No time like the present to look back over my movie-watching for the past year and share what my ten favorite new-to-me movies were, right? Here we go!
1. The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) A British hunter (Stewart Granger) masquerades as the king (Stewart Granger) of a small European nation so that the king's enemies (including James Mason) can't usurp the throne while the king lies ill. Things get complicated when the fake king falls in love with the woman (Deborah Kerr) who is intended to marry the real king. Much swashbuckling ensues.
2. 36 Hours (1964) A high-ranking Allied officer (James Garner) is kidnapped by Nazis just before the Normandy invasion so they can try to trick him into telling them where the Allies intend to invade. This movie kept both my husband and I on the edges of our seats, in the best way possible. Absolutely terrific.
3. Hamlet at Elsinore (1964) Marvelous production of Hamlet actually filmed in the Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark. Hamlet (Christopher Plummer) must figure out if his uncle-stepfather Claudius (Robert Shaw) actually killed his father or not. He's assisted by his friend Horatio (Michael Caine), but eventually loses his throne to Fortinbras (Donald Sutherland) after all.
4. Paris When it Sizzles (1964) A screenwriter (William Holden) tries to cure his writer's block and write his next smash hit with the help of a typist (Audrey Hepburn) with quirky and funny results. I feel like Alex and Emma (2003) is basically a remake of this movie, though I suppose they might both just be inspired by the true story of Fyodor Dostoyevsky writing a book under a tight deadline with the help of a stenographer that he fell in love with and subsequently married.
5. Lilies of the Field (1963) A wandering handyman (Sidney Poitier) gets conned into helping a group of German nuns build a new chapel. This is an oddball movie, and no mistake, but filled with sweet charm.
6. Gold of the Seven Saints (1961) Two fur trappers (Clint Walker and Roger Moore) find gold and then try to keep two different bands of outlaws from finding and stealing it. It's a story that's been told onscreen quite a few times, but I love that the treasure didn't actually make these two friends have a falling-out AND there is one line that Clint Walker says at the end that is so unequivocally perfect and unexpected and wonderful that I must love this movie. Also, Roger Moore as a fur trapper must be seen to be believed.
7. The Beautician and the Beast (1997) A New York City beauty school teacher (Fran Drescher) gets hired to teach the children of an East-European Dictator (Timothy Dalton) because one of his aides thinks she's a science teacher. I love how they fall in love because she's the first person who has told him the straight truth and treated him like a person in a very long time, and how her kind heart keeps her truth-telling constructive instead of destructive.
8. Wild Harvest (1947) Two friends (Alan Ladd and Robert Preston) own and lead a group of combine harvesters who travel around harvesting crops for farmers. They have a falling out over a woman (Dorothy Lamour) who marries one of them but desires the other. Yes, it's a movie about guys harvesting crops. Yes, the whole thing is held together by the buddies-to-enemies dynamic between Ladd and Preston.
9. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) An unruly pilot (Tom Cruise) teaches a bunch of hotshot pilots how to not get killed on an important mission. Actually has more of a plot than the first Top Gun (1986), and I love how they were able to include Val Kilmer despite his health problems.
10. The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) A British hunter (Ronald Colman) masquerades as the king (Ronald Colman) of a small European nation so that the king's enemies (including Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) can't usurp the throne while the king lies ill. Things get complicated when the fake king falls in love with the woman (Madeleine Carroll) who is intended to marry the real king. Much swashbuckling ensues.
Um, yes. Two different versions of The Prisoner of Zenda are on this list. And what makes those wilder is that they used the exact same shooting script for both of them. I like the 1952 better, mostly because I like all three leads much more, but the 1937 is really excellent too.
Some years, it's tricky to come up with a top ten because I watched so many good new movies, I have trouble deciding on ten. Some years, it's easier because I didn't watch that many new-to-me movies that I loved. This was one of those years -- I think I came up with 12 possibles for this list, so narrowing it down to ten wasn't hard at all!
i>The Beautician and The Beast looks super cut!
ReplyDeleteIvy Miranda, it IS super cute! I wanted to see it when it came out 25 years ago, but none of my friends wanted to, and I had not yet discovered the joys of going to the movies solo. Really happy I finally saw it.
Delete"The Lilies of the Field" is one of my favorite books! Such a heartwarming story.
ReplyDeleteI agree, "Top Gun: Maverick" had a stronger story than the first movie. I really enjoyed it, especially the teaching & mentoring themes.
Katie, wait, it's a book too? I need to find this book. The movie is so lovely!
DeleteI need to get Cowboy to watch the new Top Gun cuz he did like the old one reasonably well.
Yes indeed! A very short little book, written in 1962 by William E. Barrett. It's peaceful and lovely, and it does a beautiful job describing the Western mountain setting.
DeleteKatie, so cool! I will have to see if I can track down a copy.
