Monthly Archives: June 2022

Sons of the Desert (1933)

Posted on June 9, 2022 | 6 comments

Sons of the Desert
Directed by William A. Seiter
Written by Frank Craven
1933/US
Hal Roach Studios
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Oliver: Do you have to ask your wife everything?
Stan: If I didn’t ask her, I wouldn’t know what she wanted me to do.

Is this the funniest of the Laurel and Hardy features? Quite possibly.

Stan and Ollie are members of a crazy sort of lodge called The Sons of the Desert. The leader of their group makes everyone swear to attend the national convention in Chicago. But Ollie’s wife refuses to let him go in the most vehement way possible. Stan’s wife is more lenient.

So Ollie fakes an illness and gets a doctor (actually a veterinarian) to recommend a sea cruise to Honolulu. His wife is persuaded to let him go without her since she doesn’t like water. The boys, of course, head straight to Chicago. They are in trouble throughout. Most especially when they get home. With Mae Busch as Hardy’s wife and Dorothy Christy as Laurel’s.

I loved the “two peas in a pot/pod/pod-ah” gag, all the broken crockery, and the “Honolulu Baby” number and reprises. A whole lot of fun.

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1931

Five Star Final (1931)

Posted on June 6, 2022 | Leave a comment

Five Star Final
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Byron Morgan and Robert Lord from a play by Louis Weitzenkorn
1931/US
First National Pictures (Warner Bros.)
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Miss Taylor: I think you can always get people interested in the crucifixion of a woman.

Mervyn LeRoy and company deliver a hard-hitting social consciousness film about the gutter press.

Joseph Randall (Edward G. Robinson) is managing editor of a tabloid rag. The paper’s owners are concerned about declining circulation and come up with the loony and heartless idea of resurrecting a 20-year-old murder case. A jury acquitted a young woman named Nancy Voorhees after she killed her employer who had impregnated her. Randall is ordered to find out what happened to the woman and her baby. He sends out unscrupulous reporter T. Vernon Isopod to dig up the dirt.

Voorhees married a man named Thompson (H.B. Warner) and the couple raised her daughter Jenny (Marian Marsh) as their own. They have had a happy life and now Jenny is engaged to marry the son of a high society family. Isopod poses as a preacher and the Townsends assume he has come to call about the wedding. This gives the paper enough to print a story with lurid headlines. Much tragedy ensues. With Aline MacMahon in her film debut as Randall’s adoring but disgusted secretary.

This is heavy on the melodrama but is saved by the excellent performances of Robinson, MacMahon and Marsh. Worth seeing.

Five Star Final was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qL1fs1c6k

Spoilerish

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Posted in 1931, Pre-Code Reviews

I Was Born, But … (1932)

Posted on June 5, 2022 | Leave a comment

I Was Born, But … (Otona no miru ehon – Umarete wa mita keredo)
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Written by Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Fushimi and Geibei
1932/Japan
Shochiku
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

“Boys [should be] inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system”. ― R. M. Ballantyne

I absolutely love Ozu’s silent comedy about fitting in and growing up.

Yoshi (Tatsuo Saito) receives a promotion and he and wife Haha and sons Keiji (Tomio Aoki) and Ryoichi move to the suburbs. The first part of the film involves the boy’s efforts to fit in and find a high place in the pecking order with the local gang of kids. Much of this is quite hilarious. These boys are all boy!

Yoshi’s boys confront this when they move to a new neighborhood.

The second comes about when they find out that their father plays the clown to win points with his boss, who is also the father of one of the kids in the gang. The boys are so disgusted they go on a hunger strike. Then the story focuses more on the choices adults make.

This is a story that resonates in every time and culture. In fact, Ozu remade it 27 years later as Good Morning (1959), in which two boys refuse to speak until their parents buy them a TV. The first time I saw this it was in a completely silent version with no music. Within about 5 minutes I was totally absorbed in the story. This is a funny movie with a little serious commentary on the disappointments of adulthood. Several full versions are currently available on YouTube for free.

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Posted in 1932

Queen Christina (1933)

Posted on June 4, 2022 | 2 comments

Queen Christina
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
Written by H. M. Harwood and Salka Viertel from an original story by Viertel and Margaret P. Levino
1933/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Antonio: There’s a mystery in you.
Christina: Is there not in every human being?

Director Mamoulian and MGM provide beautiful staging, lighting, camerawork, costumes, and art direction to this biopic/costume drama. Some of the acting not so much.

After her father was killed in battle, Christina assumed the Swedish throne as a child. She had been raised as a boy, leaving her decisive, independent, and fearless. She grows up to be Greta Garbo. The throne weighs heavy on Christina’s head. All her courtiers are urging her to marry her cousin, a military hero. They are also in favor of continuing to fight after a major victory in the 30 Years War. Christina refuses to grant either wish.

One fine day she goes off riding through the snow disguised as a young man with her faithful servant Aage (C. Aubrey Smith). She meets a group of Spaniards who are stuck in the snow and helps them with their carriage. Later they meet at an inn. Christina has booked the best room in the packed inn. When the Spaniards arrive they try to outbid Christina for the room. But the Spanish envoy Antonio (John Gilbert) finds the “young man” fascinating and the two agree to share the room. Nature takes its course and the lovers spend a blissful three days together.

Antonio had been coming to deliver King Philip of Spain’s marriage proposal and is not amused to find Christina is actually the Queen. They make up though. Now Christina must choose between duty and freedom. With Lewis Stone as a pompous courtier and Ian Keith as a jilted suitor.

My opinion of this has changed with each viewing. There is no denying that the staging, lighting, art direction and costumes are stunning. The problem is I am hit or miss with Garbo. This is a miss in my book. She is unnaturally dramatic which may have worked well in her silent films but is not so effective when she has to deliver dialogue. She does look absolutely gorgeous, however.

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1933, Pre-Code Reviews

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

Posted on June 3, 2022 | Leave a comment

The Private Life of Henry VIII
Directed by Alexander Korda
Written by Lajos Biro and Arthur Wimperis
1933/UK
London Films Production
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Palace servant: Anne Boleyn dies this morning; Jane Seymour takes her place tonight. What luck!
Another servant: For which of them, I wonder?

Charles Laughton gives a bravura performance that spans decades in this biopic that focuses on Henry VIII’s last five wives.

The story begins on the execution day of Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon). We never really get to know Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie) before she dies in childbirth, giving the King his only son. Courtiers convince Henry to marry Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lanchester) for political reasons. Clever Anne does not want the marriage as she has another lover and manages to escape by winning at cards.

The main wife focused on is Katherine Howard (Binnie Barnes). She has been dreaming of a royal alliance since the death of Anne Boleyn despite her affair with Thomas Culpeper (Robert Donat). She gets her chance with the exit of Anne. She seems to be the one true love of Henry but is caught cheating and makes wife number two to be beheaded. Finally, Anne of Cleves tells Henry, who is now an old man, that he needs a real wife. She points out Katherine Parr (Everely Gregg) who is acting as governess to the King’s children. He takes the advice and she gently nags and takes care of him until his death.

The first time I saw this movie was in drama class many moons ago when I was in high school. I can still vividly recall the scene when Charles Laughton’s Henry plays cards with Elsa Lanchester’s Anne of Cleves. I enjoyed that just as much this time, possibly more. Merle Oberon makes quite an impact in very little screen time. This is a very fun movie and a performance that shows off Laughton’s range from comedy to pathos. Recommended.

Charles Laughton won a Best Actor Oscar, the first awarded to a foreigner, for his performance in this film. This was also the first foreign film to be nominated for Best Picture.

