Category Archives: 1936

Piccadilly Jim (1936)

Posted on October 12, 2022 | Leave a comment

Piccadilly Jim
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
Written by Charles Brackett and Edwin K. Knopf from a novel by P.G. Wodehouse
1936/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

James Crocker, Jr.: Have you, by any chance, formed the wrong impression of me?
Ann Chester: I think not. You’re a typical American – European model.
James Crocker, Jr.: A romantic figure, I trust?
Ann Chester: Oh, very. I think the technical term is a bar fly.

The source material and the stars make this movie a lot of fun.

Robert Montgomery plays the title character, James Crocker, Jr., an American artist known as Piccadilly Jim who draws caricatures of London celebrities. He is accompanied everywhere by his faithful valet Bayliss (Eric Blore). One day he spots rich and beautiful Ann Chester (Madge Evans), who is engaged and won’t give him a tumble. Despondent, Jim shifts from caricature work to drawing a comic strip that parodies, unbeknownst to him, Ann’s own batty family. Will Jim get the girl? With Frank Morgan as Jim’s ham actor father.

The first thing I noticed about this film was its sparkling dialogue. The film is based on a P.G. Wodehouse novel and I imagine they lifted pages worth of the great man’s dialogue. It’s kind of a preposterous plot but surely that should be expected.

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

 

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Love on a Bet (1936)

Posted on October 7, 2022 | Leave a comment

Love on a Bet
Directed by Leigh Taylor
Written by P.J. Wolfson and Philip G. Epstein; story by Kenneth Earl
1936/US
RKO Radio Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Uncle Carlton MacCreigh: Well the whole idea of the play is ridiculous. You expect anybody to believe that a man can leave New York in his underwear and get to Los Angeles in 10 days? … This boy wonder arrives in Los Angeles in a new suit of clothes, a hundred dollars in his pocket, and engaged to a beautiful girl. Ridiculous! Who’s gonna believe that?
Michael MacCreigh: Remember, this happens in a play, not in a slaughter house. It’s not beef ham and prize-cuts. It’s romance! Adventure! Just what people want to see in a play.

Michael MacCreigh (Gene Raymond) needs money to produce a Broadway show. His uncle wants him to work in the family meat packing business. Michael bets the uncle that he can start out from New York City in his underwear and, without borrowing money or buying anything, arrive in Los Angeles in ten days with a new suit, a fiancee and $100. He will also prove that the plot of his play is not totally ridiculous. With Wendy Barrie as the love interest and Helen Broderick as her no-nonsense aunt.

If you dial up your suspension of disbelief to 11 and like screwball plots, this could be amusing. Gene Raymond, whom I normally find very bland, gives possibly his most animated performance ever.  I thought this was OK but not more.

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The Marseille Trilogy – Marius (1931), Fanny (1932) and César (1936)

Posted on May 23, 2022 | Leave a comment

Marius
Directed by Alexander Korda
Written by Marcel Pagnol from his play
1931/France
Les Films Marcel Pagnol
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channels

“When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching — they are your family. ”
― Jim Butcher

Fanny loves Marius (Pierre Fresnay). Marius loves Fanny (Orane Demazis) but longs for a life of adventure on the sea. Marius’s father, César (Raimu) loves them both. This is a richly human film, filled with marvelous character parts and emotion. The dialogue is wonderful without being too stagy.

Favorite exchange: Wealthy widower who wants to marry young girl – “I have plenty of money.” Girl’s mother – “Nightgowns have no pockets.”

This is the first of three films collectively known as the “Marseilles Trilogy” or the “Fanny Trilogy” based on plays by Marcel Pagnol, who also wrote the source material for “Jean de Florette”, “The Baker’s Wife”, and other films. This trilogy is a great favorite of mine and I highly recommend it. I found that watching the films on three consecutive days only added to the impact.

Fanny
Directed by Marc Allegret
Written by Marcel Pagnol
1932/France
Les Films Marcel Pagnol/Les Établissements Braunberger-Richebé
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

When you grow up in an extended family, or in a stable neighborhood with two or three generations of families who live there, you feel seen. Not just the good things you’ve done, the stuff you put on your resume. You know they’ve seen you in your dark times, when you’ve messed up – but they’re still there. – Dean Ornish

Warm, witty, and poignant second part of Marcel Pagnol’s Marseille Trilogy.

At the end of Part I “Marius” (1931), Marius has fulfilled his dream of seeing far-off places by shipping off for five years leaving a devastated Fanny behind. Shortly after this film starts, poor Fanny finds herself pregnant. What would be a melodrama in other hands becomes a literate, surprising, and deeply human story here. Highly recommended.

 

Restoration Trailer (no subtitles)

César
Directed by Marcel Pagnol
Written by Marcel Pagnol
1936/France
Les Films Marcel Pagnol
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. – Lao Tzu

After 20 years have passed, the story comes full circle. I’ve reviewed this film here.

 

 

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Posted in 1931, 1932, 1936

The Citadel

Posted on December 9, 2013 | 2 comments

The Citadel
Directed by King Vidor
Written by Ian Dalrymple et al based on the novel by A.J. Cronin
1938/UK
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
First viewing; Warner Archives DVD

[box] Tagline: Secrets of a doctor as told by a doctor![/box]

Robert Donat is wonderful in this medical melodrama.

Idealistic doctor Andrew Manson (Donat) gets his first post-graduate job as the assistant to a doctor in a Welsh mining village.  There he runs into his first hurdle when he refuses to re-certify some of the union leaders as unfit to work or to give miners who need the work “pink medicine” for their persistent coughs.  He is told to go with the flow or else so quits and applies for a position in a larger mining town.  He can’t get this without being married so proposes to schoolteacher Christine (Rosalind Russell)  without preliminaries.

In the town, Manson is increasingly suspicious that the miner’s coughs are caused by anthracite dust.  He wants to study the disease by hospitalizing the men.  This is summarily rejected so he and Christine set up a laboratory to do their own research. Eventually, the lab is smashed to bits by angry, suspicious miners and the couple set out for London.

After a year of struggling, Manson finally stumbles upon a wealthy hysterical patient and is adopted by other high-society doctors.  He becomes a Harley Street physician more interested in new cars than patients.  A tragic accident causes him to reevaluate his priorities.  With Ralph Richardson as a fellow idealist and Rex Harrison as one of the London doctors.

While this is not the most dynamic story ever made, I enjoyed it for its acting.  Donat rises high above his material.  This is also the earliest film I could truly get behind Rosalind Russell in, though she didn’t hit her stride until she started doing comedy.  King Vidor keeps the story moving.

Robert Donat received his first Academy Award nomination for his work on The Citadel. The film was also nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing (Screenplay).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn_BpBe8-XE

Trailer

 

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

Show Boat (1936)

Posted on September 13, 2013 | 5 comments

Show Boat
Directed by James Whale
Written by Oscar Hammerstein II based on the novel by Edna Ferber
1936/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing

[box] Joe: [singing] I gits weary / An’ sick o’ tryin’ / I’m tired o’ livin’ / An’ scared o’ dyin’ / But Ol’ Man River / He jes’ keeps rollin’ along![/box]

Oh, how I loved, loved, loved this screen adaptation of the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein 1927 Broadway musical!

Captain Andy Hawks (Charles Winniger) runs a show boat on the Mississippi River.  His leading lady Julie (Helen Morgan) and leading man Steve are married.  A jealous boat hand reveals that Julie has negro blood and she and Steve leave the boat under charges of miscegenation.  Captain Andy’s daughter Magnolia (Irene Dunne) takes over for Julie.  Riverboat gambler Gaylord Ravenal needs to get out of town and hitches a ride on the show boat, taking over from Steve as leading man.  He and Magnolia fall in love and marry but things take a turn for the worse when Gay tries to support her with his gambling winnings.  With Paul Robeson as Joe and Hattie McDaniel as Queenie.

I love this film so much that I sat rapt through a 16-part YouTube viewing of the movie, the only means that was available to me.  The story gets pretty melodramatic by the end but the musical numbers are just perfect.  Three of them gave me chills:  Robeson’s rendition of “Ol’ Man River”; the ensemble “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”; and Helen Morgan’s “Bill”.

This was James Whale’s favorite of all his pictures and I think he was right.  It is certainly beautifully staged.  The casting is wonderful.  I like Irene Dunne better every time I see her. In fact the only thing I can find fault with was the decision to cut several of the stage show’s songs in favor of original numbers.   I could gush on and on.

It is criminal that there has never been a DVD of this film.  It is vastly superior to the 1951 version, which is readily available.

Clip – “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” (gives me the chills! — when Robeson joins in behind the women)

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

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Mr. Thank You (1936)

Posted on September 12, 2013 | 2 comments

Mr. Thank You (“Arigatô-san”)
Directed by Hiroshi Shimizu
Written by Hiroshi Shimizu from a novel by Yasunari Kawabata
1936/Japan
Shochiku Ofuna
First viewing

 

[box] Mr. Thank You: So far this fall, I’ve seen eight girls cross this pass headed for paper factories and cotton mills and who knows what else. Sometimes I think I’d be better off driving a hearse.[/box]

 

I loved this slice of life of Depression-era rural Japan.

Mr. Thank You is a bus driver and got his name from his cheerful “thank you” called out as miscellaneous foot traffic gets out of his way on the mountain roads he travels.  The film covers just one bus journey from a small coastal town to a train station on the other side of the mountains.  The train will take a 17-year-old girl to Tokyo where she will go into some apparently shameful form of employment.  She is accompanied by her mother.  Also on the bus is a young woman of the world who calls herself a “migratory bird” and has her eye on Mr. Thank You and a rather obnoxious man in a fake handlebar mustache who has his eye on the girl.

Many other passengers get on and off the bus en route.  Mr. Thank You is well known to the people who live along his route and does small favors for them such as carrying messages or picking up records of popular music.  There is a thread of plot involving the principal passengers but mostly the film is presented in vignettes of small everyday occurances.

I love to get a glimpse of what real life was like long ago and far away and this film beautifully gave me one.  Somehow Shimizu does this and transcends what could otherwise be a travelogue.  All the incidents are so vivid that I was fully engaged the whole time.  Highly recommended.

Clip

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

The Story of a Cheat (1936)

Posted on September 9, 2013 | 2 comments

The Story of a Cheat (“Le roman d’un tricheur”)
Directed by Sacha Guitry
Written by Sacha Guitry
1936/France
Cinéas
First viewing
#103 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] “You can pretend to be serious; but you can’t pretend to be witty.” — Sacha Guitry [/box]

I enjoyed the witty story without becoming immersed in it.

This film is an exercise more in style than in plot.  The story goes something like this.  The anonymous narrator sits in a Parisian café writing his memoirs.  He was born a peasant in a village.  As a boy he lived in an extended family of twelve people.  Because he stole money from the till of their store, he was forbidden to eat from a dish of wild mushrooms at dinner. Thus, he becomes the only one of his family not to die from eating the deadly batch.  An orphan, he is taken by his conniving aunt and uncle who cheat him of his inheritance.  One day, his aunt intentionally leaves a few francs on the table.  He resists the temptation to take them and the aunt surreptitiously leaves him an ad for employment as a doorman at a fancy hotel.  He takes the cue to run away. So begins a series of jobs ending as a croupier in Monte Carlo and a number of amorous adventures as a sometime gambling cheat and thief.

 

This movie is a lot of fun.  There is almost no dialogue other than the voice-over recounting the memoir.  The setting is highly theatrical in that the audience is distanced from the action, which feels artificial.  Everything is kept very light.  The credits are presented in the most original way I have yet seen!  This was the first film I have seen by Guitry.  I look forward to seeing others.  Recommended.

Trailer (no subtitles, unfortunately)

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1936, Movie Reviews

A Day in the Country (1936)

Posted on September 8, 2013 | 6 comments

A Day in the Country (“Partie de campagne”) 
Directed by Jean Renoir
Written by Jean Renoir based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant
1936/France
Panthéon Productions
First viewing
#94 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] “The kiss itself is immortal. It travels from lip to lip, century to century, from age to age. Men and women garner these kisses, offer them to others and then die in turn.” ― Guy de Maupassant, The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant, Part One[/box]

Jean Renoir’s third film of 1936 is an unfinished jewel that makes up in atmosphere and emotion what it lacks in characterization and story.

The Dufours are Parisian dairy owners.  Father, mother, daughter and shop boy take an annual trip to the country one Sunday where they stop at a riverside inn for lunch. Henrietta, the daughter, is enchanted by the beauty of the setting, which awakens in her an inexpressible tenderness.  Two young men are also dining at the inn.  After lunch, they provide the father and shop assistant with fishing poles and offer to take the ladies rowing.  Henri takes Henrietta to his secret grove of trees where they kiss.  With Jean Renoir in a small part as the owner of the inn.

Renoir evokes the essence of a lazy summer day with his camerawork, which is just gorgeous.  The music, too, reflects the fullness in Henrietta’s heart.  In fact, the whole ambience has the feeling of Renoir’s father the impressionist painter.  I imagine it was for this reason that the film was selected for The List.  Otherwise, I don’t understand why one of the other two excellent 1936 films, The Crime of Monsieur Lange or The Lower Depths were not chosen.  Those reflect completed work and are far more substantial than this one, which is a little farcical in the early parts for my taste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IEh9Pqrx1g

Clip

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1936, Movie Reviews

Our Relations (1936)

Posted on September 8, 2013 | 4 comments

Our Relations
Directed by Harry Lachman
Written by Richard Connell, Felix Adler, et al
1936/USA
Hal Roach Studios/Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer
First viewing

 

[box] Finn: [hands Ollie a bill] Here, have yourselves a fling. Ollie: A dollar? We can’t do much flinging on a dollar.[/box]

I found most of this uninspired until the very end when a sight gag involving Stan and Ollie bobbing around like roly-poly dolls with their feet in cement had me roaring  with laughter.

Stan and Ollie’s long-lost twin brothers Alf and Bertie are sailors.  Unbeknownst to our heroes they show up penniless in town and set in motion all kinds of nonsense involving mistaken identities and a valuable ringing belonging to the captain of the ship.  With Alan Hale as a beer-garden owner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K9eF1kFApA

Clip

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

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The Texas Rangers (1936)

Posted on September 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Texas Rangers
Directed by King Vidor
Screenplay by Louis Stevens; story by King Vidor and Elizabeth Hill
1936/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] Wahoo Jones: Looks like you got me, Sam, but I’ll lay my cards on the table. I’ll shoot straight.

Sam McGee: [shooting Wahoo under the table] So will I.[/box]

This is an entertaining western from an “A” team at Paramount.

Jim Hawkins (Fred MacMurray), ‘Wahoo’ Jones (Jack Oakie), and Sam McGee (Lloyd Nolan) are a gang of friends who run a con setting up stage-coach robberies.  Jim and Wahoo get split off from Sam and head off to Texas to find him.  There they discover that their old con won’t work due to the vigilance of the Texas Rangers. Figuring they can’t beat ’em, Jim and Wahoo join up.  They figure they may get inside info that will allow them to pull off some jobs.  But as time goes on, they begin to make friends within the force.  Will they be able to switch sides when opportunity calls?  With Jean Parker as the love interest.

I thought this was an OK way to spend an afternoon. I always enjoy Jack Oakie – his turn as Napolini is one of my favorite parts of The Great Dictator – and he is good here.

Micro clip

 

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews