With less than a day to go before my #WatchlistScreenCaps viewing diary concludes, I've been catching up on blind spots from the past year. If I were to continue this exercise another month, I think I'd watch Hollywood classics from the thirties to the fifties almost exclusively, as that period is at once a favorite of mine, extremely crucial to film history, and - ironically - severely underrepresented in my viewing habits since February 2013.
I couldn't make up for this in just one viewing marathon, but nonetheless these ten classics from my collection (except for Frankenstein, which I had to watch online) can do their little part to correct the imbalance. From morning till midnight, I traveled from 1931 to 1954, via gangster, horror, musical, adventure, comedy, noir, and western films, and most of the major studios (I think only Paramount got shafted). Stars like James Cagney, Astaire and Rogers, Kate Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart (twice), Errol Flynn, Kirk Douglas, Gene Tiernay, Robert Mitchum, and Marlon Brando - among others - shot across my screen, although not all were featured in my eventual screencaps.
Here then are the ten films I watched on Tuesday, with a screen-captured image and caption for each. Linked titles lead to my posts on that film (every single one of today's films has been featured in some capacity on Lost in the Movies). Visit my #WatchlistScreenCaps archive for images from everything I've watched in the past year. Stay tuned later today as at least three more posts will be going up before the year-long venture finally closes.
Who needs sharpshooters when you've got a Gatling gun
The Public Enemy (1931), dir. William Wellman
Let there be light...and let it be taken away
Frankenstein (1931), dir. James Whale
When clouds collide, they dance
Top Hat (1935), dir. Mark Sandrich, chor. Fred Astaire, Hermes Pan
Leaping into battle for Crown and Captain both, no longer a contradiction
Captain Blood (1935), dir. Michael Curtiz
Will "Lord Marries Kittredge" go the way of "Dewey Defeats Truman"?
The Philadelphia Story (1940), dir. George Cukor
Home sweet home is now a wasteland
The Grapes of Wrath (1940), dir. John Ford
Past becomes present
Laura (1944), dir. Otto Preminger
No noir antihero can escape his fate, even where the land is open & the air is clear
Out of the Past (1947), dir. Jacques Tourneur
For such a well-made gun, it doesn't bring much luck to its owners
Winchester '73 (1950), dir. Anthony Mann
Whether he wants it or not, the jacket is now his
On the Waterfront (1954), dir. Elia Kazan
& a bonus - SHE: "I believe you're talking treason!" HE: "I hope I am not obscure." - Captain Blood
2 comments:
An impressive and varied list of American classics. I just don't think "Captain Blood " would have been the same Robert Donat in the title role, as was originally intended.
Nothing against Donat, but Flynn is just perfect here. And as stated on Twitter, the then-teenage (and still alive!) Olivia De Havilland is irresistable. And of course Basil Rathbone is fantastic as the ally-turned-villain, brief part but unforgettable. Such a classic Hollywood swashbuckler.
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