SCFZ poll: Roy Del Ruth

[flip]

Polling the films of director Roy Del Ruth

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Del Ruth 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, roscoe, bure, greennui, wba, brian d, mesnalty, ofrene, st gloede, john ryan, holymanm, oscarwerner, liquidnature, mrcarmady, monsignor arkadin, evelyn

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]

we'll use the 'new rules' for this poll:

New Rules

Because Del Ruth 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 Del Ruth 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 Del Ruth 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 Del Ruth 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]

have only seen one (topper returns) which i didn't care for enough to vote for it. considering how much random 1930s-1940s us film i've watched, i'm surprised not to have seen more, but i'm going to try to remedy that for this poll!

edit: now seen two and i guess i'll give the topper film a vote since it has no support at all so far

Topper Returns

[Umbugbene]

Seen 8

1. Employees' Entrance
2. Blessed Event
3. On the Avenue
4. The Alligator People

[Holymanm]

who

[rischka]

employees entrance
lady killer
taxi!

i'm surprised too flip. he made a bunch of films with cagney



also the original maltese falcon!

[Lencho of the Apes]

Zooks! I also have only seen one. How embarrassking.

[greennui]

Employees' Entrance

[MrCarmady]

Looks like I need to see Employees' Entrance...

[...]

On Moonlight Bay
Private Number
Thanks a Million
Happy Landing
Shanghaied Lovers
Blonde Crazy
Born to Dance
It Had to Happen
Du Barry was a Lady (No points I know, but needs mention for the Virginia O'Brien Salome number)

Probably not too surprising that Del Ruth doesn't get a lot of views. A lot of his movies featured stars of the moment, whose moments have passed, a couple Sonja Henie movies, a bunch of Eleanor Powell flicks, a couple Winnie Lightner(?) movies, Warren Williams, Dick Powell, Gordon MacRae, along with working with some still remembered stars like Cagney, but on movies that aren't considered defining roles for them, which may say something about Del Ruth for that I guess. Del Ruth seems to have been considered a reliable choice to handle money making films that weren't considered especially artistic efforts. I haven't seen enough of his more unusual films to say much about his style and choices since I've mostly seen the musicals and stuff with the more famous actors today as those are the ones shown most. It looks like some of the others are on youtube though, which is the plus side to not having stars people care about anymore, so I'll try to find some time to see some of those, so I might change my list before the end.

[wba]

seen only 2, but both were astonishing masterpieces!

01. Taxi! (1931)

[rischka]

Salome!! Ur lucky I'm on my phone

[Curtis, baby]

Seen 6

Blonde crazy
Born to dance
The little giant

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

So glad we got to poll Roy Del Ruth! Anyone who was a Warners contract director in the pre-Code period is automatically interesting to me. Del Ruth isn't a well-known, auteur-cred director, and that's probably sensible, but anyone who made genre movies at Warners that long is bound to have an interesting and enjoyable filmography, at least for someone like me for whom Warners genre movies are in their wheelhouse. If there's any unifying thread or recurring talent display in Del Ruth's films, I'd say it's a talent for rhythm, equally apparent in Lee Tracy's rapidfire motormouth in Blessed Event and in the later true musicals with tap-dancing Eleanor Powell like Broadway Melody of 1936.

1. Upperworld (1934)
2. The Little Giant (1933)
3. The Alligator People (1959)
4. Blessed Event (1932)
5. Red Light (1949)
6. His New Mamma (1924)
7. It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)
8. Winner Take All (1932)

(seen 17)

[St. Gloede]

Seen 6:

Lady Killer

[Roscoe]

Seen enough to rate a couple. Not really worth it. The only film of note is his original production of THE MALTESE FALCON which is of note for being utterly inferior in every possible way to the Huston version.

[rischka]

dammit you guys now i want to watch the alligator people



and there's a good copy on youtube

[wba]

Seen enough to rate a couple. Not really worth it. The only film of note is his original production of THE MALTESE FALCON which is of note for being utterly inferior in every possible way to the Huston version.

Hmm, I watched Ruth's "The Maltese Falcon" a few years ago, and thought it was a stunning masterpiece. I also love the Huston version, but the 2 are two completely different films with different styles and interests.

[Roscoe]

Glad you dug Del Ruth's MALTESE FALCON.

[rischka]

the alligator people was ridiculous as expected

[Umbugbene]

Of course people turning into alligators is ridiculous, but nothing beats the moment when Joyce casually sits down on a crate of radioactive cobalt-60 that just happens to be lying around the train station in the middle of the bayou.

[...]

Heh.

After watching several more Del Ruth movies, I get the strong impression he was very much a scene by scene director. He could get good performances from his actors, his "love" scenes are often notably strong, but perhaps sometimes too much so for how they fit towards the overall effect of the film, if one expects genre elements to build a consistent tone. There isn't a strong emotional coherence to his characters/films sometimes because of this, even as any given scene plays effectively. There's also a noticeable tendency to short transition scenes that might help better develop a consistent flow of emotion, making for some odd shifts in tone or plot development as some potentially important smaller connecting elements are left out in favor of moving on to the next big scene. Whether those scenes were in the script and cut or not in the script and their importance ignored doesn't really matter as much as their absence suggests Del Ruth didn't focus on the picture as a whole as much as he did in getting the moment. It gives the movies a somewhat disjointed feel at times, which can maybe keep them from gaining stronger effect or occasionally offer the feel of alternative story possibilities that weren't followed but are interesting in hinting at a road not traveled.

The Sonja Henie movie Happy Landing has something of the latter in it, while the Joel McCrea film He Married His Wife has a lot of the former. Both are enjoyable enough, the McCrea movie has a bunch of pleasing actors doing good work so a lot of the scenes are fun, but it doesn't make much character/emotional sense. The Henie movie also has a number of fine scenes, but there the plot is so flimsy to begin with that there is more interest in all the the pieces that suggest other routes as that gives it more weight, in a strange way, than it might have if it all fit together seamlessly for being such fluff otherwise. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking Del Ruth too much. He's a studio director more than an artist, but he could get some good stuff from the people he worked with. Basil Rathbone's head butler in Private Number is top notch, and the often saccharine post-code Loretta Young performance is happily avoided for something a bit fuller and Robert Taylor seems as if he can act beyond his looks and diction, which is not always the case, and the other Del Ruth movies I've watched were much the same.

[flip]

i'm surprised too flip. he made a bunch of films with cagney

i'll be watching some before poll closes!

you can pick our next director if you want

[Caracortada]

Seen 3

1. On Moonlight Bay

[rischka]

Of course people turning into alligators is ridiculous, but nothing beats the moment when Joyce casually sits down on a crate of radioactive cobalt-60 that just happens to be lying around the train station in the middle of the bayou.

LOL yes! great foreshadowing, encapsulating all the nuclear fears of the 50s i don't know who to pick. cottafavi?

[flip]

we can check if cottafavi has enough views, i haven't seen any unfortunately! if anyone has seen several cottafavi films, please post here

[brian d]

i only have one cottafavi, but i have plans to watch a good 10 others in the near future so if we wait a month or so i'll definitely be over the threshold.

[wba]

I have only 3 Cottafavi, all pretty great, though. Should watch more by him but can't promise any uptick in the near future.

[oscarwerner]

I have 5 cottafavi. Liked peplums:)

[nrh]

5 cotttafavi would love to watch more soon