Category Archives: 1937

In Old Chicago (1937)

Posted on October 19, 2013 | 2 comments

In Old Chicago
Directed by Henry King
Written by Lamar Trotti and Sylvia Levien based on a story by Niven Busch
1937/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation presents Daryll F. Zanuck Productions
First viewing

[box] Dion O’Leary: Nothing can lick Chicago![/box]

I was not crazy about this big-budget answer to 1936’s smash hit San Francisco, despite some impressive special effects toward the end.

The story begins in the 1850’s as the O’Leary family is crossing the prairie en route to what will become Chicago.  A tragic accident kills the father but not before he makes a speech about how his sons will go on to become great along with the city.

Segue to 1871.  Ma O’Leary (Alice Brady) is running a laundry in “The Patch”, a rough immigrant part of town.  Son Jack (Don Ameche) is a crusading lawyer, while his brother Dion (Tyrone Power) is a rapscalion out for a quick buck.  Dion spies an opportunity to cash in by building a saloon where a new streetcar line is set to run and starts to woo the owner of the property, saloon singer Belle Fawcett (Alice Faye).   Dion later backs Jack in a campaign for mayor but then falls out with him when Jack vows to clean up the Patch.  But then comes the fateful night when Ma O’Leary forgets to tie up her cow …  With Brian Donleavy as Jack’s opponent in the mayoral race.

This isn’t terrible but it is full of clichés and never grabbed me.  It was interesting to see Alice Brady in a straight dramatic role after seeing her as all those dizzy dames!  She was very good down to her Irish accent.

In Old Chicago garnered Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Alice Brady) and Best Assistant Director.  It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Writing (Original Story), Best Sound (Recording), and Best Music (Score).  Brady was the first supporting player to be nominated two years in a row, following her nod for 1936’s Our Man Godfrey.  She was not present to receive her statuette, which was collected by an unknown gentleman from the audience and never seen again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8CaPs2Jtu8

Theatrical trailer/premier

 

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Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1937)

Posted on October 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

Bulldog Drummond at Bay
Directed by Norman Lee
Written by Patrick Kriwan and James Parrish
1937/UK
Associated British Picture Corporation
First viewing

[box] “Demobilised officer, … finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible; but crime, if of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential.”  — Advertisement placed in The Times by Drummond in the novel Bulldog Drummond[/box]

This entry comes from the U.K. and features an entirely different cast than the 1937 Paramount pictures.  I thought this might mean a weaker film, but no, it’s the best since the first one with Ray Milland!

This time Bulldog (John Lodge) is on the trail of an evil foreign arms broker who has been bilking a World Peace organization into backing his nefarious deeds.  The broker has kidnapped the inventor of a top-secret weapon and is torturing him to get the plans. Tennie the butler and the long-engaged Phyllis have left the scene but Algie is still along and more twitish than ever.

I think the only other movie I’ve seen John Lodge in was The Scarlet Empress where I was not impressed with his performance.  Here, though, he has just the right mixture of savoir faire and daring to make an excellent Drummond.  I liked the leading lady a lot, too.   Well worth seeing if you are in to this kind of mindless entertainment.

 

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Maytime (1937)

Posted on October 18, 2013 | 2 comments

MaytimeMaytime poster
Directed  by Robert Z. Leonard
Written by Noel Langley based on an operetta by Rida Johnson Young
1937/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart
Though our paths may sever
To life’s last faint ember
Will you remember?
Springtime, lovetime, May
Springtime, lovetime, May — Lyric by Rida Johnson Young

I enjoyed 1937’s beautiful and romantic Jeanette Mac Donald/Nelson Eddy entry.

As the story opens elderly reclusive Miss Morrison (Mac Donald) is visiting a May Day celebration.  There she meets a young couple who are quarreling because the girl wants to pursue a career as an opera singer in New York while the boy wants her to stay home and marry.  Comforting the girl, Miss Morrison decides to break her silence about her own story.

Segue to Paris decades earlier, when Miss Morrison, then Marcia Mornay, was a budding prima donna.  Marcia dazzles Emperor Napoleon with her singing at a ball and her manager, Nicolai Nazaroff (John Barrymore), manages to convince an eminent composer to write an opera especially for her.  In gratitude, Marcia accepts Nazaroff’s proposal of marriage.  That same night, unable to sleep, Marcia takes a carriage ride through Paris. The carriage has an accident.  While she is waiting for another ride, she goes into a café where Paul Allison (Nelson Eddy) is singing.  Paul is a struggling voice student.  He falls in love with Marcia at first sight.

Marcia feebly tries to fend Paul off but when they go to a May Day festival they confess their love.  Marcia, however, feels obligated to Nazaroff and marries him.  I will stop my summary here but suffice it to say that this operetta has a rather operatic ending.

Maytime 1

Jeanette MacDonald demonstrates her range as an actress in this film.  She is unrecognizable but very touching in her performance as old Miss Morrison.  I kept looking to see if it was really her.  Impressive.  Her voice is also at its height.  This is also a very beautiful film to look at.  The old-fashioned look of Belle-Epoque Paris is gorgeous.

John Barrymore is a bit of a let-down and I have some problems with the “choose love over career” message but overall I can recommend this film.

Per the IMDb, the producers filmed MacDonald and Eddy in Act II of Puccini’s Tosca.  The footage is apparently lost.  I would give anything to see this.  Obviously, however, the plot line of Tosca stabbing Scarpia wouldn’t have worked well in Maytime!   The fake “Czarita” opera love scene was substituted.

Maytime was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Sound, Recording and Best Music, Score.

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The Prince and the Pauper (1937)

Posted on October 16, 2013 | 2 comments

The Prince and the Pauper
Directed by William Keighley
Written by Laird Doyle based on the novel by Mark Twain
1937/USA
First National Pictures/Warner Bros
Repeat viewing

 

[box] Prince Edward Tudor: Soldier of fortune. Strange profession.

Miles Hendon: Well, of the three of them for a gentleman without means I think it’s the most amusing. Cheating at cards means associating with dull people. Preaching the gospel means wearing one of those funny hats.[/box]

Despite its stellar cast, this dress rehearsal for The Adventures of Robin Hood goes on too long.

In an alternative reality, Henry VIII of England is on his death bed.  Edward, the spoiled Prince of Wales, enjoys playing with Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey and terrorizing the servants.  One day, he takes a walk in the palace grounds and discovers urchin Tom Canty being beaten by the guards.  He takes a liking to the lad and brings him inside.  They notice their uncanny resemblance to each other and, on a lark, switch clothes.  Edward goes out in Tom’s rags to fetch his dog and is nabbed by the guard who promptly eject him.

Edward is rescued from another beating at the hands of Tom’s father (Barton MacLane) by intrepid soldier of fortune Miles Hendon (Errol Flynn) and the two become friends. Meanwhile, Henry VIII dies with the imposter still in the castle.  Evil Earl of Hertford (Claude Rains) discovers the boy’s identity.  He uses the situation to get himself named High Protector, something that never would have been allowed by the real Edward who hates him, and sets out to eliminate the true King.  Can the boys be restored to their stations before Tom is crowned King?  With the Mauch Twins as Tom and Edward and Alan Hale as the Captain of the Guard.

This movie does not have nearly enough Errol Flynn, who does not appear until midway through the story.  The screen lights up when either he or Rains is on it then reverts to torpor during the many long scenes with the twins.  The coronation scene is particularly tedious.  The twins are actually not so bad — it is their material that could use some work. The film does boast a fine score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and lavish art direction by Robert M. Haas.

Trailer

 

 

 

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Murder on Diamond Row (1937)

Posted on October 15, 2013 | 4 comments

Murder on Diamond Row (AKA “The Squeaker”)
Directed by William K. Howard
Written by Ted Berkman and Bryan Edgar Wallace based on a novel by Edgar Wallace
1937/UK
London Film Productions
First viewing

 

[box] Tagline: Whose hand writes these messages of death?[/box]

This British programmer is nothing special.  I found the plot confusing and the solution unsatisfying in the extreme.  It is of note mainly for an early performance by Alistair Sim as a reporter.  I was going to comment that his Scottish accent was a bit much only to find out that Sim was born in Edinburgh!  What do I know?

Clip – London nightlife 1937

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Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)

Posted on October 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

Humanity and Paper Balloons (“Ninjô kami fûsen”)
Directed by Sadao Yamanaka
Written by Shintarô Mimura
1937/Japan
Photo Chemical Laboratories (Sony)/Toho Company/Zenshin-za
First viewing

 

[box] “Lastly I say to my seniors and friends: Please make good movies.” From the last will and testament of director Yamanaka Sadao[/box]

I don’t really know whether this is a sad comedy or a funny tragedy.  Whatever it is, it is a small masterpiece.

As might be expected from such a film, the plot is quite complex, subtle and unexpected and I won’t give away too much here.

The story takes place during the Edo period (1603-1867) in a slum quarter of the capital.  It begins with the off-screen suicide of a samurai by hanging.  This inconveniences all the occupants of the crowded street happening on such a fine day and they grouse and complain.  Their irritation is eased however when the local gangster/hair dresser Shinza talks the landlord into giving a wake to lift the “curse” of the place with plenty of sake.

Unno, a ronin (unemployed samurai) and apparently a recovering alcoholic, lives in the quarter with his wife, who supports the couple by making paper balloons.  He spends much of the picture following a former colleague of his samurai father.  Unno is convinced that, if the man would just read a letter written to him by Unno’s deceased father, the man would get him employment.  He is not having much luck in securing an audience, however, as the man avoids him at every turn.  The man is busy arranging the marriage of a pawnbroker’s daughter to a high court official.

Meanwhile, Shinza is running an illegal gambling operation which infringes on the turf of a more powerful gangster.  He is repeatedly beaten up by the gangster and his gang, who are also employees of the pawnbroker.  Shinza finds a way to get even when he chances upon the pawnbroker’s daughter in a compromising position with the pawnbroker’s clerk.

I loved this film.  I love the way the writer just drops you in the middle of things with no notion where they will lead and keeps your interest the whole way.  I love the many well-drawn characters and the way they are portrayed by a gifted ensemble cast.  It is really unlike anything else I have seen.  I suppose it most resembles a more comic version of Kurasawa’s The Lower Depths if one needs a reference point.   Highly recommended.

Humanity and Paper Balloons premiered the same day that Yamanaka was drafted into the Japanese army. He later died in a field hospital in Japanese-ruled Manchukuo, China. He was 28 years old.

I watched this on Hulu Plus.  It is also currently available on YouTube.

Clip – film footage begins at around 55 second mark – the wake

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The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

Posted on October 13, 2013 | 9 comments

The Life of Emile Zola
Directed by William Dieterle
Written by Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg et al
1937/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing
#119 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Émile Zola: What does it matter if an individual is shattered – if only justice is resurrected?[/box]

For some reason I was not wowed by this worthy, well-produced biopic.

The story covers the life of the naturalist French novelist starting with his days as a rebellious youth living in a garret with Paul Cezanne and continuing as he becomes a popular writer.  As Zola (Paul Muni) reaches a prosperous and complacent middle-age, he is approached by the wife (Gail Sondergaard) of Alfred Dreyfus, who has been wrongfully convicted of treason. Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut) is languishing on Devil’s Island while the General Staff of the French Army engages in cover-up after cover-up to protect their so-called honor.  Zola writes the famous “J’accuse” letter to the President of France and is tried for libel of the military.  With Louis Calhern as one of the Army conspirators.

Well, there’s nothing exactly wrong with this film but I couldn’t get behind it.  I think it must be the screenplay that bothers me.  It is heavy on very earnest and impassioned speeches arguing for honor and justice.  This is all very well in its place but does not make for complex or interesting viewing.  I think the story may have lost much of it’s bite due to Jack Warner’s ban on the use of the word “Jew” in the dialogue so as not to lose the German market.  Since antisemitism was a key element of the entire Dreyfus affair, this omission waters down the plot.

For a better biopic with Paul Muni, I would go with The Life of Louis Pasteur.

The Life of Emile Zola was honored at the 1938 Academy Award ceremony with Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Schildkraut) and Best Writing (Screenplay).  It received seven additional nominations including for Best Actor (Muni), Best Director, and Best Art Direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcSWl5DaL4s

Trailer

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Stella Dallas (1937)

Posted on October 12, 2013 | 6 comments

Stella Dallas
Directed by King Vidor
Written by Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman based on the novel by Olive Higgins Prouty
1937/USA
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
First viewing
#114 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

 

[box] Stella Martin ‘Stell’ Dallas: I’ve always been known to have a stack of style![/box]

1937 was quite the year for tearjerkers.  First, Make Way for Tomorrow and now this.  It was impossible for me not to melt into a puddle at this story of mother love.

Stella Martin (Barbara Stanwyck) is the daughter of a mill hand but dreams of joining high society.  She looks set to fulfill her ambition when she meets and marries Stephen Dallas.(John Boles). They soon have a daughter, who is the light of both their lives.  But Stella is gregarious and her tastes are vulgar and she is incompatible with the conservative Stephen.  So they separate, and Stella raises her daughter Laurel alone.  Laurel (Anne Shirley) takes after her father but loves her mother sincerely.  The day comes when Stella’s flamboyance becomes an embarrassment.  With Marjorie Main as Stella’s mother and Alan Hale as Stella’s crass pal.

I don’t know why I thought this would have a plot similar to Mildred Pierce, where the daughter betrays the mother.  I was so wrong.  The devoted daughter angle makes the story even more heartbreaking.  All the performances, save John Boles who is a bit of a stick, are fabulous.  This is probably Alan Hale’s career achievement.  He is just wonderful as the over-the-top clueless drunk.  Stanwyck never lets me down and here she is by turns hard-boiled and tender.  Vidor manages to make us really feel for people who are deemed ridiculous for being who they are.  Highly recommended.

Barbara Stanwyck was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar and Anne Shirley was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  As much as I love Irene Dunne, it would have been hard to me not to vote for Stanwyck.  Instead, Luise Ranier won her second straight Best Actress Oscar for unconvincingly playing a Chinese peasant.

The film is currently available to rent on Amazon Watch Instant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE58pA2aydw

Clip – Barbara Stanwyck and Alan Hale

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San Quentin (1937)

Posted on October 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

San Quentin
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Written by Peter Miller, Humphrey Cobb et al
1937/USA
First National Pictures/Warner Bros.
First viewing

 

[box] Tagline: Out Of The “Pen” . . . Into The Jaws Of Death ! . . .[/box]

Humphrey Bogart rescues this clichéd prison drama.

Lt. Druggin (Barton Keyes) rules the San Quentin prison yard with an iron hand, sending elderly deaf men to solitary just because they can’t hear his orders.  The prison board doesn’t like his methods, so they hire ex-Army trainer Capt. Stephen Jameson (Pat O’Brien) to restore order and win the hearts of the men.  Meanwhile, Jameson falls in love with May (Ann Sheridan), then discovers hardened convict ‘Red’ Kennedy (Humphrey Bogart) is her younger brother.  Jameson takes an interest in Red and he is sent on the coveted road gang duty.  The men resent the special treatment but Red resents Jameson’s involvement with his sister even more.

 

I thought this was over-earnest but Humphrey Bogart is always good.  The ending is an eye-roller.  It didn’t help that the DVD commentary was one of those blow-by-blow descriptions of what we can see for ourselves.

Re-release Trailer

 

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Slaves in Bondage (1937)

Posted on October 11, 2013 | 4 comments

Slaves in Bondage
Directed by Elmer Clifton
Written by Robert Dillon
1937/USA
Jay-Dee-Kay Productions
First viewing

 

[box] Tagline: Society Beauties by Day! Party Girls by Night![/box]

Sure this exploitation film is terrible, but is it terrible in a good way?

As our film opens, Mary Lou is screaming in a car.  She then opens the door to flee and ends up unconscious on the road, where she is coincidentally rescued by her housemate Dona’s wannabe reporter boyfriend Philip.  It turns out Mary Lou was abducted by white slavers on her way home from church.  Philip takes the story to the local newspaper and it becomes headline news.  He continues to investigate in hopes of landing a job and marrying Dona.

Naturally, Dona works as a manicurist at the beauty salon operated by Belle, the madam of the white slave house of ill-repute, as a front and her main customer is Jim Murray, the gang’s ringleader.  Jim has the hots for Dona and frames Philip for some crime involving marked bills to get him out of the way.  He then tricks Dona into meeting him at the bordello where Belle gives her a tour of the “merchandise” (the true selling-point of this film).  It all ends in a free-for-all featuring some of the worst fake  fist fighting in film history.   The story is peppered with some laughable vaudeville acts and some tame fan-dancing.

OK, it goes without saying that nobody can act and the script is pathetic.  The film is not without its little joys.  I particularly liked the part where Philip is looking for a phone to call in the story about the shooting of one of the gang members and a man appears in a nearby window with a rotary phone in his hands.  The scenes at the bordello seemed to have been conceived in the imagination of an eleven-year old boy with a yen for lesbians. Over all, there is more naughtiness in 1936’s Marihuana (also reviewed here).  This one is funnier, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AOK6pt8jCLs

Trailer – do not watch if you are offended by hanky panky!

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Posted in 1937, Movie Reviews