SCFZ poll: Roy Del Ruth

[flip]

i don't know who to pick. cottafavi?

it sounds like a cottafavi poll will work if we try it in a month or so, if brian and nrh are planning to watch a few more. so i think it would be better to try someone else this round, do you have any other suggestions?

[rischka]

umm can we do watkins? i've only got 5 tho. he might not have enough films

[greennui]

I've got 8 Watkins.

[wba]

1 Watkins

[mesnalty]

I've got 6 Watkins

[ofrene]

only 2 Watkins T.T

[flip]

umm can we do watkins? i've only got 5 tho. he might not have enough films

watkins would be interesting, but it doesn't look like he'll have enough viewership, so someone we can get to when we run out of more prolific directors. any other ideas?

[rischka]

did we do bava already. or emilio fernandez?

otherwise someone else can go!

[brian d]

ron howard is still available. and rob reiner. and robert zemeckis. i think spielberg might be too.

[ofrene]

did we do bava already. or emilio fernandez?

already done;(

[flip]

well we should be able to get to cottafavi next round. if rischka is going to pass this time, then there's no one else eligible to nominate, so we'll start a new round. curious if we have enough views to poll david mamet (i've seen 21 if i count the five tv eps), or failing that, robert siodmak (i've seen 12) ?

[greennui]

5 Siodmak, 1 Mamet

[Umbugbene]

6 Siodmak, 1 Mamet

[rischka]

i've got 14 siodmak. 5 mamet

[rischka]

ron howard is still available. and rob reiner. and robert zemeckis. i think spielberg might be too.

i think we did do spielberg tho?

[flip]

we did spielberg a while ago, yes. ofrene very helpfully compiled a list of about 70 directors (not all of whom will work, but many will) here:

https://scfzforum.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=61

[...]

10 siodmaks 2 completed Mamets, more partially viewed, I have a hard time sitting through his movies I'm sorry to say.

Just finished what I think will be my last Del Ruth for the poll, It Had to Happen, to give me an even 30 viewed. Another nutty really incoherent but enjoyable flick from him. Seemed like it wanted to go full Red criticizing the class structure with a completely honest new immigrant civil servant (George Raft) fighting corruption before getting caught up in a scandal when he falls in love with the wealthiest woman in the US, who happens to be married to a guy who embezzled money from a public trust, but somewhere along the line they couldn't resist making Raft's character really wealthy too just to add some flair to the romance, which makes no sense at all if you take the plot seriously, but it seems no one did and just allowed the superficial romantic elements to carry the audience through. It's strangely fascinating for not making sense, like some of the other Del Ruth movies. Del Ruth might be something of an auteur of smoothed over incoherence, if that can be a thing.

(Oh, and to be clear, I'm not entirely joking about that as his films do seem to go screwy along similar lines repeatedly, so there might be some kind of directorial choices involved.)

[flip]

i thought mamet would have more views, but it seems siodmak works, so i'll start that poll and maybe try mamet later

[wba]

Got 16 Siodmak and 3 Mamet (all great, btw.)

[nrh]

david mamet (i've seen 21 if i count the five tv eps)

the unit!

[Silga]

david mamet (i've seen 21 if i count the five tv eps)

I was also going to nominate Mamet some time in the future. I've seen 7 so far, so I'll work on that.

He's often discussed as a writer, but he's a good director too.

[flip]

the unit!

yes! four eps of that, and his one episode of the shield was one of the high points of a series that had a lot of them

[flip]

of del ruth's five 'most popular' films on letterboxd, three didn't get a vote in our poll, including his one best picture nominee (broadway melody of 1936). not too much overlap in the voting, so low point totals at the top, which i guess is understandable for a director with 121 credits on imdb and without any widely acclaimed canon-type movies that everyone here would have seen. so, interesting results this time!

results

1. Employees' Entrance (1933) -- 8 pts
2. On Moonlight Bay (1951) -- 6 pts
3. Upperworld (1934) -- 5 pts
3. The Little Giant (1933) -- 5 pts
3. Blessed Event (1932) -- 5 pts
6. Private Number (1936) -- 4 pts
6. The Alligator People (1959) -- 4 pts
8. Blonde Crazy (1931) -- 3.5 pts
9. Lady Killer (1933) -- 3 pts
9. Thanks a Million (1935) -- 3 pts
11. Born to Dance (1936) -- 2.3 pts
12. Taxi (1931) -- 2 pts
12. Happy Landing (1938) -- 2 pts
12. On the Avenue (1937) -- 2 pts
15. Shanghaied Lovers (1924) -- 1 pt
15. Red Light (1949) -- 1 pt
15. Topper Returns (1941) -- 1 pt
18. His New Mamma (1924) -- 0.5 pts
19. It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947) -- 0.3 pts
20. Winner Take All (1932) -- 0.1 pts
20. It Had to Happen (1936) -- 0.1 pts

[liquidnature]

4 Siodmak, 4 Mamet.

Forgot all about Mamet, watched all 4 in 2011 - and back then thought they were nothing short of incredible. An overlooked auteur who is of course most known for his writing ability. Need to revisit/watch more from him to reassess.

[flip]

up at letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-209/