Top 10 Films of 1934

1. "It Happened One Night" (Frank Capra, Columbia)

2. "The Thin Man" (W.S. Van Dyke, MGM)

3. "The Gay Divorcee" (Mark Sandrich, RKO)

4. "The Merry Widow" (Ernst Lubitsch, MGM)

5. "L'Atalante" (Jean Vigo, France)

6. "Twentieth Century" (Howard Hawks, Columbia)

7. "The Story Of Floating Weeds" (Yasujiro Ozu, Japan)

8. "It's A Gift" (Norman Z. McLeod, Paramount)

9. "Dames" (Ray Enright, Warner)

10. "La signora di tutti" (Max Ophuls, Italy)

Other great films:

Anne Of Green Gables
Babes In Toyland
The Black Cat
Bright Eyes
Chapaev (Soviet Union)
Co moj maz robi w nocy? (Poland)
Czarna perla (Poland)
Czy Lucyna to dziewczyna (Poland)
Fashions Of 1934
Flirtation Walk

Hollywood Party
House Of Rothschild

Jolly Fellows (Soviet Union)
Judge Priest
Kid Millions

Little Miss Marker
The Lost Patrol
Manhattan Melodrama

Man Of Aran
The Man Who Knew Too Much (UK)
Mother Should Be Loved (Japan)
Music In The Air
My Heart Calls You (Germany)
One Night Of Love
Operator 13
Piesniarz Warszawy (Poland)

Stand Up And Cheer
Three Songs Of Lenin (Soviet Union)
Wonder Bar
You're Telling Me!
Zou Zou


Top 10 Guilty Pleasures of 1934:

1. "Tarzan And His Mate" (Cedric Gibbons, Jack Conway, MGM)

2. "The Scarlet Empress" (Josef von Sternberg, Paramount)

3. "Une Nuit de folies" (Maurice Cammage, France)

4. "Amok" (Fyodor Otsep, France)

5. "Lac aux dames" (Marc Allégret, France)

6. "Four Frightened People" (Cecil B. DeMille, Paramount)

7. "Elysia Valley Of The Nude" (USA) - short

8. "The Road To Ruin" (Dorothy Davenport, Melville Shyer, USA)

9. "Maniac" (Dwain Esper, USA)

10. "On a trouve une femme nue" (France) - lost or unavailable

Short Top 3:

1. "Granton Trawler" (John Grierson, UK)

2. "Pett and Pott" (Andrea Cavalcanti, UK)

3. "The Hearts Of Age" (Orson Welles, USA)

Other great shorts:

Going Bye Bye
Strikes And Spares
Them Thar Hills
We Live In Prague (Czechoslovakia)

Cartoon Top 10

1. "The Tortoise And The Hare" (Wilfred Jackson, Disney)

2. "Playful Pluto" (Burt Gillett, Disney)

3. "A Dream Walking" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)

4. "La Joie de vivre" (Anthony Gross, Hector Hoppin, France)

5. "1936" (Takao Nakano, Yoshitsugu Tanaka, Japan)

6. "She Wronged Him Right" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)

7. "Two-Gun Mickey" (Ben Sharpsteen, Disney)

8. "The Grasshopper And The Ants" (Wilfred Jackson, Disney)

9. "King's Up" (Walter Lantz, Universal)

10. "Philips Cavalcade" (George Pal, Holland)

Other great cartoons:

Aladdin And The Wonderful Lamp

Bam-Bam (Sweden)

Beauty And The Beast
Betty Boop's Trial

Betty in Blunderland
The Big Bad Wolf

Buddy's Circus
Buddy's Garage
Buddy's Trolley Troubles
Buddy The Gob
Camping Out
The Dance Contest
The Dog-napper
Don Quixote
The Flying Mouse

Ginger Bread Boy
The Goddess Of Spring
Gulliver Mickey
Honeymoon Hotel
How Do I Know It's Sunday
Jolly Little Elves
Let's Sing With Popeye
Mickey Plays Papa
Mickey's Steamroller
Mild Cargo
Muratti Greift Ein (Germany)
The Old Pioneer
Orphans' Benefit

Poor Cinderella
Shanghaied

She Reminds Me Of You
There's Something About A Soldier
Those Were Wonderful Days
We Aim To Please
The Wise Little Hen

Weak films of 1934:

The Affairs Of Cellini
Baby Take A Bow
The Barretts Of Wimpole Street
The Cat's-Paw
Chloe, Love Is Calling You
Cleopatra

Eclipse (Japan)
The Ghost Walks
The Goddess (China)
Here Comes The Navy

Hide-Out
Imitation Of Life
Mauvaise graine (France)
Mlody las (Poland)
Now And Forever
Now I'll Tell
Of Human Bondage
The Old Fashioned Way

Our Neighbor Miss Yae (Japan)
The Richest Girl In The World
She Loves Me Not
Street Without End (Japan)
Viva Villa
Zamarle echo (Poland)

Weak shorts:

City Of Wax
La Cucaracha
Hollywood Rhythm
The Live Ghost
Men In Black
Mixed Nuts
The New Frontier
Nieuwe Gronden (Holland)
Oliver The 8th
Song Of Ceylon (UK)

Weak cartoons:

Betty Boop's Lifeguard
Batty Boop's Little Pal
Betty Boop's Prize Show
Betty Boop's Rise To Fame
Bosko's Parlor Pranks
The Brave Tin Soldier
Buddy And Towser
Buddy Of The Apes
Buddy's Bearcats
Buddy The Detective
Buddy The Woodsman
The China Shop
County Fair
The Discontented Canary
Funny Little Bunnies
The Girl At The Ironing Board
Goin' To Heaven On A Mule
Good Scouts
Ha! Ha! Ha!
The Headless Horseman
Hell's Fire
Holiday Land
In Darkest Africa
Insultin' The Sultan
Jack Frost
Keep In Style
A Little Bird Told Me
The Little Red Hen
The Miller's Daughter
Parrotville Fire Department
Pastrytown Wedding
Peculiar Penguins
Pettin' In The Park
Pop Goes Your Heart
Puss In Boots
Queen Of Hearts
Rasslin' Round
Red Hot Mamma
Shake Your Powder Puff
Ship Of Ether (Holland)
Tale Of The Vienna Woods
Those Beautiful Dames
Toyland Broadcast
The Valiant Tailor
Viva Buddy
Viva Willie
When My Ship Comes In
Why Do I Dream Those Dreams

Top 3 Musicals of 1934

1. "The Gay Divorcee" (Mark Sandrich, RKO)


2. "The Merry Widow" (Ernst Lubitsch, MGM)


3. "Dames" (Ray Enright, Warner)

Tarzan And His Mate (1934) ****

La Signora di tutti (1934) ****

One of the best Italian films of the 1930's, a powerful melodrama directed by Max Ophuls. Amazing camerawork.

The Scarlet Empress (1934) ****

Wonder Bar (1934) ****

Memorable film starring Al Jolson and Dick Powell. One of the best Warner Brothers musicals of the 1930's, with the legendary "Boys will be boys!" gay joke (photo) - very daring for the time. Musical numbers (by Busby Berkeley):

"Don't Say Goodnight" ***
"Goin' To Heaven On A Mule" ***

Une Nuit de folies (1934) ****

Very sexy comedy starring Fernandel.

The Story Of Floating Weeds (1934) ****

One of Ozu's silent masterpieces, remade 25 years later with sound and in color.

Fashions Of 1934 (1934) ***

It has only two songs and one dance number (choreographed by Busby Berkeley), but it's still a pure Hollywood musical of the "backstage" tradition.  Musical numbers:

"Spin A Little Web Of Dreams"  ***
"Broken Melody"

My Heart Calls You (1934) ***

A real curiosity - a German film made during the Nazi era, directed by an Italian, and starring Jan Kiepura, a half-Jewish tenor from Poland. Beautiful operatic arias, and no politics whatsoever.

The Road To Ruin (1934) ***

Maniac (1934) ***