Category Archives: 1939

The Little Princess
Directed by Walter Lang
Written by Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris based on the novel by Frances Hogson Burnett
1939/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] [last lines] Sara Crewe: Your Majesty. My Dad.[/box] Shirley Temple Black died today.  She gave a lot of people a lot of pleasure through a very dark time and went on to be the U.S. representative to the UN and U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.  She was 85.  May she rest in peace.  Her obituary can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/arts/shirley-temple-black-screen-star-dies-at-85.html?_r=0

Oddly enough, one of her movies was next up for me to watch.  I remember this made me cry as a child.  It seems more calculated now but there are still some nice moments.

The year is 1899.  The place is London.  Captain Crewe is called up for duty in the Boer War and puts his daughter Sara (Temple) into a snobby boarding school for girls.  The Captain comes from a very good family and owns a diamond mine so the irrepressible Sara is catered to by the stern headmistress (Mary Nash).  Everyone takes to calling her “The Little Princess.”  Then her father turns up in the roster of the dead and the headmistress discovers his property was confiscated by the Boers.  Sara, now an orphan, becomes a kind of scullery maid and lives in Dickensian conditions in the attic of the school.  Sara refuses to believe that her father is really dead and continues to search for him among the wounded.  With Arthur Treacher as an ex-music hall performer, Cesar Romero as an Indian servant, and Anita Louise and Richard Greene as the obligatory young lovers. This is quite OK.  I was surprised to find it had been shot in color since I think the only times I had seen it before were on our old black and white TV.  I think Mary Nash was the standout   She was particularly good in Sara’s dream sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiVwsD8uiY8

Trailer

Each Dawn I Die
Directed by William Keighley
Written by Norman Reilly Raine and Warren Duff from the novel by Jerome Odlum
1939/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing; Netflix rental

[box] Frank Ross: I’ll get out if I hafta kill every screw in the joint![/box]

This is an OK prison film with the always enjoyable James Cagney in the lead.

Crusading journalist Frank Ross (Cagney) is framed by corrupt officials for vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to one to twenty years.  Frank’s reporter friends work on the outside to prove his innocence.  The prison is a hell hole of sadistic guards. Early on Frank becomes friendly with gangster “Hood” Stacey (George Raft).  Frank is a believer in following the rules but eventually gets so fed up that he assists Stacey with an escape attempt so that Stacey can help find the truth on the outside.  With George Bancroft as the warden.

This is pretty standard prison film fare but entertaining.  There are a couple of good scenes where Cagney cracks up reminiscent of White Heat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jwsd5A4kL4

Re-release trailer

Son of Frankenstein
Directed by Rowland V. Lee
Written by Wyllis Cooper
1939/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing; Netflix rental

[box] Ygor: They hanged me once Frankenstein. They broke my neck. They said I was dead. Then they cut me down. They threw me in here, long ago. They wouldn’t bury me in holy place like churchyard. Because I stole bodies, eh they said. So, Ygor is dead! So, Dr. Frankenstein. Nobody can mend Ygor’s neck. It’s alright.[/box]

This does not measure up to the greatness of the first two Universal Frankenstein films but is entertaining and features what may be Bela Lugosi’s very best performance.

Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) arrives in the village of Frankenstein, Germany with his wife and young son to claim the legacy handed down by his father Dr. Frankenstein.  The townspeople are hostile and suspicious and Police Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill), who lost his arm to the Monster (Boris Karloff) runs interference.  Wolf becomes obsessed with clearing his father’s name and establishing his father’s greatness as a creator of life.

Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant Ygor (Bela Lugosi) was hanged for body snatching and pronounced dead but lived on with a broken neck.  Ygor has kept the Monster, who lives on, hidden away to do his bidding in meting out revenge on the jury that condemned him.The Monster has been injured and is “sick” so Ygor enlists the help of Wolf in reanimating him.  But, once awoken, the Monster obeys only Ygor …

I’m not a big Lugosi fan but I thought he did very, very well in this film – better even than his performance in Dracula.  His Ygor is truly scary.  Otherwise, the movie is fairly undistinguished except for the moving portrayal by Karloff of The Monster’s grief toward the end.  The Atwill character shows the source of Kenneth Mars’s role in Young Frankenstein.

This was the last time Boris Karloff played the Monster in a feature film.  Karloff played Dr. Gustav Niemann in House of Frankenstein (1944) and Baron Frankenstein in Frankenstein – 1970 (1958).

Trailer

Clouds Over Europe (AKA “Q Planes”)
Directed by Tim Whelan and Arthur B. Woods
Written by Ian Dalrymple; Story by Brock Williams et al
1939/UK
Irving Asher Productions
First viewing; streaming on Hulu Plus

[box] Mr. Barrett: Alright! Alright! Will you as a personal favour take that plane up?

Tony McVane: Well of course I will, you parboiled, pudding-minded, myopic deadhead![/box]

This 82 minute spy comedy/thriller was iPad bedtime viewing for me but it turned out to be better than that.

Secret agent Maj. Charles Hammond (Ralph Richardson) is on the trail of the cause of the disappearance of several airplanes bearing experimental equipment.  One particular British firm loses two of its planes but the owner will not admit this is more than just coincident.  Hammond smells a rat and pilot Tony McVane (Laurence Olivier) shares his opinion.  A woman who works behind the tea counter at the airfield (Valerie Hobson) is grilling the staff with pointed questions.  A couple of flights supposedly bearing a top-secret supercharger are used as bait for the bad guys.

Laurence Olivier, as usual, gets top billing but this is really Ralph Richardson’s movie.  He is wonderful in a part that allows him to show a real flare for comedy.  Olivier, of course, isn’t too shabby either.  This is pure fun with the method of causing the planes to disappear bordering on science fiction.  The nefarious foreign power remains unnamed.

Montage of clips

You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man
Directed by George Marshall
Written by George Marion Jr et al and story by W.C. Fields (as Charles Bogle)
1939/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Whipsnade: As my dear old grandfather Litvak said (just before they swung the trap), he said “You can’t cheat an honest man. Never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump.”[/box]

I’m not a huge W.C. Fields fan, but this movie is a cut above his lesser work.

Larson E. (get it?) Whipsnade (Fields) runs a carnival sideshow and is arrears on wages to his performers.  Charlie McCarthy complains constantly to ventriloquist The Great Edgar (Edgar Bergen) about this.  But Edgar is not willing to quit once he sets eyes on Whipsnade’s lovely daughter.

Fields with Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

I found several of the bits amusing if not laugh out loud funny.  The insults exchanged between Fields and the dummy are cute.  Your mileage may vary depending on your feelings about Fields and/or Bergen, whose routines occupy about 90% of the film.

Clip – the ping-pong match

Union Pacific
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Written by Walter de Leon, C. Gardner Sullivan, Jesse Lasky et al
1939/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Monahan: That Jeff Butler doesn’t have all his brains in his holster.[/box]

As the Civil War draws to a close, Congress approves a transcontinental railroad.  A corrupt banker decides to bet against the Union Pacific being able to connect with the Central Pacific Railroad starting in California before the line reaches Ogden, Utah.  As insurance, he hires gambling hall operator Sid Campeau (Brian Donlevy) to keep the Union Pacific workers drunk and unproductive.  Campeau is assisted by Dick Allen (Robert Preston).  The railroad counters by hiring troubleshooter Jeff Butler (Joel McCrea).

At first, things appear rosy between Dick and Jeff as they were comrades in the army and Jeff saved Dick’s life during the war.  Soon, however, they are vying for the affections of Molly Monahan (Barbara Stanwyck), who with her father is delivering mail and operating the telegraph along the line.  The story proceeds to follow the love triangle and Jeff’s efforts to thwart the many dirty tricks played by Campeau’s men.  The ending of the railroad story is told by history.

I love Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea and they and the other performers ensure that this, if a bit over-long, is entertaining.  Stanwyck’s Irish brogue is actually not too bad, although I doubt if it would convince an Irishman.  The FX with the trains are good.  I went in with some trepidation but I vastly preferred this to DeMille’s Roman and Biblical epics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfGyU2a59fc

Re-release trailer

Bulldog Drummond’s Bride
Directed by James P. Hogan
Written by Stuart Palmer and Garnett Weston from the novel Bulldog Drummond and the Oriental Mind by Herman C. McNeile (“Sapper”)
1939/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Streaming on Hulu Plus

[box] Tagline: HIS Greatest CASE…HIS TOUGHEST BATTLE WAS ON ITS WAY AS WEDDING BELLS WERE RINGING![/box]

The last installment in Paramount’s “Bulldog Drummond” series has plenty of action and some good performances.

The oft-jilted Phyllis (Heather Angel) has threatened to marry Drummond’s (John Howard) rival on the 11th if Drummond does not make her his wife on the 10th.  Just as Phyllis is about to leave to see her aunt in France, the couple witnesses a bank robbery.  The clever bank robber (Eduardo Cannelli) disguises himself as a painter and holes up in the apartment the Drummonds intend to set up housekeeping in.  The rest of the story sees Drummond confront the robber and a pursuit of the loot across the channel.  With regulars Reginald Denny and E.E. Clive as Algernon and Tenny and H.B. Warner replacing John Barrymore as Colonel Nielson.

This was one of the most fun entries in the series.  Eduardo Cannelli, always so good as an Italian gangster, is given a chance to ham it up when the robber fakes insanity.  H.B. Warner is absolutely perfect as the Colonel – it is hard to imagine anyone else in the role after seeing him.  Be prepared for some surprises!

The film is in the public domain and several full-length videos are available on YouTube.

Love Affair
Directed by Leo McCarey
Written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart based on a story by Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey
1939/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Terry McKay: What are you trying to say, Michel?

Michel: I’m trying to say that it would take me six months to find out if I’m worthy to say what’s in my heart.[/box]

This latest viewing of Love Affair has solidified my love and appreciation of Leo McCarey.

The story is a familiar one.  Michel (Charles Boyer) is a suave playboy who is sailing to New York to marry an heiress.  Terry is another pleasure lover who is returning from a buying trip in Europe to marry her boss.  Aware of each other’s circumstances, they begin a shipboard flirtation.  This develops into more with time and after a visit to Michel’s grandmother (Maria Ouspenskaya) en route.  Since each needs time to think and tie up loose ends, they agree to meet on the observation platform of the Empire State Building in six months. But the course of true love never did run smooth …

By all rights, I should find this an insufferable melodrama.  Certainly the choir of singing orphans does not bode well.  But McCarey keeps the tone so light and Dunne is so superb and natural that I was a soggy mess by the end.   I just believed that this was the way these kind of people would fall in love and deal with adversity.  Ouspenskaya has very little screen time but is utterly charming.  Warmly recommended.

Love Affair was nominated for six Academy Awards:  Best Picture; Best Actress; Best Supporting Actress (Ouspenskaya); Best Writing, Original Story; Best Art Direction; and Best Song (“Wishing” by Buddy G. DeSylva).  McCarey remade the story as An Affair to Remember in 1957 with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.  The 1957 version is an important reference in Sleepless in Seattle (1993).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlshkRQWfr8

Clip – Making a date for the Empire State Building

Dodge City
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Robert Buckner
1939/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Dr. Irving: I tell you, Ellen, we’re the public disgrace of America. You know what the New York newspapers are saying? There’s no law west of Chicago… and west of Dodge City, no God![/box]

Wade Hatton (Errol Flynn) is an Irishman turned Texas buffalo hunter and cattle trader. While guiding a wagon train en route to Dodge City, Kansas, he kills Abbie Irving’s (Olivia DeHavilland) drunk and rowdy brother in self-defense.  On arrival, he finds that Dodge City is terrorized by nasty casino owner Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and his henchmen.  The townsfolk beg Wade to take over as sheriff.  The rest of the story details Wade’s efforts to bring law and order to the town and his blossoming romance with Abbie.  With Alan Hale as Wade’s comic sidekick, Frank McHugh as  a crusading journalist, and Ann Sheridan as a saloon singer.

This is actually a more representative Western story than the more famous Stagecoach released the same year.  As such, we get an epic barroom brawl and high suspense on a burning train, among other classic Western tropes.  To get through it, one must accept that Flynn’s character has superhuman powers allowing him to stop about 20 armed bad guys single-handed simply by asking their leader to hand over his gun. Fortunately, Flynn is so generally charming (and looks so great in Technicolor) that this is not an insurmountable obstacle.  The famous Flynn-DeHavilland chemistry is also there in full force.

I kept wondering where I had seen the main bad guy before.  It turns out, of course, that it was in King Kong.  Cabot really made an excellent villain.

Trailer – World Premiere in Dodge City, Kansas with red carpet footage