Jewel Robbery Directed by William Dieterle Written by Erwin Gelsey and Bertram Bloch from a story by Ladislas Fodor 1932/US Warner Bros. IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 4
Robber: Come with me. I’ll drop you somewhere in the suburbs, untouched.
Baroness Teri von Horhenfels: Untouched? In the suburbs? Oh, no! No, that doesn’t intrigue me at all!
I rewatched this delightful farce without realizing I had already reviewed it here. If possible, I enjoyed it even more the second time. Powell’s pairing with Francis is second only to his screen “marriage” to Myrna Loy. Kay is the more sly of the two. Highly recommended.
Frisco Jenny Directed by William A. Wellman Written by Wilson Mizner and Robert Lord 1932/US First National Pictures (Warner Bros.) IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 3
Frisco Jenny Sandoval: Born in a cellar under a fish market; but, a gentleman, Amah. A real man. Nothing beyond his reach. District Attorney. Governor. Even President.
Amah: Confucius says: Fortunate is the mother of a man-child.
This is sort of like Madame X with an earthquake. The earthquake is the best part.
The story is set in San Francisco just prior to the 1906 earthquake and fire. Frisco Jenny Sandoval helps her abusive father (Robert Emmet O’Conner) run a low-rent saloon on the Barbary Coast. She is in charge of the many prostitutes that ply their trade there. Jenny is in love with piano player Dan McAllister (James Murray). They want to marry but Dad won’t have it. Before the lovers can come up with a Plan B, the earthquake destroys the saloon and kills both Jenny’s father and Dan.
This leaves Jenny a pregnant orphan. She gives birth in squalor in Chinatown and raises the boy she names Dan for a couple of years. During this time she decides to open a brothel and eventually has a big success with it.
Jenny is present when her attorney and partner Steve Dutton (Louis Calhern) shoots a man. She helps him dispose of the evidence. Dutton advises Jenny to let a wealthy couple adopt her son, at least until the heat is off. But Jenny never gets him back.
SPOILER ALERT
Time marches on and with it Dan becomes a successful athlete and scholar. He gets a job with the District Attorney’s office and has plans to run for District Attorney. Dutton wants to reveal Dan’s origins to spoil his chances in the election. So Jenny shoots Steve. The film ends with a trial in which Dan unknowingly prosecutes his own mother.
Wellman directs a mean earthquake. Although this film includes several pre-Code topics it has few light moments or any of that snappy patter I love so much. The acting is OK. I always like Louis Calhern. I hadn’t know his career was so long. The costumes and sets are lavish. Unless you are in the mood for a well-made but badly scripted melodrama, I would give this a miss.
Three on a Match Directed by Mervyn LeRoy Written by Lucian Hubbard from a story by Kubek Glasmon and John Bright 1932/US Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 2
Ruth Wescott: [Referring to Vivian] Some people get all the luck.
Mary Keaton, aka Mary Bernard: [Musingly] I wonder.
I enjoyed this Pre-Code classic. What a cast!
The film begins on the playground of P.S. 62. Three middle-school girls are spotlighted. Ruth, the “smart one”, Vivian, “the popular one”, and Mary “the bad one”. We follow their story as they turn into Ruth (Bette Davis), Vivian (Ann Dvorak, and Mary (Joan Blondell). Ruth, who couldn’t afford to continue her education, becomes a stenographer. Vivian marries wealthy lawyer Robert Kirkwood (Warren William) and has an adorable son and lavish lifestyle. Mary went to reform school and then on to become a chorus girl.
They meet by chance and catch up over lunch. Vivian reveals that something is missing from her life. The three become friends.
Time marches on. Vivian becomes depressed. Robert agrees she should take a cruise alone with their son. This brings her into contact with gangster Michael Loftus (Lyle Talbot) and she loses herself to debauchery and addiction. In her haze, she neglects her son. Things will go downhill from here for Vivian. Ruth and Mary’s fortunes take a turn for the better. With Humphrey Bogart in a small role, his first as a hoodlum.
The first half of this movie is great pre-Code fun. The second half descends into lurid melodrama touching on such pre-Code themes as adultery, child neglect, addiction, and untimely death. Vivian’s drug of choice looks to be cocaine, which I didn’t know was a thing in 1932. So we get the complete package. These actresses are great together and it’s basically a must-see for the pre-Code obsessed.
Red-Headed Woman Directed by Jack Conway Written by Anita Loos from a book by Katharine Brush 1932/US Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 1
Lil Andrews: Listen, Sally, I made up my mind a long time ago, I’m not gonna spend my whole life on the wrong side of the railroad tracks.
Sally: Well, I hope you don’t get hit by a train while you’re crossing over.
Jean Harlow makes a good pre-Code temptress.
Lil Andrews (Harlow) works in an office and is roommates with the wise-cracking Sally (Una Merkel). She has decided that her best route to wealth is through seducing her married boss Bill Legendre Jr. (Chester Morris). Bill is not an easy catch because he is in love with his wife Irene (Leila Hyams) who he has known since he was a child. But Harlow is absolutely relentless and, well, she is an expert at breaking down resistance. Once she has hooked him, they are surprised by Irene. A divorce soon follows and Bill marries Lil.
Bill ran with the country club set. All his friends look down on Lil both because of their friendship with Irene and because her sense of taste and decorum are strictly from the other side of the railroad tracks. Bill is quickly tired of Lil. But Lil is determined to climb the social ladder and there are other patsies waiting in the wings. With Charles Boyer as a chauffeur.
This film made an interesting contrast with Baby Face (1933). I found Barbara Stanwyck the more sympathetic of the anti-heroines, probably because her film took time to show her backstory. Harlow’s character comes off more like a stalker. Don’t get me wrong the film is enjoyable and Harlow makes a gorgeous red head. I love Una Merkel and her scenes were the best in the film as far as I was concerned.
The Bitter Tea of General Yen Directed by Frank Capra Written by Edward E. Paramore, Jr from a story by Grace Zaring Stone 1932/US Columbia Pictures IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Megan Davis: It’s pretty hard to become acquainted with a man who ruthlessly slaughters helpless prisoners in one move, and in the next shows such a tender reverence for the beauty of the moon.
Frank Capra dazzles in a film well out of his normal wheelhouse.
The setting is China during the Chinese Civil War. People are fleeing the city when Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) arrives to marry missionary Bob ((Gavin Gordon). Just as the wedding is about to take place, Bob rushes in saying the ceremony must be postponed so he can rescue some orphans stranded in the war zone. Megan insists on accompanying him.
Amid all the slaughter, warlord General Yen (Nils Asther) snatches Megan and takes her back to his palatial digs. The General is attracted from the start. Megan, having witnessed prisoners face a firing squad outside her window, is disgusted by his barbarity. But she can’t escape from her erotic dreams and thoughts about him. With Walter Connelly as the General’s American financial advisor and Toshia Mori as his unfaithful concubine.
Frank Capra is not usually associated with foreign locales, atmospheric cinematography, or epics. He does a fine job here. Everything is spot on from the acting to the art direction. Contemporary audiences did not feel the same and it was one of Capra’s few commercial failures. The film was banned in Britain. Highly recommended.
The Bitter Tea of General Yen was the first movie to play at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
The Purchase Price Directed by William A. Wellman Written by Robert Lord from a story by Arthur Stringer 1932/US Warner Bros. IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Emily: Gee, with a hundred dollars, maybe I could get myself a husband right here in town.
Joan Gordon, aka Francine La Rue: Of course, you could!
Emily: And then I’d sort of, eh, have a chance to, try the goods before I bought it!
Joan Gordon, aka Francine La Rue: Emily…
Barbara Stanwyck displays great range in this collaboration with William Wellman, who got an excellent performance from the often one-note George Brent as well.
Joan Gordon (Stanwyck) is a torch singer at one of the swankiest clubs in New York. She is sick of the fast life including her relationship with gangster boyfriend Eddie Fields (Lyle Talbot). Eddie is determined to keep her. So she runs away to Montreal and sings under the assumed name Francine La Rue. It doesn’t take Eddie long to find her.
Joan is ready to move on immediately. Her maid announces she is leaving to marry a wheat farmer she has met only through a marriage broker. She sent Joan’s picture to the broker instead of her own. So Joan, on a whim, offers the maid $100 to take her place.
She is greeted by soon-to-be husband Jim Gilson at the train station. Jim is painfully shy and awkward and to top it off has a bad cold. He takes Joan to the farm. When he suddenly grabs her and kisses her on what should be their wedding night, Joan instinctively pulls away and that will be the end of their intimacy for several months. Can Joan win her man over?
It’s no surprise that Stanwyck was excellent in this film. George Brent kind of surprised me with his sensitive performance. Wellman captures many beautiful scenes on the farm. I like this kind of story where men and women have to learn to know each other and highly recommend this film.
Shopworn Directed by Nick Grinde Written by Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin; story by Sarah Y. Mason 1932/US Columbia Pictures IMDb page
First viewing/Crackle
Kitty Lane (after David’s minders offer her money to drop him): If that’s being rich, I’m glad I’m cheap, and I’m gonna stay cheap! Because no matter how cheap I am, I’m not for sale!
Barbara Stanwyck once again makes trite material quite watchable.
Kitty Lane (Stanwyck) works as a waitress in her small town. All the boys are after her but she gives them the cold shoulder. One day, medical student David Livingston (Regis Toomey) comes in for a bite to eat. He is immediately smitten and they fall in love and become engaged. David’s mother is livid and plots with a local judgeto rid her son of this “common” match. Her first move is to take a bogus health trip to Europe with David by her side. David agrees to this on the condition that Kitty will come along. So the snobs conspire to break off the affair another way.
Poor Kitty ends up in a reformatory for wayward girls. Then she becomes a big Broadway star.
This is a short movie and enjoyable for those moments when Stanwyck unleashes her fire. She’s on screen most of the time and plays the part with a certain sweetness I had not seen until this point in my journey. The story is predictable but the production and acting are pretty good.
Forbidden Directed by Frank Capra Written by Jo Swerling from a story by Frank Capra 1932/US Columbia Pictures IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Crackle streaming
Lulu: I know what I’m saying! You’re poison to me! Poison! I’m sorry I ever met you! But, I’m not old! You’re not the only man in the world! I don’t have to stop living! Not for you! Not for anybody!
Barbara Stanwyck plays a martyr to love. Adolphe Menjou plays her long-time lover. Surprisingly, this melodrama works despite the bad casting and treacle.
Lula (Stanwyck) is a “plain” (!) small town spinster librarian. Her heart is full of romance, though, and she takes her life savings to go on a vacation. Havana seems a very romantic place and she books a cruise that will take her there. She must have had a full savings account because when she gets on the boat she is dressed to the nines and looks gorgeous.
Things don’t go well for the first two days on board when Lula finds she must dine all alone. After she flees the second dinner in shame, she returns to her room only to find a tuxedoed man passed out drunk on her bed. This is Bob (Adolphe Menjou). Despite this unfortunate introduction, Bob and Lula flirt and when he sobers up, he asks her to dine with him. They fall madly in love. Lula is giddy with it. When they get home Lula takes a job with a city newspaper as a reference librarian.
Holland, a reporter at the newspaper, is sweet on Lula. They frequently exchange flirty banter but she refuses to go out with him. Instead, she is keeping an apartment and making dinners for Bob. On one memorable night, the couple are about to share a meal when Holland calls with a proposal for Lula. She asks Bob what she should do. He reveals he has no right to advise her because he gave her a fake name and is married to an invalid he can never divorce. Lula who expected the evening to be a celebration of the baby she is carrying, throws him out.
A couple of years go by. Lula is a homebody raising Bob’s child alone. Finally the lovers meet by chance and reconcile. Bob is the District Attorney and has ambitions for the mayor’s job. The two decide the best thing to do is for Bob and his wife to adopt the girl, without informing the wife in advance. Lula will be her governess. What could possibly go wrong? Lula again chews Bob out but takes him back. Holland, who is still after Lula, has become city editor. He has a deep dislike for Bob, the politician, and tries to dig up some scandal that will derail his election campaign for Governor. The melodrama builds until the unbelievable conclusion.
This tearjerker was pretty darned good once you suspend your disbelief that anyone would think of Stanwyck as plain. The other problem, which I forgot once I got into the story, is the fact that Menjou was probably born looking sixty and seems an unlikely romantic lead. It was particularly nice to see Bellamy in something other than a rebound financee role. This is definitely pre-Code, what with adultery, illegitimacy, etc. I like the feisty, outspoken Stanwyck and thought she should have dumped Bob permanently after he revealed his marriage. But then they would not have been able to milk the noble suffering of Lula.
