Tag Archives: 1938

Alexander Nevsky (1938)

Posted on November 27, 2013 | Leave a comment

Alexander Nevsky

Directed by Sergei M. Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev
Written by Sergei M. Eisenstein and Pyotr Pavlenko
USSR/1938
Mosfilm
Repeat viewing

[box] Alexandr Nevsky: Go tell all in foreign lands that Russia lives! Those who come to us in peace will be welcome as a guest. But those who come to us sword in hand will die by the sword! On that Russia stands and forever will we stand![/box]

My appreciation of this film took a nose dive due to the substandard print and sound track on the rental DVD I received. I rated it very highly when viewed in a restored print.

The story is based on the historical Prince Alexander (1220-1263) who defeated an army of Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire who were invading Novgorod.

Most of Russia, save Novgorod, has fallen to the Mongol Horde. The people call on Alexander, who had previously defeated a Swedish invasion, to free Russia of the Mongol yoke. Alexander declines, saying that the real threat will come from Germany. Soon enough, the Teutonic Knights have defeated the city of Pskov, massacring its civilian population (and throwing babies into bonfires).

The people beg Alexander to lead them against the foe and he arrives in Novgorod, where the nobility and merchants desert the town. The common people, including woman warrior Vasilisa, bravely fight the Huns on frozen Lake Peipus. The Germans are roundly defeated and their clergy crushed. The people take pity on captured German foot soldiers but have no mercy for Russian traitors.

The main attractions of Eisenstein’s film are the magnificent Prokofiev score and the masterfully edited and shot battle sequences. These were obscured by a blurry print and a tinny, static-fillied soundtrack in the version I watched. In addition, the subtitles made the characters sound like medieval Yodas. I can recommend the Criterion Collection version and I am sure there are other good restored prints out there.

The film was a great success on its 1938 release. In 1939, it was withdrawn from circulation when Stalin entered the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact with Hitler. Following the Nazi invasion of the USSR in 1941, it was rapidly returned to Soviet screens. Eisenstein was awarded the Stalin Prize for the film the same year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKZPgGbUuX0

Clip – Battle on the Ice (beautiful sound)

Holiday (1938)

Posted on November 20, 2013 | 4 comments

Holiday
Directed by George Cukor
Written by Donald Ogden Stewart and Sidney Buchman from the play by Philip Barry
1938/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing

[box]Linda Seton: For the love of Pete… it’s the witch and Dopey![/box]

The other Grant/Hepburn pairing for 1938 is another comedy, but in a more sophisticated vein.

Johnny Case (Cary Grant) is a fun-loving sort who has worked all his life. His plan is to save enough money to take a long holiday from working to figure who he is and what he wants from life. While on a skiing trip, he meets beautiful Julia Seton and they fall in love. When they return to New York, he discovers that Julia comes from one of the wealthiest families in the city. Her father places a large stock in breeding, money, and decorum. Julia can wrap dad around her little finger but her sister Linda (Katharine Hepburn) is miserable in the stuffy atmosphere of their mansion and her brother Ned (Lew Ayres) has taken to drink as a way out.

Mr. Seton finally gives his approval to an alliance with the working class Case when he finds that he has been doing well at a financial firm. Seton plans to announce the engagement at a huge fancy New Years Eve party. At the same time, Linda is hosting a party for one in the “playroom” of the mansion. Gradually, Johnny’s old friends Professor Nick Potter (Edward Everett Horton) and his wife Susan (Jean Dixon) join her, along with her brother Ned. Things come to a head when Case discovers his deal at the firm has made a killing on the stock market and he can at last afford to take his holiday.

This is a really entertaining film. All the acting is quite wonderful. Both Grant and Horton excel in nuanced, serious parts. The standout for me, however, is Ayres. I always lament that we don’t see enough of him in major Hollywood movies. The plot moves much too fast with respect to the shifting relationships but who expected reality in the movies? The dialogue sparkles. Recommended.

Holiday was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction. That mansion is quite something.

Clip

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Posted in 1938, Movie Reviews

Tagged 1938, Cukor, Hollywood

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938

Posted on March 23, 2013 | 3 comments

The Adventures of Robin Hood
Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley
1938/USA
Warner Bros. Pictures
#114 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Second Viewing
IMDb users say 8.0/10; I say 9.0/10

Lady Marian Fitzswalter: Why, you speak treason!
Robin Hood: Fluently.

There are times that call for uncomplicated entertainment where virtue triumphs and true love prospers. The Great Depression was such a time. I would submit that the 2010’s are another, which may account for the current popularity of Superhero comic book fare. Since I prefer my films without explosions, graphic violence or CGI, The Adventures of Robin Hood is where I want to turn when I’m looking for an action pick-me-up.

True Love

Whatever his personal life, in 1938 Errol Flynn was the embodiment of swashbuckling, wise-cracking virtue and perfect for playing Robin Hood as the merriest of the Merry Men. We meet him as he is rescuing poacher Much from summary execution by the coldly cruel Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone). However, his grand entrance is shortly afterward when he arrives at a banquet hosted by Prince John (Claude Raines) and deposits the poached deer before the prince. This is followed by a classic fight scene in which Robin fights off at least 20 Norman foes single handed with sword, arrows, and sheer derring-do.

adventuresofrobinhood with deer

Robin first sets eyes on the beautiful Lady Marian, intelligently played by the lovely Olivia de Havilland, at the banquet. As a Norman, she at first despises this Saxon upstart but learns to respect and then love him for his loyalty to her guardian King Richard and his goodness to the downtrodden. Robin is appropriately chivalric throughout. In fact, a tenant of the oath taken by the Merry Men is to protect all women whether Norman or Saxon.

Three villains – Melville Cooper, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Raines

The supporting cast is a roster of some of the most familiar faces in ’30’s Hollywood. Each villain has his own consistent attributes from Claude Raines’s cynical, snide Prince John, to Melville Cooper’s cowardly Sheriff of Nottingham. Basil Rathbone contributes his expert swordsmanship to the fabulous sword duel with Robin that closes the film. Then we have the good guys. It is hard to imagine a more perfect crew than Alan Hale as Little John, Eugene Pallette as Friar Tuck, Patric Knowles as Will Scarlet, and Herbert Mundin as Much. Una O’Conner hams it up as Marian’s loyal lady’s maid Bess.

Adventures of Robin Hood Climactic Duel

The bright glittering costumes and sets may not present an accurate picture of the Middle Ages but they do contribute to the storybook feeling of the piece. Those who are looking for a gritty, nuanced portrayal of the Robin Hood legend would do better elsewhere. Those viewers who are out for a good time can stop right here for 102 minutes of unadulterated fun.