Tag Archives: 1930s

My Favorite Films of 1933

Posted on March 21, 2013 | 3 comments

I just completed watching 63 films that were released in 1933.  A complete list, with reviews, can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/list/LPudKpTiH0A/ .  It was tough to limit myself to just 10 favorites!

1.  Gold Diggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy)  — This movie captured my heart the first time I heard Ginger Rogers singing “We’re in the Money” in Pig Latin and I’m still loopy for it decades later.

Gold Diggers 2

Clip – “We’re in the Money”

2.  The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Fritz Lang)  —  I love the atmosphere of dread Lang creates in this movie and the wonderful performance by Oscar Wernicke as the crass but clever inspector Lohmann.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Clip – Intro in the counterfeiting press

3.  Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo)  — This highly inventive short film is full of youthful anarchic energy and surrealist touches.

Zero for Conduct

 

Clip – Dormitory rebellion/pillow fight

4.  King Kong (Marien C. Cooper)  —  The granddaddy of all special effects films and still pretty amazing.

King Kong

 

Re-release trailer

5.  Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch)  This sly comedy about a menage a trois could only have been made in pre-Code Hollywood.  The Ben Hecht screenplay sparkles as bright as the acting and direction.

Design for Living

Criterion DVD – Three Reasons

6.  42nd Street (Lloyd Bacon)  — Warner Bros. backstage musical bliss.

42nd Street

 

Clip – “I’m Young and Healthy”

7.  Japanese Girls at the Harbor (Hiroshi Shimizu)  — The absolutely poetic outdoor shots of  Yokohama were a revelation in this, my introduction to director Shimizu.

Japanese Girls at the Harbor

8.  Dinner at Eight (George Cukor) —  All the actors, including both the Barrymore brothers, do themselves proud but my favorite parts feature Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery as a bickering couple.

Dinner at Eight

 

Clip – Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery argue

9.  Counsellor at Law (William Wyler)  — Truly the best performance I have seen by John Barrymore and the wisecracks fly around the law office about as fast as in The Front Page.

10.  The Invisible Man (James Whale) — Claude Rains makes an unforgettable US film debut as the title character with his resonant voice. James Whale again shows his deft hand at mixing wit with violence and doing justice to both

The Invisible Man

Trailer

Just missed the Top 10:  The Mayor of Hell, Little Women, Woman of Tokyo, Lady for a Day, Morning Glory and Sons of the Desert.

List of Shame (movies I wish I had seen): Alice in Wonderland, Ecstasy, Libelei, The Story of Temple Drake, Madame Bovary, Tugboat Annie, etc.

3 Comments

Posted in Top Ten Lists

Tagged ,

Twentieth Century

Posted on March 19, 2013 | 2 comments

Twentieth Century
PhotoELF Edits: 2009:12:07 --- Batch ResizedDirected by Howard Hawks
1934/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Second Viewing

 

Twentieth-Century-3

Oscar Jaffe worms his way into Lily Garland’s Heart

Theater empresario and master manipulator Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) discovers lingerie model Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard), changes her name to Lily Garland, and bullies her into stardom. They become lovers but his posturing and possessiveness finally drive her away to Hollywood. They meet again on the Twentieth Century Limited, which is taking Oscar from Chicago to New York after a flop and Lily from Hollywood to New York where she has signed to work with another director. The fireworks continue on the train as Oscar seizes on Lily as his last chance to get the financing he needs to save his theater.

Oscar Jaffe: I’m offering you a last chance to become immortal.
Lily Garland, aka Mildred Plotka: Then I’ve decided to stay mortal with responsible management.

This early screwball comedy, written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, is a lot of fun. Barrymore is especially good as the totally phony and ultra-flamboyant producer. Carole Lombard starts out sane and builds to a fever pitch of diva-itis after her character becomes a Hollywood star. Roscoe Karns and Walter Connelly are excellent as Oscar’s assistants.

When we get the two characters emoting at full blast on the train, the histrionics can go straight over the top  but, even in those scenes,  there is the wry humor of the assistants to enjoy.  Separately both Barrymore and Lombard are hilarious.  I can imagine that John Barrymore had a grand time sending up theatrical producers.  I loved those crazy chalk marks on the floor and the whole concept of putting on the Passion Play on Broadway complete with camels and an ibis.

Clip – “Anathema, child of Satan!

