SCFZ poll: Lewis Milestone

[flip]

Polling the films of director Lewis Milestone

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Milestone films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: greg x

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

New Rules

Because Milestone has fewer views than most directors we've polled, I'm changing some of the rules for this poll:

- if you have seen an odd number of Milestone films, you can round up, when dividing by two, instead of down, to determine the length of your ballot. So if you have seen 7 Milestone films, you can vote for 4 films (instead of 3). But please only vote for the additional film if you think it's deserving of a vote.

- if you have seen 11 or more Milestone films, your ballot can extend beyond 5 films -- if you have seen 13, say, you can vote for up to 7 films. I'll award 0.5, 0.3 and 0.1 points to 6th, 7th and 8th ranked films (and nothing to 9th or later ranked films). Those additional votes will help to get a complete top ten.

[flip]

even if it seems weird for a director as prolific as milestone, i'm going with the extended rules for this poll because we didn't have many people who had seen more than seven milestone films when we last checked his views

[Holymanm]

(who)

[flip]

i've seen either three or four, depending on whether the young in heart counts. that would be my #1, but i'm guessing milestone didn't do much work on that film (he's one of three uncredited directors) -- does anyone know? if he did do enough of the directing for it, i'll change my ballot

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The Front Page

[flip]

(who)

director of all quiet on the western front, the third best picture winner. he directed five best picture nominees, which is the same number as billy wilder and francis ford coppola (and one more than alfred hitchcock, incidentally)

[Holymanm]

oh i've seen that... not to sound all negative, but a pretty feeble adaptation of an incredible book. but the book's so good that the movie is still decent, despite the acting.

apparently he also uncredited-directed part of The Kid Brother, which is great! not sure if that counts here though

[Umbugbene]

Seen 6

1. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
2. Les Miserables

[brian d]

seen 3

edge of darkness
the garden of eden (don't think i liked it that much, but i liked it more than all quiet...)

[wba]

01. New York Nights (1929)
02. The Front Page (1931)

Milestone seen: 4

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

1. Hallelujah I’m a Bum
2. The Racket

Seen 3. Hope to watch The Racket for this, so will report back. Seen aforementioned and updated.

Quote from Sarris's 'Less Than Meets the Eye' entry on him: "A propagandist in press releases only, Milestone is almost the classic example of the uncommitted director. From the beginning, his editing was mechanical rather than analytical, and his tracking synthetic rather than expressive. Socially conscious film historians were therefore needlessly agitated by the miscellaneousness of his projects. Anything Goes or The North Star: What difference does it make?"

[mesnalty]

Seen 2:

1. Edge of Darkness

[oscarwerner]

Seen 7:
His war films i liked the best. My votes depend on my favorite actors:
1-All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
2-Ocean's 11 (1960)
3-Pork Chop Hill (1959)
4-Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)

[sally]

flip i'm going to come in with a last minute argh on this so don't close it too early

[...]

Hallelujah I'm a Bum
Rain
The Garden of Eden
Edge of Darkness
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
The General Died at Dawn
Mutiny on the Bounty
Arch of Triumph

19 seen, might change out those last two since I like a few others he made as well.

[liquidnature]

Seen 2, liked both a lot.

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

[Curtis, baby]

seen 4

All Quiet on the Western Front
The Racket

[St. Gloede]

Seen 7:

1. Of Mice and Men
2. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
3. All Quiet on the Western Front
4. Mutiny on the Bounty

[john ryan]

Seen 9

1. All Quiet on the Western Front
2. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
3. Hallelujah, I'm a Bum!
4. The Edge of Darkness
5. A Walk in the Sun

[flip]

Seen 6

you can pick our next director if you want, umbugbene!

[Umbugbene]

Thanks, Flip. Let's do Lars von Trier.

[wba]

got 8 von Trier, excluding his TV series

[flip]

no question von trier will work, so i'll start that in a few minutes

[Roscoe]

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
THE FRONT PAGE

Seen others. These are the good ones.

[sally]

Okay I've seen 9 now.

1. The captain hates the sea
Hallelujah I'm a bum
Two Arabian knights
Lucky partners
Arch of triumph

I like his films that don't have a point. Or at least sprawl over a few

[flip]

predictable winner, but an impressive (to me) twenty different films got votes:

results

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) -- 16 pts
2. Hallelujah I'm a Bum (1933) -- 14 pts
3. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) -- 12 pts
4. Edge of Darkness (1943) -- 7 pts
5. The Captain Hates the Sea (1934) -- 5 pts
6. Rain (1932) -- 4 pts
6. The Garden of Eden (1928) -- 4 pts
6. Of Mice and Men (1939) -- 4 pts
9. The Front Page (1931) -- 3 pts
9. Two Arabian Knights (1927) -- 3 pts
9. Ocean's Eleven (1960) -- 3 pts
12. Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) -- 2.3 pts
13. The Racket (1928) -- 2 pts
13. New York Nights (1929) -- 2 pts
13. Lucky Partners (1940) -- 2 pts
13. Pork Chop Hill (1959) -- 2 pts
17. Arch of Triumph (1948) -- 1.1 pts
18. A Walk in the Sun (1945) -- 1 pt
18. Les Miserables (1952) -- 1 pt
20. The General Died at Dawn (1936) -- 0.5 pts

[flip]

posted to letbox

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-193/