YOUR COLOSSAL MAIN FEATURE
Plus
Full Supporting Program
Over 175 Classic Hollywood Movies Examined
John Howard Reid
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Howard Reid at Smashwords
Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid
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Original text copyright
2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.
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Examined by John Howard Reid
Hollywood Classics 7
2011
Other Books in the Hollywood Classics series:
1. New Light on Movie Bests
2. “B” Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies
3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s
4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West
5. Memorable Films of the Forties
6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s
7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program
8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Entertainment
9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties
10. Hollywood “B” Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills
11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
12. These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards
13. Movie Mystery & Suspense
14. America’s Best, Britain’s Finest
15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic
16. Hollywood Movie Musicals
17. “Hollywood Classics” Index Books 1-16
18. More Movie Musicals
19. Success in the Cinema
20. Best Western Movies
21. Great Cinema Detectives
22. Great Hollywood Westerns
23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema
24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies
25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24
--
Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid
CinemaScope
One: Stupendous in Scope
CinemaScope Two: 20th
Century-Fox
CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge
Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills
WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD
Silent Films and Early Talkies on DVD
British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD
Copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.
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--
Table of Contents
A
B
C
D
E
H
K
L
M
Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)
P
S
T
--
Shorts:
A
C
F
H
M
N
O
Oliver the Eighth (see Private Life of Oliver the Eighth)
P
Private Life of Oliver the Eighth (1934)
T
--
Features:
A
Adventures of Salvator Rosa (1939)
Affairs of Jimmy Valentine (1942)
Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)
Avventura di Salvator Rosa (see Adventures of Salvator Rosa)
B
Boy from Barnado’s (see Lord Jeff)
Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937)
C
California in 1878 (see Fighting Thru)
Crime in the Clouds (see Fly-Away Baby)
D
Dead Eyes of London (see Dark Eyes of London)
Deadline Alley (see Headline Hunters)
Death in the Air (see Pilot X)
Death in the Sky (see Pilot X)
E
F
Fightin’Ranch (see Fighting Thru)
Girl in Pawn (see Little Miss Marker)
H
Human Monster (see Dark Eyes of London)
I
J
K
L
Lied einer Nacht (see Chanson d’une Nuit)
Lullaby (see Sin of Madelon Claudet)
M
Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942)
Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940)
Mexican Spitfire’s Baby (1941)
Mexican Spitfire’s Blessed Event (1943)
Mexican Spitfire’s Elephant (1942)
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942)
Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Murder in the Air (see Pilot X)
Mutiny in the Big House (1939)
Mysterious Bombardier (see Pilot X)
N
O
One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)
P
Port of Wickedness (see Barbary Coast)
Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
R
S
Secrets of the French Police (1932)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Sunset Carson Rides Again (1948)
T
Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938)
Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942)
Texas Kid, Outlaw (see Kid from Texas)
U
Unforgotten Crime (see Affairs of Jimmy Valentine)
V
W
When New York Sleeps (see Now I’ll Tell)
White Shadows in the South Seas (1928)
With Byrd at the South Pole (1930)
Y
Z
--
Articles:
Julien Duvivier, Fernand Gravet, Luise Rainer, Miliza Korjus (see Great Waltz)
Glenda Farrell and the Torchy Blane series (see Fly-Away Baby)
Jane Greer (see Run for the Sun)
Multiple Language Movies (see Chanson d’une Nuit)
***
SECTION 1: CARTOONS
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Myron Waldman, Graham Place. Voices: Jack Mercer (Elmer), Margie Hines (Mirandy). Music: Edward Heyman, Sammy Timberg. A Max Fleischer Color Classic.
Not copyrighted by Paramount Pictures. Released in 1938. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Two hayseeds visit the World’s Fair and get entangled in the usual automated mechanical products, including mechanical hairdressers and robotic dancing partners. A fair to middling effort with one or two bright gags.
--
Bimbo (Barnacle Bill), Betty Boop (the object of Barnacle’s affections, voiced by Mae Questel).
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Seymour Kneitel, Rudy Zamora. Song, “Barnacle Bill, the Sailor”. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 31 August 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: This first use of the catchy “Barnacle Bill, the Sailor” (with risque lyrics that were cleaned up for the song’s subsequent use in a Popeye cartoon), is an inventive offering that presents Bimbo in a more flatteringly aggressive light than usual and allows Fleischer to put his talent for surreal gags to good use (we particularly like the chairs tiptoeing out of Betty’s room so that the sofa—which joins in the chorus of the song— can amble in). The final sequence with the lightning is delightfully bizarre, though we wish that Betty could somehow have joined in the climax. Her role here, as in other Bimbos, amounts to just a little more than a guest appearance.
--
Bimbo and Betty Boop. (Betty Boop voiced by Mae Questel).
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Songs: “Moving Day” and “Hello, Beautiful”. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 22 August 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Plenty of gags though less surrealistic touches in this fast-paced moving-day comedy in which the lead character is actually neither an unusually deep-voiced Bimbo nor the brunette cut-up Betty, but a horse who does some wonderful things with his moving van, assisted by Felix the cat (of all people) and a hefty furniture-wrestler. Best sequence has Bimbo whistling on the doorstep whilst he waits for Betty to dress.
--
Director: I. FRELENG. Story: Tedd Pierce, Michael Maltese. Animators: Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy, Manuel Perez. Backgrounds: Paul Julian. Lay-outs: Hawley Pratt. Voice characterizations: Mel Blanc. Music director: Carl Stalling. Color by Technicolor.
Copyright 22 December 1947 by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros “Bugs Bunny Special” cartoon. U.S. release: 12 June 1948. 7 minutes.
COMMENT: Yosemite Sam, “The roughest, toughest, he-man-stuffest hombre as ever crossed the Rio Grande”, once again meets his match with our Bugs in this ultra-lively, ultra-smooth satire in which many of our favorite western clichés are devastatingly parodied. In the movie’s funniest scene, Sam sprays bullets around the rabbit’s feet, commanding him to dance. Which he delightfully does. In fact Sam (and we) enjoy this foot-tapping interlude so much, Sam orders a reprise, and before you know it, Sam himself gets into the act with a likewise rendition that comes to a really hilarious close. (Our thanks to all the heroes above, plus uncredited sound effects man, Treg Brown).
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Bimbo (a train bandit), Betty Boop (the deserted wife, not voiced by Mae Questel).
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Willard Bowsky, Al Eugster. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 3 April 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Diminutive, black-masked Bimbo has one of his best roles as a strong-arm bandit, brought to heel by a shrewish wife (a slightly uncharacteristic outing for a—fortunately—still-singing Betty Boop). Some good gags, but the cartoon’s best feature is Fleischer’s perkily animated train which clatters along the track with literally all moving and stationary parts flying.
--
Director: UB IWERKS. Animators: Burt Gillett (alias “Grim Natwick”), Berny Wolf. A Willie Whopper cartoon. Music: Carl W. Stalling. Producers: Ub Iwerks, Pat Powers.
Copyright 6 July 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. A Celebrity Production. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Ingenious little black-and-white offering in which our cave man/Tarzan Willie Whopper rescues a nice girl (who is suitably grateful) from a hungry dinosaur.
--
Donald Duck (voiced by Clarence Nash).
