1939 Gone With the Wind -"Mark and Bypass"

Tyler has encouraged me to "Mark and bypass," in his words, so I am putting a pin in You Can't Take it With You, and moving on to one of my all time favorite movies...

1939 Gone With the Wind

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." -Rhett Butler

One of my favorite movies based on one of my favorite books.  Casting perfect.  An epic movie.  Now THIS is an Oscar winner. 
I saw it first when I was quite young, and I hated it -I thought it couldn't be more depressing, and wanted to kick Scarlett in the face.  I knew it was one of my Grandma Yolanda's favorite movies, and couldn't understand why.  Which part was her favorite?  When the mom dies?  The dad?  The daughter?  Melanie?  When Scarlett conspires to steal her sister's beau and then makes him miserable and HE dies?  Or was it the part where she and Rhett DON'T end up together when the credits roll?


Years later, in a film history class, I learned about the making of the film.  The most anticipated movie in years, based on a massive bestseller.  The hunt for Scarlett O'Hara.  Clark Gable cast by the nation.

And then one night an audience went to see a movie, only they weren't seeing the movie they had gone to see.  There was a special announcement that a different movie, a new movie, would be shown, and they could either stay or go.  As the movie began, and the words Gone With the Wind rolled across the screen, the theater broke out in ecstatic cheers.

A description of the public screening, quoted from Wikipedia:

"...Kern called for the manager and explained that they had selected his theatre for the first public screening of Gone with the Wind. He was told that after Hawaiian Nights had finished, he could make an announcement of the preview, but was forbidden to say what the film was. People were permitted to leave, but the theatre would thereafter be sealed with no re-admissions and no phone calls out. The manager was reluctant, but finally agreed. His only request was to call his wife to come to the theatre immediately. Kern stood by him as he made the call to make sure he did not reveal the name of the film to her.

When the film began, there was a buzz in the audience when Selznick's name appeared, for they had read about the making of the film for over two years. In an interview years later, Kern described the exact moment the audience realized what was happen

"When Margaret Mitchell's name came on the screen, you never heard such a sound in your life. They just yelled, they stood up on the seats...I had the [manually operated sound] box. And I had that music wide open and you couldn't hear a thing. Mrs. Selznick was crying like a baby and so was David and so was I. Oh, what a thrill! And when Gone with the Wind came on the screen, it was thunderous!""

So I decided to watch it again, and when those words rolled across the screen, I felt the thrill that those people did, and I and saw it in an entirely new light.

Everything about it is great.  The script, the acting, the characters, the sets, the costumes, the story.  And reading the book only made me enjoy it more.

"As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."

Scarlett is an ass-kicking survivor, and she'll get Rhett back!  As she says in the end, "Tara!  Home.  I'll go home.  And I'll think of some way to get him back.  After all... tomorrow is another day."  Vivien Leigh seemed born to play the part.  I can't imagine anyone else in that role.  Same with Olivia de Havilland as the sweet and lovable Melanie Wilkes (just as tough as Scarlett in a different way -heartbreaking when she dies).  Clark Gable is charming as Rhett Butler, completely capturing all of his character's nuances.  Leslie Howard is great (in spite of a couple of slips into his British accent), and Hattie McDaniel was terrific as Mammy.

You Can't Take it With You will be reviewed.  It can't evade me forever.

You Can't Take it With You...At least, not until it arrives at the library!

I haven't been idle in my project.  I am waiting for Frank Capra's You Can't Take it With You to arrive at the library.

In the meantime, I have watched Tom Jones (ick -more later), and Going My Way.

Only SEVEN movies remaining, and 2 just arrived at the library.  Sadly, neither of those are You Can't Take it With You.

Obtaining a copy of Cavalcade remains tricky...

1937 The Life of Emile Zola

1937 The Life of Emile Zola

First impressions: A good movie, but rather slow.  Had a hard time focusing.  Dreyfus actor (Joseph Schildkraut) was good.  Was frustrating watching that level of corruption in the government.

The real Emile Zola.

Basically, we follow Emile Zola from his time as a poor writer to his time as a rich writer, and then we get to the Dreyfus affair.  Zola was famous for writing controversial books/articles that called society and the government out on political and moral issues.

Paul Muni as Emile Zola

He has gotten a bit complacent when the Drefus affair comes about.  There is a traitor in the military upper echelons, and against all evidence, Dreyfus is accused.  Poor guy sits in jail on an island for years while Zola writes "J'Áccuse," an article condemning the military for covering up the fact that they convicted the wrong man and they know it, but won't release Drefyus because it would make them look bad.  Zola goes on trial for libel, and tries to make a case for the release of Dreyfus while being hindered by the legal system at every turn.  He loses the case, flees to England, and returns when the case is finally overturned...only to meet his demise.  Second year in a row of the main character dying at the end. 

I think the girl in The Majestic reproduced the speech Zola made in court with more oomph, but that's probably just me.

1936 The Great Ziegfeld

William Powell and Luise Rainer (Best Supporting Actress).

1936 The Great Ziegfeld

This one started out promising.  William Powell was very good in it, and the story was pretty interesting...Ziegfeld starts out promoting a strongman and works his way up to producing the famous Ziegfeld Follies and shows on Broadway, until he is devastated by the stock market crash and eventual death.  I had never heard of Ziegfeld.  Apparently he eventually married the gal that played Glinda in Wizard of Oz.

 
I was actually quite captivated until it got to...the Follies.  Long long loooong reproductions of his stage shows that made me want to fall asleep.  

I preferred My Man Godfrey, also with William Powell, and the hilarious Carole Lombard (and no Follies).  Had I been the academy, it would have gotten the award. 

My Man Godfrey.

1935 Mutiny on the Bounty

1935 Mutiny on the Bounty

Enjoyed this movie.  Two years in a row of Clark Gable!  Odd seeing him without his mustache.  It was a big deal for him to shave for the movie.

Had quite good cinematography, especially considering when it was made.

Acting was good, story was good.  Not all that accurate, apparently, which prompted me to rent Bounty with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson, as it is considered much more accurate.   

Fletcher and Bligh.

It's about a mutiny on the HMS Bounty, if that hadn't already been gleaned from the title.  The Bounty leaves England for Tahiti in order to gather breadfruit plants, and the sailors have a pretty great time there in the sun with scantily clad Tahitian women.  On the way back, an officer, Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable), leads a group of men in taking the ship from the captain, William Bligh.  They set him, and Bligh out to sea on a small boat.  According to Wikipedia, "Bligh then navigated the 23-foot (7 m) open launch on a 47-day voyage to Timor in the Dutch East Indies. Equipped with a quadrant and a pocket watch and with no charts or compass, he recorded the distance as 3,618 nautical miles (6,710 km)."

Tahiti.

The movie depicted William Bligh as pretty brutal, and in real life, I guess he wasn't.  It was more that the mutineers wanted to head back to Tahiti.  But Clark Gable the hero makes a better movie that Clark Gable the traitorous lech.

Bligh and his men left at sea in a lifeboat.

Really liked Annie Oakley that year, too, but Mutiny was more deserving of the Oscar -historical accuracy be damned!

1934 It Happened One Night

1934 It Happened One Night

Really like this one, of course.  What's not to like?  The always amazing Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

Clark Gable is Peter Warne, a newly fired journalist looking for a story.  Ellen (Ellie) Andrews is a rich heiress running away from home and trying to get to New York, where her married on a whim but father had the marriage annulled "husband" awaits.

 Clark Gable helps her in exchange for the story.  She doesn't really love the guy in New York, she just wants her freedom.  On the way, they fall in love, of course.

This movie would never win in this day and age, being a rom-com.  A cute, romantic movie.

Did it deserve an Oscar?  I haven't seen the movies it was competing against, so I don't know if it was the best movie of the year.  I can say there are other rom-coms in history that I think are more deserving, like When Harry Met Sally.

"We live in the trenches out there. We fight. We try not to be killed, but sometimes we are. That's all."

All Quiet on the Western Front -Revisited

I have been doing some thinking on All Quiet on the Western Front, and don't think I gave it enough credit for it's early portrayal of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and the difficulties for soldiers returning home after war.  The part when the main character returns home on leave, and finds everyone else the same, and the old men all telling him how they could win the war easily if they would only do such and such.  Particularly poignant was when he went to visit his old classroom, with the same teacher that convinced his whole class to enlist because it would be so noble ("You are the life of the Fatherland!  You are the iron men of Germany!), and there he was giving the same spiel to new students.  When he tried to tell the students how it really was, they called him unpatriotic and cowardly.  The ignorance of people who haven't actually been to war was really emphasized.  And in the end, when he had lost all of his friends, and felt he no longer had a place back home, and basically lets himself die (famous reaching for the butterfly scene), it was pretty powerful.

