This post will be another brief one because apparently, I’m always busy on the first day of the month! But I did watch A LOT of movies this month (nearly 60!), the most I’ve ever watched in a 31-day period. Almost half of those movies were re-watches though because there are a lot of movies I want to revisit (so I’m going to guess the rest of the summer will be similar to this so long as I’m not too busy). I’m also finishing up a class on Billy Wilder, and we’ve been watching (or in my case, re-watching) a number of his films.
New-to-Me: 35
Re-Watched: 24
New-to-Me Films by Decade:
- 1920s – 0
- 1930s – 4
- 1940s – 12
- 1950s – 11
- 1960s – 4
- 1970s – 0
- 1980s – 1
- 1990s – 1
- 2000s – 0
- 2010s – 2
List of New-to-Me Films:
- A Room with a View (1985)
- An Ideal Husband (1947)
- Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)
- Angel Face (1952)
- Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)
- Duchess of Idaho (1950)
- The Stratton Story (1949)
- It Started with a Kiss (1959)
- A Millionaire for Christy (1951)
- The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
- The Russians Are Coming the Russians are Coming (1966)
- Guys and Dolls (1955)
- Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962)
- State Fair (1945)
- Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938)
- Arise, My Love (1940)
- Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
- Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with You (1992)
- Oklahoma! (1955)
- Carousel (1956)
- Winchester ’73 (1950)
- Stars in My Crown (1950)
- My Love Came Back (1940)
- Lucky Partners (1940)
- The Emperor Waltz (1948)
- A Foreign Affair (1948)
- Apartment for Peggy (1948)
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
- X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
- A Guy Named Joe (1943)
- The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
- Bells Are Ringing (1960)
- No Time for Comedy (1940)
- 5th Ave Girl (1939)
Monthly Tallies
- Best Picture Nominees Watched: 4
- Movies Watched from The Criterion Collection: 0
- Movies Watched via the Watch TCM app: 11
- Movies Watched on TCM: 2
- Movies Watched on Hulu: 2
- Movies Watched in theaters: 2
Trends and Notes
There were a ton of trends this month! Hopefully, I caught them all.
- Watched 2 films directed by Sam Wood in a row (one was a re-watch). Both films were also baseball biopics!
- Watched 5 films starring Gary Cooper, but only one was new to me.
- Watched 5 films starring James Stewart.
- Watched 2 films directed by George Marshall in a row (though I had a Star Wars marathon in between).
- Watched 3 films from the year 1955 (one was a re-watch).
- Watched 3 Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals. Additionally, I watched the 2 starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones back-to-back.
- Watched 2 films starring Claudette Colbert in a row. Both were also co-written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.
- Watched 3 films starring Ray Milland (one was new-to-me). All were co-written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.
- Watched 3 films starring Ginger Rogers (one was a re-watch).
- Watched 15 films directed by Billy Wilder (11 were re-watches). Also watched his 3 films from the year 1957 in a row, with one of those being new-to-me.
- Watched 4 films from the year 1950, with 3 of them in a row and one of those being a re-watch.
- Watched 4 films starring William Holden, but only one was new-to-me (the other 3 were directed by Billy Wilder).
- Watched 3 films from the year 1940, 2 of them in a row.
- Watched 3 films from the year 1948 in a row (though I had a re-watch between the second and third films).
- Watched 2 new releases in a row.
A Few Favorite Discoveries:
This film really exceeded my expectations; I didn’t think I’d love it as much as I did! It’s filled with some great music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and it’s definitely one of those feel-good films. Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews also make a fine pair.
Another fine comedy from the great Ernst Lubitsch, featuring a wonderful screenplay by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. Gary Cooper’s always good, but I think I may love him most in comedy. I love the interactions between him and Claudette Colbert, they work very well off of one another. Edward Everett Horton and David Niven are also a delight as supporting characters. On a side-note, it was great to finally see the film that Eli Wallach’s character in The Holiday was referencing when he was describing “meet-cutes” in movies; the meet-cute here also serves as a great opening to the film!
This is one of those films that really grew on me upon reflection. It’s definitely underrated among Billy Wilder’s filmography; there’s a great blend of drama, suspense, and that Wilder humor. I really liked Franchot Tone’s performance in this as well, it was pretty subdued. It was also interesting to see Wilder in his first collaboration with Erich von Stroheim, who plays a character that is similar to the one he portrayed in Grand Illusion.
Two of my favorites from your list of 35: Winchester ’73 and The Spirit of St. Louis. And what fun it must be to attend a class on Billy Wilder!