Category Archives: Movie Reviews

The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (“Detstvo Gorkogo”}
Directed by Mark Donskoy
Written by Mark Donskoy and Ilya Gruzdev based on books by Maxim Gorky
1938/USSR
Soyuzdetfilm
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “…I couldn’t believe any longer that all this was in earnest and that tears came hard to them. All those tears and shouts, and all the suffering they inflicted on each other, all those conflicts that died away just as quickly as they flared up, had now become an accepted part of my life, disturbed me less and less, and hardly left any impression. Long afterwards I understood that to Russians, through the poverty and squalor of their lives, suffering comes as a diversion, is turned into a game and they play at it like children and rarely feel ashamed of their misfortune. In the monotony of everyday existence grief comes as a holiday…” — Maxim Gorky, My Childhood[/box]

I have a fraught relationship with Soviet films in general, but I love this coming-of-age biography.

Twelve-year-old Alexei Peshkov (later Gorky) is brought by his single mother to live with her parents and brothers in the country.  From the first day, Alexei is surrounded by chaos. His grandfather, who runs a dying business, is in a constant rage and lashes out at anyone who crosses his path with beatings.  His two uncles fight non-stop over who will get the bigger share of the business from their father, who, in any case, does not seem willing to part with it any time soon.  Alexei’s mother can’t bear the situation and soon departs for the city, leaving Alexei to cope on his own.

Alexei is blessed with a loving grandmother and forms warm relationships with a young apprentice, an old employee who is losing his sight, and an intellectual who rents a room in the house.  The family’s lot worsens as its financial situation grows more and more desperate. All these forces seem only to make Alexei stronger.

This film is superbly acted and shot.  I can’t understand why it is not better known.  The story is told without any sentimentality or hyperbole and seems very real. There is no overt political content.  While it is not for the faint of heart, it has my enthusiastic recommendation.

Clips from The Childhood of Maxim Gorky and J. K. Tham’s Scavengers of Antang, Makassar  (first 5+ minutes are from “Childhood”)

Four Daughters
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Julius J. Epstein and Lenore J. Coffee from a story by Fannie Hurst
1938/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Warner Archives DVD

[box] Adam Lemp: I’m going down to the Hall of Records to strike my name off your birth certificates![/box]

John Garfield knocks one out of the park in his feature film debut.  If only the material had been as good as his performance …

Cantankerous but kindly old flautist Adam Lemp (Claude Rains) has raised a bevy of lovely musically talented daughters who are all now of marriageable age.  The eldest Kay (Rosemary Lane) has already snagged a beau.  One day Felix , a young composer, comes to introduce himself to Adam.  He ends up moving in and all the sisters become infatuated with him.  Felix is drawn to the fun-loving youngest daughter Ann (Priscilla Lane).  But soon his friend, fellow composer Mickey Borden arrives, and is immediately smitten with Ann who takes him under her wing.  The rest of the movie follows the unusual, to say the least, progression of this love triangle.  That’s all I think I should reveal about the plot.

To start off with the positive, the film is very well-made and the three Lane sisters and Gale Page are charming as the daughters.  The early parts reminded me of a modern-day Little Women full of good-natured family banter.  And Garfield’s performance is truly electrifying if a bit incongruous.  He seems to have stepped straight out of Actor’s Studio in New York into the warm embrace of Capra’s small town America.  Unfortunately, contrary to the film maker’s intent, I found the Mickey character to be an unsympathetic whiner and his “noble” gesture to be a cop-out.  In fact, I couldn’t believe that any part of the love triangle would have played out the way it did. Maybe in Hurst’s world but not in this one …

Claude Rains can do no wrong as far as I am concerned but it is clear from the film why he was not called on to play many avuncular father roles of this type.

Four Daughters was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Picture; Best Director; Best Supporting Actor (Garfield); Best Screenplay and Best Sound Recording.

