The Movie Journal

  City Lights (1931) This is how you do a comedy that is timeless and heartfelt. Then again, Charlie Chaplin was a legend when it came to making these types of films. The Little Tramp is such an iconic character, even to this day, nearly a century after the Tramp was born in the mind of Chaplin. Chaplin knew how to work with the silent film format to deliver a moving, yet hilarious film. I never knew a silent film would be capable of having me bowled over in laughter. Yet, here we are. There is a reason why critics lauded City Lights as Chaplin’s best film. I still think Modern Times is slightly better, but this 1931 feature is right up there. Some of the scenes are just so funny. My favorite sequence, which I am sure others can agree, is the boxing sequence. The Tramp uses a weird choreography to befuddle his opponent and the referee…while having the audience laugh their minds out. I also adored that spaghetti sequence. Finally, when compared to earlier films, Chaplin uses roman...

Frankenstein (1931) 1931’s Frankenstein is considered to be the godfather of horror films. It went on to influence an enormous truckload of horror films. Outside of 1931’s Dracula , this film is the beginning of the Universal classic horror films that we have all come to know and love. If you compare it to today’s horror films, it’s dated and not all the scary. But to the audiences of 1931, they were very scared. In fact, the movie began with an introduction that warned audiences of what is to come. Something that you’ll never see with any film really. In the end, this is a short, simple film about a man trying to play God which resulted in dire consequences. I said the film wasn’t all that scary to modern times, but it really is easy to see the influence this film had. Frankenstein’s monster is the traditional look that we all think of when we think about this story, and it’s a terrifying look. Unlike Mary Shelley’s important novel, the monster isn’t really depicted as...