19 Sunday Jul 2015
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Directed: Josef von Sternberg
Year: 1932
Nominated: Best Film, Best Director – Josef von Sternberg
Plot in 25 Words: A train carrying urgently required medical staff and the infamous Shanghai Lily is stopped by Chinese soldiers. Messy murders and a very complicated love story.
19 Sunday Jul 2015
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Directed: Rouben Mamoulian
Year: 1931
Nominated: Best Actor – Fredric March
Won: Best Actor – Fredric March
Plot in 25 Words: A classic monster story with plenty of action, intrigue and a smidge of romance. Wonderful special effects, and great acting make this a heroic horror.
13 Monday Jul 2015
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Directed: Frank Borzage
Year: 1931
Nominated: Best Film, Best Director – Frank Borzage
Won: Best Director – Frank Borzage
Plot in 25 Words: A very ordinary film about the very ordinary lives of very ordinary people. Lots of casual sexism and a terrifying insight into a 1930’s childbirth.
12 Sunday Jul 2015
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Directed: Clarence Brown
Year: 1932
Nominated: Best Actress – Marie Dressler
Plot in 25 Words: A nanny coddles, cares for, and loves a family, til the spiteful bastards turn on her and accuse her of murder. She finds another family.
12 Sunday Jul 2015
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Directed: Edmund Goulding
Year: 1932
Nominated: Best Film
Won: Best Film
Plot in 25 Words: A wonderful showcase featuring the interlocking and weaving of so many different lives. Big names and small stories. And importantly, I want to be alone!
12 Sunday Jul 2015
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Best Picture:
Best Director:
Best Actor
Best Actress
A very different sort of list to what I’ve had in the past. In the early years of the Oscars, there were no set parameters for the categories. Best Actor for example, only has three nominees this year and was won and shared by two of them.
I’m very much looking forward to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s the first film to stray into sci-fi/horror territory, and I can’t wait to see how the era handles the ‘special’ effects. I loved Marie Dressler in Min and Bill so I’m also looking forward to Emma.
07 Tuesday Jul 2015
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This was the shortest ‘set’ to date and the first one I’ve gotten finished inside a month. There was some epics and some classics. Sadly some incredibly dull films too! A couple couldn’t hold my attention and a couple I couldn’t take my eyes off.
The scope of films is gradually changing. All were basic dramas but the sheer scale is growing. Cimarron may not have been my favourite film but the scope of the production cannot be denied.
Favourite – Skippy.
Least Favourite – Royal Family of Broadway.
Both a close run thing! Min and Bill was equally excellent and Holiday was also shit!
07 Tuesday Jul 2015
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Only two films this year. I’m choosing to see this as an improvement. I found a new site to buy DVDs from, and I’m so glad I did as I got Skippy from there, fairly last minute. I’d more or less resigned it to be a lost film and so pleased I persevered.
East Lynne (1931) – I simply couldn’t find a trace of it anywhere.
Trader Horn (1931) – Again just not in existence.
I’m keeping a list of all my ‘lost films’ and I will continue to look for them. I might get lucky!
07 Tuesday Jul 2015
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Directed: George Cukor & Cyril Gardner
Year: 1930
Nominated: Best Actor – Fredric March
Plot in 25 Words: A family of actors, famed on Broadway contemplate leaving the stage. There’s talking and dramatic hand gesturing. Sometimes in a cab. Did I watch this?
07 Tuesday Jul 2015
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Directed: Norman Taurog
Year: 1931
Nominated: Best Film, Best Director – Norman Taurog, Best Actor – Jackie Cooper
Won: Best Director – Norman Taurog
Plot in 25 Words: Two young boys deal with responsibility and the heartbreaking loss of a pet. Heartbreaking film set in the slums and the suburbs. Made me cry.
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