Monthly Archives: February 2022

The Champ
Directed by King Vidor
Written by Frances Marion and Wanda Tuchock
1931/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Dink Purcell: The Champ and I ain’t fixed up swell as this, but our joint’s more lively.

This sentimental but gritty melodrama works well due to its direction and cast.

Andy Purcell (Wallace Beery) is the former Heavyweight Champion of the World.  Currently, he is living in Tijuana with his son Dink (Jackie Cooper).  He is now out of shape with drinking and gambling problems.  Every time he earns money it seems to disappear into the bottle and the dice table.  Dink does an admirable job of taking care of him.

After a night of good luck, Andy buys Dink a racehorse which Dink names Little Champ. The two prepare to enter Little Champ in a race.  Coincidentally, Dink’s mother Linda (Irene Rich) owns a horse that is in the same race.  When she meets Dink she desperately wants to take him away from his sordid life with The Champ.  She bribes Andy into letting her see Dink in her palatial San Diego digs.  Dink is unimpressed.

Andy finally lets Dink go after he is put in jail for a fight and is down to his last nickel.  But the boy runs away.  Miraculously, Andy gets an opportunity to fight the Mexican Heavyweight Champion.  Where will Dink land?

Jackie Cooper is completely winning in his part and may be the best crier of all times.  While Beery is unconvincing as a boxer, he is a loveable lug.  I was entertained.  Recommended.

Wallace Beery tied for the Best Oscar Actor with Fredric March for his performance in Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).  The film was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing, Original Story.

The Unholy Three
Directed by Jack Conway
From a book by Clarence Aaron ‘Tod’ Robbins
1930/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

Professor Echo, aka Mrs. ‘Grandma’ O’Grady: Sure! From tonight on we disappear. They’ll look for the Midget, but there won’t be no Midget. They’ll find the fingerprints of the Echo, they’ll be no Echo.
Hercules: It sounds kinda creepy.
Midget: I like it. It’s unholy!
Professor Echo, aka Mrs. ‘Grandma’ O’Grady: That’s us! The Unholy Three.

Lon Chaney’s only talkie proved that he could be as versatile in sound as he was in silents.

Professor Echo (Chaney) is a ventriloquist in a side show.  He recruits his colleagues the strongman Hercules (Ivan Linow) and a midget (Harry Earles – Freaks) into his scheme for jewel thefts.  Echo disguises himself as petshop owner Grandma O’Grady and uses ventriloquism to make birds “talk” in his shop.  Hercules poses as Grandma’s son-in-law and the midget as Grandma’s daughter’s  baby.  When the buyer complains that the bird won’t talk at home, the unholy three pay a visit to show the buyer the bird still talks and case the buyers home for valuables they can steal later.

I saw this a week ago and thought it was entertaining.  Chaney, as always is pretty amazing, he not only did his own makeup but performed all his different voices in the film.  Haven’t seen the 1925 silent original directed by Tod Browning.

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Midnight Mystery
Directed by George B. Seitz
Written by Beulah Marie Dix based on a play by Howard Irving Young
1930/US
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/YouTube

Tagline:  Alive with Suspense…Topping All Melodrama for Sheer Spine-Chilling Action

This B-picture is not quite as scary as it was meant to be but does offer about an hour of entertainment.

Gregory Sloane (Hugh Trevor) invites his friends for a country weekend on a remote island off the coast of Cuba.  Among these is his fiance Sally (Betty Compson).  She is a published mystery writer.  Gregory Sloane deems this trash and demands that she give it up and concentrate on him.  Relations become strained to say the least.  Also present is Tom (Lowell Sherman), a criminal defense attorney, who is monopolizing Sally with stories from his past that could provide inspiration for a new novel.  Tom’s wife is having an affair with Gregory’s best friend Mischa.  A couple of other guests round out the party.

The story has so many twists that it would not be fair to reveal more.

This movie is extremely stage-bound and suffers from early talkie-itis.  Nonetheless I thought the story was rather clever and it kept me engaged for its short running time.

Morocco
Directed by Joseph von Sternberg
Written by Jules Furthman from a play by Benno Vigny
1930/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/owned DVD

Amy Jolly: There’s a Foreign Legion of women, too. But we have no uniforms, no flags, and no medals – when *we* are brave. No wound stripes – when *we* are hurt.

Von Sternberbg’s smoldering love triangle features Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich at their peak.

