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- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersEdward Everett HortonAn American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) is a famous song and dance man who is scheduled to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton) in London. Fashion designer Alberto Beddini (Erik Rhodes) has hired lovely Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers) as a sort of social mannequin to show off his gowns. Jerry and Dale meet and Jerry is immediately smitten. Horace’s wife Madge (Helen Broderick) is in Venice and wants to try her hand at a little matchmaking. The sparks fly when Dale mistakes Jerry for Madge’s husband and the two arrive in Venice.
The silly comedy of errors is a structure on which to hang some glorious dancing, art deco sets, gorgeous gowns, and snappy dialogue. Most of the cast of The Gay Divorcee comes back and is funnier than ever. I particularly like Erik Rhodes’s conceited Beddini, who always refers to himself in the third person.
Fred Astaire was Irving Berlin’s favorite interpreter of his songs and he sings plenty of then here. ”Cheek to Cheek” is the standard coming from this film but I have a huge soft spot for “Isn’t This a Lovely Day”. The dance to that one, in which Rogers starts out by mimicking Astaire’s movements, is the essence of joy. In my view, a practically perfect picture - DirectorLeo McCareyStarsCharles LaughtonMary BolandCharles RugglesAn English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.This seldom mentioned treasure is one of the reasons I keep watching these old movies! It has a perfect cast, a wonderful script, and is expertly directed by Leo McCarey.
The time is the Gay 90′s. The place is Paris. Charles Laughton plays Ruggles, the proper English valet to the Earl of Burnstead (Roland Young). The Earl “loses” Ruggles to the rough-and-ready American Egbert Floud (Charlie Ruggles) in a poker game. Mrs. Floud has taken a fancy to Ruggles because she thinks he can civilize her boisterous husband and improve her social standing. Egbert immediately treats Ruggles as his equal, much to Ruggles’ embarrassment.
The Flouds soon return with Ruggles to Red Gap in Wild West Washington State. Due to a misunderstanding, society thinks that Ruggles is a house guest of the Floud’s and they are hard-pressed to deny it. In the meantime, Ruggles is introduced to American ways. Then the Earl comes to visit and Ruggles has some decisions to make. With Zasu Pitts as Ruggles’ lady love and Leila Hyams as the local “bad girl”.
I smiled throughout this entire film, even when I had a little tear in my eye. I think this is Charlie Ruggles’ finest performance, and I always like him. Roland Young and Zasu Pitts are also perfectly charming. And just watch Charles Laughton recite the Gettysburg Address! This movie is great. My highest recommendation. - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRobert DonatMadeleine CarrollLucie MannheimA man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.An early classic in Hitchcock's "wrong man" themed movies. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) chances upon a woman at a music hall who says she needs protection and takes her home. 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 desparate flight from the police and quest to stop the spy ring. On the way, he becomes entangled (literally!) with Pamela (Madeleine Carroll) who would initially like nothing better than to turn him in.
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. I also forgot many of the details of how the chase progresses. I was interested to see the scene where Hannay is suddenly thrust into being a speaker at a meeting without preparation. I wonder if The Third Man picked up that idea here? Of course, it's a common nightmare, at least for me.
I prefer The Lady Vanishes among Hitchcock's British films, but this ranks just behind it. It remains a witty and stylish suspense thriller. - DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTakeshi SakamotoYoshiko OkadaChôko IidaUnemployed Kihachi and his two sons struggle to make ends meet. But that doesn't keep Kihachi from wooing single mother Otaka.Kihachi is unemployed and is raising his two young sons. The little family is so poor that it relies on the boys catching stray dogs and bringing them in for rabies shots for a bounty to get money to eat and shelter from the elements in a common inn. Sometimes they must choose between eating and shelter. Despite this, the children manage to enliven this bleak existence with imagination and mischief. They meet a woman and her young daughter at the inn and the children become friends.
Kihachi has the very good fortune of meeting an old female friend who helps him find work. The mother of the girl remains unemployed and Kihachi gets his friend to (reluctantly) help feed those two as well. The older boy goes to school and all the children play together after he gets home. The mother and daughter eventually fail to turn up. It turns out the daughter is seriously ill. Then Kihachi does something he shouldn't to help them and puts his own family's future at risk.
This is Ozu's last silent film and one of his best. It has been compared to The Bicycle Thieves in its focus on the effects of poverty on the dignity of the individual. Despite the somber subject matter, the parts of the film that focus on the children are really charming. The clip shows a scene I particularly liked where the older boy tries to cheer up the father by pretending to serve him sake. Ozu's style had matured by this point and many of his trademarks are in place. There is a very interesting ellision in which the boys lose a parcel and we completely skip any angry words from the father. The acting from all concerned, and especially the children, is top-notch.
I watched the film on Hulu Plus streaming. It is also currently available on YouTube. The print is not pristine by any means but that did not interfere with my enjoyment of this wonderful film. - DirectorFrank LloydStarsCharles LaughtonClark GableFranchot ToneFirst mate Fletcher Christian leads a revolt against his sadistic commander, Captain Bligh, in this classic seafaring adventure, based on the real-life 1789 mutiny.In 1787, the HMS Bounty departs Portsmouth for Tahiti, carrying a crew largely composed of impressed sailors. The ship is helmed by Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton). His second in command is Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) . Christian befriends a first-voyage midshipman Roger Byam (Franchot Tone). Bligh’s idea of enforcing discipline is with the lash and he also keeps his men on tight rations to line his own pockets. When Christian takes Bligh to task for this, Bligh plots revenge. Bligh’s cruelty only increases on the return journey from Tahiti. Christian then takes matters into his own hands and casts Bligh and the men loyal to him adrift in a launch, but Bligh refuses to admit defeat.
As soon as I heard Herbert Stothart’s rousing score coming up under the credits of this big-budget MGM production, I had that comforting feeling that this movie would be, if nothing else, entertaining and I was right. The script moves along at a good pace and the production values are first-rate. We are even treated to location shots in French Polynesia. Kudos must go to Charles Laughton for one of his very best performances. I always enjoy his work but usually feel like I am watching an actor wink at the audience. Here, he plays it very straight and is excellent. Highly enjoyable. - DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffElsa LanchesterColin CliveMary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.Neither Frankenstein nor his Monster were killed at the end of Frankenstein. The Monster is only looking for a friend but meets with terror everywhere he turns. Is the solution to build him a Bride from dead body parts? The nutty Dr. Pretorius thinks so! With Boris Karloff as the Monster, Colin Clive as Frankenstein, Valerie Hobson as Elizabeth, Ernest Thesinger as Dr. Pretorius, Dwight Frye as miscellaneous ghouls, and Una O’Connor as Minnie.
I may be in the minority in preferring the 1931 original to this sequel. This one is just a little bit too arch for me and the original didn’t have all that shreeking by Una O’Connor. That said, Karloff is wonderful despite the ill-advised decision to have him speak, the lighting and sets are atmospheric, and the special effects are first-rate for their time. I can have fun every time I come back to this classic. - DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEdward ArnoldPeter LorreMarian MarshMan is haunted by a murder he's committed.I loved this film, a loose adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novel. Raskolnikov (Peter Lorre) graduates with highest honors from university and makes his mother and sister proud. He goes on to write scholarly articles on criminology. He has a sort of Nietzschean theory that ordinary standards cannot be applied to extraordinary men. His articles don’t pay much, however, and he is living in desperate poverty. He goes to a grasping, insulting old pawnbroker to pawn his father’s watch to pay the rent and while there meets a sweet, devout prostitute named Sonya (Marian Marsh).
When he discovers that his sister has lost her position and feels forced to marry a horrible beaurocrat to support herself and their mother, he snaps and murders the pawnbroker for her money. The rest of the story follows the psychological aftermath of the crime on Raskolnikov, the relentless investigation of the murder by Inspector Porfiry, and the redemptive love of Sonya.
According to the commentary track on Mad Love, Peter Lorre agreed to star in that film in exchange for a guarantee that he could make this one. I am glad it worked out because he is simply fantastic in it. It is great to see him exercise a full range of emotion in a complex leading role. My favorite parts were immediately after the crime when the character decided that he no longer feared anything. I laughed out loud several times at the way Lorre delivered the many zingers. He is also pathetic, tender, and hysterical as the moment requires. Marian Marsh is very good and Edward Arnold is almost satanic as the inspector. The film looks quite beautiful despite its low budget thanks to cinematography by Lucien Ballard. - DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMargaret SullavanHerbert MarshallFrank MorganA naive girl just out of a cloistered orphanage finds that being a 'good fairy' to strangers makes life awfully complicated.The setting is modern-day (1935) Hungary. A movie theater owner goes to an orphanage to find an usherette for his theater and selects the sweet, naive Luisa Ginglebuscher (Margaret Sullavan). On one of her first days in the big city she is invited by a waiter (Reginald Owen) to a party in the hotel where he works. At the party, she is approached by wealthy Mr. Konrad (Frank Morgan) who tries to seduce her. This frightens Luisa and she says she is married. Konrad is not deterred and says he will make her husband rich. This inspires Luisa with the thought that she could do a good deed for someone like they were taught at the orphanage. So she selects the name of lawyer Max Sporum (Herbert Marshall) from the phone book. Konrad goes to see Sporum the next day and gives the bewildered man a lucrative five-year contract. Sporum and Luisa meet thereafter and go on a shopping spree and things proceed from there!
The plot description doesn’t sound too amusing but I can assure you the movie is. The dialogue just pops. I adore Margaret Sullavan, whom I have not seen enough of. She would charm the pants off an alligator. Herbert Marshall has probably never been this whimsical and it suits him. Recommended. - DirectorHenry HathawayStarsGary CooperFranchot ToneRichard CromwellThree British soldiers on the Northwest Frontier of India struggle against the enemy - and themselves.In this unexpected gem, Col. Tom Stone (Sir. Guy Standing) commands a regiment of the Bengal Lancers that is patrolling the northeast border of British India fighting skirmishes with rebels who hide out in the mountains (of Afghanistan?) . Lt. McGregor (Gary Cooper) greatly resents the colonel's by-the-books manner. Two fresh replacements arrive, Lt. Forsythe (Franchot Tone) and Lt. Stone, the colonel's son (Richard Cromwell). Forsythe is a wisecracking pro but Stone is fresh out of Sandhurst and has a lot to learn. To add to his problems, the colonel is determined that there should be no special relationship between father and son. The tension rises when a shipment of ammunition is diverted by the rebels due to a miscalculation by Lt. Stone.
This was a really excellent film and even had me in tears at the end. All the acting is good but I particularly enjoyed Guy Standing's turn as the colonel who must balance duty with fatherly love. It has the blessed advantage of no romantic subplot so it can concentrate on questions of honor and loyalty. It also delivers on the action and bantering comedy fronts. Warmly recommended. - DirectorKing VidorStarsGary CooperAnna StenRalph BellamyBecause his finances are low and he is seeking background for a new book, author Tony Barratt and his wife Dora return to his country home in Connecticut. While he is finding material for his book on the lives and customs of the local immigrant tobacco farmers, his wife returns to New York and, alas, his Japanese servant deserts him. He meets neighboring farm girl Manya Novak and hires her to cook his meals and clean his house. They soon fall in love, but following the customs of the old country, her father has entered a 'marriage bargain' for her to wed Fredrik Sobieski, a man not of her choosing.I’m about ten films away from finishing up 1935. Running into a film like this one that I had never heard of makes me glad that I stick with it until the end. This romantic drama really impressed me.
Gary Cooper plays Tony Barrett a hard-drinking washed-up novelist who can’t even get an advance on his next book. He and his wife Dora move to his family farmhouse in Connecticut where they can live for free. Their neighbors are a community of very traditional Poles. One of these buys some of Tony’s acreage and Dora, who decides she doesn’t like country life, moves back to New York. Tony remains behind and finds inspiration for his next book in Anya (Anna Sten), the daughter of his neighbors. He also gradually falls in love with her. But she has a strict Polish upbringing and is promised in marriage to a local boy. With Ralph Bellamy (complete with Polish accent!) as the loutish fiance.
This is a very mature and realistic sort of romance and the performances are terrific. It’s refreshingly different from the all too familiar plotlines of other films of the period. I think Cooper’s performance equals or betters anything he ever did. The movie is also beautiful to look at with cinematography by Gregg Toland and many Polish folkloric details. Highly recommended.
King Vidor won the award for best director at the 1935 Venice Film Festival for this film, which was nominated for the Mussolini Cup. - DirectorJack ConwayRobert Z. LeonardStarsRonald ColmanElizabeth AllanEdna May OliverA pair of lookalikes, one a former French aristocrat and the other an alcoholic English lawyer, fall in love with the same woman amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution.This is a fairly faithful adaptation of the Dickens novel. The evil Marquis St. Evremonde (Basil Rathbone) denounced Dr. Manette and had him imprisoned without trial in the Bastille for 18 years. Manette is finally freed through the efforts the seditious De Farges and is reunited with his daughter Lucie. Lucie and Manette travel by ship to England and meet Charles Darnay on the journey. Darnay is the free-thinking nephew of the Marquis who has arranged that he be framed and arrested for treason upon arrival. Darnay is a acquited through the efforts of barrister Stryver and his associate, the dissolute but clever Sidney Carton. Carton and Darnay both fall in love with Lucie, while Lucie’s heart belongs to Darnay whom she marries. A few years later after the French Revolution, Darnay is in danger of the guillotine due to his aristocratic ancestry and the ills done by the Marquis to a number of poor people.
1935 was quite the year for big-budget literary adaptations and this is a fine one. It is rescued from an excess of sentiment (also present in the novel) by the fantastic performance of Ronald Colman as Sidney Carton. His eyes are wonderfully expressive and he delivers his dialogue with just the right touch of irony. Among the supporting players, I particularly like Basil Rathbone as the supercilious Marquis and Edna May Oliver as Lucie’s maid, Miss Pross. Oliver has a really touching and funny scene near the end in which she the interests of her mistress. MGM spared no expense on settings or costumes. Recommended. - DirectorWilfred JacksonStarsPinto ColvigClarence NashMickey is a frustrated bandleader dealing with obnoxious peanut vendor and flute player Donald, who tries to persuade the band to play "Turkey in the Straw," and a cyclone hits before his concert of "William Tell Overture" is completed.Mickey Mouse conducts an old-fashioned band composed of his animal buddies in a rendition of "The William Tell Overture" but Donald Duck keeps distracting the musicians by playing "Turkey in the Straw" on his fife. The cartoon concludes with the band being sucked up by a tornado and playing valiantly through it all.
This is one of the funniest Mickey Mouse cartoons of all time. I laughed out loud several times. Some full-length comedies don't get that out of me. I love Donald Duck! This was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon in Technicolor. - DirectorWilfred JacksonThe princess violin from the sleepy Land of Symphony is chased by a more lively alto saxophone from the Isle of Jazz. Soon the queen (a viola) discovers them and locks the sax in the metronome.Music Land is one of the Disney "Silly Symphony" animated cartoon shorts. The Princess of the Land of Symphony (a violin) and the Prince of the Isle of Jazz (a saxophone) fall in love, much to the disapproval of their parents. A war ensues. Peace is achieved through the wedding of the Queen of Symphony (a viola) and the King of Jazz (an alto saxophone) on the Bridge of Harmony. The story is told in music. There is no dialog. This is fun and shows Disney's build up to what would flower in Fantasia.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandLionel AtwillAfter treating a Monmouth rebel against King James II in 1680s England, a young Irish doctor is exiled as a slave to Jamaica where he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the most feared pirate of the Caribbean.Captain Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) is living peacefully as a physician when he is called on to tend a wounded rebel. For his trouble, he is convicted of treason and transported to Jamaica as a slave. Arabella (Olivia de Havilland), the niece of a wealthy landowner (Lionel Atwill), admires Blood's defiant spirit and buys him. Blood mightily resents this. His medical skills make him a favorite of the gouty Governor of the island and allow him to plan his escape and that of his comrades. The men soon turn pirate but Arabella and her uncle seem part of Blood's fate. Also starring Basil Rathbone as the French pirate Levasseur and a host of Warner Brothers character actors.
This movie was the first pairing of Errol Flynn and the 18-year-old Olivia de Havilland and made them both stars. It drags a bit in spots but basically is an exciting romantic adventure with thrilling sword fights and sea battles and dynamite chemistry between the two leads. The magnificent score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold adds to the fun. - DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsFredric MarchCharles LaughtonCedric HardwickeIn early-19th-century France, an ex-convict who failed to report to parole is relentlessly pursued over a 20-year period by an obsessive policeman.Hollywood adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel starring Fredric March as Jean Valjean and Charles Laughton as Inspector Javert with Cedric Hardwicke as the Bishop, Rochelle Hudson as Cosette and Francis Drake as Eponine. The film makers managed to fit the plot into a 108-minute feature film by completely eliminating the Thenardiers, the innkeepers who mistreated little Cosette and went on to hound Jean Valjean. The film, which benefited from cinematography by Gregg Toland, was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Editing.
Two more different interpretations of Jean Valjean could not be seen than those of Fredric March and Harry Bauer, who played the role in the 1934 French film. Bauer says very little and March can scarcely stop talking. That is not to say March is bad, he is very good. Laughton is outstanding and restrained, playing Javert as a neurotic seeking to compensate for his low birth by a rigid adherence to the law. I could have done without the celestial choir when Valjean has his redemptive revelation. On the whole, I can recommend this film, though if you are going to pick just one I would say to definitely go for the 1934 version directed by Raymond Bernard. - DirectorSam WoodEdmund GouldingStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxA sly business manager and the wacky friends of two opera singers in Italy help them achieve success in America while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.Let's see, is there a plot? Well, Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont) has hired Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx) to get her into high society, an unlikely proposition if ever there was one. His brilliant idea is for her to invest in the New York Opera. In the meantime, Fiorello (Chico Marx) and Tomasino (Harpo Marx) are promoting a tenor (Allan Jones) who is in love with a soprano played by Kitty Carlisle. They all end up on a ship at some point and hilarity ensues.
This is the one with the "sanity clause" contract bit and the stateroom scene. There are a lot of laughs but perhaps a little too much singing. As usual, my favorite part of any Marx Brothers movie is when Chico plays the piano. Here he does a rendition of "All I Do Is Dream of You" to a group of enthralled children. - DirectorGeorge CukorStarsFreddie BartholomewFrank LawtonEdna May OliverA gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.An MGM adaptation of the Dickens novel, this film follows the life of David Copperfield from his posthumous birth to a childlike widow, to the cruel treatment by his stepfather, friendship with the Micawbers, eventual home with his aunt, and young adulthood. This was one of those productions that allowed the studio to show off its vast resources of talent in the many character parts. With Freddy Bartholomew as the young David, Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsey Trotwood, Basil Rathbone as Murdstone, Jessie Ralph as Peggoty, Lionel Barrymore as Dan Peggoty, W.C. Fields as Micawber, Elsa Lanchester as Clickett, Roland Young as Uriah Heep, Margaret O'Sullivan as Dora and many, many more.
It is impossible to convey the story of the novel in a two hour movie and so the ending, in particular, seems rushed. The story is also told with all the sentiment in the novel particularly when Freddie Bartholomew is front and center on the screen. That said, there are some wonderful performances here. Basil Rathbone is absolutely chilling as Murdstone, quite different from his swashbuckling villains, and Edna May Oliver is hilarious as the intimidating but tender Aunt Betsey. Finally, it's a treat to see W.C. Fields as Micawber playing quite the devoted husband and father to his brood! I enjoyed this. - DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsAdolf HitlerHermann GöringMax AmannThe infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.This is a propaganda film documenting the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremburg, Germany. It features many mass demonstrations and parades as well as speeches by Hitler and other Nazi party leaders.
It is of course impossible to view this film outside the context of history. I kept thinking throughout of the fates that would befall the people pictured and their victims. From this distance, a lot of the Nazi rituals would have looked comic if they had not been carried out with such deadly seriousness. Obviously, I could not possibly feel the emotions the film makers intended to evoke in the audience. Only someone viewing around the time of its production could judge whether the film did achieve its intentions. Hitler was reportedly pleased and the movie played in cinemas almost until the end of the "1000-year" Reich, ten years later.
