Top Ancient Roman Movies July 31, 2006
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Here are a few really good Roman epics and stately ancient Romans :
Ben Hur (1925, 1959) both versions feature Ancient Rome quite strongly though Jack Hawkins in the remake can’t be beaten as a stately Roman general who takes Judah Ben Hur under his wing after Heston saves his life.
Sign of the Cross (1932) : gives us a wonderful overdone Emperor Nero from Charles Laughton. Claudette Colbert’s Poppea is really Cleopatra in everything but name : in a bath of milk she exclaims to another girl who imparts some gossip : “come in here and tell me all about it.”
Cleopatra (1934, 1963) Colbert does her Cleopatra, not as good as Elizabeth Taylor IMO : neither is perfect. In the 1963 version Richard Burton is a fairly weak Mark Antony but I think Rex Harrison’s Julius Caesar is excellent.
Spartacus (1960) : my favourite Roman epic : Olivier is superb as Spartacus main adversary. Another scene-stealing performance from Charles Laughton as a wily Roman senator.
Gladiator (2000) : despite the phoney CGI, a pretty good revival of the Roman epic.
Classic Movie Years : 1925 July 29, 2006
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1925 was one of the banner years if not the greatest year of the silent screen. It was a quality year for both silent comedy and drama. It represented the peak I would say of silent comedy, the Big Three comics had excellent years : Chaplin and Lloyd had their biggest hits ever based on numbers at the box office and profits : Keaton’s two releases Seven Chances and Go West while not his very best were still very charming and entertaining in their way.
For drama MGM really made its presence felt in its first full year of existence with two big hits which stand up very well today. Interestingly Fairbanks and Pickford had disappointing years by their high standards with Don Q, Son of Zorro and Little Annie Rooney among their lesser works. Don Q does leap into life in the final 45 minutes though with some of Fairbanks’ trademark stunting and exuberance. John Gilbert had an excellent year with two really good films one of which is a masterpiece but Valentino made a comeback too though it was sadly to be short lived.
The German cinema had a quiet year compared with earlier in the decade : all the Europeans are really overshadowed by Eisenstein and his incredibly influential Potemkin.
My Top Ten countdown :
10. Strike! (Sergei Eisenstein)
This is actually an easier watch than Potemkin, it is more human in its concerns with its focus on a workers’ strike. Obviously it is propaganda and Eisenstein was still learning his film-making craft. He was never a director with a light touch but there are impressive montage sequences in this his first feature.
9. Seven Chances (Buster Keaton)
Buster Keaton never thought much of this movie. Based on a play it was pretty much forced on him by his producer Joseph Schenck. Characteristically though Buster made the story of a man who has a day to marry in order to claim an inheritance very much his own. This is light comedy of the highest order fitting Buster’s persona perfectly and the way he treated women in his films. The final chase where he is hounded by hundreds of ladies is a masterpiece of surrealist humour and very funny. It is a toss up between this film and Go West for the best Keaton of the year. Go West has a similar climax in which Buster leads hundreds of cattle through the streets but the wild women just have the edge.
8. The Eagle (Clarence Brown)
Valentino’s popularity had diminished quite a bit by 1925 but this delightful film in which he plays a sort of Russian Robin Hood revived his career. Sadly it was to be the Italian idol’s penultimate film.
7. The Merry Widow (Erich Von Stroheim)
John Gilbert carries this fine film which has much of the Von Stroheim style even if the notorious director hated it. Weak link is Mae Murray.
6. Ben Hur : A Tale of the Christ (Fred Niblo)
Not a huge fan of religious epics but the action sequences in the silent version of Ben Hur are hard to beat : the shipboard scenes and the chariot race are more impressive than the sound remake. The movie also works better because it identifies its link with Christ and the bible early on rather than tagging it on at the end. The nativity prologue is well done and helps the story make more sense. Ramon Novarro is fine in the title role though isn’t as good as Heston, Francis X Bushman is an excellent Massalla (or Messalla I think he’s called here). Some moments of dated overdone silent acting but overall an impressive spectacle, the special effects are also better than the 1959 version which is quite an achievement.
