March 2018 Round-Up
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN MARCH: 30
(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order)
NEW-TO-ME: 23
REWATCHES: 7
SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN: 12
MOST WATCHED ACTOR: Dana Andrews (5 in total)
MOST WATCHED ACTRESS: Kay Francis (9 in total)
This March I almost watched one film a day on average. I really wanted to reach 31 films but in the end I missed it by one. The biggest change with last month was the amount of trips I took to the Filmoteca. In February I only watched 4 films on the big screen and this month I saw a total of 12 films at the theater! I could have seen more, e.g. Look Back in Anger and Spartacus were playing as well, but on their screening days I didn't feel like going out to the theater or had something else to do. And Spartacus is such a long film, I couldn't be bothered. I had already seen it before anyway, and though it is certainly a good film, I'm not really a fan of the biblical genre. I'm sure they will show it again and I might make it then. The list below is arranged in the order in which I saw the films at the Filmoteca, and I put a (r) behind the title in case it's a rewatch.
NOTE: The only rewatches of this month were all seen on the big screen. (Which is usually the case since I don't rewatch films at home, because there are just too many new-to-me films to see!)
They Drive By Night (r) (with George Raft, Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart)
Imitation of Life (r) (with Lana Turner, John Gavin and Sandra Dee)
Shane (r) (with Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur and Van Heflin)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (r) (with Buster Keaton, Marion Byron and Ernest Torrence)
Hard, Fast and Beautiful (with Claire Trevor)
Funny Face (r) (with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire)
Metropolis (with Gustav Fröhlich and Brigitte Helm)
While the City Sleeps (with Dana Andrews, Thomas Mitchell and Ida Lupino)
Midnight (r) (with Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore, Don Ameche and Mary Astor)
Cat People (with Simone Simon and Kent Smith)
Sunset Boulevard (r) (with William Holden and Gloria Swanson)
M (with Peter Lorre)
I enjoyed They Drive By Night more than the first time I saw it, which had everything to do with the fact that I watched it on the big screen now. I still think the film is tonally uneven and that the first part (which starts out as a social drama with the focus on the truck driving brothers) is much better than the noirish second half dominated by Ida Lupino. I love the sweet romance between George Raft and the spunky and lovely Ann Sheridan, and the relationship between the brothers Raft and Humphrey Bogart.
I also enjoyed Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life, a great melodrama dealing with motherhood, class and race. I'm not a big fan of Lana Turner but she's great in this, and in the scene where she sits at Annie's deathbed, her maid and friend, she really makes us feel her pain and hurt. I have seen this before and could remember the key scenes which always evoke tears, and yes, I couldn't help crying again.
Shane will never be my favourite western (one of the reasons is because I hate that kid), but it has so much more appeal when it's shown on the big screen in a good print, also because the cinematography is so beautiful. I still don't care much for Alan Ladd but I love Van Heflin and Jean Arthur. Arthur's role is actually bigger than I remembered it to be, and what I like about this film (and it was more clear to me with this viewing), is how the two men love the same woman (without Ladd acting upon his feelings) and how there is no jealousy, because the men have become friends and respect one another.
Steamboat Bill, Jr. was such a delight to see on the big screen accompanied by live piano music. One of Buster Keaton's best feature films. The prison scene with the loaf of bread stays one of my favourite scenes. So funny! And the hurricane sequence with all the ingenious stunts is breathtaking.
Hard, Fast and Beautiful, seen as part of the Ida Lupino special, is forgettable and I wouldn't recommend it. The only appeal is Claire Trevor.
I also rewatched Funny Face. I used to be a big Audrey Hepburn fan before I properly delved into Hollywood classics. Now I'm more into 1930s and 1940s films and the actresses that go with it (Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Blondell, Kay Francis, etc., too many to name really ...) but I still like Hepburn, and seeing her on the big screen in all these gorgeous outfits was a treat. But to be honest, the fashion in gorgeous Technicolor is the main appeal of this film, together with a couple of fine musical numbers. The pairing of Fred Astaire with Hepburn is one of the weakest points, clearly because of the age difference and the lack of romantic chemistry. There is some chemistry but more of the friendship kind. I read that the leads both wanted to work with one another. The scene with Audrey in a wedding dress and dancing with Freddie had one of the men in the theater audience laughing out loud, as the ducks and swans join the leads while the soft focus gives the scene a corny look. Not the best of Hepburn, nor the best of Astaire, but still enjoyable.