Here is the scene in the schoolroom when he was on leave, as printed on IMDB:

Professor Kantorek: Paul! How are you, Paul?
Paul Bäumer: [somber] Glad to see you, Professor.
Professor Kantorek: You've come at the right moment, Baumer! Just at the right moment!
[to students]
Professor Kantorek: And as if to prove all I have said, here is one of the first to go! A lad who sat before me on these very benches, who gave up all to serve in the first year of the war. One of the iron youth who have made Germany invincible in the field! Look at him. Sturdy and bronze and clear-eyed! The kind of soldier every one of you should envy! Paul, lad, you must speak to them. You must tell them what it means to serve your fatherland.
Paul Bäumer: No no, I can't tell them anything.
Paul Bäumer: You must, Paul. Just a word. Just tell them how much they're needed out there. Tell them why you went, and what it meant to you.
Paul Bäumer: I can't say anything.
Professor Kantorek: If you remember some deed of heroism, some touch of humility, tell about it.
[encouraging murmurs from the students]
Paul Bäumer: I can't tell you anything you don't know. We live in the trenches out there, we fight, we try not to be killed; and sometimes we are. That's all.
[students fidget, disappointed]
Professor Kantorek: No, no Paul!
Paul Bäumer: [angry] I've been there! I know what it's like!
Professor Kantorek: That's not what one dwells on, Paul!
Paul Bäumer: [bitterly] I heard you in here, reciting that same old stuff. Making more iron men, more young heroes. You still think it's beautiful and sweet to die for your country, don't you?
[Kantorek nods firmly]
Paul Bäumer: We used to think you knew. The first bombardment taught us better. It's dirty and painful to die for your country. When it comes to dying for your country it's better not to die at all! There are millions out there dying for their countries, and what good is it?
[muttering from students]
Professor Kantorek: [shocked] Paul!
Paul Bäumer: [angry] You asked me to tell them how much they're needed out there.
[to students]
Paul Bäumer: He tells you, "Go out and die!" Oh, but if you'll pardon me, it's easier to *say* go out and die than it is to do it!
Student: Coward!
Paul Bäumer: And it's easier to say it, than to watch it happen!
students: Coward! You're a coward! Coward!
Professor Kantorek: No! No, boys, boys! I'm sorry, Baumer, but I must say...
Paul Bäumer: We've no use talking like this. You won't know what I mean. Only, it's been a long while since we enlisted out of this classroom. So long, I thought maybe the whole world had learned by this time. Only now they're sending babies, and they won't last a week! I shouldn't have come on leave. Up at the front you're alive or you're dead and that's all. You can't fool anybody about that very long. And up there we know we're lost and done for whether we're dead or alive. Three years we've had of it, four years! And every day a year, and every night a century! And our bodies are earth, and our thoughts are clay, and we sleep and eat with death! And we're done for because you *can't* live that way and keep anything inside you! I shouldn't have come on leave. I'll go back tomorrow. I've got four days more, but I can't stand it here! I'll go back tomorrow! I'm sorry.
[exit]

The Elusive Cavalcade

A review of the 1932-1933 winner, Cavalcade, will have to wait.

So far, this movie is notable for being the one and only Best Picture winner not to be found on DVD.  Which means no Netflix, and no library.

It is starting to appear that I will have to actually buy the movie on VHS, so I can only hope it is an amazing treasure that I will watch over and over and adore the rest of my life.

Stay tuned...

1931-1932 Grand Hotel: "Grand Hotel... always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens."

1931-1932 Grand Hotel

Greta Garbo, the Barrymores, Joan Crawford...an okay movie following multiple characters staying in the Grand Hotel.  Didn't love it, but it was okay.  Felt sad for Greta Garbo's character, knowing that she would probably go back into depression when her love failed to appear at the end.

Most memorable for me was Garbo's famous line: "I vant to be left alone."  She was an unusual actress -didn't fit the typical mold, but with definite star power. 

The movie as a whole wasn't overly gripping.

The Hurdle of Cimarron

Thought I should mention that Cimarron was the film that burned me out when I started this project in college.  After the opening, much touted Oklahoma Land Rush scene, I shut it off and took some years off before restarting the project.  I don't have much luck with Westerns, and it seemed like it would be a typical Western -now that I have finished it, I can say that that turned out not to be true.  I had completely different problems with the movie.  Now I am persevering, even through Hamlet, and I am 12 away from completing my goal -hoorah!

1930-1931 Cimarron

1930-1931 Cimarron


"Sugar, if we all took root and squatted, there would never be any new country." 


Not overly impressed with this one.  Advertises an amazing depiction of the "Oklahoma Land Rush," but I was less than thrilled.  Can't really blame the movie, it being over 80 years old at this point.  People rushing around on horses just isn't enough to amaze nowadays.  


The lead actor has charisma, but his character was distasteful to me.  He seemed like a good, friendly, moral guy, but then he would just up and leave his family (a super supportive wife played by Irene Dunne who left her whole life behind to follow him, and their 2 children) in search of adventure because of his "wanderlust" with 5 minutes notice for years and years, never even writing to check in or to let them know he's alive.  I'm sorry, but that just disgusts me.  And his wife stays loyal to him for all that time and keeps his paper running (with his name at the top), and I just wanted to kick her and say, "He's a jerk!  You're a smart, resourceful, loyal woman.  Dump his ass, put your name on top of the paper and find a guy that deserves you!"  She did have some wayward ideas -a little judgmental, and racist towards the Indians, though she changes her tune on those issues by the end.  

Anyway, frustrated me, and kind of dull.

1929-1930 All Quiet on the Western Front

1929-1930 All Quiet on the Western Front


This one is fresh in my mind.  It was the first non-musical talkie to win.  It's about a German soldier and his friends/fellow soldiers in WWI.  With assistance from Tyler, I learned a lot about trench warfare.  Tyler has been reading the book to me, and the book is better.  The movie takes things that the character thinks and has him SAY them, and they come out sounding cheesy instead of profound.  Held my attention, and a pretty good war movie, but probably wouldn't watch it again.  Definitely can tell it was the early days of the talkies, because the actors emote and overact and come across as melodramatic, which can make you laugh at inappropriate places.

Update:

Upon further consideration, I had more to say about this movie.  It can be read here:

http://www.kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/09/we-live-in-trenches-out-there-we-fight.html 

A classic shot from the film -reaching for a butterfly.

1928-1929 The Broadway Melody

1928-1929 The Broadway Melody


Another movie I watched back in the day, and it only made slightly more of an impression than Wings.  What I remember: It was the first talkie to win, was a musical (no music I remember), and 2 sisters love the same guy.  

The girl I wanted to get the guy didn't (the younger, prettier, flightier one did -she wasn't a bad egg, I was just rooting for the older sister).  Not a satisfying ending, with the older sister alone and sad.  But it did make history as the first talkie to get the award.    

Update: I watched the movie again.  Here is a more detailed review:

http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/12/wings-and-broadway-melody-re-reviewed.html

1927-1928 Wings & Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

My project has been, for quite some time now, to watch all Academy Award Best Picture winners.  Because...why not?  It forces me to watch some movies that I would never otherwise watch.  I started back in college, but burned out.  A couple of months ago, I resumed my goal with a vengeance.  I thought I should make an effort to summarize my thoughts/impressions on the winners, be they ever so biased.

Starting with...


1927-1928 Wings (Outstanding Picture, Production)

Well, this first winner didn't make a huge impression on me.  I watched it in college when I first started this project, and all I remember is that it was a black and white film about WWI fighter pilots.  It's a silent picture.  A quick wiki search says that Clara Bow was in it, but her performance didn't make much of an impact on me, and this wasn't the most exhilarating of the movies I've watched.  Maybe I should watch it again for a fresher perspective, but I don't really feel it.  Perhaps someday.

Update: I DID end up watching it again.  See my updated review here:

http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/12/wings-and-broadway-melody-re-reviewed.html

AND

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (Unique and Artistic Production)



Just watched this one, so it is fresh in my mind.  It's debatable whether this counts as a best picture winner, and I was confused at first because it is included on some lists and not on others.  Apparently the "Unique and Artistic Production" award only existed the first year of the Academy Awards, and was considered of equal importance as "Outstanding Picture, Production," though the later is considered closer to the traditional "Best Picture" category.  Regardless, I didn't want to miss my goal on a technicality, so I watched the movie.  Also a silent film, it is about a farmer who is married with a young child but begins an affair with a woman from the city who convinces him that he should drown his wife and move to the city with her.  He takes his wife out in a boat and starts to move towards her menacingly, terrifying the wife, and then changes his mind.  Once they get to shore she runs off and he chases her.  She is in shock and he tries to comfort her, even buying her some lovely "I'm sorry I almost killed you" flowers.  They spend the day in the city and basically fall back in love.  I thought the actors were good, especially Janet Gaynor.  It was more interesting than Wings to me, though rather unbelievable...not sure how a man can go from planning to kill his wife in the morning to being madly in love with her in the afternoon.  Also, there's a long clip of them going to this fair and then having a country dance that I could have done without.