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Posted in 1933, Pre-Code Reviews

The Three Penny Opera (1931)

Posted on June 2, 2022 | 8 comments

The Three Penny Opera
Directed by G.W. Pabst
Written by Bertold Brecht
1931/Germany
Tobis Filmkunst/Nero Film AG/in association with Warner Bros.
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

You know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, though, wears old Macheath, babe
So there’s never, never a trace of red — English lyrics to “Mack the Knife” as performed by Bobby Darin

G.W. Pabst serves up a great film adaptation of the Brecht/Weill musical play.

The setting is London, England. A street singer (Ernst Busch) bookends the story with a gruesome rendition of “Mack the Knife”. Mackie Messer (Rudolf Forster) is a master criminal and gang leader that gets away with his evil deeds due to his friendship with the Chief of Police Tiger Brown.

Mackie spots Polly Peachum, daughter of the King of Beggars Peachum (Fritz Rasp), on the street and woos her. They have a lavish wedding featuring all stolen finery and wedding presents in an abandoned warehouse at 2 a.m.

Polly’s father is not happy to say the least. Neither is Mackie’s favorite prostitute Jenny (Lotte Lenya). Peachum threatens to let loose 2,000 beggars during the coronation parade Tiger is in charge of unless Tiger does something about Mackie. Mackie goes on the run. Polly figures it is easier and less risky to steal through a legitimate bank. The gang rises to the occasion.

Oh, I love this version of the Brecht/Weill operetta. It just drips Weimar decadence, corruption and forboding. The acting is fantastic and the production is so stylish the frames could leap out from a German expressionist painting. Highly recommended.

Bobby Darin sings “Mack the Knife” on the Ed Sullivan Show

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Posted in 1931

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

Posted on June 1, 2022 | Leave a comment

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian
Written by Samuel Hoffenstein and Percy Heath from the novel by Robert Lewis Stevenson
1931/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Dr. Lanyon: We have to accept certain things…
Dr. Jekyll: I don’t want to accept them! I want to be clean – not only in my conduct; but, in my inner most thoughts and desires.

A very pre-Code and terrifying version of the novel.

The story takes place in London, England. Dr. Henry Jekyll (Fredric March) has risen through the ranks to become a lecturer at the medical school. He has high ideals and is dedicated to healing the poor. He is in madly in love with Muriel Carew (Rose Hobart) and wants to marry her immediately. Her father insists that they wait eight months and marry on his own wedding anniversary. Then dad takes Muriel away for a few months to keep her out of temptation.

One night, Jekyll spots a woman being beaten in the street. This is Ivy Pearson (Miriam Hopkins), a music hall singer and by implication a prostitute. She is more than happy to be examined by the good doctor, revealing plenty of skin in the process.

Muriel’s absence gives Jekyll plenty of time to work on his pet project. He has the theory that every man has two souls, one good and one evil. His experiment is designed to separate the good and evil sides. It works too well and Jekyll transforms into an ape-like creature, Mr. Hyde (also March), that indulges every evil impulse freely. Mr. Hyde begins by terrorizing Ivy and by implication forcing her to perform unspeakable acts. Eventually, Dr. Jekyll does not need his chemical cocktail to spontaneously transform.

I must read the book because I really could not figure out what possible constructive purpose Dr. Jekyll’s experiment was designed to achieve. What I got out of the movie was that it allowed the otherwise saintly Jekyll to act on his sexual desires when he was not allowed to marry – though of course that goes wrong too. Jekyll had the idea that the evil side would fade away once the impulses were acted out. Of course, evil just keeps seeking worse and worse thrills.

The camera work and special effects were ahead of their time, though I found the sporadic use of the Jekyll/Hyde POV was distracting. March was wonderful and the gusto with which he portrayed Hyde made it seem like two actors were portraying the parts. Miriam Hopkins was very good as poor Ivy save for her execrable Cockney accent. Recommended.

Fredric March won the Oscar for Best Actor in a tie with Wallace Beery for his performance in The Champ (1931). The film was nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Cinematography.