1938

Bringing Up Baby (Director: Howard Hawks)
Nominees: Fallen Blossoms, The Lady Vanishes, Olympia, Port of Shadows, Pygmalion

Oscars pick: You Can’t Take It With You
Nominees: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Boys Town, The Citadel, Four Daughters, Grand Illusion, Jezebel, Pygmalion, Test Pilot

Oscars top film, Capra's irritating and preachy farce, You Can't Take It With You is one of  their weakest "Best Picture" winners in my opinion. And while I'll give the Academy props for nominating a foreign language film (their first - Jean Renoir's highly praised Grand Illusion - actually a 1937 release). I have to admit the movie doesn't resonate for me. I found it laborious and didn't care for it structurally, didn't like the clash of humanism and classism, the humor was a fail and I disliked how polite it was (these were prisoners of war?) In truth, aside from the River, I can’t seem to get fired up over Renoir’s overall body of work. They look good and he plays with some big ideas, but I simply don't care for the telling.

Several (unnominated) critical darlings of 1938 include Eisenstein’s historical epic, Alexander Nevsky. A production that was closely monitored by Stalin, which gives it the air of propaganda, but it’s still a notable effort. Sticking to the theme of propaganda, there’s Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary, Olympia. While Riefenstahl’s name is cloaked in controversy, the technical skill she puts on display with this picture was groundbreaking.

Oscar also left out 3 of the years brightest: The nimble wit of Hitchcock's thriller Lady on a Train, the poetic realism of Marcel Carné and Jacques Prevert's Port of Shadows, and Howard Hawks screwball delight Bringing Up Baby, which is my favorite of the year.

Baby is a madcap tale about a beleaguered paleontologist (Cary Grant) a shrill eccentric (Katharine Hepburn), a leopard named baby... and a missing dinosaur bone. There's nothing subtle about BuB, it's flat out insane. And one of the most uproarious pictures I've ever seen, as well as one of the quintessential screwball comedies of the era.

Versatile Howard Hawks was a master in any genre: western, romance, crime, and showed an equally deft hand with comedy. Though he filmed primarily medium shots with few cross-cut edits, the picture is notable for its quick pacing. As well as the snappy, overlapping dialog that's rife with innuendo and double entendres ("You tried it in the tail yesterday and it didn’t fit.” says David's fiance as he struggles to figure out where to place a bone in a dinosaur's skeleton he's working on.)

Grant -who wanted to pass on the role because was unsure he could play an academic- gives one of his best performances playing the mild mannered David. His timing is impeccable and it's a kick watching his growing exasperation with this situation he's caught up in. Hepburn -for whom the script was written specifically for- is said to have struggled with the comedic aspects, but she proves to be a pro at it and is delightfully annoying as the free-spirited Susan. You also get some nice comedic support from May Robson, Charles Ruggles, and Fritz Feld.

Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn, Bringing Up Baby (pictured top) & Holiday
Honorable Mentions: Michèle Morgan, Port of Shadows * Margaret Sullavan, Three Comrades * Margaret Lockwood, The Lady Vanishes * Anna May Wong, Dangerous to Know * Bette Davis, Jezebel * Wendy Hiller, Pygmalion * Elsa Lanchester, The Beachcomber

Supporting Actress: May Whitty, The Lady Vanishes (pictured left)


Best Actor: Cary Grant, Bringing Up Baby (pictured top) & Holiday
Honorable Mentions:
James Cagney, Angels with Dirty Faces * Michael Redgrave, The Lady Vanishes * Jean Gabin, La Bête Humaine & Port of Shadows * Raimu, The Baker's Wife * Leslie Howard, Pygmalion * Robert Donat, Citadel * Nikolai Cherkasov, Alexander Nevsky

Supporting Actor: Michel Simon, Port of Shadows (pictured left)



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1937

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Director: David Hand)
Nominees: Pépé le Moko, The Life of Emile Zola, You Only Live Once, Street Angel, Humanity and Paper Balloons, Make Way for Tomorrow, The Awful Truth, Captains Courageous, Vidyapati

Oscars pick: The Life of Emile Zola
Nominees: The Awful Truth, Captains Courageous, Dead End, The Good Earth, In Old Chicago, Lost Horizon, One Hundred Men and a Girl, Stage Door, A Star is Born 

Though a few folks see it as an Oscar blunder these days, I thoroughly enjoyed the Life of Emile Zola. Paul Muni gives one of his best performances playing the feisty Zola, who goes on a tireless crusade to defend the wrongly accused Alfred Dreyfus. It’s an idealized account, but still an edifying bio-drama. 

Better than Zola was Disney’s seminal feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney’s folly (as it was called by critics during its making) wound up changing the animation world. Proving that an animated full-length feature could be both commercially and artistically viable. Snow White doesn't feature the company’s best art, and our heroine isn’t a great feminist role model - wanting only to marry her Prince and cook for dwarfs (and to make sure the filthy gits wash their hands). In fact Snow -with her irritating baby-woman voice- and her Prince are the least interesting figures in the movie. The Dwarfs and the evil Queen are the personalities that drive the film. Nitpicks aside: The slight story still charms, the primitive art is frequently striking and the music is as wonderful as ever.

Of the other Oscar nominees: I enjoyed The Good Earth and Lost Horizon. Stage Door had a stellar cast playing its collection of struggling actresses -among them, Kate Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Ann Miller, and Eve Arden. I liked it, though parts didn’t click for me (it’s a little stagy and too impressed with its own quick banter, it’s overly melodramatic at times, and actress Andrea Leeds - who got an Oscar nom - was terrible).

My nominees included Captains Courageous with Spencer Tracy and his bad accent. Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth, a romantic comedy that featured standout performances from Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. McCarey also pulled at the heartstrings with Make Way For Tomorrow. A film which anticipates Ozu’s Tokyo Story in its tale of an old couple having to stay with their children (who don’t really want them there).

The movie that came closest to unseating Disney's classic was  Pépé le Moko. This French production was a tense, romantic flick about a master criminal (Jean Gabin) hiding out in the Casbah in Algiers. It's an influential film, the proto-type for Noir, and an inspiration for a few elements in Casablanca.

Best Actor: Jean Gabin, Pépé le Moko 
Honorable Mentions: 

Henry Fonda, You Only Live Once * Cary Grant, The Awful Truth * Paul Muni, The Life of Emile Zola * Fredric March, A Star is Born * Victor Moore, Make Way for Tomorrow * Humphrey Bogart, Black Legion * Robert Montgomery, Night Must Fall * Ronald Colman, The Prisoner of Zenda

Best Actress: Irene Dunn, The Awful Truth
Honorable Mentions: 
Jean Arthur, Easy Living * Sylvia Sidney, You Only Live Once * Beulah Bondi, Make Way for Tomorrow * Katharine Hepburn & Ginger Rogers, Stage Door * Michiko Kuwano. What Did the Lady Forget? * Kenan Devi, Vidyapati * Barbara Stanwyck, Stella Dallas

Supporting Actress: Flora Robson, Fire Over England
Runners up: Xuan Zhou, Street Angel & May Whitty, Night Must Fall

Supporting Actor: Victor McLaglen, Wee Willie Winkie

Tough choice at Best Actress as the year features my favorite performances from Jean Arthur and Dunn.


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1936

Swing Time (Director: George Stevens)
Nominees: Modern Times, Sabotage, The Story of a Cheat, Dodsworth, Fury, Sisters of the Gion, Mr. Thank You, My Man Godfrey, The Only Son, Rembrandt

Oscars pick: The Great Ziegfeld
Nominees: Anthony Adverse, Dodsworth, Libeled Lady, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Romeo and Juliet, San Francisco, The Story of Louis Pasteur, A Tale of Two Cities, Three Smart Girls
 
Hindsight is 20/20, but I find it curious that the overstuffed Great Ziegfeld, was given 7 noms, and won Oscar's best picture. While the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers’ classic, Swing Time received barely a nod in its direction (it received 2 nominations, winning 1 for Best Song). Of the two, the effervescent Swing Time has better music, better dancing, is a funnier comedy and has a captivating romance.… plus it doesn't go on forever.

Swing Time had some stiff competition from the likes of  Hitchcock's underrated Sabotage, Wyler's Dodsworth with its amazing cast, and Fritz Lang's intense Fury, which features superb performances from Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney. For many a film buff, the season's best was Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. Chaplin’s gooey sentimentality has always been his Achilles heel, but he doesn’t let it get too messy in this flick. It is, of course, funny and Chaplin is a brilliant pantomime. Its story of a man and a young woman (Paulette Goddard) trying to get by in this impersonal industrial age is a winner.

But so too is Swing Time, which is flawless -from the Jerome Kern score to the Art deco sets- simply flawless, I think it's Fred and Ginger's very best, surpassing even their superlative Top Hat. While the story is slight (a performer and gambler travels to New York City to raise the $25,000 he needs to marry his fiancée, only to become entangled with a beautiful aspiring dancer - imdb) the musical numbers are incredible. Director George Stevens wanted his dancer's to work their magic and have them, not the camera, be the focus. He used a minimum of edits and only 1 or 2 camera setups in their numbers, and this proves to be a wise decision. Especially in the memorable, "Never Gonna Dance", which shows off the duo at their finest (Many feel this is Ginger at her peak -and most fluid- form)

Highlights? Fred sings the Oscar-winning Kern/Field's number "The Way You Look Tonight", which would go on to become his biggest hit. And the supporting characters are a joy, especially Victor Moore as the addled Pops. Overall the movie is like bottled happiness; a special confection that allows me –for an hour or so- to leave all my cares behind.

Note: This was the first year the Academy handed out awards for supporting performances - they were won by Gale Sondergaard (Anthony Adverse) and Walter Brennan (Come and Get It).

Best Actor: Walter Huston, Dodsworth
Honorable Mentions:
Charles Laughton, Rembrandt * Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times * Spencer Tracy, Fury * William Powell, My Man Godfrey * Louis Jouvet & Jean Gabin, The Lower Depths * Paul Robeson, Song of Freedom * Oscar Homolke, Sabotage

Best Actress: Sylvia Sidney, Fury & Sabotage
Honorable Mentions: 

Jean Arthur, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town * Ingrid Bergman, Intermezzo * Greta Garbo, Camille * Jean Harlow, Libeled Lady * Carole Lombard, My Man Godfrey * Ginger Rogers, Swing Time * Ruth Chatterton, Dodsworth * Rosalind Russell, Craig's Wife * Irene Dunne, Theodora Goes Wild

Supporting Actor: Paul Robeson, Show Boat

Supporting Actress: Mary Astor, Dodsworth

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1935

The 39 Steps (Director: Alfred Hitchcock)

Nominees: Ruggles of Red Gap, The Good Fairy, Captain Blood, Top Hat, The Passing of the Third Floor Back, Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo, Wife! Be Like a Rose!

Oscars pick: Mutiny on the Bounty
Nominees: Alice Adams, Broadway Melody of 1936, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, The Informer, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Les Misérables, Naughty Marietta, Ruggles of Red Gap, Top Hat

My mother loved Clark Gable, my father liked Marlon Brando, so there was always this good-natured argument about which version of Mutiny on the Bounty was the better one. Most critics sided with my mother and the Academy; I gotta go with my dear old dad. Brando’s take is full of depth and layers, Gable's is pretty straight forward, with his Fletcher Christian a man’s man, who walks with a manly purposeful stride. Charles Laughton is a delightful scenery chewing Bly. But it's all pretty cut and dry and truly, the original Bounty doesn’t do a whole lot for me. Saying that I can understand why it won the Oscar. It carries itself with a certain prestige and it is well made.

For me though there was one, and only one deserving of the year’s top prize. While I adored the hilarious Ruggles of Red Gap with Charles Laughton, Fred and Ginger's Top Hat, and the swashbuckling spectacle that was Captain Blood (all Oscar noms). Alfred Hitchcock's suspenseful romance, The 39 Steps, is a God among mortals. Others might argue for The Bride of Frankenstein. And while I agree its a masterful production and I like many of the performances, Bride is undone by a thick slice of camp and the unbearably broad antics of Una O’Connor - whereas the twists and turns and humor, as well as the look and pacing and performances to be had in 39 Steps, is pure bliss and perfection.

