BEST FILMS OF 1939
by Mike Lorefice

Golden Boy
Rouben Mamoulain

***

Le Jour Se Leve
Marcel Carne

***

The Light Ahead
Edgar G. Ulmer & Henry Felt

***

Ninotchka
Ernst Lubitsch

***1/2

Of Mice & Men
Lewis Milestone

Though John Steinbeck's novel is among the best American work of the 20th century, in this case and especially The Grapes of Wrath (which not even Toland's brilliant photography could save) it loses much of it's power moving from morality tale to manipulative mush once Hollywood gets a hold of it. Hollywood also kills it by insisting on being a studio product even in a case like this where nature played such a significant role in the author's work; this is not really an adaption of the novel but a filming of the stage play based on it. Lewis Milestone, himself once an itinerant worker, does a good though not peak job, actually getting in a precredits sequence, the first ever for a Hollywood film. However, the film is horribly miscast at almost every turn to the point one wonders if the cast wouldn't have been better doing Shakespearean theatre, which reflects poorly on Milestone because he chose lesser known actors (normally a good thing) for the hotly contested parts supposedly because of how suited they were to the parts. Burgess Meridith is a complete fish out of water, an urban wannabe pretty boy who fits into this rugged life about as well as a lake in a desert. Betty Field also completely misportrays Curly's wife, making her an obnoxious and oversexed rather than lonely and unknowingly sexy. I hate to say it, but the 1992 remake which is much more faithful to the source material and perfectly cast, is far superior to the original. [9/12/05] ***

The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex
Michael Curtiz

***1/2

Rules of the Game
Jean Renoir

****

Full Movie Review

The Roaring Twenties
Raoul Walsh

***1/2

Stagecoach
John Ford

****