by Allan Fish
Again, right to it. We could wax lyrical about what a bastard of a decision it was, at least compared to which flavour of shit the academy will vote for tonight.
Best Picture Sunrise, US (9 votes)
Best Director Friedrich W.Murnau, Sunrise (8 votes)
Best Short The Life and Death of 9713 a Hollywood Extra, US, Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich (4 votes)
Best Actor Lon Chaney, The Unknown (6 votes, again winning by 1)
Best Actress Janet Gaynor, Sunrise (9 votes)
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and my choices
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Best Picture Sunrise, US
Best Director Abel Gance, Napoleon
Best Short The Life and Death of 9713 a Hollywood Extra, US, Robert Florey, Slavko Vorkapich
Best Actor Albert Dieudonné, Napoleon
Best Actress Brigitte Helm, The Love of Jeanne Ney
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And without further a-do, on to 1928…you just know it isn’t going to get any easier.
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Best Picture/Director
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Alraune (Germany…Henrik Galeen)
L’Argent (France…Marcel l’Herbier)
Arsenal (USSR…Alexander P.Dovzhenko)
Beggars of Life (US…William A.Wellman)
Brasa Dormida (Brazil…Humberto Mauro)
The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple: Parts I-XVIII (China (up to 1931)…Zhang Shichuan)
The Cameraman (US…Edward Sedgwick)
The Circus (US…Charles Chaplin)
Crossways (Japan…Teinosuke Kinugasa)
The Crowd (US…King Vidor)
The Devious Path (Germany…Georg W.Pabst)
Le Diable au Coeur (France…Marcel l’Herbier)
Docks of New York (US…Josef Von Sternberg)
The Doll With Millions (USSR…Sergei Komarov)
Don Diego of Pelageya (USSR…Yakov Protazanov)
The Fall of the House of Usher (France…Jean Epstein, Luis Buñuel)
The First Born (UK…Miles Mander)
Heimkehr (Germany…Joe May)
The Honeymoon (US…Erich Von Stroheim) LOST
The House on Trubnaya Square (USSR…Boris Barnet)
Jitsuroku Chushingura (Japan…Shozo Makino)
The Last Command (US…Josef Von Sternberg)
The Last Moment (US…Pal Fejos) LOST
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (US…Herbert Brenon)
Lights of New York (US…Bryan Foy)
The Living Corpse (USSR…Fedor Ozep)
Lonesome (US…Pal Fejos)
Maldone (France…Jean Grémillon)
The Man Who Laughs (US…Paul Leni)
Morgane la Sirène (France…Léonce Perret)
Noah’s Ark (US…Michael Curtiz)
October (USSR…Sergei M.Eisenstein)
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (France…Carl T.Dreyer)
The Patsy (US…King Vidor)
Queen Kelly (US…Erich Von Stroheim)
Sadie Thompson (US…Raoul Walsh)
The Scarlet Lady (US…Alan Crosland)
The Seashell and the Clergyman (France…Germaine Dulac)
Secrets of the Orient (France…Alexandre Volkoff)
Show People (US…King Vidor)
Spione (Germany…Fritz Lang)
Steamboat Bill Jnr (US…Buster Keaton)
Storm Over Asia (USSR…Vsevelod I.Pudovkin)
Street Angel (US…Frank Borzage)
The Three Passions (US…Rex Ingram)
Verdun (France…Leon Poirier)
The Wedding March (US…Erich Von Stroheim)
White Shadows of the South Seas (US…W.S.Van Dyke II, Robert J.Flaherty)
The Wind (US…Victor Sjöstrom)
The Yellow Ticket (USSR…Fedor Ozep)
Zvenigora (USSR…Alexander P.Dovzhenko)
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Best Short
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Un Chien Andalou (France…Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dali)
The Finishing Touch (US…George Stevens)
Ghosts Before Breakfast (Germany…Hans Richter)
Inflation (Germany…Hans Richter)
Ko-ko’s Earth Control (US…Dave Fleischer)
Leave ‘Em Laughing (US…Clyde Bruckman)
The Little Matchgirl (France…Jean Renoir)
Plane Crazy (US…Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks)
Steamboat Willie (US…Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney)
The Tell-Tale Heart (US…Charles Klein)
There It Is (US…Charles R.Bowers)
Two Tars (US…James Parrott)
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Best Actor
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Pierre Alcover L’Argent
George Bancroft Docks of New York
John Barrymore The Tempest
Wallace Beery Beggars of Life
Lon Chaney Laugh Clown Laugh
Emil Jannings The Last Command
Buster Keaton The Cameraman
Rudolf Klein-Rogge Spione
James Murray The Crowd
Conrad Veidt The Man Who Laughs
Erich Von Stroheim The Wedding March
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Best Actress
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Betty Balfour Le Diable au Coeur
Eleanor Boardman The Crowd
Louise Brooks Beggars of Life
Betty Compson Docks of New York
Marion Davies Show People
Renée Falconetti La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc
Janet Gaynor Street Angel
Lillian Gish The Wind
Marie Glory L’Argent
Gloria Swanson Queen Kelly
Olga Tschechowa Moulin Rouge
Fay Wray The Wedding March
Because I’m going to be MIA for a little while, I’m going to submit two ballots this week.
1928
Feature: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Actor: Erich von Stroheim (Wedding March) – tempting to go with Jannings, but I’ve already given him a few nods
Actress: Falconetti (Passion)
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer (Passion)
Short: Un Chien Andalou
Screenplay: The Crowd
Cinematography: The Fall of the House of Usher
Editing: October (gets my vote for best of decade as well)
honorable mention: The Last Command
and for next week…
1929
Feature: The Man with the Movie Camera
Actor: Maurice Chevalier (Love Parade)
Actress: Louise Brooks (Pandora’s Box)
Director: Dziga Vertov (Movie Camera)
Short: La Mystere du Chateau De
Screenplay: The Love Parade
Cinematography: Asphalt
Editing: The Man with the Movie Camera
honorable mention: The Manxman (underrated – you & me are way right on this one, Allan…)
Ah yes Louise Brooks for 1929. BUT… her better performance is in The Diary of a Lost Girl. I’m wondering if we’re going to have a split vote on that one next week.
It’s a tough call – Lost Girl is a more complicated & nuanced character, but Pandora is the more zestful and iconic. They’re both great though.
Oh, and hooray for Chaney!!! I didn’t think he’d pull it off – I’d clap, but I have no arms.
Or do I…
Funny too that as this coincides with the Oscar broadcast, it marks the first year Oscars were handed out, one of the few times they were right, and also one of the few times our poll results will concur with theirs I suspect…
Film: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc)
Actor: James Murray (The Crowd)
Actress: Renee Falconetti (The Passion of Joan of Arc)
Short: Un Chien Andalou
Notes: Falconetti’s extraordinary performance is my choice for the greatest of all-time by actor or actress. It’s a position many others also take. I mourn the inability to name THE WEDDING MARCH, THE CROWD, THE WIND and BEGGARS OF LIFE, the last of which I saw this past week at the Film Forum with piano accompaniment.
As to Joel’s additions, I’ll only say that cinematography for me would definitely be Rudolf Mate for The Passion of Joan of Arc.
Another tough crowd; just saw White Shadows last night and that was strong stuff but not quite top-tier for the year. Let’s see if I can start some trouble.
Picture; La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc
– BUT!!!-
Actress: Gish….. If Citizen Kane is the most overrated of all movies, then Falconetti’s performance in Passion is probably the most overrated phenomenon in all of movie history. It’s still powerful, but I’ve never really understood why she’s considered the last word in silent acting by so many. I was actually tempted to elevate Betty Compson past both Gog and Magog for this year, but her virtues in Docks are probably too passive and too dependent on her co-stars (Baclanova would get Supporting Actress if the category were allowed here, and I’d give Docks an Ensemble award, too) to stand head-to-head comparison with the two presumptive favorites. And of the big two I like Gish’s work better.
Director: Dreyer…again resisting temptation to go with Sternberg while also conscious of Vidor’s strong claim. If I deny Falconetti then the credit for Passion is even more the director’s.
Actor: Murray.
Short: Two Tars. After last seeing it on TCM a couple of months ago I began to consider it seriously as possibly the greatest silent comedy short.
Samuel, there’s a revolver I placed in your bedside drawer. Take it out, aim at head, pull trigger. Heresy forgiven. Sam may be full of overstatement, but frankly, with regards to Falconetti, he’s spot on. That wasn’t a performance, it was a visitation.
“Like”
Heresy? Thanks for proving my point.
Honestly: this perfect Joan was older when playing the part than Ingrid Bergman was. That’s got to count for or against something.
I’m just playing devil’s advocate here because it is a great performance and I don’t feel she’s substantially worse than Gish. But I can’t help feeling Dreyer deserves a greater share of credit for the results than Sjostrom does for Gish.
Do you want your bullets back?
Samuel,
I will agree with you that Gish is pretty tremendous in The Wind, one of my personal favorite films. However, she’s up against Falconetti. In any other year I would probably have voted for Gish.
I vote “Un chien andalou” for best short in 1928.
I thought, nevertheless, this was from 1929.
With these shorts, Jaime, it’s problematical. It’s first screening was 1928 but its proper premiere 1929.
The Fall Of The House Usher, The Seashell And The Clergyman, Un Chien Andalou, and Ghosts After Breakfast are four of my absolute favorite films ever made but nothing can stop Dreyer in 1928. Perfection was certainly achieved…
Best Picture: The Passion Of Joan Of Arc
Best Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Best Actor: Erich Von Stroheim
Best Actress: Renee Falconetti
Best Short: (((TIE))) Un Chien and Ghosts After Breakfast
OK, just to let everyone know that the the following link will take you to my full listings of choices year by year. They will also, to keep Joel quiet, include various other categories. Now this does not mean these are being voted on, the more categories we have the less people will take the time to vote and we’ll be left with die hards which is beside the point. You’ll just have to like or lump my choices there. Remember Supp Actor and Actress will be voted on from 1930, music from 1932 (though I will be listing my choice from 1930 and 1931).
Film: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc)
Actor: Erich Von Stroheim (The Wedding March)
Actress: Renee Falconetti (The Passion of Joan of Arc)
Short: Un Chien Andalou
Hard year to pick on some of these. As I read through the nominee list I kept saying; “But, what about that? What about that?”
Then I got to a certain title…
And, Viola!!!! There were no more thoughts on where I should cast my votes…
PICTURE: La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc
DIRECTOR: Carl Theodore Dreyer (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc)
ACTOR: Eric Von Stroheim (The Wedding March)-saw this one recently and it was a no brainer…
ACTRESS: Renee Falconetti (La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc)
SHORT: Un Chien Andalou (though Steamboat Willy came damn close)
Great minds, Dennis, as they say…
This is a great year we’re looking at here and I wish I could spread the love around, but……
Picture: La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc
Director: Dreyer (Honorable mention to Sternberg’s work on Docks of New York)
Actress: Falconetti
Actor: Jannings – The Last Command
I would just vote for Un Chien Andalou, although I haven’t really seen any of the others.
My voted:
Film: what looks like a lonely vote for Eisenstein – OCTOBER
Director: another one – Eisenstein
Actor: James Murray – THE CROWD
Actress: Falconetti
Short: if UN CHIEN ANDALOU is 1928, then I vote for it; if not – STEAMBOAT WILLIE
If I vote for the added categories:
Screenplay: The Crowd
Cinematography: Arsenal, if it’s really 1928 (IMDB differs.) Passion of Joan of Arc otherwise.
Editing: October
Yeah I always considered Un Chien Andalou 1929. It seems after doing a internet search, so does everyone else. Wondering how Fish came up with 1928 as the date. If it premiered in 1928, I guess the issue would be what the attendance number was and how often it screened. One viewing with ten surrealists shouldn’t count lol.
And just to lay down some foundations as we head into the 30’s, it seems that Dreyer’s Vampyr might have also had a small premiere in 1931, but actually came out in 1932. Since its my second favorite picture of the whole decade after 1931’s M, I will be voting for it in 32. IMDB, Wikipedia, and my Criterion DVD all verify it as such…
Let’s have the old dates argument again LOL. All avant garde stuff is problematic in that it nearly all was shown publicly outside of cinemas before it was shown inside them in an official premiere. Un Chien Andalou was made in 1928 and shown publicly late that year but didn’t do the real cinema tour until 1929. Though only small audiences saw UCA it was shown publicly. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s October, made for the 1927 10th anniversary of the October Revolution but only shown privately late in 1927 behind closed doors and not shown publicly at all until 1928. That thus counts as 1928 though some sources still say 1927. Arsenal is 1928 for sure, it was premiered then but not generally released until 1929.
As for IMDb, it’s not wholly reliable by any stretch of the imagination. It’s only useful if it alerts you to earlier releases of films that previously suspected. Case in point would be The Secret Beyond the Door and The Lady from Shanghai, both listed as 1948 in film guides, but Secret was premiered in late 1947 and Shanghai in Paris in December 1947, but not shown in the US until June the following year. Likewise Jane Eyre was shown in December 1943 in just one city and then not nationwide until mid 1944.
To cut a long story short, I said at the start of the enterprise my dates will stand, for the sake of argument, or we could be here all night. Doubtless it will flare up again with A Bout de Souffle, first shown late in 1959 but in a semi public screening, not premiered until Feb 1960.
Let’s leave it at that.
I don’t think semi-public screenings should count personally. That just seems silly to me. I can understand a festival addition where it’s played multiple times and scores of people get to view it, but not some obscure one-off for a few lucky patrons. Breathless should be 1960, though I wouldn’t vote for it in either year anyway so I won’t care as much about that debate (when it surfaces). Like I said earlier, something like Vampyr (where I’m more vested in the outcome) will get selected in the year it is generally considered released by almost everyone. The people/company who put together my dvd get my vote of confidence if they say its 32.
I agree Vampyr is 1932. Don’t go by the out of date timeline if it says otherwise.
The one that always through me was Virgin Spring for ’59 instead of ’60. Although, truth be told, I’d rather go with that date since it’s one of my favorite Bergmans and has way less competition among my favorites that year than in the first year of the sixties…
Picture / The Docks of New York
Director / Josef von Sternberg / The Docks of New York
Actor / George Bancroft / The Docks of New York
Actress / Renee Falconetti / Passion of Joan of Arc
Short / The Little Match Girl
Whether or not Un chien andalou is included, the Renoir is still my favorite short of ’28. Joan is amazing but I prefer a few other Dreyers, and Docks is my favorite Sternberg so I decided to go with it. When the choice is between films as good as these (Circus & Cameraman & Wedding March & Usher & Spies & etc too), which one you privilege is admittedly rather arbitrary.
Film: “The Passion of Joan of Arc”
Runners-Up: “Docks of New York” & “The Crowd”
Director: Dreyer
Runners-Up: Sternberg & Vidor
Actress: Falconetti (no competition)
Actor: Stroheim
Runners-Up: Bancroft & Murray
Short: ‘Steamboat Willie’ (probably the only vote Disney will get from me)
PS: When did the fissures in ‘Kane’s reputation start appearing — (rich white guy of European descent, I’m guessing)? Say it ain’t so!
Picture: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Director: Carl Dreyer
Actor: Emil Jannings
Actress: Renee Falconetti
Short: Steamboat Willie
A great year, and very difficult to choose… but…
Film: The Crowd
Director: King Vidor
Actor: James Murray
Actress: Lillian Gish