Some films in the English language (2nd half of the 1930s) I am canonizing in my 1,000 film list
16 of 1,000
The 39 Steps Directed by Alfred Hitchcock • 1935 • United Kingdom Starring Robert Donat, Madeline Carroll, Lucie Mannheim
A heart-racing spy story by Alfred Hitchcock, THE 39 STEPS follows Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) as he stumbles upon a conspiracy that thrusts him into a hectic chase across the Scottish moors—a chase in which he is both the pursuer and the pursued—as well as into an unexpected romance with the cool Pamela (Madeline Carroll). Adapted from a novel by John Buchan, this classic wrong-man thriller from the Master of Suspense anticipates the director’s most famous works (especially NORTH BY NORTHWEST), and remains one of his cleverest and most entertaining films.
17 of 1,000
The Milky Way Directed by Leo McCarey • 1936 • United States Starring Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, Verree Teasdale
Arguably the finest of Harold Lloyd’s sound features, this uproarious adaptation of the Broadway play of the same name casts the comedian as a mild-mannered Brooklyn milkman who, thanks to the machinations of a sleazy fight promoter (Adolphe Menjou), inadvertently becomes a middleweight boxing champion. A host of colorful supporting performances and veteran comedy director Leo McCarey’s expert sense of pace come together for a knockout screwball gem.
18 of 1,000
The Lady Vanishes Directed by Alfred Hitchcock • 1938 • United Kingdom Starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas
In Alfred Hitchcock’s most quick-witted and devilish comic thriller, the beautiful Margaret Lockwood, traveling across Europe by train, meets a charming spinster (Dame May Whitty), who then seems to disappear into thin air. The younger woman turns investigator and finds herself drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure. Also starring Michael Redgrave, THE LADY VANISHES remains one of the great filmmaker’s purest delights.
19 of 1,000
The Mikado Directed by Victor Schertzinger • 1939 • United States Starring Kenny Baker, Martyn Green, Sydney Granville
The legendary Gilbert and Sullivan troupe the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company joined forces with Hollywood for this 1939 Technicolor version of the beloved comic opera “The Mikado,” the first work by the famed duo to be adapted for the screen. Directed by musician and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Victor Schertzinger, it is a lavish cinematic retelling of the British political satire set in exotic Japan, with such enduringly popular numbers as “A Wand’ring Minstrel I” and “Three Little Maids from School,” and featuring American singer Kenny Baker as well as a host of renowned D’Oyly Carte performers, including Martyn Green and Sydney Granville.
20 of 1,000
Stagecoach Directed by John Ford • 1939 • United States Starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine
This is where it all started. John Ford’s smash hit and enduring masterpiece STAGECOACH revolutionized the western, elevating it from B movie to the A-list and establishing the genre as we know it today. The quintessential tale of a group of strangers thrown together into extraordinary circumstances, STAGECOACH features outstanding performances from Hollywood stalwarts Claire Trevor, John Carradine, and Thomas Mitchell, and, of course, John Wayne, in his first starring role for Ford, as the daredevil outlaw the Ringo Kid. Superbly shot and tightly edited, STAGECOACH (Ford’s first trip to Monument Valley) is Hollywood storytelling at its finest.
as a bonus I have to fit this in!!
21 of 1,000
Amadeus Directed by Miloš Forman • 1984 • United States Starring F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge
Sumptuous, deliciously irreverent, and graced with immortal music, Miloš Forman’s marvelous adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play returns in a new restoration. One of the great cultural events of the 1980s, this lavish saga of genius, rivalry, and treachery was not only a critical triumph but a box-office hit, garnering eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director. From a nineteenth-century insane asylum, aged composer Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham, delectably diabolical) recalls the events of three decades earlier, when the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce, memorably giddy, giggling) first gains favor in the court of Austria’s Emperor Joseph II. Salieri rues the fact that his own music never rises above mediocrity, and he remains permanently incensed that God would bless so vulgar and obnoxious a young whippersnapper as Mozart with divine genius. Unable to match Mozart’s talent, Salieri devises a duplicitous scheme that will be the downfall of them both.