2 Comments

Posted in 1934

Tagged , , ,

Maniac (1934)

Posted on March 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

 ManiacManiac DVD cover
Directed by Dwain Esper
USA, 1934
Roadshow Attractions
First Viewing

 

 

Dr. Meirschulz admires his heart.

Dr. Meirschultz admires his heart.

When he isn’t busy being a maniac, Dr. Meirschultz conducts experiments aimed at raising the dead. His idiot assistant, Don Maxwell, apparently owes the doctor plenty for taking him in after he flopped as an impersonator on the vaudeville circuit. When the doctor suggests that Maxwell shoot himself so that he can be an experimental subject,  Maxwell shoots the doctor instead. He then makes himself up as the doctor  and assumes his personality, becoming a maniac himself.   In the meantime, we see various young women bare their breasts (I suspect this was the raison d’etre for the film), a man does a astoundingly bad tranformation to a monster, and Maxwell eats a “cat’s eyeball”. There are several “educational” intertitles with clinical descriptions of mental illnesses. Clearly, nobody planned to have this thing passed by the Hayes Office.

Buckley (after getting hypo of adrenaline): Oh!  Stealing through my body! Creeping though my veins!  Pouring in my blood!  Oh, DARTS OF FIRE IN MY BRAIN!  STABBING ME!  I CAN’T STAND IT!  I WON’T!

At 56 minutes, I had at least 5 LOL moments so I count this as a success on the bad movie front. I often wonder if the people involved really knew how bad these things were and were playing up the cheese factor. The acting is just so over the top here that it’s hard to think the actors weren’t trying for that effect!

Transformation scene

 

 

Leave a comment

Posted in 1934

Tagged ,

The Rise of Catherine the Great

Posted on March 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Rise of Catherine the GreatCatherine DVD
Directed by Paul Czinner
UK, 1934
London Films Production
First viewing

 

Catherine: “I am a woman like your mother and your sisters. I know that it is a bad wife who leaves her husband because he has been cruel. But it is a good mother who will fight everyone to save her children. You are my children. I come to you as the mother of all Russia.”

Empress Elizabeth of Russia (Flora Robson) is determined that her indolent, debauched nephew Grand Duke Peter (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) should wed a German princess. He resists this idea until he meets the lady in question (Elisabeth Bergner), who has loved him dearly since childhood. Upon their marriage, she is renamed Catherine. Sadly, Peter descends slowly into madness but Catherine stands by her man until his public humiliations become too much to bear. It is not giving too much away to say she goes on to become Catherine the Great but in this version the death of Peter is strictly against her orders. All poor Catherine was ever looking for was a little love.

"Can anyone love someone like me?"

“Can anyone love someone like me?”

It is impossible to watch this film without comparing it to Josef von Sternberg’s weird but wonderful The Scarlet Empress released the same year. That is definitely the superior of the two films primarily because Bergner cannot hold a candle to Marlene Dietrich.

However, if taken alone, The Rise of Catherine the Great is not half bad. Flora Robson is excellent as the randy but principled Elizabeth and, while Fairbanks, Jr. struck me as too bland at the beginning of the film, he really grew on me. Bergner, the wife of director Czinner, was a famous Austrian actress and this was her first English speaking role. She is competent but unfortunately her sometimes wide-eyed coquettishness and petite stature make her look like she’s playing dress-up in those period costumes. Speaking of costumes, they and the sets are lavish and wonderful.

Ending

Leave a comment

Posted in 1934

Tagged , ,

My Favorite Films of 1931

Posted on March 15, 2013 | 7 comments

 

I saw 37 movies that were released in 1931 and these were my 10 favorites.  The complete list with my reviews is available here:  http://www.imdb.com/list/Fu6-KI2OuCE/

1. City Lights (Charles Chaplin) – My heart belongs to Buster Keaton but even I must admit that no one ever equalled this. The last three minutes are a master class in pure cinema.

City Lights

the ending

2. M (Fritz Lang) – A masterpiece.

M

3. La Chienne (Jean Renoir) – I love it when I discover a new film for my non-existent all-time top 100 list and this was one. I prefer this to Lang’s remake, Scarlet Street, which I also love.

La Chienne

Clip

4. Frankenstein (James Whale) – Every time I see this I am moved all over again by Karloff’s sensitive performance as the Monster.

Frankenstein

 

Re-release trailer

5. Marius (Alexander Korda) – The first part of Marcel Pagnol’s “Marseilles” or “Fanny” Trilogy. This is a richly human film filled with marvelous character parts and emotion. The dialogue is wonderful without being too stagey.

Marius

6. Le Million (Rene Clair) – I find Clair’s musical souffles totally enchanting and is my very favorite.

Le Million

7. Comradeship (“Kameradschaft”) (G.W. Pabst)- Story of how German miners come to the rescue of their French comrades trapped underground near the border. The special effects, sound, and photography are amazing for such an early effort. Added to this are a suspenseful story and an accomplished ensemble cast.

Kameradschaft_Foto

8. The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch) – How can you go wrong with a pre-Code Lubitsch musical featuring numbers such as “Jazz Up Your Lingerie”?

The Smiling Lieutenant

 

Claudette Colbert and Miriam Hopkins sing “Jazz Up Your Lingerie”

9. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Rouben Mamoulian) – Mamoulian always makes interesting use of his camera and I thought March deserved his Oscar.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

 

Clip – Hyde forces Ivy to sing

10. The 3 Penny Opera (“Die 3 Groschen-Oper”)(G.W. Pabst) – I’ve read a lot of folks don’t care for this because they don’t think it does justice to the Brecht and Weill stage musical. Well I haven’t seen that and I just loved this film. The acting is fantastic and the production is so stylish that the frames could have leapt directly out of a Georg Grosz painting.

The 3 Penny Opera

Clip – “Mack the Knife”

The last two movies were in a dead heat with the following films: Waterloo Bridge, The Front Page, Bad Girl, and Tokyo Chorus.

 

7 Comments

Posted in Top Ten Lists

Tagged

My Favorite Films of 1932

Posted on March 14, 2013 | 1 comment
I managed to see 42 movies released in 1932.  These were my 10 favorites.  There is a list of all the movies I watched with my full reviews at:  http://www.imdb.com/list/CNHMAVcPFdc/?publish=save

1. Love Me Tonight 

(Rouben Mamoulian) – I don’t think there is another such perfect musical comedy until Singin’ in the Rain  20 years later.

Jeanette McDonald and Maurice Chevalier - She doesn't know he is a tailor!

Jeanette McDonald and Maurice Chevalier – She doesn’t know he is a tailor!

Clip – “Isn’t It Romantic?” – I love this number!

2. I Was Born But … (Yasujiro Ozu) OK, I know that the idea of a Japanese silent film is off-putting but I promise you this one is great. The first time I saw it, it didn’t even have background music. Just complete silence and the pictures. And I forgot the total absence of sound in about 5 minutes. The story is just that funny and real and touching and … oh, I just love this movie.

Our child heros are face with these guys when they move into their new house
Our child heros are faced with these guys when they move into their new house

3. Fanny (Marc Allégret) – A young girl is left heartbroken and pregnant but surrounded by love and the humanity of Marseilles in the 1930’s. A beautifully written and acted film.

Fernand Charpin, Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, and Orane Demazis

Trailer – no subtitles

4. Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch)- Sophisticated, sly comedy – what the famous Lubitsch touch is all about.

Shadows
Shadows say so much …

Clip

5. Vampyr (Carl Th. Dreyer) – A horror movie with no jump shots and a vampire movie with no bats or fangs. This dreamscape scares with its exquisite, spare, atmospheric black and white cinematography. The work of a master.

An inn
An inn

6. The Old Dark House (James Whale) – Comedy and horror generally don’t mix in my book but they work like a charm in this film. I would rank this dark and stormy night story right up there with Whale’s more famous Frankenstein films.

The Old Dark House

10. Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg) – Von Sternberg avoids the excesses of some of his later Dietrich films and puts together an exciting fast-paced thriller. Dietrich and Anna May Wong are iconic in this one.

Marlene Detriech, Lawrence Grant, Clive Brook and Anna May Wong
Marlene Detriech, Lawrence Grant, Clive Brook and Anna May Wong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEpHOnoE3bY

Clips from Shanghai Express set to “Shanghai Lil” by Gene Kardos and His Orchestra

8. Scarface (Howard Hawks) – Paul Muni is great as a ruthless killer with a weakness for his little sister. This movie has style.

Scarface
Tony (Paul Muni) doesn’t want his sister (Ann Dvorak) dating!

Re-release trailer

9. The Island of Lost Souls  (Erle C. Kenton) – A true horror classic with a timeless performance by Charles Laughton as the sadistic and polymorphously perverse Dr. Moreau.

Charles Laughton is Dr. Moreau
Charles Laughton is Dr. Moreau

 

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

Re-release trailer

10. Wooden Crosses (Raymond Bernard) – Devastating and unforgettable film about the horrors suffered by a French battalion in World War I.

Wooden Crosses

 

 

 

1 Comment

Posted in Top Ten Lists

Tagged

The Private Life of Don Juan

Posted on March 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Private Life of Don JuanCatherine DVD
Directed by Alexander Korda
UK, 1934
London Film Productions
First viewing

 

 

Lobby card featuring Merle Oberon and Douglas Fairbanks

Lobby card featuring Merle Oberon and Douglas Fairbanks

Don Juan: “All girls are different. All wives are alike.”

An aging Douglas Fairbanks plays an aging Don Juan in this pleasant comedy. Don Juan is tiring after 20 years in the saddle and when an imposter is killed in a duel happily attends his own funeral. The only problem is that when he wants to reclaim his identity, no one will believe him. Merle Oberon is top-billed as a fiery Spanish dancer although Benita Hume has the bigger part as a woman plotting to keep the Don as her own. I loved the Spanish flavored score.  Fairbanks looks pretty tired but carries the film with his humor.  He was a very good sport!  This was his last film.  He would die in 1939 at age 56.

Excerpts – scenes of Merle Oberon with Douglas Fairbanks

Leave a comment

Posted in Movie Reviews

Tagged , , ,

A Story of Floating Weeds

Posted on March 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

A Story of Floating Weeds (“Ukikusa monogatari”)floating weeds dvd
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Japan, 1934
Shochiku Company
Second Viewing

 

 

A Story of Floating Weeds

Otaka (the mistress): “The world is like a lottery. You take your ups and downs.”

Kihachi is the actor-manager of a traveling theater company that plays the backwaters of Japan. The shows they put on are comically bad but seem to entertain rural audiences. Kihachi decides to stay in the mountain town where an old flame lives so he can visit with his illegitimate son, whom he has high hopes for but who thinks of the father as an “uncle”. Kihachi’s current mistress is consumed with jealousy and plots to have a young actress seduce the son to foil the father’s plans.

That’s about all there is to the plot but, this being an Ozu film, plot is not all that important. Instead, this is a character study focusing on how the different characters cope with relationships, failure, and aging. It is also quite funny when it looks at the different members of the company, including some low humor aimed at a bed-wetting 9-year-old who ineptly plays the dog in the show.  The film  is ultimately an examination of the inevitably flawed expression of family love in real life as are all Ozu’s films. This is arguably his best and most mature silent film, though I personally prefer 1932’s I Was Born, But ….

Kihachi is irrascible and strikes several people, including women who do not fight back, which could be disturbing to modern viewers.  The violence is not graphic or prolonged.  This film was remade in 1959 as Floating Weeds, Ozu’s first color film.

Excerpt (opening)

Leave a comment

Posted in 1934, Movie Reviews

Tagged ,

The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)

Posted on March 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

3. The Mysterious Mr. Wongmr. wong dvd
Directed by William Nigh
USA, 1934
Monogram Pictures
First Viewing

 

 

Mr. Wong: “A few hours with the rats will loosen his tongue to tell the truth!”

Mr. Wong with minion

Mr. Wong with minion

Mr. Wong (Bela Lugosi) will stop at nothing to obtain the 12 golden coins of Confucius, which will allow him to rule the province of Keylat. A wisecracking reporter (Wallace Ford) blithely suffers one near-death experience after another to solve a series of murders in Chinatown in pursuit of him.  Lugosi makes perhaps the most unconvincing Chinese person on record, but he does exude a certain campy menace. This was a Monogram Pictures B-picture and perfectly serviceable for the bottom of a double bill.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in 1934

Tagged , ,

L’Atalante

Posted on March 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

L’Atalantel'atalante dvd
Directed by Jean Vigo
France, 1934
Gaumont-Franco Film-Aubert
Second viewing

 

 

 Juliette – “Don’t you know? In the water we can see the one we love.”

A young skipper brings his new bride (Dita Parlo) aboard his small barge to live with his eccentric first mate (Michel Simon), a boy, and too many rambunctious cats. We witness the couple’s initial passion, the wife’s boredom, the husband’s jealousy, and then the cycle begins again. The slight plot is told in vivid images that insinuate themselves in the memory. Dita Parlo brings an enchanting sense of wonder to her character. This is a totally original, funny, and erotic story that engaged me throughout.  The last of Jean Vigo’s four films before his death at age 29 and a masterpiece.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1934

Tagged ,