Reviews

I love this film. I've commented before but just saw it again and have a few more "insights." It seems I like it better with each viewing. Along with The Broadway Melody and 42nd Street, one of the great early musicals--films that set the style and standard for decades to come. Yes there is debate as to the singing and dancing of Joan Crawford and Marion Davies, but there are great (and lesser but charming) moments from Marie Dressler, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Buster Keaton, John Gilbert (I'm Utsnay about Ouyay), Norma Shearer, Cliff Edwards, the swell Brox Sisters, Conrad Nagel, Charles King, Polly Moran, Bessie Love, William Haines, Anita Page, the snappy June Purcell, Lionel Barrymore, Gus Edwards, a sly Jack Benny, and a slap-happy Ann Dvorak. Who could resist.

Oddities for a talkie include silent bits by Keaton and Laurel (Hardy does all the talking, and some schtick from Karl Dane and George K. Arthur (neither destined for talkie success) during a Benny violin solo. To carry forth the "revue" concept the film is introduced over a live orchestra pit and the intermission sees the musicians taking their seats to reprise the early tunes--Crawford's "Gotta Feelin' for You" chief among them. As noted in other comments, some acts are introed; some are not.

Considering all were singing live (no lip syncing here) the musical numbers are bad at all. The recording (still primitive) hurts a little. Charles King comes off best as a straight singer, and the great Cliff Edwards (as Ukelele Ike) is a treat as the comic singer. Edwards does a straight intro to Singin' in the Rain as well as his signatures falsetto scat. Joan Crawford, who sang in a bunch of early talkies, has a decent if unpolished voice, and her dancing was par for the course for 1929: lively but a little clunky. Remember, movie musicals were new and hadn't really developed a cinematic choreography. Marion Davies' number is the weakest in the film, which is too bad because she was a delightful performer, but singing and dancing weren't her high points. Marie Dressler cannot hit a false note. No matter how badly she mugs and hams it up, she is great. This film also shows hints of what Bessie Love might have done during the 30s with better handling by MGM. And ditto Polly Moran, who was diminished by playing Dressler's foil in a series of early comedies.

The Jack Benny we remember from his 1950s TV show is exactly the same 25 year earlier. All his mannerisms are in place as is his timing. Several parts of the film are very badly edited and sometimes hurt the timing or punchlines of comic bits. William Haines, nearly choking on a licorice button he rips from Benny jacket, is handsome and gracious in a cameo.And Conrad Nagel reveals a not-bad singing voice as he serenades a ravishing Anita Page.

The Singin' in the Rain number rates highest. From the art deco set of Cedric Gibbons to the terrific singing of Cliff Edwards and the Brox Sisters, this number is a true classic. The dancing is simple but effective, the rain effects are ok as is the reflcting "pool." The reprise by the Brox Sisters (all 3 wrapped in 1 raincoat) is wonderful--as is the comic reprise by Dressler, Love, and Moran. Note the arm motions made by the Brox Sisters; they are same as used by Jean Hagen in the 1951 Singin in the Rain.

I love this film.

has bookie William going legit and becoming a high-risk insurer a la Lloyds of London. He and his gang insure all sorts of hair-brained things, such as whether a man (Hobart Cavanaugh) will have twins, whether a husband-caller (Maude Eburne) will lose her voice, etc. But William gets involved in another scheme involving the marriage of a showgirl (Claire Dodd) and the nutty book her father (Guy Kibbee) wants to write. Warners comedy has the usual snappy dialog and the underrated and sadly forgotten Warren William takes great advantage of every line. He had a wonderful, leering kind of comic delivery that made him one of a kind. Mary Treen, Vince Barnet, Herman Bing and, Erool Flynn, in his first substantial part in an American movie, help make this one fun.

inhabit this gem of a film. Leon Janney, Junior Coghlin, and Billie Lord are the perfect Penrod, Sam, and Goergie in this gentle but funny Booth Tarkington story. Slim storyline, but the kids are so good, you forget all that. The adults aren't bad either, especially the always funny Zasu Pitts, but also good are Charles Sellon, Dorothy Peterson, Matt Moore and a hilarious scene with Elizabeth Patterson as the school marm. This is the kind of story that MGM and Mickey Rooney would have destroyed a few years later if Rooney hadn't been stuck in Andy Hardy gunk. The characters would reappear in the 50s in 2 Doris Day comedies with Billy Gray as the Penrod character.

Haines is excellent as the brash cadet who thinks West Point will really amount to something now that he has arrived. Haines displays his easy, goofy comic persona as he takes on West Point and Joan Crawford, the local beauty. Great fun for the first half. And amazingly touching after Haines's character goes too far and nearly gets shunned by fellow cadets. The new, humility-filled Haines get s alast-minute reprieve to play in the bill football game against Navy and, despite a broken arm, wins the game. Great, rousing entertainment by MGM in this Haines formula film, shows Billy at his best. William Bakewell also scores as the skinny follower. The handsome-but-goony character would be played by Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and others in later decades, another take on the beautiful-but-daffy dames played by Carole Lombard and Marion Davies. West Point is a winner!

is a highlight of this short-but-snappy soaper. Irene Dunne (great as usual) plays an ambitious woman who pushed husband (Charles Bickford) to partner with friend (Eric Linden) to create successful business. But Bickford has a yen for babes and links up with a conniving one (Gwili Andre) who pressures him to get a divorce. Film culminates in nasty divorce led by hateful lawyer (J. Carroll Naish). Somehow this all works even tho is pretty far-fetched. Chalk up another success for Irene Dunne.

