Captain Blood, 1935

Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring:  Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland; Basil Rathbone
IMDB Link:  Captain Blood

mjc says:  This was a treat for a fan of the Patrick O'Brian books about the Royal Navy at the time of Napoleon, although this is set at the end of the 17th century it seems to have British naval technology of a century later.  Anyway, it was one of my favorite kind of stories (I'm sure I had a hardcover copy of the book as a kid) and always fun to see Errol Flynn flashing his sword!

sez says: I surprised myself here, I didn't expect to, but I liked this. There were good guys, with principles, standing up for what's right. And what a relief to see a story where "having a brain" and being smart are seen as good.  The photography was great for the time. There were Kafkaesque shots and odd angle shots and shadows.  I am not much for war scenes and sword fights, but I didn't get antsy waiting for these to be over.   Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone having a sword battle provide some classic film moments.  Then there are the strange and wonderful toy sets.  They were used a lot and provided oddly compelling landscape for a lot of the action that took place. We are so use to all the amazing things that can be done now with special effects,  that we can forget what was done to 'stage' a battle the old fashion way. In this small dose it was a kick to watch. And it is a reminder of the skill that the special effects teams had in the way back when.  Just an all around good time--if you are in just the mood to let yourself get a little swashbuckled.   GRADE C+
 

42nd Street, 1933

Director: Busby Berkley & Lloyd Bacon
Studio: Warner Brothers
Academy Award nominee & AFI Top 100 Films Nominee
Starring: Ruby Keeler; Warren Baxter; Ginger Rogers; Dick Powell; George Brent; Bebe Daniels
IMDB Link:   42nd Street

sez says-- you can't go wrong with Busby Berkley --the elaborate productions and costumes will keep you agog regardless of the story line.

mjc says:  the spiral curtained cone disappearing into the upper reaches of the soundstage has to be seen to be believed.

Alice Adams, 1935

Director George Stevens
Starring: Katharine Hepburn and Fred MacMurray
IMDB Link:  Alice Adams

sez says--what a bore..maybe during The Great Depression people felt buoyed up by this sort of tripe about a 'poor family' that can't provide all of the lovely things a daughter should have..she after all asks for nothing and only cries in the rain when no one can see her tears. Well of course it turns out that the rich guy loves her just for herself--and the stingy boss turns out to be a good guy after all.  Hepburn is all swish and sway as she moves quickly from one scene to another and her fast breathy talk seems to never stop.  I guess some might find her fun to watch--but not me, at least not in this drag of a movie.

mjc says:  Holy Tripe!  I try to be tolerant of the nonsense that poured out of the studios in the 30s, and so much of it is fun to watch, but this makes no sense at all.  Like, for example, the father is supposedly so sick he is unable to go to work but when his daughter can't get a corsage he jumps right out of bed and starts his own business!

Cimarron, 1931

Director Wesley Ruggles
Studio:
Winner Academy Awards Best Picture of the Year
Starring: Richard Dix & Irene Dunne
IMDB Link: Cimarron

MJC Says: How the West was won--male and female

SEZ Says: Good women stay home and build communities while heroic men can never stop moving west

Imitation of Life, 1934

Director: John M Stahl
Awards: nominated for Academy Awards but didn't win any
Stars: Claudette Colbert; Louise Beavers, Warren Williams, Ned Sparks
IMDB Link:  Imitation of Life, 1934

mjc says:  I must say, I had no idea that Hollywood had come even this close (and this is still far from seeing Black Americans as equal in humanity with white)  to considering the question of race in the 1930s. 

sez says--here is proof that at least some white folk knew in the 1930s that there was something not right with race relations in the United States. Bless them for trying to do something about it. To make it a central topic in a movie must have been considered a pretty radical act when the majority of movie theaters in this country were still segregated.  Just because they knew something was wrong doesn't mean they understood the problem, indeed it doesn't mean they were not part of the problem,  This is, after all, a terribly condescending and at times just downright embarrassing depiction of Black Americans. All the 'I don't want any money, I just want to be your servant forever' talk is pathetic.  That Delilah lives downstairs and still serves the white woman after they are both filthy rich is pathetic. That Delilah is seen as nothing but an overgrown child is pathetic. But it is a breath of fresh air to see a black woman and a white woman as best friends, who live together and raise their children together.  This is pretty much a must see for anyone interested in the history of race in American movies.  It is far from a perfect movie--but it is at least a real, if flawed effort to make race a topic.

The Smiling Lieutenant, 1932

Director Ernst Lubitsch
Studio Paramount
Academy Award Best Picture nominee
Starring Maurice Chevalier; Claudette Colbert,  Miriam Hopkins, Charles Ruggles
IMDB Link:  The Smiling Lieutenant

sez says: This is unadulterated fun. It is like having a cookie in the afternoon--not a meal but a treat all the same. There is not much of a story line but what little there is keeps you wondering how it will end. It is sad that the 'Film Codes" stopped these 'sex-farces'  from being made that tell the audience, as Chevalier says, that boys and girls who add a wink to their smile have more in mind than holding hands. Colbert can sing and she tells Hopkins that she knows that in the end girls who 'stay for breakfast before having dinner' seldom win their man. And Hopkins does a fabulous job of transforming herself from a 'dumpy-dumb-princess" to a swinging singing vamp when her rival tells her that lingerie matters.

mjc says:  it is tempting to contemplate the magical direction movies could have gone without the interference of the legion of prudes who eviscerated the story lines and drained the drama from good stories.  It is amazing that as many quality films got made as did, slipping through the censors.

One Hour with You, 1932

Director: Ernst Lubitsch & George Cukor
Studio: Paramount
Academy Award Best Picture nominee 1933
Starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charles Ruggles
IMDB Link:   One Hour with You

sez says ... This is a sweet treat: A simple sex farce with ever-so-likable characters. While vintage films can be good, generally I avoid those that feature music from the 30’s, but between the fun way Chevalier presents the material, the women’s beautiful gowns, the wildly stylish home furnishings --and then add scenes with rhyming dialogue, and you just can’t help but smile and go along for the ride. It is a racy, pre-code story—temptation, adultery, tit-for tat and the married couple are back in each others arms. Of course the husband’s adultery is presented as the real thing, and the wife’s is only an imagining of where things could go if she wanted. So the double standard stands durable. And, of special note is Charles Ruggles portrayal as ‘her’ suitor—he hams it up just right.

mjc says:  Chevalier blasts every set with his charismatic smile, washing each scene in luminous charm; Jeannette MacDonald remains one of the singers with a voice like fingernails on a chalkboard.

All's Quiet on the Western Front. 1930

Director Lewis Milestone
Studio
Winner Best Picture Academy Awards
Starring: Lew Ayers
IMDB Link:  All Quiet on the Western Front

sez: the boys may think it looks like fun, but they soon learn that war is a very bad idea

mjc:  God and country turns to gore and filth.

A Free Soul, 1931

Director: Clarence Brown
Starring: Norma Schearer, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore
IMDB Link:  A Free Soul


sez says -- if your dad is a famous criminal lawyer you might meet a handsome criminal and fall in love with him-- daddy won't like that.  Notable for pre-code story content and skimpy dresses.

mjc says:  a very young Clark Gable dominates every scene he is in, if you can take your eyes off the dress clinging to every curve of Norma Shearer.

The Champ, 1931

Director: King Vidor
Studio: MGM
Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Writing plus other nominations
Starring: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper
IMDB Link:  The Champ

sez says:  fathers love their sons  --and sons love their fathers -- impressive acting

mjc says:  Jackie Cooper is amazing as the child in this movie

The Thin Man, 1934

Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Studio: MGM
Awards: nominated for multiple Academy Awards --didn't win but is in the AFI Best 100 Laughs List
Stars:  William Powell; Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Cesar Romero
IMDB Link:  The Thin Man

sez says: It seems strange to me to see so very much alcohol consumed in a movie--especially when it is played as a 'comic' element.   At least every 2 to 3 minutes --throughout the entire movie--yet another drink is poured.  I guess what we laugh at evolves. Anyway, beautiful Myrna Loy shows she can pull off a variety of physical-gags, starting with her entrance.  The story is more complex than most of this era -- it was a Dashell Hammett mystery, that may be why. But they did a fine job keeping all the story elements in order...and there is some early noir style photography. Asta the dog is a nice aside in the story--I can see why this trio Powell, Loy and Asta became popular. I would not go out of my way to see any more of this series--but I am glad I saw this one.

mjc says:  saw a film in this series years ago and the drinking stuck in my mind, as we as the Powell Loy exchanges.  Fun to see them at it again.

The Gay Divorcee, 1934

Director: Mark Sandrich
Studio RKO
Awards: Academy Award for Best Song--plus other nominations
Starring: Fred Astair; Ginger Rogers; Edward Everett Horton; Betty Grable
IMDB Link:  Gay Divorcee

sez says:  This is NOT a Busby Berkeley film but it makes you realize how talented he was.  There are lots of musical numbers, choreographed and costumed with great fanfare--and as charming as they are--they seem flat in comparison to Berkeley's work.  Ah, but those costumes are fun..and Edward Everett Horton dancing in shorts and a tank top is something to behold!  But, obviously the real entertainment is seeing Astaire and Rogers dance together. They deserve their fame. That is clearly;y demonstrated when they begin moving in unison in this film. I don't know which song won the Academy Award..probably the Cole Porter number--but there is fun to be had in listening to and watching The Continental -- which is both a song and a dance.

mjc says:  Always a delight to watch the fluidity and grace of Astaire and Rogers.  The rest is dated and drags.

Bad Girl, 1931

Director: Frank Borzage
Academy Award Best Director _ other nominations
Starring: James Dunn, Sally Eilers
IMDB Link:  Bad Girl

sez says: before the production codes were established movie stories sometimes dealt with problems real people have..in this case mis-communication and lack of communication cause two people who care for each other to keep doing exactly the wrong thing.

mjc says: the characteristics of a "good" man presented in this movie appear to have been absorbed by my father in the form of a curmudgeon with a heart of gold.

Cavalcade, 1933

Director Frank Lloyd
Studio Winfield Sheehan
Won lots of Academy Awards in 1933
Starring Diana Wynyard; Clive Brooks
IMDB Link:  Cavalcade

sez-- OMG this was long and awful:  nationalism, patriarchy, class domination, prejudice and stereotypes of all kinds are served up in this multi-generational 'epic'.  It is to be avoided.  Why did it win all those awards?  Something must have been up in 1932-33 to make this film resonate with the times, but it is not clear what that was -- and it is actually painful to watch now.

mjc--awful, a stereotype of the hack movies that the 70s generation was racing away from

Arrowsmith, 1931

Director: John Ford
Studio: Goldwyn, United Artist
Won various Academy Awards
Staring Ronald Colman, Helen Hayes, Myrna Loy
IMDB Link:   Arrowsmith


sez says -  just give me a microscope and good pure science to save the day -- but you have to wonder if there would have been a greater moral dilemma if the the people being experimented on had been white, rather than black. -- with beautiful photography.

mjc says - White man's burden, woman's sacrifice for her man.

Grand Hotel, 1931

Director: Edmund Goulding
Studio:  MGM
Winner Best Picture Academy Awards
Starring Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery
IMDB Link:  Grand Hotel

Per SEZ: Sure this is a famous movie--and it certainly is well worth watching if you are a film-history buff, but let's be honest, the story is absurd: esp the Barrymore/Garbo relationship. Garbo's acting is over the top melodrama. Yes, she says "I vant to be alone" but that is a pretty mild thrill. Barrymore, Crawford and Beery hold their own with the characters they had to play. But what is the sum of the coming together of these characters? The story says: Aristocrats are kinder to the working class than the bourgeois  (aristocrats are real gentlemen..so I guess common folks would rather be serfs and servants than wage workers.)  The aristocrats are on the decline and the evil industrialists (at least the German variety) are dishonest. A nice 'working girl' may have to sell 'her favors' to get by -- but a real man would rather risk his life (and die) than to accept financial help from a woman who has plenty of $$, who loves him and who is willing to help him. There is more--but it all adds up to a story without any worthwhile point...but then there are some pretty fabulous costumes--and that may be enough reason alone to take a look at this ever so famous but ever so silly movie.

The Divorcee, 1930

Director: Robert Leonard
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Won Academy Award Best Actress
Star: Norma Shearer
IMDB Link:  Divorcee

SEZ:  Pre-Code Hollywood sex farce says married men will stray from time to time but women mustn't. Still in the end 'true love'  trumps infidelity.

Love Parade, 1930

DIRECTOR: Earnest Lubitsch
Studio:
Nominated for and won multiple Academy Awards
Starring Maurice Chevalier and Jennette McDonald, plus Lionel Barrymore
IMDB Link:  Love Parade

Despite it being nominated for so many Academy Awards this is not as much fun as some other Lubitsch films. The theme is 'no man will be happy if he must obey his wife, even if she is The Queen.' As one of the film's characters says "A man is a man and no man will ever be happy as a wife". On the upside, there is some fine physical comedy; Chevalier is charming as ever; MacDonald appears in some pretty skimpy clothing; the staging and styles of the time are impressive. But the full tilt charm of other Lubitsch films is missing.

Cleopatra, 1934

Directed by Cecil B DeMille
Studio: Paramount Picture
Nominated for an Academy Award
Staring Claudette Colbert

MJC says: Claudette's costumes cling in all the right places--and what an array of costumes there are to be seen in this madcap Roman romp.

SEZ says: the costumes and the wild Egyptian Follies staged performances (fighting girls in lepord skins, with rose petals in the air and feather fans waving, etc) combine in this faux historical-romance/drama/weepy with a touch of 1930s screw ball comedy twang in the actor's voice to make a weird but compelling and fun to watch film.

for more information go to: imdb Cleopatra listing