Clip – John Garfield’s feature film debut

Nancy Drew: Detective
Directed by William Clemens
Written by Kenneth Gamet from a story by Mildred Wirt Benson
1938/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Nancy Drew:  I think intelligent women should have careers.[/box]

This was my first foray into the cinematic world of girl detective Nancy Drew and I thought it was a ton of fun.

An elderly alumna makes a sizable donation to Nancy’s school, then promptly “goes away for her health”.  Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) smells a rat and with the help of her friend Ted Nickerson begins to investigate.  Nancy gets some help from her lawyer father but is in general more than a match for the bad guys.

Bonita Granville really matched my mental image of the cheerful, plucky, and resourceful Nancy.  I loved watching her drive around in that roadster.  I wouldn’t want to oversell this “B” fare but if you have any affection at all for the books, I’d recommend it.

Fan video – Clips from this and Nancy Drew: Reporter  (1939) set to “Nice Day” by Persephone’s Bees

Prison Break
Directed by Arthur Lubin
Written by Dorothy Davenport; story by Norman S. Parker
1938/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing; Netflix rental

Despite the usually reliable leads, I thought this was a bit of a stinker.

Good-guy Joaquin Shannon (Barton MacLane) is a tuna fisherman and pillar of the community.  For some unexplained reason, the father and brother of his sweetie Jean (Glenda Farrell) will do anything to prevent their relationship.  One night, Jean’s brother goes to a bar where Joaquin is hosting a bachelor party for Joaquin’s brother Chris.  Chris gets very drunk at the party.  In the meantime, shady character Big Red Kincaid (Ward Bond) spots Jean’s brother’s bankroll at the bar and kills him in the street.  When Chris walks up the stranger clobbers Chris and flees.  Joaquin comes upon this scene and assumes Chris killed the brother.  He takes the rap for manslaughter and goes to prison for 1 – 10 years.  His plan is to be on good behavior for a year and earn parole. But naturally Big Red turns up and Joaquin’s life both inside and, eventually outside, the prison is one fight after another, through no fault of Joaquin.  There is no on-screen prison break.

Believe it or not, my plot summary takes up well less than half of this 72 minute movie and I left out the extensive fishing scenes at the beginning.  I also left out the many ridiculous deus ex machinas included in the second half.   Despite the crowded story, I thought the movie dragged terribly.  The director is better known for the series of Abbott and Costello movies.  His forte is clearly not drama.

Hotel du Nord
Directed by Marcel Carné
Written by Jean Aurenche and Henri Jeansen from the novel by Eugéne Dabit
1938/France
Societé d’Exploitation et de Distribution de Films (SEDIF); Impérial Film
First viewing/ Streamed on Hulu Plus

[box] I was very nervous at the beginning of Hôtel du Nord. — Marcel Carné [/box]

Louis Jouvet’s performance was the highlight of this slice of life at a Paris hotel.

The kind and boisterous Lecouvreur family operate the modest Hôtel du Nord in Paris.  Pimp Edmund (Jouvet) and prostitute Ginette (Arletty) occupy one of the rooms and argue constantly.  As the story begins, Pierre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) and Renée (Annabella) rent a room for the night.  We soon find that they are down to their last sou and have made a murder-suicide pact. Pierre is to shoot Renée and then himself.  But when first shot is fired, Edmond rushes in to the room and Pierre flees.

It turns out that Renée is only wounded.  Next morning, Pierre turns himself in.  He is mortified but the romantic Renée is still madly in love with him.  After she is released from the hospital, Renée returns to the hotel to get her belongings.  She is offered a job as a domestic by the Lecouvreurs.  Edmond develops a fascination with Renée, much to Ginette’s disgust.  In the meantime, some bad guys are on a revenge mission to locate Edmond.

I enjoyed this a lot though I wouldn’t call it great.  The Jouvet-Arletty relationship is more interesting than the Pierre-Renée romance and Jouvet does very well with a multi-layered, rather mysterious character.

I wonder how often murder-suicides turn into straight up murder in real life?

Clip with Arletty and Louis Jouvet (unfortunately no subtitles)