My Top 20 by Year - 1934
Under construction and always in progress.
The Best films from this year (according to IMDb) I've seen (so far).
Out of (only) 78 films 'seen' (ie rated at IMDb).
(Oct 2022)
Notes:
Cinema = cinema (big screen) viewing
TV = TV viewing
PC = download
OL = online viewing
VHS = VHS viewing
Yet to see (among many):
Les misérables (R. Bernard, 1934)
Liliom (Lang, 1934)
The Lost Patrol (Ford, 1934)
No Greater Glory (Borzage, 1934)
The Captain Hates the Sea (Milestone, 1934)
Death Takes a Holiday (Leisen, 1934)
Kagirinaki hodô (Street Without End, Naruse, 1934)
Murder at the Vanities (Leisen, 1934)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (H. Young, 1934)
Treasure Island (Fleming, 1934)
Haha wo kowazuya (A Mother Should Be Loved, Ozu, 1934)
Poruchik Kizhe (The Czar Wants to Sleep, Faintsimmer, 1934)
Amok (Otsep, 1934)
Cleopatra (DeMille, 1934)
Bright Eyes (D. Butler, 1934)
Dames (R. Enright/Berkeley, 1934)
The Count of Monte Cristo (R. V. Lee, 1934)
The Old Fashioned Way (W. Beaudine, 1934)
Pyshka (Romm, 1934)
Heat Lightning (LeRoy, 1934)
You're Telling Me! (Kenton, 1934)
Madame Du Barry (Dieterle, 1934)
The Best films from this year (according to IMDb) I've seen (so far).
Out of (only) 78 films 'seen' (ie rated at IMDb).
(Oct 2022)
Notes:
- Features, shorts, docs and TV movies eligible ("A film is a film is a film.").
- TV mini-series are NOT (unless stated otherwise).
- My humble rates added (for films with the same rate just once or twice though).
- Films with the same rate are ordered arbitrarily. Feel free to re-order them at your will.
- When I saw more than 20 excellent films (9/10 or above in my book) from a certain year I'll try and list them ALL. That would make some lists much longer but all the excellentia deserves to be mentioned.
Cinema = cinema (big screen) viewing
TV = TV viewing
PC = download
OL = online viewing
VHS = VHS viewing
Yet to see (among many):
Les misérables (R. Bernard, 1934)
Liliom (Lang, 1934)
The Lost Patrol (Ford, 1934)
No Greater Glory (Borzage, 1934)
The Captain Hates the Sea (Milestone, 1934)
Death Takes a Holiday (Leisen, 1934)
Kagirinaki hodô (Street Without End, Naruse, 1934)
Murder at the Vanities (Leisen, 1934)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (H. Young, 1934)
Treasure Island (Fleming, 1934)
Haha wo kowazuya (A Mother Should Be Loved, Ozu, 1934)
Poruchik Kizhe (The Czar Wants to Sleep, Faintsimmer, 1934)
Amok (Otsep, 1934)
Cleopatra (DeMille, 1934)
Bright Eyes (D. Butler, 1934)
Dames (R. Enright/Berkeley, 1934)
The Count of Monte Cristo (R. V. Lee, 1934)
The Old Fashioned Way (W. Beaudine, 1934)
Pyshka (Romm, 1934)
Heat Lightning (LeRoy, 1934)
You're Telling Me! (Kenton, 1934)
Madame Du Barry (Dieterle, 1934)
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- 22 titles
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.PC. 9/10.
- DirectorsAnthony GrossHector HoppinA tone poem: two woodland sprites dance about, atop power lines and among flowers and leaves, while being pursued. Everyone spends some time pulling levers to switch trains, too.OL.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsColman 'Tiger' KingMaggie DirraneMichael DillaneIn this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneering filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail.PC. 8/10.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTakeshi SakamotoChôko IidaKôji MitsuiA kabuki actor's mistress hatches a jealous plot to bring down her lover's son.OL.
- DirectorDimitri KirsanoffStarsDita ParloGeymond VitalJeanne Marie-LaurentHans has killed the dog of Firmin, a shepherd. Wild with rage, Firmin kidnaps Elsi, Hans' fiancée and locks her up at his home. Hans, a peddler, vows to find the missing girl. This is what he does and he manages, with the help of Mathias, a trader who travels between both villages, to give Elsi a letter. On seeing her, the changeling falls in love at first sight with the young woman. Elsi soon realizes that Mânu, the village idiot, can become her instrument of vengeance.OL.
- DirectorWilfred JacksonStarsPinto ColvigDorothy ComptonWhen a lazy grasshopper prefers to sing and dance rather than forage like his friends the ants, he learns to regret it when winter approaches. The ants save his life and in return he entertains them with his music.OL.
- DirectorJean PainlevéExamines the sea horse, the only fish that swims upright. We watch it use its prehensile tail to wrap around plants and other sea horses. A frontal bulge houses organs including an air ballast. Three fins propel this fish. We see a female place her eggs in a male's pouch where they are fertilized and nurtured until birth in violent contractions. Inside the pouch are nurturing blood vessels. We then follow the growth of an embryo, greatly magnified: we examine its heart beating and its dorsal fin moving. Young sea horses attach themselves to each other. The film ends with images of many sea horses moving on the ocean floor, superimposed on a horse race.OL.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichJohn LodgeSam JaffeA German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.OL.
- DirectorYonggang WuStarsLingyu RuanTian JianZhizhi ZhangStreet walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.OL.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsOrane DemazisFernandelHenri PouponA young and naive peasant girl in Provence, who has been seduced and abandoned, moves to Marseilles and becomes a street-walker after having her baby.OL.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinFootage from a Mexican "Death Day" celebration compiled and subtitled by Sergei Eisenstein.OL.
- DirectorsWilliam VanceOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesVirginia NicolsonWilliam VanceA colonial scene in the U.S. An old lady sits astride a bell while a man in blackface, wig, and livery pulls the bell rope. From an upper door emerges an old man, dressed as a dandy, who tips his hat to the woman as he walks down stairs grinning. Others leave the same door and walk down the same stairs: a shabby man, a cop, and, several times, the same dandy. The man in blackface hangs himself; the dandy continues to smile. A bell tolls, a grave beckons. In the dark, the dandy plays the piano. Is he Death?OL.
- DirectorBasil WrightStarLionel WendtA short film which documents the lives of the Sinhalese people.OL.
- DirectorWilfred JacksonStarsKenny BakerJessica DragonetteTudor WilliamsThe lovely goddess of spring, Persephone, is kidnapped by Hades, thus bringing about the winter season.OL.
- DirectorDavid HandStarsPinto ColvigDorothy ComptonMarion DarlingtonTo the tune "I Would Like to Be a Bird," a young mouse fashions wings from a pair of leaves, to the great amusement of his brothers when his attempts to use them fail. When the butterfly he rescues from a spider proves to be a fairy, he wishes for wings. But his bat-like appearance doesn't fit in with either the birds or the other mice, and he finds himself friendless; even the bats make fun of him.OL.
- DirectorLloyd FrenchStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyMae BuschKeen to climb the social ladder by marrying a rich widow, Oliver finds the nerve to cheat on his partner Stanley. What he doesn't know is that her favorite hobby is murder--and it looks like he's next. Who can save Oliver the Eighth?OL.
