Tuesday, September 06, 2016

5 Off My Head - Siri Says 1938

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After a few weeks of easy pickins this morning Siri finally threw me a tough one - I asked her to give me a number between 1 and 100 and she came down with 38. So today we will choose from The Movies of 1938. It's not the greatest patch of film-making -- too much Mickey Rooney & Deanna Durbin & cutesiness, man. Everybody was in denial about the War knocking on the door. 

Although none of this stopped the next year, 1939, from being one of the greatest years of the movies ever... I guess without realizing it they were holding their breath for that one? Anyway there are a couple of gems (including two amazing Kate Hepburn & Cary Grant movies, of which I prefer the lesser known) so let's list 'em...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1938

(dir. Michael Curtiz)
-- released on May 14th 1938 --

(dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
-- released on November 1st 1938 -- 

(dir. Howard Hawks)
-- released on February 18th 1938 -- 

(dir. William Wyler)
-- released on March 26th 1938 --

(dir. George Cukor)
-- released on June 14th 1938 --

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Never Seen: Olympia (dir. Leni Riefenstahl)
You Can't Take It With You (dir. Frank Capra)

What are your favorite movies of 1938?
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4 comments:

Pierce said...

Bringing Up Baby
Adventures of Robin Hood
Pygmalion
Marie Antoinette
Room Service

joel65913 said...

I LOVE that you love Holiday!! That's a big favorite of mine as well. There is quite a lot of good stuff in '38 you just have to dig a little deeper for it. I like all five of your picks very much though.

My top five:
Holiday
The Sidewalks of London
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Marie Antoinette
Pygmalion

My 6-10
Bringing Up Baby
Grand Illusion
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse
Vivacious Lady
The Sisters

It's just my opinion but You Can't Take it With You is over-rated.

I agree about Mickey Rooney, he was just TOO much but I love Deanna Durbin though to be honest I prefer her when she moved into adult roles. If you've never seen it watch "It Started with Eve" from 1941 where she co-stars with Charles Laughton. It's a total delight.

There's also the wildly out there 1944 "Christmas Holiday" which sounds like a shiny musical but is actually a dark noir where she plays a coded prostitute "a hostess in a roadside tavern" hiding out from her psychotic murderer/escaped convict of a husband, Gene Kelly!

Pierce said...

I dislike the film of You Can't Take It With You, because Capra turned it into one of his issue films, and only used the basic theme from the brilliant Kaufman and Hart play. I've never been a fan of Jean Arthur either, but I like Lionel Barrymore in it a lot. I didn't realize that Grand Illusion was 1938 or I would have added that to my list as well. Mickey Rooney can be too much, and for me, he's most obnoxious in the 1935 Midsummer Night's Dream. He plays Puck.

Josito Montez said...

Mine is practically the same:

Three Comrades
The Lady Vanishes
Bringing Up Baby
Jezebel
The Adventures of Robin Hood.

I also recommend y'all Frank Borzage's "The Shining Hour", a wonderful melodrama with Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan and Fay Bainter on a full diva matchdown.