Category Archives: 1936

Secret Agent (1936)

Posted on August 25, 2013 | 2 comments

Secret Agent 
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Charles Bennett et al from the novel “Ashenden” by W. Somerset Maugham
1936/UK
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Repeat viewing

 

[box] Edgar Brodie: We aren’t hunting a fox, we’re hunting a man. He’s an oldish man, with a wife. Oh, I know it’s war and it’s our job to do it, but that doesn’t prevent it being murder – simple murder![/box]

Peter Lorre makes this early Hitchcock film a ton of fun despite a plot that is even more implausible than usual.

For reasons unknown, a novelist who is serving in the British army in World War I is renamed Richard Ashenden and selected by British Intelligence ito assassinate a German spy in Switzerland.  The identity of the spy is, of course, unknown.  Ashenden (John Gielgud) is given a phony wife, Elsa (Madeleine Carroll), and a crazy double agent called “The General” (Peter Lorre) to assist him.  Elsa is carrying on a flirtation with American Robert Marvin (Robert Young),but is immediately attracted to Ashenden.  Ashenden’s mission is made more difficult by his and Elsa’s distaste for cold-blooded killing, even of an enemy.

Although I have read that Lorre’s addiction made him quite a problem on the set, he still manages to turn in a bravura comic performance.  He is priceless as the randy “hairless Mexican”, so named because he is neither hairless nor Mexican, alternately delivering quips and exuding menace.  Madeleine Carroll is also wonderful.  Gielgud is good but he’s not really romantic lead material.  The story is one big McGuffin crowned by a head-scratcher ending but Hitchcock makes it all go down painlessly.

Clip – opening

 

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

Romeo and Juliet (1936)

Posted on August 24, 2013 | 2 comments

Romeo and Juliet
Directed by George Cukor
Adapted by Talbot Jennings from the play by William Shakespeare
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

 

[box] Juliet: Romeo. Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?[/box]

This lavish production of the Shakespearian tragedy has a lot going for it but is marred by some inappropriate casting.  With Leslie Howard as Romeo, Norma Shearer as Juliet, C. Aubrey Smith as Capulet, Basil Rathbone as Tybalt, John Barrymore as Mercutio, Reginald Denny as Benvolio, Edna May Oliver as Juliet’s Nurse, and Andy Devine as Peter.

This film was MGM’s answer to Warner Bros. production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream the previous year.  It has the same sumptuous art direction with a look a little like a medieval tapestry.  The music is also wonderful and many of the performances, particularly by the British cast members, are quite good.

The problem lies with the age of the cast.  Leslie Howard was 43 when this was made and Norma Shearer was 34, far too old to be the adolescents of the story.  Howard takes this in stride, playing Romeo as a grown man.  However, I think Shearer suffers greatly. Apparently someone thought she could get away with playing a young girl.  Her performance is thus very mannered and simpering in the first part of the film.  After Juliet’s marriage to Romeo, Shearer suddenly begins playing her as a mature woman. Unfortunately, this means she pulls out all the stops overacting to an almost embarrassing extent.  John Barrymore, who was 57 and nearing the end of his creative life, doesn’t do himself any favors either.

On the night of the Los Angeles premiere, Shearer’s husband, MGM production head Irving Thalberg, died at age 37.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D6BxQwYQ4I

Trailer

 

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Mayerling (1936)

Posted on August 23, 2013 | 2 comments

Mayerling
Directed by Anatole Litvak
Written by Marcel Archard, Joseph Kessel and Irma von Cubed based on a novel by Claude Anet
1936/France
Nero Films
First viewing

 

[box] The Archduke Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia (21 August 1858 – 30 January 1889) was the son and heir of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. His death, apparently through suicide, along with that of his mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, at his Mayerling hunting lodge in 1889 made international headlines, fueled international conspiracy rumours and ultimately may have sealed the long-term fate of the Habsburg monarchy.[/box]

This romantic biopic made an international star out of Charles Boyer and features an exquisite performance by the 19-year-old Danielle Darrieux.

Progressive-thinking Archduke Rudolf is surrounded by spies sent by his enemies in the conservative Hapsburg monarchy.  He attempts to assuage his boredom in debauchery but that is scant comfort.  One day at an amusement park, he meets 17-year-old Maria Vetsera and is captivated by her innocence.  She develops a grand passion for him and they meet secretly until the Emperor calls an end to their tryst.  Their fate may have changed history.

I liked this a lot.  Boyer and Darrieux also played the leads in one of my favorite films, The Earrings of Madame de … (1953), and are equally fine here.  Darrieux is the kind of actress that can express volumes with her eyes and was enchanting as a girl in the throes of first love. Boyer may never have been handsomer.  The film contains many good set pieces such as the scene at the ballet and a royal gala ball.  Litvak keeps his camera moving delightfully.  Recommended.

