Best Films – 1931

Willi Fritsch and Lilian Harvey in Congress Dances
FILM
À nous la liberté / Liberty for Us
d, scr: René Clair
City Streets
d: Rouben Mamoulian; scr: Max Marcin, Oliver H. P. Garrett, Dashiell Hammett
Daybreak
d: Jacques Feyder; scr: Ruth Cummings, Cyril Hume, Zelda Sears
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
d: Rouben Mamoulian; scr: Samuel Hoffenstein, Percy Heath
Five Star Final
d: Mervyn LeRoy; scr: Robert Lord, Byron Morgan
Der Kongreß tanzt / Congress Dances
d: Erik Charell; scr: Norbert Falk, Robert Liebmann
The Maltese Falcon / Dangerous Female
d: Roy del Ruth; scr: Maude Fulton, Lucien Hubbard, Brown Holmes
The New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
d: Sam Wood; scr: Charles MacArthur
The Public Enemy
d: William A. Wellman; scr: Kubec F. Glasmon, [...]

Claude Berri

The Bear, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and produced by Claude Berri (top); Gérard Depardieu, Yves Montand in the Claude Berri-directed drama Jean de Florette (bottom)

Filmmaker Claude Berri, best known internationally for Jean de Florette (1988) and its sequel, Manon of the Spring (1989), died Jan. 12 after suffering a stroke. Berri was directing his 20th film, Trésor, when he fell ill. He was 74.
Beginning in the early 1950s, Berri worked as an actor, director, writer, and producer. He was never a big name in front of the cameras, but in the other three capacities he became one of the most important and influential figures in French cinema.
Among Berri’s films as a producer are Milos Forman’s Taking Off (1971) [...]