Daily Archives: May 21, 2013

Charlie Chan in Paris (1935)

Posted on May 21, 2013 | 2 comments

Charlie Chan in Paris
Directed by Lewis Seiler
1935/USA
Fox Film Corporation
First viewing

Charlie Chan: Joy in heart more desirable than bullet.

Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) visits Paris to investigate a bond forging scheme and meets up with a couple of murders in the process.

Charlie Chan in Paris 1

This is a pretty good entry in the mystery series. I was interested to see Erik Rhodes in the role of a bank employee and usually drunk. I had never seen him in anything but the two Astaire/Rogers movies in which plays comic Italians. He’s OK but his material doesn’t let him be very funny.

Clip

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Posted in 1935

Tagged 1930s, 1935, Hollywood

Roberta (1935)

Posted on May 21, 2013 | 6 comments

Roberta
Directed by William A. Seiter
1935/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing

[box] I won’t dance, why should I?/ I won’t dance, how could I? I won’t dance/ Merci beaucoup, I know that music leads the way to romance/ So if I hold you in my arms I won’t dance — “I Won’t Dance”, lyrics by by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh[/box]

Astaire and Rogers are fine in supporting roles in this screen adaptation of a Broadway musical penned by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Otto Harbach.

Roberta is the chicest of Parisian fashion houses. John (Randolph Scott), a sports hero who knows nothing about fashion inherits it from his Aunt Minnie who founded the business. He becomes partners with his aunt’s assistant and house designer Stephanie (Irene Dunne), a deposed Russian princess. The “Countess Scharwenka” (Ginger Rogers) is an important client and leading nightclub entertainer. It turns out that she is actually Liz, a boyhood neighbor of bandleader Huck (Fred Astaire). Liz gets Huck work in her act and John and Stephanie fall in love, not without many misadventures along the way.

Roberta 1

As usual, Fred and Ginger put a smile on my face. Ginger is particularly good here as the fake countess, complete with Polish accent. Irene Dunne is in top form both as an actress and a singer. Even Randolph Scott cracks a smile and loosens up a bit. Some beautiful standards came out of this: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” ; “I’ll Be Hard to Handle”; “Lovely to Look At”; and “I Won’t Dance.” All the lovely 30’s dresses are an additional bonus.

“I Won’t Dance” – And he can play the piano like that!

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Posted in 1935, Movie Reviews

Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

Posted on May 21, 2013 | 10 comments

Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages
Directed by D. W. Griffith
1916/USA
Triangle Film Corporation/Wark Producing
Repeat viewing
#5 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 7.9; I say 5.0

Prince Belshazzar: [to his princess beloved] The fragrant mystery of your body is greater than the mystery of life.

My definition of a movie I’m glad I don’t have to see again before I die: any 3+ hour D.W. Griffith silent epic. I already knew that bad things happen to good people, thank you very much. Why did you have to take so long to make your point, Mr. Griffith?

I will dispense with a plot summary. It is sufficient to note that there are four stories linked by an image of Lillian Gish as the eternal mother endlessly rocking a cradle. The stories take place in ancient Babylon; New-Testament Israel; 16th Century France; and modern-day New York. Most of them end very badly indeed for the protagonists. There is a last-minute rescue in one of the stories so we don’t all go out and commit suicide.

Intolerance 1

To be fair, this film obviously represented an important technical achievement for its time. There are also moments of some beauty. For me these are overshadowed by the general tedium and Griffith’s infantilization of women.

All Griffith’s women leads have been directed to prance around and pull “cute” faces – that is when they are not weeping. Even the Mountain Girl, who shows some bravery and initiative, behaves more like an eight-year-old tomboy than a woman warrior. I found Mae Marsh particularly annoying, though she can also be very touching as well. Griffith was lucky to find Lillian Gish, who always rises above her material.

I admit that I am influenced by my prejudice against epics and spectaculars in general. It seems to me that the more extras appear in a movie the less I like it, with some rare exceptions. Your mileage may vary.