SCFZ

Polling the films of director Allan Dwan

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Dwan 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 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, rischka, dt, silga, kanafani, brian d, greennui, ofrene, mesnalty, john ryan, roscoe, evelyn, thoxans, bure, oscarwerner, arkheia, caracortada

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

I've seen 8

Cattle Queen of Montana
Slightly Scarlet
The River’s Edge
Tennessee’s Partner

Seen 4.

1. Heidi
2. Zaza

two notes:

- our next poll will be of Vittorio De Sica, so i won't take new nominations in this poll
- if anyone has a way to encourage penalosa to show up and post a dwan ballot, that would be cool, he used to have a dwan list on letterboxd but i think he took it down

seen nine:

Woman They Almost Lynched
Cattle Queen of Montana
Chances
Silver Lode

Seen 17

1. Tennessee's Partner
2. Silver Lode
3. The River's Edge
4. Cattle Queen of Montana
5. Woman They Almost Lynched

Seen 7.33, and the only one I found great was sadly the 0.33, namely American Madness (which should probably just be given to Capra).

yay dwan!! i've got 15 jerry should be here for this one. in his honor:

tennessee's partner
slightly scarlet
the river's edge
while paris sleeps
black sheep

MR. FIX IT
ROBIN HOOD
THE GOOD BAD MAN

durrrr

Seen 5

Rendezvous with Annie

seen 4

the woman they almost lynched
while paris sleeps

Silver Lode
Tenessee's Partner
Zaza
Suez
Brewster's Millions

I've only seen 14 of Dwan's movies so far and don't quite see him as a top tier director, more just a very good one which is hard enough to find. I will say though that Dwan has one of the more interesting bodies of work in terms of the variety of films he directed, not allowing himself to get pigeon holed into a genre or particular kind of story like some of the other directors I think of as being roughly equal in ability, so if nothing else that sets him apart a bit. Who knows? Maybe if/when I see some of the movies I've missed I might think more highly of him.

Seen 7
1. Brewster's Millions (1945)
2. Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
3. While Paris Sleeps (1932)
(I know i have seen more of his films, but i think i musnt waste time to recover most of them. For example , i never liked films with Shirley Temple. And i`m afraid to rewatch most of Dwan`s movies as also many movies of similar period. He was great, creating so many short and full lengh films in his career).

Seen 2

Both good, but I'll pick:

Getting Gertie's Garter

Sorry I've been slow updating the index on Letterboxd. It's current now. I'm traveling through Vietnam until Saturday.

chances
the half-breed
montana belle

*seen seven (will try to watch cattle queen of montana before the end of the poll)

Seen 17

1. Tennessee's Partner
2. The River's Edge
3. Slightly Scarlet
4. Surrender
5. Woman They Almost Lynched

Manhandled
Rendezvous with Annie
Silver Lode
Tennessee's Partner
Fifteen Maiden Lane

Seen 8 (now, thanks to this poll!).

I'll vote for:
1. Brewster's Millions (1945)
2. Frontier Marshal (1939)
3. Three Million Dollars (1911)

flip could you hold off on this one a couple days? Watched a Dwan western yesterday and really liked it. Gonna bang out a couple more this weekend

yeah i've got the best-of-2018 poll to tally this weekend anyway, so i was already thinking about putting the director polls on hold for a few days. let's make the deadline for this next tuesday (which is also when i'll start the mizoguchi poll)

bure420 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 22, 2019 2:11 am flip could you hold off on this one a couple days? Watched a Dwan western yesterday and really liked it. Gonna bang out a couple more this weekend

i'm going to post the results (so far) right now just because i have them ready, but if you post an updated ballot today, i'll factor it in!

note to myself that your current ballot gave one point to rendezvous with annie

dwan made 400+ films over fifty years, and all of our top six come from the last few years of his career.

results (final)

1. Tennesee's Partner (1955) -- 22 pts
2. Silver Lode (1954) -- 14 pts
3. The River's Edge (1957) -- 12 pts
4. Slightly Scarlet (1956) -- 10 pts
5. Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) -- 9 pts
6. Woman They Almost Lynched (1953) -- 8 pts
7. Brewster's Millions (1945) -- 7 pts
8. Rendezvous with Annie (1946) -- 6 pts
9. Chances (1931) -- 5 pts
9. Manhandled (1924) -- 5 pts
11. While Paris Sleeps (1932) -- 4 pts
11. Zaza (1923) -- 4 pts
13. Mr Fix-It (1918) -- 3 pts
14. Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) -- 2 pts
14. Surrender (1950) -- 2 pts
14. The Half-Breed (1916) -- 2 pts
14. Frontier Marshall (1939) -- 2 pts
14. Suez (1938) -- 2 pts
14. Robin Hood (1922) -- 2 pts
14. Heidi (1937) -- 2 pts
21. Black Sheep (1935) -- 1 pt
21. Montana Belle (1952) -- 1 pt
21. Three Million Dollars (1911) -- 1 pt
21. 15 Maiden Lane (1936) -- 1 pt
21. The Good Bad Man (1916) -- 1 pt
21. Getting Gertie's Garter (1945) -- 1 pt

Won't make a huge dif but I guess I'll add Silver Lode

[old ballot was just 1. Rendezvous with Annie]

seen 8

1. Rendezvous with Annie
2. SIlver Lode

that did at least break one tie - results are now updated and final!

up at letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-107/