The MoFo Top 50 Pre-1930 Countdown: The List

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Chypmunk's Avatar
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10-28-19
I was gonna ask MM for his full browsing history to verify his list when he submitted it but tbh I was too afeared it might corrupt my innocence



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10-28-19
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
The ratings are probably low because Al Jolson sings Mama in black face.
I was wondering if that was the case or if that was the reason the film has any notoriety at all.



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10-28-19
Originally Posted by cricket
I was wondering if that was the case or if that was the reason the film has any notoriety at all.
It had notoriety well before 'blackface' became an issue. Give it a watch sometime I say.

edit: Nothing to see here, move along please
Last edited by Chypmunk; 10-28-19 at 06:45 PM.



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10-28-19
Originally Posted by Chypmunk
It had notoriety well before 'blackface' became an issue. Give it a watch sometime I say.
I don't recall any notoriety, though it's been years since I seen it. What other notoriety did it have?



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10-28-19
Originally Posted by Citizen Rules
I don't recall any notoriety, though it's been years since I seen it. What other notoriety did it have?
Its status as the first feature-length incorporating both syncopated music and voice.

edit: Iggy me, I always get 'notoriety' wrong as I just looked the meaning up and always seem to forget it's only supposed to be used for negative connotations
Last edited by Chypmunk; 10-28-19 at 06:45 PM.



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10-29-19
The Phantom Carriage is quite a delight to watch and made my list at #17, Pandora's Box is enjoyable enough and was certainly in the mix for a spot as well but unfortunately didn't quite make the grade in the end.

Seen: 34/34
My list:
7. Intolerance - Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (D.W. Griffith, 1916) [#21]
17. Körkarlen [The Phantom Carriage] (Victor Sjöström, 1921) [#18]
19. Häxan (Benjamin Christensen, 1922) [#25]
20. Broken Blossoms (D.W. Griffith, 1919) [#34]
25. Helen Of Four Gates (Cecil M. Hepworth, 1920) [1-ptr]



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10-29-19
Six from my list:
It - my #14, a fun, 30's style comedy, Clara Bow is great
The Lodger - my #11, it has silly bits, but it also has very atmospheric bits
The two Phantoms, Phantom of the opera and Phantom carriage, #18 and #8 respecitvely, both very atmospheric.
[b]Pandora’s Box[/B - didn't love this as much as Diary of a Lost Girl, but it still sneaked onto my list at #22

The Adventures of Prince Achmed was my #1. I think it's a wonderful achievement in animation. The silhouettes and colours are amazing, like a moving work of art. Unfairly snubbed for the animation top 100, it was at least recognised on the directed by women countdown and I'm pleased to see it take a spot on this countdown as well.


Haxan I have watched but did not place on my list.

Intolerance I did not really enjoy, to be honest. It seems to me like a triumph or spectacle over substance. Fantastic, enormous, elaborate sets and yet the human stories it is supposedly telling are more of an afterthought, the characters are merely types and it's almost unbearably preachy. The only story which I found interesting was the one with the young woman and the baby.


Seen 16 so far, 10 from my list.



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10-29-19
3. Diary of a Lost Girl (#31)
4. The Birth of a Nation (#38)
5. The Crowd (#29)
6. Intolerance (#21)
7. The Unknown (#28)
8. He Who Gets Slapped (#23)
10. Way Down East (#43)
11. Wings (#22)
12. Pandora's Box (#18)
15. It (#27)
16. The Cameraman (#24)
17. Broken Blossoms (#34)
21. The Phantom Carriage (#17)
22. 7th Heaven (#32)
25. 3 Bad Men (#30)



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10-29-19
Hmm, another one of my guess ones is out. I'm guessing A Trip to the Moon won't make it then, which is a pity. However, Pandora's Box made my list at #6.

Seen: Seen: 12/34

My List:
6. Pandora's Box (#18)
8. It (#27)
13. 3 Bad Men (#30)
14. The Adventures of Prince Achmed (#26)
19. He Who Gets Slapped (#23)
22. 7th Heaven (#32)
23. The Man Who Laughs (#48)
25. The Unknown (#28)[/quote]
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10-29-19
And, I almost forgot, here were my thoughts on Pandora's Box:

Originally Posted by ahwell
Pandora's Box

This was a masterpiece, an eight-act descent of a woman from luxury to death - at the hands of Jack the Ripper of all people! Of course this movie is all about sex, and it's so not afraid to be about sex even though there are no real sex scenes. Every man that Lulu meets has some sort of misfortune by the end, and Lulu is a bit of an oblivious witch herself... but I still end up liking her. I think Louise Brooks is absolutely fantastic in Pandora's Box, and she is definitely one of my favorite actors in this time period. We also have - in 1929!!!!!! - A GAY subplot! I never would have thought that, never would that happen in Hollywood, but with these early German films I suppose anything flew. Anyways, big thumbs up (although the plot dragged and lost focus at the end).




