Daily Archives: August 27, 2013

The General Died at Dawn (1936)

The General Died at Dawn 
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Written by Clifford Odets based on a story by Charles G. Booth
1936/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] O’Hara: I like people too much to shoot. But it’s a dark year and a hard night.[/box]

This film has beautiful cinematography and art direction but takes itself a bit too seriously.

O’Hara (Gary Cooper) is an idealistic American who is working for the oppressed by helping the opposition to cruel warlord General Yang (Akim Tameroff).  His mission is to deliver a large sum of money to Shanghai where it will be used to buy arms for the rebels. He is warned to travel by plane only and to exercise extreme caution.  General Yang’s men employ Peter Perrie (Porter Hall) to help them part O’Hara from the money and to take it to Shanghai to rearm General Yang’s forces..

Perrie, who is ill and dreams of escaping China, enlists his very reluctant daughter Judy (Madeleine Carroll) to lure O’Hara onto the train.  Yang intercepts O’Hara on the train and gives the money to Perrie.  But Perrie has no intention of using it to buy arms …

I was really looking forward to this film as I have enjoyed the other Gary Cooper Paramount pictures from the 30’s.  Cooper was fine as was most of the rest of the cast.  The problem was with the screenplay which was full of little speeches about the rights of man.  This significantly slowed the pace of the action.  Also, the character actor Porter Hall has a much bigger than usual role here and used the opportunity to overdo things.  It’s worth a look but could have been so much better.

Fan trailer

 

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

The Great Ziegfeld
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
Written by William Anthony McGuire
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Repeat viewing

 

[box] Fanny Brice: Tell Mr Ziegfeld, I’m not in and if I was in, I wouldn’t see him and if I did see him, tell him, I wouldn’t buy a thing.[/box]

This extravagant musical biopic won Oscars for Best Production, Best Actress (Louise Ranier), and Best Dance Direction (“A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody”) and was nominated for four more.  While it is over-long and its luster has faded with time, it is worth seeing for a glimpse at the stage acts of Fannie Brice and Ray Bolger and for its cast.

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. (William Powell) is a young man with a dream.  Early on, he shows his genius by figuring out how to take business from friendly rival Billings’ (Frank Morgan) Little Egypt act at the Chicago World’s fair.  He then proceeds to steal French actress/singer Anna Held (Louise Ranier) from Billings although he has no money.  It helps that he steals Anna’s heart in the process and marries her.

Flo has a couple of signature vices:  he cannot resist a pretty woman and he spends money like water.  His peccadilloes end up in heartbreak for adoring Anna.  Still, Ziegfield goes from strength to strength on Broadway with his Follies and musical comedies. Finally he finds contentment and stability in his marriage to Billie Burke (Myrna Loy).  Just as Ziegfeld has made his greatest triumph by having four hits on Broadway at once, he is felled by the crash of 1929 and ill health.

MGM evidently couldn’t decide whether to focus on the plot or the musical numbers so went for both – resulting in a movie that is almost three hours long.  The numbers are lavish, so much so that they now look a bit like camp.  (I was astounded at the closing “circus” routine where about 20 chorus girls dance their hearts out around 5 Russian Wolfhounds that stand stock still while legs kick inches from their faces.)  The costumes put a Vegas review to shame in magnificence and in ludicrousness.  Ziegfeld’s taste is repeatedly vaunted in the movie but I couldn’t see it myself.

I can remember being shown Louise Ranier’s telephone scene in drama class in high school as an example of good acting.  I thought her performance held up well.  The win for Best Actress was controversial as she appears only in the first half of the picture and probably would be considered a supporting actress today.  Ranier was the first thespian ever to win two back-to-back Oscars, receiving her next for her more substantial work in The Good Earth the following year.  Her star fell rapidly thereafter.

Powell and Loy are fun to watch as usual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf7Nzv0HFO0

Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RvGd2S3I8M

Clip – “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody”