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by Brody Wilder 03/22/2026, 7:33pm PDT |
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WINNER: Bringing Up Baby
History's most perfect man, Cary Grant, plays a nebbishy paleontologist who has an intercostal dinosaur clavicle stolen by flighty heiress Katharine Hepburn (the titular Baby refers to her pet leopard). His quest to recover his bone (and, in the sort of sexual double entendre that underpins every facet of the film, rediscover his own masculinity) sets the gifted comic actor up for an unrelenting day of madcap farce. Similar to Scorcese's After Hours, in that a mild-mannered New Yorker finds himself in an unfamiliar environment - in this case, Connecticut - and has his simple goal increasingly complicated by encounters with nutbars.
In a typically overloaded gag, Grant - who at this point in real life was sharing a beachhouse in Malibu with cowboy hero Randolph Scott - is asked why he's wearing a woman's negligee, to which he replies, "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!". A notorious flop on release, this is the film that taught director Howard Hawks to never again go full screwball, basically The Big Lebowski of the 1930s. Ends with Katharine Hepburn delivering a blowjob joke - how can you not love that?
The Kind of Guy That Little Homies Want to Be Like: Angels with Dirty Faces
Two youths are caught trying to steal a load of fountain pens from a railroad car. One gets away and grows up to be a priest. The other gets sent off to reform school and a life of crime, culminating in a daring $100,000 armed robbery for which he serves three years (though the loot is never recovered). On release, the hardened criminal - played with extra relish by speedball fireplug James Cagney - returns to the old neighbourhood to collect his share from scummy lawyer Humprey Bogart, who's been keeping it safe for him. Ot at least, that was the plan.
The heart of the picture involves the gangster reconnecting with his boyhood partner in crime, Pat O'Brian, who of course is fixated on Cagney's soul and the saving of such. Whatever. But when an attempted pickpocketing leads to Cagney taking a gang of "dead end" kids under his wing, he has to decide what kind of role model he wants to be for the little rascals. (If you think any of this is going to stop him getting his money, you're loopier than a bundt cake.) Ends, like all great crime stories, with an electric chair - but what a road to get there.
No Bringing Up Baby: A Slight Case of Murder
Edward G. Robinson sends up his own Little Caesar persona in this mafia comedy based on a play by Damon Runyon. A smash hit with critics and audiences alike, this is what filmgoers were looking for in 1938, a smart door-slammer about a criminal kingpin having his vacation turned upside down by a house full of incompetent underlings, four dead bodies, and one live assassin. Not that I can blame them - it's quite entertaining, in a conventional way.
She's Just Drawn That Way: Jezebel
Unfairly dismissed as Bette Davis' audition for Gone with the Wind, I'd personally take this antebellum barnburner over that overlong anti-feminist borefest any day. Davis, who rose to fame playing the grotesque waitress who destroys Leslie Howard's life in 1934's Of Human Bondage, here takes on the role of a cuntish southern belle who tries to do the same to Henry Fonda. This is Bette's show and she carries it with aplomb, the fiery cunning behind those famous eyes never wavering as her character runs the gamut from despicable to pathetic to... well, I won't spoil the ending of this one. I'll just say that it was 1938, when every anti-social woman had to submit to somebody, willingly or not.
Wesley's Static Warp Bubble: The Lady Vanishes
Hitchcock's very best British film is this influential trainbound mystery-thriller (gotta be one of my favourite micro-genres). On her way home from Europe, beautiful English tourist Margaret Lockwood shares a compartment with the sweetest little old lady. When the lady disappears overnight, Lockwood struggles to convince the other passengers she ever existed in the first place. Hitch is firing on all cylinders here, the plot twisting and turning at breakneck pace. I could give you all the spoilers I want and you'd still never guess where it all ends up.
Take note of minor comedy characters Charters and Caldicott, two cricket-obsessed toffs who would re-team with Lockwood for the equally exciting (though otherwise unrelated) Night Train to Munich. |
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The Best Movie of Every Year by Brody Wilder 03/14/2026, 8:42pm PDT 
The Best Movie of 1930 by Brody Wilder 03/14/2026, 8:46pm PDT
Best thread in ages NT by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/15/2026, 1:05pm PDT
Do you have a job/family NT by Mysterio 03/15/2026, 3:16am PDT
God forbid. NT by Brody Wilder 03/15/2026, 8:56am PDT
Is this Tom Chick? NT by mysterio 2 03/17/2026, 11:37pm PDT
He might honestly be the last person to read and post here. NT by Kenji Carter 03/18/2026, 8:05am PDT
The Best Movie of 1931 by Brody Wilder 03/15/2026, 3:53pm PDT
Holy cow, Caltrops is back! by Mischief Maker 03/15/2026, 4:46pm PDT
Are your motivss pure, Maker of MischIEF? NT by Tomorrow People 03/16/2026, 9:39pm PDT
Re: The Best Movie of 1931 by E. L. Koba 03/19/2026, 5:15pm PDT
Set your expectations for "early talkie" and you should have a good time. by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 6:25pm PDT
Dubbing is actually pretty crucial, when you think about it. by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 7:21pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1932 by Brody Wilder 03/16/2026, 6:15pm PDT
Keep 'em coming! NT by MM 03/16/2026, 6:34pm PDT
That's SIR Ian McKellan to you, smart guy. NT by caltrops analyzer 03/17/2026, 6:54am PDT
I gave Sir Ian's knighthood to Charles Laughton, who never got one. by I felt like he deserved it. 03/17/2026, 4:46pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1933 by Brody Wilder 03/17/2026, 4:45pm PDT
Thanks for doing these. by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/17/2026, 8:48pm PDT
Thanks for reading! NT by Brody Wilder 03/17/2026, 8:56pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1934 by Brody Wilder 03/18/2026, 1:06pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1935 by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 5:43pm PDT
Hitchcock by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/19/2026, 8:28pm PDT
I like Hitchcock. by Brody Wilder 03/19/2026, 9:22pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1936 by Brody Wilder 03/20/2026, 7:35pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1937 by Brody Wilder 03/21/2026, 7:30pm PDT
We need more movies with electric chairs in them. by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/22/2026, 9:50am PDT
The Best Movie of 1938 by Brody Wilder 03/22/2026, 7:33pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1939 by Brody Wilder 03/23/2026, 4:59pm PDT
I have nothing to contribute, but I love these. NT by Hangman 03/25/2026, 12:58pm PDT
Fukk yes NT by Gary 03/25/2026, 10:02pm PDT
Re: Fukk yes by PICKLES 03/26/2026, 5:47pm PDT
#Beep# NT by Hero detector 03/26/2026, 7:07pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1940 by Brody Wilder 03/26/2026, 7:25pm PDT
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! by HES BACK YOU LITTLE SHIITS! 03/26/2026, 8:47pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1941 by Brody Wilder 03/27/2026, 8:02pm PDT
I love Hammett. An actual real-life PI turned author, his writing rings true. by Mischief Maker 03/27/2026, 10:48pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1942 by Brody Wilder 03/29/2026, 8:20pm PDT
I was half-expecting you to be edgy and not pick Casablanca. NT by Mischief Maker 03/29/2026, 9:35pm PDT
I admit, I considered doing Arabian Nights with Maria Montez and Sabu. by Brody Wilder 03/29/2026, 9:57pm PDT
Wizard of Oz is still good, right? 1939? NT by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/30/2026, 8:39am PDT
Probably, but it's not my cup of tea. by Brody Wilder 03/30/2026, 4:43pm PDT
I didn't realize these weren't Oscar Best Picture winners until just now by laudablepuss 03/31/2026, 11:43am PDT
The Academy has rarely selected films of cultural, historical, or aesthetic impo by Brody Wilder 03/31/2026, 5:25pm PDT
How the hell did "Arthur" wind up being oscar-bait? by Mischief Drunkard 03/31/2026, 5:43pm PDT
Vince Gilligan said the comedic engine of Pluribus is a descendant of Bewitched. by Fullofkittens 03/30/2026, 7:26am PDT
Re: Vince Gilligan said the comedic engine of Pluribus is a descendant by Gaige Grosskreutz 03/30/2026, 8:40am PDT
Ooooh. So Bogart was 43 in Casablanca, not 37 as the script says. I'd chalked it NT by up to the smoking & booze -MM 03/31/2026, 8:53pm PDT
This was supposed to be a reply to the 1944 list. Whoops! NT by MM 03/31/2026, 8:54pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1943 by Brody Wilder 03/30/2026, 9:22pm PDT
I'm cumming!!! NT by 8======D ~ ~ ~ 03/31/2026, 4:48am PDT
The Best Movie of 1944 by Brody Wilder 03/31/2026, 8:20pm PDT
Double Indemnity is the first of these I have seen, and a top 10/15 movie for me by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/31/2026, 9:18pm PDT
Loving these! NT by The entire world 04/01/2026, 5:48am PDT
Justifies ICJ not pulling the plug on this place in 2011. NT by Keister M. Feister 04/01/2026, 7:33am PDT
The Best Movie of 1945 by Brody Wilder 04/01/2026, 7:47pm PDT
Waaaaaaaait a minute! by Mischief Maker 04/01/2026, 9:23pm PDT
Lots of people like that movie! I could be anyone. by Brody Wilder 04/02/2026, 2:49am PDT
The Best Movie of 1946 by Brody Wilder 04/05/2026, 8:36pm PDT
Brody, what makes for good film noir - to you? NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/05/2026, 9:33pm PDT
First of all, it has to hate women as much as I do. by Brody Wilder 04/05/2026, 10:46pm PDT
I'm still working on your question. Thank you for asking it. NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/08/2026, 9:42pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1947 by Brody Wilder 04/08/2026, 3:24am PDT
Re: The Best Movie of 1947 by matt mysterio 04/29/2026, 9:18pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1948 by Brody Wilder 04/11/2026, 11:08pm PDT
You bastards ran him off! NT by we can't have nice things 04/27/2026, 11:24am PDT
What are you talking about? The list is over. Movies ended in 1948. NT by Mischief Maker 04/27/2026, 11:46am PDT
I really hope he continues. NT by Gaige Grosskreutz 04/27/2026, 1:29pm PDT
The Best Movie of 1949 by Brody Wilder 04/28/2026, 5:19am PDT
Fuck yes NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/28/2026, 6:49am PDT
The Third Man was the only noir I rooted for the villain by broad strokes 04/30/2026, 12:36pm PDT
Maybe you're not prejudiced enough? The gypsy music subconsciously informs the NT by audience they are being swindled. 05/01/2026, 8:19am PDT
I'm prejudiced enough! I am! Continue! NT by Mysterio GAMER 05/19/2026, 3:08pm PDT
PLEASE CONTINUE NT by Mysterio GAMER 05/19/2026, 1:29pm PDT
Love Bump NT by Lonnie 05/31/2026, 4:50am PDT
Aw man by Lonnie 06/09/2026, 11:54pm PDT
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