Sat In Your Lap

The Ultimate Oasis List

The gargantuan task of ranking every song by my favourite band.
-Only including songs officially released by the band, so no bootlegs, leaks, etc.
-Only including songs written by the band, so no covers, although I’ve given them their own separate list (see below).

Album Rankings:

7. Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

6. Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

5. Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

4. Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

3. Be Here Now
Rating:

2. Definitely Maybe
Rating:

1. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

Song Rankings:

128. A Quick Peep
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

127. Sunday Morning Call
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

126. (Probably) All In The Mind
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

125. Ain’t Got Nothing
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

124. The Quiet Ones
Album/Single: The Importance of Being Idle
Rating:

123. A Bell Will Ring
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

122. Eyeball Tickler
Album/Single: Lyla
Rating:

121. I Can See A Lair
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

120. Better Man
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

119. Born On A Different Cloud
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

118. Be Here Now
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

117. Hey Now!
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

116. Force of Nature
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

115. Guess God Thinks I’m Able
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

114. Part Of The Queue
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

113.Pass Me Down The Wine
Album/Single: The Importance of Being Idle
Rating:

112. The Nature of Reality
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

111. The Meaning of Soul
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

110. Lord Don’t Slow Me Down
Album/Single: Lord Don’t Slow Me Down
Rating:

109. Won’t Let You Down
Album/Single: Lyla
Rating:

108. Love Like A Bomb
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

107. Sittin’ Here In Silence (On My Own)
Album/Single: Let There Be Love
Rating:

106. Hung In a Bad Place
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

105. Can Y’See It Now? (I Can See It Now!!)
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth Japanese Edition
Rating:

102. Boy With The Blues
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul Box Set
Rating:

101. Carry Us On
Album/Single: Sunday Morning Call
Rating:

100. Angel Child (Demo)
Album/Single: D’You Know What I Mean?
Rating:

99. Strange Thing
Album/Single: Live Demonstration
Rating:

98. I Believe In All
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul Japanese Edition/Box Set
Rating:

97. Who Put The Weight Of The World On My Shoulders
Album/Single: Goal!: Music From The Motion Picture
Rating:

96. Those Swollen Hand Blues
Album/Single: Falling Down
Rating:

95. Full On
Album/Single: Sunday Morning Call
Rating:

94. Married With Children
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

93. Waiting For The Rapture
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

92. Just Getting Older
Album/Single: The Hindu Times
Rating:

91. Cloudburst
Album/Single: Live Forever
Rating:

90. Digsy’s Dinner
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

89. Magic Pie
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

88. Put Yer Money Were Yer Mouth Is
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

87. Turn Up The Sun
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

86. Little James
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

85. Where Did It All Go Wrong?
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

84. Rockin’ Chair
Album/Single: Roll With It
Rating:

83. Alive (Demo)
Album/Single: Shakermaker
Rating:

83. I Will Believe [Live]
Album/Single: Supersonic
Rating:

82. As Long As They’ve Got Cigarettes In Hell
Album/Single: Go Let It Out
Rating:

81. Headshrinker
Album/Single: Some Might Say
Rating:

80. (It’s Good) To Be Free
Album/Single: Whatever
Rating:

79. Let’s All Make Believe
Album/Single: Go Let It Out
Rating:

78. One Way Road
Album/Single: Who Feels Love?
Rating:

77. Idler’s Dream
Album/Single: The Hindu Times
Rating:

76. Soldier On
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

75. (Get Of Your) High Horse Lady
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

74. Fade-In Out
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

73. Fuckin’ In The Bushes
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

72. Acquiesce
Album/Single: Some Might Say
Rating:

71. Underneath The Sky
Album/Single: Don’t Look Back In Anger
Rating:

70. Keep The Dream Alive
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

69. Bring It On Down
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

68. Fade Away
Album/Single: Cigarettes & Alcohol
Rating:

67. Up In the Sky
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

66. I Hope, I Think, I Know
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

65. Shout It Out Loud
Album/Single: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Rating:

64. Gas Panic!
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

63. Roll It Over
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

62. Flashbax
Album/Single: All Around The World
Rating:

61. Going Nowhere
Album/Single: Stand By Me
Rating:

60. To Be Where There’s Life
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

59. Mucky Fingers
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

58. She Is Love
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

57. All Around The World (Reprise)
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

56.The Hindu Times
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

55. Thank You For The Good Times
Album/Single: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Rating:

55. The Importance of Being Idle
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

53. Listen Up
Album/Single: Cigarettes & Alcohol
Rating:

52. The Fame
Album/Single: All Around The World
Rating:

51. My Sister Lover
Album/Single: Stand By Me
Rating:

50. Go Let It Out
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

49. Little By Little
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

48. Sad Song
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe Japanese Edition/ Don’t Go Away
Rating:

47. It’s Better People
Album/Single: Roll With It
Rating:

46. Bag It Up
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

45. It’s Gettin’ Better (Man!!)
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

44. Hello
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

43. Stay Young
Album/Single: D’You Know What I Mean?
Rating:

42. Songbird
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

41. The Turning
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

40. I’m Outta Time
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

39.The Girl In A Dirty Shirt
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

38. Don’t Go Away
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

37. Step Out
Album/Single: Don’t Look Back In Anger
Rating:

36. Bonehead’s Bank Holiday
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? [Vinyl Edition]
Rating:

35. The Swamp Song
Album/Single: Wonderwall
Rating:

34. Lyla
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

33. Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Album/Single: Heathen Chemistry
Rating:

32. The Shock Of The Lightening
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

31. Falling Down
Album/Single: Dig Out Your Soul
Rating:

30. Let There Be Love
Album/Single: Don’t Believe The Truth
Rating:

29. Take Me Away
Album/Single: Supersonic
Rating:

28. Half The World Away
Album/Single: Whatever
Rating:

27. Round Are Way
Album/Single: Wonderwall
Rating:

26. Columbia
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

25. My Big Mouth
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

24. D’Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman?
Album/Single: Shakermaker
Rating:

23. Cast No Shadow
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

22. She’s Electric
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

21. Stand By Me
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

20. Who Feels Love?
Album/Single: Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
Rating:

19. Talk Tonight
Album/Single: Some Might Say
Rating:

18. Supersonic
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

17. You’ve Got The Heart Of A Star
Album/Single: Songbird
Rating:

16. I Got (The Fever)
Album/Single: Stand By Me
Rating:

15. Roll With It
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

14. Wonderwall
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

13. Cigarettes & Alcohol
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

12. Some Might Say
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

11. Don’t Look Back In Anger
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

10. Slide Away
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

9. The Masterplan
Album/Single: Wonderwall
Rating:

8. Shakermaker
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

7. Champagne Supernova
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

6. Whatever
Album/Single: Whatever
Rating:

5. Morning Glory
Album/Single: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Rating:

4. All Around The World
Album/Single: Be Here Now
Rating:

3. D’You Know What I Mean?
Album/Single: Album/Single:> Be Here Now
Rating:

2. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:

1. Live Forever
Album/Single: Definitely Maybe
Rating:
Covers Ranked:

9. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
Album/Single: Familar To Millions
Rating:

8. Cum Feel The Noize
Album/Single: Don’t Look Back In Anger
Rating:

7. My Generation
Album/Single: Little By Little/She Is Love
Rating:

6. Merry Xmas Everybody
Album/Single: NME in Association with War Child Presents 1 Love
Rating:

5. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
Album/Single: Some Might Say
Rating:

4. Helter Skelter
Album/Single: Who Feels Love?
Rating:

3. Street Fighting Man
Album/Single: All Around the World
Rating:

2. Heroes
Album/Single: D’You Know What I Mean?
Rating:

1. I Am the Walrus [Live]
Album/Single: Cigarettes & Alcohol
Rating:

My Top 20 Prince Songs

Sorry if my list is a bit heavy on 1999 and Purple Rain, but those albums are just that good.

