tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58742937043460458542024-02-20T23:47:46.201-08:00Stars in Heaven: An MGM BlogMichael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-69488226983829571082014-02-09T11:52:00.001-08:002014-02-09T11:52:35.214-08:00Unashamed (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcdFszE_ZkMNMHKriZtkRh4fAOUuQnq3gEuNDn9pNGluHe-ONS4qmqST2VnGmQvGvrriWtw-E4QKQi_EEcuczz9wkwBwSmJom7cpvF9ltjju2eq5TK1ciUsCbCpQChef8_qbXi9EyiDdI/s1600/Unashamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcdFszE_ZkMNMHKriZtkRh4fAOUuQnq3gEuNDn9pNGluHe-ONS4qmqST2VnGmQvGvrriWtw-E4QKQi_EEcuczz9wkwBwSmJom7cpvF9ltjju2eq5TK1ciUsCbCpQChef8_qbXi9EyiDdI/s1600/Unashamed.jpg" height="308" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Unashamed</b></span>, a family drama which spends its second half in a courtroom, is sadly dated. Its tone, theme and morals are thoroughly mixed up.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Helen Twelvetrees</b></span> plays a rich girl courted by the appropriately named fortune hunter <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Harry Swift</b></span> <span style="background-color: cyan;"><b><span style="background-color: white;"><span></span></span></b></span> (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Monroe Owsley</b></span>). <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Twelvetrees</b></span>' father and brother (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Robert Warwick</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Robert Young</b></span>) protest against the relationship, to no avail. Then <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Swift </b></span>convinces <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Twelvetrees</b></span> to spend a night in a hotel so he can force her father to give in...<br /><br />A resulting act of violence results in a courtroom battle fought by defender <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Lewis Stone</b></span> and prosecutor <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span>. Only, the movie asks you to root for the lying main characters. The quick, weird feel-good ending doesn't help - it's both unbelievable and celebrates injustice.<br /><br />I can't recommend this odd relic to other than hardcore film fans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Unashamed</b></span> is not available on DVD, but has been broadcast on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>TCM</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-73543792509805083252014-01-26T09:54:00.000-08:002014-01-26T09:54:22.497-08:00Speak Easily (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The best I can say about <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Speak Easily</b></span> is it's mildly amusing. <br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span> plays an isolated professor spurred to discover the outside world in this unmemorable plot; <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Durante</b></span> is a manager of a traveling dancing troupe. <br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Speak Easily</b></span> was <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span>'s second-to-last <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> film and the second of three films in which <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM </b></span>teamed him with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jimmy Durante</b></span>.<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Durante</b></span> fans (are there many now?) probably find much to enjoy here, but <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span> fans can only see <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span>'s talents being amazingly wasted. It's sad to see only glimpses of genius sprinkled through the film: <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span> nonchalantly removing himself from a policeman's gaze, gracefully choreographed pratfalls with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Thelma Todd</b></span>... <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span>'s scenes with the very funny <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Todd</b></span>, minus <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Durante</b></span>, are the best in the film.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span> was in a bad place when <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Speak Easily</b></span> was made. Continual, headline-making conflicts with this wife, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Natalie Talmadge</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Keaton</b></span>'s alcoholism and his creative conflicts with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> all contributed to missed days on the set, costing <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> $33,000 in delayed shooting. <br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Speak Easily </b></span>has fallen in the public domain and is available in many poor prints on DVD. The best print available is probably in the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Bros. Buster Keaton at MGM Triple Feature</b></span> DVD-R box set. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Speak Easily</b></span> is also shown on<span style="color: cyan;"><b> TCM</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-8439596200868490672014-01-18T17:53:00.000-08:002014-01-18T17:53:50.346-08:00Huddle (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNDCm_XklQhsir3lI8KmChMjg_2Fe0qv1OcBSNn-HSRbC7J-jFG3UvAAxGoFOHsgmn8NKvT5fAx5VZkeR52fq67czE9Rjoa1fOqseK-0tdXWKq5KWALE_YPrZ1DZtY_ivWf_E06JWIWk/s1600/Huddle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNDCm_XklQhsir3lI8KmChMjg_2Fe0qv1OcBSNn-HSRbC7J-jFG3UvAAxGoFOHsgmn8NKvT5fAx5VZkeR52fq67czE9Rjoa1fOqseK-0tdXWKq5KWALE_YPrZ1DZtY_ivWf_E06JWIWk/s1600/Huddle.jpg" height="640" width="416" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Huddle</b></span>, starring <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ramon Novarro</b></span> as an Italian immigrant who somehow gets a paid entrance to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Yale</b></span>, is dreadful. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Novarro</b></span> didn't want to play the role, for good reasons.<br /><br />33 at the time, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Novarro</b></span> was too old for the role. The movie is too long. The collegiate singing is annoying and frequent. We're to believe <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Novarro</b></span> becomes a football star (he had to learn how to play football for the role); the ending, wherein he wins the game during a bout of </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">appendicitis</span>, is ludicrous.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ralph Graves</b></span> plays a reverent and clean and thus wholly unbelievable football coach.<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Una Merkel</b></span> plays a colleague's girlfriend, but her talents are wasted; I don't think she has more than five lines in the film. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Madge Evans</b></span> does plays a good love interest.<br /><br />Audiences of the time didn't think much of the film, either. It lost $28,000 and was one of several miscalculations on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span>'s part during this time period that devalued <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Novarro</b></span>'s box office worth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Huddle</b></span> has been released on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Bros. Archive</b></span> DVD-R.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-85603949240474363192013-12-23T17:43:00.000-08:002013-12-23T17:43:53.014-08:00Payment Deferred (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkyjBSkd-twX0y3oLNpKoKz49HEf7G6lm7wpyRjI03QlnjL-0PmdgT5LJmAfPkJ1m2g2AkDKTTouRUtHcpNq5bTTAlqBmDqRLJxRMLhUnLND9RpHsSoZ7UIElw29uv2uidhhFgpMF6DO4/s1600/payment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkyjBSkd-twX0y3oLNpKoKz49HEf7G6lm7wpyRjI03QlnjL-0PmdgT5LJmAfPkJ1m2g2AkDKTTouRUtHcpNq5bTTAlqBmDqRLJxRMLhUnLND9RpHsSoZ7UIElw29uv2uidhhFgpMF6DO4/s400/payment.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Payment Deferred</b></span> is a crime thriller and showcase for actor <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Charles Laughton</b></span>, who previously played the same protagonist role on stage (both stage and film are based on the novel by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>C.S. Forester</b></span>).<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Laughton</b></span> plays a pathetic in-debt banker who commits a crime in order to stay financially solvent. His wife and daughter (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Dorothy Peterson</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Maureen O'Sullivan</b></span>) gradually begin to suspect wrongdoing and his affair with a worldly (you can tell because she has a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>European</b></span> accent) local merchant (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Verree Teasdale</b></span>) only gets him deeper in trouble. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ray Milland</b></span> also plays one of his earliest roles. </span>It all adds up to a slowly simmering tale that's a bit darker than the sort of film <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> usually made. <br /><br />Nearly the entire movie rests on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Laughton</b></span>'s slumped, sad shoulders and he's perfect looking for the role. I do wonder if he wasn't too entrenched in the character, after 70 <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Broadway</b></span> stage performances, to bring the sort of subtlety in acting the film camera requires. His performances on film in the decades ahead would be much more convincing.<br /><br />I do need to mention the direction of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Lothar Mendes</b></span> (1894–1974), who quite capably directed a variety of genres over a forty year span and who here shoots some wonderfully evocative compositions which reminded me of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Fritz Lang</b></span>'s work on films like <span style="color: cyan;"><b>M</b></span>. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Payment Deferred</b></span> also has the sort of decaying sense of place as<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Lang</b></span>'s <span style="color: cyan;"><b>House By the River</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Payment Deferred</b></span> is not available on DVD, but has been broadcast on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>TCM</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-5017128913302521082013-08-18T12:01:00.001-07:002013-08-18T12:02:21.582-07:00Devil-May-Care (1929)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yCWXqRmFhCxERwRj2ZfU42vy8BuN-rkge1FO-X6qI0kwzWNsZNos04fkuvhq4TOm19tP4_WAIf_hXGOkfMld0jYaxiqWJEayVd3Xo495HDg8AIGSvPYAg2y6gunR4Hz6OWhTSngxOUc/s1600/Devil_May-Care.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0yCWXqRmFhCxERwRj2ZfU42vy8BuN-rkge1FO-X6qI0kwzWNsZNos04fkuvhq4TOm19tP4_WAIf_hXGOkfMld0jYaxiqWJEayVd3Xo495HDg8AIGSvPYAg2y6gunR4Hz6OWhTSngxOUc/s640/Devil_May-Care.jpg" width="367" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ramon Novarro</b></span> first sang on film in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Pagan</b></span> (1929), <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Devil-May-Care</b></span>, made the same year, is his first all-talking picture. He passes this crucial test with ease (many other <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Hollywood</b></span> stars were not so lucky). His accent may be out of place in a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Napoleonic</b></span>-era film (the same was true of his co-stars, especially blues and jazz singer <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Marion Harris</b></span>), but his voice and singing are splendid.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Devil-May-Care</b></span> is very much in the swashbuckler mode and, in fact, is somewhat similar to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span>'s earlier <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bardelys the Magnificent</b></span> (1926). <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Novarro</b></span> plays a<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Napoleon</b></span> loyalist who, while escaping from <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Royalist</b></span> forces attempting to execute him, falls for a stubborn <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Royalist</b></span> daughter, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Dorothy Jordan</b></span>. Compared to other early sound films, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Sidney Franklin</b></span>'s direction is remarkably smooth and accomplished. It doesn't seem as stagebound as most other 1929 films and only suffers from a few of the odd editing choices one sees in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> films of this period. It even features a completely superfluous <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Technicolor</b></span> ballet sequence.<br /><br />That the film is so technically accomplished is made more remarkable when you take into account this was one of the first <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Hollywood</b></span> musicals (the songs by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Herbert Stothart</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Clifford Grey</b></span> range from okay to annoying). It's a missed opportunity that <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Marion Harris</b></span> didn't sing in the film.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ramon Novarro</b></span> is fine in the film, ensuring more years of work at <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span>. His mischevious pursuit (some might call it stalking) of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Dorothy Jordan</b></span> can seem a little creepy, though, perhaps depending on what mood you're in when you watch it. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span>'s also in this film. But, you knew that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Devil-May-Care </b></span>has been shown on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Turner Classic Movies</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-25445099381064416242013-08-04T15:03:00.000-07:002013-08-04T15:06:31.810-07:00Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Second-rate <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Laurel and Hardy</b></span> material is so good it would be nearly any other comedian's first-rate material and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Pack Up Your Troubles</b></span> is a good example. It takes an exceedingly unfunny subject (WWI), adds in a little-girl-lost plot, meanders about as <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Laurel and Hardy</b></span> movies often do and is still timelessly enjoyable.<br /><br />Comedians have frequently used the lost or orphaned kid plot; it usually generates audience sympathy and gives the comedians someone to play off of. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Chaplin</b></span> created the template with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Kid</b></span>. Some of the many later examples include <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Pack Up Your Troubles</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Harry Langdon</b></span>'s <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Three's A Crowd</b></span> (1927), <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Max Davidson</b></span>'s <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Rag Man</b></span> (1925) and even <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jerry Lewis</b></span>' <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Family Jewels</b></span> (1965).<br /><br />The girl in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Pack Up Your Troubles</b></span>, who loses her father in a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>French</b></span> trench, is played by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jackie Lyn Dufton</b></span>. She's perfect for the role and has some charming scenes with<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Stan Laurel</b></span>. This <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Hal Roach</b></span> production is filled with great character actors who our duo meet as they attempt to reunite the orphaned girl with her real family, including <span style="color: cyan;"><b>James Finlayson</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Tom Kennedy</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Billy Gilbert</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Pack Up Your Troubles </b></span>is short (68 minutes), but sweet.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Pack Up Your Troubles</b></span> has been released on DVD as a part of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-46151788651034693712013-07-21T19:11:00.000-07:002013-07-21T19:13:21.803-07:00Bardelys the Magnificent (1926)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8yn93iOK_CDvpydHItkddDtpi6wkNMClsD-RY3HivcjfALgboL20Y4s8Xpg0UO2i7xM6H1DOrNnLxnnAz50zK5jfAskmP-A_MEnGyObNxBcyU3dquoehCdPQfjJwXzqN938EfGZ4QIw/s1600/bardelys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie8yn93iOK_CDvpydHItkddDtpi6wkNMClsD-RY3HivcjfALgboL20Y4s8Xpg0UO2i7xM6H1DOrNnLxnnAz50zK5jfAskmP-A_MEnGyObNxBcyU3dquoehCdPQfjJwXzqN938EfGZ4QIw/s640/bardelys.jpg" width="340" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bardelys the Magnificent</b></span>, directed by the great <span style="color: cyan;"><b>King Vidor</b></span>, is a deliciously satisfying swashbuckler, based on a novel by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Rafael Sabatini</b></span>, who wrote the source material for many other epic action films. <br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Gilbert</b></span> plays a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Don Juan</b></span>-type during the reign of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Louis XIII</b></span>. Agreeing to a dubious bet layed down by a court rival (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Roy D'Arcy</b></span> at his most caddish), <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bardelys</b></span> sets out to win the hand of honorable <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eleanor Boardman</b></span>.<br /><br />This is an epic made at the height of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span>'s silent period, made in that sweet spot of the era when the sets were gargantuan, the stories filled with easy humor and danger, character actors appeared in nearly every scene and the stories came to a satisfying, relatively leisurely conclusion. Much of the above would go out the window during the sound era. The satisfying attributes of the early sound era of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> would be much smaller scale (though no less fun): a script by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>P.G. Wodehouse</b></span>, songs sung and played by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Cliff Edwards</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bessie Love</b></span> in musicals, glimpses of genius from <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Buster Keaton</b></span> allowed to peek out from imposed, rotten scripts.<br /><br />Meanwhile, back in 1926, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Gilbert's Bardelys the Magnificent</b></span> did mad physical stunts that (look on screen as if they) rivaled <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Douglas Fairbanks</b></span>. For those who love a good, action-filled love story amidst political intrigue, this movie will fit the bill.<br /><br />One small drawback: a reel from the film is missing which is replaced by stills and title cards to tell the story. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> apparently destroyed all of their prints of the film due to their choosing not to renew a ten-year lease with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Sabatini</b></span>. The short sequence is relatively painless.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bardelys the Magnificent</b></span> is available on DVD.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-58032800183265250562013-07-11T14:53:00.000-07:002013-07-11T14:54:33.860-07:00Kongo (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftEZNuABKBFMq2DSYd0uIep5tP7wWjqeFwFuvI1RRylRa-RSu1DWF9YZ-tL9FU9L-zU1Jd_rw2yY2i6LIVAZzVlNhv0FBCzo3bORIF83oS11MsQxbXN8vDQd9u743DhJwKyOyAuy_2w8/s1600/Kongo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftEZNuABKBFMq2DSYd0uIep5tP7wWjqeFwFuvI1RRylRa-RSu1DWF9YZ-tL9FU9L-zU1Jd_rw2yY2i6LIVAZzVlNhv0FBCzo3bORIF83oS11MsQxbXN8vDQd9u743DhJwKyOyAuy_2w8/s640/Kongo.jpg" width="505" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For
dark, rotting depravity, look no further than this sound remake of
<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Tod Browning</b></span>'s 1928 collaboration with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Lon Chaney</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>West of
Zanzibar</b></span>. Both tell the same story, but in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Kongo</b></span>,<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Walter Huston</b></span>
