griggs's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

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Apointed political satire, 'Duck Soup' is the Marx Brothers' funniest and most insane film. Groucho is Rufus T. Firefly, the hilarious dictator of mythical Freedonia. Harpo and Chico are commissioned as spies by Groucho's political rival, the calculating Trentino (Louis Calhern).

The film contains many of the Brothers' famous sequences: the lemonade stand, a masterpiece of slow burn: the Paul Revere parody; the "We're Going to War" number, a beautiful spoof of '30s' musicals; the hilarious mirror scene; and a final battle episode that has been copied by everyone from Woody Allen to Mad Magazine.

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A film about Las Hurdes, an area in western Spain about which Luis Bunuel in 1932 made the feature Las Hurdes, tierra sin pan. In this film Bunuel portrayed the area as a black hell on earth: a land of starvation, disease, dwarves, insane and prematurely-aged women. A land forsaken by God.

More than sixty years later, a curse still rests on the film by Bunuel: the local inhabitants still combat the black legend that circulates about their area. A small film crew returns to Las Hurdes in 1999 with a screen and a copy of Bunuel's film. In the local square, the film is shown. We hear wonderful stories of the villagers and see their occasionally fierce reactions to the film.

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To escape the burdens of rule, Sweden's Queen Christina rides into the countryside disguised as a boy. There she meets and secretly falls for a dashing Spanish envoy on his way to the royal court.

Imagine the envoy's delighted surprise when he and the young "nobleman" must share a bed at an overcrowded inn.

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Sons of the Desert (1933) (B/W)
Stan and Ollie swear to attend a convention of the 'Sons of the Desert', clashing with the Hardys' mountain trip. Ollie feigns an illness requiring an ocean voyage; while he and Stan enjoy the convention, the ship meets with disaster.

Sons of the Desert (1933) (Colour)

We Faw Down (1928)
Stan and Ollie disappear for a poker game but tell their wives they are going to a theatre. En route, they become involved with two girls, unaware that the theatre has burnt down! A restored silent, in superb video quality.

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When her father threatens to annul her marriage to a fortune-hunting playboy, spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) hops on a cross-country bus to New York, where she plans to live happily ever after with her handsome new hubby.

Romantic complications however, when she's befriended by fellow passenger Peter Warne (Clark Gable), a brash and breezy reporter who offers his help in exchange for her exclusive story.

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Dita Parlo stars as a young bride who begins married life aboard her husband's barge on the Seine. But within the boat's cramped confines, shared with a small crew (including the eccentric Pere Jules, memorably played by Michel Simon) and an abundance of cats, the relationship begins to founder.

Vigo imbues this simple tale, beautifully shot by Boris Kaufman, with social realism, lyrical romance and sensual eroticism to create a unique and enduring classic.

L'Atalante (1934)
This intoxicatingly inventive masterpiece is one of the world's great films. A simple and engaging plot is transformed into a kaleidoscope of dazzling digressions and offbeat characterizations complete with tour-de-force scenes that still seem fresh and startling.
À Propos de Nice (1930)
What starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Cote d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
Taris (1931)
An Inventive short portrait of a swimming champion.
Zero de Conduite (1933)
A radical, delightful tale of boarding-school rebellion that has influenced countless film-makers.

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The first and possibly the greatest pairing of Lugosi and Karloff is one of the darkest, most macabre horrors ever made. Dr.

Werdegast (Bela Lugosi), a POW for fifteen years has been freed and now seeks news of his wife and daughter and vengeance on Hjalmar Poelzig, the man whose betrayal lead to his imprisonment and the deaths of thousands of his countrymen during the war. He tracks him down to the castle he has built on the site of their old fortress and soon discovers the diabolical secrets held within its walls. Poelzig is now the leader of a satanic cult, engaging in macabre practises and rituals. One man's pure evil against the others tormented need for revenge leads to an absorbing battle and a shocking climax.

