MY TEN FAVORITE PICTURES OF ALL TIMEAug 23 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Although many of these films are unorthodox to be placed on Best Picture lists, controversy is as much a part of these rosters as anything else is.
This is not a list that pretends to tell the ten best films of all time. It is, instead, a compilation of my ten most favorite motion pictures that I have seen. These films, for the most part, represent good acting, direction, and writing. They are not filled with special effects, but rather filled with great performances, peerless direction, and seamless scripts. The generally accepted “top ten” are left out: no Casablanca, Citizen Kane, or Godfather. The only film I listed that generally lands in the top ten is Gone With the Wind. Unfortunately, I am only sixteen years old, I am only now just starting to discover foreign films and silents, so my list is constantly changing. As of right now, this is how it stands. Observations: Six films are from the 1930s, three are from the 1940s, and one is from the 1950s. Three won the Oscar for Best Picture, one other was nominated. All but three of the films were at least nominated for one Oscar. 10. TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942) Twentieth Century Fox: Julien Duvivier directed one of cinema's greatest casts in Tales of Manhattan, the story of a tailcoat as it gets passed from one owner to the next around the city. Paul Orman (Charles Boyer), in a delicate love triangle with a glamorous woman (Rita Hayworth) and her husband (Thomas Mitchell), gets shot in the coat, so it gets passed on to George (Henry Fonda), who is called on to rescue Harry (Cesar Romero) from a sticky situation with his fiancé (Ginger Rogers). Then, a middle-aged woman (Elsa Lanchester) picks up the coat for her husband (Charles Laughton), an aspiring pianist. After the coat brings him much needed luck, he donates it to a poor house. Larry Browne (Edward G. Robinson) is a down and out bum who frequents the shelter. When he is invited to his college reunion, the owners dress him up in the coat and send him to the party. Again, the coat changes hands and falls into a second-hand clothing store. W.C. Fields tries the coat on in the store. It looks atrocious on him, but the bulge in the pocket feels like a wad of cash, so he purchases the coat only to discover it is cut paper. Still, he wears to coat to a lecture on the perils of alcohol, winds up accidentally drunk, and inebriates the entire audience! Finally, the coat falls from a plane onto a sharecropper’s community (Ethel Water, Paul Robeson, and Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson are the black sharecroppers) on Christmas Eve. Tales of Manhattan is a complete delight from beginning to end. 9. STAGECOACH (1939) A Walter Wanger Production, for United Artists: John Ford’s masterpiece is perhaps the greatest Hollywood western of all time. It takes a cast of assorted characters, places them in a truly confined space, and throws heaps of trials and tasks in their faces. John Wayne was shot to super-stardom as The Ringo Kid, an escaped convict who boards the stage. Claire Trevor is a prostitute with a heart of gold named Dallas, and she is absolutely magnificent in this picture. Thomas Mitchell, as the drunken Doc Boone, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Donald Meek is a nervous whiskey drummer whom Doc Boone quickly befriends. John Carradine plays Hatfield, a notorious gambler. He takes an avid interest in Mrs. Mallory (Louise Platt), a pregnant wife anxious to accompany her husband. Berton Churchill is a banker who is running off with his savings on the stagecoach, and Andy Devine and George Bancroft are the drivers of the coach. Exciting as it is, it’s the character studies that make the film a classic, and the penetrating revelations from all the characters are thought provoking and intriguing. 8. TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942) United Artists: Ernst Lubitsch directed this darkest of dark comedies about WWII Poland and the Nazis who invade it. Carole Lombard is truly magnificent as the “almost-adulterous” actress Maria Tura, and her comedic skills are in full blossom in her last role (she was tragically killed in a plane crash just two weeks after the film’s completion). Her husband is Josef Tura (Jack Benny), a deliciously hammy Shakespearean actor. The two often co-star together in their plays, and they are at the height of their popularity when the Nazis invade Warsaw in 1939. Destitute and weak, their theatre troupe decides to make an effort to outsmart the Nazis. They transform their theatre into mock “Gestapo” headquarters. When an important Nazi official arrives in Warsaw, they trick him into their Gestapo, murder him, and dress Josef Tura as the official. Then they send him to find out all he can from the real Nazis. Using their costumes, the entire troupe dons Nazi regalia in the climax as they try to flee the country. To Be or Not to Be is a masterpiece, and it is one of the most sophisticated of all American war films. The cast all give inspired performances, provoked by Lubitsch’s ingenious touch, and the picture manages to be hilarious in spite of its subject matter. Lubitsch again did the impossible, this time making it possible to laugh whole-heartedly at the Nazis at a time when they were actually at the height of their menacing powers. 