George Cukor
George Cukor
RANKED:
8. Camille (1936)
By 1936, George Cukor was on a hot streak in Hollywood. His film earned studios lots of money and he got to work with the best and most talented actors for his projects. 1936's "Camille" was no exception, as it found him collaborating with the iconic Greta Garbo. Although this film would fall in the climax of her acting career, she delivered such an outstanding performance that many considered it her best work. The films success allowed Cukor to continue being one of the top director working in the industry.
7. David Copperfield (1935)
MGM's 1935 film "David Copperfield" is perhaps the greatest adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens novel. Directed by George Cukor, the adaptation was a passion project for producer David O. Selznick, whose Russian father learned English through the Dickens novel. It is a classical coming-of-age tale of a young orphan boy who learns the perils and triumphs of life growing up in Victorian England.
6. The Women (1939)
After George Cukor was fired from directing duties on "Gone with the Wind," he instead turned to adapting the 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce's stage play "The Women." What's unique about this film is that the entirety of its 130 speaking roles are all played by women. Considered an ensemble piece, the film centers on a group of high society women as they deal with their respective romances and relationships. The film stars a group of the most recognizable and famous actresses of the 1930s and 1940s, including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, and Joan Fontaine.
5. Holiday (1938)
In a year in which Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn starred together already in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy "Bringing Up Baby," they were reunited once again for George Cukor's "Holiday." In a philosophical battle between spending your life hoarding wealth and actually living it through challenging experiences, a self-made man and the daughter of a wealthy banker see eye-to-eye. Although it rubbed audiences still unable to find jobs after the Depression the wrong way, critics lauded the film as a modernized contest between young New Dealer values and Old Reactionary economists. Regardless, the on-screen chemistry between Grant and Hepburn is palpable and the pairing makes for a fine motion picture.
4. Dinner at Eight (1933)
"Dinner at Eight," adapted from the Edna Ferber stage play of the same name, was a breakout success for director George Cukor. It features a cast of characters all intertwined through the expectation of attending a dinner party at the wealthy Jordan residence. However, all of the characters face critical and existential moments leading up to the dinner party, as they all scramble to re-evaluate their lives. Many are finding difficulties in living the same extravagant lives they're accustomed to pre-Depression. Some are failing in health. Some are getting older and irrelevant. The characters are all living lives that are fracturing and falling apart at the seams. Perhaps this is a narrative of a crumbling American society post-Depression. Perhaps it is simply a star-studded ensemble that forays into the shattering lives of the American elite. Either way, its intricate plot and characters suck you in.
3. Born Yesterday (1950)
By 1950, American cinema was so drenched in the film noir movement and its complex view of morality that thematic stylings of George Cukor was becoming too reductive and 'old-fashioned.' However, this is precisely why his 1950 film "Born Yesterday" works so well. Starring Judy Holliday in perhaps her greatest role, the film details the story of a young uneducated woman who begins to learn about the world around her and the philosophical backbone of the country she's in. Through this, she begins to learn just how corrupt her tycoon husband really is. "Born Yesterday" plays like a throwback to a 1930s American film, along with its sentimentality and earnestness. This works so well because the direct contrast to the more modern, complex films America was churching out at the time illustrated that morality and American values were not so complex as to not engage with. Good can simply be good and bad can simply be bad. One certainly can't change the evolving corruption of American institutions, but becoming educated and bettering yourself is certainly the place to start, even if its just in your own immediate life.
2. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
It is a bit bizarre to think that the iconic Hollywood actress Katharine Hepburn was once labeled 'box office poison.' However, this was the case in the late 1930s. To revitalize her image to remove this moniker from her status, he took the stage production of "The Philadelphia Story," of which she was the star, acquired the film rights, and ensembled a team to realize it onto the big screen. Her frequent directing partner, George Cukor, was tasked with directing. With an ensemble powerhouse cast consisting of both Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart to star along side Hepburn, "The Philadelphia Story" turned out to be as much of a grand success as its stage counterpart. In the end, Hepburn was able to fully realize the film to get back at all those who felt her time in Hollywood was coming to an end. Ironic and laughable now, considering Hepburn went on to be a star of the Hollywood screen for the next 40+ years.
1. Gaslight (1944)
Even though the 1944 George Cukor film "Gaslight" is based on a 1938 stage play by Patrick Hamilton, it is still the film from which we all use the term 'gaslighting.' Centering on a woman who is manipulated and driven crazy by her new husband as he continually accuses her of things she didn't do, lies to her about reality, and is intentionally making her believe that she is going mad. All of this in order to steal her family's inheritance. Cukor, who had been known for making films in the 1930s about how out-of-touch the wealthy class are, was now transitioning to align with the new bleaker, nihilistic tone of Hollywood films (due to the anxiety over the ongoing war). "Gaslight" dives into just how sadistic people (men, especially) can be and just how far they're willing to go for greed. The results are those are fall into their manipulations and the warped reality of oppression and well...gaslighting, right?
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