Dr. Cyclops (1940)

A mad scientist (Albert Dekker) with failing eyesight requests assistance from more mainstream (less mad) scientists. Three people make the arduous trek to his remote lab in the Amazon jungle and he asks them what they see in his microscope. After which, he thanks them and tells them to leave. They refuse to go, so he shrinks them to doll size.

The first thing to notice is the vocal style, specifically with Drs. Thorkel and Bullfinch. They speak in a stilted, awkwardly formal cadence. I'm guessing they didn't want the viewers to forget they were watching a B sci-fi flick.

Thomas Coley plays substitute Bill, whose presence on the excursion and in the movie remains a mystery. My only guess is there needed to be a young man to accompany the pretty scientist lady. This was his first screen credit and last feature film appearance. He had a large number of TV appearances starting eleven years after this film’s release. I’m sure his acting improved.

The first sci-fi film shot in three-strip Technicolor, it earned an Oscar nomination for special effects. And for good reason. The oversized sets match seamlessly with the regular sized ones. My only criticism is that footage of our heroes when small was much sharper than the enlarged rear projection. Other than that, the effects were quite good.

I had never heard of Dr. Cyclops prior to recording it, but it delivered on all promises. The science element here is wonky as all hell, but it’s without a doubt the best mad-scientist-shrinks-people-to-doll-size film I’ve seen so far. AMRU 3.5.

Black Friday (1940)

When the kindly professor Kingsley is severely injured, the good doctor Sovac (Boris Karloff) secretly transplants the brain of a gangster to save his life. Also, he wanted to prove he could transplant a human brain. But definitely not because the gangster knew the location of a half million in stolen loot.

More Sci-Fi Noir than horror, it is categorized as such because Karloff and Lugosi appear. Well, Karloff appears quite a bit but Lugosi has a rather small role as a gangster. The real star is Stanley Ridges in the dual roles as Kingsley and the dastardly gangster Red Cannon. Ridges Jekyll and Hydes between the two roles with surprisingly little makeup change. Kingsley has a little gray hair, glasses, and a bit of a milquetoast, while Cannon looks younger and very much a take-charge character. One of the best dual role transformations I've seen.

The story is told in flashback as a reporter reads Doc Sovac’s journal while he walks to the electric chair. The working title of the film was Friday the 13th, because some important thing happens on that day. The accident, the transplant, the execution, I forget what.

Despite some good performances, Black Friday isn’t much of a film. The story is a bit sloppy with the details and is rather forgettable. AMRU 2.5. This is the fourth of eight Karloff/Lugosi collaborations. Have I found another list to complete?

My Little Chickadee (1940)

Flower Belle Lee (Mae West) is kicked out of town because she was seen cavorting with a masked bandit. On a train she pairs up with a con man (W.C. Fields) who scams his way into being named sheriff of the next town over.

West and Fields were huge stars in the 1930’s and this stands as their only collaboration. They did not get along. Credited as co-writers, she wrote her lines, he wrote his, and they didn’t speak when not filming. West, whose particular charms were greatly hampered by the enforcement of the motion picture production code, was on a decline. She would appear in only one more film before a brief revival in the 1970’s. Fields, on the other hand, was at the top of his game. However, drink was catching up with him and starred in only two more pictures before dying of a stomach hemorrhage. He was 66.

B movie veteran Dick Foran plays one of Flower Belle’s many love interests. Seventeen years her junior, he’s the good guy we expect her to land with. Also in the mix is Margaret Hamilton, the wicked witch herself. Here she plays the town busybody. The meek Donald Meek also has a small roll.

While Fields’ humor survives intact, the Hays code simply couldn’t tolerate West’s brand of innuendo. The end result is, pardon the expression, a rather flat performance. My Little Chickadee is interesting because of the leads, and not an unpleasant watch, but lacking in humor and fairly forgettable. AMRU 2.5.

Christmas in July (1940)

Jimmy (Dick Powell), convinced he has good ideas, submits a slogan in a contest and waits for the results. The judges can’t reach a decision, so Jimmy’s co-workers send him a prank telegram. The coffee company, thinking the telegram is real, pay him the $25,000. Comedic mayhem ensues.

Jimmy doesn’t deposit the check, but instead shows people so that they let him have stuff on faith. This is reminiscent of the Mark Twain story “The Million Pound Bank Note”. Here, however, Jimmy has no reason to believe he isn’t the authentic winner. And let’s consider for a moment how insane a $25,000 prize is. Adjusted for inflation, it would be over a half million dollars. That’s one hell of a contest. Preston Sturges only got $6000 for the script.

The company holding the contest was Maxford House Coffee who used the slogan “Grand to the Last Gulp”. Sounds familiar. It was a less litigious time. Old friend William Demarest returns, again with a silly name.

Not a Christmas movie but it has a Christmas title. I thought it an ironic way to kick off the holiday season. I may continue the irony. Christmas in July is another witty comedy from Preston Sturges. He only directed thirteen features and this is my sixth. I should see the rest. AMRU 3.5.

Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Reporter Michael testifies against a man (Elijah Cook, Jr.) found at a murder scene. The suspect had threatened the deceased. Later, Michael finds himself in a very similar situation, and is now the suspect. It’s up to his pretty fiancee to prove both murders were committed by a mysterious stranger (Peter Lorre) only he saw.

I recently learned that this film is considered the first example of film-noir, and TCM was kind enough to air it a few days later. It wasn’t a critical or financial success, the style being a bit of a departure from mysteries and crime dramas of the day. It was called pretentious and artsy, an unusual reaction for an RKO B picture. It featured the desperate and pessimistic attitude, and expressionistic lighting of later noirs, and an extensive dream sequence.

Ethel Griffies, who was our hero’s cantankerous landlady, played the elderly ornithologist in The Birds some 23 years later. His neighbor is played by prolific character actor Charles Halton, who appeared in 174 feature films, 108 in a six year span between 1937 and 1942. He must have jumped from set to set shooting his scenes quickly then moving on. He has appeared in everything from classics to forgotten B pictures. He worked until he was 82, then died at 83. He needed the rest.

Peter Lorre was very Peter Lorre playing the Peter Lorre role. He had little screen time but was quite good. Elijah Cook had a surprisingly small role. Heroine Margaret Tallichet was quite charming, but having married director William Wyler, would retire a year later.

Perhaps the real villain was the criminal justice system, too quick to rush to judgment. Too eager for a conviction, truth be damned. Our hero learns this only when the shoe is on his foot. Also, he is kind of a jerk. Pretty Jane should think twice before marrying him. Stranger on the Third Floor does have a strange tone. Maybe a bit pretentious. Still, it’s interesting, and Peter Lorre is fun to watch as a demented killer. AMRU 3.

The Great McGinty (1940)

A drunk in a third world bar laments how, before losing it all, he was on top of the world. The bartender replies that he was once the governor of the state. This is his story.

Preston Sturges, already a successful screenwriter, had trouble getting a screenplay made, at least in the form he wanted it. So, he offered it for ten dollars under the condition that he was allowed to direct. That script won the Academy Award. And it turns out, he was a pretty good director as well.

Here, I believe, is the film I was thinking of when I watched The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, the film Sturges would direct four years later. For the life of me, I do not understand what happened there. Anyhow … Brian Donlevy (McGinty) appeared in quite a few films, very few of which I have seen. One was the aforementioned Morgan’s Creek where he played Governor McGinty. Go figure. Also here is classic character actor William Demarest, who appeared in quite a bit more films.

The Great McGinty is a pretty amusing watch, but maybe I’ve grown tired of traditional, old Hollywood fare. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I did. But there are reasons why I am shading towards foreign films and more so-called American New Wave. As for McGinty, AMRU 3.5.

“Never mind the applesauce. How do I get the bucks?”

Go West (1940)

It’s the old west and singing cowboy Terry wants to marry pretty Eve, but grampy forbids it. Terry’s pappy sold gramps Dead Man’s Gulch, and wouldn’t you know, there ain’t a lick of gold on it, the swindler! Terry tries to set things straight by convincing the railroad to route their line through there making it valuable. Unfortunately, there are bad guys who want to swindle him, but the boys are there to help. Kinda.

Pretty standard fare at this point in their career. Some witty lines but not quite as clever as the early years. Tedious musical numbers nobody asked for, Chico gets his piano solo and Harpo his harp. Do they even do different songs from movie to movie? I can't even tell. No Margaret Dumont, but don’t worry. She comes back for one more. Only novelty here is seeing the boys in a western. Is it a western? I suppose so.

Like most of their films, the plot is little more than a premise around which the boys frame their bits. Only now the bits are sparse and uninspired. Perhaps the songs returned to pad the runtime. What we end up with is a watchable, vaguely amusing hour twenty. Groucho gets in a few good cuts, but not like in the earlier days. AMRU 3.

I Love You Again (1940)

Boring businessman Larry (William Powell) gets konked on the head during a water rescue and wakes up as George (William Powell), a charismatic con man who lost his memory after a similar konk nine years earlier. Larry was a tight-fisted t-totaller who chairs community organizations, leads scout troops, and stuffs wildlife. George is as appalled by this as wife Kay (Myrna Loy) is bored with it. He goes about trying to fleece his former life and hometown, and to patch things up with his hot wife.

Not too bad of a premise for a rom-ish comedy, and Powell and Loy’s on-screen chemistry is second to none, Tracy/Hepburn included. Powell’s Larry/George cleverly navigates his mysterious former life, looking for scams to pull, and trying to re-woo his wife.

Edmund Lowe played Larry/George’s co-conspirator from his previous con-man life. He was in a ton of things but I only saw him as the luke-warm hero from the otherwise interesting Chandu the Magician. But let’s talk about his other co-conspirator Doc, played by Frank McHugh. He too was in an absolute ton of things and I remember him from a few of them. He was the go-to guy for a particular type of wisecracking sidekick. He was great in this role and I must pay closer attention in the future.

Two Little Rascal actors had small roles as scouts. Carl Switzer, better known as Alfalfa, and Robert Blake, better known for murdering his wife. Carl would be killed at age 31 over a $35 argument. Blake beat his murder charge and is pushing 90. There is no god.

I Love You Again is a charmingly good member of the genre, if not among it’s very best. We know Powell will be witty, Loy will be adorable, and both will be charming. We care about the leads and thus about their situation. It was reasonably funny and a very enjoyable watch. AMRU 3.5.

“Boy! Eighteen days alone on a boat is certainly a long time to be alone on a boat for eighteen days!”

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

A Newspaper is tired of the bland reports coming from their foreign correspondents in Europe, so the editor decides to send the local screw-up reporter. Solid plan. John Jones (Joel McCrea) travels overseas to interview the famous pacifist Stephen Fisher, and maybe his hot daughter too.

Filmed after the start of war in Europe but set just prior, our heroes try to avoid war, but the bad guys want it. Mystery, suspense, and romance to follow. Standard Hitchcock stuff. Hey look, it’s Ian Wolf! That guy’s in everything! George Sanders is here too, and a bit of a cad, as always. Santa Gwenn was here but I somehow missed him.

I was a little disappointed by Foreign Correspondent. I like most of what Hitchcock directs, and there is no misstep here, but I failed to connect with the story or the characters. I’ve liked McCrea in other projects, and let’s face it. Joel McCrea only plays Joel McCrea. Maybe the fault lies in the lack of creativity in the “early war, Nazis are bad” microgenre (To Be or Not To Be, notwithstanding), but I didn’t take to it as I did his later work.

That’s not to say I hated it. It was fine. And I can see how his work improved over the years. It’s way more polished than the 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, and better in that regard than The Lady Vanishes, though I liked that more. The Hitchcock name comes with certain expectations and sometimes they land soft. Anyhow, AMRU 3.

The Devil Bat (1940)

The kindly Dr. Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) secretly harbors ill will towards the family who runs the company he makes chemicals for. He sold them his cold cream formula and made them a fortune but he was paid only ten grand. So, what’s the best way to get back at them? Why, by breeding giant bats who attack people wearing a particular aftershave lotion, of course. If only there was a wise cracking newspaper reporter to help solve this mystery.

The above might seem like spoilers, but most of it was in the opening scrawl. Besides, what idiot puts their faith in the kindly Dr. Lugosi? The family gives Carruthers a $5000 gift as a surprise thank you but that doesn’t cool his vengeance. By that way, that’d be a cool $91k today.

This poorly conceived low budget mess was actually a financial success. It’s lack of budget is evident with every scene. There were only a handful of set pieces and characters arrive at them as needed with no travel time. Something like GoT season 7. The astroturf garden set is where all the attacks happen and Bela’s laboratory had dungeon wallpaper. Bela pulls an invisible lever to enter the secret part of his laboratory. It’s quite amusing when you notice it.

Despite itself, there is a fair bit of atmosphere here. The over convoluted revenge plan can only be laughed at just like Bela being a kindly midwestern doctor. Short and sweet, The Devil Bat is far from Bela’s worst. AMRU 2.5.

“Now, rub it on the tender part of your neck.”

Beyond Tomorrow (1940)

Three wealthy old businessmen, who apparently live together, have no plans for Christmas dinner, so they each decide to throw a wallet into the street containing their business card and ten dollars. Whomever returns the wallets will be invited to stay for dinner. Pretty Jean (Jean) and folksy Jim Houston (Richard Carlson) do the right thing, aw shucks. Jim Houston is from Texas, because of course he is. I sure hope those two fall in love.

Old friends will remember Richard Carlson from Creature from the Black Lagoon and It Came from Outer Space (at a deadly pace), and quite a few other films. Pretty young Jean Parker had a minor career playing pretty young women. Also here is enigmatic Maria Ouspenskaya (ten thousand points in scrabble). Need an eastern European gypsy or Russian countess? Maria was your woman.

What started with a fair enough premise degrades into a bit of a mess of a film. Cloyingly saccharine, we see our two love birds drift apart after the rich cronies (ahem) exit the scene. Jimbo becomes a famous singer and is pursued by a soulless harpy. That never ends well. Of course we have a happy enough of an ending thanks to Deus ex Machina, but I had already lost interest. This is another case of accidentally caught the movie at the beginning and decided to sit it out, but with lesser success. The film was touted by TCM because it was included in a book they are hard-selling. When asked what movie didn’t make the cut the author mentions It Happened on Fifth Avenue, which is far superior. That’s just insulting.

Cheap looking sets, mediocre acting, and muddled story, Beyond Tomorrow is skippable. AMRU 2.5.

The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Radio big mouth Lawrence Lawrence (Bob Hope) angers a mobster who asks to meet him at his hotel. When Larry visits, he witnesses an unrelated mob hit and mistakenly believes he killed the guy. He hides in the apartment of pretty Mary (Paulette Goddard) who inherited a spooky mansion on an island off of Cuba. Hiding in her luggage, they set sail.

Pretty Mary also has a back story. Spooky mansion is haunted and people say her life is in danger if she goes there. A man tried to warn her but was killed outside her apartment in a related mob hit. Larry likes pretty Mary so he decides to help her.

Playing Larry’s man servant is veteran racial stereotype Willie Best. I have seen him (and barely remember him) in the abomination General Spanky (1936) and the eminently forgettable The Monster Walks (1932). Speaking of minorities being allowed minor roles, Zorba the Mexican himself Anthony Quinn makes two brief appearances.

Somewhat similar to its predecessor The Cat and the Canary (1939), which I rewatched just prior, it pales somewhat in comparison in a couple ways. Primarily there were too many characters. It is not uncommon to introduce many possible suspects early in a film but they became hard to track. Also, red herring suspects are not a substitute for a good story. There are many story elements at play here, but the actual story is rather simple. The elements at best are a distraction.

But this is not to say The Ghost Breakers is a bad movie. It’s ok. Hope is as amusing as he was prior and Goddard just as charming. The pointless running around the haunted mansion seemed gratuitous, but in the end the film served its purpose. Bob and Paulette didn’t do any more films together probably because Hope already started his Road Movies with Bing. I like The Can and Canary better, but I liked this better than Road to Singapore. AMRU 3.

“Oh, you look like a black out in a blackout. This keeps up, I'm gonna have to paint you white.”