20. Little Red Corvette (1999)

19. Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? (Prince)

18. Diamonds and Pearls (Diamonds and Pearls)

17. Alphabet Street (Lovesexy)

16. Sometimes It Snows In April (Parade)

15. Lovesexy (Lovesexy)

14. Lady Cab Driver (1999)

13. Take Me With You (Purple Rain)

12. Baby I’m a Star (Purple Rain)

11. The Most Beautiful Girl In the Word (The Gold Experience)

10. Automatic (1999)

9. Adore (Sign ‘O The Times)

8. Do Me Baby (Controversy)

7. Controversy (Controversy)

6. When Doves Cry (Purple Rain)

5. Let’s Go Crazy (Purple Rain)

4. 1999 (1999)

3. DMSR (1999)

2. Let’s Pretend We’re Married (1999)

1. Purple Rain (Purple Rain)

Top 10 Favourite Movies Seen In 2015

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10. Topkapi (1964)

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9. The Prize (1963)

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8. The Frisco Kid (1979)

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7. Trouble Along the Way (1953)

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6. Trouble For Two (1936)

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5. Inside Out (2015)

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4. Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)

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3. Risky Business (1983)

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2. A Majority of One (1961)

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1.My Geisha (1962)

You Can’t Take It With You (1938)

It’s Truly a Wonderful Life

***This Review Contains Spoilers***

You Can’t Take It With You follows the Sycamore/Vandrerhof household; the ultimate eccentric family. In fact eccentric probably isn’t the right word, they’re complete nuts. They live a counter-cultural lifestyle of not working or paying taxes (and somehow getting away with it) and doing whatever makes them happy without a care in the world; people who aren’t afraid to live. There are like cartoon characters who can twist their way out of any situation with people more in tune with reality, such as when Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore) manages to convince the timid Mr. Poppins (Donald Meek) to stop throwing his life away working as a bureaucrat and start having fun. The Sycamores/Vanderhofs are families we probably can’t be in real life but wish we could.

Even with a large ensemble cast, Lionel Barrymore is the actor at the heart of the film in a role which is the polar opposite of his part of Henry F. Potter in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. The scene in which Vanderhof is confronted by a government official played by the always miserable looking Charles Lane feels like a dig at big government. When Grandpa asks the official what the government gives him for his money he is given the response of “The government gives you everything”, emphases on the word everything, followed by Vanderhof’s humorous but thought-provoking rebuttals. The family’s refusal to pay taxes may be ethically questionable but it’s a movie fantasy and could never happen in real life. Don’t you wish you could deal with bureaucracies as easily as Grandpa Vanderhof?

One of Grandpa Vanderhof’s other fascinating moments is his monologue on “ismmania” although I’m quite sure what to make of it (“when things go a little bad nowadays you go out and get yourself an ‘ism’ and you’re in business”). The message feels similar to a 1948 animated short “Make Mine Freedom” in how the danger of isms can cripple the people. All we need is our Americanism as Vanderhof proclaims, which itself is an ism but I digress. Regardless his line which following this, “Lincoln said, with malice toward none, with charity to all – Nowadays they say think the way I do or I’ll bomb the daylights out of you”; that gives me chill every time.

One the sweetest, most heartwarming scenes in any film ever is when Grandpa Vanderhof tells Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur) about his love for his deceased wife and how the room still smells of her perfume. Ugh, it just kills my poor little soul; a perfect display of Capra’s gift for directing very intimate, emotional scenes in which the rest of the world ceases to exist. Likewise, there doesn’t seem to be any actress whom James Stewart didn’t share a great dynamic together. James Stewart and Jean Arthur share a perfect chemistry together, pairing the embodiment of the everyman and the embodiment of the everywoman.

Non-conformity is the name of the game in You Can’t Take It With You. Grandpa Vanderhof understands the preciousness of life as he pursues his own interests and his own forms of fulfillment. He encourages others to follow their dreams and not submit to the will of others. In one scene Alice speaks of Grandpa’s thoughts on how “most people are run by fear, the fear of what they eat, fear of what they drink, fear of their jobs, their future, their health, scared to save money and to spend it. People who commercialise on fear scare you to death to sell you something you don’t need”. Amen sister! – The only thing to fear is fear itself.