DeleteI remember starting The Beautician and the Beast YEARSSS ago. I keep seeing it pop on my YouTube feed and thinking I should give it another try. Now I'm motivated to do so!
ReplyDeleteOlivia, I remember seeing the trailers for Beautician and the Beast, lol! And I wanted to see it because, hello, Timothy Dalton! But none of my friends would go see it OR rent it when it came to the video store because none of them liked Fran Drescher. And since I rarely got to watch movies solo as a teen or in college, I just never managed to see it. And then DKoren stumbled on it and watched it right as I was finishing up MRAMR and reminded me of its existence, and she liked it so much I had to see it too :-) And I reeeeeeeeeeeally like it!
DeleteI really like both versions of Zenda but if I had to pick one I’d pick Colman because I like him as an actor better than Granger. Lilies of the Field is a family favorite of ours. We often holler out “Schmidt!” at supper time to whoever hasn’t come down yet :) I’ve been wanting to rewatch 36 Hours for a while now. And I was surprised how much I liked Paris When it Sizzles. The trailer looked terrible! Tony Curtis is so funny in it.
ReplyDeletePhyl, yeah, I think many people like the 1937 version better, but I have liked Stewart Granger since I was a tween and saw North to Alaska over and over and over :-D
DeleteIt's weird that I hadn't seen Lilies of the Field before because it is exactly the sort of movie my family would have loved when I was growing up. I guess our library and video stores just didn't have it.
I had never even heard of 36 Hours until I stumbled on a copy when hunting for a Christmas gift for my dad. And reading the synopsis made me want to see it too, so I got myself a copy as well. It really, really grabbed me. I want a second viewing so I can see how things work even when I know all the twists.
I feel like someone told me that Paris When it Sizzles was dumb, so I just never watched it... and then a friend sent me a copy as a get-well-soon gift when I broke my arm and I loved it! It has such bubbly, fizzy energy. And Tony Curtis kills me in his every scene.
Funny, my uncle brought us a recorded vhs with North to Alaska and Rio Bravo on it and we pretty much alternated between the two of them every week for a few months. I was probably 14. Except I crushed on Fabian lol
DeletePhyl, my dad rented North to Alaska and Chisum on VHS one weekend when I was like 11, and I have been a John Wayne fan ever since... and I just kept wanting to see Stewart Granger in more things, but never really got to until I was an adult. Then I saw him in a couple things, but it wasn't until this past year that I finally said, "You know, I've wanted to see Prisoner of Zenda, Scaramouche, and King Solomon's Mines for thirty years now... I should get around to that. So I'm working on it!!!
DeleteI love that both versions of The Prisoner of Zenda are on here! That sounds like something I'd really dig. I've seen the end of Lilies of the Field but want to see the rest sometime. In fact, that's the only element of any of these movies that I've seen! I think your range for these movies is awesome! I want to expand my decades this year. My friends all think Maverick is the best movie ever, but I haven't even seen the first Top Gun, so I should get on that.
ReplyDeleteChloe, both Zendas are so good! And the book is too. Rollicking good time.
DeleteThe first Top Gun is bubblegum fun, but Maverick brings some real heart to the table.
Okay I obviously NEED to watch 36 Hours.
ReplyDeleteLove that Paris When It Sizzles made it on your list!
What is it with Alan and Robert Preston playing buddies-to-enemies? XD
Really cool list!
Eva, YES. You NEED to watch 36 Hours. Oh man, you really, really need to. I actually thought of you while watching it, that you would just dig it.
DeleteParis When it Sizzles is everything I want from a '60s romp about a writer. Hits every note I want and none of the ones I don't. Planning to rewatch it this winter when I start feeling bored with the world.
Ladd and Preston do super well both as buddies and as antagonists, so I guess maybe studio heads liked to put them in roles where they could do both? I mean, they've also played straight-up enemies, which worked very well too.
I really enjoyed Top Gun: Maverick. I wasn't sure I would since I loved the first one so much, but I agree with you, the new one definitely had more of a plot than the first. And I liked how they included Val Kilmer too.
ReplyDeleteAshley, I haven't seen the first Top Gun for probably close to 20 years. I watched it several times in college, but not since. However, I did really enjoy it back then -- but this one just felt like it was so much more. I was worried they would just namecheck Iceman or something, since I know Kilmer's health has been difficult for a while, but I love how they worked everything out so he could have a real, important role!
DeleteWhat a lovely selection. I haven't watched any of them, but about half just went on my list. Especially The Prisoner of Zenda (and especially Ronald Coleman because I recently saw him in a movie my mom was watching and I quite like his acting and need to see more of it)! It seems like there's yet to be an adaptation that actually makes the main character large and redheaded like he's supposed to be, though??
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah! If you like Ronald Colman, you will probably very much enjoy his acting. His version is black and white, so he could conceivably be red-haired, I suppose. And Stewart Granger is large, so between the two of them, you have the book version? ;-) Sorta, anyway!
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