Minor little comedy that stars Pat O'Brien, Joan Blondell and Wayne Morris in a cross between Kid Galahad and Lady for a Day. The stars are good, but May Robson steals every scene she's in as the disreputable old lady O'Brien hires to play Morris' mother. Strange plot, but it all comes together thanks to these pros. Stanley Fields and pre-star Jane Wyman also add some fun. Robson is pretty much forgotten today but during the 30s she reigned as a top character actress who could steal a scene from anyone--and did. Catch her in Lady for a Day (Oscar nomination), A Star Is Born, or Bringing Up Baby.

A simple, sweet Broadway institution is turned into drivel in this bowdlerized version that is badly acted, over-orchestrated, and under- sung. Each song is abbreviated yet slowed in tempo from the stage version. Yet plenty of time is given to terrible production numbers and Vegas-like dancing. The song "Plant a Radish" is eliminated altogether. In the original stage version (I had the original cast album)Rita Gardner's voice soared while Kenneth Nelson and Jerry Orbach has strong voices. The films version offers puny voices. All the delicate harmonics are done away with as the tepid actorsstretch to hit notes. Terrible. Even solid Joel Grey is a zero here. So very disaapointing to ANYONE who has seen even a mediocre staging on this American classic.

another winner is this Madame-X-type film about mother love. She plays a classy stage performer who marries the spoiled son (Phillips Holmes)of a selfish rich man (Lionel Atwill). The son commits suicide after the father cuts him off and Dunne then loses the baby to the evil old man. She fends for herself over the next 20 years in French bars. A curious set of coincidences reunites mother and son during WW I. Anyway, Dunne is wonderful--as usual--as the mother and gets to age (as in Cimarron) into a spunky old lady. Irene Dunne remains one of the most underrated stars of the 30s, excellent in drama, comedy, or musicals. She's also one of the most likable.

This is John Gilbert's best talkie--a scathing drama about a man who'll use anyone to get ahead. Aside from being a tight drama, the film is important as the best of Gilbert's dozen or so talkies and also because it proves for anyone who has seen it, that the advent of talkies did not kill his film career because his voice was effeminate. Hollywood legend, never very accurate, has it that Gilbert's blazing film carrer was doused by his first talkie (His Romantic Night). Not true. The rude technology may have hurt his performance--as it did with many crossover stars--but his voice was not the problem. In Downstairs, Gilbert took a big chance in playing a non-romantic part, a part that shows off his acting chops. While the cook pleads with him not to throw her over, Gilbert casually picks his nose and wipes it on his pants--astounding for 1932. The film did not save John Gilbert's career, but it stands as proof of his talent. What a shame other forces were at work to ruin him. (drednm)

Gena Rowlands and Laura Linney turn in outstanding performances in this dark tale of mother-daughter love and hate. Built around small-town life, suicide, and failure, this story takes a few dark turns before finding the light. Linney is outstanding as the lost daughter who can't get her life back after her husband commits suicide. Gena Rowlands is (as always) excellent as the domineering mother who seems to thrive on her daughter's failures. Superior TV movie with good work from Fred Ward and Emile Hirsch as the boy who takes a drastic step to save all their lives.

Kay Francis plays a woman being blackmailed by a former partner (Monroe Owsley). She discovers that he never got the divorce he promised and her new marriage is illegal. Hatching a scheme with her sister-in-law (Helen Ware), she flees to Havana, hoping the cad will follow. He does but so does the detective (George Brent) her husband hires to spy on her. Wild storyline becomes more believable as the film goes on because of the chemistry between Francis and Brent. Good support from Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, and Clarence Wilson. This ranks as one of Kay Francis' best women's pictures of the early 30s--with One Way Passage and Confession.

WC Fields stars as a circus performer whose daughter claims to be heir to a small-town fortune. A sentimental comedy with music and schmaltzy love story (Rochelle Hudson, Richard Cromwell), Field is--as always--watchable and quite good in a fairly straight role. However, character actresses Catherine Doucet and Maude Eburne steal the film as a fake countess and Hudson's benefactress. Fields film regular Bill Wolfe is also fun. This old-timey comedy has a Chaplin-like feel in its blending of humor and pathos. A near-miss for Fields but still worth watching for his good performance and a couple of classic routines.

A great Fields film in which he gets to juggle, kick a baby, and ham it up. One of the great things about Fields was that he was not afraid of being upstaged, and The Old-Fashioned Way provides the wonderful Jan Duggan (as Cleopatra Pepperday)a scene stealing musical number in which she sings Gathering Shells at the Shore and brings down the house. A superb grotesque, Duggan was also memorable in the underrated A Damsel in Distress as one of the madrigal singers. I hadn't seen this film in 35 years but it was still the comic gem I remembered. Cheers to Fields and Duggan!

under the credits. It then settles into a routine comedy about a young man (Grant Withers) who is obsessed with dancing and marries a girl (Sue Carol) he meets at a dance. The usual domestic squabbles arise. Good support from silent comedienne Kate Price as well as Edna Murphy, Eddie Phillips & Sid Silvers. The girl who dances during the opening credits can also be spotted in the film. I wonder who she is?

in this otherwise trite musical. But it's interesting to see Faye at the brassy beginning of her starring career abd Daniels (at 34) playing the aging actress with a secret. This is one of Daniels' last Hollywood films. Supporting cast is ok.

A sad end to a popular star's career. William Haines tries hard to recapture his former glory in this comedy/drama that also features silent star Conrad Nagel. But this grade Z production just can't do it. You can tell that Haines had no real illusions about regaining his stardom. Using the formula that was so successful in the late 20 and early 30s--a formula that had made Haines a top-5 box office star--the storyline just seems tired.