You Can’t Take It With You promotes what we would now refer to as a libertarian mindset, live and let live as long as you’re not hurting anyone. As Tony Kirby (James Stewart) tells his father Antony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold) towards the end of the film, “I think this business is great. It’s good for you because you like it. I don’t, and I never will”. In many ways the Sycamore/Vandrerhof family is the embodiment of the American Dream. They own their property, each member pursues their individual dreams and they are above all happy. They live their life without inference from the government or other such bodies: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

One of the other messages derived from You Can’t Take It With You is the same as that to come from the ending of It’s a Wonderful Life in which the townspeople come to George Bailey’s aid, giving him money so he won’t have to do jail time followed by the final message from the angel Clarence; “No man is a failure who has friends”. A very similar incident occurs in YCTIWY in which friends and neighbors of the Sycamores pay for their fine in night court so they won’t be locked up. Likewise, the family’s arrest for being mistakenly identified as communists feels like a foreshadowing to McCarthyism. Then again they should have thought that a fireworks show based on the Russian Revolution as well as advertising it perhaps isn’t the greatest idea; it stinks!

There are those who will hear the name Frank Capra and have a reaction along the lines of “Oh Frank Capra, sentimental, saccharine, manipulative rubbish”. I don’t make apologies when I say that dismissing a film for being sentimental is the nonsense film criticism to end all nonsense criticisms; it stinks! Newsflash, stories have been manipulating people’s emotions since the dawn of time. Pulling of effective sentimentality is a skill and I have not come across a single good reason as to why it is a problem. You Can’t Take It With You is Capra at his most sentimental, manipulative, saccharine and all those other dirty words and I love it for that. So if that’s the crime of the century, then lock me up for life. Capra-corn and proud of it!

You Belong to Me (1941)

The Guy Adam

I usually avoid writing such comments as “Why does this movie have such a low IMDB rating?!” but I’m going to break my own rule this one time. Why does this movie have such a low IMDB rating?! You Belong to Me is of the funniest films I’ve ever seen, period. Giving me the type of gut-busting, side-splitting laughter I rarely get from even the funniest of comedies. I was in howls of consistent laughter for 90 minutes; unlike The Lady Eve which I feel loses steam in its final third. I only watched You Belong to Me in order to become a Barbara Stanwyck-Henry Fonda completest and was expecting something mediocre based on all the negative IMDB reviews but I have to ask the question mankind has pondered since the beginning of time, “What is wrong with you people!? Do you even understand the basic essence of comedy?!!” Ok, back to planet Earth.

The movie plays out like a newspaper comedy; the setup of a husband neglecting his wife due to his obligations to his job except in this case the profession is a doctor and it’s not the man, it’s the woman. Peter Kirk (Fonda) acts like a spoiled child throughout the film who doesn’t know any better yet he’s always too loveable and innocent to ever come off as annoying. Likewise, many of his shenanigans and dialogue are very Homer Simpsons like (“Patient dies while doctor ski-ies”). He goes to extreme lengths to have Helen Hunt (not the modern day actress but the character played by Stanwyck) as his own with his increasingly humorous paranoia, and while considering Stanwyck’s sexuality I can’t blame the guy. The man really does look like he’s in love with the woman which would come as no surprise as apparently, Fonda would tell his later wife he was still in love with Stanwyck. Peter Kirk has no purpose or ambition and doesn’t contribute a whole lot to society, unlike his polar opposite wife; the more mature of the two to say the least. Even with this comically absurd pairing, I did at times feel somber for the couple.

I don’t always say this with every romantic pairing I see however after watching all three movies they did together I do believe Stanwyck and Fonda could have been a regular film pairing up with there with the likes of Astaire & Rogers, Powell & Loy and Tracey & Hepburn. The chemistry they share is some of the best I’ve seen in old Hollywood stars; a match made in heaven if I’ve ever seen one.

The Women (1939)

Estrogen: The Movie

The Women is surely one of the greatest celebrations in cinema of femininity and the female form; even the animals featured in the film are all female in this unabashed display of women being women. Unless you’re easily offended by a movie in which the majority of its female cast are vicious gossips then stay away; stereotypes are greatly exaggerated as part of the film’s humour. As Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russell) puts it, “You know how those creatures are, babble babble babble babble babble, never let up for a minute”. That’s probably the best way to describe The Women by using one of its own lines of dialogue. Like the other notable female ensemble Stage Door, the dialogue in The Women is delivered so furiously it’s impossible to keep up with it. Watch the movie with subtitles turned on, it’s worth it to find gems of dialogue which can easily be missed (“It’s marvelous to be able to spread out in bed like a swastika”). I can also give the movie a few bonus points being a heterosexual male and all.

