The thin man 1934 - A marvelous adaptation of the Hammett novel with great chemistry between Powell and Loy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025878/
IMDB rating: 8,2

Director: W. S. Van Dyke
Main Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton

"Filmed on what MGM considered a B-picture budget and schedule (14 days, which at Universal or Columbia would have been considered extravagant), The Thin Man proved to be 'sleeper', spawning a popular film, radio, and television series. Contrary to popular belief, the title does not refer to star William Powell, but to Edward Ellis, playing the mean-spirited inventor who sets the plot in motion.
The Thin Man works because of the chemistry between stars William Powell and Myrna Loy (which would be adroitly exploited by MGM in several subsequent films, including five additional Thin Man mysteries produced between 1936 and 1948), and because screenwriters Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich had the good sense to transfer Dashiell Hammett's source novel to the screen without substantial alterations to the story. Planned by MGM as a lower-profile release, the film nonetheless featured first-rate talent in front of and behind the camera, including director W.S. Van Dyke, cinematographer James Wong Howe, art director Cedric Gibbons, and sound engineer Douglas Shearer. The supporting cast features consistently good performances, with Maureen O'Sullivan the standout.
Surprisingly popular at the box office, The Thin Man was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-thin-man-v49456

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It happened one night 1934 - The movie which set the pace for screwball comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025316/
IMDB rating: 8,3

Director: Frank Capra
Main Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly

"Frank Capra's seminal screwball comedy, which won all five major Academy Awards for 1934, is still as breezy and beguiling today. Scripted by Capra's frequent collaborator Robert Riskin, Frank Capra's It Happened One Night became the prototypical screwball comedy and elevated Columbia Pictures from Poverty Row status to respectable 'major minor' studio. Starring Clark Gable, on loan from MGM as punishment, and Claudette Colbert, on loan from Paramount for twice her usual pay, Capra's and Riskin's comic romance between a down-to-earth newspaper reporter and a spoiled runaway heiress set the standard for screwball. Its fast-paced repartee, kooky heroine, witty gags, and class-crossing love story became hallmarks of the genre in such later films as My Man Godfrey (1936) and Bringing Up Baby (1938); the overt lustiness barred by the 1934 Production Code was transmuted into clever banter and the romance conveyed an ideal Depression-era fantasy. A critical and commercial hit, It Happened One Night was the first film to sweep the top five Oscars, rewarding Capra, Riskin, Gable, and Colbert, and fulfilling Columbia impresario Harry Cohn's desire to turn his B-studio into a class act.
The only other movies to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay) were One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991)." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/it-happened-one-night-v25509

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The song of songs 1933 - One of Dietrich's best performances

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024598/
IMDB rating: 6,8

Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Main Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Brian Aherne, Lionel Atwill, Alison Skipworth, Helen Freeman

"Those who feel that Marlene Dietrich was merely a beautiful figure whose performances were molded only by director Josef von Sternberg should take a look at Song of Songs, which contains some of Dietrich's finest (if often overlooked) work. Granted, she was once again working with a strong director (Rouben Mamoulian in this case), but it's clear that this was a woman who not only had abundant talent but had a clear sense of how to act specifically for the camera. Observe the many ways she looks at the camera, always embracing it, but doing so with a tremendous variety - sometimes tenderly, sometimes angrily, sometimes teasingly, sometimes aloofly. Dietrich also gets a chance to show some range here, creating a character who changes from naïve and trusting to one who is cynical and world weary - and making all aspects of the character quite believable. For his part, Mamoulian's direction is a bit more 'conventional' than usual but enormously effective nonetheless. If he's not able to draw a very lively performance from Brian Aherne, he compensates with his work from Lionel Atwill, Alison Skipworth, and Helen Freeman. Add in some evocative Victor Milner cinematography and some stunning sculptures, buttressing a sturdy screenplay, and the result is an enormously entertaining drama in the Dietrich manner.
Song of Songs was based on a Herman Sudermann novel, previously adapted into a stage play and then filmed twice during the silent era." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/song-of-songs-v111040

DVD links:

Deluge 1933 - A very early disaster movie

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023938/
IMDB rating: 6,2

Director: Felix E. Feist
Main Cast: Peggy Shannon, Lois Wilson, Sidney Blackmer

"This remarkable early-talkie 'disaster' flick was the first directorial effort of Felix E. Feist. An enormous tidal wave destroys New York City and most of the Eastern seaboard - and that's only the beginning of the picture! The rest of the film deals with the aftermath of the deluge. Hero Martin (Sidney Blackmer), certain that his wife Helen (Lois Wilson) and his children have died in the disaster, begins a romance with bathing beauty Claire (Peggy Shannon). They must fight for their lives against Jephson (Fred Kohler Sr.) and his band of outlaws, who are using the apocalyptic crisis as an excuse to rape and pillage. Surviving one peril after another, the couple is forced to face their biggest crisis when it turns out that Martin's family has not perished after all. Claire nobly solves everyone's problem by swimming out to sea, never to be heard from again. Ned Mann's special effects and miniature work are first-rate, resurfacing as stock footage for years afterward (incidentally, some of the earthquake footage was filmed during an actual California quake in early 1933). Also praiseworthy is the superb, wall-to-wall musical score. For years considered a 'lost' film, Deluge was found again in 1987 and has since been restored to an approximation of its original form - though a full-scale videotape release is long overdue." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-deluge-v13154

Download links (Italian audio with English subtitles - very rare!):

She done him wrong 1933 - The trademark Mae West movie

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024548/
IMDB rating: 6,5

Director: Lowell Sherman
Main Cast: Mae West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Rochelle Hudson

"She Done Him Wrong is the best example of the screen persona of Mae West and why it has endured as a icon of comic sexuality. Adapted from West's stage play, the story is secondary to West's charismatic one-liners and simmering seductiveness. The supporting cast appears to be there just for show, including West's nominal co-star, Cary Grant, whom Paramount was then attempting to build into a leading man. Paramount consistently selected material for Grant that failed to showcase his talents, and he did not achieve major box-office status until after leaving the studio in 1935.
Mae West's first starring film literally saved Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy. It would remain the best of her feature films, most of which were severely watered down by the Production Code (whose renewed stringency of 1933 was brought about in great part by West herself). She Done Him Wrong was based on West's own stage play, Diamond Lil, which ran on Broadway for 97 weeks. West sings 'Frankie and Johnny', 'I Like a Man Who Takes His Time', and 'I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone'. She Done Him Wrong holds the unusual distinction of being nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture without being nominated in any other category." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/she-done-him-wrong-v44218

DVD links:

Turn back the clock 1933 - A charming fantasy comedy

Lee Tracy and Mae Clarke

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024704/
IMDB rating: 7,0

Director: Edgar Selwyn
Main Cast: Lee Tracy, Mae Clarke, Otto Kruger, Peggy Shannon

"Directed by Edgar Selwyn, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ben Hecht (Underworld 1927 & The Scoundrel 1935), the story is a very clever exploration into the 'what if', as in 'what if I made a different choice at a pivotal moment in my life' and what would have happened. It stars Lee Tracy (The Best Man 1964) as the man who gets the opportunity to 'see' how his life may have been had he chosen to marry one girl vs. another in his youth.
Selwyn and Hecht delivered a small masterpiece in 1933 that might seem familiar now to later generations. Everyone from Frank Capra to Rod Serling has used the same theme successfully - the lesson to be learned: you can't change the past without consequences, so maybe its better just to be happy with what you have.
A truly imaginative fantasy, Turn Back the Clock is acted with conviction by everybody from star Lee Tracy to a trio of bit players (in the wedding sequence) who later called themselves The Three Stooges." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/turn-back-the-clock-v114664

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Berkeley Square 1933 - One of the first time-travel fantasies ever made

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023794/
IMDB rating: 6,7

Director: Frank Lloyd
Main Cast: Leslie Howard, Heather Angel

"Adapted from John Balderston's successful stage fantasy (itself based on a story by Henry James), Berkeley Square is the story of a modern-day London scientist (Leslie Howard), who is romantically fascinated by the 18th century. A freak accident propels Howard back to 1784, where he assumes the identity of one of his own ancestors. Howard falls in love with his distant cousin Helen (Heather Angel), while his other relatives regard the time-traveller as a 'sorcerer' due to his disturbing knowledge of future events. Gradually, Howard is disillusioned by the squalor and bigotry of the 18th century. He bids farewell to Helen, explaining that he will actually be born years after her death but that they will be reunited 'in God's time'. Returning to the present, Howard discovers that Helen died young without ever marrying. He renounces his own fiancee and determines to live out his life as a bachelor, to be united with his true love in death.
Long considered a lost film, Berkeley Square was rediscovered in the mid 1970s. The film had already been remade in 1951 as the Tyrone Power vehicle I'll Never Forget You." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/berkeley-square-v84811

Download links:

(DVDrip, 700 MB):

http://www.filefactory.com/file/xw6xyj37cw5/