SCFZ

Polling the films of director Clarence Brown

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Brown 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 Tuesday, 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

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

Wife vs Secretary

seen three, Intruder in the Dust is really good too, so I'll try to watch one more so I can extend my ballot

I've only seen 2

Intruder in the Dust

I've only seen 2.
-- Wife vs. Secretary.

Seen 11

1. Idiot's Delight
2. Intruder in the Dust
3. Chained
4. Conquest
5. Sadie McKee

Very rough ranking; only #1 is clear in my memory.

FLESH AND THE DEVIL
THE RAINS CAME
WOMAN OF AFFAIRS
THE GOOSE WOMAN

That last spot -- hmmmm. ANNA CHRISTIE's a little too stodgy in that early sound way, but Marie Dressler's genius may carry it to the fifth spot.

Flesh and the Devil
Kiki
Wife Vs Secretary
The Eagle
The Rains Came

Might change something later, that last couple spot has a few different contenders, but I don't want to confuse things by listing them like last time.

evelyn - you can nominate the director we poll next if you like!

Amazing, thanks flip ! I'll nominate Mario Bava! (I've seen 9, depending on what count as directorial efforts, if we want to do a view-count check.)

01. A Woman of Affairs (1928)
02. Flesh and the Devil (1926)

Brown seen: 5


Bava seen: 5

according to boxd, i've seen 0 of 50. well done, me

the last of the mohicans
the yearling
flesh and the devil

seen 9 by brown i think but don't remember a lot of them all that well. 10 by bava (if we're counting giant of marathon as his).

i think bava should work, but it can't hurt to confirm - we just need two more people with 8+ bava films seen, and then that will be our next poll, so anyone who has seen a lot of bava films, please post here!

i have 8 bavas. only one by clarence brown.

10 Bavas

Damn. Only seen three apparently, but I REALLY liked all those three. I'm going to watch 3 more before this poll finishes. Been meaning to watch more for ages anyway.

ok mario bava poll will start up on friday! no need for more bava responses, we're good.

Seen 5. My votes go to:
1.Intruder in the Dust (1949)
2. Anna Karenina (1935)

does the cossacks (1928) count? i ♥ that movie. imdb credits brown as (uncredited) director, apparently brought in to sort out the mess hill made. decision please!

Seen 4

1. Come live with me!!
2. The yearling

just read about it, and yeah, brown shot some of the cossacks, and co-directed films are eligible for these polls, so feel free to vote for it!

Seen 6. He made the best Tolstoy adaptation.

1. Anna Karenina
2. Anna Christie
3. Wife vs. Secretary

Worst: Song of Love

Seen two, I can happily vote for

Flesh And The Devil.

the deadline for this poll will be extended at least one day, until wednesday next week, since people are watching things for this poll (i might watch more too). i'm happy to extend to friday if anyone asks.

thanks flip - that way i can get in bure's jimmy movie.

i watched the trail of 98, dolores del rio trekking up to snowy dawson city with nary a hair out of place. 4 stuntment died making this film! liberally quoted in bill morrison's klondike footage film. some lovely iconic images but either i watched a horribly chopped up version or there was way too much material rammed into the runtime.

okay got one more left to watch and then i'm up to 10. and will cry at only being able to choose 5. watched a woman of affairs today and i've still got the most insane crush on john gilbert but even without him i still think i'd have been bawling on the train. clarence brown went mental in this film, it's soooooooooo 'melodrama', some of it even looks like it was shot by raul ruiz. was sighing too much to take screenshots.

1. Intruder in the Dust
2. Flesh and the Devil
3. National Velvet
4. Come Live with Me
5. Sadie McKee

Another vote for Come Live With Me!! Mxy, naturally

okay thanks flip for holding it an extra day. i've got 10 browns now (and how pleasant it was) so that's me done for this poll:


the cossacks
a woman of affairs
flesh and the devil
the signal tower
kiki

come live with me was lovely but the glow-worm thing creeped me out a bit (but not as much as clark gable puttin on the ritz in idiot's delight, no one should have to see that)

a slightly astonishing twenty different brown films got votes in the poll, so it's a long list. and despite the length of our final list, one of brown's two best picture-nominated films received no support (the human comedy (1943)). his the yearling (1946) also was nominated:

results

1. Flesh and the Devil (1926) -- 19 pts
2. Intruder in the Dust (1949) -- 12 pts
3. A Woman of Affairs (1928) -- 8 pts
4. Wife vs Secretary (1936) -- 6 pts
5. Idiot's Delight (1939) -- 5 pts
5. Kiki (1926) -- 5 pts
5. The Cossacks (1928) -- 5 pts
8. Come Live With Me (1941) -- 4 pts
8. Anna Karenina (1935) -- 4 pts
8. The Rains Came (1939) -- 4 pts
11. Chained (1934) -- 3 pts
11. The Last of the Mohicans (1920) -- 3 pts
11. The Yearling (1946) -- 3 pts
11. National Velvet (1944) -- 3 pts
15. The Eagle (1925) -- 2 pts
15. The Signal Tower (1924) -- 2 pts
15. Sadie McKee (1934) -- 2 pts
15. Anna Christie (1930) -- 2 pts
15. Conquest (1937) -- 2 pts
20. The Goose Woman (1925) -- 1 pt