2021 Round-Up
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN 2021: 465
TOTAL WATCHING HOURS: 613
NEW-TO-ME: 446
REWATCHES: 19
SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN @THE FILMOTECA: 26
MOST WATCHED ACTOR: Addison Richards (according to Letterboxd stats)
Happy 2022, Classic Film Lovers!
When I received the email from Letterboxd HQ with my limited stats for 2021 (My Letterboxd 2021 Year In Review) — providing me with the number for total watching hours and revealing the names of my most watched actor and director — I was utterly disappointed that Addison Richards was announced as My Most Watched Actor of the Year. He's a supporting actor, one whose name and face I'm fortunately familiar with, but he's not an actor for whom I would actively seek out a film, nor have I ever seen one of his films that made me memorise his performance or role. Whenever I see him in a film, I recognise his face, but I have a hard time linking his face to his name (I'll probably won't forget his name now!). I could click on a link in the email from LB and see the amount of films seen this year with Richards being part of the cast (21 films), but I have no idea whether these are all credited parts and I have no intention to find out.
Since starting this blog, I have done 3 yearly round-ups so far (2018, 2019, 2020), and in those years my most watched actors were, according to LB, respectively Lionel Barrymore, Alan Ladd and Kirk Douglas. In 2017, my most watched actor was Tyrone Power (see my welcome post). These are all actors with big names and I was content with them. I think it's only logical that I'd like to know what big name actor is my most watched actor of the year, so I can replace Addison Richards. But I've only kept track of my most watched actor per month (will come to those stats later), and because I'm a non-paying Letterboxd member, HQ doesn't give me more stats and I don't want to spend time finding out myself what big name actor is my most watched actor of the year, which means ... unfortunately ... well ... Addison Richards, congrats!
I was happy, though, to see Buster Keaton as My Most Watched Director, having seen 10 films in 2021 with Buster, apart from directing, also playing a leading role. I would really have been upset if my Most Watched Director would have been an insignificant name as well.
Let's talk some other stats here! My year total was a whopping amount of 465 films, the most I've ever seen in a year's time. In the first half, from January till June, I watched 235 films, and in the second half, from July till December, there were 230 films watched, so it was almost equally divided. April had the largest number of watched films (50) and December the lowest (30).
Breaking down the total amount of 465 watched films in decades, the 1930s emerged as the winning decade with 164 films, followed closely by the 1940s with 148 films watched. These are my favourite decades, so it makes sense. The 1950s registered 88 films watched, the 1920s 26 films, and the 1910s 24 films. The decades with the lowest figures are the 1960s (13 films) and the 1900s (2 films).
I watched a total of 26 films on the big screen at the Filmoteca. April was the only month that I didn't visit the Filmoteca. I was happy they decided to reschedule the Dorothy Arzner special and Melodrama special in 2021, which had been cancelled the previous year due to Covid.
Some months had special themes/genres. I watched 8 romantic films in February, 34 aviation films in March, 8 horse films in July, 28 horror films in October, 27 film noirs in Noirvember, and 5 Christmas films in December.
My highest rated film of 2021 is a rewatch, Only Angels Have Wings, followed by a bunch of other highly rated rewatches: The African Queen, Love Affair, All About Eve, An Affair to Remember, Random Harvest, 7th Heaven, All That Heaven Allows, Johnny Guitar, Marnie, Craig’s Wife, King Kong, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and The General (most of them seen on the big screen at the Filmoteca). Of the new-to-me films the best rated are: Wings, The Kid Brother, The Cameraman, and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the following titles, all first watches: Fury, Terror in a Texas Town, Run for Cover, The Dawn Patrol (both versions, 1930 and 1938), The Flight of the Phoenix, Bad Day at Black Rock, Wild Boys of the Road, The Yearling, Inherit the Wind, Shoes, Apache Drums, The Unknown, National Velvet, Nowhere to Go, Street Scene, The Sundowners, Home from the Hill, Desert Fury, and Spawn of the North. And there were many more titles I liked! (check out my monthly round-up posts!)
