#2: Casablanca

There are those films we admire, and there are those films we love. "Casablanca" certainly goes under the latter category for me, can you think of any other film that is more beloved than this film? (For me it would be the #1 film on my list but that's it). Whoever coined the phrase "They don't make them like they used to", must've been referring to "Casablanca". Many people have tried to copy its style, it's plot, it's characters, but so far none have succeeded.

I think the treat in watching a film like "Casablanca" is its familiarity, everyone knows it, even if you haven't seen the movie (although if you haven't you really should get on that). I even remember hearing the lines "We'll always have Paris", "You'll regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life", and "Of all the gin joints in all the places in all the world, she walks into mine" before I saw one celluloid fragment of the actual film. When I first saw the movie it was as if I knew it already, even the ending was so famous I knew what was going to happen but I didn't mind.

I keep going back to "Casablanca" for those special moments, moments that can only happen in a movie, such as the first time Rick sees Ilsa in his cafe. That one look sums up an entire romantic history for us. Rick Blaine as played by Humphrey Bogart speaks volumes for any man who has been scorned, more than any other character, we understand the sadness behind his eyes, his bitterness, and his cynicism, but we can also see the mask he keeps to hide his humanity.

If you look at it, "Casablanca" is really Rick's story, it's how he's able to let go of his bitter past and become the man we all know he's destined to be. The emotion of the film doesn't lie in the star crossed romance between Rick and Ilsa, but in the unselfish act Rick does by letting her go.

Humphrey Bogart was the perfect man to play Rick at this time in his life, he had already played gangsters like Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forrest" (My personal favorite gangster in the 30s period) and tough cynical anti-heroes (Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon). Bogart always made his heroes and villains complicated, we liked them when we were suppose to hate them, and hated them when we were suppose to like them. Part of Bogart's appeal and why he is perhaps the most admired movie star of all time is because his characters never pretend to know what the right thing to do is, but they most often do the right thing anyway. Bogart didn't become a movie star until he hit middle age, at this point it was as if his face had caught up with the characters he was born to play. There's a world weariness in Bogart that we see, someone who has been kicked and beaten but stands his ground, Rick's rebirth of patriotism at the end of "Casablanca" is such a heroic event because it gives validity to the old saying "you can't keep a good man down."

I watch "Casablanca" at least once a year, if I were to introduce a person to classic films, it would no doubt be the first movie I would give them. I could quote the film by heart, yet it still surprises me, I often catch myself smiling at my favorite parts. It's a pleasure to hear the dialogue, to see the cigarette smoke reflect from the light in the black and white film, to hear Dooley Wilson sing "As Time Goes By", to be caught up in the whole romance, intrigue, and melodrama of it all. To go on like this would be rambling, let me just say if you're not moved by a moment of "Casablanca", check your pulse, you must be dead.

#3: Citizen Kane

Whenever I get around to discussing "Citizen Kane", I sometimes stop myself. Much has already been said about "Citizen Kane", anything I would have to contribute would just be repeating from other people who are much better experts of the film than I am. Still "Citizen Kane" is a film one can't help but talk about. True it is the most overly analyzed film in the history of cinema, it has been examined to death. We can discuss the shots, the themes, the acting, the screenplay, the music, depth of field, the lighting, the camera movement, everything, it would all come down to what we already know, "Citizen Kane" is a masterpiece.

Amazingly in the two and a bit years this blog has been running, I haven't had one entry regarding "Citizen Kane", which is probably why of all films I've seen, I'm probably intimidated by it the most. I've seen the film multiple times since I was a child and seeked it out for the first time, for me it's a very magical movie, I've put it on my list of greatest films of the 40s not because it should be there, but because I believe it deserves to be there.

I feel some people I know look at "Citizen Kane" as something that has to be endured rather than enjoyed. They see it as a text book, something that must be learned and studied as if the teacher were forcing you, it has become to cinema what "War and Peace" has become to literature. When a film is suddenly thought of only in an academic nature, it sort of takes the fun out of watching it. Viewing the film again after so many times, I am still amazed at how fresh it is, as if it were my first time watching it. The pace of it is something that fascinates me, I think because it has become such an academic film, students have fallen under the impression that it is a slow film, when in fact it moves along at a tremendous speed, but the genius of Welles is how he can put so much ideas and condense them into such a small period of time, he was economical that way, but he makes his shots so memorable, you more time has gone by than really has.

Take the scene where young Kane is to be taken away from his boarding house and his mother to go and live with rich miser Mr. Thatcher. In all but five minutes or less, Welles creates a perfect short film within his larger one about a young boy torn from his mother that loves him in order to protect him from his abusive father. The scene is probably my favorite in the film, made so probably by Agnes Moorehead's wonderful portrayal of Kane's mother.

