One Sentence Plot Summary: A down-on-his-luck newspaper man helps a pampered society girl travel from Miami to New York and, go figure, they fall in love along the way.
Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert
Best of: Fantastic chemistry between Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Slow burning sexual tension (1934 style). Great dialogue. Great final scene.
Worst of: I could have used an earlier introduction for a reason to dislike the "other man."
Notable: One of only three movies (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Silence of the Lambs were the others) to win all "Big 5" Academy Awards.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Cavalcade (1933) - 3 stars
One Sentence Plot Summary: We follow one family as their lives touch major historic events, like the sinking of the Titanic and WWI, from New Years Eve 1899 to New Years Eve 1933.
Starring: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin
Best of: Opening a closing scenes make nice book marks...an optomistic young family at the turn of the century and the same family three decades later after a lot of hardship.
Worst of: It is always hard for art to comment on recent history. It loses it's focus as it gets closer and closer to the present day of 1933. It would've been better off to have ended it in 1920 or so.
Notable: The only Oscar winner not readily available on DVD. (I had a bootleg copy sent from China that was dubbed off of VHS.)
Starring: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin
Best of: Opening a closing scenes make nice book marks...an optomistic young family at the turn of the century and the same family three decades later after a lot of hardship.
Worst of: It is always hard for art to comment on recent history. It loses it's focus as it gets closer and closer to the present day of 1933. It would've been better off to have ended it in 1920 or so.
Notable: The only Oscar winner not readily available on DVD. (I had a bootleg copy sent from China that was dubbed off of VHS.)
Grand Hotel (1932) - 3 Stars
One Sentence Plot Summary: Four eccentric hotel guests, played by four of Hollywood's biggest stars, check into a luxurious Berlin hotel...drama ensues.
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore
Best of: Joan Crawford and all of her scenes.
Worst of: Greta Garbo and all of her scenes.
I would have liked it better if: Quite so many of the characters didn't fall in love after one conversation.
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore
Best of: Joan Crawford and all of her scenes.
Worst of: Greta Garbo and all of her scenes.
I would have liked it better if: Quite so many of the characters didn't fall in love after one conversation.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Cimarron (1931) - 3 Stars
One Sentence Plot Summary: Man and Wife move to boom town of Osage Oklahoma in the 1880s and try to help turn it into a civilized city.
Starring: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne
Best of: Epic and elaborate "land rush" scene starts the movie with a few thousand horses...computer generated horses not yet invented.
Worst of: Ridiculously stereotyped black servant boy added for comic relief.
I would have liked it better if: It didn't take a rather odd twist in the end. Oh yeah, and less unbelievable racism.
Starring: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne
Best of: Epic and elaborate "land rush" scene starts the movie with a few thousand horses...computer generated horses not yet invented.
Worst of: Ridiculously stereotyped black servant boy added for comic relief.
I would have liked it better if: It didn't take a rather odd twist in the end. Oh yeah, and less unbelievable racism.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - 4 stars
One sentence plot summary: War is Hell.
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim
Best of: Epic battle sequence that holds up surprisingly well. Engaging artistic choices made by director Lewis Milestone.
Worst of: Streaky performance by lead actor Lew Ayres.
I would've liked it better if: I had cared more about the main character.
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim
Best of: Epic battle sequence that holds up surprisingly well. Engaging artistic choices made by director Lewis Milestone.
Worst of: Streaky performance by lead actor Lew Ayres.
I would've liked it better if: I had cared more about the main character.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Broadway Melody (1929) - 2 stars
One Sentence Plot Summary: Love triangle between two singing sisters and a singing guy that no woman would actually like.
Starring: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love
Best of: One of the earliest "talkies," there is a certain novelty to watching such an early example of film.
Worst of: Distractedly bad acting by Anita Page. Ending that tries to turn stealing your sister's fiance into an easily forgotten mistake.
I would have liked it better if: It weren't a musical.
Starring: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love
Best of: One of the earliest "talkies," there is a certain novelty to watching such an early example of film.
Worst of: Distractedly bad acting by Anita Page. Ending that tries to turn stealing your sister's fiance into an easily forgotten mistake.
I would have liked it better if: It weren't a musical.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wings (1928) - 3 stars
One Sentence Plot Summary: Two men, who love the same woman, serve side by side as airforce pilots in World War I.
Starring: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen
Best of: The film's visuals are stunning given that special effects didn't really exist yet. I often found myself wondering how the film manages its many battle sequences. It is also refeshingly gruesome at times as any good war flick should be.
Worst of: As much as I appreciated the novelty of my first silent film experience, the medium does have substantial limitations. This is the only silent film to win a Best Picture Oscar.
Notable: For many years, Wings was considered to be "lost" until a surviving print was found in the Cinémathèque Française film archive in Paris and quickly copied from nitrate film to safety film stock. It has still not been released on DVD.
Starring: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen
Best of: The film's visuals are stunning given that special effects didn't really exist yet. I often found myself wondering how the film manages its many battle sequences. It is also refeshingly gruesome at times as any good war flick should be.
Worst of: As much as I appreciated the novelty of my first silent film experience, the medium does have substantial limitations. This is the only silent film to win a Best Picture Oscar.
Notable: For many years, Wings was considered to be "lost" until a surviving print was found in the Cinémathèque Française film archive in Paris and quickly copied from nitrate film to safety film stock. It has still not been released on DVD.
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