Category Archives: 1936

After the Thin Man (1936)

Posted on July 26, 2013 | 4 comments

After the Thin Man
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett based on a story by Dashiell Hammett
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing

 

[box] [Last line, as Nick gapes at Nora knitting baby boots] Nora Charles: And you call yourself a detective.[/box]

All of the main personnel from The Thin Man are back for the sequel plus some good supporting players.  The sequel doesn’t capture the sparkle of the original but it’s an entertaining watch.

Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) return home to San Francisco from their adventures in New York in the original film.  They are greeted by an invitation to dinner by Nora’s stuffy Aunt Katherine (Jessie Ralph).  Nora’s cousin Selma’s husband Robert has disappeared and Nick is asked to investigate.  Selma is being comforted by ex-boyfriend David (James Stewart).

Nick and Nora track Robert down to a nightclub owned by thug Dancer (Joseph Calleia). Robert is getting ready to run off with singer Polly and is extorting $25,000 out of David to leave Selma.  Naturally, Robert is promptly murdered.  At first all fingers are pointing at Selma but as the murders pile up, Nick is not so sure.

Once again, it is the loving banter between Powell and Loy and their amazing chemistry that makes this film.  Here, there are a few too many songs that take away from the time we could be spending with our heroes.  The mystery plot is also really difficult to follow. Still, we get to see Jessie Ralph play against type as a crotchety old society lady and James Stewart is really interesting in one of his first roles.

Trailer

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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Posted on July 26, 2013 | 2 comments

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Directed by Frank Capra
Written by Robert Riskin based on a short story by Clarence Budington Kelland
1936/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing
#98 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Louise “Babe” Bennett: That guy is either the dumbest, stupidest, most imbecilic idiot in the world, or else he’s the grandest thing alive. I can’t make him out.[/box]

I found that I liked this film much better when I viewed it as a fairy tale.

The story begins in the small town of Mandrake Falls where Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) owns the tallow works, writes verses for greeting cards, and plays tuba in the town band.  Lawyers suddenly descend on the town to tell Deeds he has inherited $20 million from an uncle.  They scoot Deeds off to New York where a throng of would-be hangers-on have their hands out for a piece of the action.  Although he is taken for a rube, Deeds has uncommon sense and resists all efforts to part him from his money.

Ace reporter Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) is assigned to get a story on Deeds, who is well protected by a press agent (Lionel Stander).  She pretends to collapse from hunger in front of his mansion and Deeds, who has been waiting for a damsel in distress to come along, is rapidly smitten with her.  This enables her to print stories labelling Deeds “The Cinderella Man” and paint him as a sap.  Deeds falls in love with Babe.  The only thing that rescues him from a deep depression when he discovers her identity is a plan to use his money to help down and out farmers.  This is the only cue the vultures need to try to wrest control of the fortune by having Deeds found incompetent.  Anyone familiar with Capra will have a fair idea how this all plays out.

This has always seemed to me one of the corniest of the Capra oeuvre.  But if you look at it as a fable or fairy tale about a truly good and honest man prevailing over the forces of evil, it comes off much better.  The film certainly has some very funny bits and a charming goofy sweetness about it.  I think Cooper was fine here.  He must be the sexiest man in a three-piece suit ever.

One thing I thought about was the number of times Deeds socked someone who made him mad in the jaw.  This is taken as completely normal and even humorous by the film. There are absolutely no consequences.  I wonder whether this was a sign of the times or is part of the fairy tale.

Frank Capra won his second Academy Award for Directing for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, while Cooper received the first of his five nominations for Best Actor. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Sound Recording.

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

Trailer

 

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The Lower Depths (1936)

Posted on July 25, 2013 | 4 comments

The Lower Depths (“Les bas-fonds”)
Directed by Jean Renoir
1936/France
Written by Yevgeni Zamyatin, Jacques Companéez,Jean Renoir and Charles Spaak based on a play by Maxim Gorky
Films Albatros
Repeat viewing

 

[box] “If it is true that only misfortune can awaken a man’s soul, it is a bitter truth, one that is hard to hear and accept, and it is only natural that many people deny it and say it is better for a man to live on in a trance than to wake up to torture.” ― Maxim Gorky[/box]

In this film, Jean Renoir displays all the skill that would make Grand Illusion a masterpiece the following year.  It also contains one of my favorite performances by Jean Gabin.

