Top 10 Films of 1938

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Top 3 Musicals of 1938

1. "Hollywood Hotel" (Busby Berkeley, Warner)

2. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" (Henry King, 20th-Fox)

3. "Carefree" (Mark Sandrich, RKO)

The Masseurs And A Woman (1938) *****

A cinematic miracle written and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu. Arguably his greatest film, a very subtle narrative rollercoaster that constantly plays with its viewers' expectations. It begins like a comedy, but then slowly becomes a whodunit, before touching on some melodrama in order to finally settle for a touch of romance. One of the least predictable films ever made.

Hollywood Hotel (1938) ****

Busby Berkeley's last Warner Bros. musical. His best film, a possible inspiration for "Singin' In The Rain". Musical numbers:

"Hooray For Hollywood"  ***
"I'M Like A Fish Out Of Water"  **
"Silhouetted In The Moonlight"  *
"Let That Be A Lesson To You"  **
"House Hop"  ***
"I've Hitched My Wagon To A Star"  **
"Silhouetted In The Moonlight" (reprise)  **
"Dark Eyes"  **
"I've Hitched My Wagon To A Star"  (reprise)  **
"Sing You Son Of A Gun/Hooray For Hollywood"  **

Olympia (1938) ****

Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) ***

The most memorable of all Andy Hardy comedies. Judy Garland sings three songs:

"In Between"  **
"It Never Rains But What It Pours"  *
"Meet The Beat Of My Heart"  **

Swiss Miss (1938) ***

Memorable feature film starring Laurel and Hardy.

The Merry Wives (1938) ***

Geniusz sceny (1938) ***

An homage to a great Polish theatre actor, Ludwik Solski, presenting some of his greatest acting triumphs. Winner of two awards at the Venice Film Festival, for acting and for screenplay.

The Young In Heart (1938) ***

Pleasant film about a family of fraud artists who befriend a lonely rich old woman.

Verwehte Spuren (1938) ***

Robert i Bertrand (1938) ***

Legendary pre-war Polish comedy because it united two greatest Polish comics of the era: Eugeniusz Bodo and Adolf Dymsza. Unfortunately, only about half of the film has survived the war. Ditto for the two comics: Bodo died in a Soviet gulag, while Dymsza joined the Communist party after the war.

Songs by Henryk Wars and Emanuel Schlechter:

"Robert i Bertrand"  **
"Zakochany zlodziej"  **
"Goralu czy ci nie zal"  *

Stolen Death (1938) ***

Algiers (1938) ***

Charles Boyer plays Pepe le Moko in this Hollywood remake of the classic French film starring Jean Gabin.

The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer (1938) ***

Classic adaptation of Mark Twain's immortal novel.

Sweethearts (1938) ***

Another fine musical starring Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy.

The Divorce Of Lady X (1938) ***

Two strangers of opposite sex (Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon) share the same room in a hotel. Chirpy, effervescent Oberon is the main reason to see this somewhat dated, but very pleasant screwball comedy about propriety and decorum.

Quadrille (1938) ***

Clever comedy of manners about an unfaithful mistress.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) ***

A perfect example of the celebrated Lubitsch's Touch.

The Great Citizen Part 1 (1938) ***

The film is mostly set in 1925, during the preparations for the 14th Party Congress and the bitter conflict between Trotsky's supporters of an immediate worldwide revolution and Stalin's supporters of building socialism in one country.

Luciano Serra pilota (1938) ***

Italian fascist propaganda film, winner of the Mussolini Cup at the Venice Film Festival. Uneven. The first half is quite boring, but the second half is a fairly exciting war movie with Ethiopian troops attacking a train.

Strachy (1938) ***

Granica (1938) ***

Child Bride (1938) ***

Gold Diggers In Paris (1938) ***

Nice little musical set in Paris. Musical numbers:

"I Wanna Go Back To Bali"  *
"Day Dreaming All night Long"  *
"A Stranger In Paree"  *
"The Latin Quarter"  ***
"I Wanna Go Back To Bali" (reprise)  **

Ludzie Wisly (1938) ***

Social realist drama set among Vistula sailors. Directed by Aleksander Ford.

Vivacious Lady (1938) **

Ginger Rogers plays a nightclub singer who marries a university professor in this dated comedy of manners.

Boys Town (1938) **

Spencer Tracy won an Academy Award for Best Actor playing Father Flanagan, the founder of a famous orphanage near Omaha, Nebraska.

Hôtel du Nord (1938) **

Between 1937 and 1945, Marcel Carné has directed six films. Five among them are among the greatest achievements of the French cinema - "Drôle de drame" (1937), "Quai des brumes" (1938), "Le Jour se lève" (1939), "Les Visiteurs du soir" (1942) and especially the immortal "Les Enfants du paradis" (1945). The sixth, "Hôtel du Nord" (1938), is a mediocre melodrama set in a rundown hotel on the outskirts of Paris. Coincidentally, the five classics were all written by the great Jacques Prévert, while "Hôtel du Nord" was penned by Jean Aurenche and Henri Jeanson.

Merrily We Live (1938) **

Screwball comedy about a writer mistaken for a tramp who becomes a chauffeur.

Marie Antoinette (1938) **

Robert Morley is excellent as Louis XVI, but Norma Shearer makes a barely adequate Marie Antoinette in this overproduced costume drama.

Suez (1938) *

Very inaccurate biopic about Ferdinand de Lesseps.

Kosciuszko pod Raclawicami (1938) *

Polish film about the Kosciuszko Insurrection in 1794.

Family Diary (1938) *

Very conventional melodrama about marriage. An unusually weak script by an otherwise excellent writer Tadao Ikeda, based on a dreadful story by Nobuko Yoshiya.

Test Pilot (1938) *

Uncle Si And The Sirens (1938) ****

A married man buys a television set. Brilliant and experimental short film, with visually striking innovations and a tasteful sense of beauty.

N or NW (1938) ****

Len Lye's experimental documentary about love and postal codes.

North Sea (1938) **

Scottish fishermen from Aberdeen are braving a stormy sea. Their trawler is in serious trouble. Only by re-establishing a radio contact with General Post Office operators, can they avoid dangerous waters and safely return home. The picture was directed by H.Watt and produced by A.Cavalcanti for the GPO Film Unit.

That Mothers Might Live (1938) ***