Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[martin wilson]

Hi all

I'm reminded of the phrase 'we don't want it good,we want it Tuesday' possibly originating with American International Pictures and Roger Cormann, knocking out quick,no budget horrors and sci fi for the burgeoning drive in movie crowd.
In that context, Ed Wood Jr's movies don't look too bad after all.
Recently, Music4 have been showing self consciously awful films like Sharknado and Mega Shark v Giant Octopus, They really are rubbish, but informed by the effort, if not the spirit of Ed Wood jr, so he was influential, in his own way.
All the best.

[Sherlock Houses]

Being a big [8'7"] movie fan my favourite era is the 25 year period from 1935 to 1959 when so very many brilliant movies were produced.
Put impossibly on the spot, Watson, I would nominate the following [in chronological order] as my favourite [English speaking] 10 movies.

"The 39 Steps" [1935] - Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.
"Rebecca" [1940] - Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
"Man Hunt" [1941] - Walter Pigeon and Joan Bennett.
"The Seventh Cross" [1944] - Spencer Tracy and Signe Hasso.
"Out of the Past" [1947] - Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas.
"The Third Man" [1949] - Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.
"High Noon" [1952] - Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.
"Rear Window" [1954] - James Stewart and Grace Kelly.
"Vertigo" [1954] - James Stewart and Kim Novak.
"Ben-Hur" [1959] - Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd.

SH.

[lynn cates]

Bride

Hello Steadmund. Actually, the IDEA behind "Bride of the Monster" could have led to a great film--given a budget and a genuine writer.

Cheers.
LC

[lynn cates]

YouTube

Hello Abby. Get it? Try YouTube.

Cheers.
LC

[Sherlock Houses]

Being a big [8'7"] movie fan my favourite era is the 25 year period from 1935 to 1959 when so very many brilliant movies were produced.
Put impossibly on the spot, Watson, I would nominate the following [in chronological order] as my favourite [English speaking] 10 movies.

"The 39 Steps" [1935] - Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.
"Rebecca" [1940] - Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
"Man Hunt" [1941] - Walter Pigeon and Joan Bennett.
"The Seventh Cross" [1944] - Spencer Tracy and Signe Hasso.
"Out of the Past" [1947] - Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas.
"The Third Man" [1949] - Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.
"High Noon" [1952] - Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.
"Rear Window" [1954] - James Stewart and Grace Kelly.
"Vertigo" [1954] - James Stewart and Kim Novak.
"Ben-Hur" [1959] - Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd.

SH.

"Vertigo" of course was made in 1958. Excuse the typo error.

[Paddy Goose]

Elephant Man

One of my favorites, too.

Psycho

Yes.

Who didn't like Psycho - raise your hand.

[Steadmund Brand]

One of my favorites, too.



Yes.

Who didn't like Psycho - raise your hand.

well that depends.. which Psycho do you mean... that re-make was pretty bad!!!!

loving the lists...Time for a new one from me I think...let's see... how about favorite silent films... I know I can't be the only Silent Film Fan...now.. this list will not be complete or in any order....and I will combine comedy/action/adventure/horror... if people want to break them into groups feel free.. also.. again now order on my lists (i know I will miss several as this is off the top of my head)

1- The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari- (Conrad Veidt)
2- City Lights- (Chaplin)
3- The General- (Keaton)
4- Sherlock Jr.- (Keaton)
5- The Unholy Three- (Lon Chaney)
6- Nosferatu- (Directed by F.W Murnau- Max Schreck)
7- The Man Who Laughs- (Conrad Veidt)
8- the Phantom Carriage- (Directed by Victor Sjostrom)
9- Greed- (Directed by Eric Von Stroheim)
10- Der Golem- (Directed by Paul Wegener)
11- Les Vampires (serial) (Directed by Louis Feuillade)
12- The Lodger ( Directed by Hitchcock)
13- He Who Gets Slapped- (Directed by Victor Sjostrom)
14- Un Chien Andalou- (Directed by Luis Bunuel & Slavador Dali)
15- Haxan (Witchcraft through the ages... I prefer the William Burroughs narrated one.. but that’s just me)
16- the Unknown- (Directed by Todd Browning- Lon Chaney)
17- the Thief of Bagdad- (Douglas Fairbanks)
18- Our Hospitality- (Buster Keaton)
19- The Gold Rush- (Chaplin)
20- The Kid- (Chaplin)
21- Intolerance- (Directed by D W Griffith)
22- Napoleon- (Directed by Abel Gance)
23- Birth Of a Nation- (Directed by D W Griffith)
24- Metropolis- (Directed by Fritz Lang)
25- The Passion of Joan of Arc- (Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer)
26- The Battleship Potemkin- (Directed by Sergei Eisenstein)
27- Pandora's Box- (Louise Brooks)
28- Modern Times- (Chaplin)
29- Safety Last- (Harrold Lloyd)
30- A Trip To The Moon (and other Melies short films)
31- The Cat and the Canary (Directed by Paul Leni)
32- It- (Clara Bow)
33- Waxworks (Directed by Fritz Lang)
34-The Crowd (Directed By King Vidor)

I know I am missing so many!!!

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

Hello Steadmund. Actually, the IDEA behind "Bride of the Monster" could have led to a great film--given a budget and a genuine writer.

Cheers.
LC

Same could be said of Jail Bait...but I dare say acting even more than writing... yeah some of the dialog is a bit hokey, but that wasn't uncommon in films of that era...Lugosi is fantastic considering his health, and what (and who) he had to work with ( which is why they made such a pivotal scene out of the "Home..I have no home" speech in the Burton film....for a "z grade film" it really is a very well done and moving scene).....that being said....I almost get the feeling that if he were given a big budget and time.. the only big difference would be in sets and makeup....his "vision" seems so unique that I think it would be the same no matter the budget.. which is why you can always tell an Ed Wood film from the other films of the time...even if you aren't told it's Wood... you can just tell....

Steadmund Brand

[lynn cates]

props

Hello Steadmund. Thanks.

So we would still have shower curtains and wooden steering wheels in the aircraft? (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

[Mayerling]

well that depends.. which Psycho do you mean... that re-make was pretty bad!!!!

loving the lists...Time for a new one from me I think...let's see... how about favorite silent films... I know I can't be the only Silent Film Fan...now.. this list will not be complete or in any order....and I will combine comedy/action/adventure/horror... if people want to break them into groups feel free.. also.. again now order on my lists (i know I will miss several as this is off the top of my head)

1- The Cabinet of Dr.Caligari- (Conrad Veidt)
2- City Lights- (Chaplin)
3- The General- (Keaton)
4- Sherlock Jr.- (Keaton)
5- The Unholy Three- (Lon Chaney)
6- Nosferatu- (Directed by F.W Murnau- Max Schreck)
7- The Man Who Laughs- (Conrad Veidt)
8- the Phantom Carriage- (Directed by Victor Sjostrom)
9- Greed- (Directed by Eric Von Stroheim)
10- Der Golem- (Directed by Paul Wegener)
11- Les Vampires (serial) (Directed by Louis Feuillade)
12- The Lodger ( Directed by Hitchcock)
13- He Who Gets Slapped- (Directed by Victor Sjostrom)
14- Un Chien Andalou- (Directed by Luis Bunuel & Slavador Dali)
15- Haxan (Witchcraft through the ages... I prefer the William Burroughs narrated one.. but that’s just me)
16- the Unknown- (Directed by Todd Browning- Lon Chaney)
17- the Thief of Bagdad- (Douglas Fairbanks)
18- Our Hospitality- (Buster Keaton)
19- The Gold Rush- (Chaplin)
20- The Kid- (Chaplin)
21- Intolerance- (Directed by D W Griffith)
22- Napoleon- (Directed by Abel Gance)
23- Birth Of a Nation- (Directed by D W Griffith)
24- Metropolis- (Directed by Fritz Lang)
25- The Passion of Joan of Arc- (Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer)
26- The Battleship Potemkin- (Directed by Sergei Eisenstein)
27- Pandora's Box- (Louise Brooks)
28- Modern Times- (Chaplin)
29- Safety Last- (Harrold Lloyd)
30- A Trip To The Moon (and other Melies short films)
31- The Cat and the Canary (Directed by Paul Leni)
32- It- (Clara Bow)
33- Waxworks (Directed by Fritz Lang)
34-The Crowd (Directed By King Vidor)

I know I am missing so many!!!

Steadmund Brand

Very gratifying to see all the discussion on Wood's "Plan 9" and his other works as well.

I liked your choices of silent films Steadmund. Most of them I would have put down. I might add a few shorts:

01. Lucky Dog
02. Dr. Pycke and Mr. Pryde
03. Mud and Sand
04. Putting Pants on Philip
05. The Battle of the Century
06. Early to Bed (admittedly one's taste is involved in the relationship of the boys in this one)
07. Two Tars
08. Big Business
09. Liberty
10. From Soup to Nuts

