George Raft

[charliechaplinfan]

Well, it's an interesting film, it feels like the studio doesn't quite know what to do with George Raft, perhaps capitilising on his resemblance to Valentino they cast him as a matador but unlike Valentino they don't really give him chance to posture or build him up into a fearsome matador. There's plenty stock footage and it does hit the right note at the end but in the earlier scenes he does seem a bit like a little boy playing at being a lover and a matador. Interestingly Adolphe Menjou is cast as his older brother who plays his older brother a wanted bandit. Frances Drake is the love interest of both brothers providing the precode credentials in her dancing. Perhaps it might have helped the character for George to have lost his American accent but even with his Valentino like looks (very dark here) he isn't a Valentino, who is an exotic to me although he has got the looks to carry off the Latin look the studio should learn their lesson and cast him in contemprorary roles. The direction wasn't great, the running time not very long, a throw away film perhaps in a time when stars were expected to make many films a year. An interesting curio though, thanks for posting it Jezebel.

[Western Guy]

Virginia went on to marry the noted journalist Quentin Reynolds in 1942. He passed in 1965. She married Brig.-Gen. John Theron Coulter in 1972, who previously had been married to Constance Bennett.

[charliechaplinfan]

Have you had chance to watch the youtube film yet Stone? I'd love to know what you think about it. Thanks for the info on Virginia.

[Western Guy]

Not yet. Will save that for tomorrow when my wife's out doing a book signing. As I write, though, I am watching another matador movie on TCM BLOOD AND SAND. Sure there will be no comparison between the two.

[charliechaplinfan]

Which version, Rudy or Tyrone?

[Western Guy]

Tyrone. Actually I think I prefer the Valentino one.

[Jezebel38]

Well, it's an interesting film, it feels like the studio doesn't quite know what to do with George Raft, perhaps capitilising on his resemblance to Valentino they cast him as a matador but unlike Valentino they don't really give him chance to posture or build him up into a fearsome matador. There's plenty stock footage and it does hit the right note at the end but in the earlier scenes he does seem a bit like a little boy playing at being a lover and a matador. Interestingly Adolphe Menjou is cast as his older brother who plays his older brother a wanted bandit. Frances Drake is the love interest of both brothers providing the precode credentials in her dancing. Perhaps it might have helped the character for George to have lost his American accent but even with his Valentino like looks (very dark here) he isn't a Valentino, who is an exotic to me although he has got the looks to carry off the Latin look the studio should learn their lesson and cast him in contemprorary roles. The direction wasn't great, the running time not very long, a throw away film perhaps in a time when stars were expected to make many films a year. An interesting curio though, thanks for posting it Jezebel.

I only made it through half of this film - got to Frances Drake's dance routine (that's alotta bare torso) then gave up and skipped to the end.

BUT - heads up guys! This Youtube poster is on a roll and has also posted:
The Glass Key (1935) - Terrific early version of Ladd/Lake film - Ann Sheridan makes a brief appearance as a nurse.
Night After Night (1932) - Fun! Are there nightclubs in big mansions anymore? Allison Skipworth and Mae West are a hoot.
Lime House Blues (1934) - with Anna May Wong - George as a half-caste ( I didn't watch yet)
Midnight Club (1933) - with Clive Brook and Helen Vinson - is being uploaded as I write this - will watch this ASAP - I love Clive!

[Western Guy]

Thanks Jezebel for the heads-up. Someone ought to give that YouTube poster a charoot.

[charliechaplinfan]

Thanks, I've really wanted to watch The Glass Key for ages. Well done that guy, hopefully The Glass Key will be there tomorrow.

I prefer the Valentino Blood and Sand too, partly because he is a little mysterious and exotic, partly because he's so good at suffering at the hands of women and partly because I love well made silents.

Frances Drake put the movie well into the realms of precode, the second half was the best half of this movie but it is only a programmer. Menjou and Raft as Mexican brothers, actualyl I buy Raft as Mexican but it's Adolphe Menjou as a Mexican bandit, he's a good actor but for me at least, one not well suited for playing in costume or as a bandit. He is a fun actor, as is Raft although I can't see this heading to DVD anytime soon, I find most movies from this time period watchable.

[Western Guy]

George would have been wiser to turn down THE TRUMPET BLOWS and taken on the role of "Trigger" in THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE.

[charliechaplinfan]

Trigger would have been far more memorable.

I've watched The Glass Key, that's a good early Raft movie, I can't recall ever watching the remake, not sure I'll want to George was great in the title role with back up from Edward Arnold and Claire Dodd. The story good, I didn't guess the ending, always a good thing. George gets a good beating and looks great for it, I'm not sure what Edward Arnold does apart from run the down with dishonest Senators and george is the ever dependable right hand man and brains of the outfit. He's really well suited to these kind of roles, a pity Paramount didn't make more of these kind of films. I'm so glad to have seen this early Raft film.

Does anyone know how to download youtube vidoes? I've done it occasionally, I think by taking advice from here but I won't have tried to download for over a year. The youtube downloader I'm using won't recognise the the video. Anyone good at this kind of thing?

[charliechaplinfan]

Whilst we we offline I watched another of the movies that Mysterious AA left to us on youtube. The Midnight Club was an absolute hoot, a heist film with a good story to it, it staars Clive Brook as the leader of a gang of jewel robbers and Helen Vinson as his female accomplice, George is the second lead, a man who tries to infiltrate the gang. In some memorable footage he steals the loot from Vinson by having her strip to her underwear, very sexy and slinky, yet when the gang corner Raft he is on the receiving end and he ends up in his underwear, a larger pair of shorts and unsexy vest I have never seen. At least Mayer realised that females didn't want to see Gable in a vest, a pity it didn't happen here because the underwear did not fit the character. It is a gem of a film, have you seen it Stone? If not get straight on to it before somebody takes it down.

[Western Guy]

Darn it, Alison, this has proved very frustrating for me. Don't know if it's my computer or what, but every time I try to watch anything of some length on YouTube, at some point the whole thing freezes up on me and won't re-start. Gonna have to see if there might be some way to burn these to disc . . . and fast!

[charliechaplinfan]

If you can get them burnt to disc Stone let me know. I've tried to download them myself but can't, I left a message on the board before the site went down, I'd love to have The Glass Key and Midnight Club to keep, they are excellent. It might be the way the user has embedded them but I hope you can get them for keeps.

In all these films George is styled with very slicked down almost black hair, I'm not a big fan of the sleek looking hair that had been around from Valentino's time and before but he can carry it off but it's plastered on in these early films, they perhaps are trying to make the most of his Latino looks, in the silent times they might have changed his name and styled him as a Valentino and who would have known the difference. In The Midnight Club it does give him a fashionable look, he was the American in London and had that rather fast and loose look to him. Of the three films two are a hit, they contain really enjoyable Raft performanes. He smiles a lot too Stone, you know how I like his smile, one of the best in movies.

[feaito]

Don't ask me how it's done, but I have an Apple Imac and a program that downloads stuff from youtube to the hard drive converting it into a Real Player archive...My computer-savvy relatives installed it for me Thus, in this way I was able to download George's "Souls at Sea" (1937) from YTB and watched it peacefully.