Flickers in Time

Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel
Directed by Hanns Schwarz
Written by Lajos Biró, Adrian Brunel, and Arthur Wimperis from a novel by  Baroness Emmuska Orczy
1937/UK
London Film Productions
First viewing

[box] Chauvelin: [Defining the ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’] A demmed intrusive weed[/box]

This has a low IMDb user rating of 5.3/10, so I didn’t expect much going in.  I must say I thought it was perfectly fine!

Sir Percy Blakeney’s (Barry K. Barnes) cover has been blown and the French know he is the notorious Scarlet Pimpernel, savior of condemned aristocrats during the Reign of Terror. Robespierre orders the Pimpernel’s arch-foe Chauvelin to capture him or else. Chauvelin uses the Spanish lover of Jean Tallien (James Mason) to bait his trap. Marguerite Blakeney’s misplaced sympathy for the woman is used to lure her into a situation where she can be spirited to France.  Once this happens, the Scarlet Pimpernel must leap into action, employing all the many disguises at his disposal.

If one does not expect the film to reach the levels attained by the 1934 original with Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon and Raymond Massey, it turns out to be an entertaining movie, if not much more than that.

Hit the Saddle 
Directed by Mack V. Wright
Written by Oliver Drake based on a story by William Colt MacDonald
1937/USA
Republic Pictures
First viewing

[box] Lullaby Joslin: I know just how Stoney feels about it. Why, my third wife used to raise a ruckus every time I left her. Too bad about her, though. Took her out riding one day. She fell off her horse, broke her leg… we had to shoot her.[/box]

This Republic programmer is notable chiefly for containing an early performance by Rita Hayworth, still known at that time as Rita Cansino.

The Three Mesquiteers, Stony Brooke (Robert Livingston),Tuscon Smith, and Lullaby Johnson, are fast friends working on the same ranch.  Stony has fallen in love with raven-haired saloon-hall dancer Rita (Hayworth) and she has marriage on her mind.  Naturally, his two buddies will do anything to stop this.

On a separate track, evil rancher Rance McGowan rounds up protected wild horses and sells them.  When his henchmen are caught, he develops an ingenious plan to get the protection lifted.  He disguises his trained killer horse (!) to resemble a wild stallion and then looses the animal on nearby ranchers.  When the horse kills the sheriff, the ranchers demand that it be killed and the protection be lifted.  Stony swears that the wild stallion is no killer and demands a fair trial.

This is an early entry in Republic’s “Three Mesquiteers” series, which ran around 50 films from 1936 to 1943.  It has all the classic elements of a series oater including a juvenile sidekick for the boys to identify with, a doomed and kissless romance, and a comic relief stock hero.  In this case, it is Max Terhune’s Lullaby Joslin with his ventriloquist routines and hog impressions (seriously).  That all said, I found it a rather relaxing hour of entertainment.

Clip – opening

Elephant Boy
Directed by Zoltan Korda and Robert J. Flaherty
Written by John Collier, Akos Tolnay, and Marcia De Silva from “Toomai of the Elephants” by Rudyard Kipling
1937/UK
London Film Productions
First viewing

[box] The torn boughs trailing o’er the tusks aslant,/ The saplings reeling in the path he trod,/ Declare his might — our lord the Elephant,/ Chief of the ways of God. — Rudyard Kipling, “The Elephant”[/box]

Sabu shines in his debut as an elephant minder.

Toomai’s (Sabu) father owns a huge and magnificent elephant which Toomai lovingly tends to and plays with.  There is a call from the local Great White Hunter for elephants to work on a hunting expedition.  Toomai’s father applies and the hunter is charmed by Toomai, who is crazy for hunting, and he joins the hunting party.  The other local workers tease Toomai and say he will only become a hunter when he sees the elephant dance. The mission of this particular outing is to round up wild elephants for domestication. However, there is not an elephant to be had.  How will Toomai save the day?

I’ve always had a soft spot for Sabu, especially after seeing a documentary of his life, and he is already a charmer here.  The film has many lovely documentary-like moments showing elephant behavior and “exotic” human activity as might be expected from Flaherty’s involvement.  Worth a watch.

Clip – intro

Broadway Melody of 1938
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Written by Jack McGowan and Sid Silvers
1938/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

[box] Betty Clayton: [singing] I don’t care what happens, let the whole world stop. As far as I’m concerned you’ll always be the top. ‘Cause you know you made me love you.[/box]

This MGM musical extravaganza is worth seeing just for Judy Garland’s numbers.  The performances by Eleanor Powell, Buddy Ebsen, and Sophie Tucker are gravy.

This has a pretty convoluted plot, though the plot is not what you watch for. Producer/songwriter Steve Raleigh (Robert Taylor) has financial backing from millionaire Herman Whipple to put on a show.  Whipple’s wife (Binnie Barnes) has agreed to the loan because she not-so-secretly has the hots for young Steve.  The trio go up to Saratoga to see the Whipple’s horse Stargazer race.  Stargazer comes up lame in the race and loses.

Stargazer’s ex-owner Sally Lee has been hanging around the stables.  She bums a ride in Stargazer’s boxcar on the train home.  There she is befriended by Sonny (George Murphy) and Pete (Buddy Ebsen) who have landed jobs tending the horse.  Sally tells them she plans to try to get work on Broadway when she arrives in New York and she demonstrates her dance moves.  Naturally, Steve walks in on this and knows he has found his leading lady.  It is also love at first sight.

To make a long story short, Sally reacquires Starbuck.  Mrs. Whipple gives an ultimatum that Steve has to choose between Sally and her husband’s money.  Can Starbuck win the race so that the show can go on?

The picture is worth a thousand words.  This little girl had the pipes of a star from day one.  Eleanor Powell and Buddy Ebsen are fantastic dancers and have ample opportunity to show their stuff.  I was really looking forward to seeing Sophie Tucker perform for the first time, but she is getting on and has been given the MGM treatment so I was a bit disappointed.  There were certainly none of the salty asides she is best known for.

The songs, other than “You Made Me Love You” and Tucker’s short demo of “Some of These Days” are nothing to write home about and the story is silly but I’m glad I saw it.

Clip – Judy Garland singing “Mr. Gable, You Made Me Love You”  (ah, chills …)

Bonus:  Sophie Tucker singing “Some of These Days” – 1911