The Women explores the tribulations and dilemmas of whether sleeping dogs should lie. After Mrs. Mary ‘Stephan’ Haines (Norma Shearer) discovers her husband is having an affair with Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford) she receives advice from her mother (Lucille Watson) in one of the film’s most telling scenes. Her mother tries to justify Stephan’s infidelity under the guise of that’s what men will do (“A man has only one escape from his older self. To see a different self in the mirror of some woman’s eyes”) and ultimately that Stephan doesn’t actually love Crystal. Mary’s response to this? The classic “It’s current year” argument; “Back in your day mother when women were chattel and they did as men told them to. But this is today. Stephan and I are equals. We took each other at our own free will”. Mary ultimately agrees it’s not worth the destruction of the family to confront Stephan about his infidelity. The married women of The Women have a strong dedication to their husbands yet in this world adultery seems to be the norm rather than the exception, even Mary’s mother tells Mary that most wives do find out about this.

Norma Shearer really was made for the silver screen with a truly dominating movie-star aura. The character of Mary Haines is distinguished for being a bit of a tomboy in contrast to her more glamorous side. In her introductory scene as well as in her vacation reels she is dressed like a man (similar to how Shearer dressed in The Divorcee), poses with a pipe and can apparently fish better than her husband. Likewise, Joan Crawford is delightfully mean in the role of Crystal Allen, particularly with her scene in the bathtub which so ridiculously villainous she could be playing a mafia boss. Crawford’s first screen appearance was in 1925’s Lady of the Night in which she acted as a screen body double for Norma Shearer. Crawford and Shearer since became the two biggest rivals in MGM and The Women would be their second and final appearance on screen together in the closet thing at that point to a Baby Jane showdown, a battle of the egos. I believe you do have to give the Crawford the credit for her willingness to play such a nasty character especially considering she has the least amount of screen time of the three leads. This is a character after all who has no remorse for helping destroy a family and the impact that will have the Haines’ child Little Mary.

The stealer of the show, however, is the great greatness that is Rosalind Russell. She succeeds in being the center of attention in any scene no matter whom she is sharing the frame with thanks to her comedic timing (both verbally and physically) as well as her over the top outfits. Myrna Loy and Greta Garbo, on the other hand, were the only two major actresses at MGM who did not appear in the film. I can picture Myrna Loy in Norma Shear’s role although she would have been too big a star otherwise to play a supporting role. Garbo, on the other hand, is well, too much of an oddball to fit in with an ensemble like this.

The Great Depression? Ha, what depression?! There’s no sign of it here. It feels like there is no other time period than the 1930s in which it was easier to make a movie about rich people and their rich people problems without it coming off as a metaphorical dick waving display of wealth. The Women is one of the most decadent movies of the depression era, maybe even the most. The majority of the cast is dressed like a million dollars, every actress is light like a goddess and inhabiting a world which largely consists of retail stores and beauty salons. There is even time for a Technicolor fashion show which has no relevance for the rest of the plot, but it looks pretty. Lose yourself in this world of wealthy rather than being aghast at how bourgeois they are (“Weren’t you going to Africa to shoot?”). This kind of being made today (which unfortunately it was in the form of a remake) with the likes of the Sex and the City films would come off as a ghastly exercise in consumerist pornography (a term borrowed from Mark Kermode). On a side note also keep an eye out of the postcode sex references they got in there (“Whatever Stephan doesn’t like I take it off”) while also look out for the topless woman in the mud bath at the beginning of the film not to mention Paulette Goddard’s clear lack of a bra.

With two hours of some of the finest actresses of the 1930’s spewing nonstop machine gun fire dialogue, scenery chewing and competing for the camera’s attention amongst an art deco wonderland, then I’m in movie heaven.

A Woman’s Face (1941)

Two-Faced Woman

A Woman’s Face is a trashy, pseudo-horror movie like film but one presented as an A-picture melodrama. I’ve watched A Woman’s Face five times as of writing this review and gets better every time I watch it. Within the last year, I’ve felt the motivation to watch the film three times, something which is almost unheard of for me; this movie is that good. I’ve now decided, screw it, this is my favourite Joan Crawford film and considering there’s tough competition from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Mildred Pierce and The Women, that’s saying a lot.

