Double Wedding Directed by Richard Thorpe
Written by Jo Swerling based on a play by Ferenc Molnar
1937/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing
[box] Charles Lodge: Women don’t like noble, self-sacrificing men. Women are not civilized like we are. They like bloodshed. They like forceful men, like me.[/box]
I had never heard of this movie before, so it came as a delightful suprise.
Margit Agnew (Myrna Loy) is naturally bossy and has taken over her sister Irene’s life since their mother died. Their mother selected milquetoast Waldo Beaver (John Beal) for Irene’s fiance and for four years he has been living with Margit and Irene without marrying. Irene dreams of being an actress and she and Waldo have been working with some-time film director and bohemian painter Charles Lodge (William Powell). Margit finds out and confronts Lodge but he does not scare easily. Irene has become infatuated with Lodge and he uses the prospect of a marriage to see more of Margit. With Jessie-Ralph as Margit’s free-thinking older friend and Edgar Kennedy as a bar owner.
I thought this was hilarious. I laughed out loud many times at the dialogue and antics of the characters. I especially enjoyed John Beal’s deadpan comedy turn. Oddly, he was a dramatic actor and I can’t find much more of him to watch. Of course, Powell and Loy are fantastic. There’s some slapstick but mostly this relies on pure wit. It’s in the screwball comedy vein but not too frenetic. I don’t want to spoil more by going on but I really felt like I had discovered a gem. Recommended.
Think Fast, Mr. Moto Directed by Norman Foster Written by Howard Ellis Smith and Norman Foster based on a story by J.P. Marquand USA/1937 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing
[box] Kentaro Moto: Half the world spends its time laughing at the other half, and both are fools.[/box]
This was the first in the series of eight Mr. Moto films with Peter Lorre. Lorre is meant to simulate a Japanese with the addition of glasses and some funny teeth but he is still 100% Lorre, complete with German accent. In this one, Mr. Moto has his eye on a diamond smuggling gang during a Pacific crossing en route to Shanghai. It’s well-made B fare. With Sig Ruman as a bad guy and J. Carrol Naish as an Arab henchman.
Grand Illusion (“La grande illusion”) (1937) Directed by Jean Renoir
Written by Jean Renoir and Charles Spaak
1937/France
Réalisation d’art cinématographique (RAC)
Repeat viewing
#106 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 8.1/10; I say 10/10
[box] Capt. von Rauffenstein: Boeldieu, I don’t know who will win this war, but whatever the outcome, it will mean the end of the Rauffensteins and the Boeldieus.[/box]
I consider Jean Renoir’s film about man’s humanity to man during World War I to be a masterpiece – full stop. How lovely life would be if we could look at people in all their complexity the way Renoir does.
Aristocratic career officer Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay) and working class hero Lt. Marechal (Jean Gabin) are shot down over Germany during an air reconnaissance run and taken to an officer’s prison camp. There they bond with the officers quartered with them and work on a tunnel to escape. The men enjoy many comforts thanks to food parcels shared with everyone by Lt. Rosenthal (Marcel Dalio) and put on an amateur theatrical. Just before they can put their escape plan into effect, the men are all transferred to another camp.
Months later, after the two have repeatedly been caught trying to escape from several different camps, they are taken to be held in a heavily fortified and guarded castle. There they meet again with the pilot who originally shot them down, the aristocrat Capt. von Rauffenstein, who has been injured during the war and is now commandant of the prison, a role he evidently loathes. Von Rauffenstein forms a special bond with de Boeldieu, with whom he shares a common class and profession. The rest of the film tells the story of a final escape planned by de Boldieu, Marechal and Rosenthal from the supposedly escape-proof castle. With Julien Carette as an ex-music hall performer prisoner and Dita Parlo as a kind German farm woman.
The story makes this sound something like The Great Escape. This is only superficially true. The real subject of the film is the brotherhood of man. Renoir takes a deep look at the relationships between his characters and finds them, both French and German, to be basically good. When enemies in war relate to each other on an individual level, they find they are the same and become friends. The grand illusion is that borders divide us. But Renoir knows that the illusion creates war. He specifically points out in a couple of different places that characters are deluded when they believe the war will end quickly or that this war can prevent future wars.
