The Life of Emile Zola - 1937

HERS -

This was a very interesting movie once it got rolling. The first 1/2 hour to 45 minutes seemed like a complete movie in itself. It was all about Zola’s life and covered many years in a short period of time. This movie is a biopic which we learned is a movie that is a biography. Zola was a writer and wrote about injustices in Paris in the late 1800’s including political, class structure and personal injustices. He became very famous and rich and got lazy and his drive went away. The second two thirds of the movie introduced the injustice that brought his drive and fighting spirit back into his life.

The characters did a good job. There was only one character that was too melodramatic. Zola looked like Brad Pitt with his goatee thing he has going. I particularly enjoyed the wife of Dreyfus (the army officer who was framed and sent to Devil’s Island as punishment). She was a strong woman who stood by her man and did everything she could do to fight to get his name cleared. She even went to Zola to convince him to write about her husband.

Although I think this was overall a good movie, I am a little confused as to why it won the Best Picture award. There was nothing in the movie that set it apart to me. Still looking forward to 1939 when we get to watch a movie in color!

HIS -

Well, it's been awhile since we've watched something from our list...oh well, the best laid plans and all that.

We returned to our list with this biopic which was loosely based upon a true story. When we first began watching this, I almost regretted doing this project and thought that the quality of movies had regressed since the last movie we watched (Mutiny on the Bounty - I know, I know, we didn't write our thoughts on that one yet). Within the first 10 minutes or so, I looked at Lisa with one of those "You've got to be kidding" looks as it seemed like this was going to be one of those melodramatic type movies with all kinds of overacting ahead that would make two hours seem like 12.

Then it changed and drew us in after a fast forward in time. Zola went from the young, starving and cold artist to the more plump and wealthy older man that had profited from his writings over the years about the human condition in the latter part of 19th century France. I didn't think I'd like the movie, but I ended up not minding it. Typically I'm not a fan of movies that portray "the establishment" as all evil and corrupt and I thought this is what the movie would be like. Ultimately, the story was about justice of which I am a fan. It's the false justice I abhor and many stories and some movies portray just that - a twisting of the facts to advance an agenda (can anyone say "man-made global warming"?) and call it justice when evil, in fact, reigns.

I liked the older Zola as portrayed by Paul Muni rather than the younger version of the character. I thought Dreyfus was well played by Schindkraut in the first part of the role. The wife of Zola was sweet and unassuming, but I felt sorry for her as I could picture her thinking "It's all my fault!" as she sat at her husband's funeral.

Hmmm...will it be Gone With the Wind or The Great Ziegfeld next?

It Happened One Night - 1934

His -

What a difference a few years has made in movie-making! You could understand most everything being said without subtitles (although we thought about having those on - but you can't do that when watching instantly on Netflix as far as we could tell), the video was vastly improved, and the acting - except for a few scenes - was much better. Clark Gable (Peter) does well and Claudette Colbert (Ellen) wasn't too bad either.

This was the first movie that I wasn't watching the clock wondering when it was going to be over. It's my understanding that this was the first romantic comedy (at least that won) and I do like that genre.

As an aside, I was surprised that songs like "Flying Trapeze" were around back in the 1930s. For some reason I thought of those as coming into being sometime after that. And Lisa has been saying things like a "10 spot" ($10 bill) ever since I knew her - who knew it was in the vernacular way back then!

There was some clever writing in this movie. I found myself wondering how the two of them (Peter and Ellen) were going to get out of a potentially sticky situation when the bus ran off the road into a mud pond, when Peter came up with a rather clever solution. I think movies that make you wonder in such ways are well written.

I love movies that can entertain you and have happy endings as a bonus. While I can appreciate serious subjects (especially historically driven stories), I rather like happy endings. I don't like watching movies that simply document all the negative aspects of life - reality can stink - why spend time watching a story about it. I like to escape into stories that give me hope of better times and a better outlook. This movie entertained me and left me feeling good. Well done Frank Capra (you should have won for It's A Wonderful Life)!

Hers -

The first romantic comedy! Gone are the days of lame camera shots and shoddy sound. This was a well made movie! They are getting better all the time!

The move plot was very clever, although it happened over more than one night. Clark’s character meets Claudette’s character on a bus as she is traveling from Miami to New York City. She jumped over the side of a boat to run away from her father and toward her “husband” who she eloped with. She meets up with Clark’s character on the bus and they have several witty conversations and grow closer and closer to each other as they get closer and closer to New York.

Clark Gable was witty and handsome and clever and a really great leading man. I can see why he was such a heart throb. There were some great lines in this movie. It was interesting to see the actors saying phrases that I say all the time like “ten spot”. I think it is the OCD part of me that really appreciated the fact that Clark Gable hung a blanket up between him and Claudette Colbert in the motel room and he made sure that the blanket was straight and even. Love it! :)

Claudette did a great job as well. Actresses have gone from over dramatic to somewhat real since we have started this adventure and Claudette did a very good job at her timing and wit. It was interesting to read that she only liked to show the right side of her face. When you know that fact going into the movie, it is fun to watch the camera angles.

I laughed a lot more than Andy. I’m not sure why but I did really enjoy the clever writing. It Happened One Night was the first movie to sweep the Academy Awards. It won for best picture, best director, best actor and best actress. See...even from the beginning of movie times, the real world wants to see romantic comedy! :)

Broadway Melody - 1929

HERS -

Broadway Melody was a very enjoyable movie...for the first hour or so. I seemed to drag on toward the end. I liked the singing and entertainment. There were some great dance numbers – especially for it’s time. One of the main characters, Hank, was really great. She was clever and funny and had a good attitude. There was a guy at the beginning that had a really big head! :) There was a lot of music and it was very catchy. It was interesting to note that there was some scantily clad women at times. I guess that has always been around and I never realized it before.

I can see progression in the movie making process from the first movies we saw. That is about all the input I have. First of all, I didn’t write this blog immediately, so I forgot some of the details of the movie. Secondly, I feel like the movie industry moved so quickly and created bigger and better movies so quickly, that this movie has become less of a great movie in light of the ones that followed.

HIS -

Okay, we flaked out on writing our thoughts on this one until weeks later. Lisa told me I have to type up something even if it's short one (picture her typing on her "air typewriter") and I ALWAYS do what Lisa says (ppbbbbtttt-pppbbtt...snicker snicker)!

So...there was music...some girl with a guy's name...really bad audio...and cat fights! Oh yeah, and there was the sisters that were inseparable, then estranged, and then back together thing that went on.

I'm shy on the detail (I know - you're saying "YES!" about now), but one thing did stand out to me. I've apparently been under the delusion that the first half of the last century was pretty moral and upstanding in its entertainment. What surprised me was the racy nature of some of the themes and situations in those early movies. I do dig those wavy hairdos for the women though - they drive me wild - NOT!

I do remember that it was very hard to make out an annoyingly significant amount of dialogue and we hadn't thought that these old movies would have that feature available. I am really glad that the audio and cinematography is improving in the later ones as we meander through this list of Best Pictures.

Cimarron - 1931

HERS -

Wow – this movie was actually a lot better than I expected it to be! I typically don’t like “westerns” and “prairie” kind of movies. I didn’t even like the “Little House (Tear) on the Prairie” series! But, this movie had some very interesting and funny characters! I liked Yancey even though he ditched his wife for many years. What is with that? He was like...I have wanderlust so I can’t stay in one place for more than five years. That was very rude. However, he did have a good heart and cared about everyone and understood that people go through hard times and it makes them do things they wouldn’t normally do. I love Sabra (Yancey’s wife). First of all, I loved her name. I think if I was having kids right now, I would name my daughter Sabra. She was a strong woman who persevered even though her husband left her. She ran his newspaper and became a leader in their community and their state. That was pretty cool!

The sound on the movie was not very good but thanks to subtitles, we were able to understand everything. Cimmaron was actually made before Grand Hotel but we watched them a little out of order. I was impressed with the amount of extras and outside scenes that were in this movie. The scenes of the growing city of Osage were pretty cool. The movie depicted a passing of time during a time in U.S. History when things changed a lot. At the beginning of the movie, everyone had horses and buggies. At the end of the movie, there were high rises and cars. I was impressed by that procession of time.

These blogs will tell you a little about Andy and I. I am a “get to the point” type of woman. He is more detail oriented and specific. So, you will note that all his blogs are a lot longer than mine! :)

I am looking forward to our next movie, “It Happened One Night”. I hear it is good!

HIS -

I am very appreciative of subtitles I have found as we've been watching these early movies, as the audio quality makes it difficult to to make out some of the conversations. Yay for technology and advances in movie making! The makeup at the beginning of the movie (especially on Yancey) was a bit grotesque, but as the movie went on it improved. The editing in these older movies is interesting as well. While trying to make dramatic points, the camera sits on a character for awhile longer than you would anticipate which can break the flow of the story as you wonder exactly what is going on.