Director: JACK KING. Story: Harry Reeves, Rex Cox. Animators: Don Towsley, Josh Meador, Judge Whitaker, Bill Justice. Lay-outs: Ernest Nordli. Backgrounds: Howard Dunn. Music: Oliver Wallace. Color by Technicolor. RCA Sound System. Executive producer: Walt Disney.
Copyright 2 November 1944 by Walt Disney Productions. Released through RKO Radio Pictures. A Walt Disney "Donald Duck" cartoon. 1 reel.
SYNOPSIS: Donald is employed in the gift-wrapping department of the Royal Bros Department Store. As the only employee in this section, he is literally showered with gifts. Some, he finds comparatively easy to wrap. Others, such as a Jack-in-the-box, predictably prove more difficult.
COMMENT: A quick-paced, mildly amusing entry in this series, attractively colored and animated. Off-beat in that Donald is the only "live" character on screen, though he does do battle with a lively speaking tube that carries hurry-up messages from his boss.
--
Bimbo (the waiter), Betty Boop (nightclub singer, voiced by Mae Questel).
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Myron Natwick, Ted Sears. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 9 August 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: In her first appearance, Betty Boop with her long dog ears and surrealistically mobile face, is a long way from the Betty we all know and love. Nonetheless it’s good to see her, though it’s really Bimbo’s film as he and a headless duck dance up a storm while he runs rings around a ruffianly customer who is impatient for roast duck. Lively, if somewhat bizarre (and even tasteless) entertainment.
--
Director: SEYMOUR KNEITEL. Story: Shane Miller, Orestes Calpini. Based upon the characters in “Raggedy Ann”, created by Johnny Gruelle. Animators: Orestes Calpini, Hal Eugster. Scenics: Shane Miller. Music arrangements: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Famous Studios Production. A Paramount Picture.
Copyright 9 May 1947 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 10 minutes.
COMMENT: A few flashes of visual inventiveness grafted on to an overly sentimental story about a cute little blind girl (and her comes-to-life doll, Raggedy Ann) in a Tree Grows in Brooklyn environment.
--
Director: BILL TYTLA. Story: Joe Stultz, Larry Riley. Animators: George Germanetti, Steve Muffatti. Scenics: Robert Connavale. Music: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. RCA Sound System. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount.
Copyright 19 November 1948 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.
COMMENT: Hector the dog is forced to cope with three unexpected offspring on Christmas Eve. A boring and thoroughly predictable effort with not one ounce of wit or vivacity.
--
Director: I. SPARBER. Story: Carl Meyer, Jack Mercer. Animators: Dave Tendlar, Marty Taras. Scenics: Tom Ford. Music director: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount.
Copyright 31 December 1948 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.
COMMENT: Here we are back in that familiar battle-of-the-bands territory, this time opposing a hep-cat to a classic orchestra of mice. A lively enough little number, with a first-rate music score.
--
Director: UB IWERKS. Music: Carl W. Stalling. Color by Cinecolor. Producers: Ub Iwerks, Pat Powers. A P.A. Powers’ComiColor Cartoon.
Not copyrighted by Celebrity Productions, Inc. U.S. release: 1935.
COMMENT: It’s not the real Humpty Dumpty, but Humpty Dumpty junior, who graces this witty little romance in which Junior falls in love with an Easter Egg who is carried off by a villainous Bad Egg. Fortunately, Easter falls into a pan of boiling water and emerges as a hardboiled egg. I love the production number, “Spooning in a Spoon”, which happily is reprised at the finale. Despite its slow start, this is one you can put on the “Recommended” list.
--
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Story: Joseph E. Stultz. Animators: Willard Bowsky, James Davis. Color by Technicolor. Voices: Pinto Colvig (Gabby), Jack Mercer (the king). Music: Sammy Timberg, Winston Sharples. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 18 October 1940 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel. 7 minutes.
COMMENT: Boring Gabby is induced to change places with King Little as it seems the king is convinced he will be shot by an unknown assassin. In a word, “tiresome.”
--
Director: BILL TYTLA. Story: Ewald Ludwig, I. Klein, Jack Ward. Scenics: Robert Little. Animators: Hal Eugster, George Germanetti. Steve Muffatti. Music arrangements: Winston Sharples. Song, “Tap, Tap, Tap” by Buddy Kaye and Dick Manning. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon.
Copyright 14 October 1949 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.
COMMENT: One of the most entertaining cartoons Paramount ever produced, this spirited offering is a clever little tale of a coming-of-age leprechaun (he’s 121) versus the district’s most ambitious miser who’s after that legendary crock of gold. Director Bill Tytla deserves a big hand. Despite one or two slightly strained effects, this one comes over as a delightfully atmospheric, humorously suspenseful yarn.
--
Jack Mercer (Popeye), Mae Questel (Olive Oyl). Other characters include Wimpy, the man on the flying trapeze, three urchins, and a cat.
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Based on characters created by Segar. Animators: Willard Bowsky, Dave Tendlar. Title song revised (from an 1868 tune) by Walter O’Keefe.
Copyright 29 March 1934 by Paramount Productions, Inc. A “Popeye the Sailor” cartoon. 1 reel.
NOTES: One of the few Popeyes in which Bluto does not appear, his usual villainous place being here usurped by the title character.
COMMENT: A delightful musical entry in the series, with Jack Mercer and company in fine voice as they reprise the title song amidst the perils of the big top. We love the three youngsters (and the cat) whom Popeye helps into the circus. Some wonderful sight gags ensue from this confrontation, in which Wimpy figures as ringmaster, alternately blowing a whistle (in his left hand) and eating a hamburger (in his right).
OTHER VIEWS: A rousing rendition of the title song — nicely orchestrated and vocalized — which occupies just about all the film’s running time, makes this entry one of the most pleasing and must-sees of the series. As usual, Olive gets the thin end of the stick. Not only is she stretched and booted from trapeze bar to horizontal, but Popeye misses her as she plummets from the high wire. But he does catch her on first bounce.
--
Director: UB IWERKS. Music: Carl W. Stalling. Color by Cinecolor. Producers: Ub Iwerks, Pat Powers. A P.A. Powers’ComiColor Cartoon.
Not copyrighted by Celebrity Productions, Inc. Released in 1935. 1 reel.
COMMENT: A boring waste of time about a certain young girl whose pet lamb follows her to school one day. The lamb is keen to show off its miniscule skills at dancing, but neither we nor the typically caricatured old-maid schoolteacher are amused.
--
Starring Betty Boop (voiced by Mae Questel). With Bimbo.
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 7 November 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: For her first starring role, Betty’s Boop’s dog ears have been replaced by earrings. Oddly, although Betty is now the center of attention, Bimbo still has a major role. Not only does he carry most of the “mask” gags, the movie even irises out on a clever series of close-ups of Bimbo’s eyes as they canter about with joy at Bimbo’s prospects of marrying Betty. As befits the launch of a new star, production values in this one are extremely elaborate with many huge crowd gags (two or three of which can only be fully appreciated on a big cinema screen), jaunty songs and a full orchestral accompaniment which never stops for breath from credit titles to fade-out. Some of the visual gags are delightfully surreal. To sum up: This entry incorporates all the inventiveness of the Fleischers in full flight.
OTHER VIEWS: Betty’s first above-the-title star featurette, is also one of her best. Terrific fun for young and old—especially old!
--
Betty Boop (voiced by Mae Questel) and Bimbo.
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Associate director: Shamus Culhane. Music: George Steiner. Animators: Jimmie Culhane, Berney Wolf. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 26 September 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Bimbo’s mum asks him to mind his baby brother, Aloysius—a rather mature brat who smokes cigars and studies the stock market. After initially refusing her invitation in a snatch of delightful nonsense lyrics, Bimbo manages to sneak across to Betty’s for a game of oddball rope-skipping which somehow becomes a splendid slide down the banisters into a picture of the sea. Although there is still plenty of captivatingly surreal material in this one (mostly featuring inanimate objects which suddenly come to life), a few of the gags are more mundane, while at least two are sadistic enough to make this entry unsuitable for children. Recommended, nonetheless—if only for one really brilliant gag in which a snorer replaces a pianola to produce notes from a music sheet.
--
Bimbo (Mysterious Mose), Betty Boop (frightened householder, voiced by Mae Questel).
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Willard Bowsky, Ted Sears. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 26 December 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: The obligatory haunted house offering in the series proves to be a mite disappointing. True, the flying meltdown, Bimbo, goes through some wonderful transformations, but Betty’s role is merely that of a colorless screamer.
--
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Myron Waldman, Hicks Lokey. Music: Sammy Timberg, Bob Rothberg. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 27 August 1937 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel.
COMMENT: A quartet of young penguins get up to moderately entertaining mischief in a deserted cabin. Their mother has an appropriately catchy song, “Curiosity Killed the Cat.” Nice Technicolor photography.
--
Director: BURT GILLETT. Music: Winston Sharples. Producer: Amadee J. Van Beuren. A Rainbow Parade cartoon. Color by Technicolor.
Copyright 23 August 1935 by the Van Beuren Corp. U.S. release through RKO. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Not with me he doesn’t! You have to be a real dog lover to get anything out of this shamelessly trite piece in which Scotty rescues Grandma from a hungry hobo who takes over the house.
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Director: I. SPARBER. Story: Joe Stultz. Animators: Dave Tendlar, John Gentilella. Music director: Winston Sharples. Song, “I’m in the Mood for Love”. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount.
Copyright 28 June 1946 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Showing the influence of Tex Avery, this is a pleasing offering about a penniless wolf seeking to raise money (by stealing it from Blackie) to visit a nightclub featuring no less than thirty (count them!) beautiful girls. Alas, we don’t see even one of them on screen. Instead, Blackie offers a half-hearted Marlene Dietrich impersonation. But you can’t have everything.
--
Bimbo.
Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Producer: Max Fleischer.
Copyright 23 May 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.
COMMENT: Dog-eared Betty Boop (voiced, as usual, by Mae Questel) makes an unbilled “guest appearance” in this odd cartoon which actually doesn’t star the youthful Bimbo at all, but a far more mature imitator (who is white, not black), who sneaks into a vaudeville show. Best scene, of course, is the Betty Boop number in which she sings “You’re Driving Me Crazy” (which is delightfully reprised by the “Bimbo” character in a cleverly surrealistic montage at the conclusion of a long and none too interesting hypnotism scene with a magician lion). Other characters to note are precursors of Popeye’s nemesis, Bluto, and Mrs Simpson (of all people)!
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Director: SEYMOUR KNEITEL. Animators: Graham Place, John Walworth. Story: Carl Meyer, Jack Ward. Scenics: Anton Loeb. Music: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor.
Copyright 25 April 1947 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.
COMMENT: Thanks to Buzzy, an agreeable mockingbird, this otherwise routine entry of cat-attempting-to-breakfast-on-bird is given a bit of charm and even vivacity.
--
Director: BILL TYTLA. Story: Bill Turner, Larry Riley. Animators: George Germanetti, Steve Muffatti. Scenics: Robert Little. Music: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. RCA Sound System. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount
Copyright 1 June 1950 by Paramount Pictures Corp. 7 minutes.
COMMENT: By the humble standards of “Little Audrey” cartoons, this is a superior entry. Although the rest comes over as boringly routine, the fantasy sequence (in which the cakes our Audrey seeks to bake take on lives of their own) is handled with a fair degree of imagination.
--
Director: TEX AVERY. Story: Rich Hogan. Animator: Virgil Ross. Character animation: Robert Givens. Music director: Carl W. Stalling. Voices: Mel Blanc. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Copyright 27 July 1940 by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros “Merrie Melodies” cartoon. U.S. release: 27 July 1940. 1 reel.
COMMENT: The first true “Bugs Bunny” cartoon introduced his immortal line, “What’s up, Doc?” Admittedly, Bugs is not his customary self in figure, but his character is now set, and for fans of the aggressively wiseacre bunny, this encounter with his perennial “enemy”, Elmer Fudd, is a must. A bonus is the fast-paced assortment of typical Avery visual and verbal gags. Deservedly, this entry was nominated for Hollywood’s annual award for Best Cartoon, though it actually lost out MGM’s Milky Way.
--
Director: MANNIE DAVIS. Story: John Foster. Music: Philip A. Scheib. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Paul Terry.
Not copyrighted by Terrytoons. Released by Fox in 1944. 6 minutes.
COMMENT: A vigorously paced, often inventively tongue-in-cheek “Mighty Mouse”, with a good music score.
--
Director: I. SPARBER. Story: Jack Mercer, Jack Ward. Animators: Nick Tafuri, Tom Golden. Music: Winston Sharples. Music arrangements: Sammy Timberg. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. Paramount
Copyright 27 October 1944 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel.
COMMENT: A patriotic donkey, keen to join the WAGS, impersonates a dog. Just as his ruse is discovered, he becomes a hero by repelling the Flea Army. A mildly entertaining effort that should go down a treat with all those who love dogs and donkeys, but hate fleas.
***
SECTION 2: SHORT SUBJECTS
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Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy (themselves), Walter Long (Mugsy Long), Julie Bishop (slavey), Harry Bernard (boxing promoter), Charlie Hall (Stan’s second), Dick Gilbert (Mugsy’s second), Sam Lufkin (referee), Bobby Burns (justice of the peace), Will Stanton (drunk), Ed Brandenberg, Baldwin Cooke, Jack Hill (spectators), Eddie Baker (police chief), Frank Terry (lunch wagon man).
Director: JAMES W. HORNE. Dialogue: H.M. Walker. Photography: Art Lloyd. Film editor: Richard Currier. Music: Marvin Hatley, LeRoy Shield. Sound supervisor: Elmer Raguse. Producer: Hal Roach.
Copyright 4 February 1932 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Distributing Corp. A Hal Roach Production. U.S. release: 5 March 1932. 2 reels.
COMMENT: A most amusing effort in which the boys rescue a petite maid-of-work from the clutches of Walter Long and then find themselves (or rather Stan finds himself) in an hilarious boxing match with said Long. Well produced and deftly directed.
--
Director: JEAN YARBROUGH. Screenplay: Jack Townley, Fred Guiol. Photography: Roy Hunt. Film editor: John Lockert. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Clem Beauchamp. Producer: Bert Gilroy.
Copyright 19 January 1940 by RKO Radio Radio Pictures, Inc. 18 minutes.
COMMENT: Awful! Grossly overacted by its star, Billy Gilbert, who tries vainly to steam up some extremely weak material. Steadfastly routine direction and minimal production values don’t help.