The paths of many different people intersect at a Russian flophouse run by a hypocritical old scoundrel and his young wife, Vassilissa (Suzi Prim).  Pepel, a thief, (Jean Gabin) had been dallying with the wife but now is in love with her virtuous younger sister, Natasha. Pepel meets a dissolute baron (Louis Jouvet) during a robbery attempt on the last night the baron is to own his house.  The baron goes to live at the flophouse and he and the thief become fast friends.  Other denizens of “the lower depths” include a talented actor in the final stages of alcholism, a woman in despair over lost love, a cobbler, a wise old man, etc.  All these people have their dreams and delusions.

Pepel believes that only if Natasha goes away with him can he escape the moral and physical squalor of his existence.  But the jealous and vindictive Vassilissa, who has treated her sister as a household slave, will have something to say about that …

While this is not the equal of Grand Illusion or Rules of the Game, it approaches those great films in tone and structure.  Renoir has made a humanistic and somewhat optimistic place from Gorky’s miserable slum.  The interplay between the relaxed proletarian Gabin and the mannered Jouvet is a marvel to behold and the rest of the cast, while having less to do, is accomplished.  The deep-focus cinematography, moving camera, and careful blocking featured in Grand Illusion are present here in full force as is an underlying interest in class and how class relationships change as circumstances do.  Highly recommended. Gabin fans should not be sure not miss his performance here.

Akira Kurosawa remade the Gorky play as The Lower Depths (“Donzoko”) in 1957 with Toshiro Mifune in the Gabin role.  It is a much darker and grittier story in Kurosawa’s hands and, I read, is closer to the original play.

 

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Modern Times (1936)

Posted on July 23, 2013 | 4 comments

Modern Times
Directed by Charles Chaplin
1936/USA
Charles Chaplin Productions
Repeat viewing
#95 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] A gamin: [Last lines] What’s the use of trying? A factory worker: Buck up – never say die. We’ll get along.[/box]

Chaplin and his Little Tramp fight the Great Depression in this masterpiece.

A Factory Worker (Charles Chaplin) is driven to madness by his job on the assembly line. After stints in the hospital and jail, Chaplin attempts to rescue a Gamin (Paulette Goddard) who is caught stealing a loaf of bread.  The two set up a kind of housekeeping, battle authorities, and walk off into the sunset.

This was the first and last time the Little Tramp’s voice was heard.  I think it is so fitting that his one song with words is in no language or any language.  After all, he belonged to the whole world.  The delights of this movie are too many to mention.  I think Chaplin’s great talents were as a mime and a kind of dancer and this film shows them off to the full. It’s too bad he didn’t go on making semi-silent films.  In my opinion, all his subsequent work suffers in the dialogue sections, mostly from preachiness.

Clip – conclusion

 

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Dodsworth (1936)

Posted on July 22, 2013 | 8 comments

DodsworthDodsworth Poster
Directed by William Wyler
1936/USA
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Repeat viewing
#101 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

Sam Dodsworth: Love has got to stop some place short of suicide.

This intelligent drama is one of my favorite movies of any time.  I always forget just how much I love it until I see it again.

Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) has made a fortune as an automobile tycoon.  He retires and his somewhat younger wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton) has her heart set on beginning life over on a long European holiday.  Sam plunges into playing tourist but Fran is more interested in putting on airs, hobnobbing with people she thinks are “society”, and proving her continued desirability to men.  Sam loves Fran dearly but clearly this state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely.  When Fran decides to throw in with a young Austrian baron, Sam finds solace with expatriate Edith Cortright (Mary Astor).  With Maria Ouspenskaya as the baron’s mother and David Niven and Paul Lukas as two of Fran’s “conquests.”

Dodsworth 1

This is a fairly straightforward domestic drama but it is richly rewarding.  There is an undercurrent that explores the differences between manners in the Old and New Worlds, with the New World coming off pretty well for a change.  It is also one of the few movies of the Golden Age to explore the breakdown of a long marriage.  The acting is all brilliant.  I don’t think Ruth Chatterton gets enough credit.  Her role is unsympathetic and fairly ridiculous. It must have been difficult to play a deluded woman past her prime but she gave it her all.  I don’t think Mary Astor was ever more beautiful than in this picture.  I always root for her Edith — she is so smart and sensible.  Highly recommended.

Dodsworth was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, and won for Best Art Direction.  In 1990, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.


Clip

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Camille (1936)

Posted on July 22, 2013 | 10 comments

Camille
Directed by George Cukor
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing
#99 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Marguerite: When one may not have long to live, why shouldn’t one have fancies?[/box]

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this but it won me over almost immediately.  I wonder whether Garbo was ever lovelier or more appealing than in MGM’s glossy adaptation of the La Traviata story.

Marguerite Gautier (Greta Garbo) is a carefree Parisian courtesan, trading on her beauty to live an extravagant lifestyle between bouts of consumption.  One night at the theater, dressmaker Prudence (Laura Hope Crewes – Aunt Pittipat in Gone with the Wind) introduces her to fabulously wealthy Baron de Varville (Alan Mowbray) who can keep her well supplied with gowns and jewels.  At the same time, Marguerite is coincidentally introduced to Armand (Robert Taylor), an adoring young lawyer.  Marguerite starts a liaison with the Baron but her path crosses that of Armand repeatedly.  Finally, Marguerite falls hopelessly in love with Armand and accompanies him for some idyllic weeks in the country.  She must decide between Armand’s long-term prospects and her own happiness when Armand’s father (Lionel Barrymore) comes to beg her to leave his son.  With Jessie Ralph as Marguerite’s faithful maid.

 I am often quite resistant to Garbo’s acting but she captivated me here.  The gorgeous gowns only accentuated her stunning beauty and her smile was all the acting chops she really needed.  This movie also benefitted by an outstanding supporting cast, lavish set decoration, and beautiful score.  I think if the leading man had been a tad bit more sympatico – not that Taylor was bad – this film would have been just about perfect for the type of film it is.  As it was, I had tears in my eyes at the end.  Quite an achievement for Cukor.

Clip – second meeting

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Things to Come (1936)

Posted on July 21, 2013 | 5 comments

Things to Come
Directed by William Cameron Menzies
1936/UK
London Film Productions
First viewing
#102 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Raymond Passworthy: Oh, God, is there ever to be any age of happiness? Is there never to be any rest?[/box]

I have mixed feelings about this lavish but heavy-handed anti-war science fiction yarn.

The story begins in Everytown (evidently London) at Christmas, 1940.  The population is blithely celebrating while the headlines scream warnings of war and John Cabal (Raymond Massey) worries that another war will destroy civilization.  Suddenly the air raid sirens go off and an unprovoked aerial bombardment and gas attack of the city begins.  The enemy is unnamed.

A montage follows the war through its conclusion in 1966.  By 1970, the people of Everytown are living in medieval conditions.  A plague spread by enemy bombs causes a fatal contagious “Wandering Sickness” to break out.  A man becomes The Boss (Ralph Richardson) by insisting that sufferers be shot.  He consolidates power by continuing war against his neighbors.

John Cabal has gone on to become the leader of a technocracy in the Mediterranean called Wings of the World.  Cabal visits Everytown in his modern airplane, vowing to “cleanup” the city if it does not forsake war.  The Boss imprisons him.  The Boss cannot conceive of the might of Cabal’s organization or its “peace gas.”

Fast forward to 2036, when people live in sleek underground cities and prepare for space travel.  Scientists must still face the forces of reaction and jingoism in the form of Theotocopulos (Cedric Hardwicke) who incites the masses to revolt against any further progress.

Director Menzies was much better known as an art director and the design of this film (by Vincent Korda) is certainly striking.  His work with actors was not as successful.  Much of H.G. Wells’s dialogue sounds like it is being read from a book of speeches and the usually reliable Massey and Hardwicke are not able to do much with it.  Only Richardson manages to bring life to his character.  His Boss is a foolish bombastic bully and a lot of fun.

As usual with H.G. Wells’s material, I had a hard time following the logic.  This is supposed to be an anti-war story and yet the beginning of the war in the film would seem to be an argument for a strong army of defense.  “Peace gas” also seems oxymoronic.

This is a unique film and prescient of the catastrophe that was to overtake Europe a year earlier than predicted by the story.  I’m glad I saw it but I don’t see any reason to revisit it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1w3dpKBuVw

Trailer

 

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The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)

Posted on July 21, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (“Le crime de Monsieur Lange”)
Directed by Jean Renoir
1936/France
Films Óberon
Repeat viewing

 

[box] “A director makes only one movie in his life. Then he breaks it up and makes it again.” ― Jean Renoir[/box]

Jean Renoir made three films in 1936.  This one is a well-acted political piece with witty dialogue by the great Jacques Prévert, better known for his work with Marcel Carne, including in Children of Paradise.

