August was Summer Under The Stars at TCMHQ and I watched SO MANY MOVIES. A lot of what I watched was revisiting old favorites starring Janet Gaynor, Jean Harlow, Jean Arthur, and more incredible stars. But I also watched several new-to-me films (including five featuring Robert Montgomery!). I also saw a lot of great film in theaters and a few non-TCM gems. Overall, August was a great month of viewing. As always, a full list of what I watched and a few favorites can be found after the cut.

1. Shadow on the Wall
2. Logan’s Run
3. The Country Girl
4. Five Nights In Maine
5. Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?
6. The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935)
7. Delicious (1931)
8. Change of Heart (1934)
9. Fabrica de Tabacos
10. Plaza Vieja
11. Isla del Tesoro
12. Una isla para Miguel
13. Ire a Santiago
14. Y tenemos sabor
15. En la otra isla
16. De cierta manera
17. Falsche Bewegung (Wrong Move)
18. Im Lauf der Zeit (Kings of the Road)
19. Multiple Maniacs
20. Ladies In Love (1936)
21. The Young in Heart
22. Small Town Girl (1936)
23. City Girl (1930)
24. Liliom (1930)
25. Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
26. Bad Girl (1931)
27. After Tomorrow
28. Man’s Castle
29. The Mystery of Mr. X
30. Hide-Out
31. Piccadilly Jim
32. Ever Since Eve
33. Haunted Honeymoon
34. Don’t Think Twice
35. Southside With You
36. Equity
37. The Intervention
38. The Whole Town’s Talking
39. High Tide (1987)

1880s: 0
1890s: 0
1900s: 0
1910s: 0
1920s: 0
1930s: 16
1940s: 1
1950s: 2
1960s: 7
1970s: 5
1980s: 1
1990s: 0
2000s: 1
2010s: 6

Falsche Bewegung (Wrong Move), 1975 (dir. Wim Wenders)

I got the Wim Wenders Road Trilogy from Criterion during the B&N sale in July and finally watched the two films from it that I hadn’t already seen. While I enjoyed Kings of the Road, it was this crazy existential depression of a movie that really stuck with me. A lot of Wim Wenders’ filmography is about the search for connection. In some films his characters are finally able to connect with people, in others not so much. This is one in the latter category. I really felt both the desire of the characters, as well as their angst at their inability to succeed.

Multiple Maniacs, 1970 (dir. John Waters)

This is one of John Waters’ films that I had somehow not seen when I was young (I saw a lot of his early work when I was far too young), so when Janus announced they were going to be restoring and re-releasing the film in theaters I danced a dance of joy. This is a strange, strange film and definitely feels its low-budget roots, but it’s pure Waters and I loved every minute of it. Divine is, in a word, divine.

City Girl, 1930 (dir. F.W. Murnau)

This is one of the most lush and romantic films I have ever seen. I have a big crush on Charles Farrell. After re-visiting some of his Janet Gaynor films (and seeing a few new-to-me), I watched several of his non-Gaynor films this month as well. This one took my breath away. Murnau is just working on a whole other level. Now all I want is to do a big screen double feature of this and Sunrise and cry all the tears.

After Tomorrow, 1932 (dir. Frank Borzage)

Speaking of Charles Farrell, this great film from Frank Borzage (a favorite director of mine), also cuts straight to the feels. It’s about a couple who have been engaged for years, but because they’re families are feeling the crunch during the Great Depression, they keep having to delay their wedding while scrimping and saving and helping out at home. It’s a razor-sharp look at family ties and the way in which parents can sometimes hinder their children’s lives, even if they don’t realize they’re doing it. Also, Farrell and Marian Nixon has sizzling hot chemistry. A must.

High Tide, 1987 (dir. Gillian Armstrong)

I’d been searching for this film for years and thanks to a good friend I was finally able to see this film and it was well worth the wait. Powerhouse actress Judy Davis gives a tremendous performances as a drifter and sometime singer who finds herself stranded in a small coastal town in Australia after she gets kicked out of a show and her car breaks down. Little does she know that the child she’d abandoned years earlier after the death of her husband now lives in this town with her grandmother. This film could so easily have been overwrought and melodramatic (in a bad way), but instead its always rooted in raw human emotion. The screenplay was by Laura Jones, who worked with Armstrong on Oscar and Lucinda, as well as Jane Campion on An Angel At My Table and The Portrait of a Lady. What a talented lady! I’ve still got about half of Armstrong’s filmography left to watch (so many are hard to find!), but everything I’ve seen by her I have loved. If you can get your hands on this film I cannot recommend it enough!

I know September has a ton of great films directed by women scheduled to be released in theaters, so I will probably be seeing a ton of those! Also, tomorrow I will be bringing back Female Filmmaker Friday! Only, this time in the form of a PODCAST! So look forward to that. Happy September everyone!