Daily Archives: September 4, 2013

Satan Met a Lady (1936)

Posted on September 4, 2013 | 2 comments

Satan Met a Lady
Directed by William Dieterle
Written by Brown Holmes based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

 

[box] Valerie Purvis: Do you mind very much, Mr. Shane, taking off your hat in the presence of a lady with a gun?[/box]

This is an adaptation of The Maltese Falcon with all the character names changed and the quarry changed to a medieval ram’s horn stuffed with jewels.  It’s all played for laughs.  I will identify the cast by their Maltese Falcon names:  Warren William as Sam Spade; Bette Davis as Ruth Wonderly/Bridget O’Shaughnessy; Arthur Treacher as Joel Cairo; Allison Skipworth as Kasper Gutman; Maynard Holmes as Wilbur; and Porter Hall as Miles Archer.

I thought this was pretty bad.  Warren William seems to be laughing at his own little joke the entire time.  The whole thing is really very silly.  This is the kind of thing Bette Davis was probably fighting to stay out of at Warners.

Trailer

 

 

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Posted in Movie Reviews

Mary of Scotland (1936)

Posted on September 4, 2013 | 2 comments

Mary of Scotland
Directed by John Ford and Leslie Godwins (uncredited)
Written by Dudley Nichols from the play by Maxwell Anderson
1936/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] Mary, Queen of Scots: I have loved as a woman loves, lost as a woman loses… My son shall sit on the throne! My son shall rule England! Still, still, I win![/box]

For some reason I just couldn’t get into this film despite its fine production values.

Katharine Hepburn plays Mary, heir to the throne of England, who returns to Scotland from France at the beginning of the film.  She is immediately confronted by the hostility of the Lairds that have been ruling Scotland in her absence and Presbyterian firebrand John Knox and the emnity of Elizabeth I.  Her one champion is Bothwell (Fredric March) and they fall in love.  However, she is more or less forced to marry Darnley, who is second in line to the English throne, to solidify her claims.  Things do not turn out well for anyone concerned.  Well, maybe eventually for baby James.

 

This was based on a stage play and while the filmmaking is quite cinematic the dialogue remains stagebound and flowery.  I thought Hepburn’s performance was uneven.  She often overdid it but then would be radiant once more.  I thought Florence Eldridge was perfectly awful as Elizabeth.  I have to admit that the film is beautiful to look at.  John Ford got a “Special Recommendation” for this at the Venice Film Festival.

For TCM clips go here:  http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/208648/Mary-of-Scotland-Movie-Clip-Another-Sovereign.html

 

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews