The treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 - The tale of greed and its consequences

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IMDB rating: 8,4

Director: John Huston
Main Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett, Barton MacLane

"Loosely based on the Biblical parable of the thieves and the 'Pardoner's Tale' in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, John Huston's morality tale is one of the great cinematic proofs of the Biblical adage radix malorum est cupitidas, or, the root of evil is the love of money. The film is a clever study of the erosive effect that money can have on flawed men's characters. Shot entirely on location in Mexico, the film's dry and dusty atmosphere is clearly authentic. Humphrey Bogart's maniacal Fred Dobbs is one of moviedom's great characterizations, a conglomeration of cunning, greed and paranoia. As his wealth mounts, so does his distrust. While external threats abound, the real enemy lies within. The Treasure of the Sierre Madre examines the essential existential hopelessness and loneliness of the avaricious man, drawing an implicit parallel between the prospectors and man's contemporary pursuit of material wealth. A failure with audiences who apparently didn't want to see Bogie playing such a nefarious anti-hero, the movie is now recognized by most critics as an American classic. For the first time ever, a father and son - Walter Huston (for best supporting actor) and John (for directing and screenplay) - won Oscars for their stellar work." - www.allmovie.com

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The prizefighter and the lady 1933 - A must-see for boxing fans

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IMDB rating: 6,5

Director: W. S. Van Dyke
Main Cast: Myrna Loy, Max Baer, Primo Carnera, Jack Dempsey, Walter Huston, Otto Kruger

"Steve Morgan (Max Baer) is a ex-sailor tending bar in a seedy dive when The Professor (Walter Huston), a boxing coach, sees Morgan make short work of a troublesome customer. The Professor convinces Morgan that he has what it takes to be a successful prizefighter, and takes him under his wing. One day, while Morgan is jogging, he's nearly hit by a car operated by an attractive woman named Belle (Myrna Loy), who is making a name for herself as a nightclub singer. Belle has been dating underworld kingpin Willie Ryan (Otto Kruger), but before long Morgan is able to win her away from Ryan, and they get married. Morgan's marriage to Belle turns out to be god for publicity, and soon he's racked up an impressive string of victories, but Morgan can't keep his eyes off other women, and she has reason to believe he's been unfaithful. Belle, despondent, goes back to Ryan, while Morgan starts hitting the bottle, just as he's lined up a championship fight with Primo Carnera.
The Prizefighter and the Lady gave heavyweight contender Max Baer his first leading role; a year after the film was released, Baer faced off against Carnera in a real championship bout, which Baer won by a knockout." - www.allmovie.com

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Kongo 1932 - A tropical human condition story

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IMDB rating: 6,9

Director: William J. Cowen
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Lupe Velez, Conrad Nagel, Virginia Bruce

"A remake of West of Zanibar (1928), this strange, gut-wrenching melodrama set in the African jungles, offers a disturbing portrait of a bitter, crippled and insane megalomaniac who vents his rage via mental torture against all those who get too near. Walter Huston plays the madman who lost the use of his legs during a battle with his nemesis Gordon. The accident happened many years ago and since then Huston has dragged himself about in his jungle home making the lives of those around him waking nightmares. He has terrified the local tribesmen into total submission with his knowledge deadly voodoo (he tells them guns are magical instruments). He is even crueler to his fellow Anglos. A young white woman comes to visit one day. Believing her to be the daughter of his arch rival Gordon, he gleefully embarks upon a heavy reign of psychological abuse until the poor girl is nearly destroyed. For more fun, he gets a new doctor addicted to drugs and of course he can also torment the woman who loves him, Velez. The horror continues until Gordon suddenly shows up. Vengeful Huston quickly picks a fight and during the ensuing struggle Gordon tells Huston a bitter truth, one that leads Huston to a horrible realization." - www.allmovie.com

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American madness 1932 - A fast-paced, exciting early social drama

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IMDB rating: 7,5

Director: Frank Capra
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Pat O'Brien, Kay Johnson, Constance Cummings

"American Madness was the first of Frank Capra's topical social dramas, anticipating his later, broader work in this sub-genre with Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Meet John Doe, and It's A Wonderful Life (two vital elements of which - a key scene midway through the picture and the denouement - were derived from the key dramatic moment in this movie). Indeed, it stands at the nexus of Capra's early career, between actual events that took place at the Bank of Italy, involving its founder A. P. Giannini, and the decade-and-a-half of cinematic storytelling that the director would generate out of moments such as that. And for fans of the filmmaker's uplifting, socially conscious brand of story-telling (which also figures into such comedies as It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It With You), this film is a great discovery on that basis alone. It has its flaws but those can be overlooked in the context of the bigger picture here - in 1932, Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin were getting away with a lot just making a movie like this, which was not entirely well-received in cities that had seen bank runs in recent months and years (it closed in Baltimore, where such incidents had occurred, in just two days). But American Madness is much more than a social statement - it's a great visual and cinematic narrative achievement, showing how a master filmmaker's vision, coupled with that of a bold screenwriter (Robert Riskin, who would loom large across Capra's career through the 1940's), could devise what amounts to a symphony on the screen.
Walter Huston is terrific as Dickson, a quirky but shrewd financier who is capable of understanding people's financial problems. He's also courteous to his employees and very faithful to his bored wife; at the same time he has a deep grasp of the duty of financial institutions to distribute money into circulation. In what is perhaps the most astute quote in the film, 'Character', he muses, 'is the only thing you can bank on!'
This was one of Huston's earliest roles; it ranks with Dodsworth (1936) and Abraham Lincoln (1930) as his very best." - www.allmovie.com

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The criminal code 1931 - "Somebody's got to pay!"