I wasn't certain what to expect from this movie, but it definitely wasn't what I expected. The first part of the movie was okay. Yancey's character was larger than life, but a bit too superhuman for my taste. He did clean out the riff-raff, stood up for the defenseless (Sol and Dixie), and held the first church service in Osage.

I did like that he stood up for those less fortunate and vulnerable, but for being such a virtuous person I didn't like that he would disappear for years at a time without even one word to, or thought of, his wife and family.

The social themes woven throughout the story were poignant at times. Black and Indian servants being subtly or overtly belittled, the governmental mistreatment of the Indian race - as well as the personal prejudice of Sabra, and the faux piety of society women of the era all made there appearances.

I found myself being on either side of the lead couple. The wanderlust of Yancey compelling him onto new frontiers when the current situation became stale was understandable, but leaving the wife for years with her wondering if he was still alive was cruel in my book. Then the expectation that things continue on as if no time had passed after his return was totally unrealistic.

In the end the absence of Yancey for a couple of decades, again with no communication, repeated the heartlessness of this presumably compassionate man, which is further exacerbated by the fact that he had been in the area for several years without reuniting with his wife. Incomprehensible! The one redeeming part of the second half of the movie was seeing that Sabra had mellowed with age and her prejudice seemingly vanished.

Overall entertaining, but it's not going to be in my top ten of Academy Award Best Pictures list.

Grand Hotel - 1932

HIS -

The hotel did seem grand indeed. However, I was waiting for the Twilight Zone theme to start playing when a group of guests entered the large elevator - ala Tower of Terror at California Adventure in Anaheim at the Disney Resort.

This is the third Academy Award Winning Best Picture we’ve seen so far and the craft has definitely improved compared to the first two. The cinematography was definitely better and the audio was vastly improved. I could actually make out almost everything the characters said this time.

It was good to finally actually see some of the great names I’ve heard for many years. John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Lionel Barrymore. I hadn’t seen any movies with these actors so it was an experience for me in that regard. The one exception was with Lionel Barrymore. I recognized some vocal and facial traits of his as the movie went on and it popped into my head that he reminded me of Mr. Potter in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. This might seem obvious to those who knew who he was, but it was a revelation to me which Lisa and I confirmed after stopping the movie and looking him up on IMDB.com.

I had a difficult time following people at first as a plethora of characters were introduced in quick succession. In addition, there were some good scenes here and there, but I found myself antsy at about the hour and fifteen minute mark as it seemed as if the movie started to drag on. The over-acting of Greta Garbo’s character (the ballerina) was schmaltzy most of the time, but I did find I liked John Barrymore’s character until he became desperate later in the movie. But I was pleased with him as he redeemed himself with Lionel Barrymore’s character.

The theme seemed to be mostly depressing, but with some rays of sunshine breaking through here and there. The doctor’s famous line spoken at the beginning and was then repeated at the end that went something like “The Grand Hotel. People come and people go, but nothing ever happens” is a satirical summation of the story where much did happen there - it’s just that the people change.

The movie making is improving and I trust the acting will as well. Cimarron is next!

HERS -

I have seen huge strides in movie making over the first few years. The sound quality and the clarity of this picture was so much better than the first two movies we have watched. The story was an interesting slice of life at a hotel. There was everything from the love triangle to corporate meetings to gambling and drinking. It had a bit of an unexpected and sad ending though. I could see this movie being made over into a modern version.

As far as the actors go, John Barrymore did an excellent job as the Baron. He was the suave debonair type of man who women swooned over. When he first meets Joan Crawford’s character, he flirts with her and even pats her on the rear. She smiled and played along. Interesting that we have come so far in the man/woman relationships on film. Joan Crawford’s character was witty and fun. Greta Garbo’s character was very over acted. I believe this is one of her more famous movies but I tired of her drama. Lionel Barrymore also did a great job as the man who came to the hotel to live it up in his final days. I grew fond of his character as the movie progressed. He was very real and down to earth.

The setting of the movie, the Grand Hotel was beautiful and huge. It was the 1930’s and it was very art deco. I would have liked to see it in color.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie more than the other two although it did drag toward the end. I do believe though that the more movies we see, the more I will enjoy.