Kids lives changed forever in 1937. An era of previously untapped moviemaking was unleashed on the world, forever changing the possibilities of cinema, and creating new outlets for kids and families to view a story.
This movie is fine enough. What makes it special is how it features a ton of female acting talent. Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers play games of one upswomanship on each other for laughts, Andrea Leeds is great as well, and if you’re paying attention, that’s Lucille Ball, giving hints at her comedic future.
Most Frank Capra movies are a little chatty, not a lot of action set pieces going on. Not so here, with Ronald Coleman one of 5 people taken onto a mysterious plane and flown god knows where. Capra really goes to town with his budget: giant shots, crazy sets, snowstorms, he brought it all to make you smile.
Another of the zany Marx Brothers films. This time we’re at a race track, as the bro’s try to get the horse Hi-Hat to win. Like all Marx Brothers movies, it moves fast, getting quick to the punch lines with its words. It’s also got elaborate kooky set pieces and Harpo harping.
Western casting aside, this movie about Chinese farmers would be true anywhere on the planet. Paul Muni and Luise Rainer plays the poor farming couple trying to make ends meet in a world full of danger, temptation and locusts. It’s shot beautifully, staged really well, and Rainer is excellent playing the complex female protagonist at the movie’s center.
The 1937 version of this movie laid the ground work so well it demanded several remakes. The story is familiar and timeless: Janet Gaynor is a young hopeful, trying to make it in Hollywood. There she meets Frederich March, the aging alcoholic established talent who falls for Gaynor, but also drifts further into despair as she does stardom.
Victor Fleming’s big tuneup before Gone With the Wind. He adapts Rudyard Kipling’s novel about Freddie Bartholomew, a spoiled brat of a kid given a life of priviledge…until he falls overboard on the ship, and gets rescued by Spencer Tracy. If you like seascapes, this movie’s for you.
Cary Grant and Irene Dunne doing the screwball romcom thing. There’s a dog, a series of elaborate misunderstandings, and a rat at at that supposedly is largely improvised, impressive for the time.
If you ever wondered why Shirley Temple is a star, this movie is a good showcase. The adorable little girl, orphaned at first, melts the heart of her grandfather, only to have a series of cruel older people keep her and grandpa apart, unless Heidi can find a way out (come on, this isn’t a Hitchcock film).
A rare early example of a Foreign Film nominated for Best Picture, but well deserved. Jean Renior’s masterpiece is about French soliders Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay captured and imprisoned by Erich von Stroheim’s general, who separates the generals from the masses in the prison camp. The movie subtly sneaks its emotion and themes upon you so well that most of the great filmmakers of the time list this as one of the best films they’ve ever seen.
What kid is gonna sit through a 90 minute cartoon? Walt Disney’s vision, fully realized is a wonderful fairy tale, with Disney movie benchmarks in tow: plucky heroine, dastardly villain, Prince Charming, goofy side characters, based on a famous story, true love’s kiss. Anna, Elsa, Jasmine, Cinderella, Ariel all owe a debt to this lovely delight of a movie that kids WILL sit through for 90 minutes.
