Dimples Directed by William A. Seiter
Written by Arthur Sheekman and Ned Perrin from an idea by Nunnally Johnson
1936/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing
[box] Prof. Eustace Appleby: I was quite a matinee idol in those days, you know. I still get letters from ladies in the towns where I played.
Dimples: Yes, landladies.[/box]
“Dimples” (Shirley Temple) is an urchin dancing on the streets of 1850 New York for pennies under the tutelage of her loveable con-artist/thief grandfather (Frank Morgan). When she dances for a society party, the hostess Mrs. Drew (Helen Westley) falls in love with her and wants to adopt her. But Dimples doesn’t really want to leave her grandfather. There is a subplot that involves Mrs. Drew’s nephew who wants to put on a production of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Dimples ends up playing Little Eva in that, among a cast of black-faced actors. The whole thing ends in a minstrel show number. With Stepin Fetchit as grandfather’s servant.
Shirley Temple with Frank Morgan
This is mediocre when it isn’t offensive. Shirley has lost a lot of her uncalculated charm and the songs aren’t memorable.
Fury Directed by Fritz Lang
Written by Bartlett Corbett and Fritz Lang based on a story by Norman Krasna
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing
[box] Joe Wilson: I’ll give them a chance that they didn’t give me. They will get a legal trial in a legal courtroom. They will have a legal judge and a legal defense. They will get a legal sentence and a legal death.[/box]
Fritz Lang remained a very powerful director after he emigrated to the United States. This, his first film after he left Germany, hits on all cylinders and addresses some of the same themes explored in M.
Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) is an ordinary decent working stiff who is saving up to marry his fiancée Katherine (Sylvia Spencer). Katherine finds a better job in Washington State and the two part until they are more financially secure. Joe cautions his younger brothers to respect the law and ends up opening a gas station with them.
After a year of separation, Joe happily sets off to Washington in his car to marry Katherine. On the way, he is stopped by a deputy sheriff (Walter Brennan) on the lookout for a gang of child kidnappers. He is taken into the small town’s sheriff’s station where he is found to have peanuts in his pockets (peanut debris was found in the kidnappers’ abandoned car) and a five dollar bill that matches the serial number of the ransom money. The sheriff holds Joe in jail while he investigates further. In the meantime, the rumor mill manufactures a case against him that whips locals into an angry mob.
Fritz Lang delivered with a dark and cynical film that once again explores mob violence, this time from the perspective of an innocent man. Fury also warns Americans how easily the Constitution and system of justice can be ignored or perverted when faced by the raw emotion of the crowd. In fact, law enforcement and the courts are shown to be weak safeguards. At one point, a character remarks that foreigners are more familiar with the Constitution than native-born Americans because immigrants must study it to become citizens.
I just love the way the film builds from the initial romance to a gradual game of “telephone” like rumor mongering to explosive action and then to cold vengeance. All these aspects are captured with Lang’s expressionist eye. I think this is one of Spencer Tracy’s greatest performances and the rest of the cast does a good job. The score by Franz Waxman helps to heighten the drama. Highly recommended.
I cannot understand why Fury is not currently available on DVD — I watched it on Amazon’s streaming service.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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