Heroes for Sale (1933)
Posted: December 4th, 2007, 9:42 am
Heroes For Sale (1933) airs Thur. Dec. 6 at 3:45 AM ET on TCM.
Director William Wellman's work is being featured this month on TCM, and, while I've seen several of his pre-code films, this Richard Barthelmess and Loretta Young film is one that I'm particularly looking forward to seeing for the first time.
Why? Barthelmess is an especially interesting actor in several of his early talkies when, as his career was on a sharp descent, he chose roles that were decidedly challenging, dealing with themes such as the devastating aftermath of WWI, and, in this film, addiction, economic displacement and political and very human responses to the Depression. I'd also like to see Loretta Young in another Wellman movie from this early stage of her career after seeing her unusually gritty work in Midnight Mary, (also being shown on (Thur., Dec. 13th at 1:15 AM ET on TCM).
I realize that all may sound dry as dust, but as Wellman demonstrated in several of his early '30s films at Warner Brothers, such as Wild Boys of the Road, (showing on Wed. Dec. 5th at 9:00 PM ET on TCM), his ability to transfer the hard facts of life in this period onto the screen in a visceral, still affecting manner is still worth a look. I hope that others will post their impressions of this particular film here after it airs later this week. Btw, Richard Barthelmess is an interesting part of our December Guest Star, Mick LaSalle's discussion in the book, Dangerous Men, about the male figures in Pre-Code films.
If you'd like a rundown of all of Wellman's Pre-Code and later films being shown this month, you can view an overview article here:
http://tinyurl.com/38ackx
Director William Wellman's work is being featured this month on TCM, and, while I've seen several of his pre-code films, this Richard Barthelmess and Loretta Young film is one that I'm particularly looking forward to seeing for the first time.
Why? Barthelmess is an especially interesting actor in several of his early talkies when, as his career was on a sharp descent, he chose roles that were decidedly challenging, dealing with themes such as the devastating aftermath of WWI, and, in this film, addiction, economic displacement and political and very human responses to the Depression. I'd also like to see Loretta Young in another Wellman movie from this early stage of her career after seeing her unusually gritty work in Midnight Mary, (also being shown on (Thur., Dec. 13th at 1:15 AM ET on TCM).
I realize that all may sound dry as dust, but as Wellman demonstrated in several of his early '30s films at Warner Brothers, such as Wild Boys of the Road, (showing on Wed. Dec. 5th at 9:00 PM ET on TCM), his ability to transfer the hard facts of life in this period onto the screen in a visceral, still affecting manner is still worth a look. I hope that others will post their impressions of this particular film here after it airs later this week. Btw, Richard Barthelmess is an interesting part of our December Guest Star, Mick LaSalle's discussion in the book, Dangerous Men, about the male figures in Pre-Code films.
If you'd like a rundown of all of Wellman's Pre-Code and later films being shown this month, you can view an overview article here:
http://tinyurl.com/38ackx