--
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy (themselves), Edgar Kennedy (the cop), Dorothy Coburn (the nurse), Sam Lufkin (the home owner).
Director: CLYDE BRUCKMAN. Supervising director: Leo McCarey. Titles: H.M. Walker. Photography: George Stevens. Film editor: Richard Currier. Producer: Hal Roach.
Copyright 25 February 1928 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. A Hal Roach Studios Production. U.S. release: 25 February 1928. 2 reels. [A silent movie].
COMMENT: Entertaining if not exactly over-original entry, with Laurel and Hardy playing incompetent house-builders who contrive to swallow (and tread on) nails and fall off planks and ladders at every opportunity. However, the gags, as usual, are cleverly built up, and the usual slapstick mayhem is cleverly accentuated by the casting of the diminutively attractive Dorothy Coburn as the feisty nurse.
--
Hoagy Carmichael, Meredith Blake, Jack Teagarden and his orchestra (themselves).
Director: LESLIE ROUSH. Photography: George Webber. Film editor: Justin Herman.
Not copyrighted by Paramount Pictures. Released in 1939.
COMMENT: A tribute to the composer. Three Carmichael songs (“I’m Wrong”, “Washboard Blues” and “Old Rocking Chair”) are rendered by Hoagy himself (accompanied by Jack “T” and his boys), while Meredith Blake sings “Stardust” with Hoagy helping out on a second piano.
--
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy (themselves), Dorothy Granger (maid), Charles McMurphy (streetcar driver), Fay Holderness (Mrs Hardy).
Director: JAMES PARROTT. Dialogue: H.M. Walker. Story: Leo McCarey. Film editor: Richard Currier. Photography: George Stevens. Song, “Smile When the Raindrops Fall”, by Alice K. Howlett. Other songs composed by Hal Roach, and T. Marvin Hatley. Production manager: Henry Ginsberg. Sound recording: Elmer R. Raguse. Producer: Hal Roach. A Hal Roach Studios Production.
Copyright 3 December 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. U.S. release: 31 May 1930 (sic). 2 reels.
U.K. release title: Aerial Antics.
NOTES: In addition to her role as Tillie, the Hardy maid, Dorothy Granger also has a bit part as the leggy puddle jumper who almost causes Stan to have an accident.
COMMENT: In excellent form here, the boys attempt to attach a radio aerial to the roof of the Hardy home with not unexpected results, culminating in a fine slapstick finale. One of the best of the team’s many shorts.
--
Moe Howard (Moe), Curly Howard (Curly), Larry Fine (Larry), Kenneth MacDonald (Dr Mallard), Snub Pollard (man in wheelchair), Fred Kelsey (businessman), Jean Donahue (nurse), Cy Schindell, Rocky Woods (Mallard’s assistants).
Director: EDWARD BERNDS. Screenplay: Edward Bernds. Based on the 1939 screenplay Mutiny on the Body! by Elwood Ullman and Searle Cramer. Photography: Philip Tannura. Film editor: Paul Borofsky. Art director: Charles Clague. RCA Sound System. Producer: Hugh McCollum.
Copyright 20 June 1946 by Columbia Pictures Corp. 18 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Three inept electricians retire to a rest home to re-charge their batteries.
COMMENT: This re-make of a Smith and Dale two-reeler is attractively photographed and cast. Curly is in fine form.
--
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy (themselves), Edgar Kennedy (Officer Kennedy), James Finlayson (Meadows), Anders Randolph (police chief), Harry Bernard, Baldwin Cooke, Charles McMurphy (police officers).
Director: JAMES PARROTT. Story: Leo McCarey. Story editor: H.M. Walker. Film editor: Richard Currier. Photography: George Stevens. Music composed by T. Marvin Hatley and Harry von Tilzer. Production manager: Henry Ginsberg. Sound recording: Elmer R. Raguse. Producer: Hal Roach. A Hal Roach Studios Production.
Copyright 6 January 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp. A Hal Roach Comedy. U.S. release: 4 January 1930. 2 reels.
COMMENT: Exquisitely timed, one of the team’s funniest, a slapstick riot in which they are joined by the delightfully daffy Edgar Kennedy who “convinces” the boys they should rob the chief of police so that Patrolman Kennedy can claim credit for their arrest.
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Private Life of Oliver the Eighth
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy (themselves), Mae Busch (rich widow), Jack Barty (Jitters, the butler).
Director: LLOYD FRENCH. Photography: Art Lloyd. Film editor: Bert Jordan. Music composed by LeRoy Shield and Ray Henderson. Production manager: Henry Ginsberg. Sound recording: Warren B. Delaplain. Producer: Hal Roach. A Hal Roach Studios Production.
Copyright 13 February 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. A Hal Roach/Laurel-Hardy Comedy. U.S. release: February 1934. 3 reels.
COMMENT: Although the last of the team’s three-reelers fails the acid test of a good conclusion, Oliver the Eighth (as the film was titled on its original U.S. release), has many likable qualities, not the least of which is the nicely honed comic performance contributed by Jack Barty as an eccentric butler to end all eccentric butlers. Mae Busch tends to overdo the wicked widow who plans to murder Oliver (she has a thing against men named “Oliver”), but the boys are in excellent form. Although the critics didn’t like the movie, it still numbers among my favorites.
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Ben Blue, Billy Gilbert, Almeda Fowler, Otto Fries, Billy Bletcher, Howard Truesdale, Carol Tevis, Eric Mayne, Eddie Baker, Harry Bernard, Bill Elliott, Charles MacAvoy, Charlie Hall, Elinor Vanderveer.
Director: DEL LORD. Photography: Art Lloyd. Film editor: Louis McManus. Music: LeRoy Shield. Sound recording engineer: James Greene. Producer: Hal Roach. A Hal Roach Taxi Boys Comedy.
Copyright by 6 March 1933 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Company. 2 reels.
COMMENT: Marginally better than Chicken Feed (thanks largely to superior production values), this is still a mighty hard-to-sit-through effort. One good thing though: We have discovered a “comedian” who is even more charmless and consistently displays even less finesse than Billy Gilbert. His name is Ben Blue.
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SECTION 3: FEATURES
Gino Cervi (Salvator Rosa/Formica), Luisa Ferida (Lucrezia), Rina Morelli (Isabella di Torniano), Osvaldo Valenti (Lamberto d’Arco), Ugo Cesare (Giovanni), Umberto Sacripanti, Paola Stoppa (peasants), Enzo Biliotti (viceroy), Carlo Duse (the captain), Mario Mazza, Piero Pastore, Jone Salinas.
Director: ALESSANDRO BLASETTI. Screenplay: Renato Castellani, Alessando Blasetti, Corrado Pavolini. Dialogue: Giuseppe Zucca. Based on a drama by Ugo Scotti Berni. Photography: Vaclav Vich. Camera operator: Gabor Pogany. Music composed by Alessandro Cicognini. Art director: Virgilio Marchi. Costumes: Gino Sensani. Master of arms: Enzo Musemeci Greco. Costumes made by Casa d’Arte Cerratelli (Florence). Arms supplied by Rancati (Milan) and Fedi (Rome). Wigs made by Casa Eugenia (Milan). Assistant director: Renato Castellani. Artistic consultant: Corrado Pavolini. Music conducted by Piero Sassoli. Production secretary: Lionello de Felice. Production manager: Nino Riccardi. Sound by Giovanni Paris. RCA Sound System. Producer: Leo Menardi.
