Jewel Robbery (1932)

While a Viennese Baron is buying a diamond ring for his young wife (Kay Francis), the jeweler is robbed by a dashing jewel robber (William Powell). She is smitten and gets herself entangled in the affair.

Not a whole lot to this 68 minute romp but it is surprisingly charming and witty. It’s also loaded with pre-code banter. Powell (his character goes unnamed) offers cigarettes to his victims and we learn that they are something other than tobacco. Baroness Teri’s friend finds it scandalous that she is receiving a gift of jewelry from her own husband. The risque banter is almost non-stop.

Kay Francis was a pretty big star in the early thirties. When her box office began to teeter in the late 1930’s, she was relegated to lesser pictures or lesser roles. Her minor speech impediment didn’t help. She continued to work until the mid 1940’s then retired for good.

Jewel Robbery is a very by the numbers film. The rich woman falling for the suave jewel thief is almost a trope. I was half expecting that the story would go a step deeper and reveal a bigger twist, but it is what it is. The pre-code banter and Powell’s smooth performance, however, makes it memorable. AMRU 3.5.

Call Her Savage (1932)

Wild child Nasa (Clara Bow) leads an eventful life. So did Clara, come to think of it.

The film begins as a terrible western. A wagon train is led by a man who is spending time with his girlfriend rather than his wife and family. They are attacked by Indians and their bad luck is blamed on his wicked ways. The worst part is that his behavior will cause his young daughter to also be wicked. It’s in the bible, you can look it up.

Clara Bow became a huge star after 1927’s It and lived a wild Hollywood lifestyle. Things started to fall apart with the advent of sound cinema and the press taking a more moralistic stance on her behavior. She took some time off for a well deserved nervous breakdown and returned with Call Her Savage. It was a critical and box office success and completed her return to Hollywood royalty. She would appear in one more film before retiring.

Bow’s former lover and matinee idol Gilbert Roland appears as Moonglow, a half Indian. Thelma Todd plays Nasa’s romantic rival. Pretty, charming, and funny, she is best remembered as appearing in other people’s films, most notably the Marx Brothers. Her star was on the rise when she was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning at age 29. Ruled a suicide but was it murder?

Call Her Savage is Bow thumbing her nose at her detractors. Heralded a triumph in its day, it is merely watchable now, mostly because of its "pre-code" elements. Filmmakers initially struggled making dialog sound natural in the early talkie era, and this is on full display here. Also, Bow’s acting style was stuck in the silent era. I’m curious how she would have evolved had she stuck around another ten years. AMRU 3.

Thirteen Women (1932)

A “half breed” (Myrna Loy) uses her exotic eastern powers to punish the girls who bullied her back in school.

Loy appeared in The Mask of Fu Manchu the same year, also wearing ‘asian face’. I suppose she was the go-to girl for ‘exotic other’ characters. Hey, it was the 30’s. Our protagonist is played by Irene Dunne, less foolish than the other women. Because of production code edits, thirteen minutes and two of the women landed on the cutting room floor. One whose role was greatly shortened was Peg Entwistle.

Some readers have heard the story of Peg Entwistle, the young British actress whose stardom was cut short by suicide. Days after the release of Thirteen Women, she jumped from the H sign in the Hollywood hills. There is lots of speculation why, but nothing concrete. And the Steely Dan song was likely not inspired by her story.

Thirteen Women is an interestingly weird pre-code film. Shortening to a mere 59 minutes may have had the side benefit of tightening the story and quickening the pace. A lot happens in a very short time. Still, a fully restored version would really be something, if just for the lesbian subplot. AMRU 3.

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

Creepy Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi) has a trained ape and a nefarious plan that involves a young, pretty woman.

Very loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe story, it keeps many of the elements but replaces the narrative. Instead of a detective trying to solve a series of murders, it’s a boyfriend medical student trying to protect his love. And, in retrospect, I don’t think anyone figured out what Dr. Mirakle’s plan actually was, but it appeared to involve ape/lady sexy time.

Communicating who characters are and what their relationship is is a basic task of storytelling. This was not expertly accomplished here, not that it mattered much. The only purpose for any character outside of hero, villain, and damsel in distress is for them to have someone to talk to. A bigger annoyance was the complete lack of a score. Dracula had no score, so why not.

