Showing posts with label 1936. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1936. Show all posts
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| Fanny Brice almost steals the picture |
Florenz Ziegfield (William Powell) has a lot of great ideas and enthusiasm for the theater but is generally low on money. He finally hits it big with his Follies, with its beautiful show girls and elaborate production numbers, which had a new edition for 24 years. Powell married the French singer Anna Held (Luise Rainer) -- today it's still not clear if they actually tied the knot or were common-law -- but fell in love with actress Billie Burke (Myrna Loy; Burke herself was 52 at the time of filming). Just when everyone thinks Ziegfeld is washed up, he rebounds with such hits as Show Boat, but then there's the stock market crash to deal with and his own fading health... This biopic of the famous showman is almost as long as Ben-Hur, with an intermission and an entr'acte, and is composed of facts, myths and invention in equal measure. Despite Powell's good performance, Ziegfeld never seems entirely dimensional because he's defined by his shows and libido more than anything else. Luise Rainer won an Oscar, which has generally been attributed to her scene on the telephone when she congratulates Flo on his marriage to Burke even though her heart is clearly breaking; in general Rainer is quite good. Loy doesn't make the mistake of imitating the flighty, downright weird Burke, and also gives a very good performance. Wisely the producers chose to cast the real Fanny Brice as herself, and she almost walks away with the movie. The production numbers, like the movie itself, go on too long, but there are some highlights, such as one number that combines all kinds of different musical styles from jazz to opera in a surprisingly tuneful blend; and a bit with some cute dogs who nearly manage to stay stock still as dancers cavort among them on the stage. Frank Morgan [The Good Fairy] plays a friendly business rival of Ziegfeld's and Virginia Bruce [Pardon My Sarong] is a calculating dancer-turned-star. Will Rogers is played by A. A. Trimble, while an unimpressive Ray Bolger plays himself. Dennis Morgan [River's End] sings one number but appears to have been dubbed by Allan Jones.
Verdict: Goes on and on and on and on but is often entertaining ... **1/2.
Barry Wilding (Leslie Fenton) performs an act of chivalry for a young lady, Julie (Muriel Evans), on shipboard, but the woman refuses to divulge her identity or ever see him again. When Barry learns that he's inherited his uncle's estate, Hawk's Nest, and 10,000 pounds, he goes to the house and is thrown off the property by two men while Julie watches from the shadows. Barry and his detective friend, Tom Starr (Sidney Blackmer), are convinced that crooks have taken over Hawk's Nest, but the truth is much more idiotic. When the "secret" is revealed, you can't understand why everyone couldn't have simply told Barry what was going on and avoided all the angst. There are secret passages, a hidden basement, and a fairly exciting climax when everyone is nearly wiped out by poison gas. As a leading man, Fenton wasn't handsome by Hollywood standards, but he was adept and had authority and charisma. Evans and the others are fine, and Blackmer is, as usual, notable in the role of the detective.
Verdict: Barely acceptable hokum but it strangely holds the attention and has some suspense. **1/2.
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| Irene Dunne |
Seemingly the whole town of Lynnfield, Connecticut is up in arms because a risque novel by a "Caroline Adams" is being gleefully serialized in the town paper by editor Jed Waterbury (Thomas Mitchell). The most outraged townsfolk are members of the Lynnfield ladies literary circle, who would be astonished to learn that one of their number, Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne) is actually the author of the scandalous book! On a trip to New York to see her publisher, Arthur Stevenson (Thurston Hall), Theodora encounters a man named Michael (Melvyn Douglas), who follows her back to Lynnfield and threatens to expose her secret. Only Michael has secrets of his own ... Theodora Goes Wild still makes a timely statement today about small-town hypocrisy, how people are secretly titillated by what they profess to abhor, and the need to shed off constricting small-mindedness and be true to one's instincts and nature. Even better is that it has some very good performances and a number of laugh-out-loud funny sequences. Unfortunately, the middle section, with Michael coming to Lynnfield where he becomes a gardener for Theodora and her aunts and drives them crazy with his constant whistling (the audience as well!), drags a lot and is rather tiresome, although the movie picks up in the final quarter. Dunne and Douglas are fine, with great support from Mitchell and Hall, Nana Bryant (Possessed) as Hall's jealous wife, and Elisabeth Risdon (The Egg and I) and Margaret McWade as Theodora's prudish but loving aunts. Spring Byington (Walk Softly Stranger) has a great scene when she reads an "offensive" passage from Adams' book with such gusto that you can tell she's privately thrilled with it. Robert Greig also makes an impression as Theo's free-spirited Uncle John, who wants her out from under the influence of his spinster sisters. Jake the dog is rather wonderful, too. This comes so, so close to being a classic but misses by that much.
Verdict: Still good for a laugh or two and a lively message. ***.
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| Kenneth Howell and George Ernest as Jack and Roger |
BACK TO NATURE (1936). Director: James Tinling.
