"The Ghost Goes West" (1935)

I found this movie quite amusing, and therefore, I enjoyed it.  The plot early on reminded me of a comic rendition of parts of Henry IV--part 1, just small bits of it.  After that, the plot seemed cartoon comic to me.  The music, too.  The comments about Americans by the Scottish characters made me laugh--a laugh in a smirk and one raised eyebrow kind of way.

The movie is short and family--friendly.  So, quite a nice choice for Halloween if you're not into scary.

Okay, an example of the smirk-laugh and raised eyebrow (and yes this is from the movie, it doesn't give anything away, but if you don't want to know even that, then stop reading, 'cause I'm telling it):  In Scotland, the Americans are introduced to music at meals via bagpipes.  In America when they attempt to duplicate it, you get to watch a marching double string bass.  What?  A marching double string bass?  Who can play a jazz bass line on a double string bass when you're booking it around the table?  There's your smirk-laugh and raised eyebrow.

And, ah yes, the early "we don't have a budget for this" solutions--ocean liner in a tub of water for a camera shot.  Okay.  You do what you gotta do.

So there you have it.  A family-friendly Halloween romance.

"M" (1931)

German.  While the crime perpetrated is quite serious--and the film treats it so--there are humorous moments in this film and it is quite fascinating to watch.  Keep in mind this isn't slapstick or anything obvious like that.  It's quite buried.  Quite.  But it's there.  Irony, for sure.  [Maybe that's my sense of humor.  Irony?]  Definitely an academic humor sparsely scattered in the [social? society?] commentary--subtle and not so subtle--on the things the movie touches on.  And the sound--"the killer's distinctive whistled tune" is all my film history book says--they leave out the best part!  It's "In the Hall of the Mountain King"--How many layers that adds to things!!!!  And the other sounds--definitely on the "create art" side of things instead of atmosphere.  Oh, and there's visual irony, too.  Definitely.

"Vampyr" (1932)

An interesting watch.  Storyline is in the spirit of "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"--at least the start of the movie and the end of the book.  Music is great--especially the string bass--a mix of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and romantic-Berlioz--again in the spirit of, not similar in sounds to.  Almost entirely string sounds, though there was one place with brass horns, and one stringed ... banjo?  That doesn't fit for Germany--but that is the closest I could come up with.  Sounded like a banjo, looked the same shape except it seemed all wooden--like a round bodied ukelele.  Enough similarity to later vampire stuff (which of course, probably built on this), that you think you know what's coming; yet, different enough that you find yourself going, "What are they doing now?" [Yeah, I know that was in 2nd person.]  It's, of course, slower--doesn't have the fast pacing of current day, but it's not badly paced--and it's only an hour and 15 min. long.  Great early special effects--camera tricks and early basic editing.  It's a visual quality that today's CGI don't mimic; it's a nice quality of its own.  You "gotta" watch the shadows.  In German, English subtitles.  Though, I'm not so sure there wasn't at least one French scene.  (The original English version is lost.  So, this is a restored version.)  Not bad.  Almost "amusing", but even I caught myself holding my breath at one point (briefly), and keenly interested to see how things would resolve.

"Peeping Tom" (1960)

A well-done creepy film. Creepy. But, well-done. We can safely say that I'll probably not specialize in psychological thrillers/horror movies such as this one. I will say the sound choices were as much a plot element of the film as anything else. Definitely not invisible sound. Piano, plain and simple, but very pronounced. Latin music from a recording played live on film. Not only is there a camera man filming a mad camera man filming other camera operators, but a sound man recording the sound of a recording--okay not as many layers as the camera, but the same levels are implied and exist along side the camera bits. It's still a creepy film.

Creepy along the same lines as the German film ''The Testament of Dr. Mabuse".

"A Nous la Liberte'" (1931)

I'm afraid I'm listening to this with too modern of a set of ears to hear the novelty of what was going on with sound with this movie.  Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  In my opinion, the plot isn't as predictable as many movies are--and it's not a mystery movie either.  It's a light-hearted movie; I wouldn't call it a musical, but it's not far from it.  I did catch at least one musical joke that prompted me to laugh out loud (the dinner entertainment).  This movie is also in the same spirit as Chaplin's "Modern Times".  There is some social critique going on, but it doesn't make for somber movie-viewing.  French film.

