BEST FILMS OF 1934
by Mike Lorefice

L'Atalante
Jean Vigo

****

Full Movie Review

The Lost Patrol
John Ford

A small WW1 British patrol is technically picked off by their Arab enemies, but really succumb to the sweltering heat of the expansive Mesopotamian Desert and their own stupidity. Their officer kept their instructions in his head and was above sharing them with even to the second in command, so when he's the first to be gunned down The Sergeant (Victor McLagen), a lifer who's more tough than smart, is simply lost in the Ottoman Empire. The bumbling white men may actually have had the strategic advantage, but they lack the patience of their "cowardly" counterparts. Their displacement and isolation breeds helplessness and insanity. The film focuses on the soldier's interaction, bonding and clinging to maintain mental balance, but alienating one another and ultimately causing as many problems as they alleviate. Boris Karloff gives his worst performance, 1000 miles over the top as the judgmental religious zealot Sanders who turns to God in his time of need to the point he sends the others to the devil. Stress erodes judgment, sanity, and endurance until waiting to be killed becomes so excruciating the soldiers want to rush to their death. They are embarrassingly non-strategic, not even knowing or noticing they get put down when their head pops up. It's surprisingly unsentimental and non-heroic, probably Ford's tensest and most minimalist work. Harold Wenstrom's standout claustrophobic cinematography shows the soldiers have everywhere and nowhere to escape. Outside of the sturdy McLagen, most of Ford's other collaborators do the film in. In particular, Max Steiner's blaring wall to wall bombast does nothing beyond prove how clueless the Academy Mafia is. The performances are much too stagy, and Dudley Nichols hurried screenplay creates stereotypes who tell us a little about themselves before getting blown away. Lost Patrol seems tired and dated today, but partially because the story of men bunkered up and awaiting death has been remade and reworked so many times. [3/12/07] ***

The Man Who Knew Too Much
Alfred Hitchcock

***

The Black Cat
Edgar G. Ulmer

***

The Thin Man
W.S. Van Dyke

***