The grandfather of North by Northwest, this tightly woven spy story establishes many of the themes we’ll see in future Hitchcock tales. There’s the paranoia, the man on the run, and the humor nestled side by side with nail-biting suspense. And of course, the camera work is distinct and eye-catching. This is Hitch's first truly great film, the best of his early British era... and it is very British - More understated and urbane than his American films, it never the less shows the director in full stride.

Unflappable Robert Donat (Mr. Chips) was a delight in the leading role. Madeline Carroll was Alfred's first "cool blonde" and became an in-demand star after this picture.

Best Actress: Sachiko Chiba, Wife! Be Like a Rose!
Honorable Mentions: 

Katharine Hepburn, Alice Adams * Greta Garbo, Anna Karenina * Ginger Rogers, Top Hat * Margaret Sullavan, The Good Fairy * Jeanette MacDonald, Naughty Marietta

Best Actor: Robert Donat, The 39 Steps (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions: 

Peter Lorre, Crime and Punishment * Charles Laughton, Mutiny on the Bounty & Ruggles of Red Gap * Takeshi Sakamoto, An Inn in Tokyo * Karloff & Clive, Bride of Frankenstein * Edward G. Robinson, Whole Town's Talking

Supporting Actress: Elsa Lanchester, The Bride of Frankenstein
Runner up: Yoshiko Okada, An Inn in Tokyo

Supporting Actor: Ernest Thesiger, The Bride of Frankenstein (pictured above)

Special Award - Best Ensemble: The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Conrad Veidt, René Ray, Frank Cellier, Beatrix Lehmann, Anna Lee, Ronald Ward, Mary Clare, Cathleen Nesbitt, John Turnbull

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1934

L’Atalante (Director: Jean Vigo)
Nominees:  Les Misérables, It Happened One Night, Shen nu (The Goddess), A Story of Floating Weeds

Oscars pick: It Happened One Night
Nominees: The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Cleopatra, Flirtation Walk, The Gay Divorcee, Here Comes the Navy, The House of Rothschild, Imitation of Life, One Night of Love, The Thin Man, Viva Villa! The White Parade 

The Academy nominated 12 movies, and a lot of those, including -Flirtation Walk, Here Comes the Navy, One Night of Love, Cleopatra, and The House of Rothschild- were average at best. But at least they got it right in selecting Frank Capra's sparkling screwball comedy It Happened One Night as their winner.

Along with that one, I liked the Chinese silent classic, Shen nu (The Goddess), which is a superbly shot and composed film about a young mother who works as a prostitute to make ends meet. Ruan Lingyu (who committed suicide at age 24, a year after this film's release) gives a naturalized performance. The film is rooted in realism and explores social hypocrisy.

I was also blown away by Les Misérables, especially in the phenomenal work done by Harry Baur.

But after sifting through the top-ranked releases, one Felix worthy film stood out above the rest. That being Jean Vigo's endearing, L’Atalante.

Jean Vigo was one of the major influences on the French New Wave of the 50s and on Truffaut in particular. Sadly, Jean died at 29, with only 1 full-length feature and a handful of shorter films to his name. His L'Atlante is a poetic and bittersweet piece that focuses on a newlywed couple -rigid Jean and free-spirited Juliette- who live on a barge. They share this cramped space with a salty crew-mate and a cabin boy. Soon jealousy gets the better of the husband, and the romance of Paris draws the wife away.

This contemplative film features cinematography by Boris Kaufman, which was indispensable in helping create a picture that is dreamlike, sensual, and blends realism with the magical: A memorable example of this can be found during a sex scene conducted in a dream, while the couple is separated.

The film was sadly chopped up and set to ruin. Vigo was dying of tuberculosis and could do nothing to save his baby. Years later it found its audience and is now offered, restored (as best as it can be) by Criterion. While understated, it is without a doubt the cream of the crop, in a year where few things really wowed me.

Best Actor: Harry Baur, Les Misérables
Honorable Mentions:
Clark Gable, It Happened One Night & Manhattan Melodrama * Robert Donat, The Count of Monte Cristo * John Barrymore, Twentieth Century * Takeshi Sakamoto, A Story of Floating Weeds * Fritz Kortner, Chu Chin Chow * Peter Lorre, The Man Who Knew Too Much (Support)

Best Actress: Lingyu Ruan, The Goddess
Honorable Mentions:
Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night * Sylvia Sidney, 30 Day Princess * Bette Davis, Of Human Bondage * Carole Lombard, Twentieth Century * Josephine Baker, Zouzou * Anna May Wong, Tiger Bay & Java Head * Louise Beavers, Imitation of Life * Mary Morris, Double Door * Aline MacMahon, Heat Lightning

Supporting Actress: Anna May Wong, Chu Chin Chow

Supporting Actor: Michel Simon, L’Atalante

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1932-33

Island of Lost Souls (Director: Erle C. Kenton)
Nominees: Queen Christina, King Kong, Duck Soup, Trouble in Paradise, Fanny, The Water Magician, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Oscars pick: Cavalcade
Nominees: A Farewell to Arms, 42nd Street, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Lady for a Day, Little Women, The Private Life of Henry the VIII, She Done Him Wrong, Smilin’ Through, State Fair

1932-33 has been a most troublesome alt-Oscar season. I've gone over and over these films, trying to find one that would distinguish itself above the others, and instead, they insist on huddling tight within this sphere of magnificence.

Trouble in Paradise, for example, is elegant, sexy, witty, and the acting is aces across the board. There's not any meat on the story, it's just a sweet, delightful dessert.

King Kong? It established the standard for future giant monster flicks (which steal from it liberally). Its appeal for me is in its technical achievements - the work and innovation put into the animation and FX.

The Marx Brothers, Duck Soup is total chaos, and I admit to having a low tolerance for Harpo’s brand of physical mayhem. But Groucho’s quick rejoinders make the movie for me. His dictator of Freedonia, Rufus T. Firefly, had me in stitches.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang? Fabulous start, fabulous finish... sags with a dullish middle section (regardless, Muni is incredible throughout). Queen Christina? It's notable for Garbo's layered performance and Mamoulian's penchant for creating a poetic look, rather than going for stark realism. Key scenes include Christina touching objects in the room she shared with her love, in an attempted to commit them to memory. And her haunting enigmatic expression at the films end. Again, I like these a lot, just as I liked The Eagle and the Hawk, Wild Boys of the Road, Liebelei, Movie Crazy, Dragnet Girl, 42nd Street, and the others I nominated up top.

