Monthly Archives: May 2013

The Good Fairy (1935)

Posted on May 17, 2013 | 2 comments

The Good FairyGood Fairy Poster
Directed by William Wyler
1935/USA
Universal Pictures
Repeat viewing

 

Dr. Schultz:  The, uh, the pants, I mean, they’re not too tight?
Schlapkohl: That depends entirely on the girls, the pants are all the same size.

This charming film has some of my favorite actors and a witty screenplay by Preston Sturges.  It is a romantic comedy verging on the screwball.

The setting is modern-day (1935) Hungary.  A movie theater owner goes to an orphanage to find an usherette for his theater and selects the sweet, naive Luisa Ginglebuscher (Margaret Sullavan).  On one of her first days in the big city she is invited by a waiter (Reginald Owen) to a party in the hotel where he works.  At the party, she is approached by wealthy Mr. Konrad (Frank Morgan) who tries to seduce her.  This frightens Luisa and she says she is married.  Konrad is not deterred and says he will make her husband rich.  This inspires Luisa with the thought that she could do a good deed for someone like they were taught at the orphanage.  So she selects the name of lawyer Max Sporum (Herbert Marshall) from the phone book.  Konrad goes to see Sporum the next day and gives the bewildered man a lucrative five-year contract.  Sporum and Luisa meet thereafter and go on a shopping spree and things proceed from there.

Good Fairy 1

The plot description doesn’t sound too amusing but I can assure you the movie is.  The dialogue just pops.  I adore Margaret Sullavan, whom I have not seen enough of.  She would charm the pants off an alligator.  Herbert Marshall has probably never been this whimsical and it suits him.  Recommended.

Trailer

 

2 Comments

Posted in 1935, Movie Reviews

Tagged , , ,

Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 7 comments

Gold Diggers of 1935Gold Diggers of 1935 Poster
Directed by Busby Berkeley
1935/USA
Warner Bros
First viewing?

 

I could have sworn I had seen this before but now I think it’s just that the “Lullaby of Broadway” sequence has been anthologized so often.  It is fairly entertaining but does not hold a candle to those sassy, sexy pre-Code Busby Berkeley musicals.

The story concerns the staff and guests at a luxury resort.  Wealthy Mrs. Prentiss (Ann Brady) arrives with her randy son Humbolt (Frank McHugh) and bored daughter Ann (Gloria Stewart) in tow.  Soon thereafter,  Ann’s fiance, daffy millionaire snuff-box collector T. Mosley Thorpe (Hugh Herbert), shows up.  Ann hates Mosley and is longing to have fun.  Her mother agrees that she can have fun that summer if she will promise to marry Mosley afterward and hires hotel clerk Dick Curtis (Dick Powell) to escort Ann around.  It doesn’t take a genius to tell where that part of the plot is going ….

Meanwhile, impresario Nicoleff (Adolphe Menjou) is deep in debt to the hotel.  The hotel manager plots to have Nicoleff direct Mrs. Prentiss’s annual charity show.  Nicoleff plots to milk as much money out of Mrs. Prentiss as possible.  The whole thing ends with the show, naturally.  With Glenda Farrell as Mosley’s gold digging private stenographer.

Gold Diggers of 1935 1

This is closer to a traditional musical comedy than the earlier Warner backstage musicals in that the opening minutes are a kind of artificially staged narrative and Dick Powell spontaneously bursts into song a couple of times.  Everyone is pretty good and Menjou is very funny as a Russian theatrical type.  The production numbers can be rather clunky at times.  I never fail to be shocked by the tragic ending to the “Lullaby of Broadway” sequence.  It seems so out of place.  Maybe the girl needed to be punished for staying out all night?

Trailer

7 Comments

Posted in 1935

Tagged , ,

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 4 comments

Once Upon a Time in the West (“C’era una volta il West”)Once Upon a Time in the West Poster
Directed by Sergio Leone
1968/Italy
Finanzia San Marco/Rafran Cinematografica/Paramount Pictures
Repeat viewing
#479 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

Jill: What’s he waiting for out there? What’s he doing?
Cheyenne: He’s whittlin’ on a piece of wood. I’ve got a feeling when he stops whittlin’… Somethin’s gonna happen.

The Random Number Generator came through this week with a really special movie.  I’m not usually a fan of violence and this is plenty violent.  But the images and music are so beautiful and the staging is so stylish that this is a favorite.  I still don’t understand some of the plot points but that doesn’t matter too much to me either.

Once Upon a Time in the West 1

It is the time of the construction of the transcontinental railroad.  A railroad baron has hired Frank (Henry Fonda), a sadistic killer, and his gang of thugs to terrorize landowners so he can acquire land for the railroad cheap.  Frank and his men massacre Brett McBain and his family who own the land where a station will be built.  They don’t know that McBain has married and his wife Jill (Claudia Cardinale) is on the way.

once-upon-at-time-in-the-west 3

Jill meets “Harmonica” (Charles Bronson), a loner with a vendetta against Frank, and Cheyenne (Jason Robards), the leader of a bandit gang.  They protect her and go after Frank and his men.  Of course, there are numerous gun battles and other mayhem along the way.

Once Upon a Time in the West 2

In common with many classic Hollywood westerns, this is really a story about the end of the Old West due to the encroachment of “civilization” via the railroad.  The railroad is represented as corrupt and, in fact, its head is a physical as well as a moral cripple.  The mood is elegiac and almost operatic.  Scenes play out slowly and deliberately but always with a flair that keeps one’s interest.  The camera work is just amazing, with awesome close-ups and awe-inspiring vistas.

At the same time that he plays homage to several different American westerns, Leone is sending them up.  I actually laughed out loud a couple of times during the movie’s opening with Jack Elam and the fly and Woody Strode and the water dropping on his hat.  The dialogue is also vintage Leone and endlessly quotable.

Trailer

 

4 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Movie Reviews

Tagged ,

‘G’ Men (1935)

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 5 comments

‘G’ Men (1935)g-men-lobby-card
Directed by William Keighley
1935/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

 

Jeff McCord: We’re gonna make the word “government” poison to them if it’s the last thing we do.

There is something so comforting about putting a James Cagney movie into the player.  I can count on him being good and usually the movie is good as well.  In this case, the movie is quite good.  With this film, Warner Brothers transformed the gangster genre into something the Hayes Code could live with while boosting an FBI that had just received the right to carry weapons and federal crime laws to enforce.

GMenMovie-Still1

Cagney plays Brick Davis, a guy who grew up on the mean streets of the East Side but was financed by a bootlegger through law school.  When his government agent law school friend is gunned down by mobsters, Davis decides to join the Bureau, severing his ties with his benefactor and Jean, the nightclub singer who is sweet on him (Ann Dvorak).   In Washington, Davis is put under the tutelage of crusty veteran agent Jeff McCord (Robert  Armstrong) who thinks him “soft”.  Davis rapidly sets McCord straight and also impresses with his street smarts and inside info on the criminals he came up with.

The film is full of violent action, perhaps more of it than in the earlier gangster films.  Davis’s colleague is slaughtered by the mob while trying to transport one of their number to prison and there is a montage of armed bank hold-ups.  Later, after the Bureau is armed, there are a couple of spectacular gunfights.  In keeping with the Code, there is no gore and the bad guys are thoroughly despicable and thoroughly vanquished.  With Margaret Lindsay as Jeff’s sister and Brick’s love interest.

G Men 2

This movie sinks or swims on the back of Jimmy Cagney and he does not disappoint.  He has the same cocky charm and energy that Tom Powers had, with the appeal of being in the right, and a good script to work with.  Robert Armstrong plays his part with a healthy dose of humor, refreshing after his super-earnest work in King Kong.  The bad guys are all interesting.  Ann Dvorak was fine, but where did they get her dresses?  I don’t think I’m a Margaret Lindsay fan.

Re-release trailer

Poor, poor Ann Dvorak and her unfortunate costume (and routine!)

 

5 Comments

Posted in 1935

Tagged , ,

Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935)

Posted on May 15, 2013 | 2 comments

Charlie Chan in Shanghaicharlie-chan-in-shanghai-movie-poster
Directed by James Tinling
1935/USA
Fox Film Corporation
First viewing

 

Charlie Chan: Hasty conclusion like hind legs of mule – kick backwards.

Master-detective Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) travels to Shanghai ostensibly to visit the land of his ancestors but really to assist in a secret investigation.  But the British agent he was to assist is murdered at Charlie’s welcoming banquet and Charlie soon finds himself dodging murder and kidnapping attempts.  An American agent arrives and he and Charlie start on the trail of a gang of opium smugglers.  With Keye Luke as Lee, Chan’s “Number 1 Son.”

