The Maltese falcon 1931 - The dangerous female

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IMDB rating: 7,5

Director: Roy Del Ruth
Main Cast: Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel, Robert Elliott, Thelma Todd

"The 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon consistently ranks among the greatest American films ever made, but two other adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's novel preceded it. Unlike the 1936 version - Satan Met a Lady, starring Bette Davis - 1931's The Maltese Falcon stays close to the source material, aside from a tacked-on ending that relieves some of the book's cynical severity. The film had a standard feel for a studio production of the early sound period; it arrived in theaters right before the surge of detective movies, as horror and gangster films were falling out of favor. Journeyman director Roy Del Ruth helms adequately enough, and the prolific but lightly regarded bit actor Ricardo Cortez does well with his interpretation of Sam Spade as a saucy womanizer.
To avoid confusion with the 1941 remake, the 1931 Maltese Falcon has been retitled Dangerous Female for television." - www.allmovie.com

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Counsellor at law 1933 - One of the best lawyer films of the 30's

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023911/
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: William Wyler
Main Cast: John Barrymore, Bebe Daniels, Doris Kenyon, Isabel Jewell, Melvyn Douglas, Thelma Todd

"Adapted from the play by Elmer Rice, Counsellor-at-Law is the story of a successful Jewish lawyer George Simon (John Barrymore) who finds it's lonely at the top. Barrymore gives a crackling performance as a dynamic Manhattan lawyer who's worked his way to the top, yet still has the hunger of an immigrant Jew who came over in steerage. Seemingly master of all he surveys - his offices are in the Empire State Building! - he suddenly finds himself facing disbarment, and ditching by the elegant WASP wife (Doris Kenyon) who's always wished he would practice law 'like a gentleman'.
Such a stagy stratagem (Elmer Rice adapting his own play) usually spells static filmmaking, but Wyler (who signaled his readiness to take a big step up in class with this expertly directed movie) brings off a cinematic tour de force, an energetic direction with tensile camerawork, sharp performances, and brilliant set design (Charles D. Hall) that gets great visual excitement out of all the doors, glass walls, and skyscraper windows."

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42nd Street 1933 - The quintessential backstage musical

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024034/
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Lloyd Bacon
Main Cast: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Una Merkel, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers

"If MGM's 1929 The Broadway Melody invented the musical, Warner Bros.' 42nd Street saved it. The four years between the two movies had seen the genre driven practically into the ground, as the studios, still struggling with synchronized sound and what to do about it, ground out one ill-advised musical after another, few terribly good as music and most even less impressive as movies. It had gotten so bad that by 1932, theater owners were protecting their box office with signs announcing, for any 'suspect' title, 'NOT A MUSICAL!' It was into that environment in 1933 that Warner Bros. released 42nd Street, directed by Lloyd Bacon and choreographed by Busby Berkeley - and it revived and revolutionized the whole musical genre, by taking it to the long-delayed next step. It was during the making of The Broadway Melody that filmmakers discovered that they could separate the shooting of a musical number from the recording of its music. Berkeley and cinematographer Sol Polito took this notion to the next step by removing the camera from the studio floor. Under their direction, shots were done from overhead angles and other locations from which no person could ever actually observe in real life, and the dancers' motions were, in turn, designed to exploit those angles; in effect, they created the true movie musical, as opposed to a musical that happened to be on film. Bacon's direction of the dialogue portions of the story, with both dramatic and comic content, was also very sure, no surprise for a man later responsible for dramas like The Fighting Sullivans and comedies with Red Skelton, which meant that the movie held up even when there was no dancing or singing on the screen; and when there was, the music by Harry Warren and Al Dubin was downright clever; and the acting, though a little broad by modern standards, was of first caliber, also unusual for a musical, ranging from serious dramatic lead Warner Baxter to comic relief from George E. Stone as the mousy, lecherous stage manager and Guy Kibbee's befuddled, lecherous backer, with Bebe Daniels, Ruby Keeler, and Ginger Rogers at their most delectable.
Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes (which was a lot steamier than the movie censors would allow), 42nd Street is highlighted by such grandiose musical setpieces as 'Shuffle Off to Buffalo', 'Young and Healthy', and of course the title song. The audience devoured it, and Warner Bros., Berkeley, and company rose to the occasion of delivering more and better musicals like it for much of the rest of the decade.
Nearly fifty years after its premiere, it was successfully revived as a Broadway musical with Tammy Grimes and Jerry Orbach." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/42nd-street-v258

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