All the other papers are assessing the best films of 2024, and the New York Times recently took a nostalgic look back at the films of 1999. Look, it is shocking too us that The Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut and (especially) Notting Hill were a quarter of a century ago. It is daunting to think that the Freddy Prinze Jr. renaissance was so long ago; we still miss his dad painfully. The Phantom Menace and The Sixth Sense, on the other hand, seem ancient, because of the way they changed the culture, and also the way the culture definitely moved on so long ago.
But still, twenty-five years, a drop in the bucket. Too soon! like the fella says.
As everyone with a contrarian point of view knows, the best year for movies was 1927, but 1924 was quite good too.
And please do join the discussion.
The Thief of Bagdad
Directed by Raoul Walsh. This would be one of the best movies of any year, a spectacular adventure film starring Douglas Fairbanks that was a massive hit in 1924 and still holds up beautifully today; indeed, its influence to be felt in so many movies, whether or not today’s filmmakers understand who they are stealing from. Upon its premiere, the Sunday Times film critic wrote, “there is nothing but praise for the production. The scenes and settings are remarkable, and the backgrounds might well be illustrations to The Arabian Nights.” The New York Times praised it as “an excellent vehicle,” and “something which has never been done before.” Earlier this year, Josh Feit wrote, in Oblivioni, “A special effects marvel in its own time (flying carpets, winged steeds, crystal-ball visions, demonic monsters that would make Sigourney Weaver shiver) and an acrobatic spectacle of athletic stunts (shirtless Fairbanks leaping over walls and off balconies with his trusty magical rope), The Thief of Bagdad remains eye-catching and entertaining in Twenty Twenty-Four.” Available to stream for free on Tubi.
Sherlock Jr.
Directed by Buster Keaton. A brilliant blend of comedy and fantasy, Sherlock Jr., tells the story of a movie theater projectionist and janitor with dreams of becoming a world-famous detective, and dreams himself into one of his films one night. The movie, which showcases Buster Keaton’s talent for physical comedy and spectacularly, dumbfoundingly inventive visual effects, is one of the few silent films that is still readily available, and which viewers constantly re-watch, even today. The New York Times praised it in 1924 as “boisterously funny,” and marveled, “As one watches Sherlock Jr. … one might observe with a sigh after 500 feet have passed that it is about time the comical Buster Keaton skipped into action. Just about then you realize that something has happened — one of the best screen tricks ever incorporated in a comedy — and laughter starts, and for the balance of the picture you smile, snigger, chuckle, grin and guffaw.” Available to stream for free on Tubi.
The Iron Horse
Directed by John Ford. The Iron Horse is an epic Western from one of our greatest directors of epic westerns, which tells the story of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. In 1924m Variety praised the film as “powerful…. There are comedy, tragedy and a love theme, Indians and soldiers, hordes of construction gangs, camp followers, both men and women, gamblers and dance hall girls, shooting and riding, a tremendous cattle drive, the fording of a river by a herd of beavers.” Available to stream for free on Tubi.
The Last Laugh
Directed by F.W. Murnau. A masterpiece of German Expressionism, The Last Laugh, about an aging doorman’s descent into poverty and tragedy was celebrated for its innovative camera work and the powerful, wordless performance by Emil Jannings; indeed, this silent film is really silent, present almost entirely without intertitles. “SUPERLATIVES arc unnecessary in describing The Last Laugh,” wrote Photoplay. “Remember how Columbus nonplussed the sages of his day by asking them to stand an egg on end? That’s what Director Murnau did…. [O]ne of the greatest bits of filming we’ve ever seen.” Murnau’s name remains familiar to moviegoers today; his most famous and currently influential film was Nosferatu, although his Sunrise is still acknowledged as one of the greatest films ever made. Available from multiple streamers.
Aelita: Queen of Mars
Directed by Yakov Protazanov. A crazy, perplexing Soviet science fiction film, still being discovered and still perplexing audiences today, with ambitious set design and avant-garde visuals, about a Martian queen and a revolutionary engineer whose dreams of interplanetary romance and rebellion blur the lines between fantasy and reality. It was panned by the Soviet press for political reasons, which means the filmmakers mut have been doing something very right, and in recent years it has been rediscovered by a new and dumbfounded generation, including Eric Molinsky, who devoted an entire episode of his popular and excellent “Imaginary Worlds” podcast to the film. Free to stream on Plex.
The Navigator
Directed by Buster Keaton. Another hit for Buster Keaton, The Navigator deposited Keaton, as a blithe millionaire, on an empty cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, with one woman for company, and no idea how to survive. Strange to imagine, but a few years later, Keaton was a has-been, about to enter his own multi-decade struggle to survive. Hollywood has always devoured its own. Free to stream on The Roku Channel and Tubi.
Peter Pan
Directed by Herbert Brenon. This first film adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s play was a beloved film of its time, praised for its faithful recreation of the story and its magical special effects. The lengthy intro will make it, today, difficult for adults to handle, but kids enjoy it quite well. Also notable: Anna May Wong, charming as ever as Tiger Lily, makes the film watchable, especially considering the rediscovery she’s been going through lately. And: it can be argued that the 1924 Peter Pan may have featured one of the first cinematic lesbian kisses, although this interpretation is more symbolic than literal. In the film, Betty Bronson plays Peter Pan, a character traditionally played by a woman in theater productions, and who is typically portrayed with a boyish appearance. In one scene, Peter Pan gives Wendy Darling, played by Mary Brian, a kiss, a scene which is not in the play. Given the context that Peter Pan is a female actor portraying a male character, this kiss can be viewed as a same-sex kiss, maybe the first in movie-history, albeit within the framework of gender performance and role-playing common to the character of Peter Pan. Free to stream on Tubi.
The Sea Hawk
Directed by Frank Lloyd. A spectacularly lavish and expensive spectacle set on the high seas, England, Spain and Algeria in the 16th century. The New York Times wrote, “There is so much excellent material in this film that one feels greedy and wants more …. This is far and away the best sea story that has ever been brought to the screen.” Available to stream at the Internet Archive.
His Hour
Directed by King Vidor. A romantic drama based on a novel by Elinor Glyn, who pioneered the romance novel back in the Jazz Age, His Hour, which tells the story of a passionate affair between a Russian prince and a spirited Englishwoman, catapulted the great John Gilbert to stardom. Although less well-known today due to the lack of surviving prints with English intertitles, it was a critical success at the time. Harriette Underhill wrote, in Photoplay, “In the scale of screen lovers I should have marked Mr. Gilbert ‘less than adequate’ and then along came His Hour and it was, indeed, his hour. Where he had been mediocre he became fascinating and from passable he rose to stunning! Almost immediately I felt the cosmic urge urging me to become the heroine of that picture and irrevocably John Gilbert has gone in our list of irresistibles away up near the top. Whether he met with a change of personality or I met with a change of heart matters not, for ‘nothing is but thinking makes it so’ is more true of love than of any other thing in the world.” Here’s the rub, though: it’s not available to stream, or even to buy in any format. One copy of the film exists in the entire world, a Czech-titled version sitting in MOMA’s archives. It was last screened for the public in 2005. This is, of course, a travesty.
And a Note on Greed
Greed is one of the greatest lost films ever made. It was never really seen as it was meant to be seen, even in 1924, when it was generally panned, and flopped at the box office. Today, audiences watch its four-hour current cut, pieced together from existing footage and photo stills, and they dream of the nine-hour version that they will never watch. They believe that what they cannot see must have been a great film. Well, maybe. Maybe not.
^^^
Top image designed by Kalyee Srithnam.