Category Archives: 1930

The Unholy Three

Professor Echo, aka Mrs. ‘Grandma’ O’Grady: Sure! From tonight on we disappear. They’ll look for the Midget, but there won’t be no Midget. They’ll find the fingerprints of the Echo, they’ll be no Echo.
Hercules: It sounds kinda creepy.
Midget: I like it. It’s unholy!
Professor Echo, aka Mrs. ‘Grandma’ O’Grady: That’s us! The Unholy Three.

Lon Chaney’s only talkie proved that he could be as versatile in sound as he was in silents.

Professor Echo (Chaney) is a ventriloquist in a side show.  He recruits his colleagues the strongman Hercules (Ivan Linow) and a midget (Harry Earles – Freaks) into his scheme for jewel thefts.  Echo disguises himself as petshop owner Grandma O’Grady and uses ventriloquism to make birds “talk” in his shop.  Hercules poses as Grandma’s son-in-law and the midget as Grandma’s daughter’s  baby.  When the buyer complains that the bird won’t talk at home, the unholy three pay a visit to show the buyer the bird still talks and case the buyers home for valuables they can steal later.

I saw this a week ago and thought it was entertaining.  Chaney, as always is pretty amazing, he not only did his own makeup but performed all his different voices in the film.  Haven’t seen the 1925 silent original directed by Tod Browning.

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Midnight Mystery

Tagline:  Alive with Suspense…Topping All Melodrama for Sheer Spine-Chilling Action

This B-picture is not quite as scary as it was meant to be but does offer about an hour of entertainment.

Gregory Sloane (Hugh Trevor) invites his friends for a country weekend on a remote island off the coast of Cuba.  Among these is his fiance Sally (Betty Compson).  She is a published mystery writer.  Gregory Sloane deems this trash and demands that she give it up and concentrate on him.  Relations become strained to say the least.  Also present is Tom (Lowell Sherman), a criminal defense attorney, who is monopolizing Sally with stories from his past that could provide inspiration for a new novel.  Tom’s wife is having an affair with Gregory’s best friend Mischa.  A couple of other guests round out the party.

The story has so many twists that it would not be fair to reveal more.

This movie is extremely stage-bound and suffers from early talkie-itis.  Nonetheless I thought the story was rather clever and it kept me engaged for its short running time.

Amy Jolly: There’s a Foreign Legion of women, too. But we have no uniforms, no flags, and no medals – when *we* are brave. No wound stripes – when *we* are hurt.

Von Sternberbg’s smoldering love triangle features Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich at their peak.

Amy Jolly (Dietrich) is a cabaret singer who has seen better times and has washed up to start all over again in Morocco.  Millionaire Monsieur La Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou) clears customs at the same time she does and immediately offers to “help” her.  She refuses.

Foreign Legionnaire Tom Brown is a womanizer who plays fast and loose with ladies from officer’s wives to the local street walkers.  Both he and La Bessiere attend Amy’s opening performance.  It is lust at first sight as Amy and Tom exchange glances during her act.  When she circulates through the audience she hands him her key.  He heads straight for her room after her show.  After some repartee that leads to his departure, Amy runs after him and he spends the night.

None of this deters La Bessiere in the slightest and he continues to hang around with lavish floral offerings and diamond bracelets.  Finally he offers marriage.  In the meantime, Tom is called out for combat.  The outcome of the love triangle is nominally in question for the length of the film.

Both Dietrich and Cooper are absolutely beautiful in this movie.  This is also Dietrich at her softest and most vulnerable, despite some tough poses. This is one film that inexplicably seems unavailable except for purchase whenever I look for it.  I’m glad I finally got to see it.

This was Dietrich’s American film debut.

Morocco was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.

Animal Crackers

Capt. Spaulding: How happy I could be with either of these two if both of them just went away.

This is possibly my favorite Marx Brothers movie.

Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) is hosting a lavish house party to introduce African explorer Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho) to her high society friends.

Chico, Harpo and Zeppo show up and mayhem ensues.  With Lillian Roth as Zeppo’s love interest.

This is chock full of gags but does not go into frenetic overdrive like some of the later ones do.  Everybody looks like they were having a good time and I had one too.

The Criminal Code

Mark Brady: An eye for an eye. That’s the basis and foundation of the criminal code. Somebody’s got to pay!

Hawk’s fun early prison movie gets an extra star for the always wonderful Walter Huston.

Mark Brady (Walter Huston) is a District Attorney with political ambitions.  Robert Graham is a naive young man who kills a guy who was hitting on his girl in self defense.  Although Brady knows the kid has a valid defense he convinces his attorney and him to take a plea to a manslaughter charge.  Robert is convicted and sentenced to ten years.

Segue to six years later and Robert is a miserable and hardened inmate.  He shares a cell with one man who is planning an escape and Galloway (Boris Karloff) who has vowed to kill one of the guards.  The two keep a parental eye on their young friend.

