Bombshell 1933 - Shining comic riot with Harlow & Tracy

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IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: Victor Fleming
Main Cast: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, Franchot Tone, Pat O'Brien, Una Merkel, Ted Healy, Isabel Jewell, Louise Beavers, C. Aubrey Smith

"Jean Harlow is the 'bombshell' of the title, a popular movie actress named Lola. Though she seemingly has everything a girl could possibly want, Lola is fed up with her sponging relatives, her 'work til you drop' studio, and the nonsensical publicity campaigns conducted by press agent Lee Tracy. She tries to escape Hollywood by marrying a titled foreign nobleman, but Tracy has the poor guy arrested as an illegal alien. Finally Lola finds what she thinks is perfect love in the arms of aristocratic Franchot Tone, but she renounces Tone when his snooty father C. Aubrey Smith looks down his nose at Lola and her profession. Upon discovering that Tone and his entire family were actors hired by Tracy, Lola goes ballistic - until she realizes that Tracy, for all his bluff and chicanery, is the man who truly loves her. Allegedly based on the career of Clara Bow (who, like Lola, had a parasitic family and a duplicitous private secretary), Bombshell is a prime example of Jean Harlow at her comic best. So as not to mislead audiences into thinking this was a war picture, MGM retitled the film Blonde Bombshell for its initial run.
All of the actors are terrific. Franchot Tone is hilarious, totally and deliberately way over the top saying lines such as the one in the summary box. Harlow is surrounded with the best character actors - Lee Tracy, who despite a scandal in 1934 managed to enjoy a nearly 40-year career is great as Lola's fast-talking scam artist agent; Frank Morgan plays his usual role of a weak man, but not a bad one; Louise Beavers brings spark to the role of a maid; Pat O'Brien is in top form as the volatile Brogan.
But it's Harlow's film, and she keeps up with the frantic pace of the film beautifully. Funny and vulnerable, she's hilarious when she pretends she's upper class, as she's often done in her films - no one has ever pulled that off quite like she has. Bombshell is one of her best films among a lot of wonderful ones." - www.allmovie.com

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The lives of a Bengal lancer 1935 - A little dated but still rousing adventure!

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026643/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,4

Director: Henry Hathaway
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, C. Aubrey Smith, Akim Tamiroff, Monte Blue, Kathleen Burke

"The Lives of a Bengal Lancer is the type of imperialist adventure story that has fallen out of favor with changing times. Nonetheless, it's an exciting film, full of heroic action and attention-grabbing performances that help overcome its dated feel. Gary Cooper is fine in the lead, but the film also provides a good chance to see Franchot Tone in one of his best roles. The presence of C. Aubrey Smith adds a feeling of authenticity; indeed, all the British roles are well-cast, even if the Indian roles are not. Former silent-movie child actor Henry Hathaway directs the solidly told story, providing crisp action sequences and effective chemistry between the leads. The film's one drawback is its failure to develop credible non-Anglo-Saxon characters - a common problem in studio films of the 1930s." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-lives-of-a-bengal-lancer-v29736/

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Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 - The height of MGM film-making during the Thalberg era

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026752/
IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Frank Lloyd
Main Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone

"Filming on location in Tahiti, the studio spent $2 million in production costs, an astounding sum for 1935. Thalberg's boss, Louis B. Mayer, opposed the film, but the production chief prevailed, insisting that the public was fascinated by cruelty. Indeed, Charles Laughton's Captain Bligh is among the screen's most despicable villains, never mind that the historic Captain Bligh was a substantially more complex person, and the heroic Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) of the film is hardly the Fletcher Christian of history who kidnapped Tahitian natives and forced them to work as slaves for his mutineers. Mutiny on the Bounty holds up well as a grand tale of adventure, beautifully filmed, with charismatic lead performances and the quality of production that made Thalberg's work legendary. It is a rarity in Academy Awards history: a Best Picture winner that won only that one Oscar. The bigger winner for the night was John Ford's The informer, which took four Oscars, all at Bounty's expense." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mutiny-on-the-bounty-v33980

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