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Noir Time
10-29-19
I wanted to watch The Phantom Carriage, but like so many other films I just didn't didn't have the time. Pandora's Box was a treat to watch and that's thanks to the personable Louise Brooks.



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10-29-19
Originally Posted by ahwell
Hmm, another one of my guess ones is out. I'm guessing A Trip to the Moon won't make it then, which is a pity. However, Pandora's Box made my list at #6.

No, A Trip to the Moon is making it. That's guaranteed. I think The Phantom Carriage is the first film off my list to make it, but then I turned in a short list. Some day I'll catch up on all the great silent films I've missed.
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10-29-19
Originally Posted by Kaplan
Originally Posted by ahwell
Hmm, another one of my guess ones is out. I'm guessing A Trip to the Moon won't make it then, which is a pity. However, Pandora's Box made my list at #6.

No, A Trip to the Moon is making it. That's guaranteed. I think The Phantom Carriage is the first film off my list to make it, but then I turned in a short list. Some day I'll catch up on all the great silent films I've missed.
Maybe. I guess there’s a good chance Faust doesn’t make it either.



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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
10-29-19
Saw 3 out of the last 6 and all of which was on my list.
Reading CR's review of Wings I had a momentary bewilderment of possibly seeing it having recognized the camera shot going past several tables before reaching the final one, but after a bit came to the conclusion that it was the shot I remember and not the movie and any recognition was for a similar film, Hell's Angels.
Had The Lodger at #15, Phantom of the Opera at #7 and wrote this about Pandora's Box which I had at #12:

Originally Posted by edarsenal



Pandora's Box

Dr. Ludwig Schön: [to Alwa] Just one thing, my boy: Beware of that woman!

SPOILERS

One helluva a start for this HoF.

Set up in Acts, which, for a while there, seemed like serious jumps in what was going on, that, at times, I had to do some guesswork at what was what. At times wondering if I would need a second viewing. Though, by the end, the wish for a second viewing would be more for the enjoyment than understanding.
Which is my only critique on this slow spiraling film that seems to ensnare you without you even being away that it has occurred. Only to realize it's too late to do anything about it.
Much like the people who fall for and demand to have Lulu, (Louise Brooks). Who's nonchalant attitude to it all and everyone reminded me of a leaf traversing a turbulent water way. No decisive plan; just where ever, what ever. A carefree spirit cast adrift among cruder individuals. With whom she cavorts like a coquettish kitten.

What I found impressive was how things were implied without ever truly showing anything to the audience.
WARNING: "such as" spoilers below
Lulu's sexual interludes. She is forever on someone's knee, but it never goes past that, ever. Nor does it need to.
The two deaths within this film, Dr. Schon, who tries to force her to kill herself so he doesn't have to murder her; is from behind him and there is a puff of smoke from the gun signifying it had gone off.
And then hers, at the end, with (and I didn't realize that they used the actual name and not a facsimile of him) Jack the Ripper, where all you see is her hand tense up and then slip away. Quite a beautiful shot, that. As well as the ones leading to it. Especially on the stairs when he let's go of his knife before taking her hand.
And the fact that they had, by implication only, a lesbian character whom, like all the rest, was enraptured by Lulu and willing to do anything for her.


On a separate note, which amused me enough to share; being not all that happy with the soundtrack, I opened youtube and played a Louisiana Blues compilation that synced up beautifully for the mood and scenarios in here on quite a few incidences. Including a song ending as an Act finished and the next one started as the Act placard faded. One of my favorite songs fitting the action on screen was where Lulu and an excruciatingly depressed Alwa is shown in London and the lyrics remark about "can it get any harder than this".

I reiterate, one helluva start for this HoF.

MY LIST: Seen 16 out of 34 (47.05%)
5) 3 Bad Men (#30)
6) 7th Heaven (#32)
7) The Phantom of the Opera (#19)
8) The Hunchback of Nortre Dame (#41)
12) Pandora's Box (#17)
13) It (#27)
14) A Dog's Life (#39)
15) The Lodger (#20)
16) The Man Who Laughs (#48)
18) HE Who Gets Slapped (#23)
22) Underworld (#47)
24) The Adventures of Prince Achmed (#26)
25) The Iron Mask (One Pointer)
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