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021770/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: Howard Hawks
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff, DeWitt Jennings, Mary Doran

"Howard Hawks' early sound prison melodrama, based on a play by Martin Flavin, already contains his stylistic signature of over-lapping dialogue - a technique he would greatly expand upon in the next ten years. Walter Huston is district attorney Brady, who quickly convicts Robert Graham (Phillips Holmes) of murdering a man who was harassing his girlfriend. Brady is later made the warden of the prison where Robert is held. Brady tries to make friends with Robert, but Robert will have no dealings with the new warden. Nevertheless, Brady, who thinks Robert is a decent man who became embroiled in extraordinary circumstances, gives Robert a job as his chauffeur. As he drives with Brady's daughter Mary (Constance Cummings), the two fall in love. Meanwhile, things heat up back at the prison, where crazed killer Ned Galloway (Boris Karloff) kills the squealer Runch (Clark Marshall). Robert knows Ned killed Runch, but refuses to tell Brady. Brady reluctantly sends Robert to solitary confinement to get him to give up the murderer's name, but Robert holds out on him.
Constance Cummins isn't given much as Huston's daughter but she is appealing. However, Boris Karloff gives one of his very finest performances as a tough but decent prisoner.
The Criminal Code is one of Hawks' lesser known films (maybe because he was uncredited as director). It is simply a superlative film that is dominated by powerhouse performances by Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes and Boris Karloff. Holmes acting was occasionally flat in films but when he was given the right role he was fantastic as he definitely was here. The Criminal Code, which opened on Broadway in 1929 and lasted a very respectable 179 performances, was another acting honor for Walter Huston."

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Abraham Lincoln 1930 - From the log cabin to the White House

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020620/?ref_=nv_sr_3
IMDB rating: 5,9

Director: D. W. Griffith
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Una Merkel, William L. Thorne, Lucille La Verne, Jason Robards Sr., Kay Hammond

"As one of only two 'talkies' helmed by the godfather of American silent cinema, David Wark Griffith's Abraham Lincoln is by no means a conventionally good film; to be blunt, it qualifies as one of the most inept movies ever turned out by a craftsperson of Griffith's stature.
The script, credited to Stephen Vincent Benet, manages to include all the familiar high points, including Lincoln's tragic romance with Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel, allegedly cast because of her resemblance to Griffith favorite Lillian Gish), his lawyer days in Illinois, his contentious marriage to Mary Todd (Kay Hammond), his heartbreaking decision to declare war upon the South, his pardoning of a condemned sentry during the Civil War, and his assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth (expansively portrayed by Ian Keith). This was D.W. Griffith's first talkie, and the master does his best with the somewhat pedantic dialogue sequences; but as always, Griffith's forte was spectacle and montage, as witness the cross-cut scenes of Yankees and Rebels marching off to war and the pulse-pounding ride of General Sheridan (Frank Campeau) through the Shenandoah Valley. Thanks to the wizardry of production designer William Cameron Menzies, many of the scenes appear far more elaborate than they really were; Menzies can also be credited with the unforgettable finale, as Honest Abe's Kentucky log cabin dissolves to the Lincoln Memorial. As Abraham Lincoln, Walter Huston is a tower of strength, making even the most florid of speeches sound human and credible; only during the protracted death scene of Ann Rutledge does Huston falter, and then the fault is as much Griffith's as his. Like Griffith's decision to cast the middle-aged Huston as teenage Lincoln in the story's opening act. With the actor buried beneath piles of makeup, he comes terribly close to resembling a Felliniesque drag queen - a sight that must be seen to be believed." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/abraham-lincoln-v641/

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(754 MB, Blu-Ray, Rar):

http://rapidgator.net/file/d0365cb1fc270ae8488eb1422e87444d

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Rain 1932 - Joan Crawford as Miss Sadie Thompson

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023369/
IMDB rating: 6,9

Director: Lewis Milestone
Main Cast: Joan Crawford, Walter Huston, William Gargan, Guy Kibbee

"The pleasures of the flesh confront the discipline of the Lord's teachings in this screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's story Miss Sadie Thompson. This is the first sound film adaptation of the play, where young MGM 'flapper' star Joan Crawford's turn as Miss Sadie Thompson revealed that she could play more than just a spirited modern girl. As the South Seas prostitute reformed and then violated by Walter Huston's fire-and-brimstone preacher, Crawford matches Huston's intensity and reveals the depth of emotions behind Sadie's slatternly, free-wheeling façade. The lush, nocturnal tropical setting with its copious precipitation and Polynesian drum music enhances the sensuality of the conflict between spirit and carnality, while director Lewis Milestone's mobile camera and telling visual touches (like Sadie's choice of shoes) offset the potential staginess of a theatrical adaptation. A flop in 1932, Rain has since recovered its artistic reputation, particularly for Crawford's then-shocking 'realism' as Sadie. The play was first adapted as Sadie Thompson in 1928 with Gloria Swanson, then re-made again in 1953 as Miss Sadie Thompson with Rita Hayworth." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/rain-v40130

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https://archive.org/download/LewisMilestonesRain1932/Rainvo_512kb.mp4

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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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