The story of Temple Drake 1933 - One of the films most responsible for the creation of the Production Code

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IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Stephen R. Roberts
Main Cast: Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge, Guy Standing, Irving Pichel

"William Faulkner's novel Sanctuary was a notorious bestseller upon its publication in 1931, and while it was successful enough that Paramount Pictures quickly snapped up the film rights, they were forced to change enough of the story to make it fit for the screen (even in the pre-code era) that by the time it reached theaters the title had been changed to The Story of Temple Drake. It's a welcome surprise to discover that it's actually an engrossing little drama, even if its melodramatic overtones do get to be a bit on the heavy side in some places. Still, the fact is that Drake's story is more about southern power, class and hypocrisy than it is about sex, and it makes for an effective piece of filmmaking. Although Oliver P. Garrett's screenplay of necessity has to take some liberties with the William Faulkner novel that is its source, it comes across as one of the most successful screen adaptations of a Faulkner work. Things have been toned down a bit, and of necessity shortened, and the ending resolves too quickly, but there's still force and power and heat and drama in what Garrett has written for the screen. Stephen R. Roberts directs well, although with perhaps less 'oomph' than one might wish on occasion. But the film's biggest asset is it terrific star performance from Miriam Hopkins. Sexy, sensual, forthright and a force of nature in her own right, Hopkins' Temple lights up the screen. Her bravura performance is a delight from start to finish, and she is the bedrock that makes Drake a film to watch.
While the most sordid aspects of Sanctuary were excised by screenwriter Oliver H.P. Garrett and director Stephen Roberts, The Story of Temple Drake was still quite controversial on its initial release, and within a few months of its release, Will Hayes and Joseph Breen overhauled the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America's production code and strengthened enforcement of its guidelines on content, making it virtually impossible for a major studio to make a film like it again until the 1960s." - www.allmovie.com

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Secrets 1933 - The last film of America's Sweetheart

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IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Frank Borzage
Main Cast: Mary Pickford, Leslie Howard, C. Aubrey Smith, Blanche Friderici, Doris Lloyd, Ned Sparks

"Silent screen legend Mary Pickford makes her final movie appearance in Secrets, adapted from the play by Rudolph Besier and Mary Edgerton. Secrets is a curious misfire, meaning that it doesn't really work as a film but has more than enough interesting things about it to make it worth watching. For one thing, it's Mary Pickford's last film and one of the few talkies that the vibrant silent star made. Pickford never really made the transition from silent to sound, although a number of her talking pictures were popular. She was capable of being a fine talkie actress; the talent was clearly there, but she needed to put a great deal of effort into re-learning how to act in front of a camera with a microphone, and she apparently didn't want to do so. As a result, some of her scenes come across as stilted or disjointed; others, however, are magical and demonstrate what could have been. Indeed, her scene following the death of her child is pure gold. Leslie Howard was more at ease with dialogue, and his performance is a big help to Secrets, but there's also a problem here: Howard is very convincing as the lover, not quite as convincing as a rough Western hero type. Frank Borzage works some magic of his own in his direction; despite some credibility problems in the script, Borzage directs as if he believes in every wild moment, every truth-stretching bit turn of events." - www.allmovie.com

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Employees' entrance 1933 - Excellent look at the backstage of a department store

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IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Roy Del Ruth
Main Cast: Warren William, Loretta Young, Wallace Ford, Alice White

"Warren William plays a high-powered ambitious executive who unflinchingly steamrolled his way to the top without regard for the havoc he left in his wake. As the manager of a Macy-like department store, he constantly browbeats his flunkies into submission, and ends-up driving at least one to suicide. Loretta Young plays the wife of one of William's minor employees (Wallace Ford), with whom the Big Boss has a brief affair during an office party. Eventually William gets his comeuppance, and Loretta is vindicated in the eyes of her hubby. A terrific example of pre-Motion Picture Production Code raciness, Employees' Entrance still causes audiences to gasp at its audaciousness when seen today
Warren William dominates the picture - just as he did in Skyscraper Souls (1932) in an identical role - as the store's completely amoral, conniving, tyrannical manager. He is perfect in the part and it is fascinating to watch a skilled actor portray a thoroughly bad character. As one of the finer actors of the decade, it is indeed a shame that William is all but forgotten today.
The rest of the cast is excellent: Wallace Ford and Loretta Young as a secretly married couple whom William tries to corrupt; Alice White as the store floozy, willing to drop her morals at William's command; Ruth Donnelly as William's no-nonsense secretary; Frank Reicher and Charles Sellon as two old men who respond in very different ways to having William destroy their livelihood; and Hale Hamilton as the store's ineffectual, absentee owner." - www.allmovie.com

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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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Going Hollywood 1933 - Davis follows Crosby to Tinseltown

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IMDB rating: 8,3

Director: Raoul Walsh
Main Cast: Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay, Stuart Erwin, Ned Sparks, Patsy Kelly

"Reportedly at the request of Marion Davies herself, Bing Crosby was borrowed from Paramount for the MGM Davies vehicle Going Hollywood.
When she discovers that the crooner she adores is 'Going Hollywood', a liberated school teacher dogs his steps all the way to the Studio sound stages.
Marion Davies tries her hardest to entertain in this tinsel town spoof, but neither the script (based on a story by the celebrated Frances Marion) nor the direction give her much leeway. Raoul Walsh seems a curious choice to direct this kind of film, but he must have had William Randolph Hearst's approval or he never would have been given the assignment. The trouble is that Marion has little chance to be anything other than sweet and pleasant - when finally given the opportunity to do a wicked spoof of co-star Fifi D'Orsay, she's terrific. Unfortunately, moments like that come all too rarely.
Leading man Bing Crosby comes off rather better, showing the casual charm that would make him a huge star. And he gets to sing some fine tunes by Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed, including the classic ‘Temptation' and the fun ‘We'll Make Hay While The Sun Shines.' Although his character is a bit of a cad, Bing never fails to deliver the goods to the audience. As was his wont, publisher William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies' 'very good friend', was present throughout the filming, making it difficult indeed for Bing Crosby to 'lose himself' in the kissing scenes.
Some of the best moments in Going Hollywood belong to Patsy Kelly, making her movie debut as Davies' wisecracking chum, and to the Radio Rogues, a comedy singing act specializing in impressions of contemporary radio celebrities." - www.allmovie.com

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Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932 - Lugosi in a Poe adaptation

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IMDB rating: 6,3

Director: Robert Florey
Main Cast: Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox, Leon Ames, Bert Roach, Betty Ross Clarke

"Having missed the opportunity to direct Frankenstein for Universal, Robert Florey was offered Murders in the Rue Morgue as a consolation, whereupon he transformed a pedestrian property into a minor classic.
Bela Lugosi in the prime of his horror career delivers a sublimely evil performance that carries this effective thriller released by Universal in the wake of their horror success of Frankenstein and Dracula. Based on a tale by Edgar Allen Poe, Murders in the Rue Morgue strikes a similar feel to some of Tod Browning's pictures: dark and rather sadistic. Lugosi's Dr. Mirakle is an evil doctor whose prize sideshow attraction is a killer gorilla whose blood he wants to mix with that of a woman (Sidney Fox) for some bizarre reason. While Lugosi takes the role to its horrifying limits, his co-stars pale by comparison playing rote characters in corny performances. Leon Waycoff (aka Leon Ames) is the hero, a medical student whose girlfriend (Fox) is abducted by the runaway ape in an exciting rooftop climax. The film's stronger elements - a woman's death in Mirakle's lab, another who is murdered and left stuffed in a chimney - come across even more powerfully thanks to the fine cinematography of the masterful Karl Freund (Metropolis). In one particularly noteworthy shot, the sound of a woman's screams are intercut with footage of shocked villagers. Director Robert Florey does a solid job of keeping the action moving and the audience on its toes despite a script that does have its occasional lame points. One notable example of this is when Waycoff's friend becomes overly upset that his pal won't eat. John Huston received credit on the film for adding dialogue." - www.allmovie.com

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Tiger shark 1932 - The root of all the remakes

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IMDB rating: 6,5

Director: Howard Hawks
Main Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Richard Arlen, Zita Johann, Leila Bennett, J. Carrol Naish

"Legend has it that director Howard Hawks filmed Tiger Shark for Warner Brothers while on a fishing trip in Hawaii. Despite the off-handed nature of the production, the film - based on the play, They Knew What They Wanted - still manages to touch upon many of Hawks' signature themes. There's a morally complex love triangle, an examination of trust and loyalty, and the impending doom of an outside instrument of death (the sharks). Tiger Shark's driving story line is delivered in a typically Hawksian, no-nonsense style; the fishing scenes are highly charged and very realistic, significant for a film made in the 1930s. Two years after his breakthrough role in Little Caesar (1930), Edward G. Robinson proves his versatility as the Portuguese tuna boat skipper with a bitter, resentful side. Warner Bros. would unofficially remake Tiger Shark several times over the next ten years; while the professions of the two leading male characters would change, the basic 'triangle' plot remained the same." - www.allmovie.com

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