Best of the Year: 1932 - Freaks

Freaks

Most of the films in the silent/early talkie era of cinema can trace their roots to vaudeville. Most actors and writers got their start putting on the comedic slapstick antics of the stage. In 1932, filmmaker Tod Browning decided to craft a film from a very different stage: the freakshow. Based loosely on a short story called "Spurs" (I haven't read it, but the wiki entry is bonkers!), this movie is pretty much just an excuse to translate the freakshow to the screen. Just as casting directors reaped talent from the vaudevillians, Browning cast his film straight out of the sideshow. Genuine circus "freaks" were given the chance of a lifetime to act among a handful of B-movie stars of the day.

The plot of this film is as flimsy as you may guess, but the message is resonant to this day: Judge not, lest ye be judged. Even still, you can enjoy this film even if you ignore the plot as the real-life performers put on their show. Possibly the most astounding shot is when Prince Randian, the Living Torso (a man with no arms or legs) lights and smokes his own cigarette with a match.

I show this film nearly every year in my Anatomy class because many of the "freaks" display actual pathology that we study in class. Congenital dwarfism, Marfan Syndrome, microcephaly, hirsutism, sacral agenesis, and conjoined twins are all on display in a non-judgmental (except by the villains, of course), genuine fashion.

This movie was on my original 365. You can read what I said ten years ago here.

The Year in Movies: 1932

1932

Number of Movies I've Seen: 3
Ugh... not a good start. This is why I have over 300 movies on my Letterboxd watch list.

Number of Movies from my original top 365:  2

Oscar Winner:
Grand Hotel - pictured above. This movie is what happens when you take nearly every big name star in Hollywood and make a 2 hour soap opera that really doesn't have much of a cohesive plot to bring all of the together other than their titular location. For good or bad (actually a bit of both), this movie is what I see when I close my eyes and think of "Old Hollywood".

Box Office Winner:
The Kid from Spain - I haven't seen this one. As a matter of fact, I've never seen an Eddie Cantor movie. I'll definitely keep an eye on TCM to remedy that.

My Top Ten:
1. NEXT POST!

2. Horse Feathers - To be completely honest the only reason this isn't in the top slot is because I didn't want to give the Marx brothers the entire decade. You'll certainly see more of them on this blog as I believe their films to be the absolute peak of comedic cinema. Read my original blog post here.

3. Grand Hotel - This movie is solid. It is one of the better "Best Picture" winners of the Oscar's first decade or so and worth the watch.

Best of the Year: 1922 - Nosferatu

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

Technically my first "favorite film of the year" is a bit of a cheat because it wasn't released in the United States until 1929. It's German release was 1922 though and most movie websites list that as its year. In 2020 we are lucky to be able to see this film at all as it was ordered destroyed after the filmmaker lost a lawsuit with the family of Bram Stoker. It seems that changing the Vampire's name to Count Orlok (among other minor changes) wasn't enough to avoid a clear comparison to Stoker's opus Dracula.

Simply put, this movie is a treat. Murnau's masterful directing and Max Shreck's brilliant portrayal of the cursed count make this one of the few silent films I would recommend to even casual movie fans. Shreck is so convincing as the Count that many moviegoers of the day (and conspiracy theorists of modern times) believed he was actually a vampire. The 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire actually takes this theme and runs with it in its fictionalized retelling of the filming of Nosferatu.

This film is not "scary" in the same vein as modern horror films, but it is certainly haunting. Predating the cliches that we have come to expect with Dracula and vampires, this movie seems to genuinely believe in its story. This story of Count Orlok is much more docudrama than fairy tale. The title cards and dated effects only add to the feeling of being transported to another time and place where vampires are real.

The Year in Movies: 1922

Ten years ago I sat out with a very ambitious goal: every day from my 29th birthday until my 30th I would write a blog detailing one of my 365 favorite movies of all time. I had a blast and I still look back on the project with fondness. Today I turn 39 and I figured it's time to get back to it. Daily was a bit ambitious so instead I am going to aim for around 200 blog posts detailing my favorite movie from each year 1922-2021. Why 200 posts you may ask? I figured with each year I would talk a bit about the year and then add a second post detailing my favorite movie of the year. Obviously I'll have a bit more to say about the recent decades so to mix it up I am going to jump around 10 years at a time (1922, 1932, 1942, etc). Without further ado... The Year in Movies!

1922

Number of Movies I've Seen: 3
I know, I know. I truly have been trying to knock out more silent movies over the past few years, but I have a long way to go.

Number of Movies from my original top 365: 0

Oscar Winner: n/a
The Oscars didn't exist yet.

Box Office Winner:
Robin Hood - This is free on youtube and definitely on my watch list!

My Top Ten:
1. (Next Post! I am going to reveal my favorite movie in an accompanying post for each year.)

2. Haxan - Subtitled "Witchcraft through the ages" this movie is just plain wild. It is told as a documentary recreating scenes explained by the title cards such as witch's gatherings and Satan himself invading a convent to influence the nuns. The movie was originally banned in the US and contains depictions of torture, nudity, and sexual perversion. Definitely worth the watch if you are curious what "art" film looked like nearly 100 years ago. The picture above is from this film.

3. Nanook of the North - Viewed by most film historians as the first feature-length documentary, this movie gives the viewer a peak into the daily life of a family of Inuit people in northern Quebec. Many of the scenes have been obviously staged, but it is free on youtube and worth it for the igloo building scene alone.