Monthly Archives: December 2013

Mars Attacks the World
Directed by Ford Beebe and Robert F. Hill
Written by Roy Trampe, Norman S. Hall et al
1938/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon Watch Instant

[box] Tagline: MARTIANS ATTACK! WORLD INVADED! SPACE-GUN INVADERS! MARS DESTROYS EARTH! (original poster) [/box]

Retitled to capitalize on Welles’ War of the Worlds radio sensation, this is a condensed feature version of a 15-part serial entitled “Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars”.  At 68 minutes, it was the perfect mindless entertainment.

Unnatural disasters are wreaking havoc on earth (lots of nifty stock footage of typhoons, etc.)  The scientific community has been helpless to find a theory of the cause.  At a secret location, Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) and Dr. Zarkov have determined that the source is a ray originating in Planet Mongo.  So Flash, Zarkov and Dale hop on a convenient rocket ship (in their street clothes).  They soon find that irritating comic-relief reporter Happy Hapgood is a stowaway and the source is not Planet Mongo but Mars.  The rocket ship breaks down but the plucky crew is able to make a safe crash landing.

It turns out that Ming the Merciless, Emperor of Mongo, is behind the ray and is intent on destroying the universe, starting with Earth.  Her Magnificence, Queen Azura of Mars is in league with him.   Too many adventures to recount follow.

I thought this was so much fun!  Of course, you have to toss out all logic and knowledge of the laws of physics to enjoy it.  The condensed format works really well.  Just as one hair-raising adventure ends another begins so there is never a dull moment.  I particularly enjoy Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless in these things.  He is the personification of campy evil.

Sailing Along
Directed by Sonnie Hale
Written by Sonnie Hale, Selwyn Jepson and Lesser Samuels
1938/UK
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon Watch Instant Prime

[box] Of Jessie Matthews in this film: Roger Phillip Mellor, in the Encyclopedia of British Cinema, notes ” …the image of her in Sailing Along (d. Hale, 1938), in a white evening gown, with a gentleman’s black top hat and walking cane, performing ‘Souvenir of Love’ in Lime Grove’s art deco luxury sets, indelibly incarnates 1930s style.”[/box]

This pleasant musical introduced me to British musical star Jessie Matthews.

Kay (Matthews) works on a barge with her adoptive father and boatman Steve, whom she secretly adores and openly battles.  One day, as she is singing and dancing while floating down the river, she catches the eye of wealthy Mr. Gulliver (Roland Young).  Gulliver decides she is a genius like his cracked painter protegé Sylvester (Alistair Sim).  He grooms Kay for stardom and introduces her to American song and dance man Dicky Randall.  Dicky falls for Kay in a big way while Dicky’s wife tries to seduce Steve.  Singing, dancing, and complications ensue.

Jessie Matthews was quite a talented dancer and a fair singer and actress in that 30’s musical kind of way.  The musical numbers are entertaining.  Roland Young and Alistair Sim are the gravy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eip5NHvwOTM

Clip – singing and dancing to “Souvenir of Love”

The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (“Detstvo Gorkogo”}
Directed by Mark Donskoy
Written by Mark Donskoy and Ilya Gruzdev based on books by Maxim Gorky
1938/USSR
Soyuzdetfilm
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “…I couldn’t believe any longer that all this was in earnest and that tears came hard to them. All those tears and shouts, and all the suffering they inflicted on each other, all those conflicts that died away just as quickly as they flared up, had now become an accepted part of my life, disturbed me less and less, and hardly left any impression. Long afterwards I understood that to Russians, through the poverty and squalor of their lives, suffering comes as a diversion, is turned into a game and they play at it like children and rarely feel ashamed of their misfortune. In the monotony of everyday existence grief comes as a holiday…” — Maxim Gorky, My Childhood[/box]

I have a fraught relationship with Soviet films in general, but I love this coming-of-age biography.

Twelve-year-old Alexei Peshkov (later Gorky) is brought by his single mother to live with her parents and brothers in the country.  From the first day, Alexei is surrounded by chaos. His grandfather, who runs a dying business, is in a constant rage and lashes out at anyone who crosses his path with beatings.  His two uncles fight non-stop over who will get the bigger share of the business from their father, who, in any case, does not seem willing to part with it any time soon.  Alexei’s mother can’t bear the situation and soon departs for the city, leaving Alexei to cope on his own.

Alexei is blessed with a loving grandmother and forms warm relationships with a young apprentice, an old employee who is losing his sight, and an intellectual who rents a room in the house.  The family’s lot worsens as its financial situation grows more and more desperate. All these forces seem only to make Alexei stronger.