Amy Jolly (Dietrich) is a cabaret singer who has seen better times and has washed up to start all over again in Morocco.  Millionaire Monsieur La Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou) clears customs at the same time she does and immediately offers to “help” her.  She refuses.

Foreign Legionnaire Tom Brown is a womanizer who plays fast and loose with ladies from officer’s wives to the local street walkers.  Both he and La Bessiere attend Amy’s opening performance.  It is lust at first sight as Amy and Tom exchange glances during her act.  When she circulates through the audience she hands him her key.  He heads straight for her room after her show.  After some repartee that leads to his departure, Amy runs after him and he spends the night.

None of this deters La Bessiere in the slightest and he continues to hang around with lavish floral offerings and diamond bracelets.  Finally he offers marriage.  In the meantime, Tom is called out for combat.  The outcome of the love triangle is nominally in question for the length of the film.

Both Dietrich and Cooper are absolutely beautiful in this movie.  This is also Dietrich at her softest and most vulnerable, despite some tough poses. This is one film that inexplicably seems unavailable except for purchase whenever I look for it.  I’m glad I finally got to see it.

This was Dietrich’s American film debut.

Morocco was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.

Animal Crackers
Directed by Victor Heerman
Written by Morrie Ryskind from a play by Ryskind, George S. Kaufman, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby
1930/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube

Capt. Spaulding: How happy I could be with either of these two if both of them just went away.

This is possibly my favorite Marx Brothers movie.

Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) is hosting a lavish house party to introduce African explorer Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho) to her high society friends.

Chico, Harpo and Zeppo show up and mayhem ensues.  With Lillian Roth as Zeppo’s love interest.

This is chock full of gags but does not go into frenetic overdrive like some of the later ones do.  Everybody looks like they were having a good time and I had one too.

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Directed by Sidney Franklin
Written by Frederick Lonsdale from his play
1929/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Fay Cheyney: I know too much about you. And you know too little about me.

Oh, how this movie cried out for the Lubitsch touch!

New widow Fay Cheyney has burst on the London social scene and let it be known she is looking for a husband.  The “smart set” adopt her and invite her to their homes.  Finally she snags a invite to a very wealthy woman’s home for a country weekend.  While there she takes turns flirting with her two suitors, elderly dunderhead Lord Elton and debonair confirmed bachelor Lord Arthur Dilling (Basil Rathbone).  Fay manipulates both men, playing very hard to get with Arthur and patronizing Lord Elton.

Half-way through the movie we learn Fay’s secret.  Arthur isn’t far behind and takes charge of her.  With Hedda Hopper as one of Fay’s new friends.

This could have been a rather funny and sophisticated farce in the hands of Lubitsch.  Unfortunately, we get actors must who have been coached to speak their lines in as affected and wry manner as possible.  This got on my nerves and by the end of the film I didn’t care what happened to anyone.

The Criminal Code
Directed by Howard Hawks
Written by Fred Niblo, Jr. and Seton I. Miller from a play by Martin Flavin
1930/US
Columbia Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

Mark Brady: An eye for an eye. That’s the basis and foundation of the criminal code. Somebody’s got to pay!

Hawk’s fun early prison movie gets an extra star for the always wonderful Walter Huston.

Mark Brady (Walter Huston) is a District Attorney with political ambitions.  Robert Graham is a naive young man who kills a guy who was hitting on his girl in self defense.  Although Brady knows the kid has a valid defense he convinces his attorney and him to take a plea to a manslaughter charge.  Robert is convicted and sentenced to ten years.

Segue to six years later and Robert is a miserable and hardened inmate.  He shares a cell with one man who is planning an escape and Galloway (Boris Karloff) who has vowed to kill one of the guards.  The two keep a parental eye on their young friend.

Brady, having failed on his bid for the Governor’s mansion, is appointed Warden at the jail where Robert is incarcerated.  Now he goes all out trying to help Robert by trying to win him a pardon.  In the meantime, he gives the kid a soft job as his valet.  Brady has brought his daughter Mary (Constance Cummings) with him.  The two young people develop unspoken feelings for each other.

The whole thing ends with an escape attempt and hostage taking and Robert must choose between the code between criminals (no squealing) and the Criminal Code Brady is bound by.

This is a pretty good movie made even better by the dynamic Huston.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him give a bad performance.   Hawks is building up to Scarface (1932) and The Front Page (1931) with some snappy dialogue here.  And to add to it Boris Karloff has a nice juicy non-Monster role!  Recommended.

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