Getting back to the big leagues features:
01. Speedy
02. The Kid Brother
03. The Freshman
04. The Navigator
05. Battling Butler
06. Steamboat Bill Jr.
07. The Strongman
08. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
09. The Wind
10. Flesh and the Devil
11. The Big Parade
12. Sadie Thompson (I recently saw it on television - they made up for the lost last reel)
13. Foolish Wives
14. The Merry Widow
15. Way Down East
16. Broken Blossoms
17. October [Pure propaganda, but fascinating the Eisenstein way.]
18. Storm Over Asia (Pudovkin - I saw this once and loved it. One of the few non-Eisenstein Russian films I've seen)
19. The Last Laugh
20. The Last Command (all right, he turned out to be a Nazi S.O.B., but Emil was one hell of an actor)
21. What Price Glory?
22. Orphans of the Storm (as film, yeah the Gish sisters - as history forget it: Danton is not the "Abraham Lincoln" of France!)
23. Shoulder Arms (Charlie as a tree in disguise, trying to flee being cut down!)
24. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (nice job - although the 1958 version is closest to the actual novel)
25. The Phantom of the Opera

Wish list of lost films:
1) London After Midnight - Turner Classic Film network did a fine job restoring a coherent version based on the surviving stills and the screenplay, as well as the talkie remake, "Mark of the Vampire". But I still would prefer seeing the original if a copy survived somehow.
2) Cleopatra (Theda Bara) - it has a lot of stills of her in her various costumes. What intrigues me is her leading man: Thurston Hall played Mark Anthony. Now Hall (as we recall him from talkies) played pompous, blustering businessmen (occasionally crooked ones or crooked politicians). But in some of the stills he was still not as stout, and much younger - the film was made in 1917. It would be interesting to watch it for a glimpse of the Vamp - too few of her films exist - and the young Hall.
3) Humorisque - the holy grail of lost silent films. We have been assured by one of it's four stars that all copies were destroyed after a single viewing in 1925. If it appeared in tact there would be fascination on how all it's stars handled silence, rather than just one. But the one who discussed it did not care for it and said he was glad it was gone. Ah well. Jobyna Ralston co-starred, so possibly her friend Harold Lloyd saved a copy. But none has turned up. If it ever does, it increases the movies made together by its stars to sixteen films (one a short) instead of fifteen.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

3) Humorisque - the holy grail of lost silent films. We have been assured by one of it's four stars that all copies were destroyed after a single viewing in 1925. If it appeared in tact there would be fascination on how all it's stars handled silence, rather than just one. But the one who discussed it did not care for it and said he was glad it was gone. Ah well. Jobyna Ralston co-starred, so possibly her friend Harold Lloyd saved a copy. But none has turned up. If it ever does, it increases the movies made together by its stars to sixteen films (one a short) instead of fifteen.

Jeff[/QUOTE]

As a lifelong member in the Marx-Brotherhood this has been on my wish list forever...I don't have much hope for it especially since.. will if it has been missing this long even if it is found.. it was on nitrate film so...it would probably be beyond repair ...still fun to see Harpo in Too Many Kisses (first appearence on film of any brother....I think it was made before Humorrisque.. same year anyway..)

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

Hello Steadmund. Thanks.

So we would still have shower curtains and wooden steering wheels in the aircraft? (heh-heh)

Cheers.
LC

I wish .. no, as I said I think the sets and makeup would have been better...I remember an interview I saw with Harry Thomas.. Woods friend and Makeup artist, who said when they started to plan out Plan 9 they had all these great ideas.. then when it came time to work, Wood told him.. "Sorry we don't have the time.. we don't have the budget" and we got....Aliens...sort of..I personally like the shower curtain….it’s actually not that bad, when I was a kid I didn’t notice.. and let’s face it.. sci fi films were made for kids anyway… 

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

3) Humorisque - the holy grail of lost silent films. We have been assured by one of it's four stars that all copies were destroyed after a single viewing in 1925. If it appeared in tact there would be fascination on how all it's stars handled silence, rather than just one. But the one who discussed it did not care for it and said he was glad it was gone. Ah well. Jobyna Ralston co-starred, so possibly her friend Harold Lloyd saved a copy. But none has turned up. If it ever does, it increases the movies made together by its stars to sixteen films (one a short) instead of fifteen.

Jeff

As a lifelong member in the Marx-Brotherhood this has been on my wish list forever...I don't have much hope for it especially since.. will if it has been missing this long even if it is found.. it was on nitrate film so...it would probably be beyond repair ...still fun to see Harpo in Too Many Kisses (first appearence on film of any brother....I think it was made before Humorrisque.. same year anyway..)

Steadmund Brand[/QUOTE]

I'd take even a tattered negative. Hey I just sat through "Sadie Thompson" watching Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore in most of that film complete, but the conclusion was a combination of some silenced sequences from the 1932 remake with Joan Crawford (showing the discovery of Rev. Davidson's corpse), and a handful of stills to make up for a missing reel. And the same for that "London After Midnight" reconstruction. Something might turn up.

Zeppo also appeared in a silent film, but I can't recall the film's name.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

.

Zeppo also appeared in a silent film, but I can't recall the film's name.

Jeff[/QUOTE]

A Kiss in the dark.. also 1925 was Zeppo's film

I love the London After Midnight TMC version... and the Greed one.. it gives you an idea of what they are like anyway...when did you become interested in silent films... I know for myself, believe it or not it was when i was a very young child ( like around 6 or 70 i saw one late on TV one night and became obsessed with them for many years… not even sure what the film I saw was but something about it hypnotized me as a child…It was a melodrama from what I can remember ( not a Chaplin comedy or anything)

Steadmund "The Movie Nerd" Brand

[Mayerling]

.

Zeppo also appeared in a silent film, but I can't recall the film's name.

Jeff

A Kiss in the dark.. also 1925 was Zeppo's film

I love the London After Midnight TMC version... and the Greed one.. it gives you an idea of what they are like anyway...when did you become interested in silent films... I know for myself, believe it or not it was when i was a very young child ( like around 6 or 70 i saw one late on TV one night and became obsessed with them for many years… not even sure what the film I saw was but something about it hypnotized me as a child…It was a melodrama from what I can remember ( not a Chaplin comedy or anything)

Steadmund "The Movie Nerd" Brand[/QUOTE]

My liking for silent films arrived in spurts. As a kid I saw a television show (it must have been from the early 1950s, because I saw it in the late 1950s and early 1960s and it looked rather old for television then - and it was shown on one of the minor channels in NYC, channel 11) called "Silence Please". The first film I watched that I can pinpoint the name of was "Cops" with Buster Keaton, but it was really chopped up on this program. Each episode was only on for half an hour and spotlighted one of the leading figures of the silent film world's elite (Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks Sr., Valentino, Bow). The series introduced me to the Babylonian sequence of "Intolerance", and it's introduction I remember in part as "Silence please! The films, the stars, the thrills, the success, and the heartache of Hollywood's Golden Era." I recall when they said "the thrills" they showed Fairbanks swinging (possibly from "The Black Pirate" - a film of worth which escaped both of us!), but when they mentioned "the heartache" they showed John Gilbert looking distressed - obviously a commentary on how his career collapsed from the heights of 1928 to "I love you, I love you, I love you!" in that talkie two years later ("His Romantic Night" I think is the name of the film, based (hard to believe) on a Ferenc Molnar play!).

Over the years I'd catch others, especially Chaplin's Mutuals, and later some of earlier stuff with Mable Normand. Occasionally I saw full movies. There was a series hosted by Orson Welles in 1970-71 where he introduced (among other films) "The Gold Rush", "The General", "Beloved Rogue (John Barrymore - interesting neither of us put down any of his films: I liked his "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Beau Brummell"), "Intolerance (complete this time), "Orphans of the Storm", "Sally of the Sawdust" (because W. C. Fields appeared in it as "Eustace McGargle"), "The Thief of Baghdad", "Down to the Sea in Ships" (for Clara Bow). There were others. I certainly made efforts to catch any Keaton or Chaplin films. At college they had a semester of Keaton movies (with piano accompaniment). Chaplin film retrospectives ran in Manhattan (and actually I looked at several non-silent ones like "The Great Dictator" and "Limelight" - but I caught "A Dog's Life", "Shoulder Arms", "The Pilgrim", "City Lights", and "Modern Times" too).

Later in the 1970s I finally saw silent Harold Lloyd films. Up till then I had only seen his 1938 comedy "Professor Beware". But about 1977 there was a series on one of the newer stations (hosted by Dick Van Dyke) that included all of the major Lloyd silent comedies, and several sound ones ("Feet First"). As you can see it built up.

The 1980s saw me start using Video tape collections and I saw Lon Chaney Sr., more Fairbanks, and even some Jannings. Kino was an especially good label for improved copies of the complete films. So was Hal Roach, which released many of the Laurel and Hardy silent films which most people did not see. I have about a dozen.

Now I find myself drawn to You Tube - I finally caught up with some of Charlie Chase's work (terribly underrated I think). Also Langdon's films - again underrated, although at one point he almost made the holy silent comedy trinity a quartet. Only fly so far - Raymond Griffith. When I read Walter Kerr's "The Silent Comedians" I found his real enthusiasm for this comedian (for "Hands Up!" and "Paths to Paradise"). Haven't found them yet.

Before leaving this subject I should add that there was a BBC series about Hollywood's history in the period from 1905-1930 in like ten episodes that James Mason narrated which was excellent in discussing many leading figures who rose (and frequently fell) in public esteem.

Jeff