2003: My Year in Movies--Part Two

Of the 180 or so classic-era movies I saw for the first time and reviewed on my blog in the past year, here are my least favorite:

ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND (1938): Not an awful movie, just very disappointing. All the weaknesses of the Fox musicals are writ large here: a tediously predictable story, unexciting production numbers, excessive length, and Alice Faye. Good Irving Berlin songs and a nice supporting performance by Ethel Merman, but not much fun.

FIRST LADY (1937): My tolerance for Kay Francis depends on her surroundings. Here, she has some good material (by George S. Kauffman) but is directed badly and supported by a bland cast. A total washout.

HITTING A NEW HIGH (1937): Actually, a new low among musicals. Lily Pons couldn't act, Jack Oakie couldn't stop overacting, and the usually reliable Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore can't save it. Clever plot, bad execution all around.

LADY SCARFACE (1941): Judith Anderson is completely wasted in a supporting role of little consequence, even though she plays the title character. Sub-par crime movie with boring leads.

THE LADY TAKES A SAILOR (1949): Years after the screwball comedy genre had peaked came this tired retread. I like the stars, Jane Wyman and Dennis Morgan, but clearly their hearts weren't in this ridiculous comedy with few laughs.

THE SMILING LIEUTENANT (1931): An Ernst Lubitsch comic operatta that is well made, I suppose, but not very light on its feet, despite some good work by Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins. Maurice Chevalier's presence is definitely not a plus in my book. Boring, which this kind of whimsy should never be.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1935): Drab, draggy, depressing, despite two actors I usually like, Paul Lukas and Walter Abel. Abel is badly miscast as D'Artagnan. Avoid at all costs. Thankfully, Turner Classic Movies rarely shows it.

UNDERCURRENT (1946): A glossy noirish soap opera from MGM, proving that "glossy"and "noir" really don't belong in the same phrase. Not terrible, but not up to the usual standards of MGM, director Vincente Minelli, or star Katharine Hepburn.


Some highlights of the year:
I discovered Harold Lloyd, thanks to TCM. THE FRESHMAN was very funny, THE CAT'S PAW a little less so but unique and interesting. I have a couple more on tape to watch soon. I hope Lloyd's daughter will allow his films to be released on DVD sooner rather than later. I also saw Buster Keaton's THE CAMERAMAN on the big screen with live organ accompaniment, which was great fun.

I got Fox Movie Channel, which helps offset the loss of American Movie Classics, which has gone so far downhill that I don't even check their schedule anymore. Thanks to Fox, I saw movies with Will Rogers, Betty Grable, and Don Ameche; some restored Charlie Chan movies; and the wonderful CHANDU. My only complaint: they don't show enough 30's and 40's movies, and they repeat too much. It seemed like Fox executives thought ACE ELI AND RODGER OF THE SKIES was the gem in their crown.

There were some excellent DVD's out this year: A superb restoration of the early Karloff horror film THE GHOUL, a nice line of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby (together and separately) films from Universal (I especially appreciated the double bills), Kino's excellent disc of METROPOLIS, Fox's Studio Classics line with great prints of ALL ABOUT EVE, THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, and SUNRISE, and Warner's dazzling package of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. On the other hand, Columbia put out mediocre prints of THE AWFUL TRUTH and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, and overcharged for THE DEVIL COMMANDS, charging 25 bucks for an hour-long film that looks only OK. Even the usually reliable Criterion made a mistake with THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER: a complete and good looking print, but plagued with annoying flickering for much of its running time.

My favorite recent movies, seen in theaters or on DVD: THE HOURS, INTOLERABLE CRUELTY (Catharine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney must be among the most beautiful people on the planet), AMERICAN SPLENDOR, SPIRITED AWAY, CHICAGO, A MIGHTY WIND, THE ITALIAN JOB, and THE BIG LEBOWSKI (a movie I had avoided but my friends made me watch). ELF was sweet and one of the best Christmas movies in many years. 28 DAYS LATER and LOST IN TRANSLATION were worth seeing but not as wonderful as the critics seemed to think. SWIMMING POOL and RUSSIAN ARK were interesting but disappointing. THE TRANSPORTER and CABIN FEVER were pretty bad. THE RECRUIT was worth watching only for the steamy Colin Farrell, who I'm still not convinced will be a great actor. And my personal favorite celebrity crush Jeremy Piven had a small but nice role in RUNAWAY JURY (and did commentary on the DVD of the otherwise wretched PCU).