reprises the same role he originally performed on stage (and which
<span style="color: cyan;"><b>West of Zanzibar</b></span> was based) and he has a delicious time hamming it
up. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Huston</b></span> looks like a deranged pirate with a wicked, mischievous
glint in his eye, an insane prototype of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Dennis Hopper's Frank
Booth</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Huston</b></span> is <span style="color: cyan;"><b>"King Deadlegs" Flint</b></span>, a paraplegic
planning revenge in an <span style="color: cyan;"><b>African</b></span> swamp, manipulating the natives with
magic tricks and living with man-hungry <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Lupe Velez</b></span> and two <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Lupe
Velez</b></span>-hungry henchmen. <br /><br />If you haven't seen <span style="color: cyan;"><b>West of Zanzibar</b></span>
or <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Kongo</b></span>, I won't give away the plot's twists and turns here. I will
say that drug addicted-<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Conrad Nagel</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Virginia Bruce</b></span> get caught in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Huston</b></span>'s web
and, like so many <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Tod Browning</b></span>-related films, the ending is <span style="color: cyan;"><b>EC</b></span>-like
in its ironic justice. <br /><br />All in all, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Kongo</b></span> is probably not as
strong as the more tightly constructed <span style="color: cyan;"><b>West of Zanzibar</b></span>. Where <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Kongo</b></span>
excels is in atmosphere; the sweaty and heated look of the film is
downright claustrophobic.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Kongo</b></span> has been released on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives</b></span> DVD-R.</span>
</div>
Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-72813321570458541942013-07-01T13:05:00.000-07:002013-07-01T13:05:35.085-07:00Are You Listening? (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEYaIVVB8WKZeHD6LFJBhqO4qYpHJ1O95agMWIWu0IW6eFxFhYi1anTFR1ghGqg4IxXU9jCTz0H7QK59_sVoOsjAJaMY79oFwjUHTmtePyjpzk9zGIBv4bWt3897wIsgAQ_S7-1HnJWs/s785/Are_You_Listening.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEYaIVVB8WKZeHD6LFJBhqO4qYpHJ1O95agMWIWu0IW6eFxFhYi1anTFR1ghGqg4IxXU9jCTz0H7QK59_sVoOsjAJaMY79oFwjUHTmtePyjpzk9zGIBv4bWt3897wIsgAQ_S7-1HnJWs/s400/Are_You_Listening.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>William Haines</b></span> is a murderer on the run from a nationwide, radio-reported police manhunt!<br /><br />This isn't your typical <span style="color: cyan;"><b>William Haines</b></span> flick. In fact, it's the last film he made for <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> and the last feature film he made for a major studio. When he's carried away on a train at the end of the film, he's also, in effect, leaving<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Hollywood</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Are You Listening?</b></span> plays like a mashup of<span style="color: cyan;"><b> MGM</b></span>'s first musical, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Broadway Melody</b></span> (1929) and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines'</b></span> previous radio-centric film, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Remote Control</b></span> (1930). As in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Broadway Melody</b></span>, half of the film tells the story of how young girls who come to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>New York</b></span><br />to make a living are used and abused. In the no-less-depressing other half of the film, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> plays a radio writer married to horrendous shrew<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Karen Morley</b></span> who plays evil like you've never seen her play it before. Meanwhile, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> has fallen in love with one of the aforementioned women, the appealing <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Madge Evans</b></span> (also <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines'</b></span> love interest in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Fast Life</b></span>).<br /><br />The first half of the movie is an uneasy mixture of light comedy (primarily poking fun at radio's primitive production methods) and drama. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Are You Listening?</b></span> gradually sheds all humor and becomes an outright melodrama, with an almost noir atmosphere unlike any other Haines movie. The technology with which <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> made his living becomes the technology that hunts him down and entraps him.<br /><br />Those who love character actors will have a field day with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Are You Listening?</b></span>. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Neil Hamilton</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Wallace Ford</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Hattie McDanie</b><b>l</b></span>,<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jean Hersholt</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Joan Marsh</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Charley Grapewin</b></span> and more appear.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Old Time Radio</b></span> fans will be especially interested in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Are You Listening?.</b></span> I'd direct those just discovering <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Willam Haines</b></span> to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Girl Said No</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Smart Set</b></span> or <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Navy Blues</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Are You Listening?</b></span> has been released on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives DVD-R</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-41914545609739831842013-06-29T08:16:00.000-07:002013-06-29T08:18:21.453-07:00Strange Interlude (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBlDQJ51HqtBdDsEZhuKz4xJ3fgK5pOrSjdD348g6TU-omSpIN__rd_pEjQVis2blBL2nLbztl6RtAMba6BUjMp6J4TgjBZdOS9OHJMdTsOw4fuFUSxx0oRSg1IVh-7JNXiDAoVSGDYo4/s1600/Strange_Interlude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBlDQJ51HqtBdDsEZhuKz4xJ3fgK5pOrSjdD348g6TU-omSpIN__rd_pEjQVis2blBL2nLbztl6RtAMba6BUjMp6J4TgjBZdOS9OHJMdTsOw4fuFUSxx0oRSg1IVh-7JNXiDAoVSGDYo4/s400/Strange_Interlude.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I watched <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude</b></span> so you don't have to.<br /><br />Harsh words for a glossy, high-end 1932 <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> movie, perhaps, but the experimentation in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude</b></span> not only doesn't work, it makes for a downright unpleasant movie watching experience.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude</b></span> is based on a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Pulitzer Prize</b></span>-winning <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eugene O'Neill</b></span> play that has the following conceit: the audience can hear selected thoughts of selected characters. This method was handled in various ways onstage, including the actors holding face masks. In the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> movie, character's voices are heard on the soundtrack while the actors keep their mouths closed but go through facial acting gyrations as if they speaking. It doesn't work. Director <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Robert Z. Leonard</b></span> seemed to have realized it doesn't work because the technique is used less often as the film progresses. And, does it progress: the movie's only 109 minutes long, but by the end it feels like three hours. <br /><br />The story is long, convoluted and unbelievable. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Norma Shearer</b></span> plays <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Nina</b></span>, pining for a lost, unrequited love who died in WWI. She has an odd relationship with her <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Sigmund Freud</b></span>-like father, who exits the film quickly (I suspect his role was larger in the play version). She then ping pongs between <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Clark Gable</b></span> as her doctor and lover, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Alexander Kirkland</b></span> as her long suffering husband and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ralph Morgan</b></span> as a pathetic, lovelorn uncle type. The mechanics of the plot I'll leave to your imagination or, if you plan on watching the film, your discovery.<br /><br />The original play's length was at least twice as long as the filmed version, a length which, I hope, allowed for more subtlety and complexity. When those essential elements are stripped away from <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude</b></span>, what's left is sheer melodrama. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude </b></span>invokes madness and the prospect of more madness as an essential plot device. Given more space and attention, that device could have been more believable (as in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Tennessee Williams</b></span>' <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Suddenly, Last Summer</b></span>). Here, it's just an absurdity piled on top of other absurdities.<br /><br />Despite the fact that the film is pre-code, its reticence also harms it. The ad for the film claimed, "For the first time, you hear the hidden, unspoken thoughts of people!", but these thoughts are sanitized. In the play, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Nina</b></span> aborts the (perceived) mad child she had with her husband, but that act isn't mentioned here. The script for <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude</b></span> was written by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bess Meredyth</b></span>, who'd been writing movies since 1910. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Meredyth</b></span> worked on a lot of good movies, but<span style="color: cyan;"><b> MGM's Strange Interlude</b></span> needed a more modern sensibility. (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Groucho Marx </b></span>had it, with writers <span style="color: cyan;"><b>George S. Kaufman</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Morrie Ryskind</b></span>, making fun of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude</b></span> in their stage show and movie, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Animal Crackers</b></span>).<br /><br />The makeup was also no help. As the characters age, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Shearer</b></span> looks beautiful, but poor <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Clark Gable</b></span> looks like he walked out of a coal mine; his makeup is completely unconvincing. The best I can say of the many fine actors involved is they did the best they could with the script they were given. Young <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Robert Young</b></span> has an especially thankless role, playing one of the most clueless and dense sons in film history.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Strange Interlude</b></span> is available on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Brothers Archive</b></span> DVD-R.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-77439546455251050852013-06-20T19:43:00.000-07:002013-06-20T19:45:38.482-07:00Remote Control (1930)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE8pD4eBE1y8cl05KZUFvzcdE52v01ec4_P8cekR8NPkTIiJSzsewSp-9jvmp8N9hyphenhyphenfdne3IkDxAxTggAcOGaO4j122NWyT_bv9Rri6jzLE5jCYDZVCTmoX3IDOxBV_wddijMpN5P_o8M/s1600/Remote_Control.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE8pD4eBE1y8cl05KZUFvzcdE52v01ec4_P8cekR8NPkTIiJSzsewSp-9jvmp8N9hyphenhyphenfdne3IkDxAxTggAcOGaO4j122NWyT_bv9Rri6jzLE5jCYDZVCTmoX3IDOxBV_wddijMpN5P_o8M/s400/Remote_Control.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In just one scene, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Cliff Edwards</b></span> runs away with <span style="color: cyan;"><b></b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Remote Control</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">, as a hog caller trying to get a radio gig. He's one of several character actors vying for the job, including <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Benny Rubin</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Polly Moran</b></span> (sadly underused here) and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Roscoe Ates</b></span>. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>William Haines</b></span> is the radio producer they're auditioning for and the actics keep forcing him to break character and crack up.<br /><br />The same vibe carries through the movie, a crime "drama" that's not really a drama. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span> (twelve feature film performances on the same year, 1930!) plays a gang leader providing coded gang info through his radio monologues as a psychic. Suspicious <span style="color: cyan;"><b>William Haines</b></span> keeps getting in his way, until he's kidnapped by the gang...<br /><br />If you like <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span>' improvised and childish antics, you'll like <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Remote Control</b></span>. Even those who dislike him may find themselves having a laugh or two at this slightly stagy, but fast paced diversion.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mary Doran</b></span> plays <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span>' unlikely love interest. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Charles King</b></span> is her brother, but doesn't have much to do.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Remote Control</b></span> was directed by at least three directors, none of whom are credited: <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Nick Grinde</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Edward Sedgwick</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Malcolm St. Clair</b></span>. I'd love to know the story behind that.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Remote Control</b></span> has been released on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives</b></span> DVD-R.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-2934112122581658052013-06-10T15:28:00.001-07:002013-06-10T15:47:37.081-07:00Gabriel Over the White House (1933)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel Over the White House</b></span> is not a great film. In many ways, it's not even a good film. It is, though, an astonishing document; even if you've read about it, you still have to see it to believe it exists. Based on a fantasy novel which takes place in the future year 1950, it's a no-holds-barred argument for <span style="color: cyan;"><b>American</b></span> totalitarian fascism, as subversive and incendiary a movie as could have been created by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Goebbels</b></span>.<br /><br />Financed and produced by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>William Randolph Hearst</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel</b></span> argues that the response to the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Great Depression</b></span> needed to be an president who would trample the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Constitution</b></span> and the democratic system, sieze power and declare martial law in order to "get things done". <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Hitler</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mussolini</b></span> might have loved this movie and the fact that it was created and released indicates the desperate measures which did then need to be taken. It also captures a small time period (it was released after <span style="color: cyan;"><b>F.D.R.</b></span> had won the presidential election, but before he'd taken office) in which it seems possible that <span style="color: cyan;"><b>America</b></span> could have gone the way of<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: cyan;"> <b>Italy</b></span> </span>or <span style="color: #660000;"><b><span style="color: cyan;">Germany</span>.</b></span> A temporary dictatorship in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>America</b></span> was an option some were arguing for and critics rightly saw <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel Over the White House</b> </span>as a piece of propaganda that could prepare mass audiences for acceptance of the idea. In this sense, the film is an invaluable document of the public mood.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Walter Huston</b></span> plays the bachelor <span style="color: cyan;"><b>President</b>.</span> At first he's a do-nothing, party-loyal sleazebag, having an affair in the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>White House</b></span> with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Karen Morley</b></span> and determined to do nothing for the country that departs from his (unspecified), commerce and industry-loyal party.<br /><br />After crashing while recklessly driving at nearly 100 MPH, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Huston</b></span> comes to near death and it's here that the movie reaches another layer of misguided looniness. The movie implies that <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Huston</b></span> becomes driven by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Godly</b></span> direction to use his powers for "good". The film's mixture of weird spirituality and dictatorship is startlingly reminiscent of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Nazi </b></span>ideology. At first, Huston implements <span style="color: cyan;"><b>F.D.R</b></span>.-like <span style="color: cyan;"><b>New Deal </b></span>work programs, rallying the unemployed former<span style="color: #660000;"><b> <span style="color: cyan;">WWI</span></b></span> soldiers on the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>White House</b></span> lawn (instead of shooting at them, as <span style="color: cyan;"><b>President Hoover</b></span> shamelessly directed the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>U.S. Army</b></span> to do). But then...<br /><br />I leave the rest of the plot for those who haven't seen the film. In fact, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel</b></span> becomes increasingly plotless as the film goes on (I'm not the only one who thinks this film similar to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>H.G. Wells' Things To Come</b></span> in this respect). Instead of dramatizing plot twists, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel </b></span>merely shows them, one after another, like a pageantry. For a better film of the period, also starring <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Walter Huston</b></span>, which deals with some of the same issues, see<span style="color: cyan;"> <b>Frank Capra's American Madness</b></span> (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Columbia</b></span>, 1932).<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> head <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Louis B. Mayer</b></span> was furious at the completion of the picture and made many cuts of scenes which were even stronger than the final result. He also had <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Karen Morley</b></span> fall in love with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Vice President Franchot Tone</b></span> to draw attention away from her tawdry actions earlier in the picture.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel Over the White House</b></span> stars an array of character actors including <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Dickie Moore</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Samuel S. Hinds</b></span> and an uncredited <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mischa Auer</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel Over the White House</b></span> has served as ruckmaking fodder for political strategists and commentators for decades, with figures from both sides claiming this movies reveals the true goals of the other side. Yawn.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Gabriel Over the White House</b></span> is available on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives DVD-R</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-69032503777353758852013-06-03T15:59:00.001-07:002013-06-03T15:59:36.447-07:00The Voice of the City (1929)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuHq1cs7QiUuQcC8PIM-GQRRh9NLJC2XFnzFl1wV7IseVXXKZped_zDih-NVnyKXlfR1wDLFmnsIEoeuh7DivWA-rqvZHopPwUYGQ2Me9Qrc0WFL4cJ32aYME1Vabdrc_lCCh3gtkLtI/s1600/Voice_of_the_City.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuHq1cs7QiUuQcC8PIM-GQRRh9NLJC2XFnzFl1wV7IseVXXKZped_zDih-NVnyKXlfR1wDLFmnsIEoeuh7DivWA-rqvZHopPwUYGQ2Me9Qrc0WFL4cJ32aYME1Vabdrc_lCCh3gtkLtI/s400/Voice_of_the_City.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Voice of the City</b></span> is a real oddity in the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> library and not just because it's one of those examples of early sound film awkwardly negotiating the new technology. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Voice of the City </b></span>was written and directed by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Willard Mack</b></span>, who also starred in it. This was a setup <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> heads <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Thalberg</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mayer</b></span> rarely allowed. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mack</b></span> is an interesting figure who was born in 1873, married fellow <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> actor <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Marjorie Rambeau</b></span> in 1913, and died five years after this film was released. He also was an acting coach for then-chorus girl <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Barbara Stanwyck</b></span> in the mid '20s, when she starred in his play, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Noose</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Voice of the City</b></span> is a crime drama with credible atmosphere and more humor (some unintentional) than was typical in films like this. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Robert Ames</b></span>, who also died a few years after this film was made, plays an escaped and innocent convict who attempts to hide out from the police long enough to leave town with his gal, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Sylvia Field</b></span>. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span> plays the oily crime boss who framed <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ames</b></span>. The cast is filled out with a drug-addicted friend, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Clark Marshall</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Duane Thompson</b></span> as<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Ames</b></span>' sister and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mack</b></span>, the detective charged with hunting <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ames</b></span> down.<br /><br />One would think <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Voice of the City</b></span> might be a waste of time. Some of the acting is sadly dated and many scenes are too stagy, with the barely moving actors surrounding the nearby microphone. As is also typical of the time, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Voice of the City</b></span> has some amateurish editing, including a bizarre kiss that's looped three times!<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mack</b></span>'s film, however, holds up better than many later and more prestigious films for the sheer interest the characters and plot generates; you want to know what happens next. As the film progresses, it also becomes less stagy and features an experimental interrogation scene that takes place in the dark.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Voice of the City </b></span>has been released on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives DVD-R</b></span>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-40680866396459402522013-05-28T17:56:00.000-07:002013-05-28T17:56:33.925-07:00Flesh (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDZojleQAFUMztQ79BJVlDms2oV141LQTvHus3QxCvgKhyphenhyphenpDuwv-oh8iQdMAgKrh-fBCJH1F1q9ptiY4cpTSHOfxuigcFBmujGajRPyjgAmdASTmgGqABmZYwns2y0TeUE_MDV8_fj_M/s1600/flesh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDZojleQAFUMztQ79BJVlDms2oV141LQTvHus3QxCvgKhyphenhyphenpDuwv-oh8iQdMAgKrh-fBCJH1F1q9ptiY4cpTSHOfxuigcFBmujGajRPyjgAmdASTmgGqABmZYwns2y0TeUE_MDV8_fj_M/s400/flesh.jpg" width="322" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Wallace Beery</b></span> plays a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>German</b></span> beer garden wrestler and waiter in the oddly-named <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Flesh</b></span>. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Beery</b></span>, childlike and naive, falls for a just-out-of-jail and penniless <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Karen Morley</b></span>, who's also pregnant, though she keeps that fact to herself. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Beery</b></span> takes pity on her and gives her a place to stay. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Flesh</b></span> then becomes a sort of slow-burn cousin to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Blue Angel</b></span>, as the smitten and child-like <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Beery</b></span> is fooled, manipulated and swindled by both <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Morley</b></span> and her lover posing as her brother (played by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ricardo Cortez</b></span>), a slimy ex-con who doesn't treat <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Morley</b></span> with any more respect than <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Beery</b></span>.<br /><br />Though uncredited (no director is listed in the credits), the great <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Ford</b></span> directed <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Flesh</b></span> while on loan to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span>. Many <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ford</b></span> fans don't think much of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Flesh</b></span> and it's far from a masterpiece. It does keep the viewer interested in these characters all the way to the tragic end, though. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Beery</b></span> plays the part with such pathos and innocence it's hard to be unmoved by his predicament - his uncompromising stance when he's pressured to "fix' a fight also makes him endearing. (The awkward <span style="color: cyan;"><b>German</b></span> accent, though, is a minus.) <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Morley</b></span>'s world weary criminal is just conflicted enough about her feelings and guilt to make her character stand out from the cinematic cliche. The role could have been one-dimensional.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Flesh</b></span> also features character actors like <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jean Hersholt</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ward Bond</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Nat Pendleton</b></span> and, for better or worse, the ubiquitous <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span>.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Flesh</b></span> is available on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Brothers</b></span> DVD-R.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-28025572392092194962013-05-14T19:17:00.000-07:002013-05-14T19:18:21.846-07:00Son of India (1931)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkUR36LKfgL9Zy4293pSToTE4Pm_v4PYJ6NnhuIziWo8pGYFRRVv0sfQ9_ZAeBwqF2AgEpdisx1Yewjt5iecGZcgd9FAayDK8sQdWOd6T_Fjp80nL8xr4LTHH0BUzNj3qvqKW2b3a8t0/s1600/10352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihkUR36LKfgL9Zy4293pSToTE4Pm_v4PYJ6NnhuIziWo8pGYFRRVv0sfQ9_ZAeBwqF2AgEpdisx1Yewjt5iecGZcgd9FAayDK8sQdWOd6T_Fjp80nL8xr4LTHH0BUzNj3qvqKW2b3a8t0/s400/10352.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ramon Novarro</b></span> plays another exotic lover in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jacques Feyder's Son of India</b></span>. Through an arresting series of events, he becomes a ragged pauper, then a rich prince in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bombay.</b></span> <span style="color: cyan;"><b>American</b></span> tourist <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Madge Evans</b></span> soon enters the picture and the movie becomes a tragic tale of love fighting against racial boundaries and prejudices. (Would the love story be transpiring if<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Novarro</b></span> wasn't rich? I doubt it.)<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Son of India</b></span> features some impressive sets and action scenes; how often do you get to see <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Novarro</b></span> buried alive in the same film as a rampaging elephant? The entire film held my interest, even when the romance became increasingly saccharine. Unlike many of her films, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Madge Evans</b></span> gets a more demanding role in this one.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Son of India</b></span> is packed with the usual <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> character actors, including <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Marjorie Rambeau</b></span> as a snobbish aunt, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Conrad Nagel</b></span> as <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Madge</b></span>'s sister, and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>C. Aubrey Smith</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span> in smaller roles. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ann Dvorak</b></span>'s even on the screen for a minute or two as a seductive dancer.<br /><br />The movie ends far too quickly (not helped, when watching on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Turner Classic Movies</b></span>, by their loud and abrasive promo following). I'm surprised they didn't cut<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Novarro</b></span> off in mid-sentence!<br /><br />This was <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Feyder's</b></span> last <span style="color: cyan;"><b>American</b></span> film. Later in the '30s, in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>France</b></span>, his movies laid the groundwork for the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Poetic Realism</b></span> film movement. His artistry was vivid, though, even in his <span style="color: cyan;"><b>American</b></span> films.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Son of India</b></span> isn't available on DVD.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-65000883968565731382013-05-02T16:49:00.003-07:002013-05-02T16:49:24.521-07:00Fast Life (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Fast Life</b></span> was, in several ways, the end of an era at <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span>. It was the last film for stars<span style="color: cyan;"><b> William Haines</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Conrad Nage</b></span>l and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Cliff Edwards</b></span> as <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> contract actors. It's hard to believe <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span>' films were no longer successful at the box office; <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Fast Life</b></span> is indeed funny, exciting and fast.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Funny</b></span> is in the ear and eye of the beholder. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> is obnoxious as usual here, but <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Cliff Edwards</b></span> as his pal <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Bumpy</b></span> has some amusing lines and double-takes and a priceless sight gag with a mind reader. Though he didn't bring his ukelele, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Edwards</b></span> does do a little singing, one a soulful little number and also some scat joking; the guy had so much talent that anything he does is good and it's a shame <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> didn't star him in his own movies. The story of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> is the story of many vastly wasted talents.<br /><br />The story here is slight but servicable: <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> has invented a revolutionary new motor (right!) and meets cute with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Madge Evans</b></span> (a thankless role), whose father happens to be in the boat business and eager to win a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Catalina</b></span> speedboat race. The absurdity of early '30s <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> film scenario writers knew no bounds.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Conrad Nagel</b></span> untypically plays the baddie here, a stiff, humorless jerk so unlikeable that <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> looks appealing in comparison. All ends well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Fast Life</b></span> has been released on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives</b></span> DVD-R. </span></div>
Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-61959825843184975992013-04-22T18:15:00.000-07:002013-04-22T18:16:33.267-07:00Eskimo (1933)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCtLXFnzR447NdRibLc1sQEJMzozRLOFt-kK-09KCBaBkvD_OqEMuDGqzy54ZEZ92E0Qh1_PZc9nCw0qxJyiOmdxjmSF5gkzW485lWS4tO4qAXtAhAOENfH7bOJeEsCTKZiJ3kXx8SE0/s1600/Eskimo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCtLXFnzR447NdRibLc1sQEJMzozRLOFt-kK-09KCBaBkvD_OqEMuDGqzy54ZEZ92E0Qh1_PZc9nCw0qxJyiOmdxjmSF5gkzW485lWS4tO4qAXtAhAOENfH7bOJeEsCTKZiJ3kXx8SE0/s400/Eskimo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Like director <span style="color: cyan;"><b>W.S. Van Dyk</b><b>e</b></span>'s earlier <span style="color: cyan;"><b>White Shadows in the South Seas</b></span> (1928) and<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Trader Horn</b></span> (1931), <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eskimo</b></span> was another ambitious, expensive adventure filmed in a then-exotic local (Alaska) and again used many natives, this time Inuits speaking in their own tongue. The film also incorporates some amazing documentary footage of hunts for caribou, walrus and whales.<br /><br />The film tells the story of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Mala</b></span> (played by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ray Wise</b></span>, later <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ray Mala</b></span>), his family life, the daily fight for survival and his tragic dealings with the encroaching white culture. Though the movie threatens at times to sink under the weight of melodrama, and though the action sequences are riddled with ludicrous rear projection shots, the story is completely engaging. Its nearly two-hour running length goes by quickly.<br /><br />I'll forgo the plot details and allow the film to surprise new viewers. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eskimo</b></span> deals frankly with race relations (the most malicious character in the film<b> </b>is <span style="color: cyan;"><b>European</b></span>) and the sexual mores of the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Inuit</b></span> (the film was tellingly distributed under the title <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eskimo Wife-Traders</b></span>). This is also definitely not a movie in which one can say no animals were harmed during the making. A ferocious fight to the death between a human and a wolf ends with the wolf getting its head smashed in with a rock! I was surprised at <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Turner Classic Movies</b></span>' "G" rating for this one.<br /><br />Director <span style="color: cyan;"><b>W.S. Van Dyke</b></span> plays a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Canadian</b></span> official, while <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Peter Freuchen</b></span>, who wrote the two books <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eskimo</b></span> was loosely based on, plays the aforementioned evil ship captain. <b>Eskimo</b> begins with a title card claiming that the only actors were those playing the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Canadian</b></span> parts, but that's untrue. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Ray Wise</b></span> was a cameraman and actor and the three female leads were<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Asian</b></span> actors.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eskimo</b></span> hasn't been released on DVD.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-10372758231225885962013-03-14T18:15:00.000-07:002013-03-16T09:50:36.108-07:00Navy Blues (1929)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiG5sMPfMpiZo8FTar_m8jMUxVugUvHtOjyR5E037ltC5uDSIjUWf111bBRbgTm7VL9xbFsd-lC1d7rZx-VmR5Ym262xjReXk5cMZW7E0ZANNQw0lebigOz8NuHrztztbr-VWs8Z0IVM/s1600/Navy_Blues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGiG5sMPfMpiZo8FTar_m8jMUxVugUvHtOjyR5E037ltC5uDSIjUWf111bBRbgTm7VL9xbFsd-lC1d7rZx-VmR5Ym262xjReXk5cMZW7E0ZANNQw0lebigOz8NuHrztztbr-VWs8Z0IVM/s400/Navy_Blues.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>William Haines' Navy Blues</b></span> was his first talking role and every rambunctious/obnoxious, sly and crazy characteristic suppressed in his earlier films due to lack of sound is here let loose in all its anarchic glory. <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span>-haters beware!<span style="color: cyan;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Navy Blues</b></span> was directed, uncharacteristically, by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Clarence Brown</b></span>. The plot is simple: while on shore leave, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> falls for innocent <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Anita Page</b></span> and courts her (stalks might be the more appropriate word), much to the consternation of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Page's</b></span> mother, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Edythe Chapman</b></span>, though not her father, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>J.C. Nugent</b></span>, a beat-upon, forlorn fellow who also used to be a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Navy </b></span>man.<span style="color: cyan;"><b> </b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Page</b></span> soon leaves home with <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> and wants to marry, but <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> isn't ready for that sort of commitment. In typical fashion for <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> films at the time, the next time <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span> returns to town, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Page</b></span> has, out of some sort of twisted sorrow and pride, become a near-prostitute. This plot twist rings totally false in the film; it isn't true to <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Page</b></span>'s character or to the tone of the rest of the film. This is a <span style="color: cyan;"><b>William Haines</b></span> comedy, after all, not <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Eugene O'Neill</b></span>! There's, at least, a somewhat happy ending to the film.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Cliff Edwards</b></span> and his ukelele are missed (by me) in this movie. The void is occupied by fellow seaman<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Karl Dane</b></span>, playing the kind of one-note character that ruined his career; so much talent was suppressed, wasted and undiscovered at <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> at the time.<br /><br />If you like <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span>' brand of comedy or want to see the uninhibited spirit of an <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Adam Sandler</b></span>, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jim Carrey</b></span> or <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jonathan Winters</b></span> in full bloom in an early talkie, watch <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Navy Blues</b></span>. Movies like this one and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Haines</b></span>' next film, the mini-masterpiece <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Girl Said No</b></span>, are practically urtexts for comedy styles practiced at the end of the century.<br /><br /><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Navy Blues</b></span> is available in a good print on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives DVD-R</b></span> and has been broadcast on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Turner Classic Movies</b></span>.</span></div>
Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-55279548050994460972013-02-13T19:59:00.000-08:002013-02-13T19:59:31.691-08:00Freaks (1932)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfwLVxYBLWZpcFJmdK4kdor14Fb2IIvv5YAtg3ebEa-Hiq9teGU4KVLgTJInGVY1g82ReyE33jgbNKoaZf3ybbsmK-hf6nkcZJOpneWi9z51MBqTCHF_0L5kIDmxwRCq6_q3mDCRfjOSQ/s1600/freaks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfwLVxYBLWZpcFJmdK4kdor14Fb2IIvv5YAtg3ebEa-Hiq9teGU4KVLgTJInGVY1g82ReyE33jgbNKoaZf3ybbsmK-hf6nkcZJOpneWi9z51MBqTCHF_0L5kIDmxwRCq6_q3mDCRfjOSQ/s640/freaks.jpg" uea="true" width="249" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We accept her! We accept her! One of us! One of us! Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you've heard this chanted by a tableful of "freaks" in <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Tod Browning's Freaks</span></strong>, it, like many of the images </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in the film, will be seared into your brain forever. The chant would be vaguely disturbing even if it were sincere, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but is doubly so since the person they are singing it to is a circus performer who looks upon the freaks </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with undisguised contempt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Browning</span></strong>, who had had such success with similar sordid subject matter in his films with <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Lon Chaney</span></strong>, set <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Freaks</span></strong> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in a circus sideshow quite like the kind <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Browning</span></strong> worked in in his youth. Though the film stars typical </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dependable <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong> performers like <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Leila Hyams</span></strong> and <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Wallace Ford</span></strong>, the real stars of the film are real side-show </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">performers, the freaks of the title, most of whom lived their lives in circuses quite like this one. In <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Freaks</span></strong>, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the physically distorted are the "heroes"; the villains of the film are "normal" people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though it was little-seen in the immediate decades after its initial release, <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Browning</span></strong>'s twisted circus </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sideshow fable has had such an influence since that it seems downright prototypical. From <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Stephen King</span></strong> novels to <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Tales From the Crypt</span></strong>, from </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">David Lynch's The Elephant Man</span></strong> to <strong><span style="color: cyan;">EC Comics</span></strong>, those images from <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Freaks</span></strong> have </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">seared the brain of many a creator. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Freaks</span></strong> is the sort of unytpical <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong> film which only could have been made while <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Irving Thalberg</span></strong> was in charge. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No later moguls at the company would have had the reckless audacity or inclination to engineer such a film. Not to say </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Freaks</span></strong> was accepted during its time; the film was so disturbing to <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong> brass, test audiences and exhibitors </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that it was quickly cut by 25 minutes and then taken off the market altogether. <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Browning</span></strong>'s career never really </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">recovered. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even with much of the most outrageous material cut from the film, its not surprising <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong> got cold feet. The <strong><span style="color: cyan;">EC</span></strong>-like </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">revenge plot is still lucidly told, even with an outageously "happy" ending shot last minute and tagged on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Freaks</span></strong> is available on DVD.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-48663179854663224762013-02-01T18:44:00.000-08:002013-02-01T18:44:10.641-08:00The Great Meadow (1931)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfUbkL5rF1BgkUlfqiJBxg7Cihg5jUp3HwwF0Tf62Gs7j3B9M9-DH1dcpFHDFaa3S4A2Lsch3lUFM9Cawt9eVJnCeCtpnfi52m_q1OjcOV3S0dbj3fDA3mOmM5TxwfG5lPiXLzmapcNs/s1600/Great_Meadow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ea="true" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfUbkL5rF1BgkUlfqiJBxg7Cihg5jUp3HwwF0Tf62Gs7j3B9M9-DH1dcpFHDFaa3S4A2Lsch3lUFM9Cawt9eVJnCeCtpnfi52m_q1OjcOV3S0dbj3fDA3mOmM5TxwfG5lPiXLzmapcNs/s400/Great_Meadow.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">The Great Meadow</span></strong> is based on the novel by <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Elizabeth Madox Roberts</span></strong> which had recently been published. In it, a group of 1777 <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Virginians</span></strong> decide to start a new life in <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Kentucky</span></strong> after hearing an inspirational talk by <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Daniel Boone</span></strong>. The film follows the settlers as they make their arduous trek and start a new life in trecherous surroundings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even taking into account the film's faults (most of which were endemic to nearly all early sound films), <strong><span style="color: cyan;">The Great Meadow</span></strong>, directed by <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Charles Brabin</span></strong>, is a different sort of "western" picture. The focus is on the common people and their physical and emotional hardships. Silent star <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Eleanor Boardman</span></strong>, who would appear in sound films for just a few more years, is sympathetic as the lead, who leaves her family behind to marry and begin a tenuous new life. <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Johnny Mack Brown</span></strong>'s one-note performance isn't as convincing, but is adequate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">The Great Meadow</span></strong> benefits from a nearly non-existent film score. It, like <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong>'s <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Billy the Kid</span></strong>, was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">originally shot in a widescreen process, though it's impossible to tell from the 35mm print shown now; no shots seem cropped or scanned. <strong><span style="color: cyan;">IMDB</span></strong> states the film was shot in a process called <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Grandeur</span></strong>, while the in70mm website lists <strong><span style="color: cyan;">The Great Meadow</span></strong> as having been shot in <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Realife</span></strong>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Warning: <strong><span style="color: cyan;">The Great Meadow</span></strong> has a jaw-droppingly sudden ending which may lead you to believe the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cameraman simply ran out of film then and there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">The Great Meadow</span></strong> isn't available on DVD, but has been broadcast on <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Turner Classic Movies</span></strong>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-55357213625664551882013-01-26T15:07:00.001-08:002013-01-26T15:08:48.875-08:00Reel Old Films<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEise0tDcB1L4ovLE9b98ZtpocGbHxuQZais9ui5_j6AjQAbNGLUzbojYeWJ2FIs1sD8f81JGRhW5IYIJBLgQOHY5Q1_ApKtcwnnyEKiUC4W8GkZMlytcnKM2RJqBRFiBxJR-CicPK6XooE/s1600/Reel_Old_Films.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" oea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEise0tDcB1L4ovLE9b98ZtpocGbHxuQZais9ui5_j6AjQAbNGLUzbojYeWJ2FIs1sD8f81JGRhW5IYIJBLgQOHY5Q1_ApKtcwnnyEKiUC4W8GkZMlytcnKM2RJqBRFiBxJR-CicPK6XooE/s400/Reel_Old_Films.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're looking for a new resource for old, hard-to-find films, you may want to check out <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Reel Old Films</span></strong>, which is now listing hundreds of films of all genres: </span><a href="https://reeloldfilms.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://reeloldfilms.com/</span></a>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-22913087383305239062013-01-21T14:13:00.001-08:002013-01-21T14:13:59.625-08:00The Woman Racket (1930)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoTMgnEdruzWZzhYCvMPWuo8Xt2s_QiEzFERn8vzgPPAmqsDvT1WBoXwBYueEC2A_3CXPlU4wLb7aJCXZGKiKhbtcof5xLfBL3EMB2FKiuakobMbO8PbKKTApedyBLQHCpqo32CuXnTg/s1600/The_Woman_Racket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxoTMgnEdruzWZzhYCvMPWuo8Xt2s_QiEzFERn8vzgPPAmqsDvT1WBoXwBYueEC2A_3CXPlU4wLb7aJCXZGKiKhbtcof5xLfBL3EMB2FKiuakobMbO8PbKKTApedyBLQHCpqo32CuXnTg/s400/The_Woman_Racket.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Blanche Swee</b><b>t</b></span> had an extraordinary career in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Hollywood</b></span>. Largely known as one of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>D.W. Griffith</b></span>'s acting troupe, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Sweet</b></span> first appeared in a 1909 <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Edison</b></span> short and last appeared in an episode of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Dobie Gillis</b></span>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here she appears in one of the three films she made in 1930 before she left the film industry for decades. Based on her acting in this film, she could easily have had a career had she stayed. She has an assured voice and manner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Woman Racket</b></span> she's a singer in a prohibition-era nightclub. During a raid, a kindly policeman (<span style="color: cyan;"><b>Tom Moore</b></span>) allows her to escape, begins dating her and eventually marries her. She's soon bored with domestic chores, though and the excitement of the nightclub life begins calling to her... Sweet is sweet in this role and her singing is nice, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Tom Moore</b></span> (whose career began at roughly the same time as <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Sweet</b></span>'s, 1908) gets a drubbing on <span style="color: cyan;"><b>IMDB</b></span> for his acting, but I thought he was fine, likable and believable in the role of a patient, loving and abandoned husband. Bringing more life to the melodrama are <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Robert Agnew</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Sally Starr</b></span>, two innocent singers in the nightclub caught up in the villain's machinations. The uncredited songs used in the film, while not great, have that wonderful early '30s vibrancy and joy, this being the sweet spot of <span style="color: cyan;"><b>MGM</b></span> musical accompaniment. It was only the villain, <span style="color: cyan;"><b>John Miljan</b></span>, that I found less than believable.<span style="color: cyan;"><b> Miljan</b></span> never played roles of great depth (that I've seen), but this dastardly role seemed particularly one-note, stiff and stereotypical.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give <span style="color: cyan;"><b>The Woman Racket</b></span> a try if you're in the mood for an average, pleasant, tuneful 1930 melodrama.</span><br />
