Monthly Archives: August 2013

The Devil-Doll (1936)

Posted on August 26, 2013 | 2 comments

The Devil-Doll
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Garrett Fort, Guy Endore, and Erich von Stroheim from a story by Tod Browning based on the novel Burn Witch Burn by Abraham Merritt
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

 

[box] Malita: We’ll make the whole WORLD small![/box]

MGM really didn’t understand the horror genre.

Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) and Marcel (Henry B. Walthall) escape from Devil’s Island, where Lavond has spent 17 years unjustly confined.  They go to Marcel’s house where his crazed wife Malita is continuing Marcel’s “humanitarian” experiments to shrink animals and humans to 1/6 their normal size.  Marcel asks Lavond to help the couple with their work but he refuses.  Lavond’s only remaining mission in life is to exact vengeance on the three fellow bankers that framed him for embezzlement and to lift the cloud of shame on his daughter (Maureen O’Sullivan).  But when Marcel suddenly dies, Lavond and Malita go off to Paris where they open a doll shop.  Lavond disguises himself as kindly old dollmaker “Mme. Mandilip”  and uses his miniaturized people, which move only at telepathic commands, in his revenge plot.

The premise of this movie had potential but failed to be creepy or scary. I got the feeling that MGM just couldn’t have Barrymore be a really bad guy. As it is, he is very much more Doctor Gillespie than Mr. Potter.  He seems completely sane and his revenge plans fully justified.  It is fun to see Barrymore as a woman, however. The special effects for the little people and animals are kind of clunky as well.  The film has a nice score by Franz Waxman.

Trailer

 

 

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Secret Agent (1936)

Posted on August 25, 2013 | 2 comments

Secret Agent 
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Charles Bennett et al from the novel “Ashenden” by W. Somerset Maugham
1936/UK
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Repeat viewing

 

[box] Edgar Brodie: We aren’t hunting a fox, we’re hunting a man. He’s an oldish man, with a wife. Oh, I know it’s war and it’s our job to do it, but that doesn’t prevent it being murder – simple murder![/box]

Peter Lorre makes this early Hitchcock film a ton of fun despite a plot that is even more implausible than usual.

For reasons unknown, a novelist who is serving in the British army in World War I is renamed Richard Ashenden and selected by British Intelligence ito assassinate a German spy in Switzerland.  The identity of the spy is, of course, unknown.  Ashenden (John Gielgud) is given a phony wife, Elsa (Madeleine Carroll), and a crazy double agent called “The General” (Peter Lorre) to assist him.  Elsa is carrying on a flirtation with American Robert Marvin (Robert Young),but is immediately attracted to Ashenden.  Ashenden’s mission is made more difficult by his and Elsa’s distaste for cold-blooded killing, even of an enemy.

Although I have read that Lorre’s addiction made him quite a problem on the set, he still manages to turn in a bravura comic performance.  He is priceless as the randy “hairless Mexican”, so named because he is neither hairless nor Mexican, alternately delivering quips and exuding menace.  Madeleine Carroll is also wonderful.  Gielgud is good but he’s not really romantic lead material.  The story is one big McGuffin crowned by a head-scratcher ending but Hitchcock makes it all go down painlessly.

Clip – opening

 

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

Three Smart Girls (1936)

Posted on August 24, 2013 | Leave a comment

Three Smart Girls
Directed by Henry Koster
Written by Adele Comandini
1936/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] Mrs. Lyons: Believe me, Donna, ten million at the altar is worth twenty million in the bush![/box]

Deanna Durbin’s feature film debut is an entertaining, if predictable, light comedy..

Kay, Joan, and Penny Craig live with their divorced mother in Switzerland.  When the newspapers run a headline that their millionaire father (Charles Winninger) intends to remarry, it makes their mother cry.  So the enterprising young ladies head for New York determined to break up the marriage.  When the girls meet their father’s gold-digging fiancée Donna (Binnie Barnes), they are even more eager to interfere.  So they hire a penniless count (Misha Auer) to alienate Donna’s affections.   Along the way, Kay and Joan find love and Penny sings a few songs.  With Ray Milland as a monied aristocrat and Alice Brady as Donna’s mother.

Somehow, Deanna Durbin’s trained soprano voice doesn’t match her girl-next-door charm and comedic talents but I always enjoy her.  The movie, too, was fun with a top-notch cast of character actors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFRm7c4X3NA

Trailer

 

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Romeo and Juliet (1936)

Posted on August 24, 2013 | 2 comments

Romeo and Juliet
Directed by George Cukor
Adapted by Talbot Jennings from the play by William Shakespeare
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

 

[box] Juliet: Romeo. Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?[/box]

This lavish production of the Shakespearian tragedy has a lot going for it but is marred by some inappropriate casting.  With Leslie Howard as Romeo, Norma Shearer as Juliet, C. Aubrey Smith as Capulet, Basil Rathbone as Tybalt, John Barrymore as Mercutio, Reginald Denny as Benvolio, Edna May Oliver as Juliet’s Nurse, and Andy Devine as Peter.

This film was MGM’s answer to Warner Bros. production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream the previous year.  It has the same sumptuous art direction with a look a little like a medieval tapestry.  The music is also wonderful and many of the performances, particularly by the British cast members, are quite good.

The problem lies with the age of the cast.  Leslie Howard was 43 when this was made and Norma Shearer was 34, far too old to be the adolescents of the story.  Howard takes this in stride, playing Romeo as a grown man.  However, I think Shearer suffers greatly. Apparently someone thought she could get away with playing a young girl.  Her performance is thus very mannered and simpering in the first part of the film.  After Juliet’s marriage to Romeo, Shearer suddenly begins playing her as a mature woman. Unfortunately, this means she pulls out all the stops overacting to an almost embarrassing extent.  John Barrymore, who was 57 and nearing the end of his creative life, doesn’t do himself any favors either.

On the night of the Los Angeles premiere, Shearer’s husband, MGM production head Irving Thalberg, died at age 37.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D6BxQwYQ4I

Trailer

 

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Mayerling (1936)

Posted on August 23, 2013 | 2 comments

Mayerling
Directed by Anatole Litvak
Written by Marcel Archard, Joseph Kessel and Irma von Cubed based on a novel by Claude Anet
1936/France
Nero Films
First viewing

 

[box] The Archduke Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia (21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889) was the son and heir of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. His death, apparently through suicide, along with that of his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, at his Mayerling hunting lodge in 1889 made international headlines, fueled international conspiracy rumours and ultimately may have sealed the long-term fate of the Habsburg monarchy.[/box]

This romantic biopic made an international star out of Charles Boyer and features an exquisite performance by the 19-year-old Danielle Darrieux.

Progressive-thinking Archduke Rudolf is surrounded by spies sent by his enemies in the conservative Hapsburg monarchy.  He attempts to assuage his boredom in debauchery but that is scant comfort.  One day at an amusement park, he meets 17-year-old Maria Vetsera and is captivated by her innocence.  She develops a grand passion for him and they meet secretly until the Emperor calls an end to their tryst.  Their fate may have changed history.

I liked this a lot.  Boyer and Darrieux also played the leads in one of my favorite films, The Earrings of Madame de … (1953), and are equally fine here.  Darrieux is the kind of actress that can express volumes with her eyes and was enchanting as a girl in the throes of first love. Boyer may never have been handsomer.  The film contains many good set pieces such as the scene at the ballet and a royal gala ball.  Litvak keeps his camera moving delightfully.  Recommended.

Extract – Eyes meeting at the ballet

 

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Three on the Trail (1936)

Posted on August 23, 2013 | 3 comments

Three on the Trail
Directed by Howard Bretherton
Written by Doris Schroeder and Vernon Smith
1936/USA
Harry Sherman Productions
First viewing

 

[box] Stagecoach Bandit: [Caught in the act by the man in black] That’s Cassidy! He’s bad medicine! Let’s get goin’![/box]

The second of the Westerns I watched was my very first Hopalong Cassidy movie. Although it was routine, I was pleasantly surprised at how appealing William Boyd was in the role.

Hoppy (William Boyd), Johnny Nelson (James Ellison) and Windy (Gabby Hayes) are fast friends and hands on the Bar-20 Ranch.  When an evil gang begins rustling cattle and sticking up stagecoaches, the three must ride to the rescue.  Along the way, Johnny falls for lovely schoolmarm Mary (Muriel Evans).

I’m not a big Western fan and the story was nothing special but I can understand why these films were a big draw in theaters in the 30’s and later on TV in the 50’s.  William Boyd is quite charming and the considerable joshing among the friends lightens the good guy v. bad guy action.

Hopalong Cassidy tribute

 

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Stampede (1936)

Posted on August 23, 2013 | 2 comments

Stampede
Directed by Ford Beebe
Written by Robert Watson from a story by Ford Beebe
1936/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Kenneth J. Bishop Productions/Central Films
First viewing

While I was out of town I watched a couple of 1936 B Westerns on my iPad.  This was the first.