I may be making this movie sound preachy. Renoir avoids that entirely and treats his material with a lot of humor. His interest is in the individual. One of the most moving scenes in the film comes during the amateur theatrical at the first camp. A group of English soldiers is performing in drag to an audience of French prisoners and their German guards. Marechal bursts on to the stage to announce that the French have retaken one of their forts. The audience spontaneously begins singing “La Marseillaise”, led by one of the British officers wearing a dress, his wig now removed.
There is quite a similar scene in Casablanca, when the French at Rick’s break out in “La Marseillaise. In the Hollywood film, the scene is patriotic and theatrical. Renoir’s scene is more moving to me, because he makes it so real and unexpected.
This film began my great love affair with Jean Gabin. His natural understated performance is a wonder in a uniformly outstanding cast. Gabin’s performance is often contrasted with Pierre Fresnay as illustrating the difference between a screen actor and a more mannered stage actor. I think Fresnay does not get enough credit. He perfectly captures the public manners of the aristocrat he is playing. Eric von Stroheim’s German accent is execrable but his performance is very touching. This time through I paid particular attention to Joseph Kosma’s fantastic score which only adds to the riches of the production.
Grand Illusion was the first foreign language film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
Black Legion Directed by Archie Mayo
Written by Abem Finkel and William Wister Haines based on a story by Robert Lord
1937/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing
Humphrey Bogart had one of his first leading roles in Black Legion, the story of a working man seduced by a Ku Klux Clan-style organization.
Frank Taylor (Bogart) is known as the best machine operator in the shop, at least by his friends. The men kid Joe Dombrowski for always having his nose in a book. When a job as foreman opens up, Frank goes shopping for a new car. But the job goes to Joe and Frank is outraged. Frank becomes easy prey to the Black Legion, a secret organization advocating “America for Americans” and terrorizing foreigners. After they chase Dombrowski and his father out of town, Frank gets the coveted job. Soon, however, his life is in a tailspin and Frank discovers that it is far easier to join the Legion than to leave it. With Dick Foran as Frank’s friend Joe and Ann Sheridan as Joe’s girl.
This is a good solid Warner Brothers Depression-era social issues film. Bogart is very good. There are a lot of good 1937 details, such as that Frank is looking at an economical car that gets 18 miles per gallon.
You Only Live Once Directed by Fritz Lang Written by Gene Towne and C. Graham Baker 1937/USA Walter Wanger Productions
Repeat viewing
[box] Joan Graham: Anywhere’s our home. On the road. Out there on a cold star. Anywhere’s our home.[/box]
Fritz Lang continues with the man pursued by an uncaring society theme explored in M and Fury. While this does not hit the heights achieved by those films, it is very good and Fonda turns in an outstanding early performance.
Joan Graham (Sylvia Sidney) has waited three years for Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda) to be released from prison. Eddie is a three-time loser and everyone warns Joan away from him but to no avail. Eddie emerges with a huge chip on his shoulder, convinced that the world has it in for him. This is despite the fact that Joan’s boss the Public Defender (Barton MacLaine) got him a job as a truck driver.
Joan’s love is the one good thing Eddie sees in his life and they marry immediately. But they are thrown out of their honeymoon hotel and Eddie loses his job when he fails to return to his dispatcher on time after a run. No one has sympathy for an ex-con. While Eddie is out looking for work, six people are killed in a violent bank holdup and Eddie’s hat is found at the scene. The rest of the film follows Eddie and Joan’s sad story as he is re-imprisoned and they go on the lam.
I have a couple of nits to pick but basically this is a powerful film. Fonda is just superb as a hardened criminal with a soft spot for his girl. He is so excellent as a tough guy that it is hard to understand where his noble persona came from. The escape through the fog and some of the other shots reflect Lang’s mastery of the expressionist style. Some have referred to this as an early film noir and it definitely has that flavor.
I think this film suffered particularly from the Production Code. I read that Lang was forced to tone down the violence and the ending comes out of left field. It also features a rather ludicrous birth without pregnancy. This stuff is minor, though. Recommended.
You Only Live Once is currently available to watch streaming on Netflix Instant and Amazon Prime Instant in the U.S.
The Edge of the World Directed by Michael Powell Written by Michael Powell 1937/UK Joe Rock Productions
Repeat viewing
[box] “Art is merciless observation, sympathy, imagination, and a sense of detachment that is almost cruelty.” — Michael Powell[/box]
This was Michael Powell’s first major creative project after several years of directing “quota quickies”. It is an exquisite film.
The island of Hirta in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland is cut off from the rest of the world during much of the year and accessible only by sea during the rest. The people live a simple life herding sheep and fishing as they have for hundreds of years. Now young people are moving away and the peat the people cut for fuel is giving out. Most people know their days on the island are numbered but community leader Peter Manson (John Laurie) refuses to budge. James Gray (Finlay Currie), another leader, suspects evacuation is inevitable.
Gray’s son Andrew (Niall McGinnis) is in love with Manson’s daughter Ruth. The couple is intent on marrying and raising a family on the island. Manson’s son Robbie has returned for a final visit. He has fallen in love with a girl on the mainland and has no intention of bringing her back to the island. The conflict inherent in the threads of the plot comes to a head when Robbie and Andrew engage in a contest of nerve and physical prowess.
What an eye Powell had! This film contains some of the most stunning shots to be seen anywhere. If people could eat scenery, Hirta would have been overpopulated. Powell also captures the sadness and poetry of a dying way of life. The choral music and orchestral score is beautiful. The story is secondary I feel. Highly recommended for lovers of the visual aspects of film.
Young and Innocent (AKA “The Girl Was Young”) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Charles Bennett et al based on a novel by Josephine Tey (“A Shilling for Candles”)
1937/UK
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Repeat viewing
[box] [last lines] Erica Burgoyne: Father, don’t you think we ought to ask Mr. Tisdall to dinner?[/box]
Except for the iconic restaurant shot, this is unexceptional fare from Hitchcock, who is always entertaining.
Robert Tisdall (Derrick De Marney) is a young writer who is friendly with an older actress. Her ex-husband is insanely jealous. Tisdall finds her strangled on a beach with the belt from his own raincoat, which was earlier stolen. He is apprehended and taken to the local police station where things look bleak for him but he seizes an opportunity to escape.
He winds up hitching a ride in the car of the Chief Constable’s even younger daughter, Erica (Nova Philbeam). Gradually, he earns her trust. They spend the rest of the film trying to find the evidence to clear him amidst other adventures. With Basil Radford, later of Charters and Caldicott fame in The Lady Vanishes, as Erica’s uncle.
Young and Innocent was billed as “the successor to The 39 Steps“. It shares a wrong-man theme and some of the cheeky flavor of that film. It is missing the conflict between the leads that was half of the fun and the caliber of acting necessary to pull this kind of thing off. It comes off as rather predictable, but enjoyable. There are a couple of very good Hitchcock set pieces – a cliffhanger in a mine and the aforementioned restaurant shot.
Dead End Directed by William Wyler
Written by Lillian Hellman based on the play by Sidney Kingsley
1937/USA
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
First viewing
[box] Hugh ‘Baby Face’: [Hugh doesn’t give a street kid money when the kid doesn’t deliver] Nothing for nothing, kid.[/box]
This gritty story of the mean streets of New York has a lot going for it, including some outstanding performances and a carefully rendered setting.
The story takes place near the Hudson River where highrise apartment buildings have sprung up that overlook a squalid tenement. A gang of unruly boys camps out on the back stoop of one of these posh buildings rough housing and annoying all the passers-by. Dave (Joel McCrea) grew up here. He has been educated as an architect but can only get odd jobs. He is infatuated with the beautiful Kay (Wendy Barrie) who lives in the apartment building. Drina (Silvia Sidney) is a striking factory worker who is bringing up her younger brother Tommy in the tenements on her own. Drina loves Dave.
Into this environment comes fugitive murderer Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart). Martin has changed his appearance with plastic surgery and has come back to his old stomping grounds after a long absence to see his mother (Marjorie Main) and girl (Claire Trevor).
Tommy joins the gang of kids. They engage in all kinds of petty mischief but things get serious when they beat and rob a rich kid from the building. In the meantime, Martin’s reunion with his mother and girl do not go as expected. Martin’s anger leads him to attempt a desperate crime.
I thought this was really good in all aspects. While Bogart is still playing a thug, he does so very sensitively. We can see the pain in his eyes as his mother and girlfriend do not live up to his dream. The other actors are all fine. The collective “lead” is really Leo Gorsey, Huntz Hall and the rest of the Dead End Kids. They give the film much of its life and have the timing down perfectly. While the plot contains few surprises, this genre has seldom been done better. Recommended.
Dead End was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Claire Trevor), Best Cinematography (Gregg Toland) and Best Art Direction; (Richard Day). This was the first of seven movies featuring the Dead End Kids. The group subsequently evolved into the East End Kids and Bowery Boys and made many B comedies.
Heidi Directed by Allan Dwan
Written by Walter Ferris and Julien Josephson based on the book by Johanna Spyri
1937/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Repeat viewing
[box] Heidi: I am not her child! She’s a bad lady! She tried to sell me to gypsies! Please. Please, let the Grandfather take me home. He didn’t mean to do anything bad. I’ll work hard and pay back for everything he broke. So will Swanli and Bearli.[/box]
I loved the book as a girl and was pleased to find it when I cleaned out my parents’ house. Although Shirley Temple didn’t fit the image I had of Heidi in my head, I have a soft spot for this movie. The story of an orphan who warms the heart of her hermit grandfather was made for little Shirley but she plays it blessedly straight in this one.
The orphan Heidi (Temple) is literally dumped at the mountain cabin of her grandfather when her aunt tires of caring for her. The Grandfather (Jean Herscholt) is none too pleased to see her as he disowned her father for marrying her mother and has not spoken to anyone since. But Heidi’s sweet nature gets through to the old man and he eventually warms up to the local villagers as well.
Then Heidi’s aunt shows up and steals Heidi away to serve as the companion of the crippled rich girl Klara in the big city. Klara’s nanny Frau Rottenmeier hates Heidi on sight and treats her badly. But Klara loves the girl and Frau Rottenmeier can’t get rid of Heidi. When Klara’s father returns from his travels, he falls in love with Heidi as well. Heidi’s only wish is to go home to the Grandfather. But events cause Frau Rottenmeier’s jealousy to get the better of her, threatening to separate Heidi from her home forever.
It had been years and years since I had seen this film. I had forgotten how superb Jean Herscholt was in his role. Shirley has a regrettable, but clearly mandatory, song and dance routine at the beginning but after that the film is a straight drama. I thought she acquitted herself rather well in the acting department.
The Prisoner of Zenda Directed by John Cromwell
Written by John Balderston, Edward E. Rose et al based on the novel by Anthony Hope
1937/USA
Selznick International Pictures
First viewing
[box] Rudolph Rassendyll: But I’ve reformed.
Princess Flavia: Almost beyond recognition. You seem to be an entirely different person.[/box]
Before I get started, I have to confess that my viewing conditions for this film were far from ideal. My rental DVD became unplayable about three-quarters of the way in. I then resorted to watching the remainder of the film on YouTube in parts. After I was about 10 minutes from the end I discovered that one or more scenes were missing from the YouTube footage, including the climactic sword fight! Since I am not going to watch this again for purposes of this exercise, I will go ahead and review it. What I saw was an entertaining adventure with an accomplished cast, though it does break down into soppy romantic melodrama at the very end.
Major Rudolf Rassendyll (Ronald Colman) is an Englishman taking a fishing holiday in a Ruritanian Eastern European country. There he meets up with his distant relation and double Prince Rudolf (also Colman) on the eve of the latter’s coronation. The Prince is accompanied by his stalwarts Colonel Zapt (C. Aubrey Smith) and Fritz von Tarlenheim (David Niven). Prince Rudolf is drugged by his evil illegitimate brother Michael (Raymond Massey) who wants to seize the throne. His friends convince Rassendyll to be crowned in the Prince’s place.
In the meantime, Michael has been plotting with his cohort in crime Rupert of Hentzau (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) Michael plans to rule as Regent and then marry the Prince’s fiancée Princess Flavia (Madeleine Carroll), who is next in line for the throne. This makes Michael’s girlfriend (Mary Astor) extremely jealous. Rassendyll is crowned. He and Flavia fall madly in love at the coronation.
The rest of the story traces the twists and turns of the intrigue as Michael continues to pursue the throne after the coronation.
With a cast like this, the movie has to be fun, right? I thoroughly enjoyed it despite my many trials. Madeleine Carroll plays a very different sort of character than her usual and has never been more meltingly lovely. The men, despite looking very similar with their dark mustaches, are all at the top of their game. I could have lived without so many love scenes. Recommended.
The Prisoner of Zenda was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Art Direction (Lyle R. Newman) and Best Score (Alfred Newman – the first of his 44 nominations). It was listed in the National Film Registry in 1991. This was the fourth adaptation of the novel and the first sound version. The story was remade in 1952 with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr and as a spoof in 1979 starring Peter Sellers.
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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