7. PRIVATE LIVES (1931) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: This film is an undiscovered gem, and a true classic example of American romantic comedy. Based on the scintillating stage play by Noel Coward, Private Lives is a story about an ex-husband and wife who meet while on their second honeymoons. Once they’ve glimpsed each other, they cannot bear the though of losing each other again. So they run off to a secluded chalet, leave their new spouses at the hotel, and appear to be in perfect happiness…until the fights that pulled their marriage apart in the first place start all over again and in full force! Made in the years prior to the enforcement of the notorious Production Code, Private Lives is risqué and dangerous in its subject matter. Only a few years later, when the studio attempted to re-release the picture, Joseph Breen (head of the administration of the Production Code) denied the request, calling the film “a gross travesty of marriage.” In addition to that, there is some slight profanity, open discussion about underwear, and other things that one does not usually associate with black and white movies. The dialog is sparkling from beginning to end, and the pace is lightning-quick. At one hour and twenty-four minutes in length, there is never any room for dragging, and the picture flies. The acting is magnificent from the entire small cast. Norma Shearer is absolutely fabulous as Amanda. She is at the peak of her seductive powers, and her sexy costumes showcase her ravishing good looks to perfection. She speaks her lines with an aura of wisdom and knowledge. Robert Montgomery, as the suave Elyot, is also perfection. His charms match Shearer’s for a grand combination. When the two argue, there is a profound sense of realism, when the two get romantic, there is a beauty and true feeling of love, and when the two get into an all out fist-fight (the highlight of the film!), the punches fly like you wouldn’t believe! The supporting players (Reginald Denny as Shearer’s second husband, Una Merkel as Montgomery’s second wife, and Jean Hersholt, as an innkeeper) also work wonders with their small parts. A recent review of the Broadway revival of the play sums up the spirit of this picture perfectly: “Take love, add hate, and shake tenderly for a Coward cocktail.” This picture is the celluloid equivalent of a bottle of sparkling Dom Perignon. 6. LIFEBOAT (1944) Twentieth Century Fox: Lifeboat, although it doesn’t usually get the nod, is Alfred Hitchcock’s best film. It is similar in design to Stagecoach: a small group of diverse people are crowded into a small lifeboat in the wake of a shipwreck. And what people! Tallulah Bankhead is absolutely astonishing as Constance Porter, a famed writer. She won the New York Film Critics award for her work here. Other guests in the boat include a young mother and her baby, a black steward (whom Bankhead refers to as “Charcoal!”), a Red Cross nurse, some crewmen, a rich tycoon, and, in an ingenious writing ploy, the captain of the German U-boat that sank the ship and was itself destroyed in the process. With nothing around them but just sea, tensions mount, and the group finds that there is more than overcoming the ocean…overcoming one another. With all of these characters in one boat for the entire movie, there is the necessity for superb direction to keep the picture going. That is exactly what Hitch gives it. The film is an amazing, character-driven study in suspense and relationships. And it gives Tallulah Bankhead a grand opportunity to show movie audiences what made her the toast of Broadway and the West End for so many years! 5. MY MAN GODFREY (1936) Universal Studios: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lent their popular star William Powell out to Universal to make one picture. They put him in one called The Great Ziegfeld. Production costs mounted early, Universal couldn’t finance the project, and they turned it over to M-G-M. They gave the picture the spare-no-expense treatment, and let its time total three long hours. They won a slew of Oscars for it, too: Best Picture, Best Actress, and others. The Great Ziegfeld is a great film, but the picture Powell made with Universal when The Great Ziegfeld switched hands is even better. It is entitled My Man Godfrey, and it tells the tale of a young, beautiful, dizzy debutante Irene Bullock. One night, Irene is looking for a ‘forgotten man,’ an item she needs to win a scavenger hunt. She finds destitute Godfrey down by the city dump. After he wins the contest for her, she feels beholden to him. So she gives him a job as her family’s butler. He is very successful as the butler, rushing all through their Park Avenue abode serving cocktails, preparing hoers d’oeuvres, and witnessing their nutty antics. Of course, scatterbrained Irene is in love with him. To make matters worse for Godfrey, he is actually a member of the Boston upper crust who joined the ‘forgotten men’ to avoid disgracing his elite family. But when an old family friend drops in on the Bullocks, he nearly exposes Godfrey’s carefully hidden secret. To further push Godfrey’s condition towards critical, Irene’s sister, Cornelia, is a panther woman, bent on ruining Godfrey. Through his work, the new butler teaches the family that money isn’t everything, and that even the poor can be very noble people. The rich go prancing about town like a bunch of fools, the poor hold their heads high and act regal. That is the irony of My Man Godfrey. It is an utterly delightful screwball comedy, and it features a plethora of grand performances. Carole Lombard is Irene, down to every line. Her breathless beauty is incomparable, and her eccentric interpretation of the character is a true delight. Powell, as Godfrey, is also fabulous. The film rings truest, however, in its supporting cast. Alice Brady tops all