The MoFo Top 100 of the 1930s: The Countdown

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Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Excited about this countdown! Even though I have seen fewer than 100 films from the 30s so will not have seen most of them. I really like the design for the entries, very nice.

Sylvia Scarlett on the one-pointers was mine. I'm not surprised it was a one-pointer as it was a weird little film, but had a certain quirky charm. Katherine Hepburn is pretending to be a boy for most of the time. The only other film mentioned so far that I have seen is Shanghai Express, which I watched just the other night (after the deadline). I'm slightly surprised that only got one point as I thought it was more popular.



Love the presentation so far, Citizen! The clapperboards are a really cool touch.



Footlight Parade was my #3. I've always considered the musical to be my least favorite genre, but the 1930's revealed me to be a fan of the genre after all. The stunning, kaleidoscopic choreography of Busby Berkeley is a big reason for that. His musical numbers are always magical. "By a Waterfall" in Footlight Parade is one of the most impressive, awe-inspiring sequences I've ever seen in a film. I was already a fan of James Cagney, but my admiration for him has grown after diving deeper into his 30's roles. Here he gets an early opportunity to display his multi-faceted talents by singing and dancing in addition to delivering rapid-fire dialogue. His chemistry with the feisty, infinitely charming Joan Blondell is excellent, as is the chemistry between Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. The script has a slapdash quality to it that fits well with the energetic pace. There's a ton of great lines and sexual innuendo and eye candy. Footlight Parade is one of several musicals to make my list, and in my opinion it's the best of the bunch (or at least neck and neck with Gold Diggers of 1933, which I'm sure will also show up at some point).



Stage Door was my #16. It reminded me of His Girl Friday in terms of the overwhelming amount of dialogue and the lightning-fast pace with which the characters speak, which is like porn for my ear drums. The mostly all-female cast dish out a non-stop barrage of wit, sarcasm and snark. Banter with barbs. Sharp jabs of humor. The perfect amount of cynicism. Ginger Rogers is as spunky as ever, and her friendship/rivalry with Katherine Hepburn is a joy to watch. The film is strongly pro-feminist, especially compared to its contemporaries. I was taken aback by the sudden shift toward tragedy in the last act, otherwise the film would probably be higher on my list, but for dialogue-lovers this is must-see cinema.



Suzy was my #25. I never aim to get one-pointers for these countdowns, instead just voting for my twenty-five favorite films according to the criteria, so this is more by accident than design. Prior to prepping for this countdown, I don't think I'd ever seen a single Jean Harlow film. Now I've seen the majority of her filmography. While I don't think she's the most attractive or talented actress, she certainly possesses the intangible qualities of a star. Suzy appears to be one of her least celebrated roles, but I really enjoyed it, and the vulnerability she displays in this film is quite the contrast to the brazen salaciousness of her pre-code roles. The busy plot might feel hackneyed to some, with its multiple engagements, love triangles, infidelity, spies, mistaken deaths and aerial assaults, but I found it quite entertaining. Cary Grant doesn't even bother with a French accent despite playing a Frenchman, but who cares about such details when he's repeatedly getting slapped by Harlow in a cabaret nightclub? Underrated, entertaining flick.


My List So Far:
#3) Footlight Parade
#16) Stage Door
#25) Suzy
(one-pointer)
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Nice job Citizen! The first two I haven't seen but I have heard of at least Footlight Parade. The only one pointer I saw was Shanghai Express which i really disliked actually. I am surprised it didn't make the list though as I thought it was fairly popular.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
The only other film mentioned so far that I have seen is Shanghai Express, which I watched just the other night (after the deadline). I'm slightly surprised that only got one point as I thought it was more popular.
So was I. It would have made mine but it was up against another Dietrich film and when I decided I was thinking: that's okay, others will vote for it.
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
@Captain Spaulding: "the lightning-fast pace with which the characters speak, which is like porn for my ear drums."

THAT deserves an additional rep all on its own!

Your description of Stage Door makes it sound VERY familiar so I'm gonna have to check a little deeper into it and see.
If I hadn't, It will be added to my watchlist along with Wooden Crosses and a few others and, I'm sure, countless more from this list.



....More recent in my memory is Stage Door. Of course Hepburn and the cast were great, but my gal Ginger Rogers was the true delight for me. This is where she showed me she could be tough in a movie, as well as sweet. Great start, CR!
Count me as a big time fan of Ginger Rogers Everything I've seen her in she's good. I'm not sure, but I don't think I've seen Stage Door...I'm going to have to catch Stage Door, looks good.

...The only one pointer I saw was Shanghai Express which i really disliked actually. I am surprised it didn't make the list though as I thought it was fairly popular.
The Countdown list has lots of surprises on it. I was convinced one of my all time favorite 30s films was a shoe in for the list, but it only got one other vote and didn't make it



Never seen The Bitter Tea Of General Yen and although certain I would have watched The Charge Of The Light Brigade at least once in my youth it wasn't one I managed to get round to in time for this countdown.

