This month was a bit of a slow month for me. Lots of subbing and I spent the last few days at the TCM Classic Film Festival, so I had less time to watch films than previous months. You can see my month-in-review for January, February and March here. I watched a lot of great Ray Milland films this month (thank you TCM), some “Classic Cerebral Foreign Films” (or, that’s what Netflix calls them), as well as several of Georges Méliès short films. Last month I saw films from 11 different decades, this month I trumped that and saw films from all 13 decades that there have been films! I mean by that, at least one film from the 1890s-2010s; see the following list for a breakdown by decade. Oh, and I also (finally) finished watching all of Woody Allen’s directorial filmography. Starting in May I’m going to do an extensive look at his body of work leading up to the release of his 43rd feature Midnight In Paris.

1. À Propos de Nice (aka Nizza)
2. Small Town Girl (1953)
3. Blinkity Blank
4. Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip To The Moon)
5. Secret Ceremony
6. Frankenstein (1931)
7. The Great Lie
8. Trapeze
9. La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game)
10. Celebrity
11. Hollywood Ending
12. Anything Else
13. Zéro de Conduite: Jeunes Diables au Collège (Zero for Conduct)
14. Les quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows)
15. L’Atalante
16. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
17. Billy Liar
18. Some Came Running
19. Melinda and Melinda
20. When Ladies Meet (1941)
21. The Actress
22. Green Mansions
23. Five Miles to Midnight
24. Good Girls Go To Paris
25. Raintree County
26. The Major and the Minor
27. The Crystal Ball
28. A Woman of Distinction
29. The Doctor Takes A Wife
30. Polly of the Circus (1932)
31. Dancing Lady
32. Band of Angels
33. The Wheeler Dealers
34. The Bad and the Beautiful
35. That Hamilton Woman
36. The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)
37. Sparrows
38. Matchpoint
39. Scoop
40. A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy
41. Madame de… (The Earrings of Madame de..)
42. Galaxy of Terror
43. Du Barry Was A Lady
44. Meet The People
45. Merton of the Movies (1947)
46. The Baroness and the Butler
47. Le Million
48. Run Silent Run Deep
49. America, America
50. Lassie Come Home
51. Conspirator
52. Father’s Little Dividend
53. Dead Ringer
54. The Young Philadelphians
55. Stage Door
56. Too Many Girls
57. So Evil My Love
58. Blonde Crazy
59. The Glass Key
60. Payment Deferred
61. Rango
62. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
63. The Safecracker
64. The Birth of a Nation
65. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
66. Hostile Witness
67. Crossfire (1947)
68. Adventure
69. Beat The Devil (1953)
70. Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
71. Whipsaw
72. Paper Moon
73. Stage Door Canteen
74. Out of the Fog
75. Born To Dance
76. Fire Down Below
77. The Tales of Hoffmann
78. Camille (1921)
79. The Verdict
80. Algiers
81. Wise Girl
82. Everything Happens At Night
83. Kitty (1945)
84. Reap The Wild Wind
85. Neighbors (1920)
86. The Boat (1921)
87. Beau Geste (1939)
88. Raw Meat (aka Death Line)
89. Girl Shy
90. The Freshman (1925)
91. Welcome Danger
92. Jeanne d’Arc (1900)
93. Excelsior! – Prince of Magicians
94. Partie des cartes (Card Party)
    
95. L’arrivée d’un train à La Ciotat (Arrival of a Train At La Ciotat)
96. Requiem for a Heavyweight
97. Le Cauchemar (A Nightmare)
98. Une Nuit Terrible (A Terrible Night)
99. La Manoir du diable (The House of the Devil)
100. Un homme de têtes (Four Troublesome Heads)
     
101. Les cartes vivantes (The Living Playing Cards)
102. Easter Parade
103. The Silver Chalice
104. Phantom Lady
105. The Tunnel of Love (1958)
106. Mystic River
107. Who’s That Girl?
108. The Hill
109. Julie
110. Love Me Or Leave Me
111. Please Don’t Eat The Daisies
112. The Great Lover (1931)
     
113. Something To Sing About
114. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
115. The Miracle Woman
116. Girl Happy (TCM Classic Film Festival)
117. Niagara (TCM Classic Film Festival)
     

1890s – 6
1900s – 4
1910s – 2
1920s – 7
1930s – 22
1940s – 23
1950s – 24
1960s – 13
1970s – 4
1980s – 4
1990s – 1
2000s – 6
2010s – 1

There are several films I saw this month that deserve to be talked about, but I think lots of words have already been written about them; I’m sure many of you know what films I’m referring to. So this list is four lesser-known films and one 2011 release that has set the bar pretty high for the rest of the year. Two months in a row where my favorites are from the 1970s. I don’t even know what’s happening to me. One of the films I saw from the 1970s I DVR’d off of TCM’s during their “TCM Underground” late night cult cinema Friday, and wound up enjoying so much more than I thought I would. Anyways, here are my choices for the month.

L’Atalante, 1934 (dir. Jean Vigo)

This is my favorite of the “Classic Cerebral Foreign Films” I watched this month (the others, according to Netflix, would be La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game), Les quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows), Le Million, Madame de…, etc.) I actually watched all four of Jean Vigo’s films this month (he died at the age of 29 of tuberculosis). L’Atalante was his only feature length film (Zéro de Conduite: Jeunes Diables au Collège (Zero for Conduct) is only about 40 minutes long), but it’s also his most fully realized film. So many of the shots in the film are hauntingly gorgeous, almost dream-like. When you finally do see this film you will fully understand what a loss Vigo’s death really was.

The Baroness and the Butler, 1938 (dir. Walter Lang)

This was such a wonderful gem of a film that TCM showed during their tribute to French actress Annabella earlier this month. William Powell plays Johann Porok, the titular butler and faithful servant to Annabella (the Baroness)’s father, who is the head of parliament. Porok is part of the opposing political party and when he is accidentally voted to parliament chaos ensues. Powell is wonderful in every film I’ve ever seen him in, but he is particularly charming in this zany little film. Sadly, I don’t think it’s available on DVD.

Rango, 2011 (dir. Gore Verbinski)

I cannot even describe how much I loved this film. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. I definitely don’t think it was a film for kids and I also think it’s the kind of film that will improve upon multiple viewings. There are just SO MANY references to so many other films, I really don’t think I caught them all. I look forward to getting this film on DVD and catching more and more each time. As far as I’m concerned, the bar for film 2011 has been set very high.

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, 1976 (dir. Nicolas Gessner)

Yet again recording cult film off of TCM on Friday nights has paid off. I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this film. It is so much better than it has any right to be, especially if you go by plot alone. Part of this has to do with the force of nature that is Jodie Foster. What a great actress she was even as an adolescent. The film also featured a perfectly sinister and completely unhinged performance from Martin Sheen.

Paper Moon, 1973 (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)