If it's Friday, if's FORGOTTEN BOOK DAY. Don't forget to check in at Patti Abbott blog, PATTINASE, to see what other forgotten books other bloggers are talking about today.
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For 27 years, Bosley Crowther was the head honcho film critic at the New York Times, until his scathing attack on BONNIE AND CLYDE, a film with which he and I concur, left him out in the cold, pointing and spouting, 'But the emperor has no clothes!'
Bosley Crowther
He was summarily replaced at the Times with younger and supposedly more visionary critics, (certainly more in tune with the public's shifting taste in films - this was the late sixties).
Crowther wrote several books on films and criticism and a biography of Cecil B. DeMille, HOLLYWOOD RAJAH. (A great title, I've always thought.)
I received THE GREAT FILMS Fifty Years Of Motion Pictures (1967) as a birthday gift in 1969. Over the years I've continued to enjoy looking through the book and reading a paragraph and there. Never the whole thing at one gulp.
This is the copy I have.
It's so interesting to compare the films listed here with current lists of Great Films. I'm not sure that Crowther's complete list would survive in tact.
As a critic, Bosley Crowther could be snooty, no doubt, and often cruel. But I think that was the style of the day. He was given power and he used it. I've read very few critics who aren't snippy and ready to ridicule. Perhaps only Roger Ebert springs to mind. Though when he dislikes a film, he makes sure you know it. In general though, he doesn't condescend nor is he deliberately cruel.
While there are films listed here which I haven't seen and also films with which Crowther and I do not agree, on the whole, I think we agreed more often than not. We shared a propensity for foreign films though I was not as fond as he of the grim Italian 'reality' films of the day - the disillusion and human wreckage of WWII still alive in movie-makers' memories.
I also don't think that a current list would include as many silents as on Crowther's list. I admit I am not as fond of silent films as some. It's a fault, I know.
Now to Crowther's list:
THE BIRTH OF A NATION - 1915
INTOLERANCE - 1916
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI - 1919
NANOOK OF THE NORTH - 1922
THE COVERED WAGON - 1923
THE STORY OF GOSTA BERLING - 1923
THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD - 1924
GREED - 1924
THE FRESHMAN - 1925
THE GOLD RUSH - 1925
POTEMKIN - 1925
THE GENERAL - 1927
THE CROWD - 1928
THE BLUE ANGEL - 1929
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - 1930
THE PUBLIC ENEMY - 1931
A NOUS LA LIBERTE - 1932
KING KONG - 1933
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT - 1934
THE INFORMER - 1935
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA - 1935
CAMILLE - 1936
LA GRANDE ILLUSION - 1938
NINOTCHKA - 1939
GONE WITH THE WIND - 1939
THE GRAPES OF WRATH - 1940
FANTASIA - 1940
CITIZEN KANE - 1941
THE MALTESE FALCON - 1941
IN WHICH WE SERVE - 1942
HENRY V - 1944
LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS - 1945
IVAN THE TERRIBLE, Parts 1 and 2 - 1946
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES - 1946
PAISAN - 1947
MONSIEUR VERDOUX - 1947
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE - 1948
THE BICYCLE THIEF - 1949
SUNSET BOULEVARD - 1950
RASHOMON - 1951
FORBIDDEN GAMES - 1952
SHANE - 1953
ON THE WATERFRONT - 1954
THE SEVENTH SEAL - 1956
LA STRADA - 1956
THE APU TRILOGY - 1958
LA DOLCE VITA - 1960
TOM JONES - 1964
BLOW-UP - 1966
ULYSSES - 1967
There is also a Supplemental List of 100 Distinguished Films.
Each of the fifty films has several pages (and many b/w photos) devoted to it, written by Crowther in lucid, affectionate, critically precise, slightly old fashioned terms. If you are at all interested in the first fifty years of film, they make for great reading.
To learn more about Bosley Crowther, please use this link.
I've also disagreed with Mr. Crowther from time to time, but I get a kick out of reading his old reviews. I can't fault his list, he's picked some great ones.
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to read another's list, especially someone as well versed in film as Mr. Crowther. His inclusion of "Shane" makes up for any omissions I may feel he may have made. It looks like a wonderful book to own.
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed that very few of his favorites are in color? I count six. Seven if he mentions the two color strip version of The THIEF OF BAGHDAD. Does he saw anything about the use of color in movies in his book?
ReplyDeleteTHE THIEF OF BAGDAD was not filmed in two-color Technicolor. You're possibly confusing it with a later Douglas Fairbanks film, THE BLACK PIRATE.
DeleteJacqueline: And on his Supplemental list of 100 Distinguished Films, he adds many others that most of us would remember fondly.
ReplyDeleteIncluding A HARD DAY'S NIGHT which was a bit of a surprise.
...and THE RED SHOES which would have been on my main list. :)
Caftan Woman: I agree. Copies are available online for not too much money. It's a keeper.
ReplyDeleteJohn: He may have and I just don't remember. But I don't think so. In his excellent introduction he explains his methodology which makes a lot of sense. He does mention technical aspects but says that that would not have been enough for him unless the the techincal aspects were combined with 'strong content'.
ReplyDeleteYou have to remember, John, that MANY films in those years WERE in black and white. The book only lists early and mid-century films after all. The last film is dated 1967.
On his list of 100 Distinguished Films, there are several in color.
Wow! Never heard of him or this book. I don't like silents at all. Not even whispering here. :<) Of those on the list, I've seen several over the years but the only ones I've watched again in recent years are Blow Up and On The Waterfront. Oh, Vanessa! Always, always lights up the screen as far as I'm concerned. And OTW, was so impressive this viewing. I even wrote about it on ye olde blogge. :<)
ReplyDeletehttp://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2008/04/on-waterfront-on-dvd.html
I'm well aware that black and white was still the choice for most filmmakers well into the '60s even the though Technicolor available as early as the late 1930s. (Don't get me started on all the trivia I still carry with me from my days as a film communications major in college.) I was just curious if Crowther said something about that in his book. Perhaps I was looking for oddities when none really exist.
ReplyDeleteThe only one I'd add automatically, I suppose, is CASABLANCA...though I agree that THE RED SHOES also deserves a place. I haven't seen the book, but I also grew up in the Crowther era (and used to really enjoy films, something I can no longer say is true) and remember him well. I've seen many - not all - of those films and find it hard to argue with them.
ReplyDeleteNan: Yes, ON THE WATERFRONT was such a ground-breaking movie. I can remember seeing it in the theater and being thunder-struck. However, don't read the book by Budd Shulberg. It has a totally different ending which infuriated me. I can say no more.
ReplyDeleteI will be over to read your post on OTW shortly, Nan. :)
John: I love all the movie minutia you can spare. I too carry a great deal of it and I have no excuse. I never studied it in school. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Les. There's just not much going on in movies right now that interests me. Though occasionally I'll find something worthwhile, like THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt which I saw recently and recommend highly.
ReplyDeleteIn Crowther's list of 100 Distinguished Movies he lists CASABLANCA and THE RED SHOES.
I've seen most of these, including all but one of the sound-era pictures. This wouldn't be my exact list of course but there is nothing there that I don't think is at least quite good - maybe Ulysses, which I don't remember very well.
ReplyDeleteSteve: Never saw ULYSSES, but I have seen 22, possibly 23, of the films listed.
ReplyDeleteNot quite 50% but almost. :)
Crowther makes a good case, though, for the films I haven't seen.
What about Notorious, one of my favorite Hitchcock movies? And what about another favorite, The Lady Vanishes?
ReplyDeleteAnd what about the Bacall/Bogart To Have and Have Not, Dark Passages, and Key Largo?