Every major cast member in A Woman’s Face is superb. I know that sounds like a generalization but it’s true. Firstly there’s Conrad Veidt as Torsten Barring. I adore every second this man is on screen; he’s just so delightfully sinister but in the most absorbingly charming manner – I’m swept off my feet by his presence. I can completely buy into the romance he shares with Anna Holm (Crawford) because he looks past her facial disfigurement and is unbothered by it. Melvyn Douglas is the other great charmer of the cast, whom I’ve yet to see paired with an actress who he didn’t share great chemistry. Ossa Massen, Reginald Owen, Albert Bassermann, Marjorie Main (unrecognisable here) and Donald Meek are also all equally memorable and stand in the strong characterisations of their roles. Likewise on re-watching look out for the moments of foreshadowing (“You love children? I loathe them”).

Then there’s Crawford herself in a once in a lifetime role as a facially disfigured woman, a part few actresses would be prepared to play. Her character of Anna Holm only engages in deceitful acts because of society’s mistreatment of her since childhood but is otherwise good at heart. Anna tries to make the best for herself and doesn’t dwell into a victimhood complex (“I don’t care for pity ether”); she runs her own tavern, pursues different talents and less virtuously is involved in criminality. Regardless throughout the film my heart pours out for the poor woman and yet even with the disfigurement I still find Crawford to be incredibly beautiful in this film, nor does the disfigurement ever take away from the asset that is her stunning body. If anything the moment in which Anna returns from a shopping trip and is wearing a very excessive blouse to take attention away from her face is the one moment in the film in which her character comes off to me as pathetic sight.

A Woman’s Face is one of the few thrillers George Cukor directed with echoes of Hitchcock throughout, such as the shots of the smelter plant and a waterfall in the background (similar to the scenery in films such as Foreign Correspondent), to the film’s suspenseful scenes such as that atop the cable car. This sequence itself is absent of any music, simply allowing the sound of the nearby waterfall and the smelter plant increase the tension while the film’s climax, on the other hand, offers a sort of Ben-Hur on sleds finale. Since I consider this film far superior to Hitchcock’s thriller offering that year of Suspicion, Cukor out Hitchcocked Hitchcock. With Cukor being one of the great masters of his trade, the cinematography of A Woman’s Face is a feast for the eyes. Technically speaking, the scenes at the hospital and Anna’s subsequent unbandaging are my favourite part of the film. Along with A Woman’s Face and the 1934 medical drama Men In White, it makes me wonder if it’s just me or do medical interiors and apparatuses make for some of the best subjects to capture on film.

Being a remake of a Swedish film, there’s something somewhat unconventional about A Woman’s Face for a Hollywood film. The movie does manage to capture the essence of its Northern European setting (despite much of the cast supporting American accents) and offers a slice of Swedish culture with its dancing sequence.

I consider 1941 to be the greatest year in the history of cinema. The output of this single year is the jealous vain of entire decades and A Woman’s Face just adds to this. Melodrama seems to have a bad reputation for no good reason. Like many things, it can be done well and done poorly. A Woman’s Face represents the old Hollywood melodrama tailored to perfection.

The Whole Town’s Talking (1935)

A Tale of Two Eddies

It’s already unexpected that John Ford directed a screwball comedy (as well as a film set in urban America, which he rarely did), even more so that it’s one of the inventive, inspired and quirky screwball comedies ever from a director who has no other association with the genre. The Whole Town’s Talking is a delight to watch as it unveils each increasingly surreal situation.

Edward G Robinson appeared in a number very quirky comedies such as The Amazing Dr Clittlerhouse, Brother Orchid and Larceny Inc which have made me prefer him in comedy over drama. Here you get two Robinsons for the price of one playing the dual role of the lovable, naive Jonsey and the notorious gangster Mannion. I believe this may be Robinson’s best performance. Not only does he play two characters who look the same but are worlds apart in terms in personality, he also has to play Mannion pretending to be Jonsey! Even though he is held in high regard as an actor, I feel Edward G. Robinson has never been truly celebrated for just how versatile he is; going far beyond the gangster roles he is most famous for. The film’s use of spilt screen and back projection techniques are executed to a seamless degree. In one particular shot featuring the Robinsons sharing the frame, notice how the smoke coming from Mannion’s cigar enters the other end of the frame over Jonsey.