It is 1901.  Hapless Amédéé Lange (René Lefévre – Le Million) and his girlfriend Valentine (Florelle) are taken to an inn near the Belgian border, which they hope to cross in the morning.  The patrons of the inn soon recognize Lange as a wanted murderer.  Valentine says they can turn him in if they still want to after hearing his story.

Lange worked for a debt-ridden publishing house owned by the crooked, lecherous Batala (Jules Berry).  In his spare time, he wrote a kind of Western/fantasy serial called “Arizona Jim”.  Batala tricks Lange into signing over the rights and then uses the serial to advertise a quack medicine.  Batala also leeches money from anyone gullible enough to give it to him and seduces and/or rapes innocent girls.

Finally Batala’s debts catch up with him and he feels forced to leave town.  He is believed dead after a train wreck that left many unidentifiable victims.  The workers at the publishing house form a cooperative with the support of an idealistic creditor.  “Arizona Jim” is a big hit and everyone is happy.  Then Batala reappears on the scene.

The movie is directed with a very light hand despite its heavy sounding plot.  It is clearly a polemic in support of a worker’s revolution, however.  So some of the subtlety and humanism characteristic of Renoir is absent in order to make its villain thoroughly bad. Nonetheless, I would rate this in the top tier of Renoir’s films.  The dialogue is thoroughly enjoyable and the acting is very good, particularly that of Berry who makes a charming but despicable villain.

The film is not easily available on DVD in the U.S.  I watched it on Amazon Watch Instant.

 

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Libeled Lady (1936)

Posted on July 20, 2013 | 2 comments

Libeled Lady
Directed by Jack Conway
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing

 

[box] Warren Haggerty: Gladys, do you want me to kill myself?

Gladys: Did you change your insurance?[/box]

Four of MGM’s biggest stars shine in this newspaper comedy.

Managing editor Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) stands up his fiancée Gladys (Jean Harlow) at the altar for the umpteenth time when he finds out Constance Allenbury (Myrna Loy) is suing the paper for $5 million for libel.  Unable to talk Constance or her father (Walter Connelly) out of suing, Haggerty plots to bring Bill Chandler (William Powell), famed libel fighter, to his rescue.  The idea is that Bill will marry Gladys and then put Constance in a compromising position in which she can truthfully be accused of alienation of affections. The only problem is that Bill is perhaps more of a charmer than Haggerty had reckoned with …

This movie is just as fun as the cast makes it sound.  All are in top form and Powell is particularly good.  He shows some talent at doing slapstick in the fishing scenes.  It’s also nice to see Powell and Loy at the beginning stages of a relationship for a change.  Powell was dating Harlow at the time the picture was made and I thought I saw true love in her eyes in some scenes. Recommended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-eY-bU9qg

Trailer

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My Man Godfrey (1936)

Posted on July 20, 2013 | 11 comments

My Man GodfreyMy Man Godfrey Poster
Directed by Gregory La Cava
1936/USA
Universal Pictures
Repeat viewing
#97 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

Alexander Bullock: All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people.

 

This wacky comedy still makes me laugh out loud after numerous viewings.

The wealthy Bullock family is full of eccentrics.  The females of the group are participating in a scavenger hunt in which they must bring back a “forgotten man”.  Cornelia Bullock (Gail Patrick) takes the search to a city dump where she offers a tramp named Godfrey (William Powell) $5 to be her prize.  He refuses and pushes her into an ash heap.  Nutty sister Irene (Carole Lombard) chats Godfrey up and he agrees to go with her.  This leads to the smitten Irene inviting Godfrey to be the family’s butler and her protegé.  Mass hilarity ensues.  With Eugene Palette as Alexander Bullock, the father; Alice Brady as Angelica Bullock, the mother; and Mischa Auer as Angelica’s protegé.

My Man Godfrey 2

I don’t think any of the cast members involved ever did better work.  Powell and Lombard were nominated for Best Actor and Actress Oscars and Brady and Auer were nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Actress – the first time a film was nominated for acting awards in all four categories and the only time such a film failed to win an award.

I can imagine that the comedy might be over the top for some but I love it.  Once again, the part where Auer imitates an ape to cheer Lombard up had me howling.  Eugene Palette is also fantastic as the harassed pater familias.  Patrick makes a great villainess.  Powell and Lombard had been married and were now apparently amicably divorced as Powell insisted Lombard was the only actress to play the part of Irene.  The chemistry between the two is certainly there in spades.

Clip – the scavenger hunt

 

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