What a vexing decision I had before me.

With brow furrowed and mind conflicted, I elected to go with a picture that scarred me, rattled my nerves, and fed my intellect - Island of Lost Souls, in which Charles Laughton outshines his own Oscar-winning performance as Henry the VIII. While the energetic scenery chewer is superb as the infamous King, I liked him even more as Dr. Moreau (a mad scientist who's been conducting experiments on animals). It’s a plum role, one that sadly Marlon Brando pissed down his leg in a remake. But Laughton doesn't squander the opportunity. Moreau’s a chilling figure: Behind his cherubic smile lays cruelty and in his eyes, arrogance, and madness.

It's philosophical horror - though apparently, it wasn't philosophical enough for writer H.G. Wells. However, as Christine Smallwood points out in her Criterion essay, "Wells’s book is all setup, a premise without a plot." If he'd had his way this would have been more a lecture than a movie. There's enough philosophy here, to go with the brute horror (those terrible cries of pain) and raw sexuality. At a mere 70 minutes, the film is lean, not a second is wasted. But I never felt like I was being rushed through it haphazardly. All its themes and nightmares are addressed efficiently, smartly.

Erle C. Kenton was an odd directorial choice as he was best known at that time for his knockabout comedies. He wasn't an A-list filmmaker, but he certainly captured lightning in a bottle here. Of course, he was aided by a remarkable story and screenplay (which has been quoted in several songs I own and adore), moody, shadowy cinematography by the talented Karl Struss (oh those wonderful close-ups) and astonishing makeup by Wally Westmore.

Acting? I liked Richard Arlen as our hero. No he's not Cary Grant, he doesn't have that kind of scene presence, but he is solid, and his outrage was convincing. Bela Lugosi has a small but important role and I took a shine to Kathleen Burke's panther woman, and her mix of the animal and the innocent. Ultimately though, this is Laughton's show, and without his great skill, I'm not sure the film works half as well. His Moreau is cold but personable, with a sadistic streak that bleeds through every pore (and without the empathy to counter it). Wearing that white suit, cracking that whip, and sneaking in those quick smiles, which makes him look like the naughty schoolboy whose privy to some dirty, inside joke - and relishing the idea of being hailed as a God. In all of it, Laughton is pitch-perfect.

This tale of science without soul ran me through the emotional wringer, and of the pictures I've examined, it was Island that left the deepest impression.

Of note: After this, the Academy would switch to a standard calendar year, which meant that since they extended 1933 to the end of the year, this Oscar season was 17 months long.

Best Actor: Charles Laughton, Island of Lost Souls (also The Private Life of Henry VIII, Sign of the Cross, The Old Dark House)
Honorable Mentions: 

Robert Lynen & Harry Baur, Poil de carrotte * Paul Muni, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang * Paul Robeson, The Emperor Jones * Fredric March, The Eagle and the Hawk * Groucho Marx, Duck Soup * Herbert Marshall, Trouble in Paradise * Michel Simon, Boudu Saved from Drowning

Best Actress: Greta Garbo, Queen Christina
Honorable Mentions:
Miriam Hopkins & Kay Francis, Trouble in Paradise * Magda Schneider, Liebelei * Michiko Oikawa, Japanese Girls at the Harbor * Takako Irie, The Water Magician * Sumiko Kurishima, Every-Night Dreams * May Robson, Lady for a Day * Jean Harlow, Red Dust * Katharine Hepburn, Morning Glory, Christopher Strong, Little Women

Supporting Actor: John Barrymore, Dinner at Eight

Supporting Actress: Marie Dressler, Dinner at Eight

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1931-32

Scarface: Shame of a Nation (April 1932 – Director: Howard Hawks)
Nominees: Grand Hotel, Marius, Vampyr, Frankenstein, Freaks, Mädchen in Uniform, Shanghai Express

Oscars pick: Grand Hotel
Nominees: Arrowsmith, Bad Girl, The Champ, Five Star Final, One Hour with You, Shanghai Express, The Smiling Lieutenant 

I actually liked the episodic Grand Hotel quite a bit, it's melodramatic but I enjoyed the stories, and it has a great cast. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, John, and Lionel Barrymore… that’s a dream team. So, I won’t give Oscar a hard time over picking it. Plus, I'm selecting Crawford as my best actress. While there is some difference of opinion on whether an ensemble cast is filled with leads or supporting actors... for me, it's up to the individual. It's your website or blog or book, you do whatever you want. And I want to give Joan my Felix, as she was head and shoulders above any other actress IMHO. Real and very natural (in a film full of theatrical performances). Next year, with Dinner at Eight's ensemble I'll switch my position and hand them out as supporting awards.

Of the Academy's nominees: Arrowsmith (marked by thoughtful work from John Ford) and Bad Girl (which won Frank Borzage his second directorial Oscar) were decent; I enjoyed Five Star Final, which is lifted by Edward G. Robinson's blistering performance as a newspaper publisher who does a bad thing in order to boost sales. Lubitsch's The Smiling Lieutenant was ok, One Hour with You, was better. And while I haven't seen The Champ in ages, I don't remember being overly thrilled with it.

For my nominees, I went with Oscar's Grand Hotel and Shanghai Express, but gave some love to three classic horror flicks, James Whale’s Frankenstein, Tod Browning’s Freaks and the weird, experimental Danish film, Vampyr from Carl Theodor Dreyer. Dreyer’s movie is a talkie that’s more like a silent, full of shadow and atmosphere.

I also greatly enjoyed the first film in the 3-part “Fanny” series, Marius. Based on a play by Marcel Pagnol, which is about a guy who loves this small-town girl, but aches to be out on the high seas. Which of these loves will he choose?  Marius isn't about direction or interesting camera work; it’s about the actors and the dialogue.

One worth mentioning that ranks high with others is René Clair’s À nous la liberté, a musical farce about dehumanization caused by the industrial revolution, which might have inspired Chaplin’s Modern Times (Charlie said no, but he was sued for the similarities anyway). Clair’s take on the subject is more lyrical and lacks Chaplin’s self-aggrandizing and cloying sentimentalism, though it is not as engaging.

The movie that stands far and above the rest is Howard Hawk’s visually expressionistic Scarface. A brutal gangster film that must have inspired Scorsese when he made Goodfellas, as in each the Mobsters aren't the savvy, organized Mafia family seen in Coppola’s Godfather series. They are instead - crude, stupid, immature thugs. Despite studio interference (Ala the forced scene where a newspaperman gives a leaden lecture about civic duty), the movie retains its violent edge (and a hint of an incestuous relationship between brother and sister). Hawks also works in some humor. Unsurprisingly the controversial film didn't receive a single nomination from the Academy.

Actor Paul Muni is superb in the title role, but I was impressed with the cast across the board. From George Raft (with his famous coin-flipping move) to Anne Dvorak, Karen Morely, and Boris Karloff

Oh, and keep an eye open for the "X" - Hawks used this visual motif to signal an upcoming murder. You'll see it in shadows, facial scars, wooden crossbeams, the straps of a woman's gown and others.

Best Actress: Joan Crawford, Grand Hotel
Honorable Mentions:
Marlene Dietrich & Anna May Wong, Shanghai Express * Estelle Taylor & Sylvia Sydney, Street Scene * Dorothea Wieck & Hertha Thiele, Madchen in Uniform * Lingyu Ruan, Peach Girl * Wang Renmei, Wild Rose * Mae Clarke, Waterloo Bridge

Supporting Actress: Ann Dvorak, Scarface & Three on a Match

Best Actor: Paul Muni, Scarface (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions:
Boris Karloff, Frankenstein * Fredric March, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde * John Barrymore, Grand Hotel * Edward G. Robinson, Five Star Final * Robert Williams, Platinum Blonde

Supporting Actor: Tatsuo Saitô, I Was Born, But... (pictured left)



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1930-31

L'Age d'Or (Nov 1930 – Director: Luis Buñuel)
Nominees: M, Little Caesar, City Lights, The Public Enemy, The 3 Penny Opera, Tabu

Oscars pick: Cimarron
Nominees: East Lynne, The Front Page, Skippy, Trader Horn

Flush off the success of the short Un Chien Andalou, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali teamed up to offer a bit of subversive surrealism titled L'âge d'Or (Age of Gold)... which opens with documentary footage of scorpions, is bound by a thread of separated lovers - is political, provocative, anti bourgeoisie, anti-clerical,  and deeply sacrilegious (Jesus plays the role of de Sade's literary serial killer, Duc de Blangis) and it made me laugh harder than I did during Chaplin's masterwork, City Lights (one of my nominees).

The friendship between Dali & Buñuel unraveled during production. They differed on what the film was supposed to be about (according to Buñuel, Salvador's intentions were to "expose the shameful mechanisms of contemporary society." For Luis, it was about passion - "the irresistible force that thrusts two people together, and the impossibility of their ever becoming one.")  What emerges from their discord is a wicked and giddy madness that manages to blend both ideas: Sex, violence, repression, and hypocrisy play a big part, and in regards to the couple, the basic theme is that the desires of the individual will ever be frustrated by the will of governments, institutions and the social mores of the masses.

While it's no surprise that Oscar would avoid the film like the plague, I do find it odd that they bypassed the Chaplin vehicle. They also skipped both gangster films that I nominated (Edward G. Robinson’s star-making turn in Little Caesar / Jimmy Cagney's Public Enemy) and director Fritz Lang's M (which had several release dates. I'm going by its premiere in Germany). M was the strongest challenger for my top spot. Peter Lorre was incredible playing the child killer, the look of the piece is amazing. I felt some of the police procedural stuff was a bit dry, and Lang lingers a little too long on certain scenes but other than that it's a winner.

For its best picture, the Academy went with the overcooked western, Cimarron. The flick has some spectacular scenes (the land rush), but the story is scattershot and there’s a lot of racism in it and today many consider it one of the worst movies to win the award. Of Oscar's nominees, The Front Page is decent but not as good as the remake (His Girl Friday). Until 2018s Black Panther, Skippy was the only comic book/strip adaptation to earn a Best Picture nod from Oscar.

Supporting Actors: Lorre is one of those you could put in the supporting group, but like a couple other sites, I preferred him as my lead. There was a crowded field in that category - Harry Myers in City Lights, Dwight Frye in Dracula and Clark Gable in a Free Soul were several I considered for the award.

Best Actor: Peter Lorre, M
Honorable Mentions:
Edward G. Robinson, Little Caesar * James Cagney, The Public Enemy * Harry Baur, David Golder * Charlie Chaplin, City Lights * Bela Lugosi, Dracula * John Barrymore, Svengali * George Arliss, The Millionaire

Best Actress: Marlene Dietrich, Morocco
Honorable Mentions:
Barbara Stanwyck, Miracle Woman * Lya Lys, L'Âge d'Or * Marie Dressler, Min and Bill * Helen Twelvetrees, Her Man * Sylvia Sidney, An American Tragedy * Louise Brooks, Prix de beauté * Jeanette MacDonald, Monte Carlo

Supporting Actor: Boris Karloff, The Criminal Code

Supporting Actress:  Lotte Lenya, The 3 Penny Opera

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1929-30

People on Sunday (Feb 1930 – Directors: Robert Siodmak & Edgar G. Ulmer)
Nominees: Monte Cristo (Oct 1929), City Girl (April 1930), All Quiet on the Western Front (April 1930), The Blue Angel (April 1930), Au bonheur des dames (July 1930), Hell's Angels (May 1930), Diary of a Lost Girl (Sept 1929)

Oscars pick: All Quiet on the Western Front
Nominees: The Big House, Disraeli, The Divorcee, The Love Parade

For years and years and years I've been searching for that certain something. While there were fantastic films released in this season, none hit me with that “Eureka!” moment when I know I've found what I was looking for. Not that the Academy got it wrong...

Set during World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front is about a group of German schoolboys who are so moved by their teacher's speech on the glories of serving in the Army that they quickly enlist. Western Front is an anti-war film whose power comes in scenes that strips away the romanticism and exposes the grotesque. While the camera work and direction is incredible, it isn’t perfect: It can be overly theatrical, a bit leaden with the dialog and I found Lew Ayers performance hammy. For the most part, it works. But it wasn't that "certain something” for me.

There were several possible contenders for the crown, like Alexander Dovzhenko’s uniquely edited, overacted Russian silent, Earth:  A pro-collective ode to nature and a tractor and people having strange fits. There was Jean Cocteau’s début Blood of the Poet (which premiered in France in January 1930, before being banned for 2 years). 

Oscar also did a decent job with their nominees: The Love Parade was Ernst Lubitsch's first talkie, The Big House put prison movies on the map. Disraeli is most notable for starring George Arliss. While not as widely known these days, in his era the aging, noodley Arliss was a hot commodity.

All nice movies, but it wasn’t until 2017 that I found it.

There’s something fascinating to me about a film that simply travels through daily life, observing and recording a time and place and people, whether it’s A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire from 1906 or Vertov’s 1929 classic, Man with a Movie Camera. I find such picture’s haunting because I know what lies ahead, and I can’t help but wonder what became of the individuals captured on film.

I am similarly haunted by People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag), an experimental, no budget feature that blends documentary footage with fictional storytelling, which centers on several twenty something’s enjoying a weekend break from the usual grind. It’s carefree and bubbly, with a sprinkling of cynicism and regret (the humorous scenes with the squabbling couple). And it's shadowed by a darkness on its horizons that tugs at me emotionally. For example: In one effervescent scene we see people having their photographs taken. It’s a joyous moment, playful and filled with hopeful bright smiles. But today’s audience knows the horror to come. Hitler and the war will devastate these people and this city.

Another intriguing aspect of the film is the young filmmakers who created it - a group that would soon bring their talents to Hollywood. You have Brothers Curt and Robert Siodmak and co-director Edgar G. Ulmer, collaborating with future Oscar winners Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann.

The cast is filled with non-professional actors, using their real names and occupations (not sure how much of their real personalities were used, was Wolfgang a player in real life. Erwin a big lug who wore upsettingly tiny swim shorts?) They can be rough around the edges but that suits the picture. The script was put together on the fly, and there was much improvisation during filming. The camera work is laudable, I like the way shots intersect and blend together to illustrate the free-flowing rhythms of city life. 

Add it all up, and the hypnotic Sunday definitely has that "certain something".

Note: People on Sunday was one of director Christian Petzold's "Closet Picks" for Criterion.

Best Actor: Emil Jannings, The Blue Angel
Honorable Mentions:
Jean Angelo, Monte Cristo

Uno Henning, A Cottage on Dartmoor
Ronald Colman, Bulldog Drummond & Condemned 
George Arliss, Disraeli

Herbert Marshall, Murder

Best Actress: Louise Brooks, Diary of a Lost Girl

Honorable Mentions:

Marlene Dietrich, The Blue Angel 

Nora Baring, A Cottage on Dartmoor 

Mary Duncan, City Girl 

Dita Parlo, Au bonheur des dames 

Ita Rina, Tonka of the Gallows

Supporting Actor: Louis Wolheim, All Quiet on the Western Front

Supporting Actress: Seena Owen, Queen Kelly

Note on Supporting Actress: IMDB shows a Jan 1, 1929, release date for Queen Kelly, which would put the film in the previous season. But Wiki says that this early version never received a US release - and an article in Variety states that the film was shot from 1 November 1928 to 21 January 1929 before Swanson shut down production... which if true, would have made Jan 1st impossible (unless there was a studio pre-screening). Variety reports that this cut (Swanson later reshot the ending in 1931) was given a few showings in Europe in early 1930, which would place the picture in the 1929-30 slot. TMC supports the story of the plug being pulled in late Jan. I'm going to stick with Owen here since I really can't find another Supp Actress I love. BTW, here's a lovely piece on Seena from Jim Kershner, posted in the Spokesman-Review.

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1928-29

Man with a Movie Camera (Jan 1929 – Director: Dziga Vertov)
Nominees: The Wind, The Cameraman, Storm Over Asia, Pandora's Box, The Docks of New York, Piccadilly, Lucky Star, The Wedding March, Beggars of Life, Arsenal, The Living Corpse, The New Babylon

Oscars pick: The Broadway Melody
Nominees: The Alibi, Hollywood Revue of 1929, In Old Arizona, The Patriot

Understandably, the industry, fans, and critics were all atwitter over these newfangled talkies. Hence, we see some lightweight music and dance films garnering a lot of attention, while the old-fashioned silent movies were largely ignored. Only one silent received a nomination, The Patriot, (a lost movie and the last silent film to receive a nomination until the Artist in 2012).

Among the great silents that failed to receive nominations were Victor Sjöström’s brilliant The Wind with Lillian Gish, Keaton’s last classic The Cameraman and Josef von Sternberg's unsentimental The Docks of New York.

Another dazzling edition to Oscar's nominations would have been the Russian experimental strangeness know as Man with a Movie Camera. It had no intertitles, no story; it’s pure cinema. A collage of images that TV’s movie guide called, ”…a startlingly avant-garde cross-examination of modern life, as well as a lesson in the power of filmmaking and an autopsy of its methods”

This comes down to a two-horse race between The Wind and Man with a Camera. I do know that none of the Oscar's choices left as much of an impression - Mmm, it’s tough, but I can’t help myself; I gotta go with another experimental piece. Man with a Camera is an amazing, one-of-a-kind experience, and I think the new modern soundtrack by the Cinematic Orchestra adds to the surreal feel of it. I strongly recommend checking it out for yourself (YouTube keeps removing it, but Vimeo has a copy https://vimeo.com/143512746 

For more analysis on the movie - http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-man-with-a-movie-camera-1929

April 2023 Update: I had an opportunity to watch this on the big screen with live accompaniment by Montopolis - I'm pretty picky about the music on this film, but they did incredible work here, it's every bit as brilliant as the score performed by the Cinematic Orchestra. 

🎭Acting? I nominated a lot of ladies and had a difficult time choosing between Wong, Brooks, and Gish. I had an easier time of it with the men. Though I was tempted to give Keaton his second acting win, I elected to award the prize to Inkijinoff. I've read criticisms that questioned the performance - was he too laid back; can he act at all? But trust me, I've seen him in other films where he chewed the scenery with abandon, and I believe it was a conscious choice by either the director or actor (or both) to play it reserved and natural - until the end, when Inkijinoff unleashes a sudden blast of emotion that rocks you out of your seat.

