#1 - Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen / Gene Kelly)

Got #1 out of the way and I sure am glad I did (in the good way!). It's pretty obvious why this is considered the greatest musical of them all. Gene Kelly is, as usual, the corniest dude ever, but a fucking jaw-dropping dancer. Only being familiar with Debbie Reynolds as an old lady, I was surprised how totally adorable she is in this movie. But the star for me is Cyd Charisse, she of the 5 minute non-speaking dancing role in the "Broadway Melody Ballet" number. Look at the picture above. Look at it. Seriously, dude. Dude. OMG. Check for The Band Wagon in the next week or two on this blog- all Cyd all the time (!!!!). I wish Nick Ray's noir musical Party Girl was available (yes, I know I could order it from France but I want it for free!!).

Singin' in the Rain works even better as a comedy than as a musical for me (after all, hardly any of the songs were written for the film). The early sound edit of The Duelling Cavalier had me LOLing like no other. "No, no, no!" "Yes, yes, yes!" I really need to watch more 1920s talkies. Too bad all the really bad ones are off limits for us 21st century types. Hey, The Jazz Singer is coming to DVD finally this year. Tell your mamie, tell your massah.

new #100: Lola Montes

#90 - Strangers on a Train (1951, Alfred Hitchcock)

Yup, more Hitch. I see myself watching even more in the coming weeks. I think I'm on a kick. So Strangers on a Train, this was a pretty creepy movie. Imagine if Bill O'Reilly were a gay psychopath stalking you and he killed your wife and expects you to commit a murder for him too. Yeah, me neither. It's funny, I'd seen the remake, Throw Momma From the Train, about fifteen years ago and that was the first thing that popped in my head when I started watching the original the other day. Not a big fan of that one, but Billy Crystal is about my least favorite dude in the world.

new #100: The Quiet Man

#46 - Out of the Past (1947, Jacques Tourneur)

There was an episode of Home Movies where Brandon wanted to make a backwards movie. He thought it was a novel idea until numerous examples of films with convoluted story structures - Memento being the purely backwards films, Sunset Blvd. starting with the ending and then showing what led to it. Every possibility is brainstormed: beginning-end-middle, end-middle-beginning, middle-beginning-end, end-beginning-middle, you get the picture.

Out of the Past may be the closest to middle-beginning-end structure I've seen, at least in its story. We first find Jeff Bailey as a small-town gas station owner who gets a visit from an old acquaintance. Sensing that his former life as a private eye may be making a comeback, he explains his situation to his gal in a flashback that takes up a full third of the movie. So I guess it's middle-beginning-middle-end actually.

One of the all-time great noirs, Out of the Past marked the first starring roles for Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, two of the biggest names in 50s Hollywood. For some odd reason megababe Jane Greer never became the superstar she deserved to be after this tour-de-force as femme fatale Kathie Moffatt.

new #100: Only Angels Have Wings

#9 - North By Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)

Okay, so I'm a little embarrassed I've never seen this one. I even mentioned as much in my introductory post. Not only is this a movie that shows up on all these "all-time best-of" lists, but it's a super-popular Hollywood movie from the most famous director ever! Also, everyone but me apparently watched this in high school English class. I must've been sick.

Anyway, there's a reason why this one is such a crowd-pleaser: it's just pretty much the most entertaining movie there is. Sandwiched between Hitch's two most acclaimed films, it's not as abstract and existential as Vertigo, nor is it as twisted a genre exercise as Psycho. North By Northwest is a fun palate-cleanser with a lot of amazing cinematography (few movies have better Technicolor than this), ridiculous plot turns and breezy, brazen flirting between Cary and Eva.

new #100: Marnie (what a coincidence)