A Stella Production, made at Cinecitta Studios, Rome. Italian release through E.N.I.C. in 1939. U.S release through Esperia Films. New York opening: 19 September 1940. 97 minutes.
Italian release title: un’Avventura di Salvator Rosa.
COMMENT: Made shortly before the Blasetti-Cervi-Ferida The Iron Crown, this Zorro-type adventure in 18th century Naples proves a real eye-opener. Produced on an astonishingly lavish budget, stylishly directed and nothing if not zestfully played, this fast-paced Adventure offers not only superlative entertainment but a political tilt at Italy’s ruling Fascist regime which seems to have escaped attention, notice or scrutiny from contemporary censors. True, the hero’s name has been shortened from Salvatore (“Savior”) to Salvator, but I’d have thought that little stratagem would fool no-one, let alone Mussolini’s vigilant censors.
Contemporary politics aside, however, Rosa is inferior to Fox’s The Mark of Zorro in several important respects. Plumpish Gino Cervi (obviously doubled when swordplay is required) proves no match for Tyrone Power, whilst Valenti’s incredibly voluble, scratchy-voiced villain cannot hold a candle to Basil Rathbone. And whilst smooth-faced Luisa Ferida equals Linda Darnell in looks, her hectoring voice would be a bit off-putting to all but the most ardent, self-centered or supercilious suitors (like Signor Rosa himself). Of course in the self-assertive department, Signorina Ferida is a mouse indeed to the sharp-clawed Rina Morelli, who plays the shrewish, sharp-tongued and capricious duchess to the strident hilt.
Other interesting players are Ugo Cesare (this is one of his last films, he died in 1940), who does some wonderful clowning as Rosa’s coachman, Enzo Biliotti as the aristocratic viceroy, and Paola Stoppa, here hardly recognizable under a heavy disguise as one of the peasant leaders.
Whilst the swordplay is tame compared to Power’s Zorro, Rosa has the advantage of much bigger crowd scenes and far more extravagant locations and sets. Cicognini’s typically rousing music score sets the right tone of period polish from the opening credits, whilst the superlative cinematography by Vaclav Vich (his first film — on which he collaborated with Otto Heller — was made way back in 1923 and he was still working on high-budget movies well into the 1960s) provides yet another major asset.
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the Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
Dennis O’Keefe (Mike Jason), Ruth Terry (Bonnie Forbes), Gloria Dickson (Cleo Arden), Roman Bohnen (Tom Forbes), George E. Stone (Mousey), Roscoe Ates (police chief), William B. Davidson (Cyrus Ballard), Spencer Charters (Cheevers Snow), Bobby Larson (Mickey Forbes), Joe Cunningham (Charles Stanton), Harry Shannon (Pinky), Jed Prouty (Titus), Patsy Lee Parsons (Marlene Titus), Linda Brent (Letitia Hinkle), Wade Boteler (Warden Jones), Emmett Vogan (district attorney), Olaf Hytten (butler), Ray Erlenborn (sound effects man), Lois Collier (receptionist), Billy Benedict (bellboy), Dick Elliott (Miller), Charles Williams (pitch man), Dorothy Christy (Mrs Updike), Guy Usher (inspector), Sven Hugo Borg (Olaf), Mary Currier (Felice Winters), Virginia Farmer (Mrs Brighton), Mary Davenport (telephone operator), Douglas Evans (announcer), Fred Burns (westerner), Al Bridge (trustee), Edmund Cobb (police sergeant), Ben Hall (attendant), Frank Fanning (Wilbur), Jack Raymond (hot dog seller), Jimmie Fox (window cleaner), Margaret Marquis, Ralph Peters, Sada Simmons, Morgan Brown, Rand Brooks, Joel Friedkin.
Director: BERNARD VORHAUS. Screenplay: Olive Cooper, Robert Tasker. Story: Paul Armstrong jr. Photography: John Alton. Film editor: Howard O’Neill. Associate producer: Leonard Fields. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates.
Not copyrighted by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 31 March 1942. Australian release through Associated-British Empire Films: 30 July 1942. Australian release length: 6,651 feet. 74 minutes.
Title of condensed (to 53 minutes) TV version: UNFORGOTTEN CRIME.
COMMENT: Who said that DVD was going to bring back all our favorite films in all their original glory? This certainly hasn’t happened with The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine. Brilliantly directed and superbly photographed, all we have in the mutilated DVD version is an indication of the “B” masterpiece that Republic originally released.
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Tyrone Power (Alexander), Alice Faye (Stella Kirby), Don Ameche (Charles Dwyer), Ethel Merman (Jerry Allen), Jack Haley (Davey Lane), Jean Hersholt (Professor Heinrich), Helen Westley (Aunt Sophie), John Carradine (taxidriver), Paul Hurst (Bill), Wally Vernon (himself), Ruth Terry (Ruby), Douglas Fowley (Snapper), Chick Chandler (Louie), Eddie Collins (Corporal Collins), Joseph Crehan (stage manager), Robert Gleckler (Eddie), Dixie Dunbar (herself), Joe King (Charles Dillingham), Charles Coleman (head waiter), Stanley Andrews (colonel), Jack Pennick (sergeant), Selmer Jackson (radio station manager), Jane Jones, Otto Fries, Mel Kalish (trio), Donald Douglas (singer), Grady Sutton (Babe), Charles Williams (agent), Cully Richards (bandsman), Charles Tannen (Dillingham’s secretary), Lon Chaney Jr (photographer), Paul McVey (stage manager), Arthur Rankin (assistant stage manager), the King’s Men (quartette), Edward Keane (major), James Flavin (captain), Tyler Brooke (2nd assistant stage manager), Ralph Dunn (2nd captain), Eleanor Wesselhoeft (Martha), Robert Lowery (reporter), Harold Goodwin (military policeman), Cecil Weston (woman), Pop Byron (conductor), Lynne Barkley and Kay Griffith (autograph seekers), Sam Ash and Edwin Stanley (critics), Rondo Hatton.
Directed by HENRY KING from a screenplay by Kathryn Scola and Lamar Trotti, based on an idea by Irving Berlin, adapted by Richard Sherman. Photography: Peverell Marley. Art directors: Bernard Herzbrun and Boris Leven. Set decorations: Thomas Little. Film editor: Barbara McLean. Costumes: Gwen Wakeling. Dances staged by Seymour Felix. Songs, words and music by Irving Berlin. Music director: Alfred Newman. Sound recording: Arthur Von Kirbach and Roger Heman. Associate producer: Harry Joe Brown. Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck.
The songs and singers: Title song (Alice Faye); “Easter Parade” (Ameche); “Blue Skies” (Faye and Merman); “My Walking Stick” (Merman); “Remember” (Faye); “Everybody’s Doing It” (Faye, Dunbar and Vernon); “When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam” (Faye); “Everybody Step” (Merman); “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody” (Merman); “Heat Wave” (Merman); “We’re On Our Way To France” (chorus); “All Alone” (Faye); “What’ll I Do?” (chorus); “Say It With Music” (Merman); “Ragtime Violin” (Jones, Fries and Kalish); “International Rag” (Faye, Chandler and Vernon); “This Is the Life” (Vernon); “Go To the Devil” (Merman); “How I Hate To Get Up In the Morning” (Haley and chorus); “Now It Can Be Told” (Faye and Ameche); “I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine In the YMCA” (Haley); “For Your Country And My Country”; “I’m Marching Along With Time”; “Gypsy In Me”.
The following songs were played by the orchestra only, or used as background music; “Cheek To Cheek”; “Lazy”; “Marie”; “Some Sunny Day”; “The Song Is Ended”; “When I Lost You”.
Copyright 11 August 1938 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy, 5 August 1938. U.S. release: 19 August 1938. Australian release: December 1938. 9,569 feet. 106 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Rich boy spurns classics, wants to play ragtime. Naturally, he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, ending up with a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall.
NOTES: Prestigious Hollywood award for Best Adapted Music Score: Alfred Newman (defeating Carefree, Girls School, Goldwyn Follies, Jezebel, Mad About Music, Storm Over Bengal, Sweethearts, There Goes My Heart, Tropic Holiday and The Young In Heart). [Although Newman was the one who received the award, all he did was conduct the orchestra. The actual scoring was done by a team of eight arrangers, including Herbert Spencer, Gene Rose and Edward B. Powell].
Also nominated for Best Picture (defeated by You Can’t Take It With You), Original Story (lost to Boys Town), Art Direction (lost to The Adventures of Robin Hood), Film Editing (Robin Hood was again the winner), and Best Song (Berlin’s “Now It Can Be Told” was edged out by Rainger and Robin’s “Thanks For the Memory” from The Big Broadcast of 1938).
Number 3 on the annual poll of U.S. film critics conducted by The Film Daily. (First place-getter was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 2nd was You Can’t Take It With You).
Negative cost: $2,000,000.
COMMENT: No less than 26 fabulous songs by Irving Berlin, old and new (including “Now It Can Be Told”, “My Walking Stick”, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, “I’m Marching Along with Time” and the impressive production number, “We’re on Our Way to France”), splendidly performed by such mistresses of melody as Alice Faye and Ethel Merman, are ingeniously threaded on a show biz story concocted by Berlin himself. Unfortunately, Mr Berlin’s plot is the weakest link in the chain and its corn-ball clichés have an irritating tendency to get in the way of and to over-shadow his wonderful tunes. Despite the array of writing talent, the script has very little in the way of real dramatic “meat” for the players to get their teeth into, and whilst Alice Faye and company look very decorative, one wishes they had something more substantial to do.
Henry King’s direction is capable and Peverell Marley’s photography a thing of beauty. The art directors have excelled themselves in creating attractive sets, the costumes are gorgeous and production values are generally lavish (though the choreography of the musical numbers is rather tame, especially to those of us who thrill to the spectacle of a Busby Berkeley production number); but 26 songs are not enough to sustain a story so slight and so silly. Now if it was 36 songs . . . Alfred Newman won a deserved Academy Award for his fine scoring of Berlin’s music. The film itself was nominated for the Best Picture award, but lost out to You Can’t Take It With You.
OTHER VIEWS: A feast for Irving Berlin fans. And who better to put over his catchy rhythms and sparkling melodies but Ethel Merman and Alice Faye. Both ladies are in top voice. Berlin wrote three new songs for the movie, including one each for Merman (“My Walking Stick”) and Faye (“Now It Can Be Told” — which was nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award). [The other new Berlin song was “I’m Marching Along With Time’]. He then went on record to compliment Faye by saying, “I’d rather have Alice Faye introduce my songs than any other singer I know.” Good on you, Irving! This critic totally agrees. Alice Faye is the most marvelous wonder to hit movies since Georges Melies sent a man to the moon. And Alexander’s Ragtime Band is a sensational showcase for her talents. She sings, she dances, she looks absolutely beautiful, she delivers even the most clichéd of lines with such entrancing inflections of voice as to conjure freshness and vitality from the feeblest threads. She is a conqueror, sweeping all dross into a sea of forgetfulness, transforming the most threadbare strings of dialogue and plot into strands of diamonds and pearls. And when she sings . . . Not all the angels in all the heavens could produce notes so rhapsodic and true.
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Gig Young (Hob Danvers), Polly Bergen (Ruth Danvers), Jean Hagen (Meg Hutchins), Henry “Harry” Morgan (Lew Hutchins), Barbara Lawrence (Sylvia Lorgan), Robert Horton (Jackie Roach), Lee Aaker (Teddy Hutchins), Lee Van Cleef (Smitty), Marilee Phelps (wife of Smitty), Jim Hayward (Cal Jamison), George Wallace (Buster Cole), Morris Ankrum (Bucky Hilberry), Murray Alper (medic), Billy Dix, Richard Farnsworth, Chuck Hayward, Archie Butler (cowboys), Stuart Randall (Eddie Elstead), Emmett Vogan, Jess Kirkpatrick, Jeanne Dante, Helen Spring (Eastern tourist spectators), Len Hendry (bartender), John Call (father), Chris Olsen (boy), John Hedloe (young man), Mary Lawrence (young woman), Marshall Reed (clerk), Dale Van Sickel (Johnny Backett).
Director: RICHARD FLEISCHER. Screenplay: Harold Jack Bloom. Story: Arthur M. Loew jr. Photographed in 3-D Ansco Color — print by Technicolor — by Paul C. Vogel. Film editor: Cotton Warburton. Music director: Rudolph G. Kopp. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Merrill Pye. Set decorators: Edwin B. Willis, Richard Pefferle. Make-up: William Tuttle. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff, Mary Keats. Wardrobe supervisor: Sam Kress. Special effects: A. Arnold Gillespie. Color consultant: Alvord Eiseman. Assistant director: Marvin Stuart. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Sound recording: Wesley C. Miller, Franklin Milton, William Steinkamp. Western Electric Sound System. Metrovision Tri-Dee technology: Jack Arnold. Producer: Arthur M. Loew, jr.
Copyright 24 June 1953 by Loew’s Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at Loew’s State: 22 July 1953. U.S. release: 12 June 1954. London trade show in 3-D): mid-February 1954. U.K. release (presumably flat) on the lower half of a double bill. Australian release: 26 April 1954. Sydney opening (flat) as the main attraction at the suburban Metros. City moveover to the top half of a double bill at the Lyric. 70 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: An aging rodeo star (Gig Young) meets up with his estranged wife (Polly Bergen) at an engagement in Tucson, Arizona. Although she tries to appear indifferent, the wife has actually traveled to the Tucson arena in a last-ditch attempt to win back her husband. Unfortunately, he is now entangled with a blonde siren (Barbara Lawrence) who has no intention of letting her "meal ticket" wander back home. On the other hand, the wife’s bid is vigorously supported by a mutual friend, Lew Hutchins (Henry "Harry" Morgan). A former rodeo champion of champions, Hutchins is now reduced to playing a clown.
COMMENT: Way back when it was first released, I commented in my newspaper review that the best way to enjoy Arena was to come late. I was wrong. The best 3-D sequence is right at the very beginning of the movie, with two cars nosing into the camera as they race along the highway to Tucson. After this initial spurt of action, all we get is a lot of dreary rodeo footage with a few steers horning into the lens. The screenplay is likewise dull, though it does provide a few snappy lines for the lovely Barbara Lawrence. Her wonderfully sinuous femme fatale lifts the acting level of Arena considerably, even inspiring Robert Horton to lift his game. Gig Young as always is insufferably dull, whilst unattractively photographed Jean Hagen is wasted in a thankless role. Miss Bergen looks pretty but out of place. Interesting to see Lee Van Cleef in a rare sympathetic underdog role. Despite some bright stretches, color photography in the print under review is inclined to be too soft and diffuse — especially in the seemingly endless rodeo footage which looks like a blow-up from 16mm.
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Gary Cooper (Professor Bertram Potts), Barbara Stanwyck (Sugarpuss O’Shea), Oscar Homolka (Professor Gurkakoff), Henry Travers (Professor Jerome), S.Z. Sakall (Professor Magenbruch), Tully Marshall (Professor Robinson), Dana Andrews (Joe Lilac), Leonid Kinsky (Professor Quintana), Richard Haydn (Professor Oddly), Aubrey Mather (Professor Peagram), Allen Jenkins (garbage man), Dan Duryea (Duke Pastrami), Ralph Peters (Asthma Anderson), Kathleen Howard (Miss Bragg), Mary Field (Miss Totten), Charles Lane (Larson), Charles Arnt (McNeary), Alan Rhein (“Horseface”), Elisha Cook junior (nightclub waiter), Aldrich Bowker (justice of the peace), Pat West (bum), Addison Richards (district attorney), Eddie Foster (Pinstripe), Kenneth Howell (college boy), Tommy Ryan (newsboy), Tim Ryan (motor cop), Will Lee (Benny, the Creep), Gene Krupa and his Orchestra (themselves), Otto Hoffman (stage doorman), Ed Mundy (spieler), Geraldine Fissette (hula dancer), June Horne, Ethelreda Leopold (nursemaids in park), Walter Shumway, George Barton (garbage men), Merrilee Lannon, Doria Caron (girls in subway), Helen Seamon, Catherine Henderson (college girls), Jack Perry (fighting bum), Lorraine Miller (girl in café), Mildred Morris (chorus girl), Francis Sayles (taxi-driver), Gerald Pierce (delivery boy), Chet De Vito (toll keeper), Pat Flaherty, George Sherwood (deputies), Del Lawrence (Irish gardener), Eddy Chandler, Lee Phelps, Ken Christy, Dick Rush, Oscar Chalkee Williams (cops), Johnnie Morris (justice of the peace clerk), Edward Clark (proprietor of motor court).
Director: HOWARD HAWKS. Screenplay: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder. Original story: Billy Wilder, Thomas Monroe. Photography: Gregg Toland. Film editor: Daniel Mandell. Art director: Perry Ferguson. Set decorator: Julia Heron. Music: Alfred Newman. Song, “Drum Boogie”, by Gene Krupa and Roy Eldridge. Associate art director: McClure Capps. Associate set decorator: Howard Bristol. Miss Stanwyck’s costumes: Edith Head. Property master: Irving W. Sindler. Miss Stanwyck’s singing voice dubbed by Martha Tilton. Unit manager: Earl Rettig. Assistant director: William Tummel. Sound recording: Thomas T. Moulton. Sound recording engineer: Frank Maher. Producer: Sam Goldwyn.
Copyright 1 December 1941 by Samuel Goldwyn. Released through RKO Radio Puctures. U.S. release: 9 January 1942. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall; 15 January 1942 (ran three weeks). Australian release: 24 September 1942. U.S. running time: 111 minutes. Australian length: 10,252 feet. 114 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Hunted by the police as a murder witness, Snow White (Barbara Stanwyck) finds refuge with the Seven Dwarfs. (Gary Cooper plays Bashful; Oscar Homolka, Doc; Tully Marshall, Grumpy; Richard Haydn, Sneezy; S.Z. Sakall, Happy; Henry Travers, Sleepy; Leonid Kinsky, Dopey).
NOTES: Nominated for the following annual awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Best Actress (Barbara Stanwyck lost to Joan Fontaine for Suspicion); Original Story (lost to Harry Segall for Here Comes Mr Jordan); Music Scoring (lost to Bernard Herrmann for All That Money Can Buy); Sound recording (lost to Jack Whitney and William H. Wilmarth for Lady Hamilton/That Hamilton Woman).
COMMENT: I know that three minutes isn’t much, but Ball of Fire proves the old adage that, no matter how long it is, you can’t shorten a screwball comedy to advantage. The full-length version is infinitely more entertaining. It needs those extra minutes. When you have the pleasure of viewing the full introduction to the characters, the story itself becomes much more interesting. Especially when the introductory footage is, as here, so much spicier and more amusing than the rather conventional, and even trite, main plot.
True, there are some wonderful moments in the latter half of the movie: Haydn asking if anyone has change for a dollar; the villains disposed of in the garbage truck, and Barbara making sotto voce interjections during the wedding ceremony. But nothing can compare to that marvelous first glimpse of Babs behind the curtains. In fact all of the first hour or so is sheer, unalloyed delight. And two wonderful songs from Martha Tilton too!
It all adds up to a glorious feast. Both Cooper and Stanwyck are in fine fettle, and they’re supported by a wonderful array of our favorite character players. Even Elisha Cook jr is on hand. Production values, as usual from Sam Goldwyn, are superb.
Ball of Fire has a place in history as the last of Hollywood’s famous screwball comedies. World War Two put paid to this genre. Goldwyn’s later attempt to remake the film as a musical for Danny Kaye, A Song Is Born (1948), was not successful.
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Edward G. Robinson (Louis Chamalis), Miriam Hopkins (Mary Rutledge), Joel McCrea (James Carmichael), Walter Brennan (Old Atrocity), Frank Craven (Colonel Cobb), Brian Donlevy (Knuckles), Clyde Cook (Oakie), Harry Carey (Slocum), Matt McHugh (Bronco), Otto Hoffman (Peebles), Rollo Lloyd (Wigham), J.M. Kerrigan (Judge Harper), Donald Meek (McTavish), Fred Vogeding (captain), Dave Wengren (first mate), Anders Van Haden (McCready), Jules Cowles (pilot), Cyril Thornton (steward), Wong Chung (Ah Wing), Roger Gray (Sandy), Clarence Wertz (drunk), Russ Powell (sheriff), Harry Semels (look-out), David Niven (sailor thrown out of saloon), Ben Hall (printer), Harry Holman (mayor), Herman Bing (fish peddler), Kit Guard (kibitzer), Ethel Wales (mayor’s wife), Jim Thorpe (Indian), Ton London (ringsider with girl), Harry Depp (jeweler), Theodore Lorch (helmsman), Captain Anderson, Edward Peil sr, Sidney D’Albrook ((vigilantes), Bert Sprotte, Claude Payton, Frank Benson, Bob Stevenson, Phillip Dare, Martin Faust (passengers), Patricia Farley (dance-hall girl), Victor Potel (Wilkins), Constantine Romanoff (bouncer), Hank Mann, Doc Wilson (waiters), Olin Francis, Larry Fisher (sailors), George Simpson (lead-line sailor), Art Miles, Heinie Conklin, Charles West, Sammy Finn, Frank Pharr (gamblers), Edward Gargan (Bill), George Magrill, C.L. Sherwood (men who fall into the water), Jack Pennick (miner chasing Chinaman), Nina Campana (Mexican woman), George Lloyd, Jane Jones, Mel Kalish (singing trio), Jimmie Dime, Leo Willis, Harry Tenbrook, Bob Wilbur (henchmen), John Ince (rich miner), Frank Rice, Jack Holmes (miners), Blackie Whiteford (ship’s mate), Monte Montague (drunk), Robert Homans (fogged-in captain), Curley Dresden, Sven Hugo Borg, Al Ferguson, A.B. Lane (sailors), Johnny Morris (tradesman), Martin Cichy (boatswain), Lowell Drew (ladies’man in saloon), Bob Kortman (townsman on pier), Jack Kenny (boatman), Cyril Thornton (steward).
