Tag Archives: 1934

Kiss and Make-up
Directed by Harlan Thompson
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing

Tagline: …a racy romance of a famous beauty doctor

Cary Grant plays Dr. Maurice Lamar, a Parisian plastic surgeon and beauty expert in high demand.  His efficient secretary Anne (Helen Mack) is in love with him.  His “masterpiece” is Eve Caron (Genevieve Tobin), though her husband Marcel (Edward Everett Horton) does not approve of the changes the doctor has wrought and divorces her.  Maurice marries Eve but is perfection all it is cracked up to be?

This movie was released just before the Production Code began to be enforced and you can sure tell by the double entendres and the amount of cheesecake on offer. In case there was any doubt, the first scene has the good doctor asking Toby Wing to disrobe and she is down to her scanties in a flash. The film also served as a showcase for the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1934 so there are multiple parts for the lovely starlets as the doctor’s assistants or patients.

The plot is slender and unremarkable. Good for something light or to see Cary Grant sing and look young and handsome. The art deco sets are also very nice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx6vPYfRO9k

Clip – Cary Grant sings “Love Divided by Two”

Thirty Day Princess
Directed by Marion Gering
1934/USA
B.P. Schulberg Productions for Paramount Pictures
First viewing

[box] King Anatol: It’s extraordinary how much you look like Zizi! Tell me, have you any royal blood in your veins?

Nancy Lane: I don’t think so, Your Majesty.

King Anatol: Well, my dear, one can never tell.[/box]

A banker (Edward Arnold) wants to float a bond issue for the kingdom of Tyronia and brings its princess (Sylvia Sydney) to New York to publicize the deal. During her first speech there, the princess collapses and must be quarantined for mumps. The banker finds a lookalike stand-in in the form of Nancy Allen (also Sylvia Sydney), a struggling actress. He promises her extra payment if she can vamp crusading newspaper editor Porter Madison III (Cary Grant) into not denouncing the bond issue. Naturally, Porter soon falls in love with the “princess” and the feeling is mutual.

This is standard romantic comedy fare. The story is lifted slightly above average by the performances of the two leads and a script that was co-written by Preston Sturges.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tstMdiMW1bI

Clip – at the automat (the two men are scouting for a princess stand-in)

Now and Forever
Directed by Henry Hathaway
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing

Penelope Day: Daddy doesn’t know anything about raising children.

Gary Cooper pays con man Jerry Day who travels the world one step ahead of the law with his wife Toni (Carole Lombard).  In China, he announces that he has a child and is going to sign her over to his ex-brother-in-law for $75,000.  Toni doesn’t care for this scheme and they separate.  Naturally, Jerry falls in love with Penny (Shirley Temple) as soon as they meet and the two reunite with Toni.  Jerry tries to go straight but is constantly tempted by a fellow con man (Guy Standing) who has something on him.  With Charlotte Granville as the society matron who wants to take care of Penny.

This movie is quite a departure from Shirley’s normal fare.  First of all, her part is secondary to the two adult leads, though she does get equal billing.  She does not play her normal role of bringing two people together for love of her and there is almost no singing.  It’s quite a dark story with an ambiguous ending.  That said, this is no better than your average melodrama of the time period.  Gary Cooper is an unlikely con man and Carole Lombard doesn’t have much of a chance to be wacky.

Charlie Chan in London
Directed by Eugene Ford
1934/USA
Fox Film Corporation
First Viewing

Charlie Chan: If you want wild bird to sing do not put him in cage.

A woman is convinced that her brother, who has been sentenced to death, is innocent of murdering the Secretary of the Hunt at a mansion where he was staying.  Charlie Chan (Werner Oland) is called in on the case only three days before the hanging.  Will he be able to discover the true killer on the grounds of the British country house?  Need you ask?  Also with Ray Milland as the condemned man’s attorney and Alan Mowbray as the owner of the mansion.

This is a pretty good entry in the Charlie Chan series.  Charlie does without the assistance of Number One Son here.  The DVD comes with a featurette in which various people argue that the Charlie Chan character, despite some stereotyping, was a positive development for the image of Chinese Americans in films.  Up to then, Chinese were generally portrayed as either servants or evil doers.  Charlie Chan was always the smartest guy in the room.  It’s unfortunate that the times allowed him to be portrayed by a Swede, however talented.