise (King Vidor)
10.Back Street (John M Stahl)

Top Ten 1933

1. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey)
2. Zoo in Budapest (Rowland V Lee)
3. Blood Money (Rowland Brown)
4. The Invisible Man (James Whale)
5. 42nd Street (Frank Lloyd)
6. Pilgrimage (John Ford)
7. King Kong (Merian C Cooper & Ernest B Schoedsack)
8. The Bowery (Raoul Walsh)
9. Hallelujah I’m a Bum (Lewis Milestone)
10.Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo)

Top Ten 1934

1. The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg)
2. Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian)
3. Imitation of Life (John M Stahl)
4. Death Takes a Holiday (Mitchell Leisen)
5. Little Man, What Now? (Frank Borzage)
6. Four Frightened People (Cecil B DeMille)
7. Six of a Kind (Leo McCarey)
8. The Count of Monte Cristo (Rowland V Lee)
9. Cleopatra (Cecil B DeMille)
10.Judge Priest (John Ford)

Top Ten 1935

1. The Magnificent Obsession (John M Stahl)
2. Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefensthal)
3. Ruggles of Red Gap ((Leo McCarey)
4. Peter Ebbetson (Henry Hathaway)
5. Steamboat Round the Bend (John Ford)
6. Captain Blood (Michael Curtiz)
7. Our Relations (Harry Lachman)
8. The Whole Town is Talkinig (John Ford)
9. Call of the Wild (William Wellman)
10.Evergreen (Victor Saville)

Top Ten 1936

1. Modern Times (Charles Chaplin)
2. Show Boat (James Whale)
3. These Three (William Wyler)
4. The Story of Louis Pasteur (William Dieterle)
5. It’s a Gift (Norman Z McLeod)
6. Olympiad (Leni Riefenstahl)
7. Fury (Fritz Lang)
8. Trail of the Lonesome Pine (Henry Hathaway)
9. Sylvia Scarlet (George Cukor)
10.Theodora Goes Wild (Richard Boleslawski)

Top Ten 1937

1. Make Way for Tomorrow (Leo McCarey)
2. Camille (George Cukor)
3. La Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir)
4. Dead End (William Wyler)
5. The Life of Emile Zola (William Dieterle)
6. A Day at the Races (Sam Wood)
7. Knight without Amour (Jacques Feyder)
8. Love from a Stranger (Rowland V Lee)
9. Night Must Fall (Richard Thorpe)
10.Stand In (Tay Garnett)

Top Ten 1938

1. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks)
2. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
3. La Bete Humaine (Jean Renoir)
4. Pygmalion (Anthony Asquith)
5. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand)
6. The Citadel (King Vidor)
7. Angels with Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz)
8. J’Accuse (Abel Gance)
9. Mad About Music (Norman Taurog)
10.The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock)

Top Ten 1939

1. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming)
2. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch)
3. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Kenji Mizoguchi)
4. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming)
5. Dark Victory (Edmond Goulding)
6. Stagecoach (John Ford)
7. The Man in the Iron Mask (James Whale)
8. Destry Rides Again (George Marshall)
9. Five Come Back (John Farrow)
10.Midnight (Mitchell Leisen)
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Post by rudeboy »

Magilla, I couldn't agree more. I may only be an occasional contributor to this board, but I visit it on an almost daily basis and can always rely on being entertained, amused and informed. I have discovered a large number of wonderful films and directors through the recommendations and discussions I have read on here over the years, and for that I will always be grateful.

Until not so long ago I was an occasional poster on one of those other sites of which you seek. That stopped when I dared to put forward the opinion that a certain widely-liked performance of the last year or so, well, wasn't in my view very good at all. The barrage of juvenile insults I received as a result was so disheartening (although, in retrospect, not surprising) that I haven't logged onto there since.

Anyway, business at hand:

1. King Kong (1933)
2. Duck Soup (1933)
3. Stagecoach (1939)
4. The Rules of the Game (1939)
5. Freaks (1932)
6. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
7. The Scarlet Empress (1934)
8. The Grand Illusion (1937)
9. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
10. Destry Rides Again (1939)
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Post by Big Magilla »

I continue to marvel at the the high standards of quality the contributers to this site bring to it. While I may occasionally read comments posted on other sites, I have no desire to engage in banter with the mostly dumbass comments I find in them. Case in point, one site has an on-going discussion of the greatest directors and their ten best films. One contiributer not only listed Ron Howard, but named A Beautiful Mind as his best film - and he wasn't joking. Speilberg, Kubrick, Renoir, Hitchcock, Minnelli, Wyler and Kazan are mentioned but not John Ford.

I went to another site where John Ford was discussed. One no-nothing, who purports to be an expert on classic films, calls The Infomer, The Hurricane and The Last Hurrah "minor Ford" and The Searchers "a bad film". Another calls The Informer "crap on a stick".

The Informer is not crap on a stick. It is not the most elborately produced of Ford's films. Far from it. He was given a miniscule budget to work with and created a moody masterpiece out of almost nothing. Rightly praised in its day, its reputation has been eclipsed by later Ford films as well as other 1935 masterpieces by other directors - Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, Whale's Bride of Frankenstein, Sandrich's Top Hat, Cukor's David Copperfield and McCarey's Ruggles of Red Gap to name a few, but it is not crap of any kind.
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Post by Penelope »

1. Stagecoach (1939; John Ford)
2. The 39 Steps (1935; Alfred Hitchcock)
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930; Lewis Milestone)
4. History is Made at Night (1937; Frank Borzage)
5. The Awful Truth (1937; Leo McCarey)
6. 42nd Street (1933; Lloyd Bacon, Busby Berkeley)
7. Libeled Lady (1936; Jack Conway)
8. Ninotchka (1939; Ernest Lubitsch)
9. Dodsworth (1936; William Wyler)
10. I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932; Mervyn LeRoy)
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Post by Big Magilla »

No videotape, but I would definitely want to record it on DVD to replace this crappy copy. 5 A.M. Pacific time is perfect.
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Post by Eric »

I could've guessed the quality on Make Way would be iffy.

At least you'll get a chance to videotape Angel Face off of TCM on July 16th at 8am eastern.
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Post by Big Magilla »

I finally received my order. I watched Make Way for Tomorrow and am in the process of watching The Reckles Moment but I previewed all six films.

The Man on the Flying Trapeze (1935), They Drive by Night (1949), The Reckles Moment (1949) and The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1983) are all in pretty decent shape. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) and Angel Face (1952) are not.

Angel Face is a mess with blotches and tears. Make Way for Tomorrow is faded and jumpy. The sound on all films, though, is excellent considering the source material, all of which appear to be transfers from VHS tapes rather than direct downloads from TV showings.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1114484500
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Post by Big Magilla »

They finally responded to my e-mail yesterday. I've been out of town on business (Charleston, SC) and just read it now. They provided a UPS tracking number. The package was shipped last Monday, is due to arrive next Monday (4/25), I'll let you know the quality assuming I can play DVD- on my DVD+ recorder, which I am supposed to be able to do but never tried.
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Post by Eric »

Well, as far as bootleggers go, I'd been led to believe that 5MTL was among the most professional. Of course, I haven't bought anything from them yet. Their stuff is too pricey for me and I've seen their "B" Jeanne Dielman VHS, which is at least a "C-" dub to my eyes.
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