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
Honorable Mentions:
Jean Angelo, Monte Cristo
Uno Henning, A Cottage on Dartmoor
Ronald Colman, Bulldog Drummond & Condemned
George Arliss, Disraeli
Ronald Colman, Bulldog Drummond & Condemned
George Arliss, Disraeli
Herbert Marshall, Murder
Best Actress: Louise Brooks, Diary of a Lost Girl
Supporting Actor: Louis Wolheim, All Quiet on the Western Front
< Previous * Next >
Home
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 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.
< Previous * Next >
Home