A third Jones Family programmer was rushed out in 1936 and proved a touch funnier than the previous installments. In this Father Jones (Jed Prouty) goes to a convention and is pressured into bringing the whole family along [a premise that was used again in The Jones Family in Hollywood and probably others]. He buys an $800 trailer and most of the family foolishly ride inside it during the trip. There's a scene involving the trailer and a cliff that prefigures The Long, Long Trailer, but is less elaborate. At Crystal Lake, Jack (Kenneth Howell) dates a loopy gal named Mabel (Dixie Dunbar, carried over from the previous film, Educating Father, but playing a supposedly different character), and the two are involved in a near-disastrous boat ride just as they were nearly in a plane crash in the last installment. Tony Martin [Here Come the Girls] plays a romantic interest for Bonnie (Shirley Deane) -- and plays it very well, with suave flair and assurance -- but the romance decidedly hits a snag. Excellent performances help put this over, although Dunbar and her character are rather irritating. You keep hoping she'll run into Jason Vorhees from that other Crystal Lake in Friday the 13th!
Verdict: Palatable hijinks with the Joneses. **1/2.
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| John Boles and Rosalind Russell |
"If a wife is the right kind of woman, her destiny should be in her own hands, not her husband's."
In the second film version of George Kelly's Pulitzer prize-winning play (after the silent), Rosalind Russell stars as Harriet Craig, whose home and its furnishings are the most important things in her life, much more important than people. Harriet likes things just so, and isn't above running other people's lives when she feels the need to. When a friend of Walter, her husband's (John Boles), murders his wife and commits suicide, Harriet fears their involvement may cause an unwanted wrinkle in their pristine universe. In the meantime, Walter's beloved Aunt Ellen (Alma Kruger of Saboteur) objects to the way her niece-by-marriage keeps everyone out of her home, and is slowly but surely distancing Walter from all of his friends, and has it out with her. "It isn't an opinion I have of you, Harriet," she tells the younger woman. "It's you I have." Harriet's sister is sick, so she has her own niece, Ethel (Dorothy Wilson), stay with her and tries to run her life as well. Craig's Wife is pretty faithful to the play [unlike the remake with Joan Crawford] but the problem is that Kelly's play is rather dated, and by no means can be seen as having a truly feminist perspective despite some of Harriet's cold if sensible attitudes. The performances are all very good, including Billie Burke as the widowed neighbor, Mrs. Frasier, and Jane Darwell as the housekeeper, Mrs. Harold. Arzner also directed Merrily We Go to Hell.
Verdict: Intriguing at times despite its age, and well-acted by all. ***.
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| Granny Jones reads her horror stories |
The first sequel to Every Saturday Night, in which the Evers Family became the Jones Family, was rushed out the same year, becoming a sort of theatrical hour-long sitcom for fifteen more installments. In this entry Mr. Jones (Jed Prouty) wants his son, Jack (Kenneth Howell) to follow him into the pharmacy business, but Jack is more interested in the field of aviation and has been taking flying lessons on the sly. There's a hair-raising bit when a silly gal named Millicent (Dixie Dunbar) climbs into the back seat of a plane without his knowledge and nearly causes a crack-up. In another sub-plot Mr. Jones goes fishing in a place miles away from anywhere just when his lease is coming up on his pharmacy, and Jack has to fly into the wilderness to get him back to town in time or he'll lose his store. Granny Jones (Florence Roberts) reads horror stories, and Mrs. Jones (Spring Byington) wrings her hands and offers sage advice. In this entry oldest daughter Bonnie is played by Shirley Deane.
Verdict: Passable comedy with likable players. **.
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| Jack (Kenneth Howell) gets advice from his granny (Florence Roberts) |
EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT (1936). Director: James Tinling.
When 20th Century-Fox came out with this adaptation of the stage play about a warm and loving family with their share of minor disagreements, they probably had no idea it would make enough money to engender no less than sixteen sequels! That means that there was one more entry in [what became] the Jones Family series than in MGM's Andy Hardy/Hardy Family series (even when you count the much-later Andy Hardy Comes Home and don't count a couple of Andy Hardy shorts), which began with A Family Affair (also from a play) the year after Every Saturday Night debuted. Ironically, the Jones Family series is pretty much completely forgotten, while everyone has heard of Andy Hardy, probably thanks to the irrepressible Mickey Rooney. In Every Saturday Night the name of the family is actually Evers, but it was changed for subsequent entries, although when the film was re-released as a "Jones Family" feature the "Evers" name wasn't over-dubbed. Evers/Jones (Jed Prouty) is a small-town pharmacist who, as his mother (Florence Roberts) tells him, raises his children as if it were twenty years earlier, and forgets the trouble he got into himself when he was a boy. His oldest daughter, Bonnie (June Lang) is dating a guy named Clark (Thomas Beck) who drives drunk and nearly kills a girl. The younger daughter, Lucy (June Carlson) wants to be an actress and is always imitating Hepburn, Garbo or someone else. Oldest son Jack (Ken Howell) gets in hot water when he takes Dad's car without permission, and borrows money from his serious younger brother Roger (George Ernest) at high interest. Then there's a near-crisis when little Bobby (Billy Mahan) gets a serious cut. Mrs. Evers (Spring Byington) is wise enough to know when to intercede and when to keep quiet. Every Saturday Night is certainly not a masterpiece, but it is surprisingly touching at times in its warmth and honest sentiment, and the obvious love these characters feel for one another is almost palpable, thanks to very adept performances by the entire cast.
Verdict: A lost bit of Hollywood history. **1/2.