Rebecca (1940)

A pretty young woman (Joan Fontaine) is the travelling companion of a wealthy busybody (Florence Bates). While in Monte Carlo they cross paths with dashing rich man (Laurence Olivier). He is mourning his dead wife and thus acts aloof and antisocial. Despite this, pretty woman and dashing widower spend time together and get married. He takes her back to his expansive estate.

Skittish and unsure, the new Mrs. de Winter has to contend with a distant husband, a household staff that seems not to embrace her, and the spectre of the dead OLD Mrs. de Winter (Rebecca). George Sanders plays the George Sanders character, Leo G. Carroll played the Leo G. Carroll character, and Nigel Bruce plays the Nigel Bruce character. Nice when that all works out.

What a peculiar film! Apparently faithful to the source material, the pace was hurried to get all the facts in place. Also, the extensive use of matte paintings and miniature sets, while impressive, were very apparent. But it was the film’s frantic pace that initially troubled me. Over time, however, it slowly won me over to this, Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film and only Best Picture.

Rebecca is one of the earliest Hitchcock films I’ve seen and it has the polish characteristic of his later work, but somehow feels a little different. Set in the modern day (1940), it seems a little like a period piece. Austere mansion, polite society, elevated language, and not expressly a genre picture. That said, it does resemble Suspicion a bit, Fontaine’s (and Bruce’s) other Hitch Flick.

In the end, as I said, I did come around. It’s an interesting and very good picture. The scene between Fontaine's unnamed character and Mrs. Danvers is truly bizarre. For my money, not THE best picture of 1940, but up there. AMRU 3.5.

“I've been thinking...
Now why would you want to go and do that for?”

Road to Singapore (1940)

Two regular guys (Bob Hope and Bing Crosby) are being pressured into marriage. Bing by his captain of industry dad (Charles Coburn) and fairly hot fiancee (Judith Barrett), and Bob by, I don’t know, some thugs because he took liberties with someone’s daughter? We never see her. So anyhow, they escape to Singapore to bachelor freedom and poverty. There they meet a hot dancer (Dorothy Lamour) who is escaping her angry … boss? Boyfriend? (Anthony Quinn).

From what I understand, all of the Road movies follow the same format. Flee to exotic location and compete over cutie Lamour as an excuse for comedy gags and running bits. The trio appeared in seven such films, the first few being the best, if IMdb is to be trusted.

It was originally a vehicle for George Burns and Gracie Allen (not sure how the escaping marriage angle was handled there), then offered to Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie, and finally given to Hope and Crosby because they were clowning around on the Paramount set. Thus a comedy team was born.

I enjoyed Bob Hope in The Cat and the Canary. The horror element was skillfully relieved by solid comedy. But here the laughs were in short supply. The tone was light and the banter playful, and I'll excuse the level of cultural sensitivity you could expect, but I don’t recall snickering, even once. And while Hope was working hard the laughs, Bing’s cucumber cool demeanor was about as interesting as his search engine namesake. The end result was a watchable, mildly interesting, unfunny, and skippable film. AMRU 2.5.

Remember the Night (1940)

Shoplifter Lee (Barbara Stanwyck) is on trial and her attorney uses the classic Hypnotism defense. When the prosecuting attorney (Fred MacMurray) realizes the jury is eating that crap up, he calls for Expert Testimony, thus delaying the trial until after the holidays and turning the tables back in his favor. Feeling bad he caused her to spend the holidays in lockup, he arranges for her to be bailed out. Only his man downtown thought he wanted her bailed out and brought around to his place for some nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more. Only he didn’t. At all. I mean, he’s Fred F’ing MacMurray for god sakes!

As luck would have it he’s going home for the holidays, she wants to reconnect up with her loving mother, and would you know it, it’s on the way! So, off on a road trip these love-birds-to-be go. What adventures they will have!

Remember the Night is a charming romantic comedy. It makes a case for nurture over nature without beating you over the head. The two grew up in similar circumstances, but while one steals, the other is a successful lawyer. The difference is Love. Hold a sec, I have to get a tissue. There seems to be something in my eye …

MacMurray and Stanwyck are solid performers. Please watch Double Indemnity if you haven't. Stanwyck’s transformation from streetwise bad girl to sympathetic woman was handled very well. Even more interesting is how the motion picture code is at odds with the Hollywood ending. Now, if I could only figure out which Night we are supposed to Remember. AMRU 3.5.

