Flesh 1932 - A lesson in love

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 6,5

Director: John Ford
Main Cast: Wallace Beery, Ricardo Cortez, Karen Morley, Jean Hersholt

"Flesh was one of the few big-studio films to deal with the subject of professional wrestling - at least until Hulk Hogan came along in the 1980s. Wallace Beery stars as a thickheaded waiter in a German beer garden who uses his muscles to clear out rowdy patrons. Beery channels his strength into a wrestling career, grappling his way up to the championship. His wife Karen Morley enjoys the creature comforts of Beery's success, but her heart belongs to her ex-lover Ricardo Cortez, and soon Karen is stepping out on her husband. Beery finds out and exacts a terrible revenge on Cortez - just minutes after Karen wises up and realizes she loves Beery after all. John Ford directed Flesh in a heavy Germanic fashion reminiscent of the Emil Jannings 'cuckolded husband' melodramas of the 1920s." - www.allmovie.com

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Emma 1932 - Another sterling performance from Dressler

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IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Clarence Brown
Main Cast: Marie Dressler, Richard Cromwell, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy, John Miljan

"Emma is a turn-of-the-century domestic drama completely dominated by star Marie Dressler. She plays the maid of an upper middle class family, keeping her wits about her as her employers suffer crisis after crisis. When the master of the house (Jean Hersholt), a prominent inventor, is widowed, he proposes marriage to Emma. Shortly afterward, Hersholt dies, and Emma, who has married 'out of her class', is accused of murder by Hersholt's jealous children. Cleared of the accusation, Emma turns over her inheritance to the selfish children and heads off to work for another family, once again making the best of any and all bad situations.
At the time she made this film, Marie Dressler was Hollywood's greatest star. An unlikely celebrity sensation, with her homely face and shapeless body, Dressler was nonetheless adored by the American public who could sense her basic decency and goodness. For a few brief years she became the nation's grandma, someone with whom the public could feel completely comfortable. Dressler seemed to typify the virtues of hard work and plainspoken honesty - attributes which counted for much in the Great Depression's darkest days.
Firm support is given by gentle Jean Hersholt as Dressler's kindly employer. As his son, Richard Cromwell gives an energetic performance. Lovely Myrna Loy, not-quite-yet a star, is strangely awkward as Hersholt's spiteful daughter. John Miljan is effective in the role of a relentless District Attorney." - www.allmovie.com

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Susan Lenox: Her fall and rise 1931 - Garbo rises above all else

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022453/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 6,5

Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Main Cast: Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Jean Hersholt, John Miljan

"It was once theorized by critic Andrew Sarris that this 1931 Greta Garbo vehicle was subtitled 'Her Fall & Rise' rather than the expected 'Rise & Fall', because Hollywood - and by extension, the public - could not tolerate a failure. Whatever the case, modern audiences will latch onto Susan Lennox not because of its cumbersome title but because of its one-time-only pairing of Garbo and Clark Gable. It's a pairing that promises fireworks, especially as Gable is still young - and even mustache-less. Unfortunately, those firecrackers don't ever really materialize. There's certainly some chemistry between the two, but not enough, perhaps because Gable is not well cast. The Gable audiences know and remember would never have let his true love's tawdry background keep him from her. Gable doesn't seem comfortable in the role, and as a result he can't come up to Garbo's level, who is playing a part that fits her like a glove. Looking absolutely stunning in William H. Daniels' lovingly composed photography, Garbo sails through the part, turning in a glorious star diva performance that still finds the truth beneath the cinematic trappings and makes a ridiculous story compelling and thoroughly engaging. Lenox' screenplay is so much nonsense, but Garbo knows she can play that nonsense for all its worth, and she is a wonder to behold. She gets fine support from Jean Hersholt and Alan Hale, and even miscast, Gable is worth seeing; but Lenox is a Garbo vehicle, and she is at all times firmly in the driver's seat.
The film was adapted by four screenwriters from a novel by David Graham Phillips." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/susan-lenox-her-fall-and-rise-v48018/

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Viennese nights 1930 - "You will remember Vienna"

Vivienne Segal in Viennese Nights (1930)

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021522/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Alan Crosland
Main Cast: Vivienne Segal, Alexander Gray, Jean Hersholt, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Fazenda, Bela Lugosi

"This sentimental Romberg-Hammerstein operetta was made late in the first cycle of movie musicals, and the glut of product at the time crowded it out at the box office. Which is too bad, because it's excellent of its kind - well-crafted, well-cast, and in handsome two-tone Technicolor.
The authors steal from all over the place: The two-generation love affairs (one happy, one unhappy) recall Romberg's own 'Maytime', and the poor musician and wealthy officer fighting for the fraulein are right out of 'Bitter Sweet'. But the story matters less than the songs ('You Will Remember Vienna', 'I Bring a Love Song', etc.) and the authors' sincerity. It's an unusually full score for a movie musical, with comic numbers, ensembles, and even a show-within-a-show - one senses that Hammerstein and Romberg wanted their screen work to be as good as their stage work.
Vivienne Segal, a prized stage comedienne/soprano, doesn't really get to demonstrate the dry wit and winking innuendo that made her a theater favorite, but she's sweet and direct (at times, she looks like Bette Midler!). Her leading man - Alexander Gray, also from the stage - is stiff in the Nelson Eddy mode, but like Eddy, he gives his all when he sings.
Walter Pidgeon and Bela Lugosi have minor roles."

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(the title is wrong, but it is the right movie)

The beast of the city 1932 - A riveting look into the gangster life

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022660/
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Charles J. Brabin
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Jean Harlow, Wallace Ford, Jean Hersholt

"A reluctantly appointed police chief in a crime-riddled city takes his job seriously and works hard to clean the streets of gangsters and to shape up his own corrupt department in this brutal, gritty film noir. Jean Harlow plays a luminescent but ill-fated gun moll.  Adapted by John Lee Mahin from a W.R. Burnett story, and directed by Charles Brabin (The Mask of Fu Manchu), this 1932 talkie is said to be better than average, as a police chief (Walter Huston) sets out to battle organized crime.
This is a very elaborate production for an early 30's film. The camera was surprisingly fluid with some strong cinematography. The Beast of the City was the precursor to many modern crime drama films that pit the gangsters vs. the diligent cops - eventually in a courtroom setting. It was also certainly racy for it's time - made a couple of years before enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code (also known as the Hays Code), with an exceptional cast."

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