Tag Archives: Hollywood

The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)

Posted on July 28, 2013 | 4 comments

The Prisoner of Shark Island 
Directed by John Ford
Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson
1936/USA
Darryl F. Zanuck Productions/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing

 

[box] Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd: Once before I was a doctor. I’m still a doctor.[/box]

This historical drama contains some masterful direction by John Ford and a solid perfomance by Warner Baxter.

According to the DVD commentary, historical accuracy is not this film’s strong suit.  Any way, Dr. Samuel Mudd (Warner Baxter) is minding his own business when a couple of strangers come to the door.  One of them has a badly broken leg and the doctor and his wife (Gloria Stuart) tend to it.  Turns out the injured man is John Wilkes Booth, on the run from his assassination of Lincoln.  Poor Sam is rapidly arrested and tried by kangaroo court-martial.  He luckily escapes hanging but is sentenced to life in prison on an island in the Dry Tortugas.

After an exciting failed escape attempt across the shark-infested waters surrounding the island, Sam is apprehended and thrown into a kind of dungeon with loyal ex-slave Buck. But when a yellow fever epidemic strikes guards and prisoners alike and fells the only doctor, it’s Dr. Sam to the rescue and he manfully takes control of the prison personnel to fight the plague.  With Harry Carey as the prison commandant and John Carradine as a sadistic guard.

 

I had never heard of this film before gathering my list for 1936.  Now, I wonder why.  It is one of the better John Ford films I have seen with beautiful framing, shooting, and lighting and good solid story telling.  This is also, bar none, the best performance I have seen from Warner Baxter.  Usually, he chews the scenery but here he is admirably restrained.

The film could be faulted for its treatment of the many African-American characters, though it is certainly no worse than other movies of its time and better than many.  Despite this, I thought it was well worth seeing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANBU5L9706Y

Masters of Cinema trailer

 

 

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The Petrified Forest (1936)

Posted on July 27, 2013 | 2 comments

The Petrified Forest
Directed by Archie Mayo
Written by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves based on a play by Robert E. Sherwood
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

 

[box] Jackie Cooper: Now, just behave yourself and nobody’ll get hurt. This is Duke Mantee, the world-famous killer, and he’s hungry![/box]

This stage-bound hostage movie is notable for Humphrey Bogart’s break-out performance.

Alan Squier (Leslie Howard), a world-weary failed writer, hitchhikes his way to the Black Mesa Cafe.  There he is captivated by the youth and enthusiasm of Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis), daughter of the proprietor.  Into the isolated café comes fugitive murderer Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) and his henchmen.  The patrons and the criminals begin to form a little community under fire.

The dialogue was too flowery and the camera work was too static for my taste.  Bette Davis and Leslie Howard did quite well with the material, however.  You can tell why Humphrey Bogart, with his intense eyes and immense energy, would have a great success in this part.  The studio had wanted Edward G. Robertson for the role and we can thank Leslie Howard for demanding that Bogart reprise his stage role.  Bogart never forgot the gesture and named his daughter Leslie in Howard’s honor.

Trailer

 

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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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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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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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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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Swing Time (1936)

Posted on July 20, 2013 | 5 comments

Swing Time
Directed by George Stevens
1936/USA
Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing
#96 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] John “Lucky” Garnett: Now, eh… how did you say that last step went? Eh… oh, yes![/box]

This might not be my favorite of the Astaire/Rogers films in terms of the comedy and story but it does have some of the best dance routines and wonderful standards by Jerome Kern.

John “Lucky” Garnett (Fred Astaire) is a hoofer who makes most of his money at the gambling table.  He is tricked by Pop Cardetti (Victor Moore) and the rest of his vaudeville team into missing his own wedding.  The bride’s angry father finally agrees to reconsider the union if Lucky returns with $25,000.  So Lucky and Pop hop a freight train to New York.

Lucky almost immediately runs into dance instructress Penny (Ginger Rogers) and through a number of misunderstanding infuriates her.  But this turns to love once they are in each other’s arms on the dance floor.  Pop and Penny’s pal Mabel (Helen Broderick) also become chummy. Can love triumph through the many obstacles this plot presents for the dancing duo?  With Eric Blore as the owner of the dance studio, Betty Furness as Lucky’s fiancée, and Georges Mexata as a pompous band leader who is in love with Penny.

This is the film in which Ginger Rogers is allowed to love Fred back and might be her best performance in one of their pictures.  Her yearning in the scene before she sings “A Fine Romance” is palpable.  The movie also features the iconic “The Way You Look Tonight” sung by Astaire while Rogers is shampooing her hair and a really fun routine set to “Pick Yourself Up.”  None of my regular readers will be surprised that I come back to this again and again despite the half hour of danceless, silly scenes at the beginning.

Despite the brilliance of the tapping in Astaire’s blackface “Bojangles in Harlem” number, I have never understood why a living and working artist, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, needed this “tribute”.  While I can cut the times some slack, I just find the whole thing extremely odd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlvp8PUnC2Y

Dance – “Waltz in Swing Time”

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The Big Sleep (1946)

Posted on July 10, 2013 | 4 comments

The Big Sleep
Directed by Howard Hawks
1946/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing
#189 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Vivian: Why did you have to go on?

Marlowe: Too many people told me to stop.[/box]

Movies have taken a back seat to life lately and when life rears its ugly head there is nobody better than Bogart for a little boost.  This is a fun but perplexing adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel.

Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is hired by wealthy General Sternwood to investigate a blackmail plot against his daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers).  Sternwood’s other daughter Vivian Rutledge (Lauren Bacall) attempts to keep him off the case.  Not to be deterred, Marlowe comes across a series of murders and is lucky to escape with his own life.  With Elisha Cook, Jr. as a would-be informant.

The Big Sleep has a notoriously complicated plot, even for a film noir.  It is so complicated, in fact, that when writers William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett asked Chandler who killed a chauffeur in love with Carmen, even Chandler couldn’t figure it out.  I’m hazy on most of the story.  Despite the fantastic repartee between Bogart and Bacall, this detracts a bit from my enjoyment of the film.  Nevertheless, it is well worth seeing.  It is probably the only film in which Bogart plays a James Bond like sex symbol, with all the girls he meets swooning (see the second clip).

Trailer

Clip – Dorothy Malone and Humphrey Bogart get to know each other in a bookstore

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The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Posted on July 7, 2013 | 7 comments

The Maltese Falcon
Directed by John Huston
1941/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing
#144 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Wilmer Cook: Keep on riding me and they’re gonna be picking iron out of your liver.

Sam Spade: The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.[/box]

The third time was the charm for this outstanding adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel.  Screenwriter John Huston’s first effort as a director created a classic that helped form the “new” Humphrey Bogart character and made him a star.

Beautiful Ruth Wanderly (Mary Astor) visits the offices of Spade and Archer and hires them to trace her missing sister.  While Miles Archer is trailing her sister’s companion, he is shot and killed.  Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) soon discovers that Miss Wanderly’s name is really Bridget O’Shaughnessy and that she is more interested in the whereabouts of a valuable ornament in the shape of a falcon.  As Sam tries to discover Archer’s killer he is menaced by other shady types searching for the same bird.  With Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Sidney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman, and Elisha Cook Jr. as Wilmer Cook.

 

I’m running out of ways to describe timeless classics.  Suffice it to say that I love every single aspect of this film.  I’ve also seen the 1931 version of the same story and the difference that these actors make to the delivery of the exact same dialogue is amazing.  Some critics cite this as the first film noir.  I don’t know that I agree.  True, it has the hard-boiled dialogue and some of the high-contrast lighting and odd camera angles of a noir but the tone is different.  In particular, Sam Spade is a man who won’t play the sap for anyone and the noir hero is typically born to play that role.

We can all be thankful that this was Huston’s first film.  The studio had offered Bogart’s part to George Raft who turned it down because he did not want to work with an untested director.  Huston was buddies with Bogart and never wanted anyone else.

Trailer – oddly Bogart can’t escape his gangster past in the trailer

 

 

 

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