Swing Time (1936) dir. George Stevens. USA. When you see anyone--an athlete, a musician, a dancer, a craftsman--doing something difficult and making it look easy and a joy, you feel enhanced. It is a victory for the human side, over the enemies of clumsiness, timidity and exhaustion. The cynical line on Astaire and Rogers was, … Continue reading Film 35: Swing Time
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Film 34: Mutiny on the Bounty
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) dir. Frank Lloyd. USA. The weird and wonderful history of H. M. S. Bounty is magnificently transferred to the screen in "Mutiny on the Bounty," which opened at the Capitol Theatre yesterday. Grim, brutal, sturdily romantic, made out of horror and desperate courage, it is as savagely exciting and rousingly … Continue reading Film 34: Mutiny on the Bounty
Film 33 (a): Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931) dir. James Whale. USA. NB: This wasn't on our docket, but we inserted it upon realizing that "Bride of Frankenstein" is a direct sequel. Picture starts out with a wallop. Midnight funeral services are in progress on a blasted moor, with the figure of the scientist and his grotesque dwarf assistant hiding at … Continue reading Film 33 (a): Frankenstein
Film 30: The Scarlet Empress
The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg. USA. Von Sternberg (1894-1969) was one of the true Hollywood characters, sometimes a great director, always a great show. He dressed in costumes appropriate to the films he was directing, made his assistants remove their wristwatches because he could hear the ticking, and calmly claimed he did … Continue reading Film 30: The Scarlet Empress
Film 29: Cavalcade
Cavalcade (1933) dir. Frank Lloyd. USA. “Cavalcade” is about as well made as that subject could have been made for the screen. At first thought it would seem too foreign a matter for American consumption, but it’s the first big historical epic on England that means something over here. It’s so powerful and embracing that … Continue reading Film 29: Cavalcade
Film 28: King Kong
King Kong (1933) dir. Merian C. Cooper. USA. But "King Kong" is more than a technical achievement. It is also a curiously touching fable in which the beast is seen, not as a monster of destruction, but as a creature that in its own way wants to do the right thing. Unlike the extraterrestrial spiders … Continue reading Film 28: King Kong
Film 27: Duck Soup
Duck Soup (1933) dir. Leo McCarey. USA. My father loved the Marx Brothers above all other comedians or, indeed, all other movie stars. The first movie he ever took me to was "A Day at the Races." All I remember about that experience was the fact of my father's laughter. But there was something else, … Continue reading Film 27: Duck Soup
Film 26: Zero de Conduite
Zero du Conduite (1933) dir. Jean Vigo. France. There is nothing in the history of movies that mirrors or matches the achievement of Jean Vigo. His four films can be watched in an afternoon—total running time: just under three hours. Each film is unique, separate from the others, but together they constitute a sustained attack … Continue reading Film 26: Zero de Conduite
Film 25: Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel (1932) dir. Edmund Goulding. USA. Fascinating atmosphere is woven through the story, reflecting the beehive of a fashionable foreign hotel (it’s in Berlin) – its gaiety, sorrow, strivings and just aimless bustle. There are spirited glimpses of a vast hotel switchboard with a jumble of words; the lobby is angled as a huge … Continue reading Film 25: Grand Hotel
Movie in a Weekend 