West of Zanzibar (1928)

The wife of circus magician Phroso (Lon Chaney) leaves him for another man (Lionel Barrymore) and in the scuffle, Phroso is injured and loses the use of his legs. Wife Ann returns dead (not sure how that happened) with her lover’s child. The treacherous Crane becomes an ivory trader in Africa so Phroso follows suit to plot his revenge.

It has been over five years since I saw the talkie remake but I remember the major beats of the story. The biggest difference in this shorter version is that the backstory is fleshed out better. If memory serves the remake starts in Africa and we learn in hindsight about the wife, child, and treachery.

So, Dead-leg’s plan is to lure Crane to his compound to show him his daughter, raised in a brothel and abused by Phroso. Based on the same play, both movies play out the same. Walter Houston starred in the stage version and Chaney was perhaps the perfect substitute at the time. Mary Nolan, cast because she had "tragic eyes", is exceptional as the horribly abused damsel. She would later take her own life. Probably.

It would be hard not to compare the two films, the biggest difference being the sound element. