1925 - The Year in Review

I'm now beginning my year-by-year overview of the best films of each annum, leading up to the present. Inspired by the Wonders in the Dark crew, headed by Sam Juliano and Allan Fish, I'm starting with the first year I can confidently talk about, 1925.  Here are my choices, and here are the winners as determined by the dedicated readers at Wonders in the Dark. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are in no way reflective of the choices made by the Oscars: 



PICTURE: BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (USSR, Sergei Eistenstein)
2nd: The Gold Rush (US, Charles Chaplin), followed by:
The Phantom of the Opera (US, Rupert Julian)
Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (US, Fred Niblo)
Seven Chances (US, Buster Keaton)
The Freshman (US, Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor)
The Merry Widow (US, Erich Von Stroheim)
The Unholy Three (US, Tod Browning)
The Imaginary Voyage (France, Rene Clair)

DIRECTOR: Sergei Eisenstein, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (2nd: Charles Chaplin, The Gold Rush, followed by: Buster Keaton, Seven Chances; Erich Von Stroheim, The Merry Widow; Tod Browning, The Unholy Three)



SHORT FILM: JEUX DE REFLETS ET DE LE VITESSE (France, Henri Chomette) (2nd: Das Wiedegefundene Paradies (Germany, Walter Ruttmann and Lotte Lendesdorff), followed by: The Rat's Knuckles (US, Leo McCarey); Rhythmus 25 (Germany, Hans Richter); Isn't Life Terrible? (US, Leo McCarey))



ACTOR: Charles Chaplin, THE GOLD RUSH (2nd: Lon Chaney, The Phantom of the Opera, followed by: Emil Jannings, Variety; Lon Chaney, The Unholy Three; Harold Lloyd, The Freshman)



ACTRESS: Greta Garbo, JOYLESS STREET (2nd: Mary Philbin, The Phantom of the Opera, followed by: Mae Murray, The Merry Widow; Renee Adoree, The Big Parade; Belle Bennett, Stella Dallas)

SCREENPLAY: Charles Chaplin, THE GOLD RUSH (2nd: Nina Agadzhanova and Sergei Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin, followed by: Clarence Aaron Robbins and Waldemar Young, The Unholy Three)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Eduard Tisse and Vladimir Popov, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (2nd: Roland Toheroh, The Gold Rush, followed by: Milton Bridenbecker, Virgil Miller and Chales Van Enger, The Phantom of the Opera)

ART DIRECTION: BEN HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST, The Phantom of the Opera, The Imaginary Voyage

COSTUME DESIGN: BEN HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST, Lady Windermere's Fan, The Phantom of the Opera

FILM EDITING: BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, Seven Chances; Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ



MAKEUP: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, The Unholy Three

CINEMA GALLERY: 30 New Frames

I'm taking a tip from a few other websites (including Only The Cinema and The Dancing Image) and avoiding commentary on the shots I've selected. I like how they look without the words splitting up the images. It also leaves the viewer to guess, at least initially, as to which movies these scenes hail from. And I believe that, subconsciously, these varied frames, shunted together, form a unique little film unto themselves. Only at the end of the post will I reveal the titles, in order of their appearance. I think this is how I'm gonna do these Cinema Gallery posts from now on. At any rate, as always, click on the image you wanna see writ large.

1. Enter The Void (Gaspar Noe, 2009)
2. Xanadu (Robert Greenwald, 80)
3. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
4. Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 70)
5. Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill, 72)
6. The Escape Artist (Caleb Deschanel, 82)
7. Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 62)
8. Leave Her To Heaven (John M. Stahl, 45)
9. The Celebration (Thomas Vinterberg, 98)
10. Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002)
11. Laugh Clown Laugh (Herbert Brenon, 28)
12. Half Baked (Tamra Davis, 98)
13. You Can Count On Me (Kenneth Lonergan, 2001)
14. Blindness (Fernando Meirelles, 2008)
15. The Big Snit (Richard Condie, 86)
16. The Natural (Barry Levinson, 84)
17. Match Point (Woody Allen, 2005)
18. Big Fan (Robert D. Siegel, 2009)
19. The Fly (Kurt Neumann, 58)
20. The Fury (Brian De Palma, 78)
21. Fury (Fritz Lang, 36)
22. Citizen X (Chris Gerolmo, 95)
23. Bad Company (Robert Benton, 72)
24. Glengarry Glen Ross (James Foley, 92)
25. One Two Three (Bily Wilder, 61)
26. The Stuff (Larry Cohen, 86)
27. Whistle Down The Wind (Bryan Forbes, 61)
28. When Worlds Collide (Rudolph Maté and George Pal, 51)
29. Vincent (Tim Burton, 82)
30. Ciao Manhattan (John Palmer and David Weisman, 72)