Top 10 Films of 1932

1. "Love Me Tonight" (Rouben Mamoulian, USA)

2. "Trouble In Paradise" (Ernst Lubitsch, USA)

3. "Scarface" (Howard Hawks, USA)

4. "Shanghai Express" (Josef von Sternberg, USA)

5. "Freaks" (Tod Browning, USA)

6. "One Hour With You" (Ernst Lubitsch, USA)

7. "I Was Born But" (Yasujiro Ozu, Japan)

8. "Grand Hotel" (Edmund Goulding, USA)

9. "Million Dollar Legs" (Edward Cline, USA)

10. "Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde" (Rouben Mamoulian, USA)

Other great films:

Anton Spelec ostrostrelec (Czechoslovakia)
Bialy slad (Poland)
The Big Broadcast

Bird Of Paradise

Blonde Venus

The Blue Light (Germany)
Boudu sauve des eaux (France)

Call Her Savage
Fanny (France)
Horse Feathers
I'M A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
Ivan (Soviet Union)
The Kid From Spain
The Most Dangerous Game
Movie Crazy

La Nuit du carrefour (France)
Number 17 (UK)
The Old Dark House
Pack Up Your Troubles

Que Viva Mexico! (Soviet Union)

Red Dust

Red-Headed Woman

Ao Redor do Brasil (Brazil)

The Sign Of The Cross

Tarzan The Ape Man

This Nude World

Vampyr (Germany)

Virgins Of Bali
What Price Hollywood
What Scoundrels Men Are (Italy)
Where Now Are The Dreams Of Youth (Japan)
White Zombie

Short Top 3:

1. "The Music Box" (James Parrott, MGM)

2. "The Dentist" (Leslie Pearce, Sennett)

3. "Towed In A Hole" (George Marshall, MGM)

Other great shorts:

The Chimp
Their First Mistake

Cartoon Top 10

1. "L'Idée" (Berthold Bartosch, France)

2. "Boop-Oop-A-Doop" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)

3. "Flowers And Trees" (Burt Gillett, Disney)

4. "Chess-nuts" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)

5. "Minnie The Moocher" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)

6. "Crazy Town" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)

7. "Betty Boop's Ups And Downs" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)

8. "The Office Boy" (Ub Iwerks, MGM)

9. "Mickey In Arabia" (Wilfred Jackson, Disney)

10. "Piano Tooners" (John Foster, George Rufle, RKO)

Other great cartoons:

Ape Girl

Babes In The Woods
Battling Bosko
Betty Boop For President

Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle
Birth Of Jazz
Bosko And Bruno
Bugs In Love
Carnival Capers
The Circus
The Dancing Fool
Freddy The Freshman
The Goal Rush
Goopy Geer
A Hunting We Will Go
It's Got Me Again

King Neptune
The Klondike Kid
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
The Mad Dog
Mickey's Good Deed
Mickey's Revue
Moonlight For Two
Music Lesson

Pagan Moon
Pencil Mania
Pots and Pans
Seeing Stars
Stormy Seas
Studie Nr 9 (Germany)
Swim Or Sink
Touchdown Mickey
Tuba Tooter
The Wayward Canary
You Try Somebody Else
You're Too Careless With Your Kisses

Weak films of 1932:

Emma
A Farewell To Arms
Glos pustyni (Poland)
Mr Robinson Crusoe
Night After Night
One Way Passage
The Phantom President
Rain
Rasputin And The Empress

Seven Seas Part 2: Chastity Chapter (Japan)
Smilin' Through
Speak Easily

Weak shorts:

Any Old Port
County Hospital
Dream House
The Musical Doctor
Scram
Swing High

Weak cartoons:

Admission Free
Any Rags
Barnyard Olympics
The Bears And The Bees
Betty Boop Limited
Betty Boop MD
Betty Boop's Bizzy Bee
Betty Boop's Museum
Big-Hearted Bosko
The Bird Store
Bosko At The Beach
Bosko At The Zoo
Bosko's Dog Race
Bosko's Party
Bosko's Store
Bosko The Lumberjack
The Bully
The Cat's Canary
Crosby, Columbo And Vallee
The Duck Hunt
A Great Big Bunch Of You
The Grocery Boy
I'll Be Glad When You're Dead
I Love A Parade
I Wish I Had Wings
Just A Gigolo
Just Dogs
Mickey's Nightmare
The Milkman
Musical Farmer
The Nurse Maid
Oh How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning
The Queen Was In The Parlor
The Robot
Romantic Melodies
Room Runners
Rudy Vallee Melodies
Santa's Workshop
School Days
Spooks
Stopping The Show
Studie Nr 12 (Germany)
Trader Mickey
What A Life!
The Whoopee Party

Top 3 Musicals of 1932

1. "Love Me Tonight" (Rouben Mamoulian, Paramount)

2. "One Hour With You" (Ernst Lubitsch, George Cukor, Paramount)

3. "The Kid From Spain" (Leo McCarey, United Artists)

I Was Born But (1932) ****

An early masterpiece from Ozu, about two young boys ashamed of their father.

Million Dollar Legs (1932) ****

Not to be confused with a 1939 Betty Grable vehicle, this is a W.C. Fields comedy set in a mythical country of Klapstokia.

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1932) ****

The Old Dark House (1932) ***

Classic Universal horror movie directed by James Whale.

Bialy slad (1932) ***

A Polish version of those Leni Riefenstahl's "mountain films".

Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) ***

Laurel & Hardy second starring feature film is much better than their first (''Pardon Us''). They play two doughboys who take care of a little orphan girl.

La Nuit du carrefour (1932) ***

An odd film even by Jean Renoir's very eccentric standards.

What Scoundrels Men Are (1932) ***

Instead of a "telefoni bianchi" film, this fine Italian comedy by Mario Camerini might be called a "telefoni neri" movie.

This Nude World (1932) ***

Que Viva Mexico! (1932) ***

Bird Of Paradise (1932) ***

Virgins Of Bali (1932) ***

Blonde Venus (1932) ***

Red-Headed Woman (1932) ***

Ao Redor do Brasil (Brazil) ***

A documentary from Brazil.

Ivan (1932) ***

Uneven, but visually stunning film directed by Alexander Dovzhenko.

Call Her Savage (1932) ***

The Sign Of The Cross (1932) ***

Christians and lions and apes, oh my!

Where Now Are The Dreams Of Youth (1932) ***

The last, and probably the best, of Yasujiro Ozu's early "student comedies", more amusing than "Days Of Youth" (1929), "I Graduated But" (1929), "I Flunked But" (1930) and "The Lady And The Beard" (1931).

Number 17 (1932) ***

An early Hitchcock's film with an exciting action scene involving a bus chasing a runaway train.

The Big Broadcast (1932) ***

The first in the series of four Paramount radio musical films. Starring Bing Cosby. The sequels will star Jack Oakie, Jack Benny and W.C. Fields. Songs include:

"Here Lies Love"  **
"Please"  *
"Tiger Rag"  **
"Nola"  **
"Trees"  *
"Crazy People"  **
"I Was So Beautiful"  *
"Minnie The Moocher"  **
"Please" (reprise)  **

Anton Spelec ostrostrelec (1932) ***

Amusing Czech comedy about Anton, a sharp-shooter and a producer of musical instruments, eagerly awaiting to be decorated with a medal. Unfortunately, the authorities are one medal short and he must wait for another year. Then in the pub he drinks so much that he insults the emperor for which he is sentenced to jail. Anton decides to send his employee Josef in his stead. But Josef doesn't want to go to jail neither and he sends there in his place a vagabond who would like to wait out the winter in a warm cell. As luck would have it, the vagabond dies while serving the sentence. So it comes about that Anton is officially dead and in the town a solemn funeral is planned.

Emma (1932) **

Marie Dressler is accused of poisoning her husband by his children she raised.

Smilin' Through (1932) **

An old-fashioned melodrama, but better than average. Classy, but manipulative to the extreme.

Rasputin And The Empress (1932) **

This Hollywood version of Rasputin's story was so inaccurate that his assassin, Prince Yusupov, actually sued the studio in a British court and won, forcing all subsequent films (whether inspired by true stories or not) to carry this now-classic disclaimer: "All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental".

Night After Night (1932) **

This otherwise very forgettable film about a gangster (George Raft) who falls for a sophisticated society gal, has one redeeming quality - Mae West in a small supporting role (it was her first film). She literally steals the movie from its stars as a vulgar, wisecracking, candid and refreshing gun moll who won't be pushed around. She became a instant star as result of this appearance.

Glos pustyni (1932) *

A Polish "Morocco" (or "Beau Geste"). Boring, but exotic. Filmed in Algeria.

Speak Easily (1932) *

Buster Keaton plays a college professor who believes that he inherited a fortune and decides a finance a Broadway show.

One Way Passage (1932) *

A melodrama set aboard an ocean liner.

Seven Seas Part 2: Chastity Chapter (1932) *

The script was written by Kôgo Noda, based on a novel by Kaitaro Hasegawa (aka Itsuma Maki).