Director: HOWARD HAWKS. Hawks replaced William Wyler. Screenplay: Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur. Uncredited revisions and additional material: Edward Chodoroff, Stephen Longstreet. Photography: Ray June. Film editor: Edward Curtiss. Art director: Richard Day. Costumes designed by Omar Kiam. Music: Alfred Newman. Script girl: Patsy Ruth Miller. Assistant director: Walter Mayo. Producer: Samuel Goldwyn.
Copyright 15 October 1935 by Samuel Goldwyn. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Rivoli: 13 October 1935. U.K. release: November 1935. Australian release: December 1935. 10 reels. 91 minutes.
1960 re-issue title: Port of Wickedness.
SYNOPSIS: Robinson plays the owner of a crooked gambling saloon on San Francisco’s notorious Barbary Coast in the gold-fevered days of the 1850s. Miriam Hopkins in his protégée, Joel McCrea her rescuer.
NOTES: Some movie historians claim this film marked David Niven’s debut. In actual fact, this was his second speaking part. Without Regret came first.
COMMENT: Few actors contributed more to the mood of a Hollywood suspense entry than Edward G. Robinson. He rarely played romantic roles, and even on the right side of the law, he was tough. As a heavy, he invariably came across as extra mean. His role in Barbary Coast is typical.
The picture also figures as a typical Goldwyn production in its unstinting production values, its vigorously staged action and high level of cinema artistry. Ray June’s excellent camerawork was justly nominated for an Academy Award, but lost out to a movie that wasn’t even on the ballot paper: Hal Mohr’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In short, Barbary Coast presents an appealing, lavishly-staged melodrama, full of period flavor and dramatic incident, compellingly directed and fascinatingly enacted by a top-flight cast that could only have been assembled during Hollywood’s most exciting era.
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Fernandel (Barnabé), Paulette Dubost (Rose, the gamekeeper’s daughter), Claude May (Jackie Petit-Durand), Germaine Charley (Madame Petit-Durand), Andrex (André, in love with Jackie), Josselyne Gaël (Mado), Roland Toutain (Count Paul, in love with Mado), Lucien Callamand (Ricavel, the Petit-Durand butler), Noel Roquevert (the gamekeeper), Jean Temerson (Firmin), Marguerite Moreno (the Marquise de Marengo), Charles Dechamps (Viscount Adhemar), and Max Rogerys, Victor Vina, Arthur Devere, Louis Florencie, the Three Bernards, and the Blue Bell’s Girls.
Director: ALEXANDRE ESWAY. Screenplay: Alin Monjardin. Dialogue: Paul Nivoix. Photography: Gerard Perrin, Maurice Pecqueux. Music: Roger Dumas and Casimir Oberfeld. Lyrics: Jean Manse. Art director: Andre Barsacq. Assistant director: France Gourdji. Producer: Ayres d’Aguiar.
A Gray-Film Production. Initial release: 1938. Not theatrically released in the USA, England or Australia. 95 minutes.
COMMENT: Nice to see a surprisingly young Fernandel singing (yes, singing!) his way through a typical French farce. Highlights are the title number, most ingratiatingly sung by Fernandel himself against a delightful background bevy of chorus girls and an absolutely hilarious episode in which Madame Petit-Durand picks on Fernandel as her lover for the night, but then decides on a more handsome visitor who happens to wander into her chateau, only to re-instate Fernandel in her bed when the handsome visitor declines her offer. These household re-arrangements involve much packing and unpacking of Fernandel's effects, aided by a delightfully snooty servant whose helpfulness (or unhelpfulness) is dictated strictly by his mistress’current humor. The three girls who make up the love interests (Paulette Dubost for Fernandel, Claude May for Andrex, and Joselynne Gaël for Roland Toutain) are altogether delightful. Unfortunately, the two male leads are somewhat similar in appearance, which led this viewer into slight confusion, and the big production number at the end of the film has obviously been trimmed to condense the running time. But these are small blots on an otherwise perfectly swimming musical comedy.
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Miriam Hopkins (Becky Sharp), Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Marquis of Steyne), Nigel Bruce (Joseph Sedley), Frances Dee (Amelia Sedley), Alison Skipworth (Miss Julia Crawley), Alan Mowbray (Rawdon Crawley), G.P. Huntley jr (George Osborne), George Hassell (Sir Pitt Crawley), William Stack (Pitt Crawley), Colin Tapley (William Dobbin), William Faversham (Duke of Wellington), Billie Burke (Lady Bareacres), Charles Richman (General Tufto), Doris Lloyd (Duchess of Richmond), Leonard Mudie (Tarquin), Bunny Beatty (Lady Blanche), Charles Coleman (Bowles), Finis Barton (Miss Flowery), Olaf Hytten (prince regent), Pauline Garon (Fifine), James “Hambone” Robinson (page), Elspeth Dudgeon (Miss Pinkerton), Tempe Pigott (bibulous charwoman), Ottola Nesmith (Lady Jane Crawley), May Beatty (Miss Briggs), Viola Moore (Laura, a schoolgirl), Margaret Dee (young girl), Mrs Leslie Carter (woman), Joan Arnold, Billie Bellport (girls), Gaston Glass, Creighton Hale, Keith Hitchcock, Pat Somerset (British officers), Pat Nixon (ballroom dance extra), C. Montague Shaw (British nobleman), Stuart Hall.
Director: ROUBEN MAMOULIAN. Screenplay: Francis Edward Faragoh. Based on the stage play “Becky Sharp” by Langdon Mitchell, adapted from the 1848 novel “Vanity Fair” by William Makepeace Thackeray. Photographed in Technicolor by Ray Rennahan. Technicolor director: Natalie Kalmus. Film editor: Archie Marshek. Production designer: Robert Edmond Jones. Associate art director: Wiard Ihnen. Costumes: Western Costume Co. Music director: Roy Webb. Music orchestrators: Bernhard Kaun, Maurice DePackh. Choreography: Russell Lewis. Camera operator: Duke Greene. Chief electrician: Bert Wayne. Special effects supervisor: Harry Redmond sr. Properties: George Hazenbush. Make-up: Max Factor, Robert J. Schiffer. Assistant director: Argyle Nelson. Sound recording: Earl A. Wolcott. Producer: Kenneth Macgowan.
Copyright 13 June 1935 by Pioneer Pictures, Inc. Released through RKO-Radio Pictures. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 13 June 1935 (ran two weeks). U.S. release: 28 June 1935. U.K. release: 11 July 1935. Australian release: 18 September 1935. 9 reels. 84 minutes.
Re-issued in 1944 in a 67 minute Cinecolor version by Film Classics.