Best Films - 1931
by Andre Soares
In the early 1920s, Ricardo Cortez was heralded by Famous Players-Lasky (later known by the name of its distributing arm, Paramount) as the next Valentino. That didn’t happen, but Cortez did have a prolific career in silent films and early talkies. His sexy and suave Sam Spade in the 1931 adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon is quite likely Cortez’s best performance and best film. We must add that we much prefer the straightforward 1931 version of Hammett’s crime novel to the revered 1941 adaptation. Cortez’s Spade is one of the reasons.
FILM
The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female
À nous la liberté / Liberty for Us
City Streets
Daybreak
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Five Star Final
Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances
The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
The Public Enemy
Smart Money
DIRECTOR
Rouben Mamoulian (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Erik Charell (Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances)
René Clair (À nous la liberté / Liberty for Us)
Roy del Ruth (The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female)
Jacques Feyder (Daybreak)
Alfred E. Green (Smart Money)
Rouben Mamoulian (City Streets)
William Wellman (The Public Enemy)
Sam Wood (The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford)
ACTOR
Edward G. Robinson (Five Star Final)
John Barrymore (The Mad Genius)
Ricardo Cortez (The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female)
Willy Fritsch (Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances)
Boris Karloff (Frankenstein)
Edmund Lowe (Transatlantic)
Ramon Novarro (Daybreak)
Raimu (Marius)
Edward G. Robinson (Smart Money)
Michel Simon (La Chienne / The Bitch)
ACTRESS
Lilian Harvey (Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances)
Marlene Dietrich (Dishonored)
Greta Garbo (Mata Hari)
Miriam Hopkins (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Miriam Hopkins (The Smiling Lieutenant)
Ona Munson (The Hot Heiress)
Sylvia Sidney (City Streets)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Paul Lukas (City Streets)
Charpin (Marius)
Dudley Digges (The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female)
Boris Karloff (Five Star Final)
Guy Kibbee (City Streets)
Fredric March (The Royal Family of Broadway)
Otto Matieson (The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female)
Carl-Heinz Schroth (Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances)
Ernest Torrence (The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Aline MacMahon (Five Star Final)
Louise Fazenda (Cuban Love Song)
Janie Marèze (La Chienne / The Bitch)
Edna May Oliver (Cimarron)
SCREENPLAY
Maude Fulton, Lucien Hubbard & Brown Holmes (The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female)
René Clair (À nous la liberté / Liberty for Us)
Ruth Cummings, Cyril Hume & Zelda Sears (Daybreak)
Kubec Glasmon, John Bright, Lucien Hubbard & Joseph Jackson (Smart Money)
Samuel Hoffenstein & Percy Heath (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
Charles Lederer & Bartlett Cormack (The Front Page)
Robert Lord & Byron Morgan (Five Star Final)
Charles MacArthur (The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford)
Max Marcin, Oliver H. P. Garrett & Dashiell Hammett (City Streets)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Carl Hoffman (Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances)
Floyd Crosby & Robert Flaherty (Tabu)
William H. Daniels (Mata Hari)
George J. Folsey (The Smiling Lieutenant)
Karl Freund (Dracula)
Lee Garmes (City Streets)
Merritt B. Gerstad (Daybreak)
James Wong Howe (Transatlantic)
Barney McGill (The Mad Genius)
Karl Struss (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
"Best Films of …" Annual List
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