Cleopatra 1934/USA
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Paramount Pictures (A Cecil B. DeMille Production)
First viewing
Cleopatra: Together we could conquer the world.
Julius Caesar: Nice of you to include me.
Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert) seduces Julius Caesar (Warren William) and then Marc Antony (Henry Wilcoxson) in an attempt to save her beloved Egypt from conquest by Rome.
The Hollywood epic is my least favorite genre of movie. While spectacular, the sets here are more reminiscent of the studio backlot than of Egypt. Claudette Colbert can’t help but be just a bit charming but the other acting is over-the-top when it is not just wooden. Colbert wears many revealing gowns and there is plenty of suggestive dancing and gore to be had, but nothing near to that on display in DeMille’s <i>The Sign of the Cross</i> a couple of years earlier.
Thirty Day Princess Directed by Marion Gering
1934/USA
B.P. Schulberg Productions for Paramount Pictures
First viewing
[box] King Anatol: It’s extraordinary how much you look like Zizi! Tell me, have you any royal blood in your veins?
Nancy Lane: I don’t think so, Your Majesty.
King Anatol: Well, my dear, one can never tell.[/box]
A banker (Edward Arnold) wants to float a bond issue for the kingdom of Tyronia and brings its princess (Sylvia Sydney) to New York to publicize the deal. During her first speech there, the princess collapses and must be quarantined for mumps. The banker finds a lookalike stand-in in the form of Nancy Allen (also Sylvia Sydney), a struggling actress. He promises her extra payment if she can vamp crusading newspaper editor Porter Madison III (Cary Grant) into not denouncing the bond issue. Naturally, Porter soon falls in love with the “princess” and the feeling is mutual.
This is standard romantic comedy fare. The story is lifted slightly above average by the performances of the two leads and a script that was co-written by Preston Sturges.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tstMdiMW1bI
Clip – at the automat (the two men are scouting for a princess stand-in)
Now and Forever Directed by Henry Hathaway
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing
Penelope Day: Daddy doesn’t know anything about raising children.
Gary Cooper pays con man Jerry Day who travels the world one step ahead of the law with his wife Toni (Carole Lombard). In China, he announces that he has a child and is going to sign her over to his ex-brother-in-law for $75,000. Toni doesn’t care for this scheme and they separate. Naturally, Jerry falls in love with Penny (Shirley Temple) as soon as they meet and the two reunite with Toni. Jerry tries to go straight but is constantly tempted by a fellow con man (Guy Standing) who has something on him. With Charlotte Granville as the society matron who wants to take care of Penny.
This movie is quite a departure from Shirley’s normal fare. First of all, her part is secondary to the two adult leads, though she does get equal billing. She does not play her normal role of bringing two people together for love of her and there is almost no singing. It’s quite a dark story with an ambiguous ending. That said, this is no better than your average melodrama of the time period. Gary Cooper is an unlikely con man and Carole Lombard doesn’t have much of a chance to be wacky.
Little Miss Marker
Directed by Alexander Hall
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing?
[box] Marthy Jane, Little Miss Marker: My mommy used to read to me about King Arthur.
Bangles Carson: Where is your mother, Marky?
Marthy Jane, Little Miss Marker: My mommy got awfully tired, and went away. She’s never coming back anymore.[/box]
Wow, this was kind of a let down after Bright Eyes. The plot of the movie is based on a Damon Runyon story and all of the characters are gamblers or their associates. Marthy Ann’s (Shirley Temple) father doesn’t have the money to bet on a race but leaves his daughter as a marker. After he loses his bet, he commits suicide (!), leaving Marthy Ann an orphan. Sorrowful Sam, the bookmaker (Adolphe Menjou), is stuck with the adorable child and spends most of the movie trying not to fall in love with her. Bangles Carson (Dorothy Dell), nightclub singer and moll of a crooked racehorse owner, helps Sam take care of her. Will Sam and Bangles turn Marthy Ann over to the authorities?
The gamblers try to get Little Miss Marker to believe in fairy tales again.
I’ve liked Damon Runyan adaptations including 1933’s Lady for a Day but Alexander Hall is no Frank Capra and he can’t make the sodden screenplay sparkle. I am beginning to wonder about how cavalierly the movies treat tragedy in the ’30’s. I can’t imagine slapping the suicide of a small child’s father in the middle of a comedy in a modern movie or that the child would scarcely react to such an event. Puzzling.
Pedophilia didn’t seem to be a big concern then either. We are treated with a scene in which Sam and Markie share a room. Markie complains that she can’t go to sleep in her underwear and proceeds to strip down in front of him wearing Sam’s pajama top but revealing a lot. It was clearly a much more innocent age.
The Old Fashioned Way Directed by William Beaudine
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing
Cleopatra Pepperday: [after McGonigle takes a heavy fall] Marky, are you hurt? The Great McGonigle: [sarcastically] No, I had the presence of mind to fall on my head.
It is the Gay Nineties and W.C. Fields plays The Great McGonigle, proprietor of a travelling theater company that puts on melodramas. As usual, there is a romance involving his daughter. There’s some comedy singing by a rich widow and straight singing by the daughter’s beau. The film is capped by Fields’s juggling act.
Some quality time with Baby LeRoy
I found this less annoying than the other Fields pictures I’ve watched for 1934. The juggling act at the end is actually pretty good. Fields got his start in vaudeville as a juggler and is talented at it.
Sadie McKee
Directed by Clarence Brown
1934/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
First Viewing
Opal: Lady, when you say, “I do take thee,” how you take him.
Sadie McKee’s mother is a cook for a wealthy family and Sadie grew up with son Michael. She is engaged to Tommy. Michael fires him for stealing. Tommy takes off for New York and Sadie tags along with the understanding they will marry. But Tommy skips out on her with a night club singer. Penniless (she went with Tommy with the clothes on her back), Sadie gets a job dancing at a night club and meets alcoholic millionaire Jack Brennan, whom she marries. Sadie and Michael spend most of the movie at odds with each other because 1) Sadie’s never forgiven him for firing Tommy and “ruining her happiness” and 2) Michael thinks Sadie is a gold digger for marrying Jack, his client. With Joan Crawford as Sadie, Franchot Tone as Michael, Edward Arnold as Jack Brennan, and Gene Raymond as Tommy. Also with Jean Dixon in a nice performance as Sadie’s buddy and Esther Ralston (who can’t carry a tune) as the night club singer.
What a plot! And I omitted a lot of it …. Anyway, this is your standard glossy MGM melodrama. It’s pretty good for what it is but numerous aspects of the story annoyed me. I don’t usually care for Joan Crawford, particularly when she is being deified as here. If you like her, I think you’d like the movie more than I did. The trailer gives a fair representation of what is in store.
The Man Who Knew Too Much Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
1934/UK
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Second Viewing
Abbott: Tell her they may soon be leaving us. Leaving us for a long, long journey. How is it that Shakespeare says? “From which no traveler returns.” Great poet.
Bob and Jill Lawrence are vacationing with their daughter Betty in Switzerland when their friend Louis is murdered. Before dieing Louis passes them secret information. Betty is promptly kidnapped to prevent the Lawrences from going to the authorities with the information. Can the Lawrences rescue Betty? Can another assassination be prevented? With Leslie Banks and Edna Best as the Lawrences, Nova Philbeam as Betty, Pierre Fresnay as Louis, and Peter Lorre as the head of the kidnapping/spy ring.
This is OK early Hitchcock but I can understand why he wanted to remake it on a bigger budget in 1956. The suspense leaves something to be desired, though the Albert Hall scene is still classic. The picture is well worth seeing if only to catch Peter Lorre’s performance. He makes a wonderfully jovial yet really creepy bad guy.
A Mother Should Be Loved (“Haha wo kowazuya”) Directed by Yasujirô Ozu
1934/Japan
Shôchiku Eiga
First viewing
Sadao (to his younger brother): I don’t see how you can get worked up by a mother like her.
Sadao and Kuosaku lose their father when they are children. Unbeknownst to Sadao, the father’s wife is not his real mother but his stepmother. The mother makes a vow to treat the boys the same and conceals the truth from Sadao. When Sadao enters university, he finds out and takes it very badly. His main complaint seems to be that the mother treats him better than his brother, her real son!
The first and last reels of this silent film have been lost and are substituted by a textual explanation. The other problem with the version I watched was that it was totally silent. Nevertheless, I became interested in the story. I guess in every time and culture children will be jerks and say thoughtless things to make their mothers cry. And their mothers will forgive them.
Bright Eyes Directed by David Butler
1934/USA
Fox Film Corporation
First viewing
James ‘Loop’ Merritt: Now I’ve got a present for you. This isn’t from Santa Claus. This is from me to you. This is a magic ring, see? Just like in the fairy tales. If ever you’re in trouble, or if you ever want me to do anything for you, you send me this ring, and I’ll come. Shirley Blake: Oh, it’s so pretty. Thank you, Loop.
Little Shirley (Shirley Temple) loves to spend time at the airport with her buddy Loop (James Dunn), a pilot who was the friend of her late father. Shirley’s mother works as a maid in the house of some stuck-up rich people the Smythes, their horrible little girl (Jane Withers), and crotchety Uncle Ned. When Shirley’s mother goes to Heaven also, there is a custody battle between Uncle Ned, Loop, and Mrs. Smythe’s sister who just so happens to be Loop’s ex-fiance. If you don’t know where this is going, you haven’t seen enough Shirley Temple movies! With Jane Darwell as the family cook, sporting a great Irish brogue. This is the one with “The Good Ship Lollypop.”
Shirley Temple and Jane Withers
Well, I haven’t seen a Shirley Temple movie in a long, long time and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Shirley Temple and James Dunn make an outstanding pair. He really seems like he could be her Daddy. Jane Withers is awesomely bratty. I can imagine that this might be upsetting for small children with little Shirley being orphaned, the parachute jump (!) and all. Nothing great but good fun despite a some schmaltz.
The Lost Patrol Directed by John Ford
1934/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing
The Sergeant: What’s the use of chewin’ the rag about something we might of done? Morelli: Right you are, Sarge! The Sergeant: Yeah, I know what you’re thinkin’. Perhaps I’ve done everything wrong! Perhaps this and perhaps that! But what I’ve done I’ve done, and what I haven’t, I haven’t!
A British Army patrol is on duty in the Mesopotamian Desert during WWI when its officer is killed by Arab sniper fire. Since the officer was the only one who knew where the patrol was headed, the men are lost. The Sargeant (Victor McLaglen) leads the men to a desert oasis where their horses are promptly stolen. The men hunker down to await rescue while under constant threat from Arabs. With Boris Karloff as an unpopular bible-thumping soldier and Wallace Ford as another of the men.
The rather depressing story did nothing to capture my attention. It was nice to see Karloff in a fairly meaty non-horror role. Unfortunately, his character goes mad and Karloff heads straight over the top. Victor McLaglen is always pretty good. Some nice photography of sand dunes. Meh.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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