Monthly Archives: August 2013

The Green Pastures
Directed by Marc Connelly and William Keighley
Written by Marc Connelly based on a play by Marc Connelly and a novel by Roark Bradford (“Ol’ Man Adam and His Chillun” )
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

[box] Gabriel: Gangway for the lord god, Jehovah![/box]

This white imagining of what African-Americans imagine the Old Testament bible stories to have been like couldn’t be more politically incorrect.  Nevertheless, it is quite enjoyable on all fronts and particularly for the choral singing.

The story begins in a country town as an African-American preacher conducts Sunday school and tells the bible stories to small children.  We segue to Da Lawd (Rex Ingram) and his angels in heaven where life is one perpetual fish fry.  When Da Lawd overdoes it in coming up with extra Firmament for the boiled custard, he creates the earth to hold the excess and Man to take care of the garden watered by the Firmament.  He is vastly displeased by the antics of his creation, however.  There follow folkloric low-brow presentations of the stories of Cain and Abel, Noah (Eddie “Rochester” Anderson) and the Ark, the Exodus, and the exile in Babylon. The film ends with Da Lawd learning mercy through the suffering of an unseen man carrying a cross.

I didn’t know what to expect here but this was very entertaining.  The spirituals sung by the heavenly choir are glorious and all the performances are solid and amusing.  I’m sure the portrayal of Da Lawd as a fallible, fickle God made many Black theologians wince and civil right activists protested the film at the time.  Nevertheless, it does stand out as one of only six all-Black feature films produced by the Hollywood studios during the classic era.   I prefer Hallelujah (1929) but this isn’t far behind.

The part of “De Lawd” was originally written to be played in blackface by Al Jolson. When that fell through, it was offered to Paul Robeson, who naturally refused it. It was eventually given to Rex Ingram.  We can all be very grateful that Jolson wasn’t in this.

For an interesting critique of the film see here: http://brightlightsfilm.com/59/59greenpastures.php#.UgPeIpLCZ8E

Trailer

Bullets or Ballots
Directed by William Keighley
Written by Seton I. Miller based on a story by Martin Mooney and Seton I. Miller
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

[box] Mr. Thorndyke: Why did you try to take over the job?

Johnny Blake: I didn’t try and take it over, I took it over.[/box]

I am basically enjoying the hell out of 1936.  This Warner Bros. gangster movie, in the tradition of G-Men, is a ton of fun with classic performances from two of my main men – Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.

Gangland is turning into racketeering with corporate leadership.  Government has been able to do little to stop it due to corruption in its own ranks.  Finally, after the assassination of a muckraking journalist, a grand jury makes Capt. Dan McLaren police commissioner and gives him a mandate to crack down.  McLaren’s right-hand man Johnny Blake (Edward G. Robinson) is suddenly fired.  The next time we see Blake he is working for gang boss Al Kruger (Barton MacLane), who is facing rebellion in the ranks.  Blake makes a name for himself by building an organized numbers racket.  But Kruger’s second-in-command ‘Bugs’ Fenner (Humphrey Bogart) believes Blake is a double-crosser and is determined to bring him down.  With Joan Blondell and Louise Beavers as small-time numbers runners and Frank McHugh as their comedy bag man.

This movie was just a joy to watch.  Bogart and Robinson were at the top of their game.  I loved watching the fleeting smirks and other expressions light up their faces.  This is fast-paced action fare, with the emphasis on bullets, not ballots.  Recommended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QupukQSb0DQ

Trailer

San Francisco
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke
Written by Anita Loos from the story by Robert E. Hopkins
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing

[box] Waiter at Chicken’s Ball: [referring to the earthquake] Well, we certainly don’t do things halfway in San Francisco.[/box]

The music is the best thing about this glossy but cliche-ridden dramatic musical/disaster flick.

Honorable but unbelieving Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) owns a saloon/cabaret/gambling hall called The Paradise on the wicked Barbary Coast of San Francisco.  His boyhood pal Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy) keeps trying to reform Blackie but is getting nowhere.  One day, starving young singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) comes into The Paradise looking for work.  Blackie is taken with Mary and gives her a job that shows off her legs and allows her to belt out “San Francisco” at his joint.  Soon an opera impresario notices that Mary has a beautiful trained soprano voice but Blackie balks at letting Mary out of her contract.  Mary has fallen in love with Blackie and is about to succumb to his advances when it is Father Mullen to the rescue.  When will Heavenly Vengeance rescue the modern-day Sodom from its sinful ways?  How about at 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906?

First I should say that I enjoyed the film quite a bit the first time I saw it and gave it a rating of 9/10.  On repeat viewing, I wondered what I was thinking.  While the acting and production are good, the story struck me as extremely hokey.  Basically, we are treated to an epic struggle for the Immortal Souls of Blackie and Mary.  Blackie’s soul can only be won by the mass destruction of the city he loves by earthquake.

I found the earthquake scenes clumsy although they were probably groundbreaking in 1936.  D.W. Griffith reportedly directed the sequence and it shows.  Jeanette MacDonald has some charming numbers including her first rendition of “San Francisco”, a tender version of “Would You?” and two operatic arias.  However, her final performance of “San Francisco” at a climatic point in the plot and right before the building starts shaking reminded me of nothing less than Al Jolson belting out “Swanee”.

San Francisco was the top-grossing film of 1936.  The city was in the news that year as the Golden Gate Bridge was under construction.  The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including for Best Production, and won the Oscar for Best Sound Recording.

Re-release trailer

Theodora Goes Wild
Directed by Richard Boleslawski
Written by Sidney Buchman from an original story by Mary McCarthy
1936/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing

[box] Michael Grant: I’ll be happy when I’m darn good and ready to be happy, and not a minute sooner.[/box]

Irene Dunne shows all the pizzaz that will make her such a standout in The Awful Truth in this wacky romantic comedy.

Theodora Lynn plays the church organ and lives in the tiny town of Lynnfield with her two maiden aunts. Under the pen name Caroline Adams, she has secretly written a best selling novel called “Sinner” that has scandalized the town.  When Theodora travels to New York to see her publisher, she continues to urge him that her identity be hidden.  But a pushy young illustrator (Melvyn Douglas) smells a rat and follows her back to Lynnfield where he embarrasses her mightily and finally causes her to rebel when she falls in love with him.  When she admits her love, he flees.

She follows him to New York where she finds out that he is trapped in a loveless marriage by convention and duty to his straightlaced politician father.  What’s good for the gander is good for the goose, and Theodora turns the tables on him with her newly wild ways.

Irene Dunne is simply stunning here.  Her antics, including a great drunk scene, are a scream.  The script is not nearly as clever as in The Awful Truth but all the elements that make Dunne’s Lucy Warriner such a delight are already present in this, Dunne’s first comedy role.  One thing that didn’t work for me was Douglas’s character.  He struck me as too obnoxious to make Theodora go head over heals.  The character picks up in the second half when Theodora gets her own back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuIHxTNkuVk

Trailer – “in her heart she longed to be called “baby””!