Take also the scene where Kane is seen defeated from his political race and Jed Leland goes to visit him at his headquarters drunk. The scene is a deterioration of a friendship, and is done in one long take with no cuts, with only two actors in the scene. Again it shows Welles' economy as a filmmaker but also his innovation with depth of field, we see the physical distance between the two friends, but Welles never lets them out of focus.

The thing I really zoned in on this time from watching it was the sound, and the wonderful understated music by legendary composer Bernard Herrman. Herrman of course made a name for himself with countless Hitchcock films, and I never really felt the impact of his score in "Citizen Kane" as I have in those films. But this time I heard the music never overpowering a scene, moving from themes of playfulness, to dread, to mystery, to joy. Listen to the music he gives in the young Kane scene, probably Herrman's most beautiful scoring.

Welles' sound in the film also is filled with a very playful quality, sometimes used to punctuate a scene or an incident, such as in the picnic scene where he slaps his second wife Susan. Susan never screams in any way, instead Welles uses the loud scream of a woman outside to illustrate to feelings of the character at that moment. There's also the moment where Kane fires Jed from his newspaper, punctuated with the sound of a typewriter resetting itself, it's all a very organic experience.

I am left in awe by "Citizen Kane" whenever I put it on, once I begin watching it, I won't turn it off. It deserves its reputation as the best American film ever made, I don't just admire it because I am told to, but because it is truly an entertaining film and should be viewed that way. My advice to those who perceive "Citizen Kane" only as a lesson plan is to put away the text book and try to enjoy it on its own terms, that is the only way to appreciate a film.

#10: The Bicycle Thieves

I first saw "The Bicycle Thieves", years ago in an intro to film class. The copy of the film we saw was entitled "The Bicycle Thief". The original title as it is displayed in the criterion version of the film is indeed the plural title, which makes it more accurate. There are in fact two bicycle thieves in the film, one is caught, and the other one isn't. The film focuses on the impact one of the thieves has on a poor working man living in Italy.

"The Bicycle Thieves" takes place in post war Italy, when the country was reduced to a capitalistic way of life, but which also meant high unemployment. The main protagonist is Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), a man who at the beginning is given a job for the city hanging up posters. The only thing he needs for the job is a bicycle to move around in. This already proves hard for Antonio since he had to pawn his bike, but his wife Maria (Lianella Carell) makes an ultimate sacrifice and pawns the family bedsheets in order to get the bike back. "We don't need to sleep with sheets" she says.

It becomes apparent that at this point in their lives, the family depends on the bicycle, as Antonio tells his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) later in the film "without the bicycle we don't eat."

On the very first day Antonio starts his new job, the bike is indeed stolen, the rest of the film deals with the father and son trying to hunt down the man who took it.

When the film was first released, it was a huge critical and commercial success, it won the Academy Award for best foreign film in 1948, and is one of the important films in the era known as Italian neo-realism. These were films made after the war ended and what usually connected them was its stark realism and social commentary. "The Bicycle Thieves" is probably the best known of these films, although there could be an argument for Rossellini's "Rome, Open City" or "Umberto D", which was also made the same director of this film, Vittorio De Sica.

De Sica's style was using real settings for his films and for his cast, he used mostly inexperienced actors. De Sica was more concerned with the faces of his characters rather than their acting style, as a result there is a more natural tone and look than what you would find in a Hollywood film. Famed producer even suggested Cary Grant for the role of Antonio, a decision that would've been a big mistake.

This is one of the films where faces of the actors are an actual part of the aesthetic, when you look into the eyes of Antonio or Maria, you can sense that they are at their wits end, scraping to get by, they don't know what they would do if they can't find the bicycle.

"The Bicycle Thieves" isn't totally full of despair, part of why it is so emotional is how even the slightest bit of humanity can come through even at at a moment of hopelessness. One of the film's best scenes is after Antonio slaps Bruno out of frustration, Bruno walks away hurt and angry, later Antonio hears people shouting of a boy drowning, Antonio thinking it Bruno runs and is relieved to find it was not him. He sees Bruno waiting for him at the steps he told him to wait. Not only is this a social commentary story, but a tender father/son story as well.

I still remember the first time I saw "The Bicycle Thieves" it was one of the first foreign films I ever saw. The first time I was caught up in the suspense of the film, each time Antonio and Bruno are close to finding the bike or the thief, something lets them go. The film is full of ironies of class distinction and social justice, and the it all comes to a boil in the memorable finale.

