2019 Round-Up
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN 2019: 250
TOTAL WATCHING HOURS: 371
NEW-TO-ME: 209
REWATCHES: 41
SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN @THE FILMOTECA: 63
MOST WATCHED ACTOR: Alan Ladd (according to Letterboxd stats)
MOST WATCHED DIRECTOR: Stanley Donen (according to Letterboxd stats)
Happy 2020 to you Fellow Classic Movie Lovers!
Hard to believe we entered a new decade but it's very true and I'm curious to know whether the way we watch classic films will change over the years to come. Maybe with the arrival of even the next decade there will be other streaming services and viewing methods available. Anyway, last year I watched a lot of classic movies online and also a vast amount on the big screen at the wonderful Filmoteca here in Barcelona. (I actually never watch DVDs anymore since I don't have a player.) So let's reveal some stats for the year 2019!
Since I'm a non-paying Letterboxd member, I only get limited stats sent to me via email. My Letterboxd 2019 Year In Review stats provided me with the number for total watching hours and revealed the names of my most watched actor and director. It didn't come as a surprise that Alan Ladd is my most watched actor since I binge-watched his films in March and April. I was curious to know who my most watched director would be and Stanley Donen also makes sense because I watched quite a few of his films on the big screen in August, as part of the Stanley Donen retrospective.
Although I really had wanted to see more films in 2019, preferably around the 300 mark, I was still happy there was a slight improvement compared to the year before, when I watched 244 films. (You can see my 2018 overview here.) This year I watched less films in the first half of the year (117) than in the second half (133). I watched a lot of films in the last two months. November had the highest amount of films seen in a month this year, a whopping 37, due to Noirvember. December followed closely with 31 films, due to the Christmas films. The worst month in regards to the amount of films watched was January, with only 8 films.
Breaking down the total of films in decades shows a slightly different result than 2018. Even though the 1930s and 1940s are my fave decades (and it did reflect in the figures in 2018), this year the 1950s beat the 1930s. This can be easily explained since I saw a lot of film noirs and musicals. The figures are as follows: 96 films watched from the 1940s, 72 from the 1950s, 60 from the 1930s, 11 from the 1960s, 10 from the 1920s, and only 1 from the 1910s.
This year I watched 63 films on the big screen at the Filmoteca, 6 more than last year. Every month there were screenings I attended. The smallest amount of films I watched at the Filmoteca was in February and September (only 1) and the biggest number I watched in August (15 — due to the musical special). April also saw a considerable figure (14 — due to the United Artists special), followed by July (9 — due to the musical special) and June (7 films).
Most of my highest rated films this year were rewatches. Of the new-to-me films A Star is Born, the Judy Garland version, is the highest rated.
The following selected titles are films (well-known and lesser-known) I truly enjoyed (in no particular order). They're all first watches:
Too Late For Tears, Three Godfathers (1936), Moonrise, Cry Danger, House of Strangers, He Walked By Night, Tension, The Patsy, The Sound of Fury, The Canterville Ghost, Portrait of Jennie, Crossfire, Blood On the Moon, They Live By Night, Battling Butler, These Three, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Hell's Heroes, Human Desire, Johnny O’Clock, Black Angel, Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Thieves’ Highway, Armored Car Robbery, The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, Born to Kill, The Big Combo, Hollow Triumph, The Bigamist, Seven Sinners, The Secret Garden, Nightfall, The Raid, None Shall Escape, Black Sheep, House by the River, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Magnificent Ambersons, Park Row, I Walk Alone, The Steel Trap, Romance on the High Seas, Relentless, Branded, A Woman of Paris, The Front Page, The Badlanders, Broken Blossoms, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Glass Key, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Four in a Jeep, After Tomorrow, The Search, Somewhere in the Night, and Bell, Book and Candle.
Pitfall and Secret Beyond the Door were first watches I had high hopes for but were a bit disappointing.
Like last year I also delved deeper into the filmographies of certain actors/actresses. Here are the figures of my most watched actor/actress per month (including rewatches): no one in January; Walter Pidgeon in February (10 films watched); Bonita Granville (8 films) and Alan Ladd (4 films) in March; Alan Ladd (12) in April; Robert Young (11) and Doris Day (5) in May; Joseph Cotten (10) in June; James Cagney (5) and Vera-Ellen (3) in July; Fred Astaire (7) in August; Lee Bowman (4) in September; Edmund Lowe (6) and Ava Gardner / Margaret O'Brien (both 4) in October; Richard Conte (7) and Claire Trevor (8) in November; and James Stewart (8) and Barbara Stanwyck (7) in December.
As mentioned already Alan Ladd was my most watched actor this year — I even wrote 2 posts about him (here and here). With the work of Edmund Lowe and Richard Conte I wasn't familiar before I decided to dedicate time to their filmographies and I really started to like both actors. I was also very happy to finally have spent time again with Jimmy Stewart and Barbara Stanwyck, my fave actors, whom I had neglected in 2018. It was a good thing to conclude the year with their quintessential Christmas films.
And now a drum roll please ..... !!! I finally finished the filmography of TYRONE POWER in December! I watched the remaining 5 films I hadn't seen yet. I think his filmography of 47 films is the first extensive filmography I have finished.
Furthermore I made a lot of gifs myself this year and I wrote 13 articles (you can see the full list of articles since I started this blog here). The Searchers: The Hidden Love Story of Ethan and Martha is probably my favourite piece but I also enjoyed making lists of My Most Watched Actors and Actresses, My 10 Favourite Fred Astaire Dances and My 10 Favourite Christmas Films. I really hope to find the time to write more articles in 2020 but since writing takes away time from watching movies, it might have to take a back seat.
Anyway, I had a great year of film-watching in 2019. Let's hope for a staggering amount of films in 2020!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Branded (1950) with Alan Ladd and Mona Freeman;
*Charade (1963) with Stanley Donen and Audrey Hepburn on set;
*Branded (1950) with Alan Ladd and Mona Freeman; (gif by me)
*Royal Wedding (1951) with Fred Astaire; (gif by me)
*An American in Paris (1951) with Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron; (gif by me)
*A Star Is Born (1954) with Judy Garland;
*Portrait of Jennie (1948) with Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones;
*Blood on the Moon (1948) with Robert Mitchum and Barbara Bel Geddes;
*Remember the Night (1940) with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Beulah Bondi and Elizabeth Patterson;
*Tyrone Power, whose filmography I finished;
*The Searchers (1956) with Ward Bond, Dorothy Jordan and John Wayne; (screenshot by me)
*It's a Wonderful Life (1946) with James Stewart, Donna Reed, Thomas Mitchell, Frank Capra, Beulah Bondi, Lionel Barrymore, Gloria Grahame, Ward Bond and the rest of the cast.
For a detailed summary of all films watched in 2019, click here and select a month. If you want to look up a specific film and the month when I watched it, use the search bar at the top of the page and type in the title.