I thought dividing my favorite movies into ten per decade would be an easy task, but it’s actually getting harder than I thought. It’s hard to leave out some titles, but it is what it is. We leave the time of silence, and we enter the recently invented sound cinema, although there are some exceptions.
- ‘Freaks’. Probably the masterpiece of Tod Browning, one of the greats of those years. This story of love, jealousy and ambition in a most peculiar circus environment continues to arouse fascination today, thanks to the enormous visual power of its director’s films.
- ‘Make Way for Tomorrow’. The film with which a server probably throws more than the cleanex. Directed by Leo McCarey, and today somewhat forgotten, it is a melodrama with no silver lining and very difficult to endure, since every human being will be touched by a sensitive chord for focusing on old age, something that we will all reach. With one of the best endings ever seen in a movie. Unforgivable that it is not yet released on DVD.
- ‘City Lights’. In the midst of sound film effervescence, Chaplin scored a point with a silent film, reaping great success and one of his best films. Unforgettable love story, where there is no lack of space for the typical humor of one of the best comedians of all time. Few films produce the same effect as this one.
- ‘Dream of Eternal Love’. This is the ridiculous title that was given to ‘Peter Ibbetson’ in our country, for me Henry Hathaway’s best film, a tragic love story with incredible fantastic touches. Another unforgivably not edited on dvd.
- ‘Captain Blood’. One of the many collaborations between Errol Flynn and Michael Curtiz, and one of the best. Summit work of adventure cinema, imitated over and over again and never surpassed. Pirate movies wouldn’t be the same without titles like this one.
- ‘Vampyr’. An amazing genius from the mythical Carl T. Dreyer, and one of the few movies in the entire history of cinema that are literally scary. With anthological sequences that would influence subsequent genre cinema, it is another one of those that has not yet been released on DVD to the despair of some.
- ‘Beau Geste’. One of the best films by William A. Wellman, and one more title that cannot be found on dvd. Another masterpiece of adventure cinema with some absolutely wonderful characters, especially the main one. Emotional and unforgettable ending.
- ‘You only live once’. Second American film by Fritz Lang, and for me one of the best. Fatality and losers once again in the cinema of its director, with a very clear denunciation of the American judicial system, and of astonishing force. Another unforgettable ending to the list.
If you feel like it, you can contribute your favorite movies from the 1930s. Next week, the 1940s.
