From now on until my posts catch up with my viewing, I will write one Post for each year of movies, starting at 1936. I am currently at 1953 in my viewing, so at this time we are talking about at least 18 Posts. When I catch up to myself, I will post after each movie I watch or reach (if I have already seen that film). So here is my Post of the year 1936.
A Day in the Country (Une Partie De Campagne)
When I came upon this small French film made by the famous Painters son, Jean Renoir, it caught me be surprise to see that in 1936 or at least in Europe there was short Drama Films, that were not long enough to be considered feature films. This film is only 40 minutes long and as such has a short plot and outline. A man with an average looking wife and a pretty young daughter takes his family, including his daughters boring and simple fiancé out from Paris to the country. Renoir was a city man and like many European city men of the time, had a very distinct fear of the simple folks who live in the country. In this film, two of those simple folks are two horny young men who live in the country in an area that it appears to not have many women. They come upon the family during their picnic and then trick the father and fiancé to allow them to take the wife and daughter with them on two separate boats. If this was a modern American film then we would soon have a scary rape scene, but this is a French art film from 1936, so the guy with the Mother happens to compliment her that he is interested and the guy with the daughter gets to have a mutual tryst that is satisfying to both. Renoir then lets us come to an understanding that this moment of sexual fancy is so ingrained on the girl that she longs for it all her life. He does this by ending the film, years later at the same spot, but this time with a happily married daughter and her husband coming across our former stalker and showing melancholia. Only the French could make a film like this.
Modern Times
This is Charlie Chaplain’s last film involving the Tramp. It is also 99% a silent movie as Chaplain put off using sound as long as he could and as long as he made magnificent movies such as this. The film is a parable on the Modern world and capitalism. It shows how both joined together to exploit the simple man. Our tramp is as simple as they come. We have the Tramp working at an assembly line factory with Chaplain using his great wit and intellect to show us, through physical silent humor, that industry is dehumanizing us for profit. The factory scenes and especially the scene where the tramp is the guinea pig in a new machine meant to feed the worker while he continues to work, thereby saving the inefficiency of the lunch break. Today with the advent of robots at our assembly lines, this warning is still relevant. I must point out that all of these scenes are hilarious and this is one of the great Chaplain’s best films. Even if it has the Tramp grabbing what surely must be a red flag by mistake and running away from a large amount of people chasing him. Of course it looks like the communist symbol and everyone running with it. Chaplain was a socialist and this film is his most political. It is also one of his best.
Swing Time
No Book about the most important movies ever would be complete without at least one film showing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing together. Swing Time is the very best of the bunch. The story is simple and the direction is professional but not special. But the dancing! Today, modern audiences are wowed and impressed by great spectacular dance shows of foot tapping such as, “Lords of the Dance”, and pay a great deal of money to see them live. Those same people may not be caught dead watching a cheesy black and white musical from 1936. They would be wrong however because nobody tapping today or any other day can beat Fred Astaire and when he did it with the beautiful Ginger Rogers. He did it with real class. This movie has an incredible scene where Astaire dances to a double rear projection of himself, making him dance in triplicate and in perfect coordination. It is a delight and a must see.
My Man Godfrey
“My man Godfrey” is one of those 1930 comedies that stands the test of time while not having any real belly laughs. What it does, is leave a smile on your face throughout. The story of rich spoiled snobs using their standing in life to look down at others is as old as cinema. We have a rich and unstable family taking in a tramp on a bet and whim that starts with a family party game, develops into a wager between siblings and ends with the bum exposing everyone for what they truly are. Including himself. It has a combination of Chaplain and his tramp and European sensibilities and I am sure it was influenced by the French film “Boudu saved from Drowning”. What really places this film apart are two performances that stand out. There is William Powell who shows that he can play a sober hero off of his thin man caricature and the delightful Carole Lambard who is one of the funniest beauties to ever grace the screen. Godfrey of course is the tramp, who really is not a tramp and he goes on to conquer Lambard’s heart, expose her mean sister and save her parents’ marriage. Once again Hollywood lets us go home feeling happy.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Here we have a classic and lively fairy tale about the good people everywhere. To Hollywood and in direct contrast to France, the good and kind people live in the back waters and the country. Not the cities where money hungry and ambition reign supreme. The interesting thing about this line of thinking is that here it was actually created and thought out by a director who came from eastern Europe, which at the time was close to utter turmoil. His name was Frank Capra and this film is his. It is a piece of American goodness made from a refugee of the old world giving his thanks to the country that took him in. We are given a Mr. Deeds who is a man of good deeds. Yes the play on words was done on purpose. He wins a large amount of money that make him a millionaire and decides to give it away like one gigantic good deed. The press get wind of this person and tries to make a fool out of him. So they can sell papers of course. They send a lady reporter who is fast talking and quick of wit. The Coen brothers took this character and story line to use in their own take of the 1930s social comedy with the “Hudsucker Proxy”. The story has our reporter first making a fool of our hero and then regretting it and falling in love. The beauty of the film lies in its innocence and its quaint performance from Gary Cooper. Capra has perfect comedic timing and it is one of the gifts he gave back to his adopted new home.
