Thursday Thirteen #394

 My Letterboxd list. Letterboxd is the online database that helps me keep track of my movie viewing. It's like Goodreads, but for movies. My 2024 stats have been compiled, and here they are.

1. Barbara Stanwyck is the actor/actress I spent the most time with in 2024. I saw 7 of her films. Three were with my movie group. She's the fave of our moderator, Will.

2. Elizabeth Taylor was second with six films. When I was a kid, I thought she was a gaudy, silly woman. Always on magazine covers, wearing big rocks and loud caftans and battling with Burton. In recent years I've come to admire her as an actress. This year I saw two of the six on the big screen -- National Velvet at the TCM Film Festival and Suddenly, Last Summer at Chicago's Music Box.

3. I saw five Jimmy Stewart films. Really the number is higher. I logged It's a Wonderful Life once but I saw at least parts of it three or four times over the holidays. On the other end of the spectrum is Rope. It's a very twisty Hitchcock movie loosely based on Leopold and Loeb. Shocking company to find George Bailey in!

4. Next up is Sinatra. His movie career was in three distinct parts. He got his start in formulaic MGM musicals and while he was a surprisingly good dancer, the movies were lightweight at best. Then he won an Oscar for a dramatic role in From Here to Eternity and it ushered in a decade of very good performances. Finally he became the leader of The Rat Pack and made a handful of yucky films with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. This year I saw four of his best movies, made during that "sweet spot" period, and enjoyed them all thoroughly.

5. Gloria Grahame is a new discovery for me. You may know her as Violet, the blonde bad girl of Bedford Falls, in It's a Wonderful Life. This year I saw her in four movies, two which were new to me. She's a very sympathetic presence even though her movies are rather dark.

6. I saw four Robert Redford movies. Ah, Bob. Loved him since high school. I am glad that TCM is giving him props as an actor. Like Liz Taylor, I think his physical beauty distracted critics from his performances in real time.

7. Alfred Hitchcock is the director whose work I saw the most. I especially enjoyed seeing him remake one of his own films. He first did The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1934 and then revisited it twenty years later. I was fascinated to see what he changed, and what he kept.

8. I saw five Frank Capra movies. He's much beloved for It's a Wonderful Life and Meet John Doe. Frankly sentimental, ultimately optimistic films about America. I saw some his earlier and lesser known pictures this past year and I'm sorry to say his oeuvre is not completely top drawer. I'm not throwing shade. No one's work is always 100% successful. I was just surprised by how barely memorable some of them were.

9. The cinematographer whose work I saw most was Joseph Walker. We film nerds keep track of everything! Mr. Walker a very long career, beginning as an electrician in silents and was considered a trailblazer in talkies.

10. I rewatched Jailhouse Rock three times. Once on the big screen at the TCM Film Festival. I maintain that Elvis in the old cellblock dancing to the "Jailhouse Rock" is as iconic an image as Julie Andrews spinning around at the beginning of Sound of Music.

11. I rewatched Laura twice. Once with my movie group. I enjoy Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker so very much.

12. I rewatched the 1949 version of Little Women twice. I know film buffs will say this is the weakest version of the Louisa Mae Alcott classic and I understand that. It's just that it's the first version I ever saw and so I have a very warm spot in my heart for it.

13. The 2024 movie that I liked the best was The Fall Guy. Yeah, it was a silly action flick. But Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt have such tremendous chemistry!

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