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Nick and Nora Charles cordially invite you to bring your own alibi to The Thin Man, the jaunty whodunit that made William Powell and Myrna Loy the champagne elite of sleuthing, Bantering in the boudoir, enjoying walks with beloved dog Asta or matching each other highball for highball and clue for

clue, they combined screwball romance with mystery. The resulting triumph nabbed four Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and spawned five sequels. Credit W.S. " Woody" Van Dyke for recognizing that Powell and Loy were ideal together and for getting the studio's okay by promising to shoot this splendid adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel in three weeks. He took 12 days. They didn't call him "One-Take Woody" for nothing.

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Fields plays small-town grocer Harold Bissonette – Pronounced ‘Bee-son-ay’ by his wife – who puts up with difficult customers and annoying neighbours.

Bissonette has ambitions to own a California orange grove and, aided by an inheritance – and from selling his business – acquires what, on their arrival, turns out to be a worthless shack set in scrubland. Her suspicions confirmed, Mrs.. Bissonette begins to leave with their children but the land turns old to be more valuable than it looks…

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Ruan Lingyu, one of the most famous stars of early Chinese cinema, gives a devastating performance as an unnamed 'goddess' - an ironic euphemism for a prostitute - in this profoundly moving but rarely seen classic of world cinema.

In a tragic tale of shame and maternal sacrifice, Ruan stars as a mother desperate to provide for her young son and forced to take brutal vengeance on her pimp. It is a profoundly moving drama made all the more poignant by the knowledge that its star took her own life at the age of 24, a year after the film's release.

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"Triumph of the Will" may be the most enduringly controversial film ever made, justly both despised and admired. Is it disgusting propaganda? Absolutely. Is it a documentary record of a critical historical moment? Yes...but also no.

Perhaps the only thing on which everyone could agree is that it is one of the most terrifying horror movies of all time. A shamelessly biased, unabashedly subjective rendering of the infamous 1934 Nuremberg rallies of the Nazi part, 'Triumph of the Will' was commissioned by Hitler from his favourite actress turned director Leni Riefenstahl. The power and purity of Reifenstahl's artistry is such that this incredibly perverse and corrupt film has its own kind of demented integrity. An essential document of Hitler the Orator and mesmerizer of the masses, this programme revels in the monumental architecture of Albert Speer, the formal precision of the marching cadres, and above all, the almost religious exaltation of Hitler as the mystical personofication of the dreams and ideals of his people, captured kinetically with a mastery of technique that is both breathtaking and revolting. It is a film no one who sees can ever forget.

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The acclaimed sequel to the original 'Frankenstein', one of the most popular horror classics in film history, has now been restored in stunning high definition. The legendary Boris Karloff reprises his role as the screen's most misunderstood monster, now longing for a mate of his own.

The last horror film directed by James Whale features a haunting musical score that helps make 'The Bride of Frankenstein' one of the finest and most touching thrillers of its era.

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An innocent man on the run. A beautiful icy blonde. A fast-moving cross-country pursuit. A chaotic world where no one is ever what they seem. 'The 39 Steps' set the template for Hitchcock's classic suspense thrillers.

John Buchan's very loosely adapted story begins when Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) picks up the exotic 'Annabella Smith' at a music hall. The next morning he discovers she's been killed and finds himself in the frame for her murder. Way ahead of its time in terms of its pace, black comedy and the sexual chemistry between the charismatic leads (particularly when Carroll removes her stockings while handcuffed to Donat), 'The 39 Steps' is among Hitch's finest and has been voted into the BFI's Top Five Favorite British Films.

Nominated for four Oscars, 'Top Hat' is the amazing musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The hilarious plot of mistaken identity and breathtaking designs, transport you into a Hollywood fantasy in this true musical classic.

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Decades after they were separated, architect Peter Ibbetson (Gary Cooper) and his childhood sweetheart, Mary (Ann Harding), are reconnected when her husband hires Ibbetson to design a building .

The relationship between the pair is rekindled until Ibbetson accidentally kills a man in self-defence and is sent to prison. Soon, he is visited by Mary in his dreams...