Poll Results: A Plurality Of You Can't Stand Her, But For Those Who Can, The Divorcee Is Your Favorite Norma Shearer Movie!

You know, sometimes the headline says it all.

Circus Polls, Circus Bunnies, Circus Movies

The results are in from the latest Monkey poll. By a one vote margin, Charlie Chaplin's The Circus is your favorite movie set in a circus.

The Elephant Man was second, Disney's animated classic Dumbo was third, and Tod Browning's cult classic Freaks was fourth. The Greatest Show on Earth and the Marx Brother's At the Circus finished far behind.

One commenter, however, "Anonymous," aka "my little brother," argues that the best circus movie of all time wasn't even in the poll: "I have a write-in candidate for greatest circus movie - "Big Top Bunny" - starring Bugs Bunny and Bruno, the high-flying trapeze artist bear - blessed with the gift of speech (with a Russian accent no less). Now THAT's quality my friends...."

As always, we here at the Monkey encourage you to judge for yourself:



Indeed, if you really want to judge for yourself, Erik Beck (of the Boston Becks) has alerted us to Turner Classic Movie's Sunday evening schedule which is devoted to circus-related movies. TCM kicks off the proceedings with none other than the Chaplin film that won our little poll.

From TCM's website:
Sunday, July 24, 2012

8:00 PM The Circus (1928)
In this silent film, the Little Tramp joins a circus to hide from the police.
Dir: Charles Chaplin Cast: Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Betty Morrissey. BW-72 mins

9:30 PM The Big Circus (1959)
A ringleader tries to keep his circus on the road despite the efforts of a saboteur.
Dir: Joseph M. Newman Cast: Victor Mature, Red Buttons, Rhonda Fleming. C-108 mins

11:30 PM The Circus Clown (1934)
A young man defies his father's wishes to join the circus.
Dir: Ray Enright Cast: Joe E. Brown, Patricia Ellis, Dorothy Burgess. BW-65 mins

12:45 AM Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928)
In this silent film, a circus clown falls for a young innocent in love with another.
Dir: Herbert Brenon Cast: Lon Chaney, Bernard Siegel, Loretta Young. BW-74 mins

2:15 AM La Strada (1954)
A traveling strongman buys a peasant girl to be his wife and co-star.
Dir: Federico Fellini Cast: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart. BW-108 mins

4:15 AM Merry Andrew (1958)
An archaeologist's search for Roman treasure gets him mixed up with a circus troupe.
Dir: Michael Kidd Cast: Danny Kaye, Pier Angeli, Baccaloni. C-103 mins Letterbox Format

The three I'd really encourage you to see are The Circus, Laugh, Clown, Laugh and La Strada, classics all. Hey, and now that Mad Men is done for the season, you have no excuses, right?

Back From The Beach ... And Poll Results

Back from a week at the beach where I had limited internet access, nice weather and a good book to read—a recipe for blogging disaster. I don't feel the least bit guilty.

I see that while I was gone, Erich von Stroheim's Greed was your choice for best picture of 1924, narrowly edging Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr.. I'll keep that in mind when my unofficial picks one day become official.

Douglas Fairbanks' swashbuckling classic The Thief of Bagdad finished third, F.W. Murnau's The Last Laugh fourth, and Keaton's The Navigator tied with "other" for fifth. Actually, "I have not seen any movie made in 1924" came in third, but we'll skip over that.

While we're here, how about another poll—What is your choice for the best movie of 1925? Arguably, the best year in silent movie history. Your choices, in alphabetical order:

Battleship Potemkin

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

The Big Parade

The Freshman

The Gold Rush

Lady Windermere's Fan

The Lost World

The Merry Widow

The Phantom of the Opera

Seven Chances

Other
I Have Not Seen Any Movies From 1925

Your 33rd Favorite Actress

Of those actresses who didn't make it out of the second round of Monty's Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament this year, five—Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, Deborah Kerr and Vivien Leigh—have won multiple Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards here at the Monkey.

A little side poll reveals that the Great Kate is your favorite among them, making her, by my calculations, your 33rd favorite classic movie actress. If Hepburn were a state, she'd be Kansas.

Cary Grant, who was openly supporting Deborah Kerr, nevertheless stopped by to congratulate his co-star from The Philadelphia Story.



That's class!

The vote totals:
Katharine Hepburn - 26
Vivien Leigh - 20
Ingrid Bergman - 16
Deborah Kerr - 8
Marlene Dietrich - 6

Meanwhile, over at All Good Things, the final pairing is set for the conclusion of this year's tournament: Ginger Rogers versus Natalie Wood. Not exactly who I would have put my money on when this whole thing started, but that's democracy!

Voting starts tomorrow, I believe.

The Great Directors Tournament—The Championship

The final pairing in the great directors tournament is set. The master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, squares off against the greatest action director of all time, Akira Kurosawa.

Actually, the match-up has pretty much been set for one long anticlimactic week. Both Hitchcock and Kurosawa won blow-outs against their Final Four competition, silent film pioneer D.W. Griffith and comic genius Woody Allen, respectively. In retrospect, I should have allowed about ten minutes instead of ten days for those contests.

But no matter.

I assume Hitchcock and Kurosawa need no introduction. Indeed, if you don't know who Alfred Hitchcock is, well, you're still more than welcome to read this blog, but I'm not 100% sure why you would. In fact, if by some chance you've never seen a Hitchcock movie, go get Rear Window, North By Northwest, Psycho and Notorious and watch them, right now—we'll wait for you.

As for Akira Kurosawa, his movies are so good even the remakes of his movies are good. You like the classic western The Magnificent Seven starring Yul Brenner and Steve McQueen? That's a remake of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Prefer Clint Eastwood in A Fistful Of Dollars? That's Yojimbo. And if you've ever plopped yourself down in front of a little ditty we like to call Star Wars—well, that's The Hidden Fortress.

And I haven't even mentioned Rashomon, Ikiru or Ran yet.

You have until Halloween night to finish voting. Go to it.

The Great Directors Tournament—The Final Four

Well, the final four is set and there are a couple of surprises.

As I would have guessed, Alfred Hitchcock continued his dominance of the Classic Hollywood bracket, soundly defeating Howard Hawks, 38-11.

And Akira Kurosawa easily dispatched Stanley Kubrick, 29-16, in the Art House Favorites bracket.

Of course, as Erik Beck of the Boston Becks pointed out, different seeding would likely have given us entirely different results.

The other two brackets resulted in mild upsets, at least in terms of the early Vegas betting line. Woody Allen edged Martin Scorsese by a single vote, 26-25, to win the Modern Era bracket. I confess, as a Woody Allen fan, I'm not unhappy about the result. Just mildly surprised.

In the Silent Era bracket, D.W. Griffith defeated one of my personal favorites, the always popular Buster Keaton, 24-22—and right after the Great Stone Face's birthday, at that! Personally, I didn't think Griffith had a chance. But if you've read my posts about him, you know I've come to the conclusion that Griffith belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of film directors, The Birth of a Nation notwithstanding.

All that aside, it's time for the Final Four matchups:

Alfred Hitchcock versus D.W. Griffith
Akira Kurosawa versus Woody Allen

You have until Sunday, October 23, to cast your vote.

Very Good Reasons For Not Watching The Chaplin Mutuals

Well, the results are in on the latest Mythical Monkey Poll—"Which of Chaplin's four films from 1917 do you like best?"

The number one answer, with 16 votes? "I haven't seen any of these films."

Second was The Immigrant, with 10. Rounding out the field was Easy Street with five, The Cure with two and The Adventurer with one.

The 34 total votes cast were the fewest in a Monkey Poll in nearly a year, and considering that 109 of you voted in the last poll, I'm guessing the real number of my readers who haven't seen the Chaplin Mutuals is much higher. But I can't say I blame you. Two years ago, before I started this blog, I don't think I'd seen any of them either. What can I tell you—I was busy.

I asked a few friends to tell me why they hadn't seen Chaplin's Mutuals.

Phil Connors: "I was in the Virgin Islands. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank Piña Coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day."

Joliet Jake Blues: "Honest. I ran out of gas! I—I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my fault, I swear to God!!!"


Jeff Bailey: "Near the plaza was a little cafe, called La Mar Azul next to a movie house. I sat there in the afternoons and drank beer. I used to sit there half-asleep with the beer and the darkness. Only that music from the movie next door kept jarring me awake."

You can't argue with any of those excuses.

And what about you? Share your personal memories— Where were you and what were you doing the night you weren't watching Chaplin's Mutual Comedies?

Your Favorite Pirate: Errol Fl—er—Douglas Fairbanks!

The results are in on the latest Monkey Poll: Douglas Fairbanks is your favorite swashbuckling movie pirate, besting Errol Flynn, 47-29.

Johnny Depp finished a distant third with 18 votes. Burt Lancaster received 7 votes, and Tyrone Power and "Other" received 4 each.

The 109 total votes cast was the most in Monkey Poll history, and Fairbanks's improbable comeback—he trailed Flynn by a wide margin a week ago—prompted immediate cries of monkey business.

"I just want to know how Douglas beat Errol," Thingy of Pondering Life complained. "I have made my protest known on Rotten Apples. Clearly some shenanigans in the works."

Blogger has had serious issues recently, with lost comments, disappearing posts and vanishing followers lists. The pirate poll itself exhibited strange fluctuations throughout the voting period, with 25 votes mysteriously lost at one point.

"Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the poll results," Flynn himself said early this morning in an interview conducted in my head, "I accept it. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. Now I'm going to sit on this beach and boff every willing broad I can lay my hands on, so frak off."

Tyrone Power was less gracious. "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore," he snapped before storming off the podium, "because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference." Though unclear from the context of his remarks, the assumption in the press room was that Power was referring to Cynthia Nixon whose last movie, Sex and the City 2, was a critical and commercial disaster.

As usual, though, it was Douglas Fairbanks with the last word.

"I was rich, handsome, and married to the most desirable woman in the world," he said. "That I was also once adored by millions of movie fans, and am evidently still adored by 47 discerning readers, cannot add to the happiness and satisfaction I already feel. But it doesn't hurt."

Postscript: Don't forget to participate in Monty's on-going Best Actor Tournament over at All Good Things!

Tired Of Waiting

I got tired of waiting for Blogger to get their act together, re: restoring lost comments, so I cut-and-pasted together copies of them and posted them in their respective comments sections—the posts about haikus, The Sound of Music and pirates, to be specific.

Oh, and did anyone else notice that 25 votes disappeared overnight from the poll about our favorite movie pirate?

Glass Slipper A Perfect Fit For Irene Dunne

She started Monty's March Madness tournament as a #10 seed, but Irene Dunne defeated a slew of film icons to win the title of All-Time Favorite Classic Movie Actress. Congratulations.

Dunne's road wasn't easy, and along the way, she defeated the likes of Clara Bow, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Grace Kelly and, in the final, Scarlet O'Hara herself, Vivien Leigh.

"I don't know why the public took a liking to me so fast," said the typically self-deprecating Dunne. "Popularity is a curious thing. The public responds to a dimple, a smile, a giggle, a hairstyle, an attitude. Acting talent has less to do with it than personality."

The victory wasn't without contro- versy, however. With the heavily-favored Carole Lombard holding a command- ing lead in the Silent Era/1930s regional final, the voting had to be restarted when it was discovered a computer glitch had allowed fans to stuff the ballot box in Lombard's favor. When voting resumed, Dunne won comfortably, 58-43.

Ironically, during World War II, Dunne christened the Liberty Ship S.S. Carole Lombard with the traditional bottle of champagne at its launching.

I have written about Irene Dunne before and will no doubt do so again. Here's a brief summary of her career:

Irene Dunne is best remembered now as a comedic actress, one of the finest of Hollywood's Golden Age, but if she'd had her way, she would never have made comedies at all. For most of her career, she was a singer and a dramatic actress and didn't do her first comedy until 1936, one of Katie's and my favorites, Theodora Goes Wild. At an age (38) when a flop might have ended her career, Dunne was so unsure of her ability to do comedy that she fled the country for a couple of months, hoping the studio would recast the part (those were the days of long-term contracts when even stars had little control over what they played) then reluctantly consented when it didn't. She needn't have worried—Theodora Goes Wild was a big hit and she received her second of five Oscar nominations (she never won).

Comedy, she later said, "demands more timing, pace, shading and subtlety of emphasis. It is difficult to learn but once it is acquired it can be easily slowed down and becomes an excellent foundation for dramatic acting."

Cary Grant said she was the sweetest-smelling actress he ever worked with and the regard was mutual. "I appeared with many leading men," she said. "But working with Cary Grant was different from working with other actors—he was much more fun! I think we were a successful team because we enjoyed working together tremendously, and that pleasure must have shown through onto the screen."

Dunne made her last movie in 1952 then turned her attention to politics, actively campaigning in support of Dwight Eisenhower's successful presidential bids. In 1957, Ike appointed her as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

The actress married once, to Francis Dennis Griffith in 1928. The two remained married until his death in 1965.

Dunne died of heart failure in 1990 at the age of 91.

P Is For Psycho

The results are in on the latest, inelegantly-worded Monkey poll: "Of the four biggest Oscar snubs in history as chosen by EW.com, which overlooked performance most deserved a nomination?"

22 of you agreed that of these choices, Anthony Perkins's performance in Psycho was the most deserving of a nomination—after all, it's probably the best in a horror film ever, one that influenced everything that came after it and still resonates with viewers.

15 went with EW.com's choice of Jimmy Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Vertigo, 11 with Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca and 9 with Cary Grant in The Philadelphia Story. I suspect many of us agree that Grant deserved an Oscar at some point in his career, but that maybe there were better choices—The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday and Notorious, for example.

Let's face it, more often than not, the Academy blows it come Oscar time. But that's why we have the Monkey and his Katie-Bar-The-Door awards, to correct these mistakes, and make new ones in the process.

