SCFZ

Polling the films of director Leo McCarey

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the McCarey 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: greennui, bure, roscoe, kanafani, greg x, silga, oscarwerner, john ryan, mrcarmady, umbugbene, evelyn, m arkadin, jiri, brian d, nrh, rischka, aberration, searchlike

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

The Milky Way
Liberty
Once Upon a Honeymoon
Indiscreet
Big Business


seen ten, but haven't seen two or three of his best-known, might try to address that

Seen 8.

1. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
2. The Awful Truth (1937)
3. Liberty (1929)
4. Habeas Corpus (1928)

11.

Duck Soup

5

The Awful Truth
Duck Soup

Seen 7, kinda surprised it's so few. I can't remember Duck Soup, Going My Way, or The Awful Truth well enough to vote for them, and I don't care for An Affair to Remember, Make Way for Tomorrow, or The Bells of St. Mary's. But there is one I wholeheartedly endorse... not sure whether this or A Night at the Opera is my favorite Marx Brothers movie:

1. Love Happy

The Bells of St. Mary's
Ruggles of Red Gap
An Affair to Remember
Love Affair
My Son John

I have some rewatching to do, so I'll be posting my ballot near the deadline. My Top 5 contenders consist of about 9 or 10 movies, 5 of them already represented on nrh's list. I'm glad to know I won't be the only one voting for both of his love affairs (McCarey, you dog).

Seen 10:

Make Way for Tomorrow
Going My Way
Big Business
Liberty

seen 4

duck soup
ruggles of red gap

DUCK SOUP
RUGGLES OF RED GAP
MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE
BIG BUSINESS
BATTLE OF THE CENTURY

That order can't be right. We'll see. Nice to be able to give a shout out to MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE, a particularly charming short comedy starring Charley Chase, and the sublime RUGGLES OF RED GAP might inch into the top spot.

Seen 5

Make Way for Tomorrow
An Affair to Remember

good to see a vote for my son john

the awful truth
make way for tomorrow
ruggles of red gap
my son john
duck soup

seen 10

rischka wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:31 pm good to see a vote for my son john

you know when j-ro refers to a movie as "deranged" you are in for a good time

and very much like this sentence from him on mccarey in general - "My own sense of McCarey’s contradictory singularity as an auteur is that he’s both an ideological primitive and a highly sophisticated dialectician who makes the comedy of embarrassment and the tragedy of excruciation virtually interchangeable and equally incapable of achieving any resolution. "

that's well-said. and i really never liked the awful truth until rewatching a few years back. i think irene dunne grew on me

just last month my mother told me she had watch both awful truth and my favorite wife and preferred the latter; i have been more disappointed by family memembers in the past it is true but this one was hard to bear. awful truth will never be my favorite mccarey but the way he conducts grant and dunne is just amazing, favorite wife feels so flat by comparison.

surprised to see more votes for going my way (one of his worst movies) than for the sequel bells of st. mary's (one of his best).

nrh wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:24 pm surprised to see more votes for going my way (one of his worst movies) than for the sequel bells of st. mary's (one of his best).

makes sense tho bc the people who might agree with you often wouldn't bother to even watch a sequel

yeah i haven't seen either. very low tolerance for bing crosby tbh

flip wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:43 pm

nrh wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:24 pm surprised to see more votes for going my way (one of his worst movies) than for the sequel bells of st. mary's (one of his best).

makes sense tho bc the people who might agree with you often wouldn't bother to even watch a sequel

but they are putting it on their lists so they must have liked it. my theory is everyone watched it with their grandmas (my grandma was a big fan of going my way, much to my grandfather's irritation).

only seen one, hated it... duck soup? more like (wolfgang) puck soup

Umbugbene wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 4:09 pmSeen 6, kinda surprised it's so few

you think that's impressive? watch this... seen zero! booyah

nrh wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:49 pm but they are putting it on their lists so they must have liked it.

what i mean is: if they agree with you that going my way is one of mccarey's worst, they might never get to bells of st marys at all.

the people putting going my way on their lists clearly don't agree with you

i haven't seen either but maybe i'll try to watch both for the poll

Holymanm wrote: ↑Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:11 am only seen one, hated it... duck soup? more like (wolfgang) puck soup

That one's not really representative of McCarey's output, just saying.

nrh wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:24 pmsurprised to see more votes for going my way (one of his worst movies) than for the sequel bells of st. mary's (one of his best).

In my case I'm working with a very distant memory and a limited selection of McCareys. Of the six I've seen I strongly disliked two... and I haven't seen Bells of St. Mary's.

seen 10 like a g6

Make Way for Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937)
Ruggles of Red Gap (Leo McCarey, 1935)
Going My Way (Leo McCarey, 1944)
Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
The Bells of St. Mary's (Leo McCarey, 1945)

Hi flip (and thanks for the friendly words in the DtC thread)!

I've seen seven from McCarey. These three are all pretty great (in my eyes, at least!):

1. LOVE AFFAIR
2. DUCK SOUP
3. THE AWFUL TRUTH

gonna watch rare 128 mins director's cut of 'good sam,' according to tag gallagher, the only one to watch. quality looks quite atrocious though...

rischka wrote: ↑Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:08 pm gonna watch rare 128 mins director's cut of 'good sam,' according to tag gallagher, the only one to watch. quality looks quite atrocious though...

I'd love to watch that version, Good Sam is one of my favorites, but I think Tag-Gal may be exaggerating.

honestly it's a pretty funny movie but the pacing is bizarre

Where did you watch it, rischka?