Daytime Wife, 1939

Director Gregory Ratoff
Starring: Tyrone Power; Linda Darnell; Warren William

sez says: OMG this was terrible. When the pretty young wife (and she is very pretty) Linda Darnell at lasts realizes that her husband really is having a fling with his secretary her response is 'a good wife has to keep her husband interest in order to keep him'.  She runs right out and gets a job as a secretary to learn what her man really wants by learning  "what is it about secretaries that cause husbands to stray".   A woman has to do what ever is required to keep her man.  Well in the end he too has to figure out what he needs to do to keep her.  But all of his is played with mediocre acting.  And, by the way every one lives and works in buildings with great big rooms with really big doors -- I guess that must have made it easier to film...and women change their clothes a lot so there is a bit of a fashion show going on..which is about as much entertainment as this movie provides.  GRADE D

Ninotchka, 1939

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Awards: Nominated for many but don't know how many it actually won. And it is on a number or 'Top 100' Lists
Stars: Greta Garbo; Melvyn Douglas, Ina Clare, Bela Lugosi

sez says: it is not that often that you laugh out loud with movies of this era. Sure many make you smile and are pleasant enough--but the humor of 70+ years ago does not often translate with great impact to today. This movie is the exception. Ms Garbo playing a sour puss Soviet Comrade provides lots of fun.  Not so much because she is funny--but the whole idea is funny. And the script is full of satire and wit. I believe that Billy Wilder gets credit for that.  The story is silly-simple and predictable..but that matters little as the White Russians and Red Russians spar and the neer-do-well gigolo-ish Douglas is chastised by his butler for having a copy of Karl Marx's Das Capital on his bed side table --Douglas asks his butler "Don't you want things to be even between us" --and the Butler says "no, you haven't paid me in two months and you can't have half of my savings."  GRADE B+

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, 1935

Director Henry Hathaway
Awards --nominated for lots of Academy Awards..but I don't think it won any
Stars: Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone

sez says:  If you love your country enough to die for it, than you love it enough to ignore what you love for it too. That is the story.  And the men rush about, trying to be honorable, showing affection for each other in odd ways, teasing each other, getting each others backs when necessary, all the while pretending indifference to each other.  La-Te-Da.  This is a boys movie--and I watched it because I know a guy who likes this sort of stuff--but it has only a so-so appeal to me.
I am growing more and more curious about why people say that Gary Cooper is a great actor. He is a good looking guy but he doesn't really seem to have much width or depth of style.  All of his characters, no matter what movie we see him in, are basically the exact same guy.  Franchot Tone on the other hand created an interesting character, being the only character who seemed to understand the emotional complexity in these all male relationships.
 This looks like it was filmed around Vasquez Rocks in So Calif, which is an exotically beautiful place. And there is some old misc. odd bits of footage of India (circa. 1930s) added here and there. Then there are some big wide open camera shots of hundreds of horse back riders racing across the open valley: these scenes were done in real life, before special effects took over, so you can only imagine how much it cost to pull these scenes together.  But still, to me it is a GRADE C- not becasue it is 'bad' but becasue it is not my cup of tea.

The Informer, 1935

Director John Ford
Awards: Multiple Academy Awards
Stars: Victor McLaglen

sez says: wow--what a beautiful --image wise--film. B&W, with compellingly artful interplay between light and shadow, all taking place on a small set with fog inhabiting every corner, making people emerge and disappear down the harsh streets of this story.  The atmosphere becomes one of the characters. It is no wonder that it is a famous film.  Plus here is a story in which The Irish Rebels are the unequivocal heroes and the Brits are the bad guys. It is entirely partisan--which is ok by me. But you don't see that all too often.  The acting is over-the-top good: In particular McLaglen's rendition of Gypo could not be more on the mark.

And then there is the story--and that is not so easy to praise. Not because it it not righteous--it is. It is about temptation and and the need to forgive.  You can't get more righteous than that and it is a story that can't be told often enough in our revenge driven culture. But even with the wonderful acting and the beautiful visuals this story did not hold up and, honestly, it got boring.  If it hadn't been for the knock-down beautiful cinematography, and the superb acting, it would have gotten the ax.  That seems harsh--and I am pulled to try and find something nice to say....but, hey, a dumb guy betrays his friend and suffers from guilt;  the rebels are stupid enough to let a dumb guy know their secrets; and the dumb guy while he has no brain has a heart of gold, etc. etc. this is not big drama....it could easily be scoffed at, but then there are those fabulous images, and McLaglen towering over the other actors swaggering about and you can't help but stay the course...as mixed as that course might be. GRADE B-

Trouble in Paradise, 1932 -

Director Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Miriam Hopkins, Herbert Marshall, Kay Francis, Edward Everett Horton, Charles Ruggles

sez says: I'm finding I like Lubitch more and more all the time. On the DVD we got to see this there is an interesting introduction by Peter Bogdonivich who provided insight into the role Lubitch played in shaping Hollywood.  And, he explained, that Lubitch may not be as well known today as he should be, because the films he made before the infamous CODES were seldom shown after the codes came into existence. They had themes that were banned.  For instance this movie has a  non-married couple living together and supporting them selves as thieves and they are never punished for it..indeed they are the stars of the story who we want to succeed.  If that were not enough the male character is attracted to another woman, who invites him into her bedroom and while he resists the the inclination to follow for a while, he eventually gives in.   The sad thing is that this is a well done, fun old flick, and it is tragedy enough that the codes stopped this sort of story from being told, it also may have worked to stop many of the ones that were made from achieving the cult classics status they might have otherwise obtained.  GRADE B-

Peter Ibbetson, 1933

Director:  Henry Hathaway
Starring: Gary Cooper, Ann Harding, Ida Lupino
imdb Link:  Peter Ibbetson

sez says: this is full throttle WACKO!  True love is supernatural and cannot be stopped (even by prison walls) in merry old England. It give new meaning to I'll see you in my dreams. Plus Gary Cooper sports a mustache that makes him look a little like David Niven.  Really a very weird movie. Weird can mean a movie is worth seeing. But this one doesn't make the cut.  Its not entertaining.  Ida Lupino makes a brief appearance--she is pretty cute--but that doesn't rescue this poor bit of wackola.   GRADE D

mjc says:  my favorite line is Cooper's when asked if he met any girls in Paris, "one, eight years old dressed in a white pinafore".  Wow!

Design for Living, 1933

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Gary Cooper; Miriam Hopkins; Fredric March

sez says -this Noel Coward play was adapted for the screen by Ben Hecht. Cowards original script is wonderful--and it is testament to Hecht's skill that he altered 90% of the script and it was still delightful.  The film story if not as explicit as the theater story about what the Design for Living looks like --eg sex is a part of the theater story.  In the film version there is a 'gentleman's agreement' of no sex.  In the film, the importance of the woman's role in making the men better artists is made explicit (that being the reason they are a threesome) where her role as a critic is only suggested in the theater version (because the sexual attraction is the magnet holding them together in the theater.)  In any case, this is a delightful movie.  Lubitsch is a master at making sex farces--and he excels here.  March and Cooper do a grand job of being jealous of each other while they profess wholeheartedly to be true to each other and not let Hopkins get between them.  And Hopkins is just plain fun--throwing her self about on dusty couches and wise cracking.  GRADE B

mjc says:   this is great threesome, with the film moving swiftly through the interactions of the players.  It is pure fun to watch even 75 years later.  GRADE B-