I started my Top Ten Project way back in 2016 with my top ten list for 2008. And slowly, bit by bit, I've hit my goal of having seen at least fifty films for each calendar year I write a list for, and worked my way back to the early days of filmmaking, through over six decades of films. My original goal was to reach 1939, considered the greatest year in cinema back when I was a kid in the '80s, and I've just about done it. The next top ten post for 1939 will be my last for a while. I have the resources to keep going, through the 1930s at least, but I want a break and I don't really feel a need to go too much further back than this. Silent cinema has its charms, but is not something I enjoy in large doses.
Frankly, watching films from the '40s became more and more of a chore as time went on, especially getting through the WWII years. I found myself watching certain films at 2x speeds and keeping an eye on running times. It's also gotten tougher to choose films I want to watch, because there are fewer resources and less interest overall in films from before the 1950s. Pickings are also slimmer. The film industries in many countries were practically nonexistent or deeply impacted by WWII. Many obscurities just don't exist anymore. I found myself choosing too many titles based on stars and directors instead of notability or awards attention. The box office winners of the '40s feel especially disconnected from present day critical evaluations, with many well-regarded classics having not been popular at the time of release at all. The films that did make money were often very bland crowd-pleasers.
As I've expressed many times before, the whole point of the project was to get more context for the classics, and often the context has boiled down to Hollywood and the American public's tastes having changed drastically over the years, which is perfectly understandable. As much as I've liked familiarizing myself with different actors and directors, and occasionally turning up some real gems among lesser known films, I've sat through far more that I've failed to connect with at all. I'm mystified by what people saw in leading men like Van Johnson and Ronald Reagan. The outsized nationalistic fervor of the post-war period is often uncomfortable, and a pervasive strain of Civil War apologia in films like "Santa Fe Trail" is even worse. I've nurtured a special dislike for biopics of band leaders and sports heroes, often bearing no resemblance to real events. It's clear what a lot of '50s films were reacting against.
I like the comedies, however, and I like having so many musicals with talented singers and dancers who really know what they're doing. I finally understand the appeal of Jack Benny and Bob Hope and young Mickey Rooney. Lucille Ball unexpectedly emerged as a new favorite for her appearances in some pretty serious films, along with Ida Lupino, who I was only familiar with as a director. As long as you don't want too much psychological complexity or challenges to the prevailing worldview, there are plenty of very entertaining movies. The '40s did wholesome entertainment like no other era, with the Hollywood studios at the height of their powers. However, by the time I reached my fifty film goal for some of these years, I definitely felt like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel.
For a while I was looking forward to getting to the pre-war Hollywood films of the '30s and especially to the pre-Code stuff, but I'm putting off continuing for a bit. I need to get my head out of the past for a while. Instead, I've amassed a pretty good list of more recent titles I want to spend some time exploring first. So, for now, we've reached the end of regular "Top Ten" posts. I don't really have a replacement series in mind at this point, so we'll just play it by ear.
Happy watching.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment