Young and Innocent (1937)

A man finds a dead woman on the beach and leaves to find help. He is seen “running away” so the cops make him the prime suspect and call it a day. He sneaks out of the courthouse and goes on the run. He convinces a pretty young woman to help him find the real killer. She is also the police chief’s daughter. Will love bloom?

Pretty Erica is very young (Nova Pilbeam was 17 during filming) and dashing Robert is innocent. She’s young and he’s innocent. Not a bad play on words. Much better of a title than “A Shilling for Candles”, the source material’s title. When it came to the US it was retitled “The Girl Was Young”, leaning hard into innuendo.

The setting isn’t very different from The 39 Steps (1935), with an accused but innocent man attached to a suspicious woman. Hitchcock revisited themes quite a bit. I’m surprised there wasn’t a scene on a train.

Young and Innocent was an unexpectedly fun watch. Two weeks on I admit I am struggling to recall the details, but I do remember being entertained. It’s a better “lesser Hitchcock”. AMRU 3.5.

Storm in a Teacup (1937)

Pretty Victoria (Vivien Leigh) returns to her small Scottish village to learn that her Provost father (Cecil Parker) is running for Parliament. An English reporter (Rex Harrison) is instructed to write a fluff piece, but put off by his manner, decides to write a hit piece. Will love bloom? Arf, arf, arf!

Hollywood legend Vivien Leigh appeared in, let me check …. nineteen films? That’s all? The only other film I have seen her in was the one about slave owners having their lives destroyed. A slim, 30 year old Rex Harrison was almost unrecognizable, though I admit I’ve only seen him in two other roles: as a gruff sea captain ghost and a stodgy old man who makes advances on a young cockney woman.

Provost seems to be an appointed position somewhat akin to mayor. Everyone, including some family, called him by his title. The principal conflict surrounds a woman who has her dog taken away because she cannot pay the license fee. Provost takes a hard line while campaigning how he is a man of the people.

I haven’t much to say about Storm in a Teacup. The stakes aren’t that high, the comedy isn’t that funny, and thick accents and confounding dialog doesn’t help. But the performances were pretty good and there were some interesting cinematic choices. In the end it’s a very watchable, pretty forgettable little rom-com. AMRU 3.

Sh! The Octopus (1937)

Two dopey police detectives learn that the new police commissioner is targeting a criminal organization called The Octopus, which they confuse as being the real animal. A frightened woman has them travel to an island lighthouse during a storm for some cockamamie reason. A painter is staying at the lighthouse expecting it to be a quiet place to work. An assortment of other strange characters file in.

This film is complete nonsense. We are teased with some semblance of a story early on, but that goes out the window pretty quickly. Characters come and go without explanation, action happens without purpose, and the final reveal does little to satisfy. While it is not uncommon in some light comedies for the story to be nothing more than a framework to hang comedic bits off. Here, there is only a set piece and a basic premise for that purpose. And the comic bits aren’t funny.

The movie is memorable for one thing. A character transforms from normal looking into a witch-like appearance. This is achieved using special makeup and red and blue light filters. It was used in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and is quite effective. It would only work in black and white and I am surprised it wasn’t used more often.

Detective Kelly was played by Hugh Herbert and has a distinctive voice and mannerisms. I haven’t seen him in a film before but I am certain I’ve seen him characterchured in a Warner Brothers cartoon. He was teamed with Allen Jenkins for the first and only time.

SH! The Octopus really is a mess. Story elements are introduced, then never mentioned again. It appears characters are included simply because actors under contract needed work. They were asked to quickly create a character and run with it. Thing is, though, the movie seems to be based on a play. I'm sure a lot of foolishness was thrown during filming.

It's unclear how this movie got onto my radar, perhaps it was the visual effect, but it was quite skippable. That said, it was short and despite it all, held my interest. AMRU 2.5.

King Solomon’s Mines (1937)

White hunter Allan Quartermain (Cedric Hardwicke) takes rich men on safari in Africa. Along the way he picks up an Irish father and daughter in need of a ride. When dad learns that the fabled King Solomon’s Mines are nearby, he takes off alone across the desert. When daughter (Anna Lee) learns of this, she and the enigmatic Umbopa (Paul Robeson) steal a carriage to go off looking for him. Of course Allan and his team follow suit. Let’s talk about Mister Robeson.

Paul Robeson and his amazing baritone pipes rose to Hollywood fame with Show Boat (1936). He chose to leave Hollywood for the UK where he expected to find better roles for black men. One of these roles is as the aforementioned Umbopa in the first major adaptation of King Solomon’s Mines. He was angered when he saw that scenes shot later depicted the Africans as stereotypes and in 1942 said he would quit acting until there were better roles for African Americans. He would never do another film.

I’m curious what exactly Robeson objected to. Compared to most films of its era, it was downright culturally sensitive. And keep in mind the source material was a little problematic to begin with. I’m not saying the filmmakers dodged every bullet, but this experiment here has appropriately lowered my expectations on such matters. I give them credit for making the controversial decision to have the African warriors played by actual African warriors. I know it came from the book, but why exactly did Allan need to identify himself as a “white” hunter? Were people reading his advert worrying they might be stuck with a purple hunter?

Thought lost for many years, here Allan Quartermain is not the daring action hero. Brave and capable, yes, but not yet the Indiana Jones inspiration. I have the 1950 version on the DVR and expect it to be more swashbucklier. This is the more famous book-turned-film from author Sir H. Rider Haggard, who also wrote She.

I remember a character with the name Allan Quartermain on a TV drama I used to watch that happened to be on during the daytime MY SISTER MADE ME WATCH IT, GET OFF MY BACK! Anyway, the lovely Anna Lee was apparently on General Hospital during the 80’s. You know, that Luke and Laura storyline really didn’t age well.

Albeit a bit clunky, and in the world of Google Maps, the Lost World genre loses some of its impact. But still, King Solomon's Mines is a better than fair adventure story. I’d consider watching it again, but I confess Robeson’s “Mighty Mountain” songs got a little tiresome. AMRU 3.

Black Legion (1937)

Frank (Humphrey Bogart) loses out on a promotion to a polish immigrant just because, and get this, he is smart and hard working. Go figure! Frank is fed up and learns about this secret club called the Black Legion where hard working Americans fight back against this sort of thing! Racism is bad, hmmm kay!

The Black Legion (the club, not the movie) is a thinly disguised version of the Ku Klux Klan. The actual klan, in fact, sued the studio. Not for defamation of character, but for use of their symbols. Gotta have priorities. The Legion’s crimes are quite extreme. They kidnap and flog people, or burn down their house and run them out of town. If they burned crosses, maybe the Klan’s suit would have gone someplace.

Dick Foran played Frank's good friend who tries to lead him straight. He had a long career in many westerns, but I remember him from Bogart's Petrified Forest and a couple mummy films. Hottie Ann Sheridan has an early, small role. She would stand out in The Man Who Came to Dinner.

The Black Legion (the movie, not the club) is a little heavy handed with the message. Good people are all good, bad people are all bad, and Bogart’s Frank is the good guy led astray. I am curious how effective this kind of message worked during the era. In reality things are more complicated, and a message rejected outright by the audience that needs it most is of little value. But this is movies, not reality. And as a movie, it was meh. Bogart always raises the level of everything he is in. AMRU 2.5.

Black lives matter, our society does not value them equally, and that is wrong.

Daughter of Shanghai (1937)

When an oriental antique shop owner is murdered for not cooperating with human traffickers, his daughter (Anna May Wong) does her own investigation.

Anna May Wong was an almost leading lady, being blocked by production code rules disallowing white leading men from getting down with her Asian hotness. And a film with two Asian leads was not fit for mainstream honky audience. She did what she could, but it was a losing cause. TCM did a special on Wong, interviewing Nancy Kwan and showing a string of her movies. Daughter of Shanghai came on so I watched it.

Old friends Anthony Quinn, J. Carrol Naish, and Buster Crabbe play heavies, but you would hardly recognize them. Philip Ahn played the Chinese federal agent also investigating. Ahn had a long career, frequently playing random uncredited Asian guy. He was actually Korean and received death threats during world war 2 because, you know.

Daughter of Shanghai is a fair if unremarkable crime drama. Anna May was charming if two dimensional. I would like to see her in more meaty roles, but time will tell if that ever happens. There was a small bit of mystery and a good pay off. And it was amusing to watch Chinese characters fight a bunch of whities to stop illegal immigration. AMRU 2.5.

A Star is Born (1937)

Ingenue farm girl Ester (middle-aged Janet Gaynor) dreams of silver screen quotation, so she goes to La La Land with Grammy’s approval and financing. There she friend-zones an aspiring director and learns that they don’t make you a star just because you ask. When working a party she catches the eye of famous (and famously difficult) actor Norman Maine (Fredric March) and he is smitten. He muscles her into a few gigs and she becomes a big star. They fall in love while Norman’s career circles the drain.

Far from a Hollywood unknown, Janet Gaynor had a decade long career before doing A Star is Born. In fact, hitting the brick wall that is 30, she did two more films before being relegated to the occasional TV guest appearance. More likely it was because of her 1939 marriage, but the first narrative sells better copy. And Fredric March, far from a fading star, went on to an extensive career lasting over thirty years more.

A Star is Born (1937) is best known for having been remade in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, which was remade in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, which was remade in 2018 with the Gaga and Bradley Cooper, but apparently the story bares a closer than casual resemblance to the 1932 film What Price Hollywood? With Constance Bennett and Lowell Sherman. When Hollywood sees a good formula, they know to overdo it. I’d also like to point out that at no point here did they actually cast a young unknown in the lead role. Brave.

Maybe the story was lifted from What Price Hollywood? Or maybe it was inspired by rising star Barbara Stanwyck’s marriage to spiraling leading man Frank Fay, or maybe by drunken has-been John Barrymore who has cast in the Maine/March role but couldn’t remember his lines because he was a drunken has-been. Maybe all and more. Anyhow, Star is an amusing melodrama with charming characters and good on-screen chemistry. Let’s see if I can see the other three (or four) before the year is out. AMRU 3.5.

A Day at the Races (1937)

Pretty Judy (Maureen O’Sullivan) runs a Sanitarium that is short on cash. The bad guys are trying to buy her out so they can open a casino to go with the horse track next door. Her singer boyfriend blew all his cash on a racehorse, so he’s no help. Tony (Chico) tries to convince rich inmate (Margaret Dumont) to invest but she is obsessed with a doctor Hackenbush (Groucho) she saw in Florida. So Tony (Chico) sends a telegram inviting Hackenbush (Groucho) to visit. He does but unbeknownst to everyone, he’s a horse doctor. Harpo (Stuffy) is also there but he doesn’t have much to say.

Much of the manic tone and unconventional style of their earlier work is toned down for A Day at the Races. Groucho behaved less like a psychotic disconnected with what’s going on around him and more like a real person. He knows he’s a fraud and cares what happens to Judy. The end result is more importance felt for the situation Judy finds herself in and the comedic bits feel that much funnier. I can’t be sure if this tonal shift is due to Hollywood slowly reining the brothers in or if maturity was creeping in. Either way, it is a welcome change.

The most manic scene is where Hackenbush (Groucho) is forced to examine Mrs. Upjohn (Dumont) by an actual physician and he stalls with the help of Tony (Chico) and Stuffy (Harpo). It’s absolute insanity and it wouldn’t have had the same impact had the stakes not been high.

For me, this is the best Marx Brothers film so far. Producer Irving Thalberg died tragically at age 37 before filming wrapped and Groucho stated that he lost interest in making movies. I hope this doesn't bode ominously for the remaining films, but I already know a couple are stinkers. AMRU 4.

"If you're looking for my fingerprints, you're a little early!"

The Awful Truth (1937)

Jerry (Cary Grant) returns from a business trip in “Florida”, only he wasn’t really in Florida. With friends in attendance, he discovers that his wife Lucy (Irene Dunne) isn’t home. It seems her car broke down and she had to spend the night at her swarthy singing instructor’s house. All perfectly innocent, except neither are too sure. After an argument, they agree to get a divorce, because that’s what you do. During the required waiting period, Lucy starts a relationship with big lunk Daniel (Ralph Bellamy) but Jerry can’t seem to stop bumping into them.

Classic Hollywood screwball comedy. Nobody does anything untoward but it’s hinted at quite a bit. I can complain and say The Awful Truth was overly formulaic. The ending was forced and it bore more than a passing resemblance to My Favorite Wife, made three years later with Randolph Scott in the Ralph Bellamy role. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they used many of the same sets. But I think I’m experiencing rom-com fatigue.

There were some amusing scenes and overall it did its job, and this was the era when directors won Oscars for such films. It’s no coincidence that the earlier rom-coms I saw are rated higher and I may need to back off of them for a while. Unfortunately, I have one more sitting on the DVR. I’ll find something refreshing to watch before I see it. AMRU 3.

“They forgot to touch second.”

Forty Naughty Girls (1937)

On the opening night of a Broadway play, the press agent is murdered. While the play is in progress, the police inspector (James Gleason) investigates while his lady friend (ZaSu Pitts) noses around.

The plot thickens, there are more murders, and the audience is comedically pointed in many different directions. All in all, Forty Naughty Girls is a fair mystery and comedy. Lets chat about Zasu.

Zasu was a silent film dramatic actress who transitioned into comedy. Her manner and voice will seem to some like a copy of Olive Oyl from the old Popeye cartoons, but in fact it's the other way around. It was Zasu who was being copied. Her name, by the way, was an apparent ploy for family peace. Two aunts wanted her named after them, so her mother named her after both. Eliza Susan. Her nicname is pronounced "Zay-soo". She had a long career in comedy and died at 69, the same as my aunt.

As said before, it's a fair comedy and mystery, better than some (I'm looking at you, Charlie Chan) but otherwise unremarkable save for Zasu's performance. It is also an excellent example of post-code movies being given a misleadingly racy title. AMRU 3.

Topper (1937)

Wealthy socialites George and Marion Kerby (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) die in an automobile crash and their ghosts don't pass to the other side. They figure that while they've never done a bad deed, they've never done a good one either. So, they set off to do a good deed. They decide to enrich the life of a stuffy and henpecked bank president, Cosmo Topper (Roland Young). Bubble Witch Billie Burke does the pecking.

I hate it when Netflix offers sequels to movies but not the first. In this case Topper Returns, the third and final in the series. TCM was gracious enough to broadcast this for my viewing pleasure. What we have here is a simple screwball comedy, not overly funny but never tedious. Certainly AMRU 3-ish but doesn't encourage me to watch the two sequels. Nothing much else to say here, so let's take a look at hot cadaver Constance Bennett.

Constance, the oldest of three Hollywood sisters, had a successful Hollywood career. She died young at age 60. Sis Barbara didn't act much and nothing of note, but was the mother of TV asshole Morton Downey Jr. She died younger at 51. Baby sis Joan worked quite a bit including Father of the Bride opposite Spencer Tracy, and Dark Shadows opposite a very non-glittery vampire. She lived to the ripish old age of 80. Between them they had twelve husbands.

Grant is always witty and charming, Young was good as the befuddled Topper, and Bennett was truly stunning, but the script lets them down. As this is the highest rated of the the three Topper films, I'll likely pass on the other two. AMRU 3. I wonder if the 50's TV series or the 1979 TV movie is any better.

Slaves in Bondage (1937)

It seems a manicurist shop is a front for a prostitution ring. You see, they lure innocent young hotties into the big bad city with promises of cushy jobs and then coerce them into being ... Slaves in Bondage! The good news is that a young hottie and her 40 year old cub reporter fiancee are hot on the case. Or bad news, depending on your perspective.

In typical exploitation fashion, it pretends to be a cautionary tale when in actuality they are dangling the luscious behavior for the viewing audience to salivate over. I watched this, my first from the Internet Movie Archive via the Roku, because I thought it was a pre-code gem. I mean, look at the poster! Adults Only! Let me tell you, I saw a lot of scantily clad knee caps. I'll have you know that '37 was well into the Hays era, and it showed.

Anyhow, here are the weird parts. The girls are "coerced" to work in a very high class bordello. None of them, except the one who escapes at the very beginning to introduce the story, seem all that disappointed with their lot in life. Well, I finished the movie and it wasn't too bad, but it really fell flat. The acting was mediocre at best, the story flat, and the sex appeal almost nonexistent. Watch it here if you must. AMRU 2.

Nothing Sacred (1937)

Fredric March is Wally Cook, a newspaper man who needs to redeem his reputation after promoting a man claiming to be a sultan who turns out to be a lowly janitor (why, that uppity ...). He takes on the story of a poor, hot Vermont woman (Carole Lombard) dying of radium poisoning.

Here's the deal, though. It turns out that she isn't REALLY dying. Seems o'll Doc Enoch screwed up the diagnosis. Apparently the only thing worse than a slow painful death is living a long life in Vermont, so Hazel Flagg (that's the character name) decides to play along in hopes of getting an all expense paid trip to New York.

Hazel becomes the toast of the town while Wally slowly falls in love with her. Will her secret come out? Will Wally's reputation be totally ruined? Will their love triumph? Well, this is a screwball comedy, so you figure it out.

I've mentioned before that I long believed The Wizard of Oz was the first color movie, but two years before Oz we have here a Technicolor film. Margaret Hamilton plays a Vermont drug store patron, so it wasn't even HER first color movie. Technicolor meaning, of course, technically color.

Here's something weird. In the 1974 animated feature Journey Back to Oz, Hamilton lends her voice as ... Aunt Em? I suppose the witch was dead. Liza Minnelli (Judy Garland's daughter, people) plays Dorothy. For the youngsters in the audience, back in the day, Liza was ... well ... ok looking.

Fun, entertaining, predictable. AMRU 3.