clemd Reviews

The College Coquette (1929)

Pure melodrama

[6/10 · 14 February 2009]

This is a movie to laugh at, more than with. I enjoyed it, but as a period piece rather than a good movie. If you like the 20's, you'll love the cars, the clothes and the dialogue.

Bad girl Betty and good girl Doris go to college. Dexter College consists of football for the boys, field hockey for the girls, and drunken parties for both.

Both girls get into trouble - Betsy because she is too worldly and Doris because she is to naïve. Eventually Betty, ashamed of her own behavior and worried for her friend, tries to reform. But is she too late?

The Toilers (1919)

A partial print exists

[17 April 2006]

I saw a partial print of The Toilers at the Stanford Theatre. It came from the British Film Institute and was labeled "National Film Archives Collection." The print was a bit jumpy, as if a copying step had not kept the original and the copy material in proper registration. Print quality was otherwise good, with no evidence of nitrate deterioration. Running time was about 21 minutes. The title was missing, as was also at least one reel in the middle. Scenes typically change with a vignette fade out.

SPOILERS AHEAD, if you care.

The plot follows the lives of two sons of a widow. Jack, the adopted son, marries a local girl and stays in town with his mother. Bob, the natural son, shows an aptitude for business and soon heads for a position in London.

Somehow (in the missing reel), Bob falls romantically in and out of favor with the boss's daughter. She asks "How dare you tell my father I love you?" She is apparently annoyed at having fallen for someone of a relatively low station. "You can only offer me a life of toil?" The boss gives Bob the choice to forfeit a month's pay or be fired.

Bob returns to the village in time for the baptism of Jack's firstborn child, their mother's grandchild. Ashamed of having left mother, he hides in the back of the church to watch. Mother sees Bob, and all happily reunite.

A more complete synopsis is available at the British Film Institute web site.

Bedside (1934)

Interesting premise, good characters

[27 March 2003]

William Warren plays Louis, a mostly-sympathetic scoundrel. He is a womanizer and gambler who has some medical school but lacks the discipline necessary to finish. David Landau shines in a supporting role: a washed up, morphine-addicted doctor who sells Louis his medical license for cash and a lifetime supply of morphine fixes. (The bio on Landau says "wooden." He doesn't seem so here.) Louis' ego and greed propel him to increasing medical risks. You know that sooner or later his ineptitude will result in death. The only question is "Whose?"

This movie was made when physician advertising was considered highly unethical. But Louis cleverly bends the rules! It was also made when the dangers of radiation exposure were unknown; notice that none of the characters in the X-ray room wear any protection.

The Mind Reader (1933)

Serviceable, not great

[6/10 · 27 March 2003]

William Warren plays a fraud who must choose between his girl and his fraudulent - but lucrative - profession. Interesting use of crooked camera angles to depict crooked dealings. Warren displays a wider acting range than in other movies.

Wedding Present (1936)

Catch it if you can

[7/10 · 24 February 2002]

Screwball comedy reminiscent of His Girl Friday - which also starred Cary Grant. Zany reporters (Grant, Joan Bennett), an editor who can't live or without them, and some strictly-for-laughs gangsters. An open manhole gag worthy of any silent comedy, too. But the ending is a bit implausible. You can't really get away with that much malicious mischief, can you?

Gambling Ship (1933)

Fun with a bunch of crooks

[8/10 · 2 February 2002]

Tidy web of a plot. Deception abounds, but luckily the audience is the first to know. It's just fun waiting for the characters to discover their mutual deceptions. Every principal character is a racketeer; there are no innocents. Cary Grant's character is, of course, the most charming criminal of the bunch.

Q Planes (1939)

Some very "James Bond" elements, 25 years earlier

[11 November 2001]

Experimental craft are disappearing. Why? Because villain uses a ray to disable the craft, then captures craft and crew intact. There must be half a dozen Bond films with this plot. The villian's henchmen are also very much in the Bond mold - running all over the ship like so many ants in an ant colony. Only difference is that these henchmen are more realistic; they are harder to kill, and are better shots.