March 15, 1970

Top 10 Films of 1935

1. "The Million Ryo Pot" (Sadao Yamanaka, Japan)

2. "Top Hat" (Mark Sandrich, RKO)

3. "An Inn In Tokyo" (Yasujiro Ozu, Japan)

4. "A Night At The Opera" (Sam Wood, MGM)

5. "The Bride Of Frankenstein" (James Whale, Universal)

6. "The Thirty-Nine Steps" (Alfred Hitchcock, UK)

7. "Triumph Of The Will" (Leni Riefenstahl, Germany)

8. "Gold Diggers Of 1935" (Busby Berkeley, Warner)

9. "The Informer" (John Ford, RKO)

10. "Wife Be Like A Rose" (Mikio Naruse, Japan)


Other great films:

ABC milosci (Poland)
Aerograd (Soviet Union)
Alice Adams
All The King's Horses
The Big Broadcast Of 1936
Broadway Hostess
Broadway Melody Of 1936
Captain Blood
Curly Top
David Copperfield
The Devil Is A Woman
Dwie Joasie (Poland)
Folies Bergere
Happiness (Soviet Union)
The Highway (China)
Jasnie pan szofer (Poland)
Walpurgis Night (Sweden)
The Youth Of Maxim (Soviet Union)

Short Top 3:

1. "How To Sleep" (Nick Grinde, MGM, USA)


2. "Coal Face" (Alberto Cavalcanti, UK)


3. "Audioscopiks" (Jacob Leventhal, John Norling, MGM, USA)


Other great shorts:

Tag der Freiheit Unsere Wehrmacht (Germany)
Thicker Than Water
Three Men On The Road Not Counting The Young Lady (Czechoslovakia)
Tit For Tat

Cartoon Top 10

1. "Komposition in Blau" (Oskar Fischinger, Germany)


2. "The Band Concert" (Wilfred Jackson, Disney)


3. "Mickey's Service Station" (Ben Sharpsteen, Disney)


4. "Mickey's Fire Brigade" (Ben Sharpsteen, Disney)


5. "Music Land" (Wilfred Jackson, Disney)


6. "Pluto's Judgement Day" (David Hand, Disney)


7. "Dancing On The Moon" (Dave Fleischer, Paramount)


8. "A Cartoonist's Nightmare" (Jack King, Warner)


9. "Sunshine Makers" (Burt Gillett, RKO)


10. "Who Killed Cock Robin ?" (David Hand, Disney)


Great cartoons:

Alias St.Nick
Baby Be Good
Balloon Land 
The Private Life Of The Gannets (UK)
Wings Over Everest (UK)

Weak cartoons:

Along Flirtation Walk
Be Kind To Animals
Betty Boop With Henry The Funniest Living American
Billboard Frolics
The Brementown Musicians
Buddy In Africa
Buddy Of The Legion
Buddy's Adventures
Buddy's Bug Hunt
Buddy's Lost World
Buddy Steps Out
Buddy's Theatre
Buddy The Dentist
Buddy The Gee Man
The Calico Dragon
Chinese Lanterns
The Chinese Nightingale
Country Boy
Country Mouse
Flowers For Madame
The Golden Touch
Hey Hey Fever
Honeyland
Into Your Dance
Judge For A Day
The Kids In The Shoe
The Lady In Red
A Language All My Own
Little Black Sambo
Little Dutch Plate
A Little Soap And Water 
The Lost Chick
The Magic Atlas (Holland)
Making Stars
Mary's Little Lamb
Mickey's Kangaroo
Molly Moo Cow And Rip Van Winkle
Molly Moo Cow And The Butterflies
Molly Moo Cow And The Indians
No No A Thousand Times No
Old Mother Hubbard
Picnic Panic
Poor Little Me
Rag Dog
Rhythm In The Bow
The Robber Kitten
Run Sheep Run
Scotty Finds A Home
Simple Simon
The Sleeping Beauty (Holland)
The Song Of The Birds
Spinning Mice
Stop That Noise
Summertime
Swat That Fly
Taking The Blame
When The Cat's Away

Top 3 Musicals of 1935

1. "Top Hat" (Mark Sandrich, RKO)


2. "Gold Diggers Of 1935" (Busby Berkeley, Warner)


3. "Roberta" (William A. Seiter, RKO)

The Million Ryo Pot (1935) *****

One of the greatest classics of the Japanese cinema, an endlessly inventive comedy about the search for an ugly vase worth a fortune. A superb musical score. 

An Inn In Tokyo (1935) *****

Ozu's last silent film. One of his greatest achievements. A precursor of Italian neorealism.

Wife Be Like A Rose (1935) ****

Mikio Naruse's best film. A subtle story about a young woman who realizes that everybody will be happier if her parents stay apart.

Happiness (1935) ****

ABC milosci (1935) ***

Rezyseria: Michal Waszynski. Piosenki Henryka Warsa:

"Nic takiego"  **
"ABC milosci"  **

Toni (1935) ***

An inspiration for Italian neo-realism.

Osen Of The Paper Cranes (1935) ***







Forbidden Adventure In Angkor (1935) ***


The Big Broadcast Of 1936 (1935) ***

Pretty uneven, but Ethel Merman singing "It's The Animal In Me" with dancing elephants is among the campiest musical numbers in Hollywood history (and nominated for an Oscar for best choreography).

Legong: Dance Of The Virgins (1935) ***


Go Into Your Dance (1935) ***

Quintessential Al Jolson musical co-starring his wife Ruby Keeler. The story is a bit too dramatic for its own good (with too many gangsters and shootings), but the movie delivers on the musical front. Songs:

"Mammy" ***
"About A Quarter To Nine" ***
"Latin From Manhattan" ***
"Go Into Your Dance/About A Quarter To Nine" **

The G-Men (1935) ***

After playing gangsters in films like “The Public Enemy” (1931), James Cagney becomes an FBI agent in this exciting police drama.

Aerograd (1935) ***

Valiant Bolsheviks are fighting against Japanese spies and Russian counter-revolutionaries in the Pacific Far East of Siberia. Shameless Soviet propaganda film, but directed by Alexander Dovzhenko, and therefore much better than most of its kind.

Soviet Russia Through The Eyes Of An American (1935) ***

A Stalinist propaganda film.

Sanders Of The River (1936) ***

Walpurgis Night (1935) ***

Swedish melodrama starring Ingrid Bergman.

Lorenzino de' Medici (1935) ***


Broadway Hostess (1935) ***

Weird musical with the most unconventional love intrigues imaginable. Musical numbers:

"Sweet and Slow"
"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes"  *
"Weary"  **
"He Was Her Man"  **
"Weary" (reprise)  **
"Who But You"  **
"Let It Be Me"  **
"Playboy of Paree"  **
"Let It Be Me"  (reprise)  **

La Kermesse heroique (1935) ***

The Highway (1935) ***

Lucrèce Borgia (1935) ***

All The King's Horses (1935) ***

An excellent Oscar-nominated musical number surrounded by a familiar story about a king who takes a holiday while his look-alike replaces him on the throne.

Dwie Joasie (1935) ***

Zabawna komedia z Jadwiga Smosarska. Piosenki:

"Dlaczego wlasnie dzis?"  **
"Od milosci nikt sie nie wykreci"  **

King Of Burlesque (1935) ***

Showbiz musical with Oscar-nominated dance numbers and excellent songs.

The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer (1935) ***

Rousing colonial adventure pic in the tradition of "Beau Geste" and "Gunga Din".

Panienka z poste restante (1935) ***

Piosenki Henryka Warsa i Emanuela Schlechtera:

"Gdyby szczescie przyszlo dzis"  **
"Milosc to caly swiat"  **

Hero Of Tokyo (1935) **

One of the best of Hiroshi Shimizu's silent films. Still, a heavy "hahamono" melodrama very different from most of his later sound films. The script was written by Takehiko Minamoto.

Poppy (1935) **

One of Kenji Mizoguchi's most conventional films.