Tuesday, January 16, 2018

5 Off My Head: Siri Says 1936

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It's time to hop in the Way Back Machine, kiddos, and set the flux capacitor to where ever our little telephones tell us to go - today for our "Siri Says" series Siri has gone and said the number 36, and so we're taking a look at The Movies of 1936. Specifically our favorites of that year. Let's set the scene - it's smack-dab in the middle of the Great Depression - the famous photograph "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange was taken in March. FDR is president, and the legendary Berlin Olympics - where Jesse Owens won gold - took place over the summer. But what of the movies? What of...

My 5 Favorite Movies of 1936

(dir. Charlie Chaplin)
-- released on February 25th 1936 --

(dir. Richard Boleslawski)
-- released on November 12th 1936 --

(dir. Gregory la Cava)
-- released on September 6th 1936 --

(dir. Frank Capra)
-- released on April 12th 1936 --

(dir. William Wyler)
-- released on September 23rd 1936 --

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Runners-up: Libeled Lady (dir. Jack Conway), Sabotage (dir. Alfred Hitchcock), Love on the Run (dir. WS Van Dyke), Desire (dir. Frank Borzage), Dracula's Daughter (dir. Lambert Hillyer),  After the Thin Man (dir. Van Dyke), Reefer Madness (dir. Gasnier)

Never seen: The Great Ziegfeld (dir. Robert Z. Leonard), Anything Goes (dir. Lewis Milestone), Fury (dir. Fritz Lang), The Devil Doll (dir. Tod Browning)

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What are your favorite movies of 1936?
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2 comments:

Pierce said...

" Anthony Adverse, starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland. One of Olivia de Havilland's best performances and Gail Sondergard's Oscar winning performanc
" The Bohemian Girl, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Alas, this is the only film we have of this classic operetta.
" Camille, starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor, Two words: Greta Garbo!
" Captain January, starring Shirley Temple, Delightful
" Dracula's Daughter, starring Otto Kruger and Gloria Holden. Great LGBT classic
" Fury, starring Sylvia Sidney and Spencer Tracy, directed by Fritz Lang. Still holds up well.
" Gold Diggers of 1937, directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley. Features the Lullaby of Broadway production number!
" The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, but featuring Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger.
" Green Pastures, adapted from the 1923 stage play, starring Rex Ingram and Eddie Anderson, a delight!
" Intermezzo, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gösta Ekman (Sweden), beautiful and romantic. Bergman later remade it in English.
" Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, Superb Capracorn!
" The Petrified Forest, starring Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Outstanding acting.
" Romeo and Juliet, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, George Cukor's lovely film version.
" Sabotage, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka, Sylvia Sidney is terrific in this.
" Show Boat, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, the best film version, if for no other reason than you have Robeson and Morgan!
" Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Tod Slaughter This is a treasure. Tod Slaughter was a marvelous actor.
" Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, their best movie!
" The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, starring Sylvia Sidney, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda, the first Western made in Technicolor. Marvelous, but Sylvia Sidney is my favorite actress.

joel65913 said...

Love all your choices! Carole Lombard is just priceless in My Man Godfrey. Of those you haven't seen all but The Great Ziegfeld which is a ponderous bore are worth seeking out.

Again a year where a top 5 just isn't enough:

My top 10:

Libeled Lady-All four of the stars are phenomenal but I think Jean Harlow steals this.
The Moon's Our Home
Modern Times
Camille
Snowed Under-Delightful little comedy with George Brent showing he could play comedy well of a playwright snowed in at his cabin with his two ex-wives and his fiancee and a deadline for the final act of his new play.
Swing Time
A Woman Rebels
The Princess Comes Across
The Petrified Forest
Sabotage

Runner-ups:

After the Thin Man
And So They Were Married
Come and Get It
Craig's Wife
Desire
Fury
Give Me Your Heart
Love Before Breakfast
More Than a Secretary
Next Time We Love
Poor Little Rich Girl
The Prisoner of Shark Island
San Francisco
Secret Agent
Seven Sinners
Stowaway
These Three
To Mary-With Love
Valiant is the Name for Carrie
Wife vs. Secretary

A few to avoid:

Mary of Scotland-Kate Hepburn stars and John Ford directs but this is a stately drag of a film.

The Gorgeous Hussy-Joan Crawford in hoop skirts!?! Just no. A terribly miscast mess of the Petticoat Affair.

A Message to Garcia-Barbara Stanwyck & Wallace Beery as Cuban freedom fighters? Oy!!