Fury (1936, USA) – Spencer Tracy, a stranger innocently arrested for kidnapping, faces the insane rage of a small town. This is a shocking movie about mob rule and revenge, with many unforgettable scenes. Fury is essentially an indictment of the masses for the murder of Justice. Its outlook is so cynical that even the somewhat happy ending, (whether forced on Fritz Lang by the studio or not), doesn’t resolve anything.

The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936, USA) – Errol Flynn was the Lord Flashheart of old Hollywood. The good thing about him starring in this movie is the hope that his character will die in the charge. The bad thing is that one fears he will somehow find a way to lead the light brigade to victory at the battle of Balaklava. Watched: 18 minutes, then fast forwarded to the end, where Errol Flynn dies(!!), although in an annoyingly glorious manner.

After the Thin Man (1936, USA) – Nick Charles is an alcoholic ex-detective, back when this was a sign of sophistication. In this second Thin Man movie based on Dashiell Hammett’s novels, there are further horrible relatives, farcical crime plots, and Clues liberally sprinkled everywhere. Watched it all.

The Dark Hour (1936, USA) – A murder mystery with no good qualities. One of the worst movies in the marathon so far. Watched: 13 minutes.

Sweeney Todd (1936, UK) – I didn’t like Tim Burton’s version, and this one isn’t even pretty – or audible. Watched: 16 minutes.

Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936, USA) – A small town guy inherits millions in New York, where he outwits swindlers and cynics by being so simple he’s clever. In the war of city against town, I’m on the side of the city, and Mr Deeds is wish fullfilment for people who think that living in a small town makes them honest and real. But .. I love it, it’s adorable. It’s so simple and nice that it outwits clever analysis. Watched it all.

Sabotage (1936, UK) – What could it be, it’s a mirage / You’re scheming on a thing, that’s sabotage. But as for this movie, Hitchcock must have still been learning at the time. Watched: 17 minutes. IMDB reviewers say it’s one of his most underappreciated movies, which is a stupid thing to say.

One Fatal Hour (1936, USA) – A decent family woman finds her murderous past turned into a radio play, which is bad for some reason. Only Humphrey Bogart is interesting in this comedy, he plays the radio manager like a hardboiled detective. Watched: 21 minutes.

Wife vs Secretary (1936, USA) – Wealthy New Yorkers flirt and banter. It’s all fun and games in the magazine publishing business, and although I expect a minor crisis two thirds into the movie involving Clark Gable’s wife learning a new emotion called “jealousy”, it will no doubt all be resolved in a sophisticated manner. Watched: 38 minutes, then fast-forwarded to the crisis. (It’s actually four fifths in.)

The Devil is a Woman (1935, USA) – Marlene Dietrich teases her admirers to madness, offering only smiles in return for their favors and money. Dietrich’s exaggerated doll-like acting and the Spanish carnival setting makes the whole thing surreal. Watched it all.

Roberta (1935, USA) – Almost like several good musicals I can think of, in the same way that a false note is almost like an accurate note. Watched: 14 minutes.

Becky Sharp (1935, USA) – The first three-color feature film, meaning that, not only is the sound poor and the story bad, it looks dreadful too. Watched: 12 minutes. IMDB reviewers say Becky Sharp is an elusive lost treasure, and, in its defense, it did win the award for Best Color Film at the Venice Film Festival of 1935, against stiff competition.

The Last Outpost (1935, USA) – Those rascally genocidal Kurds are no match for a pair of stout British officers. Hooray! Watched: 13 minutes, then fast forwarded to the end where the officer who isn’t Cary Grant dies gloriously. The film reused footage from a silent film shot at a different speed, which is why the Kurds move with super-speed.

Dracula’s Daughter (1936, USA) – Dracula’s daughter wants to be a good girl, but that’s difficult when you’re constantly walking around in the mist, spellbinding gentlemen with your hypno-ring. Unfortunately the other characters aren’t as interesting. Watched: 19 minutes.

She (1935, USA) – The Indiana Jones of the 1930′s. Fantastic effects and an intelligent story – and now available in a fine colorized version. This is better than the well-known fantasy movies of that time. Why haven’t I heard of it before? The only thing wrong with She is the title, and maybe that’s the answer.

Top Hat (1935, USA) – Enter Fred Astaire (somewhat younger than I’m used to), and Ginger Rogers, dance on air. Lovely farce. This is the old Hollywood I love. Also featuring a funny offensive Italian stereotype, (yay!)

The Call of the Wild (1935, USA) – I like how we know who’s the villain here: He’s the one who carries a portable bathtub when he’s prospecting in Alaska. That, and he’s mean to dogs and Clark Gable. Fine movie, though the ending feels like they just ran out of story. (Not Jack London’s story, though – they ran out of that after the title.)

The Thin Man (1934, USA) – Retired from police work to focus on his drinking, Nick Charles tries his best not to have to solve a series of murders, but that’s difficult when everybody insists on dropping clues in his lap. Works well as both comedy and crime. Favourite scene: A room full of drunken people singing christmas songs.

The Black Room (1935, USA) – Prophecies of doom, hidden rooms with terrible secrets, and Boris Karloff as the evil twin, the good twin, and the evil twin pretending to be the good twin. Unexpectedly unpredictable.

Les Miserables (1935, USA) – Coherent and well paced, this is how to film a big novel. Watched it all. IMDB reviewers warn that some details from the 1000+ page book are missing, as well as entire characters such as Tom Bombadil.

Mark of the Vampire (1935, USA) – Spends too much time on convincing the characters that they’re actually dealing with vampires. Yes yes, those mysterious marks on the neck are unexplainable by modern medicine – get on with it! The actual vampire scenes are enjoyable, but clichéd, with the usual wailing, spiders and mist. Or perhaps they hadn’t become cliches yet at this point? Watched: 20 minutes.

The Last Days of Pompeii (1935, USA) – To-ga, to-ga, to-ga! Featuring matte paintings and Romans who are inexplicably opposed to slavery. Watched: 11 minutes.

The Raven (1935, USA) – No, judge, I don’t think the doctor with the Hungarian accent who says his cellar full of Poe-inspired torture instruments is “more than a hobby” should be trusted near your daughter. Watched: 23 minutes.

Captain Blood (1935, USA) – I hate Errol Flynn and his movies. Perfect, smirking heroes fighting for Freedom and The Girl. Always the same plot, regardless of the “historical” setting. But, god damn it, this isn’t too bad. Flynn smirks less than usual. If I had to see one Flynn movie, I suppose this would be it. Watched: 42 minutes.

The Scarlet Empress (1934, USA) – Sent to Russia to marry Peter III, Marlene Dietrich is a lone, wide-eyed innocent among the half-wits and brutes at the Russian court, a place of barbarism and confrontational architecture. She emerges from the perverse nightmare as Catherine II, cool and cruel tsarina of a cool and cruel country. Watched it all.

Change of Heart (1934, USA) – Vapid college graduates are released into the world, with only the Depression and their stupid parents standing in the way of happiness. Love and hilarity presumably ensues. Watched: 8 minutes.

L’Atalante (1934, France) – I really want to give these French comedy-dramas a chance, but they’re too strange. Maybe they will grow on me. Watched: 12 minutes. IMDB reviewers say this is the best French film of all time. I hope not.

Waltzes from Vienna (1934, UK) – Alfred Hitchcock tries his hand at slapstick, and FAILS. Fails, fails, fails. Hitchcock himself thought this was the worst film he ever made, and even that’s being too nice. Watched: 9 minutes.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, USA) – “Raise the men and lock the women indoors” – the monster is back, and he doesn’t take himself quite as seriously as before. The scene with the tiny people is very silly. Watched: 31 minutes.

The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935, UK) – Sound technology was apparently still an unfamiliar art in Britain in 1935. So was acting. (*ba-dum-dum-ching*). Watched: 6 minutes.

The Count of Monte Cristo (1934, USA) – A straightforward, somewhat unfocused adaptation, with an entirely wrong Robert Donat as Edmond Dantes. (Don’t hire a boy to play a middle-aged man’s role.) There must be better versions, but the underlying story is strong enough to carry the movie anyway. My favourite Cristo will of course always be Alfred Bester’s.

Of Human Bondage (1934, USA) – I remember this novel. This isn’t it. But it does remind me I should revisit W. Somerset Maugham. Watched: 9 minutes.

Cleopatra (1934, USA) – What Would Jerry Bruckheimer Do? He would open his Cleopatra with the kidnapped queen being carried by chariots at high speed into the desert, and so does Cecil B. deMille. But I think Bruckheimer would find a Caesar who looked less like Graham Chapman pretending to be serious. Watched: 10 minutes.

Bright Eyes (1934, USA) – Shirley Temple plays Shirley, the world’s cutest orphan – who has a disturbingly close relationship with all the men at the local airbase. Watched: 6 minutes, then skipped forward to her singing for and being groped by a passenger plane full of men. What?!!! (Graham Greene thought it was fishy too. Shirley Temple had him sued.)

The Lost Patrol (1934, USA) – Arabs hunt British soldiers in the desert. Starring Boris Karloff as the world’s ugliest Christian. Watched: 9 minutes.

The Black Cat (1934, USA) – Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi lock horns on a World War battle site, making only laughable obeisance to Poe. The story is a mess, but it’s dark and ambitious, and merges war horrors with occult evil in a unique way. Watched it all.

Mystery Liner (1934, USA) – There is a ship, on which there presumably is a mystery. Utter crap. Watched: 6 minutes, then fast-forwarded to see what the mystery is. Couldn’t find it, they talk and talk right through to the end.

The House of Rothschild (1934, USA) – The five Rothschild brothers cause the defeat of Napoleon and save the Jews of Europe. Preposterously prettified historical drama, but it’s correct in the outline, and works well as a heroic movie. I especially liked the financial intrigue. Watched it all.

It Happened One Night (1934, USA) – Spoiled and willful-yet-vulnerable beauty hitchhikes through the country with annoying-yet-charming rogue who looks like Clark Gable, thus giving birth to the wacky romantic comedy. Watched it all.

Tarzan and His Mate (1934, USA) – Ah, Africa, where Europeans are Europeans, the natives are either restless or part of the scenery, and animals can be wrestled to death. Retard ape-man Tarzan and his bimbo girlfriend must deal with a pair of explorers searching for ivory. It’s all very stupid but it’s hard to look away, especially since Maureen O’Sullivan is so hot. Watched: 55 minutes.

Will this marathon never end? Hopefully not!

Little Women (1933, USA) – Now this is Hollywood magic. Grand, funny, lively, (and too sweet and uplifting, but ..) Starring Terry Jones as Aunt March, and Katharine Hepburn as Katharine Hepburn. Watched it all.

Queen Christina (1933, USA) – Costume dramas like to place modern ideas in the mouths of historical characters. In the case of Queen Christina, peaceful daughter of Sweden’s war-king Gustav II Adolf, this is actually somewhat justified. The movie feels like an amateur theatre production, but at least it gave me an excuse to read about a fascinating person. Watched: 23 minutes.

Ekstase (1933, Czechoslovakia) – A bride and groom enter a room. They walk around a bit. This goes on for ten minutes. Why?! Watched: 10 minutes, then skipped to the end, where the movie has somehow transformed into a celebration of semi-nude agricultural workers.

She Done Him Wrong (1933, USA) – Mae West was one of the causes of the Hays Code. But apart from her swaggering, oh’ing and wisecracking, this movie is pretty stupid. Watched: 18 minutes.

Las Hurdes: Land Without Bread (1932, Spain) – Apparently, this is a slightly off-key documentary about life and poverty in deepest, darkest Spain. Actually, (says Jeffrey Ruoff), it is a satirical commentary on anthropological expeditions and travelogues, a black comedy that merges genuine images of poverty with an exaggerated yet dispassionate voiceover and inappropriate music. (Wow!)

I’m no Angel (1933, USA) – Flimsy shreds of plot wrapped around a luscious body of nudge-nudge one-liners. Watched it all. But why does Mae West remind me of Bugs Bunny? This needs further investigation!

Picture Snatcher (1933, USA) – Donald Duck employment story with James Cagney as the rogue who becomes the star photographer of a disreputable newspaper, beating his arrogant competitors to the scoop by being willing to go further than anyone else. Not good, but it’s hard to hate Cagney (or Donald). Watched: 40 minutes.

Zéro de Counduite (1933, France) – Boarding school dramedy. Am I watching these wrong? Maybe it’s a cultural barrier. The movie doesn’t seem bad, I just don’t care. Watched: 15 minutes.

Sagebrush Trail (1933, USA) – There was a time in Hollywood when even the worst westerns were fairly good. 1933 wasn’t it. Still new to acting, John Wayne stares and smiles like some tourist who’s been let in on the set. Watched: 13 minutes.

The Invisible Man (1933, USA) – A visually challenged scientist is driven to madness and terrorism by the prying eyes of peculiar British villagers. They won’t even let him lock his own room! It’s no wonder he gets angry (and drives trains off the tracks etc.) Watched it all.

Ladies They Talk About (1933, USA) – Swaggering bank robber Barbara Stanwyck manipulates a naive preacher. Watched it all. IMDB reviewers say the plot is stupid, but apart from the lenient prison conditions it’s actually smart and well written.