The Fabulous Films of the 30s: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Eighty years after its original release, James Whale?s?The Bride of Frankenstein?just keeps getting better That wasn?t the end at all?. Would you like to hear what happened after that? I feel like telling it?. It?s a night for mystery and horror. The very air is...
Strangers in a Strange Land Pt II: Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg?s Shanghai Express (1932) and The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Part II Deceit, Desire, and Survival: Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg?s?Shanghai Express(1932) and?The Scarlet Empress?(1934) A missionary wins the heart of a poetic warlord, a woman of mystery wins back her untrusting lover, and a promiscuous princess wins...
Strangers in a Strange Land: The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932), Shanghai Express (1932), and The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Here are three pre-Code films about women from the West who find themselves in dangerous situations in exotic lands (China in two, Russia in the other). The women are thrown upon their own resources, their ability to adapt and survive, with little or no support or...
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937): McCarey wins Oscar ?for the wrong picture?
Leo McCarey on the set March 10, 1938 The Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles The 10th Academy Awards Banquet was almost over, with only the two top awards left to present. Everybody was anxious to hear who had won Best Director. The nominees were among the era?s most...
?Champagne Ivy?: Miriam Hopkins in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
At first Miriam Hopkins did not want to play ?Champagne Ivy? Pearson, the charmingly carnal little bird who is infatuated with Jekyll and abused and terrorized by Hyde. When director Rouben Mamoulian offered her the part, she set her jaw and said No. She would play...
The Trouble with Stella Dallas
This post is part of the?Contrary to Popular Opinion Blogathon,?where we set the consensus on its head by defending a maligned film, performer or director or toppling a beloved one! Stella Dallas?is still much beloved 78 years after it was made, and a favorite to many...
Social Preachments: Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
Wild Boys of the Road?is one of the movies I read about 40 years ago in?We?re in the Money,?by Andrew Bergman?the first book about Depression movies I ever saw. The story is one of those Warner Bros. ?ripped from the headlines? affairs?among the many horrors of the...
Musicals: Love Me Tonight (1932)
?If you were to see?Love Me Tonight,? Mamoulian said in an interview in 1970, ?although it is a very light, gay musical, you?d see in it most clearly what motivates me, what I like. The whole of?Love Me Tonight?is a poem, from beginning to end. Everything is rhythm,...