“Now there's nothing as dangerous as a square shooter. If all men were like you there wouldn't be any nice girls left.”

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

The lead salesman (James Stewart) of a small shop in Budapest is trading letters with a woman from the personals and falls in love. Turns out, she’s the new sales girl he can’t stand. Oh, spoiler alert! I got that in in time, right?

Actually, that’s just part of the setup, and a lot goes on here besides the romance. What's going on with the owner and Alfred? What's going on with the sales guy who acts like a dick all the time? And the errand boy? The Shop Around the Corner is a character study at it’s heart, and fairly chatty as plays-turned-movies tend to be.

Frank Morgan, aka The Wizard, is the shop owner with personal problems. He’d die before he reached 60. Old friends may remember Felix Bressart as a Russian from Ninotchka, or Greenberg from To Be or Not To Be. He’d die before he gets as old as Frank. Margaret Sullavan played the love interest. She’d die before she got my age. Errand boy William Tracy younger still. So it goes.

The Shop Around the Corner is a Christmas romantic comedy, but don't let that fool you. It’s an interesting, layered story and well acted. There is action outside of the love interest, but it never becomes cluttered. It's clever, witty, and charming. Director Ernst Lubitsch built a world that feels complete and inviting, and the events that transpire inside have weight and meaning. I can’t say I’ve ever not been pleasantly surprised by his films. AMRU 4.

"Doctor, do I call you a pill-peddler?"

My Favorite Wife (1940)

Nick (Cary Grant) petitions to declare his missing wife (Irene Dunne) dead just before marrying his new wife (Gail Patrick). When the newlyweds go off for a weekend honeymoon, dead Ellen returns. Nick, still in love with Ellen and not so much with Bianca, turns into a complete wuss and can't manage to tell his new wife the bad news. When it turns out that good old Ellen spent those seven years marooned with the hunky Burkett (Randolph Scott), it's she who got some splainin' to do.

Fairly standard RomCom, later remade as Move Over, Darling (1963) with Doris Day and James Garner. They started Something's Got to Give the year earlier with Marilyn Monroe, but that train went in for her final wreck. Hmmm... Haven't done a Doris Day film yet. Interesting.

Anyhow, Grant and Scott were close friends in real life, having lived together for a dozen years. I'm sure it was purely platonic. Old friend Robert Wise served as editor. It would be a few years more before he would get to sit in the director's chair.

Not much to say. Standard fare for the genre. Grant would mutter under his breath because that stuff is comedy gold. The ending was rather weak. The outcome was in sharp focus fairly early on. There was no point and dragging it out. If there was anything that stood out it was the innuendo. Did Nick pop the pepperoni with the new wife while the old wife waited? Did Ellen make the beast while island bound? Don't be silly. This is classic production code RomCom. AMRU 3.

The Great Dictator (1940)

A Jewish barber (Charlie Chaplin) recovers from injuries sustained in a old war to find himself oppressed on the foothills of a new one.

Calling this a thinly veiled take on Hitler isn't quite accurate. Chaplin's Adenoid Hynkel is, directly, Hitler by another name. Just as Napaloni (Dictator of Bacteria) is exactly Musolini. Garbitsch was Joseph Goebbels, and Herring was Hermann Goering.

Chaplin's first proper talkie (his earlier works were sound films, but performed in pantomime), The Great Dictator is both a slapstick comedy and melodrama. The slapstick parts are amusing and quite interesting. We see remnants of the tramp character (retired with Modern Times) as well as notes of the Marx Brothers and Stooges, the big difference being that Chaplin's character is polite and understated.

The change in tone from slapstick to melodrama was jarringly abrupt, making me wonder if Chaplin was undecided which path to take. But when Nazi expansion in Europe is a current event, goofy is a hard sell.

Hollywood did not want this film made and Chaplin had to finance it himself. Why anger a ruthless dictator by calling him out for what he was? Also, the Jewish studio moguls didn't want to call attention to their Jewishness. Considering the climate at the time, this was a very brave act dared by few.

The Great Dictator is a well made, sometimes funny, but important film. It is quoted and referenced more often than you may think. It came out a full year before To Be or Not To Be, which I may give a slight edge to (it certainly balanced the humor element better). and was beat by the Stooge short You Nazty Spy! by less than two months. Consider the years this production required compared to the super tight schedule of a Stooge short.

Chaplin was disappointed that his movie didn't get more respect at the academy awards, nominated five times with no wins. But it could be worse. His hot wife could leave him and marry the Penguin. AMRU 4.

In lieu of a quote, I leave you with a modified version of Chaplin's speech at the finale. Maybe it's a bit of a spoiler, but it's truly inspiring, especially in light of recent events.

The Bank Dick (1940)

Egbert Souse' (pronounced Sau-SAY with the accent grave over the E) is a disappointment to his non-loving family. When a film producer complains about his drunken director while in the bar that Egbert frequents, he talks up himself as having worked in Hollywood. So, the producer offers him the job of finishing the film. You know, because that happens.

When two bank thieves scuffle and Egbert is credited with stopped them, he is offered the job as a bank detective (or "DICK" in the vernacular of the time). Why he drops the lucrative Hollywood gig to work in a bank is a mystery.

The next story element I am obliged to tell you about is when Egbert's daughter's boyfriend invests bank funds on a fraudulent mine, they have to keep the bank auditor away until the money can be replaced. Written by Fields, the screenplay is credited to "Mahatma Kane Jeeves", one of his little jokes. My hat, my cane, Jeeves.

The Bank Dick is not completely without laughs, but it isn't chuck full of them. Not painful to watch, but much of the humor doesn't translate. Shemp Howard was wasted as the bartender, given nothing funny to say or do. AMRU 3.

"I'm very fond of children. Girl children, around eighteen and twenty."

One Million BC (1940)

Hikers lost in a storm stumble on a cave being investigated by an anthropologist. He tells the group a story about the ancient people who once lived there.

One upon a time there were two tribes. The Rock tribe was brutal. The men take what they want from the weaker. The women and children eat after the men's dogs, and the old are lucky if they eat at all. The Shell tribe, however, share their food. They eat vegetables, sing, laugh, and enjoy life.

One fateful day, after his meat is taken a young rock tribesman (Victor Mature) makes the mistake of striking the chief (Lon Chaney Jr). After a fight, our young hero is banished from the Rock tribe and limps away. He happens upon the Shell tribe, who take him in. At first he is confused by all this sharing and caring, but there's a hot blond (Carole Landis), so he wasn't complaining.

Our hero saves a child from what looks to be a poor man's sleestak. I think he killed it less out of fear and more out of pity. As someone who studied Anthro for a bit, I need to divorce myself from the terrible science here. Some films seem not try to get the science right, but BC appear to have tried and failed miserably. I choose to suspend disbelieve on this point, so no more from the nerd.

Legendary director D.W. Griffith apparently walked away while making this project because of a disagreement with Little Rascal's producer Hal Roach. D.W. thought there aught to be character development somewhere in there. Silly directors, am I right people? Hal and Hal Jr finish the direction.

About a year and a half ago I saw Valley of the Dragons, which I liked. I understood it lifted some of the giant lizard scenes from One Million BC. What I didn't realize is that it lifted virtually the entire story from it as well. Two tribes, misfits, love interest, dino attack, volcano, bigger dino attack, happily ever after (except for the people who died). Valley focused the story more on the conflict between male leads and making them modernish (and blaming Jules Verne), but at best you can call it a slight reimagining.

One brief note about pretty Carole Landis. Lovely and charming, her career never really took off. She ran through a series of failed marriages when she decided to off herself at the ripe old age of 29. In keeping with the tragic figures theme, she had taken her first name after Lombard.

The sets looked good and the silly dino sequences were ambitious for the day (sleestak-man not-with-standing), and the scene of a woman being swallowed by lava was quite effective. The story, however, was dull. Not bad, I suppose, from a director accustomed to producing silly one-reelers, but it's hard to develop story when characters don't talk. D.W. was right. I suppose I need to see the Raquel Welch version now. AMRU 3.