Check-in on 2021 Classic Movie Goals
Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and James Stewart wish everybody a Happy New Year (photo below), while sharing a laugh (I wonder what they're talking about) over drinks at the Crown Room inside Romanoff's restaurant in Beverly Hills, on New Year's Eve, 1957. I would love to explore the filmographies of each of these four wonderful actors further. But let's not get ahead of things and already make new film resolutions.
It's time to check in on My Classic Movie New Year's Goals of 2021 first and see what goals have been met. They were pretty ambitious but here they are:
*Watch more SILENT FILMS, also more BUSTER KEATON films.
*Watch more films from the 1950s and 1960s.
*Watch the entire TORCHY BLANE series.
*Watch the entire DR. GILLESPIE series.
*Watch the rest of the ANDY HARDY series.
*Watch the rest of THE THIN MAN series.
*Continue the filmography of BARBARA STANWYCK.
*Continue the filmography of JAMES STEWART.
*Continue the filmography of BETTE DAVIS.
*Watch more WESTERNS.
*Watch more SCI-FI FILMS and ADVENTURE FILMS.
*Watch more WAR FILMS.
*Watch more MUSICALS / watch some Esther Williams films.
Let's check in on the goals.
*Watch more SILENT FILMS, also more BUSTER KEATON films.
I wanted to try and watch at least one silent film a month (either a short or a feature). I succeeded, except for the first month of the year when I didn't watch any silents at all. In the other months I managed to watch a minimum of one silent film, and plenty of short ones.
I watched four silents on the big screen at the Filmoteca. Two of those were supershort and the first films I've seen from the 1900s: The Frog (La Grenouille, 1908) and Tom Thumb (Le Petit Poucet, 1909). Both were shown in a double session with respectively King Kong and The Incredible Shrinking Man. I was also very lucky to watch the great 7th Heaven and The General on the big screen — both were shown with live piano music by J. M. Baldomà.
I wanted to watch some specific titles in order to cross them off my watchlist and I'm glad I've seen the acclaimed Wings. The other titles mentioned in My Classic Movie New Year's Goals for 2021 (West of Zanzibar, The Big Parade, The Cat and the Canary, A Cottage on Dartmoor, Ella Cinders) I still haven't seen yet. I also wanted to see more Buster films (check — I finally watched The Cameraman and loved it), more of Harold Lloyd, preferably with Jobyna Ralston (check — I loved Girl Shy and The Kid Brother), Charlie Chaplin (check), Lillian Gish (only one short The Musketeers of Pig Alley, so no Orphans of the Storm which I wanted to see) and Marion Davies (none). But I watched Joan Crawford in the silents The Unknown, Our Dancing Daughters and Our Modern Maidens.
*Watch more films from the 1950s and 1960s.
I've seen 88 films from the 1950s and 13 films from the 1960s.
So clearly this goal hasn't been met properly, especially in regards to the 1960s. 13 is really a pitiful number.
*Watch the entire TORCHY BLANE series.
CHECK! Right at the start of the year I already accomplished this goal. See Torchy Blane Reporter.
*Watch the entire DR. GILLESPIE series.
I only watched Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942) in February. The other 5 titles Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942), Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943), Three Men in White (1944), Between Two Women (1945), and Dark Delusion (1947), I might watch this year.
*Watch the rest of the ANDY HARDY series.
I watched three more titles in the series: Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941), The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) and Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble (1944). Now I still need to see the other 11 films of the total of 16 Hardy titles.
*Watch the rest of THE THIN MAN series.
I did not watch a single film from The Thin Man series in 2021.
*Continue the filmography of BARBARA STANWYCK.
I only watched one film starring Stanwyck, A Message to Garcia (1936), a first watch.
*Continue the filmography of JAMES STEWART.
I watched 4 films starring James Stewart: Ziegfeld Girl (1941) in February in celebration of Lana Turner's centennial; The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), Strategic Air Command (1955) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) in March when I was watching aviation films.
*Continue the filmography of BETTE DAVIS.
I watched 5 Bette films. 4 were first watches: The Star (1952), The Man Who Played God (1932), Another Man’s Poison (1951) and The Bad Sister (1931). I felt very fortunate to rewatch All About Eve (1950) at the Filmoteca on the big screen.
*Watch more WESTERNS.
I don't know exactly how many westerns I watched in 2021 but I could tick at least some titles off my list: Day of the Outlaw (1959), Westward the Women (1951) and Station West (1948). I also watched John Wayne in Tall In The Saddle (1944) and John Payne in Silver Lode (1954).
*Watch more SCI-FI FILMS and ADVENTURE FILMS.
Not many adventure films seen in 2021 but I did watch King Solomon’s Mines (1950) in September in celebration of the centennial of Deborah Kerr's birth. I enjoyed rewatching The Naked Jungle (1954) on the big screen at the Filmoteca and also watched another Charles Heston adventure film Secret of the Incas (1954). The sci-fi film The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) was a rewatch and fortunately I had the opportunity to see it on the big screen as well.
*Watch more WAR FILMS.
Among the war movies seen are Wings (1927), Hell’s Angels (1930), and both versions of The Dawn Patrol (1930 & 1938), watched in March as part of the aviation theme, also A Guy Named Joe (1943). I saw A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958) in February while I was watching a bunch of romantic films.
*Watch more MUSICALS / watch some Esther Williams films.
I haven't seen many musicals or Esther Williams films in 2021. The 3 Williams films I saw were the non-musical The Unguarded Moment (1956) and the musicals Thrill of a Romance (1945) and Duchess of Idaho (1950). I also watched A Date with Judy (1948) in remembrance of Jane Powell. I finished Deanna Durbin's filmography, and watched Can’t Help Singing (1944), Something in the Wind (1947), That Certain Age (1938), I’ll Be Yours (1947), Up in Central Park (1948) and Spring Parade (1940) — all films have Deanna singing.
So far my checking in on last year's goals. As I was putting together this post, I decided not to make any resolutions for the New Year, but I will try to finish some small filmographies (like Margaret Sullavan's), and I also intend to see more 1960s films.
Happy Classic Movie Watching in 2022!
PHOTOS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and James Stewart at the Crown Room, Romanoff's restaurant, Beverly Hills, New Year's Eve, 1957;
*Girl Shy (1924) with Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston;
*Girl Shy (1924) with Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston;
*Blondes at Work (1938) with Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane;
*Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942) with Donna Reed and Philip Dorn;
*A Message to Garcia (1936) with Barbara Stanwyck and John Boles;
*A Message to Garcia (1936) with Barbara Stanwyck and John Boles;
*Spring Parade (1940), Shirley Temple visiting Deanna Durbin and Robert Cummings on set;
*A Date with Judy (1948) with Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Powell.