Tag Archives: 1930s

Gold Diggers of 1935
Directed by Busby Berkeley
1935/USA
Warner Bros
First viewing?

I could have sworn I had seen this before but now I think it’s just that the “Lullaby of Broadway” sequence has been anthologized so often.  It is fairly entertaining but does not hold a candle to those sassy, sexy pre-Code Busby Berkeley musicals.

The story concerns the staff and guests at a luxury resort.  Wealthy Mrs. Prentiss (Ann Brady) arrives with her randy son Humbolt (Frank McHugh) and bored daughter Ann (Gloria Stewart) in tow.  Soon thereafter,  Ann’s fiance, daffy millionaire snuff-box collector T. Mosley Thorpe (Hugh Herbert), shows up.  Ann hates Mosley and is longing to have fun.  Her mother agrees that she can have fun that summer if she will promise to marry Mosley afterward and hires hotel clerk Dick Curtis (Dick Powell) to escort Ann around.  It doesn’t take a genius to tell where that part of the plot is going ….

Meanwhile, impresario Nicoleff (Adolphe Menjou) is deep in debt to the hotel.  The hotel manager plots to have Nicoleff direct Mrs. Prentiss’s annual charity show.  Nicoleff plots to milk as much money out of Mrs. Prentiss as possible.  The whole thing ends with the show, naturally.  With Glenda Farrell as Mosley’s gold digging private stenographer.

This is closer to a traditional musical comedy than the earlier Warner backstage musicals in that the opening minutes are a kind of artificially staged narrative and Dick Powell spontaneously bursts into song a couple of times.  Everyone is pretty good and Menjou is very funny as a Russian theatrical type.  The production numbers can be rather clunky at times.  I never fail to be shocked by the tragic ending to the “Lullaby of Broadway” sequence.  It seems so out of place.  Maybe the girl needed to be punished for staying out all night?

Trailer

‘G’ Men (1935)
Directed by William Keighley
1935/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

Jeff McCord: We’re gonna make the word “government” poison to them if it’s the last thing we do.

There is something so comforting about putting a James Cagney movie into the player.  I can count on him being good and usually the movie is good as well.  In this case, the movie is quite good.  With this film, Warner Brothers transformed the gangster genre into something the Hayes Code could live with while boosting an FBI that had just received the right to carry weapons and federal crime laws to enforce.

Cagney plays Brick Davis, a guy who grew up on the mean streets of the East Side but was financed by a bootlegger through law school.  When his government agent law school friend is gunned down by mobsters, Davis decides to join the Bureau, severing his ties with his benefactor and Jean, the nightclub singer who is sweet on him (Ann Dvorak).   In Washington, Davis is put under the tutelage of crusty veteran agent Jeff McCord (Robert  Armstrong) who thinks him “soft”.  Davis rapidly sets McCord straight and also impresses with his street smarts and inside info on the criminals he came up with.

The film is full of violent action, perhaps more of it than in the earlier gangster films.  Davis’s colleague is slaughtered by the mob while trying to transport one of their number to prison and there is a montage of armed bank hold-ups.  Later, after the Bureau is armed, there are a couple of spectacular gunfights.  In keeping with the Code, there is no gore and the bad guys are thoroughly despicable and thoroughly vanquished.  With Margaret Lindsay as Jeff’s sister and Brick’s love interest.

This movie sinks or swims on the back of Jimmy Cagney and he does not disappoint.  He has the same cocky charm and energy that Tom Powers had, with the appeal of being in the right, and a good script to work with.  Robert Armstrong plays his part with a healthy dose of humor, refreshing after his super-earnest work in King Kong.  The bad guys are all interesting.  Ann Dvorak was fine, but where did they get her dresses?  I don’t think I’m a Margaret Lindsay fan.

Re-release trailer

Poor, poor Ann Dvorak and her unfortunate costume (and routine!)

Charlie Chan in Shanghai
Directed by James Tinling
1935/USA
Fox Film Corporation
First viewing

Charlie Chan: Hasty conclusion like hind legs of mule – kick backwards.

Master-detective Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) travels to Shanghai ostensibly to visit the land of his ancestors but really to assist in a secret investigation.  But the British agent he was to assist is murdered at Charlie’s welcoming banquet and Charlie soon finds himself dodging murder and kidnapping attempts.  An American agent arrives and he and Charlie start on the trail of a gang of opium smugglers.  With Keye Luke as Lee, Chan’s “Number 1 Son.”

This is a competent, fairly standard entry in the mystery series.  It is notable for giving Oland a chance to show off his rich baritone singing voice when he entertains some children.  Number 1 Son, whom I had not encountered before, is somewhat silly but also comes to his father’s assistance in this one.