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Reviews
State Fair (1933)
a pre-code slice of rural life
I was glad I caught this sweet movie on TCM. It is a marvellous early talkie, which seems a lot more real and honest that the subsequent musical version of State Fair. The movie captures the affections, frustrations and longings of the Frake family. In the case of the younger Frakes, it's a longing for love and sex. (The Frake parents are mostly concerned with winning blue ribbons for their preserves and hog.) The pre-code element is clearly seen in the son's scenes with the lady trapeze artist, which strongly suggest that they're having sex.
The romance between Janet Gaynor and Lew Ayres is really touching. Gaynor is torn between her desire for fun and passion versus the security her beau at home will offer her. Ayres asks if she loves the hometown boy and she replies "I know he will always love me." Lew Ayres is just gorgeous in this movie. A real sharp dressed city sophisticate that Gaynor is terribly attracted to but also a little bit afraid of, particularly when he talks about having been with many other women.
State Fair also conveys Will Rogers' tremendous likability better than his other cinematic outings. He was incredibly popular in his day, king of all media: the stage, print (through his syndicated newspaper column), radio and film.
The Mysterious Lady (1928)
a passionate drama
I know that Leonard Maltin is lukewarm about this movie but I don't know why. Even he acknowledges that Garbo is sensational in it. She simply smolders, in long satin gowns that skim her figure or looking every inch the seductress in a huge black fur. The passion between her and Conrad Nagel is completely believable. Nagel is every inch the upper crust Austrian military officer.
I found the story of two people torn between duty to their country and their hearts' desires was a very compelling quandary. the movie has a slightly over-dramatic tendency common to most silent films but I was riveted.
The TCM version had a kind of oddly 1980's jazz score but the melodies enhanced the action.
Good Dog: Converting to Judaism (2011)
contained some real insight about Shiks-appeal
The first episode of Good Dog was pretty derivative of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The second episode was too but was also much less superficial than CYE is.
The episode offers a pretty funny distillation of the world view of a certain type of secular Jewish man. George clearly considers himself Jewish but doesn't really want to do anything Jewish, beyond eating the odd bagel. He has vigorous antipathy to organized Judaism in any form, particularly Jewish holidays with family. Thus, he is horrified when his live-in girlfriend announces her intention to convert. Her non-Jewishness is a key feature of her appeal. He tries to persuade his girlfriend that her complete lack of religious identity is a wonderful religious heritage. George devises various stratagems to put her off Judaism, such as introducing her to his kosher-style butcher and his cousin, whom he hopes his girlfriend will find loud and overbearing.
The Wizard of Oz (1925)
excruciating (and full of stereotypes)
They just showed this on TCM.
I love silents, the more obscure the better, but this really tested my limits. It is a caricature of a silent picture. Pointless slapstick gags. Cardboard villains. A hair brained and kind of creepy heroine (she is 18 but dresses like an 8 year old). Hammy acting. Racist stereotypes, including enthusiastic watermelon eating. Also lots of negative typecasting of fat people.
The score by Robert Israel was the only redeeming feature, who has composed excellent scores for many silent pictures. I would say this movie is strictly for film scholars.