Jean Arthur’s Miss Clark is one of the coolest, craziest and more carefree characters ever. When she finds out she has been sacked after arriving to work late she doesn’t care in the slightest. Or how about when she discovers that Jones keeps a picture of her by his bedside which he stole from her at the office. She isn’t disturbed, she finds it cute! Everything she does is so laid back and without a care in the world; I love this character!

The only minor complaint I have with The Whole Town’s Talking is the possible plot hole at the beginning of the film in which Jones rushed out of his apartment after the realisation he is late for work he leaves the bath running. This had me thinking that when he returned home his house would become flooded but the running bathtub is never addressed. Regardless, the film’s screwiness is in no short supply. This movie not getting the recognition it deserves? Mannion!

White Heat (1949)

Get Up Stand Tall, Put Your Back Up Against the Wall

To date, White Heat remains the only instance in which my first encounter with an actor instantly turned me into a fan. Typically for me, I become a fan of a performer over a period of time and after seeing a number of their films. Not James Cagney though. The scene early during White Heat in which Cody Jarrett gets a headache and needs to be comforted by his mother, my instant reaction was, “I need to watch any movie with this guy I can get my hands on”. I have no hesitation putting Cagney’s performance as Cody Jarrett in my ten favourite movie performance of all time. At this point in my movie watching life I had never seen an actor so on fire, so electrifying. His twitchy mannerisms, machine gun way of speaking his violence against women and possibly above all, his mother complex, exposing an unsettling, adorable side. Like wow, you do not want to be stuck in an elevator with this guy. I would later discover White Heat came after the classic Warner Bros cycle of gangster movies, making White Heat a nostalgic revival of the genre, making Cody and his mother products of a different age. Margaret Wycherly as Ma Jarrett is the next great stand out performance for me, a character who appears as the stereotypical “aw shucks” mother common in classic Hollywood, but her attitude could not be more different.

Boy is this movie fast paced. White Heat is one of the few times my heart my beating so much out of how exciting the movie was. When the film was over I had the closest I could fell to that sense you get after coming off a rollercoaster, expect to get it from watching a movie. I feel that’s the best way, to sum up White Heat, a rollercoaster of violence and emotions. Even the scenes of police officers discussing Cody’s psychological tendencies and the examination of their late 1940’s tracking techniques are riveting, but they do save the best for last. The Warner gangster movies ended with incredible final scenes with brilliant closing lines, White Heat’s may be the best of them all. I question if I’ll ever experience such a high level of movie watching euphoria on a first time viewing again.

War Nurse (1930)

Hell’s Angels

I watch a lot of obscure movies, films which 99.9% of people will never watch. It’s like discovering a world that only I know about. Occasionally I will come across a hidden gem which I absolutely love usually because it meets my personal preferences. But then there are movies like War Nurse in which I’m in disbelief that a movie of such quality on many levels could fall tough the cracks of obscurity.

War Nurse follows a group of women who volunteer for nursing duties in France at the outbreak of the First World War. The film is a perfect companion piece to All Quiet on the Western Front, released the same year. Similar to how the young army recruits in All Quiet… have a distorted, glamorised view of what war will be like, so do the nurses at the beginning of War Nurse (some of them are barely into adulthood) expecting to be “holding hands all night with good looking sick officers” and to spend “Moonlight nights up on no man’s land, with a general in each arm”. Little do they expect the extremely strenuous work, horrendous conditions, the lack of supplies and the near insanity caused by the constant firing of shells.

One scene in which the nurses retreat to bed for the night only to be woken up shortly afterward by the arrival of injured troops during the middle of the night, I can feel just how tired and physically exhausted these people must be. War Nurse is full of powerful moments both big and subtle such as when a soldier played Robert Montgomery asks a nurse played by Anita Page out on a date, literally seconds after she told him one of his close comrades just died; death is that common of an occurrence

The copy of War Nurse I watched was not of the greatest of quality so I couldn’t always distinguish the cast members apart. Yet I was still fully engaged and can say the production values are superb. I don’t have any information on the filmmaking locations for War Nurse but the exteriors feature lush countryside backdrops to large-scale recreations of baron no man’s land with shells constantly exploding.

Get this baby onto the Warner Achieve Collection!