Don’t let anyone tell you the 30s and the 40s weren’t the greatest era for American film. Look at this. It’s year after year of just amazing stuff.

I guess what we need to talk about for 1941 is that the consensus greatest movie ever made was released this year. Or, I guess, for contrarians, the most influential film ever made. No matter how you slice it, Citizen Kane is on the Mount Rushmore of movies. And then you have a bunch of other really amazing stuff. The “official” beginning of the noir genre, with The Maltese Falcon. Classic comedies like The Lady Eve and Sullivan’s Travels. Cultural classics like Sergeant York. This year is just stacked with incredible films.

This is one of those years where I could swap out half the top ten for the 11-20 and it would still look like a formidable top ten list. That’s the 40s. They churned out incredible stuff on a consistent basis. Read the rest of this page »

You’d be hard pressed to find a bad choice in 1940’s list. Straight up, nine of them are legitimately among the biggest classics in cinema history. And the other (if you’ve seen it) is just incredible.

I feel like there’s gonna be a lot of this coming up in the future. A lot of top ten lists with mostly classics that we all agree are great. The real interest is gonna come in all the hidden gems below the line. The 40s is a decade full of amazing films that aren’t as well known simply because not everything can be.

One thing I like about this year in particular is how it has a nice pairing of films. You’ll see several times where two films are akin, either because they share the same director and stars, or are similar in story. Or they’re two of the greatest animated films ever made. Read the rest of this page »

There’s a reason 1939 is referred to as one of the greatest individual years in the history of cinema. Legitimately half this list is among the greatest films of the decade and all time. And it’s not just the choices on top. This year goes deep.

You have one of the greatest westerns ever made, perhaps Frank Capra’s finest achievement, and one of the most uplifting movies ever made, an all-time classic that is one of the most beloved films ever made and has become so iconic that it’s become part of the lexicon and a cultural touchstone for every single person. Oh, let’s not also forget the landmark achievement of 1939, what still may be the finest achievement in the history of American moviemaking.

The important thing about this year isn’t just to fete the classics, it’s to talk up all the other great stuff that got released alongside them. There’s gonna be some great stuff here you haven’t heard of. Read the rest of this page »

1938 is the first year where Technicolor really burst off the screen. The first all-color film was in 1935. And for the next two years, Hollywood was still getting used to telling stories with a full palette. There’s a whole interesting lesson to be told about how it all worked, but the quick version is — for a while they felt that people might get overwhelmed if they put too much color out there, so they muted themselves for the first couple of years. You see a lot of the movies of 1936 and 1937, and all the colors are very subdued and made to look utterly realistic, to the point of falling into the background in a lot of cases.

But you get to 1938, and Hollywood just let loose. The color bursts out on the screen the way it was intended to. The colors are vibrant and pop off the screen in ways they never really would again. (Unless of course you were Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.) It’s a fun time. First they mute them, then they go all out, and then everything settles down into a balanced norm.

The other great thing about 1938 is that this is the era where the screwball comedy is firmly entrenched and they’re just churning them out. So there’s a bunch of great ones all over the late 30s. This year has what might be the greatest one ever made. Read the rest of this page »

1937 is a peaks and valleys kind of year. There’s a lot of really solid stuff there, but the very top of the list has some really heavy hitters. Particularly the big one, which was a landmark in the history of cinema and still holds up as one of the greatest accomplishments ever put to the screen.

Otherwise, a lot of cool things here. Like 1936, I’m gonna be doing some talking up of a film that I don’t think gets its proper regard as one of the greatest films ever made. Besides those — some classic comedies, iconic screen stories and another film generally regarded as one of the 50 greatest films ever made.

Another fun fact: this top ten list features the first full Technicolor entry thus far. To this point, only two full color films have appeared as top ten films, and both were two-strip Technicolor. Read the rest of this page »