Category Archives: 1931

Millie
Directed by John Francis Dillon
Written by Charles Kenyon and Ralph Murphy from a novel by Donald Henderson Clarke
1931/US
RKO Radio Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime (free to Members)

Millie Blake: I can’t afford to go out nights.
Helen Riley: Well, you certainly can’t afford to stay home nights. Not at this stage in the game

In this movie, pre-Code shenanigans are mixed with melodrama and a strong cast.

Helen Twelvetrees plays the title character, a girl all the small town high school boys are crazy about. She protects her virtue fiercely. Then wealthy businessman Jack Maitland (James Hall) asks her to marry him and she accepts. They move to New York City. Three years later she has an adorable little girl and James is spending more and more time away from her on “business”.

Angie Wickerstaff (Joan Blondell), a friend from back home, calls Millie and wants to see her.  Blondell’s co-conspirator in gold-digging is Helen Riley (Lilyan Tashman).  The roommates are short on rent money, They take Millie out to a speakeasy where she sees Jack dancing and romancing another woman. She drops him like a hot potato, loses her daughter, refuses to take any of his money, and makes a success of herself through hard work.

Millie continues to attract the attention of many men but the only one that respects her is Tommy Rock (Robert Ames), a newspaper reporter. They date for years. When she discovers Tommy also has a girlfriend on the side, she dumps him and goes on a downhill slide into the hard-drinking partying of Angie and Helen. Finally, an incident causes Millie to snap and a courtroom drama ensues.  With John Halliday as a would-be sugar daddy.

This is a very ok movie and kept my attention for the entire 85 minutes of its run time. Blondell looks so young! I loved Twelvetrees and Tashman in other movies and they are both in top form here. If the plot appeals, I can recommend it.

Street Scene
Directed by King Vidor
Written by Elmer Rice from his play
1931/US
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
IMDb Page
First viewing/YouTube

Mrs. Anna Maurrant: I often think it’s a shame that people don’t seem able to live together in peace and quiet without making each other miserable.

Excellent adaptation of the stage play.

The action takes place on the stoop of a tenement in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City on a very hot summer day. The multi-ethnic occupants spend most of their time indulging in spiteful gossip when their neighbo/victim is not around. Beulah Bondi plays the nastiest of these women.

The story proper centers on the troubles of the Maurrant family. Father Maurrant (David Landau) is a mean and controlling bully. His wife Anna (Estelle Taylor) is having an affair with the milkman. Daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney) is just about to fall in love with her Jewish neighbor.

This movie is absolutely stage-bound and it makes no difference. Vidor does an amazing job maintaining visual interest. The acting is first-rate and I always love Sylvia Sidney. Recommended.

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

Fighting Caravans
Directed by Otto Brower and David Burton
Written by Edward E Paramore Jr et al from a novel by Zane Grey
1931/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime (free to members)

Clint Belmet: I’m asking you a question and the answer can’t be maybe. I’m asking you straight out – will you marry? Yes or no?
Felice: Oui, Monsieur!
Clint Belmet: Huh?

Not much of a Western, but its leads were never more gorgeous.

During the Amercian Civil War use of the railroad was restricted to supplying the troops. Caravans of wagons carried freight to California along with some settlers. As the story begins young Indian Scout Clint Belment (Gary Cooper) is locked up in the pokey just as one such caravan is getting ready to leave.  Felice (Lili Dalmity), a single French woman, is intent on joining the caravan.

Belment’s drunken comic relief pals get the idea to spring their boy by telling the authorities Clint has married Felice.  They tell Felice that the wagon train will not allow an unmarried woman to travel with them.  Both agree to the ruse.  But the plan backfires and the two drunks spend the rest of the movie trying to keep their charge from falling in love with his “wife”.

The film could have been more exciting with more action and less romance and comic relief. It’s a pretty routine Western but I was interested to see Dalmita who looks like she is out of a much later decade than the ’30’s. And of course Cooper is young and gorgeous.

Behind Office Doors
Directed by Melville W. Brown
Written by Carey Wilson from “Private Secretary” by Alan Schultz
1931/US
RKO Radio Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Mary Linden: Well, what a sap I’ve been!

A lackluster film with a heaping helping of sexism to boot.

Executive secretary Mary Linden (Mary Astor) is the brains behind a successful pulp and paper company. She is secretly sweet on junior executive James Duneen (Robert Ames). When her elderly employer retires she suggests James for the job. He gets it and she continues sharing her very good ideas and judgement to help him succeed.  He also demonstrates that he is a complete cad with women, taking Mary for granted.  This just makes Mary want him more, despite the fact that the infinitely more appealing married millionaire Ronnie Wales (Ricardo Cortez) is after her as well.

Executive secretary and bimbo employed to work with her show off their legs. Is this the most sexist pre-Code movie ever?

Let’s just say that this was one of those movies that I watched while yelling at my TV. And not in a good way. I did not enjoy watching Mary Astor suffer nor did I understand why she should. Nor is it a very good movie in any way. I watched on Amazon Prime for free. The print is terrible but the price was right.  There are also several full-length versions currently on YouTube.

Mary Astor tribute