Daily Archives: November 30, 2013

A Christmas Carol
Directed by Edwin R. Marin
Written by Hugo Butler from a novel by Charles Dickens
1938/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing

[box] “Bah,” said Scrooge, “Humbug.” ― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol[/box]

Dickens’ classic Christmas story gets the MGM treatment.

Skinflint Ebenezer Scrooge (Reginald Owen) thinks Christmas is for fools until he is visited by his deceased partner’s ghost (Leo G. Carroll) and the Spirits of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come.  With Gene Lockhart as Bob Crachit.

This festive adaptation takes most of the scares, pathos, and interest out of the original.  I thought Reginald Owens’ Scrooge was converted much too easily.  I’m afraid I am an Alastair Sim purist when it comes to A Christmas Carol.

The DVD I received contained some interesting extras – “Jackie Cooper’s Christmas Party”  (1931), a kind of Christmas card from MGM with lots of its stars; Judy Garland singing “Silent Night” (1937); and “Peace on Earth” (1939), an anti-war Technicolor cartoon in which Grandpa Squirrel explains to the youngsters what “men” were and how they destroyed themselves.

Trailer

The Dawn Patrol
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Written by Seton I. Miller and Dan Totheroh from a story by John Monk Saunders
1938/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

[box] Lt. ‘Scotty’ Scott: It’s a funny war.

Phipps: [sadly] No, not awfully.[/box]

I really enjoyed the acting in this all-male war film.

In 1915 France, Major Brand (Basil Rathbone) commands a unit of the Royal Fighting Corps.  He loses pilots on every mission and these are replaced by increasingly green recruits.  Flying aces Courtney (Errol Flynn) and Scott (David Niven) buck the odds and spend their evenings drinking and engaging in devil-may-care banter.  The mood darkens when Brand is promoted for a successful daring raid by Courtney.  Courtney then takes over the heavy task of executing the orders from the High Command straining relations with his former comrades.  With Donald Crisp as an aide-de-camp.

The story didn’t particularly stand out for me but I thought all the leads were fantastic.  It was nice to see Basil Rathbone without a sword in his hand.  The film makes a good contrast from the many heroic RAF WWII dramas that would come just a couple of years later.

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

Trailer