No one, I think, could deny that the film is very artfully photographed and edited. True, Riefenstahl had an unlimited budget and lot of help from whoever choreographed the ceremonies and the settings provided by Albert Speer. Nevertheless, many of the shots could only have been achieved by a master. They are especially impressive considering the state of technology at the time. - DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenHeather AngelPreston FosterIn 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in.Gypo Nolan (Victor McLaghlen) is a big lug who is down on his luck. He got bounced from his local IRA unit for failing to kill a prisoner. He is broke and his girl has turned to prostitution. One fine night he notices a poster promising a 20 pound reward for the capture of his friend, Frankie. Shortly thereafter, he sees an advertisement for a sea voyage to America for 10 pounds. He meets Frankie at a pub and, without much thought, is off to the British soldiers who patrol the streets. Only problem is everything Gypo does is on impulse, he is mighty fond of the bottle, and the IRA will stop at nothing to root out the informer.
You can almost feel the dampness and cold of the foggy streets of Dublin when you watch this movie. This is more "stage-bound" somehow than other Ford films but is nonetheless excellent. Victor McLaghlen is wonderful. You believe all the bewilderment, bluster, and violence of the character. Whether this was a match of actor with role or a specific characterization I don't know and it doesn't really matter. I have read, though, that John Ford was really rough on McLaghlen (making him perform without notice and hung over, etc.) to get the performance out of him. - DirectorJacques FeyderStarsFrançoise RosayAndré AlermeJean MuratTells the story of the Spanish invasion of FlandersA whole Flemish town was built in suburban Paris as the setting for this farce and it is certainly quite a spectacle. You can see the inspiration in the paintings of Brueghels, who is a character in the film, in many of the crowd seens. The acting is first-rate. I particularly liked Louis Jouvet as the crooked Spanish priest.
This was the kind of costume production that the French New Wave was rebelling against. It is now possible to enjoy both kinds of films and "pleasant and perfect" is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. - DirectorAleksandr MedvedkinStarsPyotr ZinovyevYelena YegorovaMikhail GipsiA hapless man undergoes misadventures with avaricious clergy, a tired horse, and a walking granary on his road to collectivized happiness.Surreal silent Soviet propaganda comedy, quite a combo! In Tsarist Russia, a sad sack peasant named Loser is sent by his wife on on a quest to find happiness and told not to come back empty handed. In his one piece of good luck in the film, Loser stumbles upon a merchant’s purse. Through hard work, especially by his wife who pulls the plow, the Losers grow a bumper crop. However, greedy clergy, landowners, and government officials take all the proceeds. Loser decides to die. But the powers that be decide that this is not allowed, punish him and send him off to war instead.
Years pass and Loser, as bumbling as ever, settles on the local collective farm. He still can’t win. Everything he touches turns to disaster. His wife, however, is a star worker and Loser finally finds happiness in the socialist state.
This is fairly amusing and very innovative. The characters are all quite stylized and look like they could come straight out of a Russian fairy tale. The clergy is mocked mercilessly. Although there is a message, lots of it is played just for laughs. As might be expected, the film was never released commercially in the USSR. - DirectorGeorge StevensStarsKatharine HepburnFred MacMurrayFred StoneA working-class girl is thwarted and embarrassed in her attempts to move up socially by her gauche family and unstable father.This romantic drama made me get pretty darn misty. Katharine Hepburn plays Alice Adams, daughter of a working class family, who hides her origins under a facade of “quality” and a nervous laugh. Her mother (Ann Shoemaker) is constantly after her father (Fred Stone) for “not making something of himself” and calling him a failure for not giving his children what they deserve. She eventually nags him so much that he quits his job and unwisely opens a glue factory to exploit a formula he developed while working for his employer.
We see Alice suffer the youthful humiliations of being roundly snubbed at a society party, where she appears in a two-year-old dress and wearing hand-picked bunch of violets instead of orchids like the other girls. But it is here that she meets a wealthy young man (Fred MacMurray). She continues to play her society act until the fateful evening she must bring him home to meet her parents.
I liked the actors who played Alice's parents nearly as much as Katherine Hepburn. They seemed very believable in their roles. Fred MacMurray played himself but how young he was! Katharine Hepburn makes you embarrassed along with her at the dance and then convinces as a girl who is desperately acting a part. I was surprised to learn that this film was a success during the Depression. It's not the escapist fare I am used to for 1935. - DirectorKarl FreundStarsPeter LorreFrances DrakeColin CliveIn Paris, a demented surgeon's obsession with a British actress leads him to secretly replace her concert-pianist husband's mangled hands with those of a guillotined murderer with a gift for knife-throwing.Brilliant surgeon Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) has become obsessed with love for grand guignol actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake). Her husband is great concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive). When Steven’s hands are mangled in a train wreck, Gogol attaches the hands of an executed knife-throwing murderer. Maddened by Yvonne’s continuing rejection of him, Gogol then conceives an insane plan to get Stephen out of the way.
When this movie works, it works very well. Peter Lorre is always interesting in this and sometimes simply brilliant. The climactic scenes are unforgettable. There is also some excellent expressionist camera work by Gregg Tolland. The problem is, once again, that the film is bogged down by unnecessary comic relief by Ted Healy (ex of Ted Healy and his Stooges) as a reporter and May Beatty as the doctor's drunken housekeeper. Despite its flaws, this is well worth seeing just for Lorre's performance in his U.S. screen debut. - DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsIrene DunneFred AstaireGinger RogersAn American jazzman and his buddy woo a Russian princess and a fake countess in Paris.Astaire and Rogers are fine in supporting roles in this screen adaptation of a Broadway musical penned by Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Otto Harbach.
Roberta is the chicest of Parisian fashion houses. John (Randolph Scott), a sports hero who knows nothing about fashion inherits it from his Aunt Minnie who founded the business. He becomes partners with his aunt’s assistant and house designer Stephanie (Irene Dunne), a deposed Russian princess. The “Countess Scharwenka” (Ginger Rogers) is an important client and leading nightclub entertainer. It turns out that she is actually Liz, a boyhood neighbor of bandleader Huck (Fred Astaire). Liz gets Huck work in her act and John and Stephanie fall in love, not without many misadventures along the way.
As usual, Fred and Ginger put a smile on my face. Ginger is particularly good here as the fake countess, complete with Polish accent. Irene Dunne is in top form both as an actress and a singer. Even Randolph Scott cracks a smile and loosens up a bit. Some beautiful standards came out of this: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” ; “I’ll Be Hard to Handle”; “Lovely to Look At”; and “I Won’t Dance.” All the lovely 30′s dresses are an additional bonus. - DirectorTod BrowningStarsLionel BarrymoreElizabeth AllanBela LugosiWhen a nobleman is murdered, a professor of the occult blames vampires, but not all is what it seems.This is a sound re-make of the famous lost silent horror picture, London After Midnight, which starred Lon Chaney. It also shares a lot of themes with Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula. The film begins in the same ambiguous Middle European milieu with the peasants all convinced that there are vampires in their midst. Soon Sir Karell, a local aristocrat, is found dead with tell-tale marks on his throat and his body drained dry of blood. The doctor names the cause of death as vampire attack but the police inspector (Lionel Atwill) is not buying it. Sir Karrell’s daughter’s (Elizabeth Allan) wedding plans are disrupted and she goes to live with her guardian (Jean Herscholt). A year later, the daughter is visited by a shrouded female apparition on the terrace and a Van Helsing-like professor (Lionel Barrymore) is called in. With a mostly silent Bela Lugosi again in his Dracula cape as “Count Mora”.
To those that like this sort of thing, this will be a hell of a lot of fun. The mechanical bats with their visible wires and the possums lurking in the creepy castle only add to the experience. The plot doesn’t bear much scrutiny but I found it satisfying in the end. The cast is top-notch and any over-acting works in this context. The comic relief maid is less annoying than many such characters.
I watched this as part of the Hollywood Legends of Horror collection which gathers six MGM horror movies of the 1930s. I particularly liked the commentary track on this one.