The Dawn Patrol

At a rural flight outpost during the First Great War, a pilot becomes everything he hates after being promoted to commander and is forced to send young, hard drinking pilots to their deaths, even including his closest friend. Howard Hawks' The Dawn Patrol, adapted from a short story by John Mark Saunders entitled Flight Commander (the title which it sometimes alternately bears) was remade only eight years later with Errol Flynn in an also acclaimed and likewise famously cliched version. Hawks' outing contains a rousing finale in addition to many great moments and individual shots even if it remains a little static and dated.

*** 1/2 out of ****

The Blue Angel

After finding lewd photos of a local showgirl (Marlene Dietrich) in the possession of his students, a high school professor (Emil Jannings) travels to her cabaret with intentions of reprimanding her but instead falls victim to her deadly charms. Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel starts on a hysterically funny path that follows its course to a seedy, tragic, and even horrifying destination while depicting Dietrich at her sexiest and most devious while featuring Jannings in a humiliating, impressively mannered performance.

*** 1/2 out of ****

The Complete Works of Jean Vigo

Jean Vigo was a surrealist French director whose life was cut short by tuberculosis at 29, but whose limited body of work (consisting of only four films, one of which was feature length) not only provided a window of what could have been and served as a major influence for the future of world cinema, but stands quite sturdily, in their own offbeat and lightly poetic way. His debut film was A Propos de Nice, a fascinating documentary covering all walks of life in Nice and was probably inspired by the landmark Man with a Movie Camera. It was followed by Taris, a brilliant and innovative instructional film featuring the eponymous swim champion, which was succeeded by Zero for Conduct, a whimsical tale detailing a boarding school rebellion. L'Atalante, his final and most cited and cherished work, tells a breezy and aimless story about newlyweds travelling upriver with a gruff riverboat captain, and features amusing situations, likable performances, and some great cinematography.

All Quiet on the Western Front

A group of classmates are roused by an impassioned speech by their teacher about the glories of the fatherland, and set off to fight for their beloved Germany before discovering the true horrors of war. "All Quiet on the Western Front" is an unrelenting and wide ranging antiwar masterpiece that depicts not only the atrocities of battle, but also the rigors, the starvation, and even the boredom that accompanied a band of German soldiers during World War I. Lewis Milestone does a remarkable and even innovative job translating Erich Maria Remarque's novel, and never once even dreams of softening his antiwar message. Lew Ayres, whom much of the story centers around, is strongly affecting especially in the tragically poignant closing scenes. "AQOTWF" is probably the most effective antiwar film ever made because it eliminates all the elements that may glamorize battle, and depicts the all encompassing ugliness and agony that is war.