Extract – Eyes meeting at the ballet

 

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Three on the Trail (1936)

Posted on August 23, 2013 | 3 comments

Three on the Trail
Directed by Howard Bretherton
Written by Doris Schroeder and Vernon Smith
1936/USA
Harry Sherman Productions
First viewing

 

[box] Stagecoach Bandit: [Caught in the act by the man in black] That’s Cassidy! He’s bad medicine! Let’s get goin’![/box]

The second of the Westerns I watched was my very first Hopalong Cassidy movie. Although it was routine, I was pleasantly surprised at how appealing William Boyd was in the role.

Hoppy (William Boyd), Johnny Nelson (James Ellison) and Windy (Gabby Hayes) are fast friends and hands on the Bar-20 Ranch.  When an evil gang begins rustling cattle and sticking up stagecoaches, the three must ride to the rescue.  Along the way, Johnny falls for lovely schoolmarm Mary (Muriel Evans).

I’m not a big Western fan and the story was nothing special but I can understand why these films were a big draw in theaters in the 30’s and later on TV in the 50’s.  William Boyd is quite charming and the considerable joshing among the friends lightens the good guy v. bad guy action.

Hopalong Cassidy tribute

 

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Stampede (1936)

Posted on August 23, 2013 | 2 comments

Stampede
Directed by Ford Beebe
Written by Robert Watson from a story by Ford Beebe
1936/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Kenneth J. Bishop Productions/Central Films
First viewing

While I was out of town I watched a couple of 1936 B Westerns on my iPad.  This was the first.

Rancher Dale Milford desperately needs to sell his herd of horses to pay off a loan and save his ranch.  However, all buyers are being warned off his property by mysterious forces.  His fate changes when brave Larry Carson (Charles Starrett) rides into town and starts investigating the death of his livestock buyer brother.  There is no stampede.

This forgettable programmer was quite OK.  The best part was the beautiful British Columbia scenery.  Columbia shot this in Canada to fulfill a production quota; the story’s setting was Montana.

Clip – opening

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Posted in 1936, Movie Reviews

Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

Posted on August 9, 2013 | 2 comments

Dracula’s Daughter
Directed by Lambert Hillyer
Written by Garrett Fort et al
1936/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] Countess Marya Zaleska: Possibly there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamed of in your psychiatry, Mr. Garth.[/box]

I cannot recommend this sequel to 1931’s Dracula.

The story begins with Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) standing over the body of Renfield after he drove the stake into Dracula’s heart.  Van Helsing is promptly arrested for murder, Scotland Yard having no sympathy for his vampire defense.  Van Helsing calls on his former student psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth as the only man who can defend him.  (It is totally unclear why this should be so.)  Meanwhile, Dracula’s body has been spirited away. Garth meets strikingly beautiful Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) at a party.  When he talks of curing obsessions, the Countess becomes convinced that Garth is the only person who can release her from Dracula’s control.  In the meantime, the number of bodies found mysteriously drained of blood mounts.  Yada yada yada.

For horror films to work, they need to be either scary or so bad they are funny.  This one is blandly mediocre.  The main problem is Gloria Holden’s vampire who looks the part with her dark, statuesque beauty but loses all credibility when she opens her mouth.  She is not assisted by the story which gives her very little to do.  Kruger is grimly wooden and the ingenue cannot act at all.  The castle set is left over from Dracula and looks very good but it does not come into play until about 5 minutes before the end.  The camera work is nice as well.

Re-release trailer

 

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Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)

Posted on August 8, 2013 | 1 comment

Little Lord Fauntleroy
Directed by John Cromwell
Written by Hugh Walpole based on the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1936/USA
Selznick International Pictures
First viewing

 

[box] Earl of Dorincourt: If any one had told me I could be fond of a child, I should not have believed them. I always detested children – my own more than the rest. I am fond of this one and he is fond of me. I am not popular; I never was. But he is fond of me. He was never afraid of me – he always trusted me. He would have filled my place better than I have filled it. I know that. He would have been an honor to the name.[/box]

This one is basically very competently made treacle.  There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

The story is based on a novel but is also the basic plot of many, many Shirley Temple movies with a sex change.  Adorable Ceddie (Freddie Bartholomew) is the light of his widowed mother’s life and delights all the adults and some of the children that encounter him.  One day, a lawyer arrives from England to say that he is now the heir to the title of the Earl of Dorincourt and bears the title of Lord Fauntleroy.  The Earl (C. Aubrey Smith), Ceddie’s grandfather, wants him to stay in the family castle in England with the proviso that his mother (Dolores Costello), whom he calls “Dearest”, cannot join him.  Dearest magnanimously grants the Earl his wish and goes off to live in a nearby cottage.  The Little Lord manages to melt the Earl’s heart and improve the lives of all he encounters.  With Micky Rooney as a Brooklyn shoeshine boy, Jessie Ralph as an apple seller, and Guy Kibee as an aristocracy hating grocer.

Freddie Bartholomew is undeniably cute, even if too good to be true.  It was a pleasure to see all the fine character actors in this movie.  If you can put up with some melodrama and tweeness, it’s not so bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy6UXIdQqiY

Trailer

 

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Follow the Fleet (1936)

Posted on August 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

Follow the Fleet
Directed by Mark Sandrich
Written by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott based on the play “Shore Leave” by Hubert Osborne
1936/USA
Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing

 

[box] There may be trouble ahead/But while there’s moonlight and music/And love and romance/Let’s face the music and dance. — “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”, lyrics by Irving Berlin[/box]

Another in the unbeatable series of Astaire/Rogers movies of the 1930’s

‘Bake’ Baker (Fred Astaire) joined the navy and went to sea after his dance partner Sherry Martin (Ginger Rogers) refused his proposal. On shore leave in San Francisco, Bake finds Sherry at a dance palace.  In the meantime, his friend ‘Bilge’ Smith (Randolph Scott) doesn’t look twice when Sherry’s Plain Jane sister Connie (Harriet Hilliard) comes on to him.  After Sherry fixes Connie up and puts her in one of her dresses, ‘Bilge” is overcome by her charms … but not so as to dissuade him from falling for a pass by a sexy divorcee. The rest of the movie follows the couples as Connie’s heart is broken and Bake messes up Sherry’s career repeatedly.  See if you can spot Lucille Ball as a chorus girl.

This has wonderful routines to some classic Irving Berlin songs:  “Let Yourself Go”; “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket”; and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” “Putting All My Eggs” is a great comedy number with Fred and Ginger pretending they are making it up as they go along and tripping each other up.  And both the song and the dance “Let’s Face the Music” sum up the Great Depression with its anxiety and romance.  It is simply beautiful.

The only thing that prevents this film from being in the first tier of Astaire/Rogers film is the amount of screen time devoted to the Scott/Hilliard romance.  I might feel differently if Randolph Scott appealed to me in the slightest.  As it is, for a handsome guy he has remarkably little sex appeal.  Harriet Hilliard, who went on to become TV’s Harriet Nelson, is an odd selection of actress for someone who has to carry two solo songs.

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

Clip – “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” – this gives me the chills at the end

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The Green Pastures (1936)

Posted on August 8, 2013 | 2 comments

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

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Come and Get It (1936)

Posted on August 6, 2013 | 3 comments

Come and Get It
Directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler (logging scenes directed by Richard Rosson)
Written by Jane Murfin based on the novel by Edna Ferber
1936/USA
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
First viewing

 

[box] “Being an old maid is like death by drowning, a really delightful sensation after you cease to struggle.” ― Edna Ferber[/box]

I had never seen 1936’s other mid-life crisis movie.  Come and Get It is a solid film with some excellent performances.  It is also the first 1930’s film I have seen with a strong environmental undercurrent.

It is 1880’s Wisconsin and Barney Glasgow (Edward Arnold) is the hard-hitting ambitious boss of a lumber operation that is clear-cutting huge swaths of forest.  He comes up with an idea for buying up even more land for clearing in connection with railroad right-of-ways and takes it to the owner with the proposition that he be made a partner.  His marriage to the owner’s daughter, the plain Emma Louise, is part of the deal.

After a record harvest, Barney treats all his hands to a blow-out at a saloon.  There, he and right-hand man Swan Bostrom (Walter Brennan) meet beautiful tender-hearted saloon singer Lotta Morgan (Frances Farmer).  Barney and Lotta fall deeply in love but Barney’s ambition trumps his heart and he leaves her to marry Emma Louise.  Swan soon marries Lotta instead.

Twenty years later, Barney is vaguely discontented with his life as a robber baron and his marriage to the straight-laced Emma Louise.  His son Richard (Joel McCrae), who has invented a new-fangled paper cup and supports the trust-busting campaign of Teddy Roosevelt, is also a thorn in his side.  Swan comes to the rescue when he invites Barney to come hunting at their old stomping grounds.  Lotta is dead and Swan lives with his beautiful daughter, also named Lotta (and played by Frances Farmer).

The remainder of the story is devoted to Barney’s attempts to recapture his lost youth by winning the love of Lotta and to his clash with Richard.

I liked this a lot.  I had heard about Frances Farmer for years but had never seen her in anything until today.  She was very good.  Not a trace of her later troubles shows on her lovely face.  I think the acting honors go to Edward Arnold, though.  He is always good but here he had a multi-faceted character with a wide range of emotions and was sympathetic and ruthless at the same time.  Walter Brennan was almost unrecognizable under a thick pseudo-Swedish accent.  (He actually says “yumpin’ yimmeny”!)  And what can I say about Joel McCrea?  Just looking at him is enough for me.  The logging sequences are pretty darn awesome and convey the plunder of the wilderness well.

Soon after filming began, producer Samuel Goldwyn underwent two major surgeries. When Goldwyn viewed a rough cut of the film he was shocked to discover Hawks had strayed far from the tone and focus of the novel.  When Hawks refused to comply with Goldwyn’s demands for major changes, the producer fired him from the project and ordered William Wyler to take over the production

Walter Brennan won the first of his three Best Supporting Actor Oscars for his role.  1936 was the first year that Supporting Acting Oscars were awarded by the Academy.

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

Clip – Frances Farmer sings “Aura Lee”

 

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