as Angelica Bullock, the nuttiest of them all…a socialite who goes about town with her protégé picking up goats, conversing with fairies, and “talking a lot but never saying anything.” Gail Patrick is perfect as the sinister Cornelia, who always seems to be lurking around each corner. Eugene Pallette has some of the wittiest lines as Alexander Bullock, the patriarch of the clan. A sensible businessman, he can’t seem to save his company from financial ruin, and no matter how hard he tries, he cannot keep his family in line. Mischa Auer is Carlo, Angelica’s protégé, who is a musical young man with a great appetite. His great talent, or at least the one that most impresses Angelica, is his imitation of a monkey. You don’t have to take my word on the performances: Lombard, Powell, Brady, and Auer were all nominated for Academy Awards, making My Man Godfrey to first film to receive an Oscar nomination in each of the four acting categories (1936, however, was the first year the supporting performances were rewarded, so the achievement is not a historic as it sounds). It was also nominated for Best Director (Gregory La Cava) and Best Screenplay. For some reason, it did not win a single Oscar. Lombard lost Best Actress to Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld, Powell to Best Actor to Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur, Brady lost Best Supporting Actress for Gale Sondergaard for Anthony Adverse, Auer lost Best Supporting Actor to Walter Brennan for Come and Get It, La Cava lost Best Direction to Frank Capra for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and the writers lost Best Screenplay to Pierre Collings for The Story of Louis Pasteur. 4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), Selznick and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: 1939s Oscar-winner for Best Picture is a grand showcase of what Hollywood could at one time produce for the general movie-going public: a four-hour long romance/war flick. It is a showcase for acting (from all involved), directing (it had at least four different directors), set and costume design, musical score, and photography. It is visually and emotionally astounding on all levels and manages to maintain interest for two-hundred-and-twenty-two minutes. How many pictures can say that? Gone With the Wind is one of the greatest stories ever told on film, and adjusting for inflation, it is also the highest grossing movie ever made. Vivien Leigh, brought in to play Scarlett O’Hara after a long and agonizing search of practically every actress and wannabe in Hollywood, is magnificent. Her performance is sheer art on film. Clark Gable, appearing in the third film of his that would garner an Oscar for Best Picture, is majestic as Rhett Butler. Olivia de Havilland is heartbreaking as Melanie Hamilton. And Leslie Howard, an unjustly forgotten star of the thirties, is a wonder to behold as Ashley Wilkes. 3. GRAND HOTEL (1932), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: This is the ultimate and original all-star film. It has what was once billed as the greatest cast in stage or screen history: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone, and Jean Hersholt. The interweaving intricacies of each star’s story make this the equivalent of seven movies in one. From the opening credit sequence in which we view picture credits of the cast while trumpets announce a majestic arrival, we are aware that this is very special picture making. All the stars deliver great performances and it is difficult to single out a single one as the standout amongst the cast. Greta Garbo plays Grusinskaya, an aging ballerina with tremendous beauty and grace. She is depressed and world weary, and her maid, manager, and financer can never tell how she will respond to any given word. She is convinced that she is past her prime. She is lonely and despondent. John Barrymore (grandfather to Drew) plays Baron Felix von Gaigern, a charming noble in dire financial straights. He is a tall, soldier-like man, and he is a seemingly big admirer of Grusinskaya. He sends her flowers every evening and attends all of her performances. An extremely young, beautiful, and un-shoulder padded Joan Crawford plays Flaemmchen, an ambitious stenographer who has landed a job in the hotel. She is thin and swan-like, and her beauty captures the attention of the Baron very quickly. The interplay between the two---“I don’t expect you’d care to take some dictation from me some time?” he asks her after learning that she is a stenographer.---is witty and enjoyable. Flaemmchen is working as stenographer for the industrial magnate General Director Preysing, played here by Wallace Beery. He is an imposing presence in all of his scenes: a rough and unpolished, unscrupulous business man whose occupation is second-to-none. Beery, an American born in Missouri, speaks in a German accent in order to distinguish his evil villain here from the hero roles he usually portrayed. Although he was angered to be forced to play Preysing, he is so well-suited for the role that John Barrymore’s remark to Beery---“You’re the best actor on this whole damn set!”---(whether it is true or created for publicity purposes) makes sense. Lionel Barrymore (brother to John) is also great as Otto Kringelein, a dying clerk of Preysing’s who has decided to spend his final days of life in the lavish luxury of the Grand Hotel. He is new to all of this finery, as is, one may assume, the Depression-era audience for whom the picture was made. His observations are closest in viewpoint to that of the audience. In the two smaller leads, Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt work wonders. Stone plays the observer…the doctor who lives in the hotel and watches all that goes on. “Grand Hotel. People coming, going, and nothing ever happens.” This observation of Doctor Otternschlag opens and closes the film. Hersholt is Senf, the head porter of the Grand Hotel. He is pensive and awaiting news on his pregnant wife. She is having a difficult time in labor, and he is forced to go to work and be separated from his wife. All of these characters have different agendas, but they all collide in this one massive motion picture. It is truly one of the most intriguing of all films! It won the Oscar for Best Picture, but in spite of its cast failed to receive a nomination for acting. In fact, it remains to this day the only film to win the Oscar for Best Picture without a single other nomination! 2. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)- Twentieth Century Fox: The most sophisticated, cynical, and witty picture ever made: it reeks with style and glamour. It has some of the greatest film acting ever, and the director/screenwriter Joseph Mankiewicz required that his cast spit out drop-dead wonderful lines one after another. If only people talked like this in real life! I am reluctant to classify this picture as either a comedy or a drama; it is hilarious and heartbreaking, true and fantastic, all at the same time. When it was released, it was considered a satirical commentary, but it is still undeniably one of the best films of all time. Bette Davis is Margo Channing…the role that revitalized her career. She inhibits the actress, reading every line as if it’s the most important in the film. This is the greatest performance in film history, and never again are we likely to witness anything so magnificent glowing up on the silver screen. Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Garry Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Gregory Ratoff, and Marilyn Monroe all shine like glittering stars. But amongst the supporting cast it is George Sanders, as critic Attison DeWitt, who amazes the most. He is cynical and wise, suave and sophisticated. He won an Oscar for the performance, and deservedly so. His interpretation of DeWitt stands apart from all others for its sheer coolness and complexity. Every line is believable yet still sound, coming from his mouth, as if it might land in tomorrow’s city edition. The script is perfection. Although “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!” is often cited as the film’s quintessential line, there are dozens of others: “You can always put that award where your heart ought to be.” “Well I can’t yell ‘Oh, Butler!’ can I? Maybe somebody’s name is Butler.” “Bill's thirty-two. He looks thirty-two. He looked it five years ago, he'll look it twenty years from now. I hate men.” “I'll admit I may have seen better days, but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut.” And countless other single lines and inter-plays come to mind the instant one mentions All About Eve. It is something very special, something to cherish forever…it is a perfect movie. 1. BRINGING UP BABY (1938) R-K-O Radio Pictures: Bringing Up Baby is a picture whose storyline could have been though up by a group of college students in the midst of a drinking binge…or it could have been taken from a pool of ideas of the members of any given sanitarium or psychopathic ward. As it turns out, it was partially based on the madcap romance of Katharine Hepburn and director John Ford! Its main character is Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), an heiress with “millions of dollars but no sense,” to quote Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth (granted she is describing another screwball heiress, but the description says a lot of Susan Vance). From the moment paleontologist David Huxley (Cary Grant) meets Susan on a golf course, his life goes into a downward spiral. He embarrasses himself in front a possible financial backer, his car gets damaged, he falls on his hat, he is accused of stealing a purse, his coat is torn, he has to wrestle a leopard in the middle of a lake, he is in a car accident, he wears a negligee, he claims that he has “gone gay,” he crawls around on his hands and knees looking for a bone, he goes to jail, he loses his fiancé, and his finally dinosaur collapses! All of this is due to Susan and her harebrained schemes. The picture is an absolute delight. Never does director Howard Hawks settle down; he keeps the picture moving at an unbelievable pace. Bringing Up Baby hasn’t dated one bit, and it still stands as Hollywood’s greatest comedy. Ironically enough, although it has appeared on AFI’s list of the greatest films, comedies, and romances, and has been included on countless other “best lists,” the film was a total flop at the time of its original release and its star Katharine Hepburn was branded box-office poison. Now in its rightfully lauded position, it has been added to the National Film Registry in Washington, the first screwball comedy to be listed there. Anyone who is looking for the first place to start with classic movies could not find a better place that Bringing Up Baby. Hawks said its only flaw was that there was not a single sane character in the film! And how true it is…in addition to Huxley and Vance, there is a drunken Irishman, a psychological professor, his touchy wife, a dowager aunt, a stern co-worker/fiancé of Huxley’s, and a leopard-hunting explorer. Indispensable and perfect in every regard, Bringing Up Baby is among the top pictures of all time.  |
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