MY YEAR IN CLASSIC MOVIES

I've gotten to the point, as I noted earlier this month, where I sometimes feel like I've seen everything worth seeing and there's nothing out there to surprise me in the realm of classic movies, but luckily I keep finding gems here and there, or I revisit a movie I've seen before and find new details or depths. I keep meaning to write up more of my "revisitings" here and with the increasing number of older films seeing the light of day on DVD (and the number of boxed sets I got for Christmas), that may be more likely to happen in '07. Below are my favorite discoveries of 2006:

BOSTON BLACKIE'S RENDEZVOUS (1945): One in a series of B-detective films featuring Chester Morris; this one has a fairly intense, modern feel to it, concerning a psycho serial killer, well played by Steve Cochran. I'm glad to see that TCM will be showing a few of these in January. (reviewed 6/06)

CHINA GIRL (1942): It sure ain't CASABLANCA but it is a lively B-variation on its plot, with a nice cast (George Montgomery, Gene Tierney, Lynn Bari). (8/06)

THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS (1976): great Kafkaesque fable about the military mindset and war (or the lack thereof); I'd never heard of the director, Valerio Zulini, but I will be searching out more films by him. (12/06)

FOUR SONS (1940): How the lives of a family in Czechoslovakia change when the Nazis take over. Formulaic and studio-bound, but compelling with an interesting cast of actors who, aside from Don Ameche, never made the big time. (3/06)

THE OUTLAW (1943): I can't believe I'm actually including this on my year-end list. No one can possibly think this campy western starring Jane Russell's breasts is a good movie, but damn, it's weird and fun, and Jack Buetel, the leading man whose career went nowhere, is mannered and strange and almost as sexy as Russell. (2/06)

SH! THE OCTOPUS (1937): This B-comedy/thriller gets no respect but I enjoyed it as much as any "old dark house" comedy I've ever seen. It's silly with an ending that's a letdown, but it has energy, some good spooky effects, and a particularly effective performance from Elspeth Dudgeon. (11/06)

A SUCCESSFUL CALAMITY (1932) & THE WORKING MAN (1933): Two delightful domestic comedies with George Arliss, not among his more important films, but fun, with solid supporting casts. (7/06)

SUNDAY PUNCH (1942): Unpretentious B-boxing movie with a charming cast (William Lundigan, Dan Dailey, Jean Rogers, and Sam Levene). (5/06)

WHITE CARGO (1942): One of the best examples of the tropical melodrama genre. The stiff Walter Pidgeon is a drag, but sweaty Richard Carlson and slinky Hedy Lamarr make this worth seeing, not to mention the humor, both intentional and not. (11/06)

THE WHITE HELL OF PITZ PALU (1929): A silent German film about people stuck on a mountain during a storm. Exciting and beautifully filmed, with an OK performance by infamous director Leni Riefenstahl. (4/06)

YOU'LL FIND OUT (1940): My favorite Kay Kyser movie, made even more fun by Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre, and tons of spooky atmosphere. (10/06)

I also liked the desert noir INFERNO (5/06), the British war film WENT THE DAY WELL? (9/06), the colorful soap opera WRITTEN ON THE WIND (12/06), and THE FAN (7/06), a version of Oscar Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan." I enjoyed discovering that Tyrone Power could do romantic comedy (CAFE METROPOLE and DAY-TIME WIFE, both 4/06), I loved seeing more films with George Arliss (7/06), William Lundigan (5/06) and Kay Kyser (9/06), and I got guilty pleasure from Roger Corman's CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA (10/06) and from finally seeing an uncut, non-MST3K version of THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH (10/06). There were some great boxed sets at my birthday party and under my Christmas tree (Preston Sturges, Forbidden Hollywood, Boris Karloff, Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, Frank Capra, Astaire & Rogers). As far as my favorite TV network, Turner Classic Movies, I liked TCM Underground and the fact that they are showing more smaller gems from the Columbia library; I hope for even more in the new year (the presence of Boston Blackie films on the January schedule is a good sign).