Postscript: Don't forget to vote in the March Madness best actress tournament over at All Good Things. Today is the final of the 1940 bracket, with Ingrid Bergman squaring off against Vivien Leigh. And tomorrow, it's the 1950s bracket, featuring stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly.

March Madness, Trivial Pursuits, Favorite Songs And ... A New Poll

Lots of housekeeping to do today, blog-wise, so let's get to it:

1) The semi-final matches of the Silent Era/1930s bracket in All Good Things' best actress March Madness tournament is underway. Match-ups are number six seed Claudette Colbert versus ten seed Irene Dunne and four seed Carole Lombard versus nine seed Myrna Loy. Remember, democracy only works if you vote—and rarely even then—so click on over and do your part.

2) As for my own trivial pursuits, during Turner Classic Movies' 31 Days of Oscar marathon I passed along questions about Oscar history from TCM's monthly Now Playing magazine, 66 questions in all. No surprise, MovieNut14 answered the most questions correctly and wins the first annual Movie Nut Trivia Award, which consists of nothing more than worldwide recognition and a pat on the back. MovieNut14 is a self-described "Female teen living in upstate New York who's obsessed with movies and books." She also writes the blog Defiant Success. Check it out.

The final totals, quiz-wise:

MovieNut14—28
Erik Beck—9
Zoe—8
The Mythical Monkey himself—6
Beelzabub—3
Katie-Bar-The-Door—3
Dave—2
Jason Marshall—2
WhistlingGypsy—2
Ginger Ingenue—1
Mister Muleboy—1
Uncle Tom—1

Not to mention, the questions generated lots of comments, even from those who weren't answering the trivia, which is always fun. Thanks to everyone who participated—and, for that matter, to all those who didn't.

3) The results are in from the latest Monkey poll, "Of the top five songs in movie history, as chosen in 2004 by the American Film Institute, which is your favorite?" The results very nearly mirrored the AFI's list: "Over The Rainbow" (The Wizard Of Oz) was your favorite with 26 votes. "As Time Goes By" (Casablanca), which jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, wound up second with 16 votes. "Singin' In The Rain" (Singin' In The Rain), which was third on the AFI list, finished fourth here with 5 votes. "Moon River" (Breakfast At Tiffany's) tallied 6 votes and "White Christmas" (Holiday Inn) scored but a single vote.

You can listen to all five songs again here.

In case you're interested, Barack Obama, president of these here United States of America, mentioned earlier in the week that his favorite song from a movie is "As Time Goes By" from Casablanca. So said the Washington Post. Perhaps he's a secret reader of the Mythical Monkey. If so, welcome, Mr. President! It's a big tent we pitch here and whatever brings you to the party, here's hoping you stick around.

4) And how about a new poll? Of the four biggest Oscar snubs in history as chosen by EW.com, which overlooked performance most deserved a nomination?

Your choices are:

James Stewart (Vertigo)

Anthony Perkins (Psycho)

Cary Grant (The Philadelphia Story)

Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca)

As usual, cast your vote in the poll at the right hand side of the page.

Have fun.

Poll Results: Show Up For The Pictures, Stay For The Jibber Jabber

The results are in on the latest Monkey survey, "What first brought you to the Mythical Monkey?" Not surprisingly, the majority of you said you first arrived here either while searching for a photo (22) or by way of a link from another blog (also 22). We here at the Monkey do tend to overstuff our posts with pictures. But what would you rather look at, Louise Brooks or a long gray block of impenetrable text? That's what I thought.

Among the other answers, five of you admitted to being a friend or family member, and six of you claimed brain damage—the latter of which strikes me as either way too many or not nearly enough. Three arrived here while searching for info or a movie-specific review, one got here by way of a review on the Internet Movie Database, and four chose "other."

The one vote for "an interest in alternate Oscars" was cast by yours truly. Although I think many readers find the whole "alternate Oscar" concept, first championed by Danny Peary in his book of the same name, confusing or frankly irritating, the truth is, I wouldn't have started this blog at all except for my own obsession with "who should have won," and what little forward momentum this blog has comes strictly from my own desire to get to the next award. So I think for the time being, I'll stick with the current format even if I do wind up tweaking it a bit.

Amazingly, no one picked "word of mouth." I would have thought sitting around in a bar talking about movie blogs would rank higher, especially when "Lets go back to my place and read the Monkey together" is a proven pick-up line. (Proven in the same sense that many things on the internet are proven, which is to say I made it up.)

Which reminds me of a true story from my law school days. At the end of one especially grueling semester, I held a film festival in my apartment—twenty-four consecutive hours of wholesome movie goodness, beginning at 11 in the morning and ending sometime after breakfast the following day. It turned into a bit of an event with something like fifty people showing up and camping out, including one woman I had never met who turned down a friend of mine for a date because she was "going to some guy's film festival."

There's a moral in there some place. I just don't know what it is.