Erik the Ape was a chimp in close-ups and a man in a shabby gorilla suit in longer shots, which wasn't too convincing. I’ve noted before that early horror films were enamored with gorillas. And, like today, many of them were portrayed by old friend Charles Gemora. Also here in a “blink and you’ll miss him” role is our favorite non-Indian Iron Eyes Cody. Us old people remember him best as the Crying Indian.

Murders in the Rue Morgue contains some serious pre-code violence and themes, nineteen minutes of which were cut, which I presume are lost. It's remarkable for that and a classic Lugosi performance, but stretches of it were quite dull. Luckily it was barely an hour long. AMRU 3.

The Age of Consent (1932)

Serious youth Michael is frustrated by the flighty behavior of his best girl Betty, who appears to be receptive to the advances of the campus alpha-douche. Events have Michael in the arms, and other places, of young waitress Dora. Come morning they are discovered, and Paw goes for the preacher and shotgun.

Memorable for the amusing dialog lampooning promiscuous college attitudes Michael’s traditional values are in stark contrast to his college peer’s but with dad’s downright Victorian views. Michael knows he must do what’s right even if it dashes all of his life’s plans.

There are themes here, but don't go thinking this is a deep film. On the topic of promiscuity, I believe it is suggesting a "moderation in all things" approach. I don't believe a deeper investigation is warranted. Future pin-up girl Betty Grable has a blink-and-you'll-miss-her scene. I had blinked.

Age of Consent is a pretty clumsy early talkie, partially redeemed by the risque theme (Dora, the sexual aggressor, is a minor) and the somewhat amusing dialog:

“You know, you'd be much nicer if you'd loosen your morals.”
“I would be much more comfortable if you would loosen your grip.”

And at 63 minutes, it also has the virtue of brevity. But this gets us only so far. It's fairly dull film. AMRU 2.5.

One Way Passage (1932)

Dashing Dan (William Powell) catches the eye of pretty Joan (Kay Francis). They fall in love while sharing a voyage to San Francisco, but are keeping a dark secret. Convicted of murder, Dan is returning to face the hangman’s noose, while Joan is terminally ill. They sneak around, have adventures, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Character actor Frank McHugh is Skippy, Dan’s comic relief friend. He’s come up quite a few times in my travels putting him into the ‘Familiar, but can’t quite place him’ category. Same could be said for Roscoe Karns, but his role here was uncredited and quite small. Pretty Kay Francis is quite charming in the lead. She had a moment in the early thirties, but limited acting range and a slight lisp soon relegated her to second tier films and second fiddle roles before the decades end.

One Way Passage is a fairly simple story but it makes use of its characters and premise well. Barrel House Betty, who feigns aristocracy to scam rich idiots, has more depth than you might expect. The same could be said for the knucklehead cop bringing Dan to justice. And the ending, well, see for yourself. At times funny and touching, and always entertaining to watch. William Powell always delivers. AMRU 3.5.

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Con artists Lily (Miriam Hopkins) and Gaston (Herbert Marshall) cross paths and fall in love. They team up to swindle air-head perfume heiress Madame Colet (Kay Francis), but things become shaky when Gaston crosses paths with a previous mark and starts to get a little too close to his current one.

Miriam Hopkins was TCM’s star of the month, and the least I could do would be to see one of her films. I knew nothing about her but discovered she was the hottie in the good version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Here she was quite quirky and adorable. Herbert Marshall and Kay Francis too.

Marshall had but one leg, lost in the Great War, and you wouldn’t know it. They used a stand-in when he needed to run up stairs. Clever and charming, he and his growing relationship with Madame Colet is the primary focus of the film. Miriam’s Lily has a secondary but still important role in the scam. It was probably Kay’s performance that stood out the most for me. Between the three actors, they had fourteen spouses. Hollywood, am I right?

Veteran character actors Edward Everett Horton and Charles Ruggles play as an unlikely comedy team, two men vying unsuccessfully for Colet’s affection. Friends, but not really. They both have appeared in a ton of films and always stand out.

Funny, charming, and clever, Ernst Lubitsch lives up to his reputation. AMRU 3.5.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

James Allen (Paul Muni) returns from the Great War a hero and doesn’t want to return to his old desk job. Wanting to be an engineer, he goes out looking for his dream job. But work is hard to find and he ends up living as a hobo. Wrongfully convicted of a petty crime, he ends up on an old-timey chain gang. Spoiler alert: he becomes a fugitive.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is an indictment of the chain gang system which is apparently not just a Looney Tunes trope. And it is a pretty brutal depiction, as only pre-code Hollywood could do. In small part it’s the Midnight Express of its era. There are also frank depictions of prostitution, premarital sex, and infidelity. Into shirtless men being whipped? It has some of that as well.

In the second act a young woman utters a confounding line, one I’ve heard a couple times before. Expressing that she is beholden to no one, she says “I'm free, white, and twenty one”. I suppose that’s just something white Americans with means said back in the day. I don’t think the filmmakers had purpose behind the line, but earlier a black man on the chain gang wasn't being released because he was too good of a worker. The context of the film makes the line especially callous.

The story is based on the real life imprisonment of Robert E. Burns, who collaborated on the film while on the lam! Unlike many films that dabbled in exploitation, Fugitive is not played with a wink and a nod. This is real social commentary that helped reform the criminal justice system, and earn Burns his eventual freedom.

FW21 aside, Fugitive is a very compelling film, entertaining and eye-opening, and Muni was fantastic. Some of the acting is a little dated and truth be told, the story does drag for a bit. But I think I would like to see it again if I could share it with someone who liked movies like this. AMRU 4.

What Price Hollywood? (1932)

Waitress Mary (Constance Bennett) is determined to break into the pictures. She waits on famed drunken director Max Carey (Lowell Sherman), weasels her way into an audition, and impresses a producer. The studio promotes her as their next big star. As her star rises, Max’ fades.

Sound familiar? That’s because major beats of this film were lifted for A Star is Born (1937), also produced by David O. Selznick, whom the original writers threatened to sue. Director George Cukor refused the 1937 version because of how similar the story was. He changed his tune in 1954. The only real difference here is that our Star doesn’t marry our charming drunk, who is a director rather than a performer. Other than that, we are talking about only a slight reimagining.

Star Mary’s love interest is played by Neil Hamilton. If the name is not familiar, people my age will immediately recognize his voice as the young, dashing Commissioner Gordon. He is smitten by Mary but struggles with her Hollywood friends and lifestyle. Their first date does not age well. Louise Beavers plays Mary’s maid, the only role legally allowed a chubby black woman back then. Surprisingly, this is the eighth film I’ve seen her in with a ninth coming soon. She was also in What Price Innocence? Were the rules of grammar different in the 1930’s?

I went into What Price Hollywood? with low expectations. It’s the lesser known version of a story I already knew. But as much as I liked Fredric March in his version, it's Constance Bennett who really shines here. But that's not to take anything away from Lowell Sherman. He was charming and charismatic as the tragic Max Carey. Lowell will tragically die less than two years later, his films mostly forgotten. It is unavoidable to compare the two films, and this one is wittier, snappier, and all around superior. I found the characters smart and likable, and that's a good thing. AMRU 3.5.

Mary: Why do you drink all the time? Can't you cut the heavy swilling?
Max: What, and be bored all the time?

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

A famous hunter (Joel McCray) is on yet another adventure when his ship crashes into a reef and sinks. He is the only survivor. He finds a creepy mansion owned by a strange man who is also hosting guests who were shipwrecked earlier that week. Something of an epidemic.

Turns out our host is an avid hunting fan but he’s grown bored with regular hunting. He wants to hunt The Most Dangerous Game, and would love to go on a hunt for our hero Bob. With Bob. He wants to hunt with Bob. Yea, that’s what I meant.

The most famous adaptation of the popular short story, we see Hollywood shoe horn a love interest into an adventure story, because why not. Fay Wray and screen brother Robert Armstrong were already on location filming King Kong, so let’s go make another film during the downtime. Some of the same set pieces are recognizable like the log Kong shakes Fay’s rescuers off to their deaths.

Our villain is played by character actor Leslie Banks. He suffered a facial injury during the Great War and used it to his advantage, playing menacing characters to the end. With McCray acting like the handsome piece of wood that was the custom of the day and Wray doing little more than screaming, Banks’ Zaroff was by far the most interesting character. Armstrong played a drunken buffoon. I don’t think it was until James Bond that the stock Hero character was allowed to be at all clever.

Not a super memorable film. It was short and served its purpose. I appreciate that they kept some of the anti-hunting theme from the source material. Zarloff was interesting but we pretty much know how it would all pan out. AMRU 3.

The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)

Stuffy British types mount an expedition to find the mask and sword of Genghis Khan before the nefarious Doctor Fu Manchu (Boris Karloff) does. They fear he will use it to rally his minions to rise up and wipe out the white race.

Before I go on, let me point out that The Mask of Fu Manchu was actually considered racist BY 1932 STANDARDS! In a strange way, that's kinda impressive. The Chinese embassy in Washington filed an official complaint. And not just the Chinese (or Yellow Beasts, as they prefer to be called) are maligned, but also Indians and Africans. Come to think of it, the English don't really come out looking all that smart. More on that later.

Old stuffy British type wants Asian artifact before Asians can get it because they're British, sends second old stuffy British type. But he's kidnapped BEFORE HE CAN EVEN LEAVE THE BUILDING, so hysterical daughter convinces first to all go on a rescue mission. While second is being tortured, our crew of heroes find the loot .. I mean historical artifacts. They hide in a fancy house because Fu Manchu spies are everywhere. Hysterical daughter convinces her beau to take the artifacts to Fu Manchu to bargain for papa's life, but that don't work out too well.

First old stuffy British type find out then decides to ALSO go into Fu Manchu's palace because that worked out so well the first time. First he goes to an opium den for reasons that escape me, then there's a fire, I don't know why. Beau returns, his mind controlled by spider blood and the love of Fu Manchu's hot hot daughter (Myrna Loy) and convinces the rest to ALSO enter the palace (because three times a charm). The decide to go EVEN THOUGH THEY KNOW THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIM! Deus ex machina and everyone lives happily ever after.

Sure, Asians are depicted as conniving and treacherous, and his palace is filled with Indian and Black "servants", all shirtless and buff. But the Brits come off as completely stupid! If they didn't posses the magic of random luck they wouldn't have stood a chance. Add to this the scenes of one hero being hung shirtless while large bare chested black men whip him, the group that comes out on top is the BDSM crowd.

Despite itself, there is a lot of fun in The Mask of Fu Manchu. The sets, action, and effects worked well, the story doesn't lull, and the cheesy parts are fun to laugh at. Karloff and Loy agreed the only way to intelligently play their rolls is tongue-in-cheek. Today I am overlooking the racism. Not everyone will. AMRU 3.

"Would you have maidens such as these for your wives? Then conquer and breed... kill the white man... and take his women!"

Kongo (1932)

Deadlegs Flint (Walter Huston) has built an ivory poaching empire deep in the African jungle. But his ultimate goal isn't wealth. It's revenge. Revenge on the man who stole his wife and made him a cripple. But more than that, the man who sneered at him. Trouble is in store for everyone concerned.

Something of a remake of the Lon Chaney silent West of Zanzibar from four years earlier, or at least of the theatrical source material, Kongo is a dark, gritty drama that borders on Horror. There are more racist films, but none come to mind. You see, the Africans are primitive and childlike, and can easily be controlled with slight of hand tricks and sugar cubes. Of course, whitey doesn't come off too stellar either. Huston's Flint is truly terrible. He manipulates English and Africans alike. Even Portuguese. His physical portrayal was very convincing and Chaney-esque. I suppose now I have to see the original.

The center of the plot resolves around Flint's plan to punish his nemesis by disgracing the man's daughter (Virginia Bruce), whom he has captured. It's this daughter, mad from disease, torture, and brandy, as well as a stoned-off-his-ass doctor who happens upon the scene, who serve as the story's protagonists. Hot tamale Lupe Velez plays a mostly sympathetic character. She would go off herself twelve years later. And so it goes.

Very stylized acting typical of low-rent thrillers, Huston's performance was impressive never-the-less. It won't stand up against the best in the genre, but am glad I saw it. Not sure how I would feel if I was from Africa, however.

"Fuzzy got boom stick? Fuzzy keep two eyes on new white man all time. New white man come in, if he try go, fuzzy shoot, boom, kill. Fuzzy watch, all time."