Charlie Chan in Shanghai

This is a competent, fairly standard entry in the mystery series.  It is notable for giving Oland a chance to show off his rich baritone singing voice when he entertains some children.  Number 1 Son, whom I had not encountered before, is somewhat silly but also comes to his father’s assistance in this one.

 

2 Comments

Posted in 1935

Tagged , ,

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)

Posted on May 14, 2013 | 9 comments

Ruggles of Red GapRuggles-of-Red-Gap-Poster
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

9 Comments

Posted in 1935

Tagged , , ,

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!

3 Comments

Posted in 1935, Movie Reviews

Tagged , ,

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.

1979 Theatrical Trailer – No Yoda?

2 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Movie Reviews

Tagged ,

Happiness (1935)

Posted on May 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

Happiness (“Schastye”)
Directed by Aleksandr Medvedkin
1935/USSR
Vostokfilm
First viewing

[box] Magistrate: If the peasants start killing themselves, where will we get crops?[/box]

Surreal silent Soviet propaganda comedy, quite a combo!  In Tsarist Russia, a sad sack peasant named Loser is sent by his wife on a quest to find happiness and told not to come back empty-handed. In his one piece of good luck in the film, Loser stumbles upon a merchant’s purse.  Through hard work, especially by his wife who pulls the plow, the Losers grow a bumper crop.  However, greedy clergy, landowners, and government officials take all the proceeds.  Loser decides to die.  But the authorities decide that this is not allowed, punish him and send him off to war instead.

Years pass and Loser, as bumbling as ever, settles on the local collective farm.  He still can’t win.  Everything he touches turns to disaster.  His wife, however, is a star worker and Loser finally finds happiness in the socialist state.

This horse is quite talented – he gets in the funniest positions!

This is fairly amusing and very innovative.  The characters are all quite stylized and look like they could come straight out of a Russian fairy tale.  The clergy is mocked mercilessly.  Although there is a message, lots of it is played just for laughs.  As might be expected, the film was never released commercially in the USSR.

http://vimeo.com/6060917

Extract – opening – to watch on Vimeo

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Movie Reviews

Ben-Hur (1959)

Posted on May 12, 2013 | 7 comments

Ben-Hur
Directed by William Wyler
1959/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing
#349 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Judah Ben-Hur: [after he is sentenced to the galleys] May God grant me vengeance! I will pray that you live until I return!

Messala: [ironically] Return?[/box]

This big-budget epic delivers in all the blockbuster categories.  It is approximately 27 A.D. Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a prince and the richest man in Judea.  He was a childhood friend of Messala (Stephen Boyd), a Roman who has now returned to Judea as Tribune of the occupying Romans.  Their friendship is soon severed when Ben-Hur refuses to inform on Jewish rebels. When a tile from Ben-Hur’s roof injures the Governor, he is sentenced as a galley-slave and his mother and sister are imprisoned.

Ben-Hur survives three years on the galleys and attracts the notice of Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins).  He rescues Arrius from drowning during a sea battle and earns the older man’s eternal gratitude.  He becomes a victorious chariot racer in Rome.  After Arrius formally adopts Hur, he returns to Judea to search for his mother and sister and exact revenge on Messala.  Throughout the story, Ben-Hur encounters Jesus of Nazereth, who inspires him with his mercy.

As I have mentioned before, the epic is my least favorite genre and this film combines the sword-and-sandal variant with the biblical variant.  I am also not a fan of Charlton Heston’s acting. I must obey the commands of the Random Number Generator however or I would never get around to many of the unseen movies on my List!

While I can’t say that I loved this movie, I must admit that as a pure spectacle it can’t be faulted.  The famous chariot race is particularly thrilling and the settings and costumes are great.  I enjoyed the commentary track on the Blu-Ray DVD I rented even more than the film.  This movie was MGM’s chance at salvation from bankruptcy after the studio had taken a drubbing from television.  It was also interesting to learn about the filming in Rome and the different techniques used to get the effects.

Did any one else not know that movie theaters really didn’t sell candy or popcorn in their lobbies until they started having to compete with at-home TV viewing?  I had always assumed that popcorn was a permanent fixture of movie-going.

Trailer

 

7 Comments

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Movie Reviews

Tagged , ,