Camille
One of the movies that could be called a real tear jerker. What Camille has that other women dramas and tear jerkers from this era do not is Greta Garbo who is superb in this movie. This is what is called the women’s sacrifice film as Garbo is a beauty of ill repute who falls for a man of society. Men of society can’t be found to be with women of her kind. She realizes this and sacrifices her own happiness for his good. Anybody who is a fan of this type of sacrifice knows what it is all about. Our hero only finds out the truth about his Garbo on her dying bed and the tears of goodness and sacrifice are too good to resist. Now that’s drama!
Sabotage
In 1936 Alfred Hitchcock continued to work in England and he created this tense exciting tale of terrorism. London has a mad bomber working for some nefarious foreign power and of course we know now it is the Germans. He is bombing certain areas of the city causing terror to all. The move goes about quickly in following our villain until he is caught and brought to justice by his innocent wife. This film is special in that it helped Hitch hone his talents of suspense and terror. One famous scene of movie lore has a young boy the audience likes and identifies with carrying a bomb given to him by the terrorist and set to go off a certain time The unfortunate boy gets delayed in his delivery and we follow him until such time that the bomb goes off on his lap and on a bus killing many more people. As an Israeli having gone through similar type occurrences in my country, this scene caused extreme tension. Audiences at the time were not used to seeing innocent boys blown up. Especially after the film goes through the effort in introducing the boy to us and making us be partial to him. It was an example on how Hitch did things his way. If you want to see how the master of suspense started and working at his best, then take a look at this British movie marvel.
Dodsworth
This is an interesting movie. It involves the dissolution of an American marriage and it goes about showing us this break up in a very straight to the point matter of fact way. We have a couple who have different needs and a third party femme fatale used as the catalyst that ends the partnership. The interesting thing about the movie is that it portrays the other woman, not as a villain, but as another frail and needy person. It is a very mature film. I found it difficult to keep interest throughout but its acting and direction on professional and to the point.
Things to Come
Did you know that H.G. Wells foretold World War 2? He did, and in his book “Things to Come”. Wells shows how the world evolved after the war years and years ahead. We are shown man taking over the world and destroying the environment. Creating a mechanized and maybe computerized world. It’s a far seeing vision that is very prophetic. This movie rendering of the book takes a documentarian style, paying little time on characterization of its main protagonists. This style was a bit off-putting for me and it took an effort to contain interest. What can’t be denied, is the ahead of its time context and the scenic futuristic rendering of this film. Many better movies about the future have taken their ideas and influence from this classic. For this reason alone it is an important movie to see.
The Story of a Cheat (Le Roman D’un Tricheur)
The French in the 30s had their theatrical genius. A man who would write his own stories, direct them and be their main star. Yes Woody Allen was not the first to do this. His name was Sacha Guitry and “The Story of a Cheat” is his best film. We are basically shown how a man went through life always cheating whenever he had the chance. We see this through flashbacks so we already know how he will end. This knowing allows us to enjoy his acts of dishonesty instead of feeling tense and on edge during the dishonest acts our antihero performs in the film. That knowing gives the movie an intelligent artsy feel that allows us to concentrate on the psychology of a person who just can’t help himself. We meet these people all the time in our real lives and know they are human. Guitry’s film admits as much and lets us study this quirky and human frailty called cheating. I small gem that is worth seeing.
1001 Movies before you die 