Film Retrospective Part V: Thoughts on 10 Films (pre-1970)

Well, I did it! My film goal this year was to watch 50 films pre-1970 (with a mix of rewatches & blind spots). I enjoyed doing it because it forced me to expand my viewing and appreciate the history of film. I'm going to continue my retrospective into 2024, but I'm going to increase the date to pre-1980 (which is exciting because the 1970s is one of my favorite film decades).

1. Gone with the Wind - [blind spot] I have no idea how I've gone this long without having seen one of the biggest films of all time, but it is what it is. The weird thing is that, unlike most "classic" movies, I've never even seen it in parts? I thought some of it would seem familiar as I watched, but, nope, nothing. I'm not sure if the introduction in the beginning is exclusive to the streaming service I watched it on (Max), but I think it's extremely weird and it makes me really worry about the next generation (even more!). "Watching Gone with the Wind can be uncomfortable and painful" - uhhhh yeah, no shit. It's a product of its time and a lot of uncomfortable and painful shit happened, like slavery! It's weird that a modern audience is supposed to be aghast that this movie depicts the south and the continuation of slavery as idyllic? But...that's what happened? It's about a white, wealthy family in the south, and if you were white, wealthy, and living in the south at that time, life was pretty good! That's why they went to war - to keep their lifestyle. There's definitely a slew of films made today that society will deem offensive in 80 years, are we going to attach weird messages like this...forever? It's akin to a "trigger warning" and I find them mostly ridiculous (I think it's up to personal responsibility - like if you are extremely sensitive to stories about rape then you should do the research yourself and avoid films about rape, but also, we live in a society (!) and you can't just avoid things that are uncomfortable). Overall, I did enjoy this movie - it's beautiful and a classic, epic, sweeping tale of love and war. It goes much darker than I was expecting, like towards the end when she's pregnant and he says to her "cheer up, maybe you'll have an accident" and then SHE FALLS DOWN THE STAIRS! I was horrified! and when he says "you're not worth $300!" LOL. I was also horrified by her being upset about her "20 inch waist". Uhhhh what?? Those are like Barbie measurements. I have a 24 inch waist, but I'm only 5ft tall and very skinny. I can't imagine being 4 inches smaller and thinking I was fat?! What the fuck? Anyway, I did expect there to be a lot more classic lines like when I first watched Casablanca earlier this year - there are like a dozen classic lines in that. But this there was really only ONE that I recognized as being a super famous line of dialogue: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!". 

2. Persona - [re-watch] I think it was a little coincidental that I watched this a few days before I watched May December, and I think it had a lot to do with my enjoyment of that film. I saw the inspiration so clearly. This is one of my favorite movies, but I haven't seen it in about 20 years. It's a film that made me fall in love with film. It's gorgeous, filled with breathtaking shots, a focus on silence and a well-curated horror score, the lighting, the blocking, the close-up shots. It's just perfect. Plus, it's about things that are still taboo (and heartbreaking), with dialogue about abortion, stillborn babies, etc. I think a lot of films were inspired by it (literally any trashy erotic thriller from the 90s, Single White Female being the obvious). Liv Ullmann and Bibi Andersson are incredible and have wonderful chemistry together. I feel like if they ever remake this (which they shouldn't, but they probably will eventually), Mia Goth would be the perfect person to cast (in either role, really). 

3. The Thing from Another World - [blind spot] I figured since The Thing is one of the greatest horror films of all time, I should watch the original (although Carpenter based his film off of the short story, I remain firm that if a film version has already been done, then it's a remake. You can call it a "reimagining" or whatever you want, it's still a remake). I was surprised at how boring this is - very dialogue heavy and just not suspenseful at all. Nobody stands out among the cast, they all sort of blend together, which made the dialogue harder to follow. I just couldn't get into it at all. 

4. The Great Escape - [blind spot] Another big blind spot, but at least with this, I do feel like I've likely seen it - it just had to be one of the films my grandfather made me watch when I was a kid (he watched Westerns, films about WWII, and The Twilight Zone, exclusively). I'd imagine that this is one of his favorite films, as he LOOKED LIKE STEVE McQUEEN and was HELD AS A POW IN A NAZI PRISON CAMP! But since I was probably, like, 9 years old when I watched it, I'm counting this a first "official" watch. This is such an incredible based on a true story - I did a lot of googling about it afterwards because it's so interesting. I was a little confused as to why they didn't really show any awful treatment of those captured in these camps, but apparently this camp didn't treat its prisoners that badly. The film is almost 3 hours long, and definitely would have benefitted from some editing, but overall it is excellent. 

5. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - [re-watch] It's weird that I've only seen this version and not the other version from the 50s (both directed by Hitchcock, it's probably one of the only Hitchcock films that I haven't seen!). From what I understand they are very different films. I will watch it eventually, but I really wanted to rewatch this because after having rewatched M, I was just completely mesmerized by Peter Lorre and I wanted to watch something else with him in it. This is a good movie, but definitely a lesser Hitch. I do think the plot became a little clearer this time than when I first watched it. It's crazy that Lorre didn't even speak English and had to learn his lines phonetically. He's still so magnetic. 

6. Wild Strawberries - [re-watch, mostly] Well, now I'm going to be on a Bergman kick going into 2024. I'm pretty sure I've seen this one - I think in a film class. I've definitely seen clips of it, at the very least, but most of it seemed familiar to me. This is another stunning piece of filmmaking from Bergman. I love the play with memory and guilt. The composition of scenes and overlaying of images is, as expected, really interesting. I didn't realize that Bibi Andersson was a Bergman staple, but I'm so excited to watch the rest of their collaborations together because she's incredible. 

7. Meet Me in St. Louis - [blind spot] I didn't really like this, and while I was bored to death watching it, I realized that it's from the same director as Gigi (Vincent Minelli, aka Liza's dad), which I also didn't like, so I guess that makes sense. I will say that the musical numbers are FIRE. I recognized almost every single song, but had no idea they were from this movie, such as "The Trolley Song", "Skip to My Lou", and one of the most iconic Christmas classics "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"!! Now I'm wondering if I've perhaps seen a stage version of this? But, as I said, just so boring - and just not my thing, I guess. I like that there's some history to it, with it being about the lead up to the World's fair.  There's a lot of Hollywood history to it, also, because this is where Judy Garland and Minelli began their relationship, and the rest, as they say, is history. Garland is obviously the highlight - her voice is is one of my favorite singing voices ever. And she has the screen presence and comedic timing that make her stand out from this large cast (like the corset scene - she really sells it and makes it funny). 

8. A Christmas Carol (1938) - [re-watch] I watched this probably a dozen times as a kid, but never as an adult. I actually played Tiny Tim in a school play of this production when I was in 9th grade (I'm very tiny, even still!!). I wanted to watch something festive while I wrapped presents, but also something that I didn't really have to pay much attention to. Obviously a classic Christmas story by Dickens, that has been retold and remade dozens of times, but I like this original film version probably the best. I like that it's not as sad as some of the remakes - like the Cratchet family is a happy family just doing their best. It's also no-nonsense storytelling at a nice, short 69 minutes!! I wasn't even finish wrapping all the presents when this ended! 

9. Godzilla (1954) - [blind spot, mostly] I've seen a lot of clips and scenes from the original film, but never the whole thing in one sitting (at least that I can remember). I loved it. I've always been more of a King Kong fan, but I'm excited by all the new Godzilla stuff so I figured I'd start from the beginning. I'm enjoying the Apple+ tv show (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and I've heard really good things about Godzilla Minus One. And apparently there is also another one coming out in 2024?? As expected, the movie is not really about Godzilla, it's about uncertainty after nuclear war, etc., but I really just love a good ole' disaster movie and this is one of the first! It's spectacular. The joke's on me though, when I went to look at how many of these films exist - it's going to take me like a decade to get through them all! 

10. Christmas in Connecticut - [blind spot] This is a really cute comedy of errors type film. I don't say this often, but the right person could do a really good remake of this. Obviously, some of it would need some modernization, but it's got a lot of good stuff about gender roles and stereotypes that would still be relevant today. Barbara Stanwyck is a legend - just so charming and funny (and beautiful!). She says the dialogue with such a natural ease, that it took a second for me to realize some of the sarcasm. I think the funniest part is the whole baby thing because they literally, like, steal someone else's baby for their ruse. And then the baby gets switched and its a different gender! LOL. Good stuff.