1930s movies – top 25

Digital Dream Door has some nice movie lists. They have top 100 list by decade, starting with the 1930s. It surprised me that I had seen so few in their top 100 lists. I have seen fewest of the 1970s movies and most of the 1950s movies listed. This is somewhat lowering. Their 2000s list seems iffy but will most likely change.

I thought I’d list the first 25 of their 100 best 1930s movies. I have only watched 32 of the 100 movies in the list.

Here are my other top 25 lists:

Silent :: 1930s :: 1940s :: 1950s :: 1960s :: 1970s :: 1980s :: 1990s :: 2000s

Underlined means I’ve seen it. Blue text means I haven’t. A ♣ means I want to see it.

1. Gone With the Wind – (1939, Victor Fleming)

2. The Wizard of Oz – (1939, Victor Fleming)

3. The Rules of the Game – (1939, Jean Renoir)

4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – (1939, Frank Capra)♣

5. City Lights – (1931, Charles Chaplin)♣

6. M – (1931, Fritz Lang) ♣

7. Modern Times – (1936, Charles Chaplin)♣

8. King Kong – (1933, Merian C. Cooper)

9. All Quiet on the Western Front – (1930, Lewis Milestone) (I need to see this one again now that I’m older.)

10. Grand Illusion – (1937, Jean Renoir)

11. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – (1937, William Cottrell)

12. Little Caesar – (1930, Mervyn LeRoy)

13. The 39 Steps – (1935, Alfred Hitchcock)

14. It Happened One Night – (1934, Frank Capra) (I’d like to see this one again too)

15. Stagecoach – (1939, John Ford)♣

16. L’Atalante – (1934, Jean Vigo) ♣

17. Scarface – (1932, Howard Hawks)

18. Bringing Up Baby – (1938, Howard Hawks)

19. Frankenstein – (1931, James Whale)

20. Freaks – (1932, Tod Browning)

21. The Adventures of Robin Hood – (1938, Michael Curtiz, William Keighley)

22. The Bride of Frankenstein – (1935, James Whale)

23. A Night at the Opera – (1935, Sam Wood)

24. The Public Enemy – (1931, William Wellman)

25. Duck Soup – (1933, Leo McCarey)

in which I am a preoccupied wimp

I got a booster shot yesterday and told the nurse that I doubted it would hurt. So, I didn’t get any medicine. And it hurts a lot every time I move my arm and often when I don’t. So much for me being a tough girl.

I’m a little preoccupied lately. I almost went to class wearing my house slippers. That wasn’t so bad. But I thought the pink sequins on them clashed with my beige outfit. Of course, on the way to class, I saw a woman with leopard-print house slippers.

I’ll be glad when the next two weeks are over and I get my assignments in and my tests taken.

whew! finished Turn of the Screw

It was pretty exciting near the end.

I was reading Turn with the idea that the sexually repressed governess was hallucinating that ghosts were threatening the children.

She seemed unbearably cruel to the children and I was having a lot of trouble reading it.

The essays I read had different interpretations of the story. One critic argued there really was something wrong at Bly. It could be there were ghosts or the children were already troubled by the Quint and Jessel situation. Then the governess was honestly, if poorly, trying to deal with it.

That made it less painful to read. She was drama queen, either way.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937)

Mr. Moto is a Japanese detective on a ship to Shanghai who notes some sinister business.  As he investigates, he turns up some shady dealings.

Highlight to read the spoiler:

Moto is pretty cavalier about the law. He casually dumps this guy overboard because he’s up to no good. I was shocked that he just outright kills him.

I didn’t expect most of the events in the movie.  I am not recommending it but it is a curiosity on a lot of levels.

book 15: Haunting of Hill House

Image by Capt. Cal via Flickr

Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Four psychic researchers stay in a reputedly haunted house.

The heroine, Eleanor, is a mousy woman who has never had an adventure or made any decisions for herself. There is psychic researcher, a lively, confident woman who befriends Eleanor, and the slacker heir to the house.

Here is a quote that I like:

“Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

I thought the movie was dull and could barely watch it to the end but the book enticed me to stay up late to finish it.

Another of her books, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is supposed to be good too. I’m definitely going to hunt for it now.

sites I’d visit if I weren’t cranky

I’m feeling cranky and unproductive today.  So I thought I’d list a few sites that would be fun to visit if I weren’t feeling so irritable.

• http://www.seventhsanctum.com - generate names and plots and characters.  I’d go and generate stupid powers, but today, it’s not worth it.

• http://www.conversely.com/Paral/paral.shtml – a he said/she said relationship column and you get to vote who had the better advice.  They don’t have a “hate both” option or I’d visit.

• http://www.mrcranky.com - he hates every movie he sees.  I’d read his new releases except I’d agree with him and that would make me even grouchier.

• http://rinkworks.com - classic book and movie synopses in a minute.  Even a minute is too long.

• http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html - interactive graph tells you when names were popular.  I typed in “Ogbert” but they didn’t have it so I feel more surly than ever.

• http://www.damninteresting.com/ - weird stuff that’s supposedly true.  Nothing was interesting, damn it.

• http://www.etymonline.com/index.php - I looked up the origins of “surly” and apparently it originally meant “lordly or majestic.”  This irritates me.

• http://www.goodexperience.com/games/ - They recommend good online games.  They use the word “elegant” though, so I left.

I still feel like snarling at babies.

book 14: Call Me Princess

Call Me Princessby Tomoko Taniguchi

Mokoto, using her sister’s marriage as a relationship model, wants a boyfriend like her brother-in-law. She then struggles with having a crush on a stranger versus getting to know someone.

This is a sweet, romantic manga that is less problematic than the similar Marmalade Boy. Some of the topics in the latter, such as the teacher who courts his young pupil, made me too nervous to recommend it.

I can give Call Me Princess as a gift and not worry about horrifying parents.

removing link

I’ve decided to remove anecdotage from my blogroll but I’ll leave my comments about it.  I’m not sure what the trouble is but I haven’t been able to reach it for weeks.

reading progress

I’m about five chapters into Shirley Jackson’ The Haunting of Hill House. I was right; it makes a much better book than movie. The protagonist is annoying at times but not too bad so far.

Turn of the Screw – I have read 38 parts of 50 and it’s only better because I know I’m near the end of it. I am getting a book of criticism to help me understand its value.

Vanity Fair – completely delightful. I’m finishing Turn so that I can concentrate on Vanity.

book 13: Watchers

Watchers by Dean Koontz: two mutated animals escape from a lab and lots of people want them back, except for the ones who want them dead.

First one down for my horror challenge! The afterward to this book makes me think that Koontz or his fans think that this is his magnum opus, his “Stairway.” It’s certainly the most life-affirming, optimistic horror novel I’ve ever read.

After finishing Watchers, I started to miss a dog-friend of mine named Boo. I was lucky to briefly visit with her on my break. I also got to see a week-old litter of 8 puppies (not Boo’s). One puppy made these odd whirring growls until he fell asleep in my hands.

Puppies and daffodils, it really is spring.