Here are the stats for my Most Watched Actor/Actress per month, with the total amount of films watched that month between brackets:
*JANUARY: Barton MacLane (11) / Glenda Farrell (13)
*FEBRUARY: Sterling Hayden (9) / Lana Turner (6)
*MARCH: James Stewart (3) / Myrna Loy (3)
*APRIL: Conrad Veidt (4) / Doris Day (5)
*MAY: Buster Keaton (6) / Lucille Ball (6)
*JUNE: Stephen McNally (6) / Joan Crawford (8)
*JULY: Lloyd Nolan (8) / Lynn Bari (4)
*AUGUST: John Payne (7) / Esther Williams (3)
*SEPTEMBER: Robert Mitchum (5) / Deborah Kerr (8)
*OCTOBER: Bela Lugosi (6) / Nan Grey (6)
*NOVEMBER: Zachary Scott (7) / Faye Emerson (4)
*DECEMBER: Melvyn Douglas (3) / Deanna Durbin (7)
Of two actresses I completed their (small) filmographies: Grace Kelly and Deanna Durbin. With Grace Kelly I only realised later that with Fourteen Hours watched (in November) there weren't any Kelly films left for me to see as a first watch. Finishing her filmography wasn't such a praiseworthy accomplishment since she only made 11 films. I completed Durbin's filmography of 22 films last December (this was a conscious goal), and though it was easy to accomplish, I felt happy to have seen all of her films, yet at the same time I was sad there aren't any new Durbin films for me to discover.
Besides my time-consuming monthly round-up posts, I wrote 14 extra posts in 2021. I personally like Torchy Blane Reporter, My 10 Favourite Classic Romance Films and 6 Films - 6 Decades best. I also wrote about My Classic Movie New Year's Goals, Hollywood In the Air and Universal Horror Films & Monsters. My Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Greene post, a piece I wrote after visiting the photo exhibition at the Filmoteca, features a lot of Monroe photos taken by the acclaimed photographer. The following actors have a post dedicated to them: Centennial Lana Turner, Sweet Priscilla Lane, Centennial Alexis Smith, Centennial Deborah Kerr, Centennial Deanna Durbin, Jane Powell, The Girl Next Door, R.I.P. and Sterling Hayden, Accidental Actor.
I want to finish this round-up post with briefly reflecting on the stars we have lost this year. I have already dedicated a R.I.P. post to the passing of Jane Powell (1 April 1929 – 16 September 2021), and I've mentioned the deaths of Dean Stockwell (5 March 1936 – 7 November 2021) and Arlene Dahl (11 August 1925 – 29 November 2021) in my November round-up post. Many more actors have passed away but as I'm only interested in classic cinema, I want to mention Jane Withers (12 April 1926 – 7 August 2021); British actress/singer Sally Ann Howes (20 July 1930 – 19 December 2021) who plays the female lead in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a musical from my childhood that I love; and Christopher Plummer (13 December 1929 – 5 February 2021). I've only seen one film starring Plummer, and that's — not so surprisingly — The Sound of Music, one of my fave musicals ever. Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp holds a special place in my heart and it's only fitting to include an image of Plummer as Von Trapp in this post.
So far my yearly round-up! Cheers to another year of watching classic films and hopefully I'm going to set a new record!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*The Cameraman (1928) with Buster Keaton, My Most Watched Director of the Year;
*The Cameraman (1928), on set with Buster Keaton;
*'G' Men (1935) with Robert Armstrong (l.) and Addison Richards (r.); Richards is My Most Watched Actor of the Year;
*Love Affair (1939), on set with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne;
*Glenda Farrell, Most Watched Actress of January;
*Lucille Ball, Most Watched Actress of May;
*Grace Kelly for Fourteen Hours (1951);
*Deanna Durbin for Can't Help Singing (1944);
*Something In the Wind (1947) with Deanna Durbin and John Dall;
*Centennial Lana Turner;
*Dean Stockwell (5 March 1936 – 7 November 2021), R.I.P.;
*The Sound of Music (1965) with Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp;
*Publicity still with The Sound of Music family (Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer and children).
For a detailed summary of all films watched in 2021, 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.