34-30: The Production Dude Is Back with Detectives, War Brides, Invisible Rabbits, Arabians, and Big Freaking Robots

Well, kids, it’s been a while and I’m sorry for that. Moving to a new town and trying to get work and everything takes up a lot of your free time. That said, I think I’m ready to get this blog moving again, but we’ll have to make a couple of changes. From here on out, the blog will no longer be daily. That dog just won’t hunt. So, I’m going to switch to a weekly format. In the future, columns will run about whatever I feel like. It will still be movie heavy, but I’ll be looking at some other pop culture type stuff, too. I may even comment from time to time on the scene here in the Twin Cities. That’s the future, though. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be finishing off my list (five at a time), talking about new films I’ve seen, and that sort of thing. So, let’s get started.

Top 100: 34-30

34. Sherlock, Jr.
Buster Keaton, 1924

This is the one and only short film that appears on this list, clocking in at only 44 minutes, and one of the very few silent films. That said, I find myself watching more and more silent film, so who knows what that might do for the list down the road. Anyway, Buster Keaton stars and directs in what may be his best masterpiece. Keaton is a projectionist and would be detective who, in a dream, enters a movie screen and becomes the great detective star of the picture. Keaton uses this structure to build a number of gags revolving around the screen and cuts between scenes, including a hilarious bit where the scenery changes, while Keaton remains in place, making him fall off of chairs that are no longer there or appear suddenly amidst a group of lions. The film also highlights Keaton’s unbelievable mechanical precision, featuring a number of stunts that are simply beyond belief, each requiring absolute precision to work. It’s fantastic; it’s funny; it’s Keaton’s best and a damn fine exploration of the plastics of the image.

33. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Preston Sturges, 1944

Betty Hutton stars as Trudy Kockenlocker (a great comedy name for those of you taking notes). Trudy lives in any town USA during the second World War. One night, she goes out dancing with some American G.I.s who are going “over there.” Well, poor Trudy gets conked on the head and wakes up the next morning married and pregnant. Worse yet, she can’t even remember the name of the man who did it, although it might be Ratskiwatski. Eddie Bracken also stars, playing Norval Jones, a young man who has always loved Trudy and wants to help her out of her fix and marry her. This is an unbelievably sweet movie. It is also hilarious and a bit controversial, given the subject matter and the fact that the film was released in the forties. The film benefits a great deal from its stars, including William Demarest as Trudy’s cooky cop father and Diana Lynn as her sister, and from it’s director, Preston Sturges. As with most Sturges films, the people and situations are surpassingly down to earth and, while certainly attractive, Betty Hutton is no Hollywood beauty queen. Like Mr. Bracken, Ms. Hutton looks like a person you could know, adding a great deal of empathy and sympathy to the situation.

32. Harvey
Henry Koster, 1950

“Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be’ - she always called me Elwood - ‘In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me.”

Ah yes, the enduring story of a man and his best friend, an invisible, 6’ 3 1/2” rabbit, Harvey. Well, actually, he’s more of a pooka than a rabbit, but that’s beside the point. As the opening statement may suggest, the film, a warmhearted comedy, mostly revolves around Elwood P. Dowd’s, the delightful Jimmy Stewart, family’s conviction that he is, in fact, bat shit insane (rabbit shit insane?). That family consists of his sister Veta and her daughter Myrtle Mae, which is a name that should only be reserved for Nazi war criminals and, possibly, turtles. Veta is played by Josephine Hull, who won an Oscar for the picture. Josephine Hull is sort of a more excitable Margaret Dumont. She played a similar role (old lady) in the film version of Arsenic and Old Lace. As the film progresses, you absolutely fall in love with Elwood and, by extension, Harvey. Like those characters who understand him best, you come to not care if Elwood is crazy or not and begin to buy into the magic of Harvey himself. It isn’t hard to do. Despite Veta’s protestations, Elwood is really a grade A human being: kind, gentle, and caring. Toward the end of the film, Jimmy Stewart gives one of my favorite monologues in all cinema, a rambling little speech about how he met Harvey and how Harvey is bigger than any problem you may ever have. “We sit in the bars ... have a drink or two ... and play the juke box. Very soon the faces of the other people turn towards me and they smile. They say: ‘We don’t know your name, mister, but you’re all right, all right.’ Harvey and I warm ourselves in these golden moments. We came as strangers - soon we have friends. They come over. They sit with us. They drink with us. They talk to us. They tell us about the great big terrible things they’ve done and the great big wonderful things they’re going to do. Their hopes, their regrets. Their loves, their hates. All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar. Then I introduce them to Harvey, and he’s bigger and grander than anything they can offer me. When they leave, they leave impressed. The same people seldom come back.”

31. Lawrence of Arabia
David Lean, 1962

Lawrence of Arabia is one of the finest looking films ever made. Every frame, every single composition deserves to be framed and displayed in a museum. There are few parallels to the masterful images David Lean gives us here. Set amidst the sparse and beautiful desert, presented in the widest of screens, is the epic story of T. E. Lawrence, Peter O’Toole, a World War I British officer who comes to help lead an Arab tribal army. It’s an incredible picture and one which must be seen on the big screen before you die. I wish I had more to say, but, in this case, images are definitely more powerful than words. If you’ve never seen it, if you’ve only ever seen it on television or in full frame, run out and get the DVD today. You will be overwhelmed.

30. The Iron Giant
Brad Bird, 1999

This is Old Yeller for the sci-fi set. Forget the story of a boy and his dog, this is the, believe it or not, heart warming story of a boy and his giant freaking robot. Young Hogarth Hughes finds a giant robot which has crashed to Earth. The robot, which is at once naive and incredibly wise, befriends the boy and they have the standard series of amusing misadventures, many of them dealing with avoiding the United States Armed Forces, or at least the semi-crackpot investigator they’ve sent to look into an apparent crash. There isn’t a lot more I can say about this picture, since I’m certain almost no one saw it. Still, this is probably the single best animated feature of the last ten years. For the record, it was made by Brad Bird, who is also responsible for The Incredibles, which should give you some idea of the quality here. Really, though, the best part of this picture is the end. Now, I’m a man in good standing. Have been for about 23 years, but I’m here to tell you, if you don’t cry at the end of this one, you don’t have a soul.

See you next week with 29-25, including monkeys, robots, monsters, witches, and Boo Radley!