Rancher Dale Milford desperately needs to sell his herd of horses to pay off a loan and save his ranch.  However, all buyers are being warned off his property by mysterious forces.  His fate changes when brave Larry Carson (Charles Starrett) rides into town and starts investigating the death of his livestock buyer brother.  There is no stampede.

This forgettable programmer was quite OK.  The best part was the beautiful British Columbia scenery.  Columbia shot this in Canada to fulfill a production quota; the story’s setting was Montana.

Clip – opening

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

Big Brown Eyes (1936)

Posted on August 10, 2013 | 2 comments

Big Brown Eyes
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Written by Bert Hanlon and Raoul Walsh based on a story by James Edward Grant
1936/USA
Walter Wanger Productions for Paramount Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] Editor: Wait! Wait!

Eve Fallon: You wait… you look like a waiter anyway.[/box]

This movie was a sure sign that Raoul Walsh was not to make his name for directing snappy romantic crime films.

Eve Fallon (Joan Bennett) is a manicurist in a hotel salon.  She trades wise cracks with all her flirtatious customers and her boyfriend Police Detective Dan Barr (Cary Grant).  There is an epidemic of jewel thefts in town and it seems like insurance detective Richard Morey (Walter Pigeon) always recovers the jewels.  We soon find out that Morey is the ringleader of the gang of thieves.  The editor of the local newspaper thinks Eve has brains and hires her as a reporter.  One of the gang members accidentally kills a baby in a park.  Eve uses her nose for news to help Dan catch the bad guys.  Throughout, the couple are bickering merrily.  With Lloyd Nolan as a gangster.

Poor reliable Cary Grant and Joan Bennett just couldn’t overcome the material they had to work with.  The plot is full of holes and most of the comedy falls flat.  A running thread is Eve’s jealousy of Dan’s supposed flirtation with a jewel theft victim.  Only trouble is that the woman is a ditzy society matron at least 20 years older than Dan.  I never believed that she would have given Bennett a moments heartache.

I have to go out of town for a couple of weeks to get my parents’ house ready for sale and will be away from my trusty DVD player.  I trust I’ll have some more exciting fare waiting for me when I get back.

 

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Wife vs. Secretary (1936)

Posted on August 10, 2013 | 1 comment

Wife vs. Secretary
Directed by Clarence Brown
Written by Norman Krasna et al
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

 

[box] Party Guest with Herbert: [looking lasciviously at Whitey as she dances past him] Gentlemen, I fear that even I could give that little lady dictation.[/box]

This is a fairly entertaining romantic drama with splendid cast.

Van (Clark Gable) is madly in love with his wife of three years, Linda (Myrna Loy).  He runs a magazine with the invaluable assistance of his beautiful secretary, Whitey (Jean Harlow).  All the ladies tell Linda that she should see that Van get rid of Whitey, but Linda insists she is not the jealous type.  Van gets the idea of acquiring another magazine and Whitey begins to spend long hours with him in all sorts of places, making her boyfriend Dave (James Stewart) very jealous.  It soon turns out that Linda is the jealous type and prone to jump to conclusions.   Meanwhile Whitey is developing quite a yen for Van.

The story is sometimes trite but you really can’t go wrong with the three stars.  The dialogue is rather witty as well, but I would not call this a comedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG32zbPSLNg

Trailer

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Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

Posted on August 9, 2013 | 2 comments

Dracula’s Daughter
Directed by Lambert Hillyer
Written by Garrett Fort et al
1936/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] Countess Marya Zaleska: Possibly there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamed of in your psychiatry, Mr. Garth.[/box]

I cannot recommend this sequel to 1931’s Dracula.

The story begins with Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) standing over the body of Renfield after he drove the stake into Dracula’s heart.  Van Helsing is promptly arrested for murder, Scotland Yard having no sympathy for his vampire defense.  Van Helsing calls on his former student psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth as the only man who can defend him.  (It is totally unclear why this should be so.)  Meanwhile, Dracula’s body has been spirited away. Garth meets strikingly beautiful Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) at a party.  When he talks of curing obsessions, the Countess becomes convinced that Garth is the only person who can release her from Dracula’s control.  In the meantime, the number of bodies found mysteriously drained of blood mounts.  Yada yada yada.

For horror films to work, they need to be either scary or so bad they are funny.  This one is blandly mediocre.  The main problem is Gloria Holden’s vampire who looks the part with her dark, statuesque beauty but loses all credibility when she opens her mouth.  She is not assisted by the story which gives her very little to do.  Kruger is grimly wooden and the ingenue cannot act at all.  The castle set is left over from Dracula and looks very good but it does not come into play until about 5 minutes before the end.  The camera work is nice as well.

Re-release trailer

 

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