Cat People was one of the new-to-me films seen on the big screen. There's great foreboding and suspense building atmosphere, and the cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca is amazing. I don't really like Simone Simon but seeing this at the theater made me dislike her less and she wasn't human anyway. Kent Smith is just as boring as his name.
Of these Filmoteca viewings the two best films are without a doubt Sunset Boulevard and Midnight. William Holden and Gloria Swanson are great in Sunset Boulevard but I was also very impressed by Erich von Stroheim. The script is wonderful and the ending magnificent. But I think of all the Filmoteca screenings I enjoyed Midnight the most. Such a delight and so funny. The comedic timing is perfect here, the Brackett/Wilder script so great, and the breakfast scene is hilarious. Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore give great performances. I was laughing out loud more than once and the audience was also very responsive. I'm not a Ameche fan but I like him here.
Usually I only log Hollywood films (until 1970) in my Letterboxd film diary (and the occasional British film), but I decided to log the two Fritz Lang films Metropolis and M as well. These were first viewings for me (on the big screen!) and I enjoyed them a lot. Both are visually stunning and I can see their merit for cinematic history. So they definitely deserve to be included here.
Furthermore I continued the filmography of Dana Andrews and Kay Francis, two actors I really like and whose filmographies I intend to complete some day. I watched 5 Andrews films and 9 Francis films.
My first film of March was a fairly unknown Andrews film, co-starring Donna Reed, Three Hours To Kill. It's a solid western and is surprisingly more enjoyable and better than I had expected. A bit disappointing that Andrews didn't get the girl (Reed) but I guess it suits the story.
I already listed While the City Sleeps among my theater viewings at the beginning of this post and it was a big plus to have seen this on the big screen. It didn't live up to my expectations, though, it starts slowly and never really picks up speed, and the scenes with Andrews and Sally Forrest take forever. I did like how George Sanders and Thomas Mitchell were trying to outsmart one another, and I really liked Ida Lupino, especially in her scenes with Andrews.
The aforementioned film made me want to see more of Andrews, so I finally checked out Daisy Kenyon which had been on my watchlist for some time now. I can't quite put my finger on it why this was a strange film. The story was not unusual but it all felt contrived and the characters were a bit weird. It also didn't feel natural for Henry Fonda and Andrews to be getting along so well. Andrews is great by the way, in a challenging role. The arrogance with which he dictates other people's lives is close to infuriating. But at times he is also likeable and charming. I think the problem is that I didn't care much what happened to the characters. Also Joan Crawford's drama queen got on my nerves. I knew beforehand she was going to end up with Fonda but I would have liked it better if she would have sent both guys away. The happy ending felt like a cop-out.
I also watched Spring Reunion with Betty Hutton, and Duel in the Jungle with Jeanne Crain. With these two films I really shouldn't have bothered but like I said, I wish to see all of Andrews' films and I just don't want to see all the good ones first and leave the bad ones till last. I think the noir Fallen Angel and the horror film Curse of the Demon are the best rated films I haven't seen yet and I'm looking forward to watch them. Of the five Dana films I have seen this month I enjoyed Daisy Kenyon the most, even though it was a bit of a strange film.