<span id="goog_69156972"></span><span id="goog_69156973"></span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-17429880241918118182013-01-08T17:05:00.002-08:002013-01-08T17:05:58.247-08:00New to DVD: Salute to the Marines (1943) and Music for Millions (1944)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG0h2WWAwQ2SYaJWA2iijeP1oblKprJCSm9mAAbeCrqkynKhCoTiN6MSIVgaE8JYV5hOfI_CK3Pgch5kOcJZz8ClKPh-y7Oq9taceO7lI1xa_hOV-Tdc_TiKC4EskIZaxWHm_wb8chwNY/s1600/Salute_to_the_Marines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG0h2WWAwQ2SYaJWA2iijeP1oblKprJCSm9mAAbeCrqkynKhCoTiN6MSIVgaE8JYV5hOfI_CK3Pgch5kOcJZz8ClKPh-y7Oq9taceO7lI1xa_hOV-Tdc_TiKC4EskIZaxWHm_wb8chwNY/s640/Salute_to_the_Marines.jpg" width="419" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMvvXubyzoQL2xhPa5Oggzloa2dK1FtKAbn3gKuuBOFUXwwYr7jf18GYN4Qw2WErePvPSAFrOfoXnMN-9KYVGnz96DsSlTs7-hULH6u0nuWWVT3GANp3xV1nlJ4qGqGOrgMB0FE7TrRU/s1600/Music_For_Millions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMvvXubyzoQL2xhPa5Oggzloa2dK1FtKAbn3gKuuBOFUXwwYr7jf18GYN4Qw2WErePvPSAFrOfoXnMN-9KYVGnz96DsSlTs7-hULH6u0nuWWVT3GANp3xV1nlJ4qGqGOrgMB0FE7TrRU/s640/Music_For_Millions.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: cyan;"><b>Salute to the Marines</b></span>, starring <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Wallace Beery</b></span> in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Technicolor </b></span>and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Margaret O'Brien</b></span> and <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Jimmy Durante</b></span> in <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Music for Millions</b></span> are being released to DVD-R for the first, by <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives</b></span>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Check the <span style="color: cyan;"><b>Warner Archives</b></span> site for details: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://www.wbshop.com/category/wbshop_brands/warner+archive.do </span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-18897183935542733832013-01-02T19:03:00.000-08:002013-01-03T18:07:43.795-08:00Laughing Boy (1934)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuafmRvOhmjHrIqOmnXj4fQyxqDrRlinlO8z-5LczwTqPqUsDgXGdeOlLqp3M4nzzoR8ETjzVJZtFXliho8YgOwSr8XU_qSTrttcy3RtHRjJnG1SeOD8aiGc04xdKWbUsK-OUxxDYMYs4/s1600/Laughing_Boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuafmRvOhmjHrIqOmnXj4fQyxqDrRlinlO8z-5LczwTqPqUsDgXGdeOlLqp3M4nzzoR8ETjzVJZtFXliho8YgOwSr8XU_qSTrttcy3RtHRjJnG1SeOD8aiGc04xdKWbUsK-OUxxDYMYs4/s400/Laughing_Boy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Laughing Boy</span></strong>, based on the <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Pulitzer </span></strong>prize winning novel by <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Oliver La Farge</span></strong>, could have been a good film. The story - of a <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Navajo</span></strong>, <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Ramon Novarro</span></strong>, who marries a fellow <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Navajo</span></strong> educated by whites and torn between two cultures - is a fascinating one and it's unique in its complete sympathy with the <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Navajo</span></strong>; there's not a good white person portrayed in the film.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, though, <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Laughing Boy</span></strong> is a mess. <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Ramon Novarro</span></strong> is seriously miscast in the lead role. With his <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Prince Valiant</span></strong>-like haircut and too much makeup, he looks ridiculous. Also ridiculous are the anachronistic songs he's made to sing (or lip-synch), which made me wonder if <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Jeanette MacDonald</span></strong> was going to glide onstage and join in. Fellow <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Mexican</span></strong> actor <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Lupe Vélez </span></strong>fares somewhat better as <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Laughing Boy</span></strong>'s prostituting wife, but exotic doesn't equal authentic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The movie, directed by <strong><span style="color: cyan;">W.S. Van Dyke</span></strong>, was partly shot on location with real <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Native</span> <span style="color: cyan;">Americans</span></strong> (some of the location footage may be left over from <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Universal'</span></strong>s earlier attempt to film the novel). When mixed with particularly bad rear-projection scenes, cheap looking sets and <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong> actors dressed like <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Navajo</span></strong>, the result is worse than jarring. It's absurd and takes you right out of the picture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Laughing Boy's</span></strong> fate worsened when the <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Hays Office</span></strong> demanded cuts which almost make the film nonsensible. Due to fear of controversy, <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM </span></strong>didn't promote the film and it lost money - continuing a pattern for <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Novarro</span></strong>'s films which culminated in <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong> not renewing his contract in 1935. <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Laughing Boy</span></strong> was <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Novarro</span></strong>'s least favorite film of the ones he appeared in. <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Andre Soares</span></strong>, in his book on <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Novarro</span></strong>, <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Beyond Paradise</span></strong>, reports that novelist <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Oliver La Farge</span></strong> splashed a drink in the face of the screenwriter of <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Laughing Boy</span></strong> after the release of the film; the ultimate commentary on the film.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Laughing Boy</span></strong> is not available on DVD, but has been broadcast on <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Turner Classic Movies</span></strong>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874293704346045854.post-18576401629223309292012-12-23T16:38:00.000-08:002012-12-23T16:42:38.401-08:00Whistling in the Dark (1933)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Whistling in the Dark</span></strong> is a dated little trifle. Don't let me scare you </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">off from it, though; it can be fun if you're in the mood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Based on a play which ran 265 performances between 1932 and 1933, the comedy/drama </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">about two elopers who end up trapped in a mansion and forced to think up the perfect </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">murder for a group of mobsters can be tedious. It's stage-bound and director </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Elliot Nugent</span></strong>'s directing is static and blah.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The cast is good, though, headed by <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Una Merkel</span></strong> (playing her typical ditzy role) and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Ernest Treux</span></strong>, who also played the lead onstage. His under-played, self-effacing </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">humor reminded me of the comedic performances of <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Roland Young</span></strong> (especially in <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Topper</span></strong>). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<strong><span style="color: cyan;">Claire Trever</span></strong> played the <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Una Merkel</span></strong> role onstage)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lead mobster is played by <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Edward Arnold</span></strong>, reprising his stage role. Also in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the cast is <strong><span style="color: cyan;">John Miljan</span></strong>, who seemed to be in every other <strong><span style="color: cyan;">MGM</span></strong> film of the time and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Nat Pendleton</span></strong>, who excelled in playing goofy, dense gangsters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film does have some racy, pre-code humor. Other than the pleasure you'll have in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">watching some talented performers, though, there's not a lot to recommend in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Whistling in the Dark</span></strong>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story was remade in 1941 with <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Red Skelton</span></strong>, in a movie so successful that two </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">sequels were made.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A bit of trivia: <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Ernest Truex</span></strong> was the lifeless body of <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Harry </span></strong>in <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Hitchcock's </span></strong></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">the Trouble With Harry.</span></strong> If you have to be dead onscreen, that's the way to do </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: cyan;">Whistling in the Dark</span></strong> isn't available on DVD, but has been shown on <strong><span style="color: cyan;">Turner Classic Movies</span></strong>.</span>Michael N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14313953071196776990noreply@blogger.com0