5. The Freshman (Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor)
This film has problems for me in its resolution : the message of conformity dates it. Other than that though this is probably the most fun movie of 1925 one of Harold Lloyd’s very best films and one of the biggest box office hits of the Twenties. The gag sequences are among the comedian’s finest particularly the Fall Frolic sequence with the collapsing tuxedo which must be one of the funniest and most brilliantly timed reels in film history.
4. The Phantom of the Opera (Rupert Julian)
Maybe not Lon Chaney’s greatest performance but definitely the one that made the most impact with that incredibly thrilling unmasking scene. Chaney makes the other actors in this look like they are still acting in Edison two-reelers but his Phantom makes the movie unmissable.
3. The Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein)
The influence of the montage style of this movie has been extensive from Hitchcock to TV advertising. It is certainly not a movie that touches the heart but having only seen it on VHS before when I bought the DVD I was immediately impressed by the cinemotography and not just in the famed Odessa Steps sequence. Not an easy watch or incredibly entertaining but as a piece of cinema unforgettable and practically flawless.
2. The Big Parade (King Vidor)
The perfect Hollywood romance of the Twenties and also a great anti-war epic. Just as telling in its battle scenes as All Quiet on the Western Front : director Vidor watched completely silent film of a funeral march and had the soldiers march through Bellal Wood with the same deathly pace. The men kept in time with a metronome, the result is a haunting sequence. John Gilbert is perfect giving a superb performance as an ordinary GI.
1. The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin)
Chaplin once said that this film is the one he wished to be remembered for and he got his wish : it is generally considered his finest work. The combination of the comedy with the privations of the Alaskan gold rush makes for some classic moments such as the scene where Charlie and Mack Swain eat their own shoes. There was also of course the dance of the rolls. Georgia Hale made a great leading lady probably Charlie’s best.
Also recommended :
A few movies just missed out on the list but deserve a mention and are worth seeking out. They follow roughly in order of entertainment value and historical interest :
The Lost World (Harry Hoyt)
This movie isn’t memorable for its acting though it is no worse than many fantasy films later on. It is important as a precursor mainly to King Kong (1933) as Willis O’Brien brought the dinosaurs to life.
The Unholy Three (Todd Browning)
I’m not a huge fan of the oddball but I think this is the best of the Chaney-Browning collaborations certainly much better than the creaky talkie remake.
Go West
Another charming Keaton feature with Buster falling for Brown Eyes the cow.
The Red Kimono
Fascinating movie if a touch preachy and moralistic basically about a fallen woman almost “marked” by wearing a red dress (beautifully brought out in early colour). Really interesting background with the widow of Wallace Reid producing it. Reid was a big silent star who died of drug addiction. His widow proceeded to make a series of crusading socially conscious films. Unfortunately the real Gabrielle (the heroine of the movie) sued the producers, it seemed to me really silly they didn’t change the names !
Tumbleweeds
This was William S. Hart’s final major film. His acting can seem a little stiff today, this movie has a similar plot to Shane but isn’t as engrossing though the land rush sequence was practically duplicated shot for shot in Cimarron (1931).
Only OK or worse (roughly in order of merit)
Don Q Son of Zorro (an hour of dull court intrigue but exciting after that)
Little Annie Rooney (Mary appears to have wandered into an Our Gang comedy : much too comedic early on, blunts the seriousness later)
The Plastic Age (not enough Clara Bow in standard college comedy, try to spot Clark Gable)
Riders of the Purple Sage (standard Tom Mix western)
The Monster
The Wizard of Oz (weird version with Larry Semon and Oliver Hardy)
Yet to see
Joyless Street
Lady Windemere’s Fan
Master of the House
The Pleasure Garden
AWARDS
Of course there weren’t Oscars in 1925 but these are my choices nevertheless :
Best Director: Sergei Eisenstein (Strike!, Potemkin)
Best Actor: John Gilbert (The Big Parade)
Best Actress: Georgia Hale (The Gold Rush)
Best Supporting Actor: Mack Swain (The Gold Rush)
Best Supporting Actress: Louise Dresser (The Eagle)
Best Original Screenplay: The Gold Rush
Best Adapted Screenplay: Ben Hur - A Tale of the Christ
Best Cinematography: The Battleship Potemkin
Best Editing: The Battleship Potemkin
Best Art Direction: The Phantom of the Opera
Best Costumes: The Phantom of the Opera
Classic Movie Years : 1939
Posted by derek in : Lists , add a commentConsidering the number of fine films made I would say 1939 represents the peak of the Hollywood studio system. To me it is the best year for American film. I probably enjoy more films from this year than any other.
Here is my top 10 :
1. Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming)
I love this film. I admit it might not be everyone’s taste : it is a melodramatic love story at its heart but this is one film I never grow tired of. Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable were really born to play Scarlett and Rhett. It is an incredible film technically : the burning of Atlanta is great and the scene where the camera goes back to reveal all the wounded soldiers is a stunner.
2. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming)
Yes iconic for Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow and to me the best family movie ever made.
3. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra)
I’m a sentimentalist at heart which is probably why I love Capra’s work. This is one of his best : a great performance from Stewart.
4. Stagecoach (John Ford)
Another great film that established the quality sound western. Wonderful entrance for John Wayne too.
5. La Regle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game)
Renoir’s film isn’t as accessible or as good as La Grande Illusion but still is incredibly clever and thought-provoking.
6. The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh)
Best film of the Thirties’ gangster cycle with superb final confrontation between Cagney and Bogart.
7. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch)
Garbo’s best performance enlivens this excellent comedy full of wonderful dialogue.
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle)
A quality production which is better than the 1923 silent version. Laughton
is a memorable hunchback.
9. Destry Rides Again (George Marshall)
A film that has grown on me in recent years : Stewart and Dietrich make a fine team.
10. Goodbye Mr Chips (Sam Wood)
Very sentimental but fine acting from Donat as the schoolmaster.
Other fine films from 1939 :
Dodge City (Michael Curtiz) (Errol Flynn does his Wyatt Earp movie, entertaining stuff in lush Technicolor)
The Four Feathers (Zoltan Korda) (best British movie of the year)
Beau Geste (William Wellmam) (great action film with Brian Donlevy particularly memorable as a sadistic sergeant)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Alfred L Werker) (best of the Rathbone-Bruce series for me)
Stanley and Livingstone (Otto Brower and Henry King)
Young Mr Lincoln (John Ford)
Babes In Arms (Busby Berkeley) (Not quite the best of the Garland-Rooney backstagers but fun)
Good not great :
Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks actioner disappointed me slightly though worth watching)
Dark Victory (Bette Davis, a little heavy on the syrup)
Rose of Washington Square (Alice Faye effectively playing Fanny Brice with Tyrone Power though Al Jolson walks away with the movie)
At the Circus (not bad from the Marxes though fades next to their previous work)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (lacks pace to me)
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Each Dawn I Die (script could be better)
Wuthering Heights (heavy melodrama)
Drums Along the Mohawk (standard western though beautifully photographed)
The Little Princess (Shirley Temple doesn’t do a lot of singing but it is a handsome production)
Only OK or worse
You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man
The Flying Deuces (some fun but really for Laurel and Hardy completists)
Made for Each Other (uneasy film starts well but then becomes very depressing)
The Women
Gunga Din (I can’t engage with the characters)
Jamaica Inn
Yet to see
Daybreak
Of Mice and Men
The Rains Came
AWARDS
Best Director: Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz)
Best Actor: James Stewart (Mr Smith Goes To Washington)
Best Actress: Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind)
Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell (Stagecoach, GWTW, Mr Smith, Hunchback, OAHWs)
Best Supporting Actress: Margaret Hamilton
Best Original Screenplay: Mr Smith Goes To Washington
Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone with the Wind
Best Cinematography: Gone with the Wind
Best Editing: Gone with the Wind
Best Art Direction: Gone with the Wind
Best Costumes: Gone with the Wind
Best Score : Gone with the Wind
Best Song : Over the Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz)