100 Performances (2): 1930s

Well, here it is - the second entry in my "100 Favorite Movie Performances" series. After having already examined the mostly silent era of the 1910s/20s, it's time for the portrayals of the 1930s. This was a time of lavish set design, outrageous story-lines, and over-the-top production value. The cinema of sound had recently become the talk of the town (pun intended), and Hollywood performers couldn't wait to strut and fret their hours upon the silver screen. In my opinion, the following ten portrayals are the best of this exciting, seemingly unrestrained decade.

10.) Clark Gable as "Rhett Butler" in Gone With the Wind (1939): While the bulk of this film's hefty drama is placed on the confident shoulders of Vivien Leigh's "Scarlett O'Hara," Clark Gable's complex "Rhett Butler" adds color, nuance, and vitality. This is a great role, and Gable seems to know it. He drinks in every scene like precious water in the fiercest drought, relishing each line of dialogue and each careful mannerism. 

9.) Claude Rains as "Dr. Jack Griffin" in The Invisible Man (1933): Is this performance a little over-the-top? Perhaps. Is it believable? Maybe not. Is it satisfying and enjoyable? Most certainly YES. In this nifty horror-mystery classic, Claude Rains plays his invisible man like a cartoonish Hamlet, crackling with electricity and madness. He fulfills the "man gone mad" archetype in stride, scheming with exaggerated motions and cackling with a voice of commanding thunder.Thanks to the title character's curious handicap, this role is communicated mostly through voice, and Rains is truly excellent, nonetheless.

8.) Lew Ayres as "Paul Baumer" in All Quiet On the Western Front (1930): For all its technical achievements and inventive film-making, it's easy to overlook the impressive portrayal of Paul Baumer, a young German soldier with too much to prove, in All Quiet On the Western Front. He provides a note of humanity in an uncompromising story, and gives viewers someone to rally around. 

7.) Peter Lorre as "Hans Beckert" in M (1931): While 1930's moviegoers had a veritable slew of creepy performances to enjoy (Bela Lugosi in Dracula, Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, etc.), rookie actor Peter Lorre decided to give audiences someone to truly despise. In playing child murderer Hans Beckert, Lorre shuffles through the nighttime alleys of Berlin, excitedly whistling "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and stalking the city's innocence. This performance is the disquieting centerpiece of a very uncomfortable film. Simply put: it is terrific. 

6.) Claudette Colbert as "Ellie Andrews" in It Happened One Night (1934): A funny role in a funny movie, Claudette Colbert is an absolute delight in the romantic comedy classic It Happened One Night. Although it would have been easy to slip into the comfortable realm of the cliche (which is practically a staple of the genre), Colbert decided to add dimension and depth to her character, elevating her above the relatively humdrum script and giving leading-man Clark Gable the perfect foil.  

5.) Thomas Mitchell as "Doc Boone" in Stagecoach (1939): During his Academy Award acceptance speech (for Best Supporting Actor), Thomas Mitchell said of his deeply convincing turn as the drunken Doc Boone, "I didn't know I was that good." A funny line, sure, but one that totally sums up Mitchell's performance in Stagecoach - one that is honest, natural, and totally without pretense.     

4.) Olivia de Havilland as "Melanie Hamilton" in Gone With the Wind (1939): Although this is one of the most famous movies ever made, ripe with great actors in great roles, it is the saintly Melanie Hamilton, Scarlet O'Hara's tacit rival, that resonates with the most truth. It can often be hard to find Hollywood performances that don't feel like performances at all, but here is one that is offhanded and easy. In both manner and voice, in both character and soul, Melanie's tenderness and grace reach out from over 70 years of impenetrable history and captivates.

3.) Charlie Chaplin as "The Tramp" in City Lights (1931): This is unquestionably the funniest, most sincere film of Chaplin's career. At the movie's golden heart is "The Tramp," that curious, altruistic icon of silent cinema. Although "talkies" had proliferated Hollywood years before, Chaplin decided to break with the new norm and write, direct, produce, and star in another silent picture. Herein, Chaplin paints an emotional mosaic upon a wonderful pallet of facial expressions, body language, and natural physicality. The Tramp's comic moments are overwhelmingly hilarious (seriously - it's impossible not to laugh), and his tragedies are painfully melancholic. You'll be dazzled by City Lights. 

2.) Jimmy Stewart as "Jefferson Smith" in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): One of the decade's best performances comes from an American classic - this of course being Frank Capra's delightful Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the tale of a small-town man who experiences first-hand the soaring heights and sickening lows of America's political machine. Here we see the talented Mr. Stewart (who, suffice it to say, will appear time and again throughout this "100 Performances" series) as the title character, a man whose heart beats and bleeds upon his sleeve, whose vibrant emotions are never far from view. Watching him slide from boyish naivete to fiery cynicism is fascinating, with the film's climactic filibuster epitomizing Stewart's soulful portrayal. This is the grandaddy of all underdog stories, and it's impossible not to root for the hero. If you give this film a chance, I promise you won't be disappointed.  

1.) Ruan Lingyu as "The Mother/The Goddess" in The Goddess (1934): Hands down, without a doubt in my mind, this is the best film performance of the 1930s. The Goddess, an obscure gem from China (obscure, at least, in the West), is a cinematic treasure. It is a soft, contemplative film about the measures to which a mother will go for her child. The mother, of course, is played with breathtaking realism by Ruan Lingyu, in one of her last roles before her suicide in 1935. While I believe all the performances on this list are three-dimensional, Lingyu's hints at a fourth: this being a dimension of time. A youthful glow is replaced by world weariness - eager movements traded in for a deliberate slowness. Although during filming she was only in her early twenties, the burden she adopted to play this character is hard to believe. This is an incredible movie, with a role at its center that is unbelievably delicate, fierce, and beautiful. It must be seen to be believed.          

31 Days of Horror

Well, in case you weren't aware, I have a pretty profound fascination with horror movies. Call me a masochist, but I adore watching them, and am infatuated with that sense of doom, that feeling of unbridled terror, that these films breed. So, with it being October and all, I figured a list of terrific horror flicks would be particularly apropos. Okay -  without further deliberation, here are (in my opinion) 31 of the best. For all you film buffs out there, this list will feel pretty cliche. For you newcomers, though - this is a great introduction to the genre. (I tried to steer clear of any movies that weren't "true horror," so I attempted to rid this list of all "thrillers," although I'm sure a couple managed to sneak on!) Enjoy!

- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

- Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922)

- The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

- Frankenstein (1931)

- King Kong (1933)

- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

- Peeping Tom (1960)

- Psycho (1960)

- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

- Night of the Living Dead (1968)

- Rosemary's Baby (1968)

- Deliverance (1972)

- Don't Look Now (1973)

- The Exorcist (1973)

- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

- Jaws (1975)

- Halloween (1978)

- Alien (1979)

- The Shining (1980)

- An American Werewolf in London (1981)

- Poltergeist (1982)

- The Thing (1982)

- The Fly (1986)

- Evil Dead II (1987)

- Cape Fear (1991)

- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

- Audition (1999)

- The Blair Witch Project (1999)

- The Sixth Sense (1999)

- The Mist (2007)

- Shutter Island (2010)

100 Performances (1): 1910s/1920s

Okay - here's the deal: I've decided to throw together a list of the 100 best movie performances, choosing 10 from each decade. Quite the undertaking, right? I know. I'll start with a combined list of performances from the 1910s/1920s, and then lead arduously up to the present over the next several months.

10.) Gosta Ekman as "Faust" in Faust (1926): Although this interpretation of "Faust" is wonderful, with breathtaking imagery and some fantastic special effects, it is Ekman's portrayal of the battered alchemist that makes it a classic. He manages to play Faust as both the embittered old man and the desperate young man with equal gravity. It's hard to root for a character who sells his soul, but this sympathetic performance will cause you to do just that.

9.) (?) as "The Nurse" in The Battleship Potemkin (1925): This propagandist tale of mutiny and civil unrest is still particularly potent due to its human qualities. The infamous "Odessa Steps" sequence, in which Russian Imperial soldiers fire upon a crowd of civilians in a detached, mechanized fashion, is brilliant. One of the many casualties is a kindly nurse, played with gaze-averting perfection by (?). The role is brief, but powerfully affecting. Her horrific demise (so brutal I won't show it on this blog) will stain your sensibilities, her expression forever frozen in your soul. (I currently can't find the actress's name. Help, anyone?) 

8.) Harold Lloyd as "The Boy" in Safety Last! (1923): Many of the silent era's best performances are hysterically funny, and Lloyd's starring role in Safety Last! is one of them. From fantastic falls to tickling trips, this is a physical comedy treasure. The film's most memorable sequence follows "The Boy" climb up the side of a skyscraper. It's a nail-biting scene, particularly knowing that Lloyd performed all of his own stunts, and most of them without the comfort of a safety net. Wow - safety last, indeed.   

7.) Gustav Frohlich as "Freder" in Metropolis (1927): It's safe to say that if director Fritz Lang had improperly cast the pivotal role of "Freder" in his science-fiction masterpiece Metropolis, it may not have endured in our hearts and imaginations 85 years later. Yet here we are, part of a culture that still celebrates this film, and joins Frohlich's Freder on his exquisite journey of self and societal discovery.

6.) George O'Brien as "The Man" in Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927): A powerhouse performance related through exaggerated realism, O'Brien's "The Man" never ceases to shock, to incite, or to captivate. Watching this character succumb to the lowest depths of human evil, and then try to climb back to altruism, is a revelation.

5.) Buster Keaton as "Johnnie Gray" in The General (1926): I can't get enough of this movie, and Keaton's hilarious buffoon "Johnnie Gray" is the main reason. Playing an out-of-luck underdog who just wants his sweetheart's approval (all it takes is enlisting in the confederate army!), his sympathetic awkwardness is one of the best comic performances ever.

4.) Lillian Gish as "Lucy Burrows" in Broken Blossoms (1919): Sweetness and gentility radiate from her every movement and gesture, humming through the silence like rain on a tin roof. It's impossible not to feel brokenhearted with a portrayal as stunning, as touching, as this one. Gish would have many excellent performances in her career, notably her authoritative turn in The Night of the Hunter (1955), which pitted her against a menacing Robert Mitchum. However, if you're looking for an incredible silent performance, one that still manages to speak volumes, check out Broken Blossoms.    

3.) Lon Chaney as "Erik, The Phantom" in The Phantom of the Opera (1925): Known as "The Man of 1000 Faces," Lon Chaney was one of silent cinema's most versatile stars. Although known for many great roles (his Quasimodo in 1923's The Hunchback of Notre Dame is fantastic), it's debatable that his turn as "The Phantom" (oddly named "Erik" in the credits) is his best. It's a rare performance - one that shocks and disgusts, yet cries out for humanity. I love it.

2.) Max Schrek as "Count Orlok" in Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922): Holy crap, is this a great performance. Any role as iconic as this one, that still manages to be eerie and cold and haunting after 90 years, deserves a slot this high on my list. Schrek's vampire is one of the creepiest portrayals the silver screen has to offer, and will chill you to the marrow.

1.) Charlie Chaplin as "The Tramp" in The Gold Rush (1925): Certainly an enduring character from an undeniable genius, Chaplin's "Tramp" is easily my favorite film performance of the 1910s/20s. What makes it so great is simple - he's unimaginably funny, and also totally realistic. It's a thoroughly convincing performance, with each second he's on screen providing a commanding comic presence. If you've never seen a Chaplin movie, then this is a terrific place to start. While Chaplin went on to make much better films, this performance may be his very best.