Best Actor: Valéry Inkijinoff, Storm Over Asia
Honorable Mentions:
Erich von Stroheim, The Wedding March * George Bancroft, The Docks of New York * Buster Keaton, The Cameraman * Lon Chaney, West of Zanzibar & Where East is East * Lars Hanson, Homecoming * Douglas Fairbanks, The Iron Mask

Best Actress: Lillian Gish, The Wind
Honorable Mentions:
Anna May Wong, Piccadilly * Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box and Beggars of Life * Marion Davies, Show People * Betty Compson, The Docks of New York * Yelena Kuzmina, New Babylon * Janet Gaynor, Lucky Star * Colleen Moore, Why Be Good? * Estelle Taylor, Where East is East * Simone Genevois, Saint Joan the Maid * Bessie Love, The Broadway Melody

Supporting Actress: Mary Nolan, West of Zanzibar

Supporting Actor: Wallace Beery, Beggars of Life

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1927-28

The Passion of Joan of Arc (April 1928 - Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Nominees: Sunrise, Steamboat Bill Jr., The Patsy, The Last Command, Underground, The Man Who Laughs, The Seashell and the Clergyman

Oscars pick: Wings (also Sunrise)
Nominees: The Racket, Seventh Heaven (Also The Crowd, and Chang: A Drama in the Wilderness)

Originally the Academy didn't have a Best Picture winner, they had two: “Outstanding Picture” (Won by Wings) and “Unique and Artistic Production” (won by Sunrise). Later on, they changed it to a single feature and decided Wings best fit the criteria, which is why it is considered the Best Picture winner today. 

Wings is actually a very good picture. A little soapy, but the aerial shots are groundbreaking and breathtaking. I have nothing against it. It’s just that there are greater motion pictures. At the top of the eligible films (my adaptation of the Oscar model) were 2 works of genius: Sunrise and The Passion of Joan of Arc.

On Sunrise, a Song of Two Humans: Politicking was in full force, according to the book "Inside Oscar" by Wiley and Bona. Louis B Mayer disliked the realism of King Vidor’s groundbreaking The Crowd, so much that he pressured judges (who originally chose it as their winner) to select Sunrise instead. Right off the bat, the Academy makes a mockery of itself. Regardless, Sunrise is deserving of praise. F.W. Murnau’s tale of love betrayed, and love renewed is an amazing looking picture (the copy in the Murnau, Borzages and Fox box set includes an informative commentary track that details the cinematography and camera angles in worshipful tones). Many feel it’s the greatest film of the silent era.

Other 5-star features worthy of consideration were Asquith's Underground, Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr. and von Sternberg's The Last Command, a powerful film with powerful performances. 

But for me, the most amazing movie of them all is one that didn't earn a nomination, that's Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. This silent classic was lost in a fire, not once, but twice. In the 80s a print was located in the closet of an insane asylum! Restored and reissued, it reveals itself as a work of high art. Dreyer used tight close-ups throughout, and his eye for space and composition is both astonishing and disconcerting. Disconcerting because Deyer breaks all the rules of camera work (see link below) - I can’t find adequate words to describe how fresh and exhilarating a viewing experience it was for me. Simply put, it’s a benchmark of experimental cinema.

Passion features stage star Maria Falconetti's lone appearance on film, and it’s one of the finest pieces of acting I've ever seen. There was a lot asked of the actress -what with all those close-ups- and she delivers.

Therefore, as much as I love Steamboat (and my other nominees), like Heaven (which won Frank Borzages the first Oscar for directing), respect Wings and wouldn't argue with anyone who would select the brilliant Sunrise as the top dog. Passion is my pick for the Felix.

Note: To read more insights on the movie, check out Matthew Dessem’s wonderful blog (in which he watches and reviews every Criterion release) http://criterioncollection.blogspot.com/2006/11/62-passion-of-joan-of-arc.html

Update: My thoughts on the Criterion Bluray

Best Actor: Emil Jannings, The Last Command 

Honorable Mentions:
Buster Keaton, Steamboat Bill Jr.  * Conrad Veidt, The Man Who Laughs * Paul Wegener, Alraune * Eugène Silvain, The Passion of Joan of Arc * William Powell, The Last Command (sup) * Charlie Chaplin, The Circus * Lon Chaney, Laugh, Clown, Laugh * John Barrymore, Tempest

Best Actress: Maria Falconetti, Passion of Joan of Arc (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions: 

Gloria Swanson, Sadie Thompson * Marion Davies, The Patsy * Norah Baring & Elissa Landi, Underground * Janet Gaynor, Sunrise, 7th Heaven & Street Angel * Brigitte Helm, Alraune * Viola Dana, That Certain Thing * Mabel Poulton, The Constant Nymph * Estelle Brody, Hindle Wakes

Supporting Actor: Lionel Barrymore, Sadie Thompson

Supporting Actress: Evelyn Brent, The Last Command (pictured above - also, Underworld)







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1924 to 1927: And the Felix For Best Picture Goes To...

1924-25

Greed (Dec 1924 – Director: Erich von Stroheim)

Nominees: The Gold Rush (June 1925), The Navigator (Oct 1924), Seven Chances (March 1925), HE Who Gets Slapped (Nov 1924), Strike (April 1925)

Greed has been called the greatest film never seen. By demand of the studio, Stroheim took his initial  9 or 10-hour film, cut it down to about 6, after which it was taken out of his hands and whittled away to a mere 2 + hours. In 1991, using still pictures to fill out what was lost –the stories contrasting subplots and supporting characters are restored, lengthening the picture to over 4 hours. It’s a mess, but even in this mangled form, a masterpiece emerges. Stroheim’s tale of soul-crushing avarice is still powerhouse cinema.

Actor Gibson Gowland as McTeague is an impressive figure, a brick of a man with a shock of curly hair. He has a magnetic screen personality that would have carried the movie whether it was 4, 6 or 10 hours long. He’s aided by Zasu Pitts, playing his wife who wins the lottery that set this tragic tale into motion. With these performances, a strong story and notable camera work, which included hand tinted gold objects popping up on the screen from time to time, Greed stands as the years best in whatever form it takes.

The film year also offered up other significant nominees. From Buster Keaton’s brilliant Navigator and 7 Chances to Chaplin’s benchmark, the Gold Rush. Victor Sjöström was also in the mix with the acclaimed Lon Chaney film HE Who Gets Slapped. And there was Eisenstein's stylized, experimental debut, Strike.

Acting note: In support I also liked Harry Earles in The Unholy 3.

Best Actor: Gibson Gowland, Greed (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions:
Lon Chaney, HE Who Gets Slapped & The Unholy 3 * Buster Keaton, The Navigator & 7 Chances * Conrad Veidt, The Hands of Orlac * Charles Chaplin, The Gold Rush * Jean Forest, Faces of Children * Ivan Mosjoukine, The Late Mathias Pascal

Supporting Actor: Jean Hersholt, Greed (pictured left)

Best Actress: ZaSu Pitts, Greed (pictured top)
Honorable Mentions: Enid Bennett, The Red Lily * Elisabeth Bergner, Husbands or Lovers * Betty Bronson, Peter Pan * Greta Garbo & Asta Nielsen, Joyless Street * Yuliya Solntseva, The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom * Arlette Peyran, Faces of Children * Constance Talmadge, Her Night of Romance * Mae Busch, The Unholy 3

Supporting Actress: Lois Moran, The Late Mathias Pascal (left)

1925-26

Battleship Potemkin (Dec 1925 – Director: Sergei Eisenstein)

Nominees: The Freshman (Sept 1925), Go West (Nov 1925), The Black Pirate (March 1926), The Adventures of Prince Achmed (July 1926), Ben Hur (Dec 1925), Les Misérables (Nov-Jan 1925-26)

Eisenstein’s editing style changed the way movies looked and Potemkin will forever be linked to its textbook examples of montage. The way he cut from action, reaction and closeup was influential and the main focus of discussion on the movie. But Potemkin was also an early example of realism. Film had been magical and theatrical, now it would rip away the gloss and greasepaint and show humans and the human condition, warts and all. A prime example of that: The famous Odessa step sequence, remains one of filmdom's most powerful moments. It’s interesting to note that this story was touting its support for communism, it was a desperate cry for a break from tyranny - and knowing how that cry will eventually turn to tears itself, adds to the haunting nature of the movie when viewed today.

Best Actor: John Gilbert, The Big Parade
Honorable Mentions:
Lon Chaney, The Phantom of the Opera * Emil Jannings, Variety * Harold Lloyd, The Freshman * Ronald Colman, Lady Windermere's Fan * Douglas Fairbanks, The Black Pirate * Gabriel Gabrio, Les Misérables

Supporting Actor: Gustav von Seyffertitz, Sparrows

Best Actress: Priscilla Bonner, The Red Kimona
Honorable Mentions:
Irene Rich, Lady Windermere's Fan * Lya de Putti, Variety & Manon Lescaut * Sandra Milovanoff and Suzanne Nivette, Les Misérable * Renée Adorée, The Big Parade * Jobyna Ralston, The Freshman * Belle Bennett, Stella Dallas * Dorothy Gish, Nell Gwyn

Supporting Actress: Andrée Rolane, Les Misérables

Special Award - Best Makeup: Lon Chaney, The Phantom of the Opera

1926-27

Metropolis (Jan 1927 – Director: Fritz Lang)

Nominees: The General (Dec 1926), A Page of Madness (Sept 1926), Napoleon (April 1927), Mother (Oct 1926), The Kid Brother (Jan 1927), The Lodger (Feb 1927), The Unknown (June 1927), 3 Bad Men (Aug 1926), The Scarlet Letter (Aug 1926)

Choosing anything other than my beloved The General. seemed an impossibility as it was so much a treasured part of my film-going life. I wrote about it in detail here... letterboxd.com/the-general. But Lang's mixture of social commentary with science fiction was such groundbreaking alchemy, so a brilliant and breathless an innovation, that I couldn't select anything except Metropolis. However, it wasn't until the 2010 restoration that I felt like I actually got to see the film the way it was meant to be seen. (for the most part)

It was the first great full-length sci-fi feature, and it looks incredible: The cinematography, the edits, the effects, and design... it's German expressionism at it's best. It made me think, it moved me and left me awestruck. It's Fritz Lang's greatest achievement (and that's saying a lot).

Keaton's classic then takes the #2 spot by the slimmest of margins. #3 is Abel Gance’s innovative biopic, Napoleon; Among its dazzling visuals - in its final scenes it used a precursor to cinemascope, called Polyvision. After that: Mother is an intimate kin to battleship Potempkin, a realistic Russian film about socio/political issues. The Kid Brother was a Harold Lloyd comedy, and the Lodger was where Hitchcock became Hitchcock,

June 2016: I've since watched and added the brilliantly strange A Page of Madness

As for the actors, Chaney was phenomenal in Tod Browning's The Unknown, but it's time to award my favorite silent clown in one of his most iconic roles.

Best Actor: Buster Keaton, The General
Honorable Mentions:
Lon Chaney, The Unknown * Harold Lloyd, The Kid Brother * Harry Langdon, The Strong Man * John Gilbert, Flesh and the Devil & Bardelys the Magnificent * Nikolai Batalov & Vladimir Fogel, Bed and Sofa * Emil Jannings, Faust

Supporting Actor: Lon Chaney, Tell It to the Marines

Best Actress: Brigitte Helm, Metropolis
Honorable Mentions:
Lyudmila Semyonova, Bed and Sofa * Olive Borden, 3 Bad Men * Greta Garbo, Flesh and the Devil * Clara Bow, It * Pola Negri, Hotel Imperial * Marion Davies, The Red Mill * Jobyna Ralston, The Kid Brother * Lillian Gish, The Scarlet Letter

Supporting Actress: Vera Baranovskay, Mother




* Note on Phantom of the Opera - The release date was tough to pinpoint because the film was re-shot and previewed so many times... in L.A. Jan 1925. In San Francisco April 1925, with a new ending and other footage. Still unhappy with it, the producer scrapped most of the new scenes (but kept the ending) and added some comedic relief. Another unsatisfying showing saw that material ditched as well. After some tweaks the film finally premiered on September 6, 1925, to great acclaim)

Up next: Felix vs. Oscar!

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