Brady, having failed on his bid for the Governor’s mansion, is appointed Warden at the jail where Robert is incarcerated.  Now he goes all out trying to help Robert by trying to win him a pardon.  In the meantime, he gives the kid a soft job as his valet.  Brady has brought his daughter Mary (Constance Cummings) with him.  The two young people develop unspoken feelings for each other.

The whole thing ends with an escape attempt and hostage taking and Robert must choose between the code between criminals (no squealing) and the Criminal Code Brady is bound by.

This is a pretty good movie made even better by the dynamic Huston.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him give a bad performance.   Hawks is building up to Scarface (1932) and The Front Page (1931) with some snappy dialogue here.  And to add to it Boris Karloff has a nice juicy non-Monster role!  Recommended.

The

Framed

Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge. —J. K. Rowling

Lackluster potboiler about romance and revenge gangland style.

Rose Manning (Evelyn Brent) was a sweet young thing when her father was killed in a gun battle in which a policeman was shot.  Her thirst for revenge has left her hard and bitter. She hates police in general but especially despises Inspector “Butch” McArthur (William Holden – not THE William Holden).

Rose gets a job as an MC and hostess at a casino/speakeasy owned by gang boss Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde).  Gaines is after Rose, even asking her to marry him.  But Rose is interested in a young man who calls himself Jimmy Carter (Regis Toomey).  When she learns he is actually the inspector’s son she sees an opportunity to get even.  With Robert Emmett O’Connor playing his signature tough Irish cop.

There’s no particular reason to see this movie.  I was kind of curious about Evelyn Brent but in the event she didn’t wow me.

Evelyn Brent photo montage

The Naughty Flirt

Miss Katherine Constance ‘Kay’ Elliott: And now the prisoner takes the stand in her own defense. Listen, Alan, I have an income of a hundred thousand dollars a year, and every man I know is trying to marry it. They don’t fool me for a second. Do you blame me for fooling them? I go out a lot and I stay out late. I don’t like golf, or tennis, or horses. So what else is there for me to do? One more word before you pass sentence. I’ve always played fair, and I’ve never done a deliberately rotten thing. Now, what has the court got to say?

I couldn’t get too excited about this one.

Kay Elliot (Alice White) is the daughter of a very wealthy lawer and has substantial income of her own.  She lives a wild life on the nightclub and boozy party scene.  Fortune-hunter Jack Gregory is determined to marry her by fair means or foul aided by his scheming sister Linda (Myrna Loy).  But Kay prefers a lawyer in her father’s firm.

There are many, many pre-Code pictures with this kind of “idiot” romcom plot that are better than this one.  I did enjoy my introduction to Alice White and this early role from Myrna Loy, still in her “evil vamp” stage. .  I thought Alice White was charming, if affected, and Myrna Loy had a long way to go becoming a pro in the line reading department.

Laughter

From quiet homes and first beginning, out to the undiscovered ends, there’s nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends. — Hilaire Belloc

Watchable pre-Code romance features early performances by some Golden Age stars.

Peggy (Nancy Carroll) was a chorus girl and lived the carefree highlife.  She had a relationship with composer Paul Lockridge (Fredric March) before he left for Paris.  She forgoes her freedom for a life of luxury with much older millionaire C. Mortimer Gibson and they marry.

A few years pass.  Gibson’s daughter Marjorie comes home from college and he puts her under Peggy’s care.  The two women are almost the same age and Marjorie aspires to the kind of carefree life Peggy once had.  Paul comes back from Paris determined to steal Peggy back from Gibson, distracting Peggy from her step-motherly duties.  Marjorie falls for a starving artist and gets her picture in the paper.  The appearance of Paul causes Peggy to disappoint Gibson in many ways, though the old man always seems willing to take her back.

It’s a pleasant light pre-Code romance with some good acting.  Not something that is likely to stick in my mind but watchable.

Madam Satan

Angela Brooks: I’ll get my husband back from you.
Trixie: Try and do it!
Angela Brooks: All right, I will! You made him sick of virtue, I’ll make him so sick of vice he’ll scream for decency! I’ll give him perfume and jazz until his head reels! He wants them hot, does he? All right, I’ll give him a volcano! They’ll have to call out the whole fire department to put me out!

This is one of the most bizarre movies I have ever seen, and that’s saying something!

Angela (Kay Johnson) and Bob (Reginald Denny) Brooks are a wealthy, sophisticated couple.  But Bob has tired of domesticity and is openly having an affair with vamp Trixie (Lillian Roth). Angela has no intention of letting Bob go.

The couple’s friend Jimmy (Roland Young) decides to help patch things up by hosting a lavish masquerade party on a blimp!  Bob is enthralled by the alluring “Madam Satan”, who arrives to show everyone how bad a bad girl can be.

This movie moves from classic love triangle to musical disaster flick by the end!  Everything is done with DeMille’s characteristic love for excess.  I can’t describe it or exactly recommend it but certainly it is something unique that appeals to the good-bad movie lover in me.

Unreal

Lillian Roth.  I had not been acquainted with Roth’s work when I saw Susan Hayward play her in I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955).