Thus far: 0/4
(beginning to wonder if I actually watched any 30s movies in the past year or if it was all just some sort of dream )



Damn, The Bitter Tea of General Yen was 1 of the next 2 movies I was planning on watching before I ran out of time. I'd still like to see it.

Never heard of the other.



I didn't vote and haven't seen any of the movies so far, but I'm loving the presentation. Nice work, Citizen!
Thanks! I'm glad people are liking it. I've only seen one so far, The Charge of the Light Brigade.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
The Bitter Tea of General Yen is my #18. Originally from a 10-year-old Tab
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933)


Exotic, unique, one-of-a-kind film by Capra still deserves to be seen, enjoyed and debated. Although Capra had already made 20 feature films in the seven years prior to this film, this is the the greatest example of his filmmaking technique up to this point. On display are his expert use of montage, special effects, crowd scenes, florid cinematography, musical score and sound design, handling of actors, humor, cinematic storytelling, and yes, sentimentality. This film contains more actual "action" scenes that any other Capra flick, but when you come right down to it, it may also contain more "sex" scenes, even though the story is one of a "taboo" love.

The film shows an Americanized version of the events occuring in China in the early 1930s. The film says that there is a Civil War going on in the middle of the West trying to indoctrinate the land with Christian missionaries. The suggestion of a war with Japan is never mentioned. Additionally, General Yen (a terrific character) is portrayed by Danish actor Nils Asther (in easily his greatest performance), but nowadays some people have a problem with a White portraying an Asian. Before you jump on the racist bandwagon, make sure to watch the film and compare all the performances to what you might expect if a Chinese actor were cast in the title role. Hawaiian-born Chinese actor Richard Loo does have a prominent role in the film, but he plays the general's military second-in-command.

Even with all of Capra's cinematic talent and Asther's super performance, the film belongs to Barbara Stanwyck as the American missionary who's forced to undergo a transformation due to her experiences in China, and she's extremely sexy. Capra's longtime co-star Walter Connelly also turns in a wonderfully-jaded performance as General Yen's American Secretary of the Treasury. I think I've already spent too much time discussing this underseen film, so my recommendation is to seek it out. No matter what you think of it, it should be incomparable to anything else you've ever seen, and it has historical and cinematic significance.
The Charge of the Light Brigade was part of my long list that I eliminated. I'd like to add to this Tab that Curtiz was reprimanded even 80 years ago for causing several horse deaths and stunt man injuries for this specific film.
The Charge of the Light Brigade (Michael Curtiz, 1936)
- This one is based on Tennyson's poem and shows more Indian adventure with Errol Flynn. Most of the film takes place in India and tells of a Major (Flynn) who's friends with the local tribal leader Serat Khan (C. Henry Gordon) until one day, while most of the British soldiers are away, Khan decides to have his men attack the British fort and massacre a skeleton crew of soldiers, along with their women and children. In this historically-inaccurate film, it eventually leads to the battle of Balaclava. This is solid entertainment although the first half is staged somewhat awkwardly with some surprisingly slapdash editing and pacing. However, the second half of the film crams in enough action for two movies and definitely makes it one of Flynn's best.
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I hadn't seen The Bitter Tea of General Yen. I didn't even know it had one of my favorite actress in it, Barbara Stanwyck, but after reading Marks review I got to see it.



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
The Bitter Tea of General Yen was my #23. I really wasn't quite sure what to make of it when I watched it, it seemed such an oddity, but it certainly stayed with me. I liked how the missionary protagonist comes to question everything she thinks she knows about right and wrong, about China, about love, about herself and everyone else around her. The ending is really quite powerful.



The Bitter Tea of General Yen was my #23. I really wasn't quite sure what to make of it when I watched it, it seemed such an oddity, but it certainly stayed with me. I liked how the missionary protagonist comes to question everything she thinks she knows about right and wrong, about China, about love, about herself and everyone else around her. The ending is really quite powerful.
Is Barbara Stanwyck the missionary? and is there a school of orphans that she tries to help? and do they end up fleeing the area and traveling on the road during war time...If so I think I did see this one.



Is Barbara Stanwyck the missionary? and is there a school of orphans that she tries to help? and do they end up fleeing the area and traveling on the road during war time...If so I think I did see this one.
That's where the term missionary position originated from.



Fan that I am of Capra, I'm ashamed that I haven't seen The Bitter Tea of General Yen, however I intend to rectify that situation! The Charge of the Light Brigade is one of my favorite action/adventures from the 30's, yet I let it go in favor of another. Still, greatness abounds on this list!
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Fan that I am of Capra, I'm ashamed that I haven't seen The Bitter Tea of General Yen, however I intend to rectify that situation! The Charge of the Light Brigade is one of my favorite action/adventures from the 30's, yet I let it go in favor of another.

Still, greatness abounds on this list!
It does indeed! And that's thanks to all the MoFos who sent in some really great list



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Good work CR!
Poor effort on my part as I barely watched any 30's films for this one, so unsurprisingly I've not seen any so far. For shame.
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