1931: Movies Sorted By Tier

Submitted by stooky on Sun, 07/18/2004 - 02:18
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  • Great

  • City Lights
  • Frankenstein
  • M
  • Monkey Business
  • Public Enemy

  • Very Good

  • Dracula
  • The Front Page
  • Maedchen in Uniform
  • Que Viva Mexico!
  • **The main question about this film is, what year do you list Que Viva under. Technically made in 1931 but trapped in a bizarre legality until 1972 when the last surviving member of the film managed to rest it from their greedy paws. The movie is unfinished as an entire section of the film was never made due to budget woes. The remaining film, as our last surviving film-maker points out, is merely the basic lay-out which Sergei Eisenstein laid out in his drawings and notes. The film's introduction is an astonishing blend of voice-over and editing. A kind of introduction that describing the beginnings of Mexico through it's transformation into a modern country. Complete with matadors and impoverished praying poor. The main act being a pretty effective re-enactment of the "sadistic rich" persecuting their subjects. It appears this was to have lead into the uprising that followed. That probably would've added some tension to the proceedings. The remaining film is slight (probably because it's unfinished) but immaculately executed and pretty entertaining. Too bad the American studio numb-skulls didn't give him a few more bucks to finish.

  • Good

  • The Champ

  • Guilty Pleasures

  • The Speckled Band

  • Average

  • Dreck

  • Cimarron
  • The Squaw Man

  • The Big Stink

  • Unfortunately Haven’t Seen

  • Kameradschaft
  • Le Million
  • Marius
  • A Nous La Liberte (seen half)
  • The Road To Singapore
  • The Skin Game
  • Tabu
  • The Tarnished Lady
  • The Threepenny Opera
Cloned From: 
1932: Movies Sorted By Tier
bertie07/29/2004

I've got Dracula on dvd and there's a fascinating 'Making of' with it. Did you know that while they made the English language version by day they also made a Spanish version by night using the same sets but different actors and crew? And the Spanish version is considered to be in some ways superior.

stooky07/29/2004

I had heard that there was a Spanish version, but I don't know the specifics. I'd love to see that DVD. (:?|

T'ho

:?)

bertie07/29/2004

The dvd is one in a series called "Universal Studios, Home of the Original Monsters". In addition to the 'making of' it has a voice commentary by a film historian David J. Skal, and a new score by noted minimalist composer Phillip Glass - though the latter may not please you if you are a purist.

stooky07/30/2004

I think they've got it on the Cinemaflow site, I'll give it a watch...but...I'm moving so I'll be out of service for a couple of weeks, if not a month. So have fun in my absence and post lots, I'll be interested in catching up on your many opinions when I get back online.

T'ho

:?)

RosieCotton10/28/2004

I got the Spanish version of Dracula from Netflix.

stooky11/03/2004

"Netflix no like Canada." :?(<---infantile stook

RosieCotton11/03/2004

Maybe someday they will. I'm so sorry I didn't know you were in Canada. How insensitive of me.

stooky11/03/2004

no worries.

:?)

RosieCotton11/03/2004

That's a relief.

lukeprog10/10/2004

I'm so jealous! How'd you see the Eisenstein flick? Is it on DVD?

stooky10/10/2004

I rented it from the local Rogers Video where it was sitting on the bottom rack looking lonely. :?)

Yes it is on DVD! Unfinished but full of gusto anyway.

:?)