Upon thinking further:  I think the fact that the factory is a phonograph factory and that this is an early sound film is intended to speak something really loudly.

"Le Million" (1931)

an absurd, but funny/amusing, surrealist French comedy.  Even the sound contributed to the surrealism.  It intro'd the beginning with the ending, so that the rest of it was how it got from one end to the other and "turned out all right".  Definitely used up a chunk of my suspense rations watching it, but that was mostly all right.  It was also a musical--a few of the pieces were operatic; they were a nice touch.  The movie is worth the watch.

"Spartacus" (1960)

I like the beginning of this movie. (It's a 3+ hr. movie.) Lots of featured French horn sounds (not surprised). I cheated and read a synopsis of the ending. So, likely won't watch it all the way to the ending, because I'm in the mood tonight for a happy ending--and I'm also not in the mood to see a "slaughter of thousands" and mixed mood ending. So, I'm going to stop after one of the high points and call it good.

 I did sneak a peek through a few other scenes within the last hour, and a few seconds of the ending.  I still call it a good movie, even though I didn't watch most of the last hour.

"All That Heaven Allows" (1955)

Rock Hudson. Challenges 50s ideas. Set in it's own present day. Good visual symbolic/symbolic inclusions . Tie ins to Thoreau's Walden. Netflix description also clued into the use of "expressionistic colors"--yep. Early parts of the movie used Chopin preludes--a nice ambiguous, melancholy mirror to what was going on. No Chopin in the middle and later parts of the movie. And the mill/house? I want live in that.  Some obvious but clear use of lighting--the darkly lit scene in the conversation between mother and son, for example.

"Pickup on South Street" (1953)

Black and white. A pretty decent movie if you like something a little less predictable than many. I was satisfied with the ending. The main attraction is plot. Music (e.g. sexy jazz saxophone music) almost absolutely necessary to help interpret how to view some of the scenes. Definitely an exercise in "who am I rooting for?", but not if you think too deeply about it. SPOILER ALERT: Not often you have both the good and the "bad guys" win in a movie.

"The Third Man" (1949)

The description calls this a Film Noir. Orson Welles, actor. Adaptation from a novel. Black and white. I can see why this made the Criterion Collection. Cinematography Oscar--tilted camera angles, black and white photogenicness of war hit Vienna. The music puzzles me most--zither only--reminds me of something that should be for a comedy set in the Carribean. Musically puts this movie into the same class as "Convoy", meaning lots of puzzling "why this choice?" Wasn't as bad as the first film noir I saw. One actor you see early reminds me of the Grinch--face and smile; it was kind of distracting. SPOILER ALERT: Worth watching to get the context of this quote: "After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

"Late Spring" (1949)

Japanese movie. Post-war (so, current for the time filmed). A low-key movie without being slow. A relaxing movie without being boring. The phrase I read "The celebration of every day life" is apt. Also about how life heart-changes are tough. Music was very fitting. 2 short music phrases of "Here Comes the Bride" surprised me. A lot of marriage wisdom shared by the father to his daughter that I wish could be shouted loud. Bittersweet but true (as in straight). Had to pause movie once for tears so that I could keep reading the subtitles, but don't let that deter you. This is a movie I recommend.

"Hamlet" (1948)

Very interesting camera angles.  The visuals and camera angles would create quite the worthwhile study.  Low-tech special effects, but allow for the time period of movie creation.  Other than the heart beats and perhaps a bassoon to show sneaky and sinister, the music isn't anything "special".  Still pretty stagey in places in how some lines are delivered, but not as bad as the 1935 "Mid-summer Night's Dream".  In many other places, the delivery isn't bad.  Some of the monologues are done as voice overs and at times pretty seamless over into actual delivery.  Laurence Olivier--partially stylized delivery and melancholy character portrayal.  Hamlet and Ophelia both blonds--not quite my picture--although, I can see why for a black and white picture.  Only blonds in the whole cast.  All the more to seem out of sync with the picture in my head.  Castle is almost all arches and stairs, very little of textile texture in castle.  Costumes a different story.  Lots of texture there.

"The Red Shoes" (1948)

Tragedy. Ballet-Concert included--foreshadowing/parallel storying the ending. Different style of story telling. Lots of French. Stravinsky/Kronos Quartet kind of music. Didn't watch the last 45 minutes of the movie. Interesting set with the internal 'Red Shoes' Ballet.

"Spellbound" (1945)

Alfred Hitchcock. Very nice. :) Music Oscar. Psychoanalysis as huge part of story line. Music of bathroom scene adds to the suspense of the scene--heart beat rhythms?

"The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1941)

Original Release title "All That Money Can Buy" An Oscar for music--but, it was hard to hear it in this edition real clear in order to say anything about it. A story line descendant of "Dr. Faustus". Daniel Webster's jury speech is mighty interesting in the context of 1941. Once the story got rolling, the story moved along pretty well and had me watching pretty closely.

"Rebecca" (1940)

Alfred Hitchcock. Cinematography award--indeed! Music definitely crucial. A number of amazing film tricks. [I did find the bonus bit "Making of 'Rebecca'" most interesting--or at least what I watched of it] Okay, and in spite of my earlier complaining, the movie was well done. Apparently also the only Hitchcock movie to win an Oscar?--or maybe it was Oscar for Best Picture??? And, oh yes, creepy housekeeper indeed.

"The Thief of Bagdad" (1940)

Okay, I've not read the original Arabian tales--not the complete lot. And I'm afraid my knowledge of them is limited--filled in part by Disney--which are good and interesting movies to watch, but can be quite free with original sources--as ANY moviemaker can be. With my rambly intro, what I'm trying to say is this movie is loosely Aladdin (what I know) except it's pretty much not. There's not even half a dozen things that are the same between the two (let's say Disney's Aladdin), but those near-half-a-dozen much enough to wonder. Color film. It's not a comedy, but the music is "ham-y"--more suitable for a comedy. Maybe trying to keep the story light? Maybe not sure how one scores for a movie that's not dread-dark and not comedy either. Pre-computer special effects. I like some of the twists of the story--had to go back and watch an early scene again because I liked it. Spoiler Alert!: How "cheap" is it for a Father to trade his daughter for a toy! The early scene I had to rewatch: the beginning bit with the beggar and the dog. I like the beggar's wit, and I liked the dog's performance. :)

"Stagecoach" (1939)

Western. Opening credits advertise music based on American folk songs--"I'm leaving Cheyenne", "I'm going to leave old Texas now" "I dream of the Jeannie with the light brown hair" are some of the ones I remember catching, but I'm sure that's not all of them. Story has a major theme of social class tensions in it. Also plays with questions of right and wrong--at least a little. The black cat was a nice touch. This is the John Wayne movie with the Apache who is shot off a lead pair of horses (of 3 pair) and is driven over by the stagecoach. Music was nice, yes. Nice flesh and blood characters.

"The Rules of the Game" (1939)

French movie. With time for only one watch through and subtitles, I wasn't able to watch camera shots much, especially for the "long shot" that Renoir added as a new idea. Movie was originally banned and not re-shown until 1965. I'm actually glad I watched the Renoir introduction that was included with this movie. It at least shared what inspired the movie, what he was aiming for, and how he had seen carrying it out. As far as carrying out his ends, I'd say he did, accomplished his aims/ends well. This is not a "feel good movie". Spoiler alert: Loose morals (or no morals, take your pick) and shooting the national hero by accident is not exactly a rousing story with a "hip hip hooray" ending.

"The Naked City" (1948)

A Jack Webb/Dragnet type detective story, only it wasn't Jack Webb, so the voice-over narrator that broke the 3rd wall actually had expression to it. I haven't looked yet to see which/who came first. Lead detective had an Irish accent; that was kind of fun. I enjoyed this movie. yay.