Horse Feathers (1932)

New college president Wagstaff (Groucho) is convinced by his undergrad son Frank (dull brother Zeppo) that what the school needs is a winning football team, and he sends him to a local speakeasy where a few top players hang out. Instead of recruiting ringers, he signs up the speakeasy thug and the dog catcher (Chico and Harpo). Marx style antics ensue.

Story really doesn't matter in a Marx Brothers movie. It's just a framework for them to perform their vaudeville. If you take anything here seriously, then you are missing the point.

Comedy footnote Thelma Todd plays the sizable role. Her career was cut shot because someone murdered her. Interesting to note that TCM presenter Ben Mankiewicz mentioned that his grandfather said he'd rather have their teeth drilled out before working with the brothers again. The Buster Keaton documentary I mentioned before had unkind words about their professionalism as well.

All Marx Brother films are alike, as far as I can tell. They don't fail to entertain, however. Would be nice if the musical numbers were shorter. AMRU 3.5.

"Are you suggesting that I, the president of Huxley College, go into a speakeasy without even giving me the address?"

Three on a Match (1932)

Three women who went to school together serendipitously meet up again. Mary (Joan Blondell) was the bad girl who spent time in reform school, Ruth (Bette Davis) went to secretary school, and Vivian (Ann Dvorak) who went to finishing school and married rich. Vivian has a bit of a crisis and runs off with a dashing young neer-do-well. This troubles here newly refound school chums greatly.

Viv's new beau (we'll call him Michael) has run up some gambling debts, so he tries to blackmail her ex by threatening to tell the press that his new wife was a bad girl who spent time in reform school. This doesn't work so he decides to kidnap their son. When the gamblers find out what Michael has done, they take over and raise the stakes.

Pronoun trouble, I know. It all makes sense on screen. Anyhow Bogart was one of the heavies. The two biggest names had fairly small parts. Bogie had five more years before anyone took him seriously. About the same for Davis.

Joan Blondell was a total hottie back in the day. I had seen her in a couple other movies during her old and fat days. Dvorak was a rising star back in the day but tried to have her contract terminated when she found out that she was being paid the same as the actor playing her 5 year old son. Davis was almost an afterthought here, not really playing a part in the story.


Well, this pre-code gem was supposed to be something but I didn't find it terribly interesting. Pre-code because it dealt with adultery, drug addiction, and briefly in a montage sequence it showed two women dancing. Horrors! Something of a snooze-fest, actually. AMRU 3. Speaking of horror ...

Doctor X (1932)

"... Doctor X will build a creature ..."

No he won't. Sixth movie referenced in the song Science Fiction/Double Feature. Eleven down and item from the bucket list complete.

People are being strangled and partially eaten during the full moon. Papers are calling it the Moon Killer Murders. The police are investigating. They speak with eminent Doctor Xavier (Lionel Atwill), or Doctor X to his homies. He runs a prestigious medical academy and the police both need his expert opinion and suspect that the murder is one of them. So, they interview his posse.

And what a motley crew they are, just bubbling with suspicion. Into the mix arrives a reporter trying to get a scoop and the good doctor's hot daughter (Fay Wray). The cops give Doc X 48 hours to unmask the killer or else they'll start doing their job. Doc invites his five suspects to his spooky mansion for an experiment. Along for the ride are the amusing butler and maid.

Since I started this-here blog, I've greatly expanded my sources of movies. Initially all I had was the trusty public library plus my own humble collection. Then I went to Netflix. Last Christmas I got a Roku box that allowed me to watch Netflix and Amazon Prime from the bedroom, as well as sources of public domain movies via Pub-D-Hub and the like. At the beginning of this month I made the giant leap into the 21st century and subscribed to digital cable. Within that first week two movies I haven't been able to lay my filthy hands on were on TCM. Doctor X was the first.

Doc X was filmed in an early two color Technicolor process that lacks the vibrant colors we know today but worked well in the horror genre. For years the movie was only shown in black and white but the color version was discovered and restored, and that's what TCM is showing. It looked great.