This film is superbly acted and shot.  I can’t understand why it is not better known.  The story is told without any sentimentality or hyperbole and seems very real. There is no overt political content.  While it is not for the faint of heart, it has my enthusiastic recommendation.

Clips from The Childhood of Maxim Gorky and J. K. Tham’s Scavengers of Antang, Makassar  (first 5+ minutes are from “Childhood”)

Four Daughters
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Julius J. Epstein and Lenore J. Coffee from a story by Fannie Hurst
1938/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Warner Archives DVD

[box] Adam Lemp: I’m going down to the Hall of Records to strike my name off your birth certificates![/box]

John Garfield knocks one out of the park in his feature film debut.  If only the material had been as good as his performance …

Cantankerous but kindly old flautist Adam Lemp (Claude Rains) has raised a bevy of lovely musically talented daughters who are all now of marriageable age.  The eldest Kay (Rosemary Lane) has already snagged a beau.  One day Felix , a young composer, comes to introduce himself to Adam.  He ends up moving in and all the sisters become infatuated with him.  Felix is drawn to the fun-loving youngest daughter Ann (Priscilla Lane).  But soon his friend, fellow composer Mickey Borden arrives, and is immediately smitten with Ann who takes him under her wing.  The rest of the movie follows the unusual, to say the least, progression of this love triangle.  That’s all I think I should reveal about the plot.

To start off with the positive, the film is very well-made and the three Lane sisters and Gale Page are charming as the daughters.  The early parts reminded me of a modern-day Little Women full of good-natured family banter.  And Garfield’s performance is truly electrifying if a bit incongruous.  He seems to have stepped straight out of Actor’s Studio in New York into the warm embrace of Capra’s small town America.  Unfortunately, contrary to the film maker’s intent, I found the Mickey character to be an unsympathetic whiner and his “noble” gesture to be a cop-out.  In fact, I couldn’t believe that any part of the love triangle would have played out the way it did. Maybe in Hurst’s world but not in this one …

Claude Rains can do no wrong as far as I am concerned but it is clear from the film why he was not called on to play many avuncular father roles of this type.

Four Daughters was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Picture; Best Director; Best Supporting Actor (Garfield); Best Screenplay and Best Sound Recording.

Clip – John Garfield’s feature film debut

Nancy Drew: Detective
Directed by William Clemens
Written by Kenneth Gamet from a story by Mildred Wirt Benson
1938/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Nancy Drew:  I think intelligent women should have careers.[/box]

This was my first foray into the cinematic world of girl detective Nancy Drew and I thought it was a ton of fun.

An elderly alumna makes a sizable donation to Nancy’s school, then promptly “goes away for her health”.  Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) smells a rat and with the help of her friend Ted Nickerson begins to investigate.  Nancy gets some help from her lawyer father but is in general more than a match for the bad guys.

Bonita Granville really matched my mental image of the cheerful, plucky, and resourceful Nancy.  I loved watching her drive around in that roadster.  I wouldn’t want to oversell this “B” fare but if you have any affection at all for the books, I’d recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsvU2apXJus

Fan video – Clips from this and Nancy Drew: Reporter  (1939) set to “Nice Day” by Persephone’s Bees

Prison Break
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Written by Dorothy Davenport; story by Norman S. Parker
1938/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing; Netflix rental

Despite the usually reliable leads, I thought this was a bit of a stinker.

Good-guy Joaquin Shannon (Barton MacLane) is a tuna fisherman and pillar of the community.  For some unexplained reason, the father and brother of his sweetie Jean (Glenda Farrell) will do anything to prevent their relationship.  One night, Jean’s brother goes to a bar where Joaquin is hosting a bachelor party for Joaquin’s brother Chris.  Chris gets very drunk at the party.  In the meantime, shady character Big Red Kincaid (Ward Bond) spots Jean’s brother’s bankroll at the bar and kills him in the street.  When Chris walks up the stranger clobbers Chris and flees.  Joaquin comes upon this scene and assumes Chris killed the brother.  He takes the rap for manslaughter and goes to prison for 1 – 10 years.  His plan is to be on good behavior for a year and earn parole. But naturally Big Red turns up and Joaquin’s life both inside and, eventually outside, the prison is one fight after another, through no fault of Joaquin.  There is no on-screen prison break.

Believe it or not, my plot summary takes up well less than half of this 72 minute movie and I left out the extensive fishing scenes at the beginning.  I also left out the many ridiculous deus ex machinas included in the second half.   Despite the crowded story, I thought the movie dragged terribly.  The director is better known for the series of Abbott and Costello movies.  His forte is clearly not drama.