Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Tom Brown’s School Days
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Written by Walter Ferris et al based on the novel by Thomas Hughes
1940/UK
The Play’s the Thing Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime Instant Video

[box] Dr. Thomas Arnold: A new boy is always important. He may be an influence for good or for evil.[/box]

This is along the lines of Goodbye Mr. Chips from a schoolboy’s perspective.  I liked it.

In the first half of the 19th Century, Dr. Thomas Arnold (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) takes over as Head Master at the prestigious Rugby public school determined to wipe out lying and bullying, apparently age-old traditions at the school.  Good-natured but stubborn Tom Brown unknowingly helps him to do it by fighting back against the brute Flashman.  With Freddie Bartholomew as Tom’s sometime friend.

It was nice to see Hardwicke play something other than a villain.  He really is a talented and subtle actor.  All the boys in the cast did themselves proud as well.  This is just a very well put together drama that kept my attention all the way through.

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Virginia City
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Robert Buckner
1940/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Kerry Bradford: [to Murrell] Don’t reach for that. Put ’em up! I thought that little Deringer of yours looked a little too well used for a sample, Mr. Murrell. In any case, I didn’t like your face. As a matter of fact, I still don’t.[/box]

Despite a couple of quibbles, I really liked this solid, action-packed Western.

It is the last months of the Civil War and the South is in desperate straits.  As the story starts, Kerry Bradford (Errol Flynn) is tunneling out of notorious Confederate Libby Prison.  He is stopped by prison commandant Vance Irby (Randolph Scott) who informs him that he watched the men work on the tunnel and let them sweat.  Bradford promises to pay him back one day.  Unbeknownst to Irby, the men tunnel out via an alternate route that night and set fire to the prison.

Simultaneously, Julia Hayne (Miriam Hopkins) arrives from Virginia City, Nevada to propose to Irby that he lead a mission to spirit Confederate gold out of the town, a Union stronghold.  The two take the plan to Jefferson Davis who endorses it.  Bradford, a Union intelligence officer, gets wind of the idea (but not its principals) and sets off for Virginia City.  Naturally, Julia is on the same stage coach and they fall in love.  Also on the stage coach is notorious Mexican bandit John Murrell (Humphrey Bogart, who should never EVER attempt a foreign accent!).

The stories of all these people intersect in Virginia City and on the long and arduous wagon train journey Irby leads East with the gold.  With Alan Hale and Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams as Bradford’s sidekicks, Frank McHugh as a comic insurance salesman, and Donald Dumbrille as a Union commander.

I thought Miriam Hopkins was utterly miscast as a saloon singer though she does better once she gets on the wagon train.  (As an aside, I had not realized she was quite so tiny until I saw the above picture.) Humphrey Bogart was even more totally wasted in this picture.  That aside, this is one of the better Westerns I have seen. Michael Curtiz has a flare for exciting action sequences and Errol Flynn, despite his out-of-place accent, is the perfect hero for this kind of thing.   I’m surprised Max Steiner was not nominated for an Oscar for his excellent score.

Clip – Miriam Hopkins sings “The Battle Cry of Freedom” .. and reunites with Errol Flynn

Rancho Grande
Directed by Frank MacDonald
Written by Peter Milne, Connie Lee, Bradford Ropes et al
1940/USA
Republic Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] 1. The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man, or take unfair advantage. 2. He must never go back on his word, or a trust confided in him. 3. He must always tell the truth. 4. He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals. 5. He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant ideas. 6. He must help people in distress. 7. He must be a good worker. 8. He must keep himself clean in thought, speech, action, and personal habits. 9. He must respect women, parents, and his nation’s laws. 10. The Cowboy is a patriot. — “The Cowboy Code”, Gene Autry[/box]

As wholesome singing cowboy movies go, this was not too bad if you can handle some sophmoric humor..

Gene Autrey (character name) is foreman of Rancho Grande.  Rancho Grande was recently inherited by a trio of young siblings from back east.  The ranch is deeply in debt and the heirs must finish an irrigation project in short order to keep the property. Villain Emery Benson stands to gain if the ranch is foreclosed on and does everything possible to prevent completion.  This is all too easy as the elder heirs are bored with ranch life and easily distracted.  But Gene perseveres and the ending is a foregone conclusion.  With Smiley Burnette as Gene’s comic sidekick.

This is more of a musical than a Western with plenty of songs.  The singing is relieved by the seemingly obligatory bar fight and a gun battle between the forces of good and evil at the end.  This is one of those pictures in which blacked-out teeth and funny glasses and hats are supposed to be humorous in and of themselves. Nonetheless, it is perfectly watchable if one is in the right frame of mind.

Clip – Autry singing “The Dude-Ranch Cowhand”

Knute Rockne All-American
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Written by Robert Bruckner based on private papers of Mrs. Knute Rockne and reports of Rockne’s intimate associates and friends
1940/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Knute Rockne: Now I’m going to tell you something I’ve kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew George Gipp. He was long before your time, but you all know what a tradition he is at Notre Dame. And the last thing he said to me, “Rock,” he said, “sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock,” he said, “but I’ll know about it and I’ll be happy.”[/box]

This biopic was too heavy-handed for me.  Interesting to see Reagan in one of his most famous roles, though.

The story follows the life of Knute Rockne (Pat O’Brien) , Notre Dame’s legendary football coach in the 1920’s, from his origins in Norway, through his education as a chemist at Notre Dame, his innovations in football tactics as coach, to his untimely death.  With Gale Page as Rockne’s wife, Ronald Reagan as football player George Gipp, and Donald Crisp as Father John Callahan Dean of the University.

Notre Dame had complete control over all aspects of this movie and it shows.  With that and the cooperation of Rockne’s widow, the rather obvious exposition and one-sided characters were perhaps to be expected.  I imagine O’Brien, usually so natural, was copying the speech pattern of Rockne himself but he came off sounding like a bad impression of FDR.  I thought Reagan was nice and understated in his part.  His deathbed line “win one for the Gipper” became a political slogan for him in later life.

Clip – Ronald Reagan and Pat O’Brien – “Win just one for the Gipper”

Dark Command
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Written by Grover Jones, Lionel Houser, and F. Hugh Herbert from a novel by W.R. Burnett
1940/USA
Republic Pictures
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon Instant Video

[box] Miss Mary McCloud: I thought they bred men of flesh and blood in Texas. I was wrong. You’re made of granite!

Bob ‘Shortcut’ Seton: No, Mary, just common clay. It bakes kind of hard in Texas.[/box]

This is a better-than-average Republic Western with some good performances.

The story takes place in the period of “Bloody Kansas” just prior to and during the Civil War.  Will Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon) is the school teacher in a frontier town.  His mother (Marjorie Main), for some unexplained reason, has to live with him disguised as his servant.  Will is in love with Mary McCloud (Claire Trevor), the banker’s daughter.  He decides to run for sheriff to win her.

Then Bob Seton (John Wayne) rolls into town.  Bob falls in love with Mary at first sight and decides to stick around.  He also decides to run for sheriff.  Will is sure that he will easily win against the illiterate Bob but Bob prevails.  Bob is also soon gallivanting around with Mary.  But his hopes to win her are dashed when Bob must arrest her brother Fletch (Roy Rogers) for shooting a Union-supporter in an argument about politics.

The bitter Will decides to get rich by becoming a secret treacherous and cruel marauder.  He also acts as Fletch’s lawyer in his murder trial, secretly terrorizing the jury into voting “not guilty.” After the war starts, Will masquerades his gang as a troop of Confederate soldiers.  The rest of the story deals with the love triangle and Bob’s efforts to round up Will’s gang of cutthroats and thieves.  With Gabby Hayes as Bob’s sidekick.

This did not rock my world but is quite OK or even a little better than that.  Roy Rogers does well in a rare dramatic part.  Raoul Walsh certainly knows how to direct a good fight.

Dark Command was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Black-and-White Art Direction and Best Original Score (Victor Young).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxXLIsqD-6s

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Arizona
Directed by Wesley Ruggles
Written by Claude Binyon based on a story by Clarence Budington Kelland
1940/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon Instant Video

[box] Peter Muncie: I figure it sounds crazy to most people… going to California just to see it. But there’s a gallivanted bug in my blood and that’s the way I am.[/box]

I thought the story dragged a bit but otherwise this is a perfectly serviceable Western.

The story is cast as part of the history of the Arizona Territory.  As we begin, tomboy Phoebe Titus (Jean Arthur) is baking pies in the little town of Tuscon to earn enough money to buy a ranch.  She meets Peter Muncie (William Holden) and they take a liking to each other but he has the wanderlust and is soon off for California, promising to return.  While he is away, Phoebe gets the idea of establishing a freight business with a local shopkeeper.  This will put her in direct competition with the ruthless but rather stupid Lazarus Ward (Porter Hall).  Just as the business is beginning to take off, the Civil War starts and all the soldiers protecting the Territory head east.  Phoebe merely sees an opportunity to buy land cheap as the settlers leave.

At about this time, Jefferson Carteret (Warren William) arrives.  Carteret is smarter than Ward and even more evil.  While feigning friendship with Phoebe, he inserts himself into Ward’s business and negotiates a deal with the Indians to leave Ward’s wagons alone and attack Phoebe’s.  Peter returns just in time to help Phoebe fight this and every other dirty trick in the book.

At two hours, this went on a bit too long for my taste.  The whole movie rests on Jean Arthur’s shoulders and she delivers pretty well as a kind of Annie Oakley of the frontier.

Arizona was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Black-and-White Art Direction and Best Original Score (Victor Young).

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