For my entry in the 6 Films - 6 Decades Blogathon, I chose a favorite film from each decade from the 1920s through the 1970s. My criterion was a simple one: These are classics I can watch over and over again! If I join one of them in progress while channel surfing, you can bet I will be watching the rest of the movie again.
James Olson and Arthur Hill. |
James Stewart as the pilot. |
James Stewart and Ben Gazzara. |
Out of the Past (1947) – My favorite film noir has Robert Mitchum as a man who has put his shady past behind him and found love with a good woman in a small community where he operates a gas station. But, as is often the case in the movies, his past catches up with him when a former acquaintance passes through town. With its contrasts of bright lights and dark shadows, Out of the Past is a visual feast. It’s also a compelling tale of a man pulled back into the shadows of his past—no matter how hard he tries to escape them. Kirk Douglas nails the manipulating villain; too bad he didn’t play more bad guys. Yet, despite the presence of Mitchum and Douglas, the film belongs to Jane Greer, an underrated and under-utilized actress who created one of the genre’s best femme fatales.
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) – It's hard not to list The Adventures of Robin or The Wizard of Oz as my1930s representative, but I've written about them before. So instead, I will opt for another Errol Flynn-Olivia de Havilland classic. Often criticized for its historical inaccuracies, The Charge of the Light Brigade is nonetheless a top-notch historical action film. Against the backdrop of the Crimean War, Errol and Patric Knowles play brothers vying for Olivia's affections. An early scene informs us that Olivia’s character, though engaged to Flynn, has secretly fallen in love with Knowles. This knowledge causes us to empathize with Flynn’s British officer as his emotions evolve from disbelief to anger to understanding. I think it’s one of Flynn’s finest performances. The climatic charge, directed by Michael Curtiz, is an incredible sequence (although it resulted in many complaints over the mistreatment of horses).
Spies (aka Spione) (1928) - A diabolical genius heads a mysterious criminal organization bent on world domination. A secret agent, known only by a number, is given the mission to stop the villain. A femme fatale is dispatched to kill the hero--but instead falls in love with him. Is this the plot of the latest James Bond movie? No, it's Fritz Lang's influential silent film Spies, which pre-dates 007's movie debut by 34 years. Spies often gets lost amid Lang's early German silent classics such as Dr. Mabuse (1922), Die Nibelungen (1924), and Metropolis (1927). And yet, in terms of entertainment and as an expression of Lang's love of cinema, Spies surpasses those better-known films. It's a thrill ride from start to finish, highlighted by a nailbiting train crash and a climax with a clown that could have been devised by Hitchcock. For many years, only a 90-minute print was available--and that's the one I've seen. In 2004, it was restored to 143 minutes.