Trouble in Paradise Directed by Ernst Lubitsch Written by Samson Raphaelson from a play by Aladar Lazlo 1932/US Paramount Pictures IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Mariette Colet: Afraid I’m ruining your reputation, Monsieur La Valle?
Gaston Monescu: No, yours, madame.
Mariette Colet: Monsieur La Valle, I have a confession to make to you. You like me. In fact, you’re crazy about me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t think about my reputation. Isn’t that so? But, incidentally, I don’t like you. I don’t like you at all. And I wouldn’t hesitate one instant to ruin your reputation…
If you are going to do a love triangle, it should be with this panache, otherwise known as the “Lubitsch touch”.
The story begins in Venice. Suave gentleman Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) has invited Countess Lily (Miriam Hopkins) for dinner and possible seduction in his rooms. Before the dinner is over Lily and Gaston have discovered they are both con artists and thieves. Their mutual admiration of their skills leads to love.
Time passes and the two are living together in Paris. There they learn of Madame Mariette Colet (Kay Francis), a widow and perfume heiress. Gaston steals her extremely expensive evening bag. She offers a generous reward, more than could be got from fencing the bag, so Gaston returns it to her. The attraction is immediate and Mariette offers him a job as her secretary. The two begin a delicious flirtation and seduction. Gaston spends less and less time with Lily. But Lily is not about to let him go without a fight. With Edward Everett Horton and Charlie Ruggles as Mme Colet’s suitors and Robert Grieg as a butler.
This film exemplifies the “Lubitsch touch” with its sophisticated wit and tasteful sexuality. Kay Francis’ wardrobe and the art deco sets are also spectacular. Kay is at her warmest and sexiest. Well, everything about it is practically perfect. A delight and highly recommended.
This Is the Night Directed by Frank Tuttle Written by Benjamin Glazer and George Marion Jr. from a play by Henry Falk and Rene Peter 1932/US Paramount Pictures IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Gerald Gray: Claire, the moment you meet a man, right after you’ve said ‘how do you do?’ you should add ‘my husband throws javelins’.
Sophisticated early screwball comedy has that Lubitsch touch, without Lubitsch.
Stephen Mattewson (Cary Grant) is competing in the javelin event at the 1932 Los Angeles Oympics. He returns home to Paris early, just in time to catch wife Claire (Thelma Todd) evidently planning a trip to Venice with paramour Gerald Grey (Roland Young). Friend of the family Bunny West (Charles Ruggles) tells Stephen the two tickets were for Gerald and his new wife. Stephen insists that he and Claire will accompany them on the trip. So Gerald has to come up with a wife. He does, in the form of poor but spectacular Germaine (Lili Dalmita).
The foursome plus Bunny arrive in Venice. From there on it is a comedy of errors in which everybody really knows what’s going on but each is trying to milk the last bit of embarrassment for the others out of the situation.
I have special affection for Young and Ruggles and they add a lot of wit to the film. Cary Grant already had a handle on the perfect delivery for this kind of dialogue. Paris and Venice are obviously on the studio back lot but charming none-the-less. This picture contains some sung dialogue – as when taxi drivers inform the world that “Madame has lost her dress! I got used to this rapidly. It is not a musical by any means, though. Recommended.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
Photographs and videos found in this blog, unless indicated, are not owned by me and are here only for the purpose of education and discussion. Media found here are not intended for any commercial purpose. Copyright infringement is not intended.
Written material belongs to me and is copyrighted by flickersintime.com
Frank Capra is not usually associated with foreign locales, atmospheric cinematography, or epics. He does a fine job here. Everything is spot on from the acting to the art direction. Contemporary audiences did not feel the same and it was one of Capra’s few commercial failures. The film was banned in Britain. Highly recommended.
It’s no surprise that Stanwyck was excellent in this film. George Brent kind of surprised me with his sensitive performance. Wellman captures many beautiful scenes on the farm. I like this kind of story where men and women have to learn to know each other and highly recommend this film.
