2019 Year in Review: The Year in Classic Movies
I’ve always loved classic movies. By default, my TV is almost always on TCM. In the past, I’ve resolved to watch classic movies based on themes: all the Best Actress winners, all the Best Picture winners, all the AFI 100 movies (both lists).
This year, as 31 Days of Oscar was halfway through on TCM, I
decided that I wanted to just watch old movies. Not necessarily prestige
pictures, but old movies. The only caveat was that it couldn’t be something I’d
seen before. If the description sounded interesting, I DVR’d it. If it starred
an actor or actress I was interested in, I DVR’d it.
I also didn’t limit myself to TCM. I have the Hollywood
Suite of channels, Silver Screen Classics, and the library’s exhaustive list of
DVDs.
In total, I watched 286 old movies this year. Of
that, 108 were from the ‘30s; 61 were from the ‘50s; 54 were from the ‘40s; 50
were from the ‘60s; 6 were from the ’70s; four from the ‘80s; and three from
the ‘20s.
My discoveries: I owe this challenge to my newfound (or
strengthened) love for Ginger Rogers, Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Myrna Loy, Melvyn
Douglas, Esther Williams, Carole Lombard, and Joanne Woodward; I’ve added
several new movies to my favourite list (and have a host of them that I can’t
bring myself to delete from my DVR).
For the full list of movies I watched this year, click here. For some
thoughts, read on!
***Note, this post was back-dated to January 2020 and republished from my now-defunct general interests blog. I'm reposting it here in the interest of keeping my most pertinent classic movie posts together.
Best/Favourite Movie(s): Vivacious Lady, Lover Come
Back, Send Me No Flowers, Third Finger, Left Hand, The Thin Man
Weirdest/Worst Movie(s): How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Freaks, Blow-Up
Most Infuriating Movie: She Had to Say Yes, from
1932. Loretta Young DID NOT HAVE TO SAY YES.
Favourite Ginger Rogers Movie(s): Vivacious Lady,
Roberta, and Bachelor Mother
Favourite Bette Davis Movie(s): Fashions of 1934, June Bride, The Bride Came C.O.D.
Favourite Doris Day Movie(s): Romance on the High
Seas, Lover Come Back, Send Me No Flowers, Midnight Lace, Move Over, Darling,
The Glass Bottom Boat
Favourite Myrna Loy Movie(s): Third Finger, Left
Hand, The Thin Man, Midnight Lace
Favourite Carole Lombard Movie: Twentieth Century
Favourite Movie Title(s): Esther Williams had a great
run – Neptune’s Daughter, Duchess of Idaho, Bathing Beauty, Easy to Wed…
Movies Named After Women: Miss Sadie Thompson,
Craig’s Wife, Dulcy, Pat and Mike, Roberta, Suzy, Victor/Victoria, Susan and
God, My Sister Eileen, Theodora Goes Wild, Sadie Thompson, Stella Dallas, Lady
L, Sylvia Scarlett, Nancy Goes to Rio, Julie, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The
Divorce of Lady X, Calamity Jane, Athena, Laura, Princess O’Rourke, Claudia,
Bob & Carol & Alice & Ted, Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise, Congo
Maisie, Bunny O’Hare, Evelyn Prentice
Favourite Myrna Loy/William Powell Pairing: The Thin Man (duh) or Love Crazy
Favourite Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire Pairing: Roberta
via tumblr, source unknown
Favourite Hepburn/Tracy Pairing: Desk Set, State of the Union, Adam’s Rib
Earliest Movie: Sadie Thompson or The Crowd, both
1928
Latest Movie: The Whales of August, 1987.
Year with the most representation: 1938— Fools for
Scandal, Four's a Crowd, Gold is Where You Find It, Holiday, Joy of Living,
Maid's Night Out, Rich Man, Poor Girl, Secrets of an Actress, Test Pilot, That
Hagen Girl, The Divorce of Lady X, The Mad Miss Manton, The Rage of Paris, The
Shining Hour, The Young in Heart, Too Hot to Handle, and Vivacious Lady.
Year with the second most representation: 1937— Big City, Double Wedding, I Met Him in Paris, Lost Horizon, Nothing Sacred, Public Wedding, Saratoga, Shall We Dance, Stella Dallas, That Certain Woman, The Adventurous Blonde, The Footloose Heiress, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, The Man Who Found Himself, There Goes My Girl
Year with the third most representation: 1956— A Kiss
Before Dying, Baby Doll, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Bundle of Joy, Earth vs.
The Flying Saucers, Forbidden Planet, Forever, Darling, Julie, Meet Me in Las
Vegas, Ransom!, The Bad Seed, The Catered Affair, The First Traveling
Saleslady, The Opposite Sex
via tumblr, source unknown
Year with the worst representation (that wasn’t the ‘20s, ‘70s, or ‘80s): 1967—which shocked me. The only movie I saw from that year was Reflections in a Golden Eye with Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor and the less said about that movie the better.
Number of Pre-Code Movies (1928 to mid-1934): 44. One
thing I’ve learned is that I want to explore more pre-code movies in 2020.
Movies Featuring Goddesses (or mythological women): Athena,
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, One Touch of Venus
gif by me
Worst Final Movie, Bette (The Whales of August) vs. Joan (Trog) Edition: Joan Crawford, by a mile. I honestly can’t believe that she ended her career with Trog. Trog! A movie about a frozen caveman who comes back to life.
Musicals Watched: Romance on the High Seas, My Dream
is Yours, The Tender Trap, The Band Wagon, Easter Parade, Lucky Me, Roberta,
Victor/Victoria, The First Traveling Saleslady, My Sister Eileen, The Pajama
Game, You Were Never Lovelier, Down Argentine Way, Shall We Dance, Take Me Out
to the Ball Game, April in Paris, Bundle of Joy, Flying Down to Rio, Hollywood
Canteen, Tea for Two, Royal Wedding, Nancy Goes to Rio, Calamity Jane
Best Dance Scene: Dancing in the Dark, Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon.
Movies with Paris in the Title: Paris Holiday, The
Rage of Paris, Made in Paris, Paris Blues, April in Paris, I Met Him in Paris (my favourite out of the bunch!)
Sports Movies: Grand Prix, Pat and Mike, Slap Shot, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Man’s Favorite Sport? (my favourite out of the bunch!), Alibi Ike.
via tumblr, source unknown
Favourite Discovery: Joanne Woodward (A Kiss Before Dying, Paris Blues, The Stripper, Signpost to Murder, A Big Hand for the Little Lady, A Fine Madness, Winning, They Might be Giants)
Myrna Loy (The Truth About Youth, Emma, The Barbarian,
Manhattan Melodrama, The Thin Man, Evelyn Prentice, Petticoat Fever, Double
Wedding, Test Pilot, Too Hot To Handle, Lucky Night, I Love You Again, Third
Finger, Left Hand, Love Crazy, So Goes My Love, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer,
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home, Midnight Lace)
Sophia Loren (The Key, The Millionairess, Marriage, Italian
Style, Lady L, and Arabesque).
Bette Davis or Joan Crawford? Bette, based on what I
watched this year.
Olivia de Havilland or Joan Fontaine? A tie,
honestly. My favourite Olivia movie: Princess O’Rourke. My favourite Joan
movie: Maid’s Night Out.
Actors I Now Have a Crush On: Robert Young, Rex
Harrison and Melvyn Douglas.
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