The Silver Screen Oasis

It's hard to chose, I love the freedom of the Berkely movies and the Warner precodes, how fast they move, Three On A Match anyone? But for sexiness, sometimes the sexy suggestiveness of Bacall with Bogart in To Have and Have Not or Eve Marie Saint with Cary Grant is the order of the day. Good directors worked within the code and left some memorable scenes in movies but I grew up thinking that no one before the 1970s shared a double bed. Some of the requirements do seem silly today. It takes me back to our conversation on the George Raft thread about dissappearing chest hair ie the men didn't have any after 1934 when they had it in 1931 (not only Raft in Night after Night but other examples too) but also where were navels?

I revisited for the 3rd of 4th time one of my very favorite Sci-Fi films: the excellent 1932 version of H.G. Wells' story The Island of Dr. Moreau titled by Paramount "Island of Lost Souls", a Pre-Code in which Charles Laughton (under)plays the megalomaniacal Doctor, who believes himself God, experimenting with animals and trying to create a new race of human beings. Dick Arlen is a castaway, Arthur Hohl, Moreau's assistant, Leila Hyams Arlen's lovely fiancée, Kathleen Burke the "Panther Woman" and Bela Lugosi The Lawsayer....BRILLIANT and unforgettable. The Blu Ray Criterion release includes some interesting extras; even an interview with two of Devo's founders in which they tell how this film influenced their band and specifically the song Jocko-Homo. Laughton's underplaying is pivotal to the success of this film. The sets and cinematography are fantastic.

Ooooh, I'll be listing Laughton in "Island..." in my post about three of the most galling despicable men I've seen in movies in the past week and a half. (Also on that list will be Gielgud in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" and Walbrook in "Gaslight").

Eeeeeeeew, I need a comedy and a walk in the moonlight with a cute boy-next-door, STAT!!!

CineMaven wrote:Ooooh, I'll be listing Laughton in "Island..." in my post about three of the most galling despicable men I've seen in movies in the past week and a half. (Also on that list will be Gielgud in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" and Walbrook in "Gaslight").

Eeeeeeeew, I need a comedy and a walk in the moonlight with a cute boy-next-door, STAT!!!

T, you should have watched Meet Me In St. Louis (Louis) last night! Boy next door, cute little kids, gorgeous color....lovely!

That's funny, I always thought Laughton was one of the most galling, despicable men in the 1934 Barretts of Wimpole Street. Ewww! He's so creepy! I wonder what Gielgud does to top it.


Are We Not Men? We are Devo.

[u]JackFavell[/u] wrote:Are We Not Men? We are Devo.

HA!! D-E-V-0!! Oh wow.

CineMaven wrote:

[u]JackFavell[/u] wrote:Are We Not Men? We are Devo.

HA!! D-E-V-0!! Oh wow.

Indeed Theresa! Devo meaning D-evolution...evolution backwards.

Yeah Feo, it certainly looks like we're heading in that direction. Going baaaaaackwards, fast!!

Last WE, French TV broadcast a rare silent: The Red Dance (1928, R. Walsh) with Dolores Del Rio and Charles Farrell. This vehicle for the gorgeous Dolores had a fairly silly script taking place during the Russian Revolution. Thinking about it, it's funny that Hollywood was making so many Russian pictures around that time: The Cossacks at MGM, Surrender at Universal and the best one The Last Command at Paramount. It must have been fashionable. In Red Dance, Tasia (Dolores) is the daughter of a political prisoner. She is been exploited by a couple of farmers. Then, she meets a big large soldier Ivan (Ivan Linow) who proposes to marry her and offers a horse to the farmers in exchange for his bride. But Tasia soon meets Grand Duke Eugen (a shy Charles Farrell) and falls in love with him. Of course, their story is doomed. As the Revolution gathers pace, Tasia becomes a dancer at the Moscow Theater. She will meet Eugen again and save his life. The whole plot was full of clichés about nasty aristocrats and vicious revolutionary, etc. It was obvious that the film was meant for Dolores Del Rio's fans. She gets a lot of lovely close-ups. Overall not a great Walsh picture, but enjoyable as lightweight entertainment.

I believe in the recent Walsh book, The Red Dance was listed as one of the Walsh pictures that the director had no fondness for, though in interviews he said he'd be quite happy to work with Delores Del Rio and Gloria Swanson on a rotating basis for the rest of his life.

This morning I watched the divine Constance Bennett in a little wisp of a picture, Sin Takes a Holiday. Despite the really ridiculous and predictable plot, Bennett's charm and an excellent supporting cast made this picture very enjoyable to watch.

Bennett is a Depression era secretary, barely making ends meet, rooming with ZaSu Pitts (!) and another girl. She is secretly in love with her callow, unrepentant playboy-boss, Kenneth McKenna, who plays the role beautifully. In a twist of fate, the boss asks her to marry him in order to escape the clutches of his longtime girlfriend, played by Rita La Roy, a bitchy role for this fine actress. What happened to her?

Anyway, it is a marriage of convenience, and Connie is expected to disappear after the marriage ceremony. She has pride and ideals, but eventually accepts the offer and off she goes to Paris, where she meets attractive roue Basil Rathbone, a friend of callow boss who performs a Pygmalion like transformation on our plain secretary, turning her into...well.... Constance Bennett, at which point he falls in love with her. The fireworks start to fly when Bennett returns to New York, in order to see if she still has feelings for McKenna, and she and LaRoy face off over him.

Bennett is in fine form - physically as well as acting-wise, starting out shy and proper, but later allowing herself to turn in some juicy innuendoes with Rathbone as she wears her gorgeous Parisian wardrobe magnificently. Bennett is such fun to watch, there is something so natural yet elusive about her, you can't take your eyes off of her. I think perhaps she just didn't give a damn, and this makes her fascinating. I adore her, and can see why millions of women wanted to be her. Whenever I watch Bennett, I think of the girl in the audience in Singing in the Rain...

"She's so refined. I think I'll kill myself."

charliechaplinfan wrote:... but also where were navels?

I watched Fashions of 1934 recently, a notable entry in the Berkeley canon. The principals in this one are William Powell and a pre-revolution Bette Davis. The climactic set piece features the Berkeley girls wearing little more than what we would call bikinis today, doing surreal things with thousands and thousands of ostrich feathers. I was mildly shocked, shocked to see their navels exposed!

JackFavell wrote:This morning I watched the divine Constance Bennett in a little wisp of a picture, Sin Takes a Holiday...Bennett is in fine form - physically as well as acting-wise, starting out shy and proper, but later allowing herself to turn in some juicy innuendoes with Rathbone as she wears her gorgeous Parisian wardrobe magnificently. Bennett is such fun to watch, there is something so natural yet elusive about her, you can't take your eyes off of her. I think perhaps she just didn't give a damn, and this makes her fascinating. I adore her, and can see why millions of women wanted to be her. Whenever I watch Bennett, I think of the girl in the audience in Singing in the Rain...

"She's so refined. I think I'll kill myself."

Nice review Jack.

Nice review Jack.

Thanks!