In the end, we aren't given much closure, Antonio is still in the same situation as he continues searching for his bicycle, it avoids cliche and because of that it remains as powerful today as it was back then.

The 40s

The world grew up in the 40s, and cinema did as well. The depression ended in 1939 with the break out of the War in Europe, America then joined the fight in 1941, and nothing would be the same again.

Most popular movies in the 30s looked at the world in black and white, you knew your heroes and you knew your villains, but suddenly things got more complicated. Film went into darker territory, you sometimes didn't know who the good guys were. Characters were more cynical, and weary of the world, there was a name for this type of movie: Film Noir.

Film Noir came into its own in the 1940s, the bleak post war world view complimented these film's dark and violent overtones. Film noir found its origin earlier on borrowing a German Expressionism asthetic with its strong use of shadow. Robert Mitchum, who was one of film noir's major stars once said all he had for light in a scene came from his cigarette.

The film's themselves mostly originated from pulp crime stories from authours like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Directors such as John Huston and Billy Wilder made names for themselves with this kind of film, and it has since incluenced generations afterwards.

The major star to come out of these kind of movies was Humphrey Bogart. Bogart had a breakout year in 1941 with Huston's "The Maltese Falcon" and the gangster film "High Sierra". In both films, Bogart plays the anti-hero, in that he was someone who did bad things, but had the kind of attitude people rooted for anyway. Bogart's image excelled in these kind of films, perhaps no more than when he was partnered with his soul mate Lauren Becall. Together they made four films, perhaps no more memorable than the two directed by Howard Hawks, "To Have and Have Not", and "The Big Sleep".

Another kind of star gained a lot of fame during this period as well; John Wayne epitomized the Hollywood war hero in many films which made him the major box office star of the decade. It was ironic however that Wayne himself never fought in the war, something that would forever haunt his relationship with his director/mentor John Ford.

Films were getting more and more complex, a lot of art that came out during the war was abstract, reality was being bended in so many ways. The door became open for what is probably the single most influential director to come out of Hollywood. Orson Welles, the wonderkid of both theatre and radio was given a one in a lifetime contract by RKO studios for what would be his first film "Citizen Kane". Welles was given free reign, because as he stated before "I didn't want the money, I just wanted the power." He got it, and film students are still in awe of his masterwork. Welles would of course work in Hollywood for many years, but such other masterpieces like "The Magnificent Ambersons" would be butchered with his vocal disappoval, others like his "Othello" would take years to make since he had cease shooting in order to raise more money.

Another kind of revolution was happening overseas as well in the foreign market, this mostly seen in Italy. Italian neo-realism came into blossom by films such as De Sica's "The Bicycle Thieves" and Rosselini's "Rome Open City". The films were stark and showed a realism very different from Hollywood. Sometimes ordinary people were chosen in place of real actors, streets of Italy were shown as they were instead of glossy sets, and the subject matter was far more politically charged.

The 40s seemed to expand the arena of filmmaking, as the war ended, there was more complexity and more uncertainty. If the 30s showed us a world that was trying to stay optimstic, the 40s showed us that it was easier said than done.

The Top Ten List:

The 40s represented what I think may be the best films in Hollywoods history, there were so many leaps with new kinds of innovations, so I tried to keep that in mind but also not forgetting about my personal favorites. It's so fun making lists like these, once more I apoligize for anything I left out, and as per usual I accept your critiques and suggestions. Enjoy this week!

The Absolutely, Positively, No Doubt About It TOP 10 BEST FILMS OF THE 1930s

1. City Lights (1931) Directed By Charles Chaplin



2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Directed By Frank Capra



3. Rules of the Game (1939) Directed By Jean Renoir



4. Horse Feathers (1932) Directed By Norman Z. McLeod



5. (Tie) Top Hat (1935) Directed By Mark Sandrich



5. (Tie) Swing Time (1936) Directed By George Stevens



6. I Was Born But...(1931): Directed by Yasujiro Ozu



7. Trouble in Paradise (1932): Directed by Ernst Lubitsch



8. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Directed by James Whale



9. Only Angels Have Wings (1939) Directed By Howard Hawks



10. Stagecoach (1939): Directed By John Ford

Did I miss anything, let me know, tell me your top ten picks.

#1: City Lights

In so many ways, the 1930s represented the most fundamental turning point in cinema, and that was the advent of sound. The sound film of course began earlier than that with "The Jazz Singer" in 1927, but the 30s decade was the time when motion pictures finally caught up with the invention. Sound wasn't just a gimmick anymore, it was the wave of the future and studios were following suit, the people demanded it. But not everyone welcomed it, and perhaps the most famous silent screen star was the most reluctant to change with the times, however because of his stubbornness, he was able to keep with his artistic vision, and show that cinema is first and foremost a visual artform.

"City Lights" was supposed to be Charlie Chaplin's first sound film, people would now be able to hear The Tramp speak. For Chaplin this proved to be a problem, The Tramp was the most recognized character in the history of movies up to that point, he was known throughout the world, and it was because he kept silent that he remained so universal, what would happen if he suddenly spoke? Everyone had their own idea of what The Tramp would sound like, so Chaplin made the conscious decision to keep "City Lights" the way he intended, a silent movie, however with a full musical score and a few sound effects.

"City Lights" is probably Chaplin's greatest film although there are many to choose from. With this film however he achieves his special blend of humour and pathos perhaps better than he ever did.

The story puts The Tramp in a big city where he befriends a blind flower girl. The first meeting between the two becomes a case of mistaken identity, when the tramp avoids a policeman by ducking into a limo, when he comes out the other side, the flower girl assumes he's a millionaire. The Tramp doesn't want to ruin the illusion because he becomes smitten with the girl and feels sorry for her, so he decides to play the role of a millionaire.

He receives help unexpectedly when he saves a real life drunken millionaire from suicide. He and The Tramp become good friends, however when the millionaire sobers up, he no longer remembers him and is thrown out on the street again. Things get complicated when the blind girl needs money for rent so The Tramp has to find a job, when he gets fired for being late, he then has to go into a boxing ring and fight for the money.

"City Lights" isn't really a 30s movie, it has the aesthetic of a silent film, and has the feeling it was made in another time. To think this film was released the same year you could hear the sound of James Cagney firing Tommy guns in "The Public Enemy" or Boris Karloff being brought to life in "Frankenstein". Cinema was still very new, but back then Chaplin's film could've been regarded as passe if it weren't for his special brand of humour and sentiment that was accepted world wide. To his credit, Chaplin was probably the only one who could've gotten away with a silent film, and because of his talent and instincts, "City Lights" holds up better than any of those early sound films which suffer sometimes by the unrefined technology.

The power and beauty of Chaplin's cinema comes from his talent to simplify his story, he never needed words and found it a great challenge to tell it in a silent way. Take the first meeting with The Tramp and the flower girl, Chaplin uses the power of suggestion by having the car door of the limo be the instigator of the mistaken identity plot. The scene was said to have over three hundred takes before Chaplin was satisfied with the finished product, that's how hard he worked in telling the story visually.

As the performer Chaplin was also a master thespian and one of the greatest actors in film. Like Keaton, (whom he's most commonly compared to) Chaplin had complete control of his body and could convey any level of emotion, and he could also perform physical comedy as if it were a dance. Take the most famous set piece in the film, the boxing fight, Chaplin isn't necessarily fighting as he is dancing around the ring avoiding the other fighter as much as possible. Watch him hide behind the referee as the three men in the ring perform a sort of boxing ballet in perfect unison.

Of course much has been said about the ending of this film, and many regard it to be the most perfect ending in all of cinema. The ending is looked at for its simplicity in that we are looking at the reactions of both The Tramp and the flower girl, who can finally see who he really is for the first time. There are a few dialogue cards at the end, but the image of the characters are so strong, I feel Chaplin didn't really need them, we knew what the scene means, we know the stakes, and we know what they are feeling at that moment, that is why this ending is so perfect.

"City Lights" would be considered Charlie Chaplin's last real silent film, his next one, "Modern Times" added even more sound effects and has speaking lines, however The Tramp is left silent save for a song he sings all in gibberish. When Chaplin finally went full sound in "The Great Dictator" it was really the end of an era. Silent comedy is probably the biggest loss we had with the advent of sound, most comedies today rely only on dialogue, but the great silent comedians had a grace to them and an elegance that was beautiful to watch. For many, Chaplin was cinema, he influenced many people of the french New Wave and is still well renowned throughout Europe. Chaplin's movies were magic, he never forgot the power of cinema which wasn't in what you heard, but what you saw.

#2: Mr. Smith goes to Washington

If I were to pick one director who encapsulated both the despair and the hope of America during the depression, it would be Frank Capra. Today Capra gets a bad reputation of being sentimental, which some would claim dates his films. Capra was indeed sentimental, but I never thought of that as a bad thing, John Ford was sentimental, even David Lynch could be from time to time as well. Sentimentality is a tricky thing and only the real good directors could pull it off without it becoming overly manipulative, Capra was probably the master of it. The thing often forgotten about Capra's work was how very dark they tended to be. The most famous being "it's a Wonderful Life", which is the ultimate Christmas movie, but is in fact about a man at the end of his rope and has chosen to commit suicide.

The bright light through this darkness was Capra's optimism, he had faith that in the end, people would do the right thing, they just needed to be pointed in the right direction. But apart from his high ideals, Capra was also a realist, he understood the world was a complicated place, and the real world was always the place where his heroes would rise up.

Now let's look at "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", Capra's last great film of the thirties. The story is set in the Washington of today, if you look at it, you will find nothing much has changed. The main villains or Goliaths in Capra's fables are the corrupt politicians and big businessmen, who control every aspect of public opinion. Also there are the newsmen who are either fast talking ambulance chasers who twist the truth to make it into a better story, or the ones controlled by the main villain James Taylor (Edward Arnold) who plays Washington like a puppet.

For the hero, Capra chooses a naive simpleton named Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) who quotes Lincoln and Washington, but has never been in politics in his life. Smith is chosen to fill the seat of a recent deceased senator. He's chosen because he is basically an innocent, and the villains think he would be easy to manipulate. However as Jeff comes to Washington what he uncovers is a wave of corruption that is orchestrated by Taylor. In the middle of this, Jeff also discovers his fellow Senator and the man who was once an idealist like him Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) has also compromised his ideals in order to further his political career.

The world of Washington that Capra depicts here isn't a fairy tale one, in fact upon its release in 1939, it received criticism from many political groups who didn't approve of it. Capra must've known he was on to something when it struck a nerve.

Today you can definitely see parallels with this film and politics as it is done today. It's no secret senators, congressmen, governors, and presidents have all been accused of corruption, and we now live in a world where even the media cannot be trusted, Capra knew this even in '39, and went further with it in his 1948 film "State of the Union".

But the real reason "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" should be celebrated as a classic is in its construction as a very well crafted, expertly acted, and emotional story. I first saw the film early in life on the television one Sunday afternnoon. I was taken right away by the fast pace of the film, it had a drive that got me interested in the story right away. The film is a testament to Capra's brilliance as a director at how he really brings us into the world of American politics. Being an outsider of the world himself, Jefferson Smith is the perfect character for the audience to follow, we learn as he learns, I remember watching it as a child never being confused and always understanding what is going on. It's really in Capra's simplicity of plot, and choosing more to foucus on emotion and character.

The film was the breakthrough performance of Jimmy Stewart, he became a star over night. He received an Oscar nomination for his performance and should've won. Jean Arthur plays Saunders, Smith's secretary and soon to be love interest. Arthur was always one of the smartest and funniest actresses around and along with Barbara Stanwyck was one of Capra's favorites, she was actually the first one asked to play Mary in "It's a Wonderful Life". Saunders is someone who's played the Washington game long enough, and has grown cynical but is reawakened by Smith's idealism. Arthur was one of those long underrated actresses, and it's hard to believe after watching this film she was not recognized, after all she has about as much screen time as Stewart.

The other interesting character is Senator Paine, played by Claude Rains in one of his greatest roles. We learn Paine had high ideals once before, he was a struggling lawyer who once worked with Smith's father who was a struggling newspaper editor. They fought for lost causes, but somewhere he lost his ideals. Paine is probably the most realistic character in this whole film, and perhaps the one Capra could sympathize with the most. The story of Paine is not unlike the story of many politicians who decided to compromise their own principles in favour of getting ahead, but Capra seems to point out, it doesn't just stop once you do it.

The centerpiece of the film is the final filibuster, where Smith takes over the Senate to prove himself innocent of corruption, Capra uses the senate has his stage and takes command, never has talking and arguing been so entertaining. Capra sustains the drama by keeping the pace rapid by the actor's dialogue and his impeccable editing technique. For his part, Stewart controls the screen with every speech he's given, and every close-up as we see him slowly coming apart as the filibuster takes his toll on his body. Stewart's performance is one of the cinematic greats, and it's no wonder this actor/director team are so closely associated with one another.

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was the end of a great run of films for Frank Capra, it would be the last one he did for Columbia Pictures, a studio he pretty much single handidly saved from bankruptcy. In the 40s he would continue to make powerful films about the common man, but after too many flops and the failure of his independent company "Liberty Films" he had to resort to becoming a Producer's director. He could no longer pick his projects as freely as he once did, but films like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" are testaments to a man who truly believed in what he was saying.

Many films today try to emulate Capra's style, but to me most of those films come off as phony and even cynical. The missing ingredient in those films that you could find in the best of Capra's is sincerity.