Monkey business 1931 - Joyful comedy, plenty of fun

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IMDB rating: 7,6

Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Main Cast: Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd, Rockliffe Fellowes, Harry Woods

"Until Monkey Business was filmed in 1931, the fabulous Marx Brothers had made only films adapted from their stage comedies. Noted humorist S. J. Perelman was the leading force among the writers who concocted this zany tale about four stowaways on an ocean liner. The title is a perfect one for a Marx movie even if the film doesn't have anything to do with monkeys. When the brothers are practicing their hijinks aboard the ship, the sight gags, pratfalls and quips are virtually non-stop. After they each imitate the actor Maurice Chevalier while going through customs, however, the jokes dissipate, and the second half of the movie, which takes place in a New York mansion, is not nearly as frenetic. Some consider this the best Marx Brothers movie, but many viewers and critics prefer Duck Soup." - www.allmovie.com

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Broadminded 1931 - A Joe E. Brown vehicle with scenes stealing presence of Lugosi

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IMDB rating: 5,9

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Main Cast: Joe E. Brown, Ona Munson, William Collier Jr., Marjorie White, Margaret Livingstone, Thelma Todd, Bela Lugosi

"Comic Joe E. Brown scores another hit in this very humorous little Pre-Code film which gives him free rein to engage in his madcap capers. Here he plays the supposedly responsible young man chosen to chaperone his highly libidinous cousin after the latter is forced to beat a hasty retreat from a Big City scandal. Brown, of course, proves remarkably capable of causing trouble wherever they travel, thus providing the film with much of its plot. With his large rubbery face & huge mouth a constant source of amusement, Brown enters the movie with much hilarity - costumed as a bawling infant at the baby party which opens the film. Further on, the scene where he finds himself locked out of his hotel room in his underwear is particularly jovial.
Most of the cast is on hand to provide support during Brown's antics: William Collier Jr. as his frisky cousin; Holmes Herbert as Collier's stern New York City father; Margaret Livingston as Collier's vindictive former flame; Ona Munson as Collier's new heart throb; Grayce Hampton as her frightful aunt.
Even perky little Marjorie White, as Brown's new gal pal, is not given much to do. The two major exceptions are statuesque Thelma Todd, delightful as a compliant actress eager to help the boys out of a nasty jam, and marvelous Bela Lugosi - the same year he would become an international star as Count Dracula - lending his malevolent presence as the fierce Gentleman From South America who menaces Brown throughout the film."

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Follow thru 1930 - Practically no plot just the charm of Nancy and Buddy

Nancy Carroll & Charles 'Buddy' Rogers

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020894/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,4

Directors: Lloyd Corrigan, Laurence Schwab
Main Cast: Nancy Carroll, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Zelma O'Neal, Jack Haley, Eugene Pallette, Thelma Todd

"Less than a week after MGM programmer 'Love in the Rough' opened, another golf themed musical was released (advertised as 'All Singie - Talkie - Dancie - Golfie'), although this one was far more prestigious. The all Technicolor Follow Thru was based on the Broadway hit of 1929 (401 performances) and paired Paramount's singing sweethearts - Charles 'Buddy' Rogers and Nancy Carroll. Apart from the two stars, it followed its stage roots with Jack Haley and Zelma O'Neal repeating their roles as the secondary comic couple and also a teen couple, Don Tomkins and Margaret Lee.
Lora Moore (Nancy Carroll) the champion golfer at the Mission Country Club is defeated at an important tournament by her arch rival Ruth Van Horn (Thelma Todd). She doesn't care - she has caught the eye of handsome golf pro Jerry Downs (Rogers) and begins to wonder if there is more to life than golf!! He is, unfortunately, just passing through so Lora persuades her bubbly friend Angie (Zelma O'Neal) to use her charms on his boss, girl shy Jack Martin (Jack Haley). Haley is the hit of the film, he is hilarious and has a 'head twitch' that happens whenever he sees a girl he likes! Anyway, Angie tries her best with the lively 'Button Up Your Overcoat' (it left you wanting more!) but it doesn't seem to work. Lora and Jerry do their courting to the beautiful 'We'd Make a Peach of a Pair' - and they do! - but wiley Ruth is determined to win Jerry away. Babs and Dinty (the teen couple from the stage show) sing and dance an eccentric number 'Then I'll Have Time for You'. At the Masquerade Ball, Lora looks very fetching in kilts but the night belongs to Angie as she performs the over the top fantasy number 'I Want to Be Bad' - it rivals 'Turn on the Heat' for sheer outrageousness. Ruth spreads stories about Jerry and Lora, upset, challenges her to a golf tournament but with all the agitation is completely off her game until Jerry takes charge at the last hole and orders her to 'Follow Thru'!
As often happened with those 'taken from Broadway' musicals, some of the original songs were ditched - among them was 'You Wouldn't Fool Me, Would You?' that was a big hit for Annette Hanshaw. The big hit of the movie was one especially written for it. 'A Peach of a Pair' was given top treatment by Nancy and Buddy and proved to be the song people were humming on their way home from the cinema."

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Counsellor at law 1933 - One of the best lawyer films of the 30's

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023911/
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: William Wyler
Main Cast: John Barrymore, Bebe Daniels, Doris Kenyon, Isabel Jewell, Melvyn Douglas, Thelma Todd

"Adapted from the play by Elmer Rice, Counsellor-at-Law is the story of a successful Jewish lawyer George Simon (John Barrymore) who finds it's lonely at the top. Barrymore gives a crackling performance as a dynamic Manhattan lawyer who's worked his way to the top, yet still has the hunger of an immigrant Jew who came over in steerage. Seemingly master of all he surveys - his offices are in the Empire State Building! - he suddenly finds himself facing disbarment, and ditching by the elegant WASP wife (Doris Kenyon) who's always wished he would practice law 'like a gentleman'.
Such a stagy stratagem (Elmer Rice adapting his own play) usually spells static filmmaking, but Wyler (who signaled his readiness to take a big step up in class with this expertly directed movie) brings off a cinematic tour de force, an energetic direction with tensile camerawork, sharp performances, and brilliant set design (Charles D. Hall) that gets great visual excitement out of all the doors, glass walls, and skyscraper windows."

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Horse feathers 1932 - The maddest comedy on the screen!

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023027/
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Main Cast: Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo), Thelma Todd

"If ever there was an archetypal Marx Brothers comedy, it was the team's 1932 offering Horse Feathers. The movie makes no more sense than most of the boys' films, and that's exactly the way it should be. Ostensibly a parody of the college films that had become popular at the time, Feathers is really an attack on everything conventional - including rational moviemaking. More technically polished than Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, it still revels in anarchy and elevates the non-sequitur as close to an art form as it can get. The movie is filled with Groucho's special brand of humor ('Why don't you go home to your wife? I'll tell you what, I'll go home to your wife and, outside of the improvement, she'll never know the difference') and features one of his signature songs, 'I'm Against It', as well as the very popular 'Everyone Says I Love You'. Other highlights include the classic exchange involving the password 'swordfish', a delightfully silly classroom shoot-out and a deliciously zany football game send-up featuring the boys in a sanitation wagon disguised as a Roman chariot. Director Norman Z. McLeod keeps the camera trained on the boys and then gets out of the way, but he does manage some well staged moments in the finale. Most importantly, he keeps the pace from flagging, even during the Zeppo sequences, with the result that there's hardly a wasted moment in the film." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/horse-feathers-v23170

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