Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on November 08, 2001 at 14:48:41

In Reply to: Twenty-One Recommended Films of the 1930's & 40's. posted by AudioHead on November 08, 2001 at 12:17:53:

... although the list should probably be stretched a bit for movies like:

M (P. Lorre, F. Lang dir., Ger., '31)
Scarface (P. Muni, H. Hawks dir., '32)
Duck Soup (Marx Bros., L. McCarey dir., '33)
It Happened One Night (C. Gable & C. Colbert, F. Capra dir., '34)
The Bride of Frankenstein (B. Karloff, J. Whale dir., '35)
Things to Come (R. Richardson, Z. Korda dir., Brit., '36)
Lost Horizon (R. Colman, F. Capra, '37)
The Devil and Daniel Webster (W. Huston, W. Dieterle dir., '41)
The Big Sleep (H. Bogart & L. Bacall, H. Hawks dir., '45 & '46 vers.)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (H. Bogart, J. Houston dir., '48)
The Third Man (J. Cotton, O. Welles, Carol Reed dir., '49)

Of course that brings the total to 32 recommendations, should you agree with my addendum. The only reservations I have about any of the titles on your list are a couple of versions of oft remade films whose signature versions were arguably done before those versions in the 1930's. Specifically, I'm refering to the earlier silent version of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, which contains an awesome rendering of the dual characters by John Barrymore (sans make-up!), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, whose earlier silent version has a remarkably moving performance by Lon Chaney which comes through in spite of some truly grotesque make-up.

Anyway, I toast your excellent post, Audio Head! This should give folks here some ideas for filling in gaps in their DVD collections! :o)

AuPh