Technically a comic horror, and in many ways a crime drama, Doctor X is both somewhat interesting and somewhat amusing. The early thirties comedy showed through with great comebacks as "What that? Haaaaaay!" Were this movie not in color and not on the Science Fiction/Double Feature list, it would be quite skipable. But that's not the case and it was nice to see Fay in color and Lionel in a leading man role. AMRU 3.

Cop: No one goes in there except stiffs.
Taylor: Oh yea? What's keeping you out here?
Cop: What the? Haaaaay!

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Dashing Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is the victim of a shipwreck. Lucky for him, he is picked up by a passing ship that has a doctor as a passenger. Foolish of him, he punches the captain (Stanley Fields) over how he treated a dog-eared man. So, Captain gets back at him by dropping him off, along with the good doctor and his cargo of exotic animals, at his first port of call instead of taking him back to California, where his hot blond Fiancee' (Leila Hyams) waits patiently for him. 

The island's owner, Doctor Moreau (Charles Laughton), isn't too keen to have an unexpected visitor, but appears helpful enough. Maybe Mister Parker can aid him somehow in his research! Gosh, the natives look awfully peculiar ... 

This is the film first attempt at H.G. Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau", and maybe the best. Wells himself was still alive to hate it and caution people from seeing it. Spoil sport. Anyhow, Paramount was trying to come up with a movie more shocking, more terrifying than anything Universal was producing at the time. They may have over reached. This was after the Hays code was in effect, but before they started enforcing it. Somehow themes of rape, vivisection, and bestiality got through the censors. 

The end result is a fantastic movie with great acting and atmosphere to spare. When Paramount tried to re-release it a couple years later, the board said, umm, No. It was banned in Britain for twenty six years. Localities everywhere insisted that various scenes and lines cut ("Do you know what it means to feel like God?") making the movie a distributed patchwork. Luckily, there is a complete version that modern audiences can watch. Under different circumstances, classic horror lists might post Lost Souls above Dracula and Frankenstein (IMDb ranks it higher than Dracula). 

And much of the credit goes to Laughton. No conflicted mad scientist is he. He simply LOVES what he does and doesn't for a moment doubt the outcome. Know that feeling you get when you're wearing something absolutely luxurious to the touch and eat something decadently delicious? That's how Moreau feels when he carves up living beings without anesthesia and listens to them scream. Simply delightful.

Bela Lugosi had a small but exceptional role as the Sayer of the Law. Not willing to wear makeup to be Frankenstein, it would seem he recanted to be all but indistinguishable here, recognizable only by his voice. Mark this as one of his best rolls. Also, recognize the name of Hyams? She also appeared in another banned pre-code movie, Freaks, which I recently watched again. Available on Amazon Prime. Luckily the controversy didn't stunt her career. She continued to work until the ripe old age of 31. 

Before returning the disk to the library, I watched all of the commentary (man, does Landis love the sound of his own voice!) and rewatched it with commentary (in a mob scene, a beast-man accidentally lights the head of another beast-man!). Unfortunately that was before I purchased my Samsung LED. The picture on my old CRT was dying and some of the subtleties of the movie were lost. AMRU 4.5.

"Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to eat meat, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): We are Devo!"

The Mummy (1932)

The tomb of an unknown mummy (Boris Karloff) is found in Egypt along with some strange artifacts. When translating a magic spell, a young archaeologist accidentally revives Imhotep, who steals the scroll and lumbers away, leaving the archaeologist a babbling idiot.

What does a high priest freshly revived from the dead do? Well, Imhotep does what anyone would would do. Go looking for chicks. He assists in locating the tomb of his long dead girlfriend, but her dusty goodness trips his trigger no longer. Instead he puts his spell on an archaeologist's hot daughter. She must be the REINCARNATION of his lost love. Yea, we'll go with that.

Way to rip off Dracula, people. We got the risen monster from another age, the reincarnated love theme, the Mina/Jonathan couple, Van Helsing, even the control from a far scenario (ala Potter/Voldermort). Throw in Renfield and sleeping in the dirt from the homeland, and we have a perfect match. It does have one thing Drac didn't, that being a bonefide hottie in Zita Johann. Apparently she exploded on the scene in Hollywood and in three years pissed everybody off and was all but gone.

Not only was this the first time I saw The Mummy, it was the first time I saw ANY mummy movie. Back in the day I had these monster action figures. Drac, Frankie, Wolf Man, Mummy, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I was a Dracula fan back in the day, but it was clear even then that he and the and the Monster were the rock stars of the bunch. In that vein, The Mummy was clearly the fill in keyboard player. The next movie was eight years later and was a remake rather than a sequel.

Having said all that, it's a worthy effort, and well worth watching. There is a back story flashback scene done in the style of D.W. Griffith silent film, and other cool elements. Sure, I'll hit the rest in the line eventually. Don't hold your breath, though. AMRU 3.5.

"Anck-es-en-Amon, my love has lasted longer than the temples of our gods. No man ever suffered as I did for you."

Bird of Paradise (1932)

What is it with me and movies from 1932? Seriously!

Anyhow, a yacht full of preppies sail to one of those tropical paradises you hear so much about. The natives swim out to to fight over the trash yon white men so graciously dump overboard. A shark invades the party, so our hero (Joel McCrea) decides to make it go away by chumming the waters. He falls in but is rescued by a beautiful native (Dolores del Rio) and falls for her as well.

Well, despite his being rich and blond, and her being brunette and savage; he speaking ivy league, she speaking booga-booga, their attraction grows. Throw into the mix that she is the daughter of the king and was promised to a neighboring prince, things don't look good for our future cowboy.

The main claim to fame for Bird of Paradise is Dolores' nude swim scene, but don't get too excited, though. You can see the seam down her back at one point. She runs around topless save for a lei that stays annoyingly in the way no matter what she does, even while leaning over.

Old pal Creighton also has a small role, but he has no lines and his ugly mug isn't on screen enough to ruin the film. This was back when he was credited with the name he was born with, rather than the one his dad was born with.

All in all, not a terribly interesting movie. It's saving grace is the ending. Slightly less Hollywood than you might expect. AMRU 2.5.

Scarface (1932)

Tony Comonte (Paul Muni), alias Scarface, is a two bit hood on the rise. George Raft is his buddy, Guino, and Ann Dvorak is his creepy looking sister. He murders and back-stabs his way to taking over the south side crime syndicate. Now the north side boss (Boris Karloff) is in his sights.

The movie opens with a disclaimer. They make it clear that the violence depicted is not to glorify gang rule, but as an indictment of it. Porn movies should open with similar words as an indictment of the objectification of women. Yea, that should cover it. The movie is fairly violent, definitely by 1930's standards. They edited it down several times to pass pre-code muster. I'd love to see a director's cut.

Here are a few neat things: the movie had the first ever film depiction of the Tommy Gun. Al Capone, who is intentionally confused the the titular character, loved the movie. He owned a copy. Betamax, I think. Tony and the gang see a play, which I slowly recognize as the source for the mediocre Crawford flick Rain, which came out the same year and by the same studio. Hmmmm.

Well, not much else to say. It kept my interest. Some funny parts, and certainly some historical importance. I pushed it to the top of my list because Netflix said they were taking it away from streaming, but they never did. Whatever. They've been having a lot of PR issues lately. Far be it for me to pile on. Anyhow, I enjoyed it. The best part might have been the look on my wife's face when I told her that I let the kids watch Scarface. AMRU 3.5.

Rain (1932)

A possible cholera outbreak on a passenger boat forces them to stop over in Pago Pago until they get the all clear. The passengers include the Davidson's, religious missionaries, and Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford), a nasty, dirty whore.

Well, they all rent rooms in a general store, while many US marines rent room in Sadie Thompson. This doesn't go over at all well with reformer Alfred Davidson (Walter Huston). He aims to reform her, which is what reformers do, after all. What follows is a battle of wits and a battle of wills. Who will win out? Before you guess, remember that this sucker is pre-code.

Well, Joan looked ridiculous, the movie dragged, and the atmosphere was a drab as the weather (it "rained" a lot). But it wasn't a total loss. It was kinda interesting at time. I picked this up at the library. It was a double feature with Lady of Burlesque, billed as Hollywood Divas, what with Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck. Had I realized that both movies were available streaming from Netflix, I wouldn't have bothered. Rain, I managed to choke through, but the other barely got 20 minutes of my time. AMRU 2.5.

"I've no doubt you've a sufficiently good opinion of yourself to bear mine with equanimity."