20 Great Years of Movies, Part 1: 1938

As I was recently looking at my top ten favourite old-time radio programs from 1938-1957, one of my readers suggested I should do the same for motion pictures from that range of dates. I chose those years because they were the 20 years which were easiest for me to assemble lists for, but I don't see why I can't do the same for movies.

1938 is actually a pretty good year to begin with - the following year, 1939, is frequently called the greatest year of the golden age of film, so this is a decent time to be looking at the state of film.

However, I should caution you that these lists are ranked according to my own opinions. I like popular movies. I like unpopular movies. I like crowd-pleasers. I like artsy movies. Some of these will be films which are already very well known. Others will not. Some that you think should be there will not make my list. With that understood:

1. The Adventures of Robin Hood (director: Michael Curtiz): My father loved this movie and shared it with me, for which I'll always be grateful. This is simply one-of-a-kind. There are many other swashbuckling Errol Flynn movies and a plethora of Robin Hood pictures, but this is the greatest. As a kid, it was just about everything I wanted - the lush score, terrific stunts, wise dialogue and beautiful Technicolor. This is my favourite movie of 1938, but in general one of my favourite movies, full stop.
2. Bringing Up Baby (director: Howard Hawks): All the same, it was difficult to keep this title from the top spot. This is, of course, the ur-example of screwball comedy, one of the funniest movies of Hollywood's big studio years. It holds up extremely well; it makes me laugh and I admire how the jokes are crafted.
3. Three Comrades (director: Frank Borzage): So, one thing about me it -- I'm very sentimental. This film, adapted from the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, hits me in a very sentimental place. It's the story of three best friends in between-the-wars Germany; when one of them falls in love, the other two do everything in their power to help the relationship succeed. It's extremely heartfelt -- and tragic, due to circumstances beyond the characters' control.
4. The Lady Vanishes (director: Alfred Hitchcock): This was one of the best of Hitchcock's British pictures. It's a charming, fast-paced mystery.
5. Angels with Dirty Faces (director: Michael Curtiz): James Cagney was best-known for his gangster pictures, but that was mostly due to The Public Enemy. This is one of the few times he returned to the genre and it's rather good as he's a gangster with a heart of gold.
6. You Can't Take It with You (director: Frank Capra): In some ways this is not exactly a Capra film as it was adapted from a popular play, but some familiar Capra attitudes appear in here about people who seem to be at odds with the rest of the world as they hold to their values. And of course, it was Capra's first film with James Stewart. It's also gently humourous.
7. The Citadel (director: King Vidor): An interesting morality story with Robert Donat as a physician who seems trapped at being either a low-paid and unappreciated doctor or a high-paid but frivolous one. It's sort of a British version of the 'problem pictures' the Warners were famous for.
8. Pygmalion (director: Anthony Asquith): A great adaptation of the play starring Leslie Howard. I only saw this film for the first time recently - it's certainly very similar to the version told in My Fair Lady. Howard is certainly at his best.
9. The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (director: Anatole Litvak): This is something of a b-movie elevated by its star, Edward G. Robinson. Like Cagney, Robinson had to crawl out of the shadow of his big gangster film (Little Caesar). Robinson had a pretty diverse career, but unfortunately he was just too dang memorable as a gangster. This film seems to more along the line of what he wanted to play - a meek little man who takes up crime as a hobby. As in Angels with Dirty Faces above, Bogart has the thankless task of being the antagonist.
10. If I Were King (director: Frank Lloyd): A nice picture with Ronald Colman as a rascal who becomes a part of the royal court. Not exactly Pygmalion, but fun in its own way.