Category Archives: Movie Reviews

San Francisco
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Written by Anita Loos from the story by Robert E. Hopkins
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing

[box] Waiter at Chicken’s Ball: [referring to the earthquake] Well, we certainly don’t do things halfway in San Francisco.[/box]

The music is the best thing about this glossy but cliche-ridden dramatic musical/disaster flick.

Honorable but unbelieving Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) owns a saloon/cabaret/gambling hall called The Paradise on the wicked Barbary Coast of San Francisco.  His boyhood pal Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy) keeps trying to reform Blackie but is getting nowhere.  One day, starving young singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) comes into The Paradise looking for work.  Blackie is taken with Mary and gives her a job that shows off her legs and allows her to belt out “San Francisco” at his joint.  Soon an opera impresario notices that Mary has a beautiful trained soprano voice but Blackie balks at letting Mary out of her contract.  Mary has fallen in love with Blackie and is about to succumb to his advances when it is Father Mullen to the rescue.  When will Heavenly Vengeance rescue the modern-day Sodom from its sinful ways?  How about at 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906?

First I should say that I enjoyed the film quite a bit the first time I saw it and gave it a rating of 9/10.  On repeat viewing, I wondered what I was thinking.  While the acting and production are good, the story struck me as extremely hokey.  Basically, we are treated to an epic struggle for the Immortal Souls of Blackie and Mary.  Blackie’s soul can only be won by the mass destruction of the city he loves by earthquake.

I found the earthquake scenes clumsy although they were probably groundbreaking in 1936.  D.W. Griffith reportedly directed the sequence and it shows.  Jeanette MacDonald has some charming numbers including her first rendition of “San Francisco”, a tender version of “Would You?” and two operatic arias.  However, her final performance of “San Francisco” at a climatic point in the plot and right before the building starts shaking reminded me of nothing less than Al Jolson belting out “Swanee”.

San Francisco was the top-grossing film of 1936.  The city was in the news that year as the Golden Gate Bridge was under construction.  The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including for Best Production, and won the Oscar for Best Sound Recording.

Re-release trailer

Theodora Goes Wild
Directed by Richard Boleslawski
Written by Sidney Buchman from an original story by Mary McCarthy
1936/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing

Michael Grant: I’ll be happy when I’m darn good and ready to be happy, and not a minute sooner.

Irene Dunne shows all the pizzaz that will make her such a standout in The Awful Truth in this wacky romantic comedy.

Theodora Lynn plays the church organ and lives in the tiny town of Lynnfield with her two maiden aunts. Under the pen name Caroline Adams, she has secretly written a best selling novel called “Sinner” that has scandalized the town.  When Theodora travels to New York to see her publisher, she continues to urge him that her identity be hidden.  But a pushy young illustrator (Melvyn Douglas) smells a rat and follows her back to Lynnfield where he embarrasses her mightily and finally causes her to rebel when she falls in love with him.  When she admits her love, he flees.

She follows him to New York where she finds out that he is trapped in a loveless marriage by convention and duty to his straightlaced politician father.  What’s good for the gander is good for the goose, and Theodora turns the tables on him with her newly wild ways.

Irene Dunne is simply stunning here.  Her antics, including a great drunk scene, are a scream.  The script is not nearly as clever as in The Awful Truth but all the elements that make Dunne’s Lucy Warriner such a delight are already present in this, Dunne’s first comedy role.  One thing that didn’t work for me was Douglas’s character.  He struck me as too obnoxious to make Theodora go head over heals.  The character picks up in the second half when Theodora gets her own back.

Trailer – “in her heart she longed to be called “baby””!

Charlie Chan at the Opera
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Written by Scott Darling and Charles Belden, based on a story by Bess Meredyth, based on a character created by Earl Derr Biggers
1936/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing

Mr. Arnold: I’m stage manager here and this opera’s going on tonight even if Frankenstein walks in.

This Charlie Chan movie is taken out of the routine by the performance of Boris Karloff.

Karloff plays a patient at an insane asylum who has amnesia.  Distant memories are awakened when he sees a picture of an opera diva.  He throttles the attendant and escapes.  The police ask Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) to assist in the manhunt.  Karloff heads straight for the opera where he goes on for the baritone in a scene in which his character stabs the diva.  When the diva and her lover turn up dead Karloff’s character is naturally the prime suspect.  What can Charlie Chan add to the case?  With William Demerest as a blundering detective.

This is probably my favorite in the Charlie Chan series so far.  It follows the formula but Karloff is so good that it kept my interest.

The Petrified Forest
Directed by Archie Mayo
Written by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves based on a play by Robert E. Sherwood
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

[box] Jackie Cooper: Now, just behave yourself and nobody’ll get hurt. This is Duke Mantee, the world-famous killer, and he’s hungry![/box]

This stage-bound hostage movie is notable for Humphrey Bogart’s break-out performance.

Alan Squier (Leslie Howard), a world-weary failed writer, hitchhikes his way to the Black Mesa Cafe.  There he is captivated by the youth and enthusiasm of Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis), daughter of the proprietor.  Into the isolated café comes fugitive murderer Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) and his henchmen.  The patrons and the criminals begin to form a little community under fire.

The dialogue was too flowery and the camera work was too static for my taste.  Bette Davis and Leslie Howard did quite well with the material, however.  You can tell why Humphrey Bogart, with his intense eyes and immense energy, would have a great success in this part.  The studio had wanted Edward G. Robertson for the role and we can thank Leslie Howard for demanding that Bogart reprise his stage role.  Bogart never forgot the gesture and named his daughter Leslie in Howard’s honor.

Trailer

After the Thin Man
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett based on a story by Dashiell Hammett
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing

[Last line, as Nick gapes at Nora knitting baby boots] Nora Charles: And you call yourself a detective.

All of the main personnel from The Thin Man are back for the sequel plus some good supporting players.  The sequel doesn’t capture the sparkle of the original but it’s an entertaining watch.

Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) return home to San Francisco from their adventures in New York in the original film.  They are greeted by an invitation to dinner by Nora’s stuffy Aunt Katherine (Jessie Ralph).  Nora’s cousin Selma’s husband Robert has disappeared and Nick is asked to investigate.  Selma is being comforted by ex-boyfriend David (James Stewart).

Nick and Nora track Robert down to a nightclub owned by thug Dancer (Joseph Calleia). Robert is getting ready to run off with singer Polly and is extorting $25,000 out of David to leave Selma.  Naturally, Robert is promptly murdered.  At first all fingers are pointing at Selma but as the murders pile up, Nick is not so sure.

Once again, it is the loving banter between Powell and Loy and their amazing chemistry that makes this film.  Here, there are a few too many songs that take away from the time we could be spending with our heroes.  The mystery plot is also really difficult to follow. Still, we get to see Jessie Ralph play against type as a crotchety old society lady and James Stewart is really interesting.

Trailer