The Scarlet Pimpernel Directed by Harold Young
1934/UK
London Film Productions
Second Viewing
Percy Blakeney: They seek him here, they seek him there, / Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. / Is he in heaven? Or is he in hell? / That damned elusive Pimpernel!
During the French Reign of Terror, the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel saves French aristocrats from the guillotine and spirits them away to England. Leslie Howard plays the gallant Pimpernel and his alter ego the foppish Sir Percy Blakeley. Merle Oberon is the French-born Lady Blakeley, who adores the Pimpernel but disdains her husband and is easy prey to the evil French Ambassador Chauvelin (Raymond Massey).
Sir Percy shows Chauvelin how to tie his cravat.
This is my favorite ever performance by Howard. He is just wonderful in both the guises he plays. I especially like him as the fop. Raymond Massey is always good and the story is suspenseful and romantic. Recommended.
Dames Directed by Ray Enright and Busby Berkeley
Warner Bros.
1934/USA
First Viewing
I love the 1933 Busby Berkeley musicals and was really looking forward to finally catching up with this one. What only a year can do … The Production Code put quite a damper on the sex appeal of the Warner Brothers backstage musical. Although this had its points, it all seems a bit lackluster in comparison to something like Gold Diggers of 1933.
Barbara Hemingway: I’m free, white, and 21. I love to dance AND I’m going to dance.
Rich Uncle Ezra (Hugh Herbert) wants his money to go to a strictly moral fruit of his family tree and has settled on his cousin Mathilda (Zasu Pitts) and her husband Horace (Guy Kibbee). Ezra has banished his wicked Broadway-show writing cousin Jimmy (Dick Powell). Naturally, Jimmy is in love with Barbara (Ruby Keeler), Horace and Mathilda’s daughter. Somehow a chorus girl (Joan Blondell) is able to blackmail Horace into backing Jimmy’s show and all the hijinks begin.
Dick Powell sings some love ballads (including “I Only Have Eyes for You”) toward the beginning of the film but the three main chorus numbers are saved for the end. Of these, the only one that begins to capture the Busby Berkeley magic is the title tune “Dames”. That, however, was worth seeing the movie for.
Imitation of Life Directed by John M. Stahl
1934/USA
Universal Pictures
Second Viewing
Bea Pullman (Claudette Colbert) is a young widow who carries on her husband’s maple syrup business to support her daughter Jesse. Delilah Johnson arrives on her doorstep looking for work with her own daughter Peola and proves to be a godsend. Bea goes on to use Delilah’s secret pancake recipe to climb to success first in the restaurant business and then as a pancake mix queen (under the Aunt Delilah label). Bea offers Delilah a share in the business but Delilah says she is not interested in money or in having her own home.
Delilah Johnson: What’s my baby want?
Peola Johnson, Age 19: I want to be white, like I look.
Peola (Fredi Washington) easily “passes” as white and struggles against her black identity, eventually disowning her own mother and breaking her heart. Bea has daughter troubles of her own when Jesse falls for Bea’s beau, Stephen Archer (Warren William), world’s richest fish scientist.
There is obviously quite a bit of stereotyping in this film. Poor Delilah seems to downright enjoy getting the short end of the stick in the eyes of the film makers. On the other hand, this is one of the few films from classic Hollywood to give black characters emotional lives of their own. And although Delilah is content to serve, Peola, while conflicted and full of self-loathing, is portrayed as a sophisticated complex woman. The performances of Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington are quite good and Claudette Colbert is sympathetic as Bea.
This was remade in 1959 with Lana Turner, Juanita Hall, Susan Kohner, Sandra Dee and John Gavin.
The 39 Steps Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
1935/UK
Gaumont British Picture Corporation
#91 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Multiple Viewings
IMDb users say 7.9; I say 9.0
The 39 Steps showcases Hitchcock as a master craftsman relatively early in his career. If the definition of a classic is a work that remains entertaining and surprising over time and repeated exposure, this film certainly deserves to be called one.
I revisited The Thirty-Nine Steps with the Blu-Ray disc from the Criterion Collection, which can be rented from Netflix.  The film has probably never looked more beautiful and is packaged with a number of extras including a commentary, a documentary on Hitchcock’s British films, a video interview with Hitchcock, a visual essay on the film by Leonard Leff, and audio excerpts about the film from  François Truffaut’s 1962 interviews with Hitchcock.
The story should be familiar to any Hitchcock lover, if not from this film, from many that follow such as Saboteur and North by Northwest.  In this classic plot, a man is falsely accused of a crime and must flee both the police and the true criminals while attempting to clear his name.
Here our story begins when Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) visits a musical hall and catches the act of Mr. Memory, a man with reams of trivia at his disposal. Â The way Hitchcock builds suspense by quick cuts between audience members shouting out questions in this scene is stunning. Â The scene ends with a scuffle and gunshots.
Hannay meets a woman as he is exiting the music hall. Â She says she needs protection so he takes her to his apartment. Â The woman is a spy on the trail of “The 39 Steps” and tells Hannay she has little time to prevent a valuable secret from leaving the country. She is promptly murdered in the apartment and Hannay is the prime suspect. Thus, begins his desperate flight from the police and quest to stop the spy ring.
Richard Hannay: Beautiful, mysterious woman pursued by gunmen. Sounds like a spy story.
Annabella Smith: That’s exactly what it is.
Hannay heads for Scotland based on a map he finds in the woman’s dead hand. Â On his way, he spends the night with a crofter and his wife. Â This scene is like its own short film about a jealous farmer (John Lurie), his much younger wife (Peggy Ashcroft), and a dashing young traveller. Â It is a short scene but Hitchcock manages to pack in quite a bit of pathos and psychological depth to the predicament of a woman trapped in a bad marriage.
With the police hot on his heels, Hannay meets The Professor and barely escapes with his life.
On the run again, Hannay finds himself the main speaker at a political rally and must improvise. Â This scene would be copied many times, most notably in The Third Man. Â He meets Pamela (Madeleine Carroll) and they are both abducted by bad guys who eventually handcuff them together.
The third act plays as a sort of romantic comedy with the two sparring mightily before they fall in love. Â Hitchcock is able to work in some slightly racy material when the two are forced to share a bedroom. Â I hate to give away the ending of a 78-year-old movie so I will stop here. Â Suffice it to say that the film ends on this shot.
I’ve seen this one many times. The famous set pieces (Mr. Memory, the little finger, the handcuff scene in the inn) are indelibly imprinted in my memory. Yet I was surprised how fresh the story remains.  It is also a pleasure to enjoy the performance of Robert Donat, a consummate movie actor.  He said the secret of his success was his ability to be still and watching him just listen and think is a treat.  I prefer The Lady Vanishes among Hitchcock’s British films , but this ranks just behind it. It remains a witty and stylish suspense thriller.
You’re Telling Me! Directed by Erle C. Kenton
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing
Sam Bisbee: Stand clear and keep your eye on the ball!
When he is not drinking liquor out of a jug, Samuel Bisbee (W.C. Fields) is an optometrist and inventor who embarrasses his long-suffering wife no end. His daughter is in love with the son of a society family (Buster Krabbe) but they are having none of Sam. Sam’s hopes are further dashed when he screws up the sales presentation of his puncture-proof tire. Luckily, Sam meets a princess who solves all his problems.
The plot, such as it is, only gets in the way of the gags. Chief among these is a reprise of Fields’s golf routine from his 1930 short “The Golf Specialist”. Fields is hit and miss with me and, unfortunately, this was a miss. I smiled a few times but I didn’t laugh.
A Trip to the Moon (“Le voyage dans la lune”) Directed by Georges Méliès
1902/France
Star-Film
#1 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
Multiple Viewings
IMDb users say 8.2/10; I say 9.0/10
I thought I’d catch up on some past 1001 Movie Blog Club selections. What more natural place to start than with the first movie on the list? As an added bonus, I finally got to see the restored hand-colored version with some additional footage I had never seen. The restoration, music, and added footage only add to the film’s charm. I had always thought of this movie as a landmark of early cinema but this viewing had me laughing out loud at some of the ridiculous antics Méliès presents.
Our story begins at a meeting of astronomers. Their president proposes a trip to the moon. He gets a generally enthusiastic reception but one of the astronomers objects and the president pelts the culprit with books and papers. Four astronomers are selected to join the president on the voyage. The group goes to inspect the spacecraft, which is shaped like a giant bullet. It will be launched from a cannon and we see the gun being casted. A bevy of beauties in tights serve as gunners for the launch. (Méliès uses every opportunity to feature shapely ladies throughout.)
The spaceship is successfully launched. In one of the most iconic images in film history, it pierces the eye of the moon.
The astronauts are tired from their journey and stretch out on the moon’s surface for a nap. They dream that women in the stars are scolding them for violating the moon. Phoebus in the form of a lady in the crescent moon sends snow to show the displeasure of the cosmos. The astronauts are cold and foolishly decide to descend into a crater. There they find a grotto filled with giant mushrooms. A vengeful group of moon dwellers called Selenites attack our heroes. Fortunately, these disappear into a puff of smoke when struck by an umbrella. Nonetheless, the a mob of Selenites chase the astronauts into the presence of their king but he also is despatched with an umbrella. The president sacrifices his life to save the other astronauts by staying behind to push the spacecraft off the edge of the moon. The spacecraft lands in the ocean, where it floats, and is rescued by a steamer.
This is where the film ended in previous versions I watched. The restored version continues on with a couple of very charming scenes showing the heroic welcome greeting the astronauts. I am crazy about the monument built in their honor.
The restoration I watched was based on an original hand-colored print of A Trip to the Moon rediscovered in 1993 by the Filmoteca de Catalunya. Technicolor Lab of Los Angeles launched a frame-by-frame restoration of the almost totally decomposed print in 1999 and completed it in 2010. Afterwards, West Wing Digital Studios replaced missing frames by hand painting frames from a black and white print. The restored version finally premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, with a new soundtrack by the French band Air. It was released in 2012 by Flicker Alley in a 2-disc Blu-Ray/DVD edition, which included the documentary The Extraordinary Voyage about its restoration. I’d like to see that DVD edition sometime. The restoration is no longer available on YouTube or via Wikipedia.
Complete black and white film with a modern score.
Tarzan and His Mate Directed by Cedric Gibbons
1934/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Second viewing
Tarzan: Good morning, I love you. Jane Parker: Good morning, I love you. You never forget, do you, Tarzan? Tarzan: Never forget… I love you.
Jane’s (Maureen O’Sullivan) ex-fiancee Harry Holt returns to Africa in search of a treasure in ivory in the elephant’s graveyard and in hopes of luring her back to England. She belongs heart and soul to Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller), however. Tarzan agrees to lead Harry and his no-good partner to the elephant’s graveyard but balks at letting them take any ivory out.
I found this sequel far less offensive than the original Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), although it still suffers from some bwana-itis. The relationship between Tarzan and Jane, and theirs with Cheeta, is quite charming. However, the action palls too soon. It is basically Tarzan wrestling a wild animal into submission over and over again.
This film came out in April 1934 before the Production Code began to be enforced. Clearly, we would not have been treated to a fairly lengthy scene of Jane’s nude underwater bathing otherwise! Interestingly, Tarzan does not feel called upon to skinny dip when he is swimming with her.
The Gay Divorcee Directed by Mark Sandrich
1934/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
Umpteenth viewing
Aunt Hortense: Be feminine and sweet. If you can blend the two.
Fred Astaire plays Guy Holden, an American dancer returning to London. He meets Mimi (Ginger Rogers) when she suffers a wardrobe malfunction at London customs. He isn’t too helpful and she gives him the brushoff. She meets him again at an English seaside resort where she has gone to sham an adulterous affair so that her husband will discover it and divorcer her. A misunderstanding leads her to believe that Guy is the hired correspondent.
“The Continental”
All this is just a good excuse for the dance numbers which are the whole point. The “Night and Day” ballroom dance is so elegant and sublime that this movie would rank high with me even if that was all it contained. However, we have the almost equally delightful “The Continental” number and a nice tap solo for Fred to “A Needle in a Haystack”.
I find Alice Brady annoying but the always reliable Edward Everett Horton is along as Mimi’s lawyer; Eric Blore shows why he was the most popular comic butler in Hollywood; and Eric Rhodes is hilarious as the egotistical family-man correspondent. I am crazy for Fred and Ginger. Lately, I have taken to watching Ginger’s face while they dance. She was quite an actress and puts her whole self into it.
The Adventures of Robin Hood Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley
1938/USA
Warner Bros. Pictures
#114 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Second Viewing
IMDb users say 8.0/10; I say 9.0/10
Lady Marian Fitzswalter: Why, you speak treason!
Robin Hood: Fluently.
There are times that call for uncomplicated entertainment where virtue triumphs and true love prospers. The Great Depression was such a time. I would submit that the 2010’s are another, which may account for the current popularity of Superhero comic book fare. Since I prefer my films without explosions, graphic violence or CGI, The Adventures of Robin Hood is where I want to turn when I’m looking for an action pick-me-up.
True Love
Whatever his personal life, in 1938 Errol Flynn was the embodiment of swashbuckling, wise-cracking virtue and perfect for playing Robin Hood as the merriest of the Merry Men. We meet him as he is rescuing poacher Much from summary execution by the coldly cruel Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone). However, his grand entrance is shortly afterward when he arrives at a banquet hosted by Prince John (Claude Raines) and deposits the poached deer before the prince. This is followed by a classic fight scene in which Robin fights off at least 20 Norman foes single handed with sword, arrows, and sheer derring-do.
Robin first sets eyes on the beautiful Lady Marian, intelligently played by the lovely Olivia de Havilland, at the banquet. As a Norman, she at first despises this Saxon upstart but learns to respect and then love him for his loyalty to her guardian King Richard and his goodness to the downtrodden. Robin is appropriately chivalric throughout. In fact, a tenant of the oath taken by the Merry Men is to protect all women whether Norman or Saxon.
Three villains – Melville Cooper, Basil Rathbone, and Claude Raines
The supporting cast is a roster of some of the most familiar faces in ’30’s Hollywood. Each villain has his own consistent attributes from Claude Raines’s cynical, snide Prince John, to Melville Cooper’s cowardly Sheriff of Nottingham. Basil Rathbone contributes his expert swordsmanship to the fabulous sword duel with Robin that closes the film. Then we have the good guys. It is hard to imagine a more perfect crew than Alan Hale as Little John, Eugene Pallette as Friar Tuck, Patric Knowles as Will Scarlet, and Herbert Mundin as Much. Una O’Conner hams it up as Marian’s loyal lady’s maid Bess.
The bright glittering costumes and sets may not present an accurate picture of the Middle Ages but they do contribute to the storybook feeling of the piece. Those who are looking for a gritty, nuanced portrayal of the Robin Hood legend would do better elsewhere. Those viewers who are out for a good time can stop right here for 102 minutes of unadulterated fun.
The Scarlet Empress Directed by Josef von Sternberg
1934/USA
Paramount Pictures
Multiple viewings
Grand Duke Peter: I want to play with my toys!
The Scarlet Empress is Josef von Sternberg’s interpretation of the rise of Catherine the Great. The plot is basically the same as in the London Pictures production reviewed here previously but the characters are quite different. Marlene Dietrich plays Catherine as a wide-eyed innocent for the first half of the movie (this was quite a stretch!) then as a sly dominatrix after she produces an heir to the throne. Sam Jaffe must have been told to throw caution to the wind in coming up with his imbecilic Grand Duke Peter. Louise Dresser plays Empress Elizabeth as a kind of Mid-Western fish wife having a very bad day. Â Finally, there is the lantern-jawed, wooden John Lodge as Catherine’s erstwhile love interest.
Dietrich as the virginal Princess Sophia
My descriptionsmay lead you to believe that I did not enjoy the film but au contraire!  By all objective measures it is very bad indeed but this kind of high camp that is endlessly watchable. The art design alone is simply so delirously over the top that it is not to be missed. The wedding banquet table, alone, is a breathtaking mixture of the pornographic and the sinister.
And then there is the photography. Von Sternberg must have had Dietrich shot through every kind of sheer fabric he could get his hands on. It’s as if he went completely off the rails in some kind of masochistic frenzy of adoration. My favorite costume is Catherine’s negliigee, which is a see-through black number over a hoop skirt topped off with a black feather bodice. Â The Scarlet Empress really cannot be adequately described; it must be experienced.
It was hard to select among the many bizaare images available from this film! Here we have an example of the decor when Peter uses a giant hand drill to spy on his Aunt Elizabeth’s bed chamber.
Although the film was not released until after the effective date of the enforcement of the Production Code on July 1, 1934, Joe Breen was clearly nowhere to be found when this hit the streets on September 15, 1934. Â It was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency as “morally objectionable.”
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
Photographs and videos found in this blog, unless indicated, are not owned by me and are here only for the purpose of education and discussion. Media found here are not intended for any commercial purpose. Copyright infringement is not intended.
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Dick Powell sings some love ballads (including “I Only Have Eyes for You”) toward the beginning of the film but the three main chorus numbers are saved for the end. Of these, the only one that begins to capture the Busby Berkeley magic is the title tune “Dames”. That, however, was worth seeing the movie for.
