Best of 1937

1. History is Made at Night                                                  Frank Borzage
2. La Grande Illusion                                                            Jean Renoir
3. Snow White                                                                       David Hand, et al
4. Sabotage                                                                            Alfred Hitchcock
5. Wee Willie Winkie                                                             John Ford
6. What Did the Lady Forget?                                             Yasujirō Ozu
7. The Edge of the World                                                     Michael Powell
8. Stage Door                                                                         Gregory La Cava
9. The Hurricane                                                                   John Ford
10. Captains Courageous                                                       Victor Fleming

         Honorable Mention

         

         Désiré -- Guitry, Make Way for Tomorrow -- McCarey

         Stella Dallas - Vidor

         Films I Enjoyed

         Lost Horizon, The Awful Truth,

         Pépé le Moko, Un Carnet de Bal,

         You Only Live Once, Camille,

         Nothing Sacred, Angel,

         A Star is Born, The Pearls of the Crown,

         Shall We Dance?, The Prisoner of Zenda,

         Easy Living, Fire Over England,

         The Green Cockatoo, The Life of Emile Zola,

         Topper, Dead End

         Below the Mendoza Line

         

          A Damsel in Distress,

         Stolen Holiday, Mannequin,

         A Day at the Races, In Old Chicago

         The Prince and the Pauper, Saratoga,

         The Good Earth, Maid of Salem

                                                     

             

                                         

          

Jolt

If you are tired and indiscriminate: Kate Beckinsale pounds another victim in Jolt

Tanya Wexler's Jolt, currently streaming on Amazon Prime, is a super heroine actioner for the Adderall generation. A vehicle for the confoundingly lithe and youthful Kate Beckinsale. the story is at a comic book level with broad villainy and double crosses. Yet, despite the ludicrous material (which cribs from the Crank series), Wexler's breezy direction strikes the right tone and milks amusing banter from a too talented cast: Bobby Cannavale, Laverne Cox, Jai Courtney, Stanley Tucci, and Susan Sarandon. Not a good or memorable film, but appreciably better than such femme bot opuses as Atomic Blonde, Red Sparrow, Lucy, and the Resident Evil films.

I Know Where I'm Going!

Roger Livesey and Wendy Hiller in I Know Where I'm Going!

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going!, from 1945, is a charming romance shot amidst the shadows of World War 2. Wendy Hiller plays a headstrong young Londoner who is travelling to a remote Scottish island to marry a much older captain of industry. In an introductory scene at a swank London restaurant, she informs her befuddled father of the imminent nuptials. The milieu is sophisticated and the tone is tart. Our heroine is being set up by the Archers to be knocked down by love and country manners. She is stranded by a storm in a rustic seaside village where she attracts the attentions of a naval officer on leave. He takes her to a barn dance celebrating a long time union which contrasts nicely with the cosmopolitan opening. Sparks fly.

One of the few things I found unsatisfying about the film was the male lead, Roger Livesey. His performance is workmanlike and not without charm, but he is not a good match for the flint and fire of Hiller. Despite losing twenty pounds for the role, Livesey seems more avuncular than dashing. It is a pity that James Mason, then at his saturnine peak and the first choice for the role, did not play the part because of financial wrangling with the Archers. It must not have been too bitter because he did pair with Helen Mirren in Powell's 1969 film Age of Consent; a nice, but slight effort. In I Know Where I'm Going!, Hiller is incandescent, as is Pamela Brown. I'm more familiar with these ladies when they played Baronesses and High Priestesses in the 60s and 70s, so it is a treat to see them together in their prime. The glowing close-ups of Brown attest to the place she held in Powell's heart. 

The Archers always seem more at ease with fantasy than reality and this film is no exception. Hiller's dream sequences are marvelous, utilizing superimpositions and a surreal sense of sight and sound. On the debit side, the sequences of a boat and its crew in peril are clunky. My father first clued me into the Archers when reminiscing about his college days when he would look forward to each new Archers release. He delighted in their films and waxed enthusiastically about them. He sparked my interest in the cinema, opening a magical world that enthralls me to this day. He would champion films that stood a bit outside the mainstream: Ophuls' The Exile, Huston's Beat the Devil, and Mulligan's The Stalking Moon. His tastes were hardly avant-garde, but he taught me, mostly by example, to develop my own critical faculties and not kowtow to prevailing notions. In time, I was able to return the favor. I was chuffed after I sent him a VHS of History is Made at Night and he told me that he enjoyed it so much, he watched it twice in a row. Powell's work was no longer fashionable when my Dad first mentioned it me in the mid-70s, but critical winds have changed and he is now acknowledged as one of the premier English filmmakers. Dad, I promise I'll get to Oh...Rosalinda!! before I join you behind the veil.