I saw the following Kay Francis films:
Street of Women (with Roland Young; Francis' love interest is so unappealing whereas Young's character is incredibly likeable (I always like Young) but I was hoping in vain that Francis would come to her senses and share her happy ending with him)
Strangers in Love (with Fredric March; really enjoyed this, it has an interesting story premise and March plays the dual role well)
The Man Who Lost Himself (with Brian Aherne; another mistaken identity story which starts promising but loses steam along the way; Francis doesn't look as stunning as I'm used to seeing her, with hairdo, clothes and jewelry looking less beautiful)
Guilty Hands (with Lionel Barrymore in an excellent performance; the ending of this exciting pre-code came as a surprise, I was kind of expecting that Lionel would get away with murder, being a pre-code and all, but it was still a nice twist)
It's a Date (with Deanna Durbin and Walter Pidgeon; enjoyable but I didn't like the fact that both mother and daughter fell for the same guy, and I also thought that Durbin didn't behave nicely all the time)
Mandalay (with Ricardo Cortez; unconvincing drama but that ending was great)
In Name Only (with Cary Grant and Carole Lombard; Grant is not very good in dramatic roles but I do like Lombard in a serious performance (sometimes she can act quite hysterically in comedies) and her emotional scenes are good; Francis is good too)
Raffles (with Ronald Colman; very enjoyable and the leads look beautiful together)
My Bill (with Dickie Moore; Moore addresses his mum Francis with sweetheart all the time which gets tiresome)
Of the 9 Francis films I have seen this March I enjoyed Guilty Hands the most and it is also without a doubt the best of these films.
What else did I watch?
Apart from the Claudette Colbert film Midnight, rewatched on the big screen, I saw three other Colbert films: Imitation of Life (with Warren William), Torch Singer (with Ricardo Cortez and David Manners), and The Gilded Lily (with Fred MacMurray and Ray Milland).
I was very curious about Imitation of Life after having rewatched the remake on the big screen. Although I like Colbert much better than Lana Turner, and I prefer Warren William over John Gavin, this version doesn't evoke the same level of emotions as the remake does. The film is lighter in tone than its remake and there is less emphasis on the racial issue. Both Torch Singer and The Gilded Lily I really enjoyed. Colbert's dramatic performance in Torch Singer is very good, though I was disappointed with the rushed ending and I didn't like David Manners' character. The Gilded Lily benefits from the great chemistry between Colbert and Fred MacMurray, I loved their romance, and MacMurray looks quite handsome this young. If I would have to watch one of these three films again, I'd choose The Gilded Lily.
Almost coming to the end of this recap, there are two more films I watched: Rumba with Carole Lombard and George Raft, and a Charlie Chaplin short The Rink. Rumba is not very exciting and totally forgettable (as I'm writing this, I have almost no recollection of it) and The Rink is one of the lesser Chaplin shorts I've seen so far. Just not so funny, although the skating scenes on the rink are enjoyable.
Altogether I am pretty content with what I watched this month, even though the best films I saw were rewatches (Sunset Boulevard and Midnight). Still, the new-to-me films include the two acclaimed Lang classics Metropolis and M, and it makes me happy that I can tick them off my watchlist now.
See you with the next round-up!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*They Drive By Night (1940) with Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan;
*Shane (1953) with Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin and Brandon De Wilde;
*Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) with Buster Keaton and Marion Byron;
*Funny Face (1957) with Audrey Hepburn;
*Sunset Boulevard (1950) with William Holden and Gloria Swanson;
*Sunset Boulevard (1950) with William Holden and Nancy Olson;
*Midnight (1939) with Don Ameche and Claudette Colbert;
*Midnight (1939) with Claudette Colbert;
*Metropolis (1927) with Brigitte Helm;
*M (1931) with Peter Lorre;
*Daisy Kenyon (1947) with Joan Crawford and Dana Andrews;
*While the City Sleeps (1956) with Ida Lupino, Sally Forrest, Dana Andrews and Rhonda Fleming;
*The Man Who Lost Himself (1941) with Brian Aherne and Kay Francis;
*Guilty Hands (1931) with Kay Francis;
*Raffles (1930) with Kay Francis and Ronald Colman;
*Imitation of Life (1934) with Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers;
*Torch Singer (1933) with Claudette Colbert;
*The Gilded Lily (1935) with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert;
*Rumba (1935) with George Raft and Carole Lombard.
