The best films of the year ... 1928
December 28, 2018 10:11 PM Subscribe
Since 2007, film critics and scholars Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell have posted the ten best films of the year 90 years before the current one. So this year is they've posted the ten best of 1928, a great year for motion pictures but almost the end of the line for the silent film.
Previous years:
The best of 1927
The best of 1926
The best of 1925
The best of 1924
The best of 1923
The best of 1922
The best of 1921
The best of 1920
The best of 1919
The best of 1918
The best of 1917
Previous years:
The best of 1927
The best of 1926
The best of 1925
The best of 1924
The best of 1923
The best of 1922
The best of 1921
The best of 1920
The best of 1919
The best of 1918
The best of 1917
*runs in all excited* I've seen several of these for my own blog, THIS IS RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS.
#1, The Passion of Joan of Arc, is intense. Every other movie about Joan covers a broad span of time - her early life, her battles, and everything before her trial and execution. But this covers just the trial and execution, and is devastating - it uses the actual transcript of the trial (or so it claims), and so all you see for most of the film is a bunch of old guys interrogating a very young woman. You can't help but be sympathetic to Joan, no matter what you believe about the credence of her visions.
Also - the blog says a print was found "in Norway", but where in Norway is its own story; it was found in a storage closet in a mental institution. And there is no clear explanation as to what it was doing in such an astonishingly weird place.
The stunts inSteamboat Bill Jr. were fantastic, but I weirdly felt like the hurricane sequence ran on a bit long. But the rest of the film had some fantastic moments - a botched prison break, star-crossed lovers, and Buster Keaton making total hash of some simple tasks. He plays the son of an old riverboat captain, and there's a fantastically snarky moment when his father and the first mate are watching Buster totally mess up some nautical task - and then the first mate quietly hands the captain a pistol and says "No jury would convict you." I wasn't expecting Buster to go so dark.
Storm over Asia has a really interesting sequence showing a meeting between some Western colonizers and a Lama-type figure. It starts with showing both the colonizers delegation and the Lama's monks both preparing for the meeting in their own way, then the great pomp and circumstance of the colonizers arrival at the compound, culminating with him being shown into the lama's chambers - where we learn that the old lama has recently died, so the person sitting in his chambers is his newly-discovered reincarnated two-year-old next self. But what floored me - the colonizers just go with it, treating it with all the dignity they would any diplomatic meeting. Which I was not expecting.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:02 AM on December 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
#1, The Passion of Joan of Arc, is intense. Every other movie about Joan covers a broad span of time - her early life, her battles, and everything before her trial and execution. But this covers just the trial and execution, and is devastating - it uses the actual transcript of the trial (or so it claims), and so all you see for most of the film is a bunch of old guys interrogating a very young woman. You can't help but be sympathetic to Joan, no matter what you believe about the credence of her visions.
Also - the blog says a print was found "in Norway", but where in Norway is its own story; it was found in a storage closet in a mental institution. And there is no clear explanation as to what it was doing in such an astonishingly weird place.
The stunts inSteamboat Bill Jr. were fantastic, but I weirdly felt like the hurricane sequence ran on a bit long. But the rest of the film had some fantastic moments - a botched prison break, star-crossed lovers, and Buster Keaton making total hash of some simple tasks. He plays the son of an old riverboat captain, and there's a fantastically snarky moment when his father and the first mate are watching Buster totally mess up some nautical task - and then the first mate quietly hands the captain a pistol and says "No jury would convict you." I wasn't expecting Buster to go so dark.
Storm over Asia has a really interesting sequence showing a meeting between some Western colonizers and a Lama-type figure. It starts with showing both the colonizers delegation and the Lama's monks both preparing for the meeting in their own way, then the great pomp and circumstance of the colonizers arrival at the compound, culminating with him being shown into the lama's chambers - where we learn that the old lama has recently died, so the person sitting in his chambers is his newly-discovered reincarnated two-year-old next self. But what floored me - the colonizers just go with it, treating it with all the dignity they would any diplomatic meeting. Which I was not expecting.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:02 AM on December 29, 2018 [8 favorites]
I have long argued that La passion de Jeanne d’Arc is the "greatest film of all time", not Citizen Kane or even The Godfather movies, don't @ me
posted by nightrecordings at 4:21 AM on December 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by nightrecordings at 4:21 AM on December 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Chiming in to say WOOT! about Spione (Spies) - it's GREAT! It's like a prototype Bond film with the evil genius villain pulling strings - fantastic film. If you haven't seen it I'd recommend - it's more fun than Metropolis imho.
posted by parki at 4:55 AM on December 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by parki at 4:55 AM on December 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Hmmm...I'm a real film buff, but I don't recall Error Establishing a Database Connection being released in 1928.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:12 AM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 8:12 AM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Error establishing a database connection won every year. How have I not seen this movie?
posted by lordrunningclam at 8:29 AM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by lordrunningclam at 8:29 AM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
The greatness of silent cinema in this late period supports the notion that an art form or technology reaches its peak of excellence precisely at the moment before it becomes obsolete.
Carriages made around the time of the first automobiles had solved most of the technical problems of horse-drawn vehicles, and were the fastest, most comfortable and most beautiful ever built. The sailing ships that overlapped with the early age of steamships were sleek and speedy masterpieces of wind-powered travel. So were the final steam locomotives.
The realistic novel peaked in the late 19th century, just as the cinema was gearing up as a vehicle of narrative.
Movie musicals reached their apogee with "Singing in the Rain" just before the bottom dropped out of the market in suspended disbelief, as signaled by the onset of rock music.
Today's books, magazines and other printed materials are, at the high end, better designed, more pleasing and more colorful than any in history, with paper that loves ink and will last forever. Not to mention that more printed books are more widely available more cheaply than ever. All at the same time that electronic media are assuming the functional mantle of print.
In fact, the whole of our western culture has reached what seems to be a pinnacle of global interconnectedness, peaceful cohabitation, scientific achievement and popular scientific literacy, empathy, peace, passion for justice, human awareness of environmental fragility, sophistication in all the arts at the very same time we are confronting its ultimate obsolescence under the rising regime of Asian culture, or the hot hand of a carbon-heavy atmosphere.
Or is this simply an illusion?
posted by Modest House at 8:31 AM on December 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
Carriages made around the time of the first automobiles had solved most of the technical problems of horse-drawn vehicles, and were the fastest, most comfortable and most beautiful ever built. The sailing ships that overlapped with the early age of steamships were sleek and speedy masterpieces of wind-powered travel. So were the final steam locomotives.
The realistic novel peaked in the late 19th century, just as the cinema was gearing up as a vehicle of narrative.
Movie musicals reached their apogee with "Singing in the Rain" just before the bottom dropped out of the market in suspended disbelief, as signaled by the onset of rock music.
Today's books, magazines and other printed materials are, at the high end, better designed, more pleasing and more colorful than any in history, with paper that loves ink and will last forever. Not to mention that more printed books are more widely available more cheaply than ever. All at the same time that electronic media are assuming the functional mantle of print.
In fact, the whole of our western culture has reached what seems to be a pinnacle of global interconnectedness, peaceful cohabitation, scientific achievement and popular scientific literacy, empathy, peace, passion for justice, human awareness of environmental fragility, sophistication in all the arts at the very same time we are confronting its ultimate obsolescence under the rising regime of Asian culture, or the hot hand of a carbon-heavy atmosphere.
Or is this simply an illusion?
posted by Modest House at 8:31 AM on December 29, 2018 [5 favorites]
When I was a kid, it was the golden age of TV syndication, when UHF stations would play *anything* in order to run commercials through it, and so I saw lots of silent movies. People I know only a few years younger than me barely understand that there were such things as silent movies. I made a list of great silent movies for such friends, and I forgot to put "Joan of Arc" on it, because I forgot it was *silent*. That's how great it is. Unfortunately, I can't see any of the links, so I can't comment further.
posted by acrasis at 8:38 AM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by acrasis at 8:38 AM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
lordrunningclam: "Error establishing a database connection won every year. How have I not seen this movie?"
The site seems to be back.
posted by octothorpe at 8:54 AM on December 29, 2018
The site seems to be back.
posted by octothorpe at 8:54 AM on December 29, 2018
Jesse Walker has been issuing similar film reviews and rankings based on years. Right now he's working his way back to 1928, decade by decade. So far he's issued 2008, 1998, 1988, and 1978.
posted by doctornemo at 9:37 AM on December 29, 2018
posted by doctornemo at 9:37 AM on December 29, 2018
I've only seen five out of the ten so I can't comment on all of them but I'd agree that Joan is in a league of it's own.
posted by octothorpe at 12:15 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 12:15 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
The greatness of silent cinema in this late period supports the notion that an art form or technology reaches its peak of excellence precisely at the moment before it becomes obsolete.
Given that going obsolete automatically denies the chance for further development, defining the moment before the end as a "peak" may be true only to the extent the climb is abandoned in favor of different challenges. That isn't to say the idea is entirely wrong necessarily, but does face artificial limits of proof. The desire for something new is at least as forceful as the desire for excellence and the bar to entry is much lower. No sense competing with the best at something when you can "disrupt" things and make new rules of competition instead.
Can't really argue much with Thompson's selections, the ones I've seen are excellent movies. As is usually the case with these things, it isn't quite the list I'd make myself of course, but that's no argument for this one being misguided. My favorite of '28 was the more experimental Germaine Dulac film The Seashell and the Clergyman and I'd find it impossible to not include at least one Borzage movie, either Street Angel or The River. The River would likely be my preference, but it is sadly incomplete some of the film being now lost.
I sorta felt like arguing with Thompson's thoughts about Italian Straw Hat, which I quite liked, but I can't deny wondering the same thing myself, about how the history of access shapes our thoughts about merit and legacy regarding other films, so I can accept the position, even if I disagree a bit about its application in this instance.
A small site of film buffs I follow also covered 1928 in a poll recently and here's a Letterboxd list of the results, of the group for anyone looking for a few added selections from the year.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:43 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Given that going obsolete automatically denies the chance for further development, defining the moment before the end as a "peak" may be true only to the extent the climb is abandoned in favor of different challenges. That isn't to say the idea is entirely wrong necessarily, but does face artificial limits of proof. The desire for something new is at least as forceful as the desire for excellence and the bar to entry is much lower. No sense competing with the best at something when you can "disrupt" things and make new rules of competition instead.
Can't really argue much with Thompson's selections, the ones I've seen are excellent movies. As is usually the case with these things, it isn't quite the list I'd make myself of course, but that's no argument for this one being misguided. My favorite of '28 was the more experimental Germaine Dulac film The Seashell and the Clergyman and I'd find it impossible to not include at least one Borzage movie, either Street Angel or The River. The River would likely be my preference, but it is sadly incomplete some of the film being now lost.
I sorta felt like arguing with Thompson's thoughts about Italian Straw Hat, which I quite liked, but I can't deny wondering the same thing myself, about how the history of access shapes our thoughts about merit and legacy regarding other films, so I can accept the position, even if I disagree a bit about its application in this instance.
A small site of film buffs I follow also covered 1928 in a poll recently and here's a Letterboxd list of the results, of the group for anyone looking for a few added selections from the year.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:43 PM on December 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
Watching Spies right now and while I don't really have much of a clue as to what's going on, it is a damn great looking movie. The sets, costumes, lighting and camera work are all just amazing. What I love most about late silent films is how mature the state of filmmaking was by that time. They'd really nailed most of the basic language of movies: lighting, blocking, cinematography and editing, even special effects. With the exception of sound, most of what's happened in the last 80 years has just been refining the art that was defined then.
posted by octothorpe at 10:39 AM on December 31, 2018
posted by octothorpe at 10:39 AM on December 31, 2018
I do need to watch more of these classics. The last movie I in this era was an early talkie, Bulldog Drummond (1929) but somehow I don't think it's going to be on the 1929 list of best films.
I only recently heard the Ben Hecht quote that Hollywood movies back then were seldom written, but instead "yelled into existence" and I love it.
posted by fleacircus at 7:52 AM on January 2, 2019
I only recently heard the Ben Hecht quote that Hollywood movies back then were seldom written, but instead "yelled into existence" and I love it.
posted by fleacircus at 7:52 AM on January 2, 2019
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