Daily Archives: May 14, 2013

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)

Posted on May 14, 2013 | 9 comments

Ruggles of Red Gap
Directed by Leo McCarey
1935/USA
Paramount Pictures
Repeat viewing

Egbert Floud: [pouring champagne] What you want is… is… is… some more of this imprisoned laughter of the pleasant maids of France.

This seldom mentioned treasure is one of the reasons I keep watching these old movies! It has a perfect cast, a wonderful script, and is expertly directed by Leo McCarey.

The time is the Gay 90’s. The place is Paris. Charles Laughton plays Ruggles, the proper English valet to the Earl of Burnstead (Roland Young). The Earl “loses” Ruggles to the rough-and-ready American Egbert Floud (Charlie Ruggles) in a poker game. Mrs. Floud has taken a fancy to Ruggles because she thinks he can civilize her boisterous husband and improve her social standing. Egbert immediately treats Ruggles as his equal, much to Ruggles’ embarrassment.

The Flouds soon return with Ruggles to Red Gap in Wild West Washington State. Due to a misunderstanding, society thinks that Ruggles is a house guest of the Floud’s and they are hard-pressed to deny it. In the meantime, Ruggles is introduced to American ways. Then the Earl comes to visit and Ruggles has some decisions to make. With Zasu Pitts as Ruggles’ lady love and Leila Heims as the local “bad girl”.

Ruggles of Red Gap 1

I smiled throughout this entire film, even when I had a little tear in my eye. I think this is Charlie Ruggles’ finest performance, and I always like him. Roland Young and Zasu Pitts are also perfectly charming. And just watch Charles Laughton recite the Gettysburg Address! This movie is great. My highest recommendation.

Peter Bogdanovich comments on the film with clips

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Posted in 1935

Tagged 1930s, 1935, Hollywood, McCarey

Mark of the Vampire (1935)

Posted on May 14, 2013 | 3 comments

Mark of the Vampire
Directed by Tod Browning
1935/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

[box] Prof. Zelin: We must all die. There’s nothing terrible about death, but to live on after death, a soul earth-bound, a vampire. You don’t wish any such fate for your beloved.[/box]

This is a sound re-make of the famous lost silent horror picture, London After Midnight, which starred Lon Chaney. It also shares a lot of themes with Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula. The film begins in the same ambiguous Middle European milieu with the peasants all convinced that there are vampires in their midst. Soon Sir Karell, a local aristocrat, is found dead with tell-tale marks on his throat and his body drained dry of blood. The doctor names the cause of death as vampire attack but the police inspector (Lionel Atwill) is not buying it. Sir Karrell’s daughter’s (Elizabeth Allan) wedding plans are disrupted and she goes to live with her guardian (Jean Herscholt). A year later, the daughter is visited by a shrouded female apparition on the terrace and a Van Helsing-like professor (Lionel Barrymore) is called in. With a mostly silent Bela Lugosi again in his Dracula cape as “Count Mora”.

To those that like this sort of thing, this will be a hell of a lot of fun. The mechanical bats with their visible wires and the possums lurking in the creepy castle only add to the experience. The plot doesn’t bear much scrutiny but I found it satisfying in the end. The cast is top-notch and any over-acting works in this context. The comic relief maid is less annoying than many such characters.

I watched this as part of the Hollywood Legends of Horror collection which gathers six MGM horror movies of the 1930s. I particularly liked the commentary track on this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKoia0nGKbQ

Trailer – soooo camp! so fun!

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Posted in 1935, Movie Reviews

Tagged 1930s, 1935, Hollywood

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Posted on May 14, 2013 | 2 comments

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
Directed by Irvin Kershner
1980/USA
Lucasfilm
Repeat viewing
#663 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 8.8/10; I say 8.0/10

[box] Luke: All right, I’ll give it a try.

Yoda: No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.[/box]

I watched it, I was entertained, and somehow I am stumped for anything else to say. This is kind of a western in space where a hard-pressed but plucky band of rebels fight the might of an evil empire. I remember very little of the plot of the previous part so am not exactly sure how the crew got where they are.

The rebel forces are hiding out from the Empire on an isolated frozen planet called Hoth where they have various encounters with ice monsters, etc. before being located and attacked by imperial forces. Luke Skywalker receives a visitation from the spirit of Obi Wan Kanobe telling him to go to Dagobah for Jedi training. After a battle, Han and Leia escape with imperial fighters in hot pursuit and Luke goes separately to Dagobah.

There Luke meets Yoda, a Jedi master, who attempts to discipline the impatient hot-tempered youth to the ways of the Force. Luke eventually calms down but during his training has a vision that Han and Leia are in danger. Despite being warned by both Yoda and Obi Wan that he should finish his training, Luke decides to take off for Bespin where Han and Leia have fallen into a trap and where Darth Vader and imperial forces wait to capture Luke.

In the meantime, Han and Leia have gone to the planet of Bespin where Han’s friend Lalo Calrissian runs a mining operation. Darth Vader and his imperial forces are lieing in wait. Vader turns Han over to a bounty hunter and imprisons Leia. His real prey is Luke. When Luke arrives he engages in a mano-a-mano light saber fight with Vader. Vader urges Luke to join him on the dark side but Luke refuses. Will Luke survive? Will the trio be reunited? If you don’t know, I won’t tell.

I cannot deny that the Star Wars series is a must-see as it launched a new generation of special effects that still inspire film makers today. Other than that, it is an entertaining action-packed adventure with clear good guys and bad guys and a definite code of morality. I like the fact that the technology is so fallible and the humans are the bosses of the robots. However, I don’t connect with it on an emotional level.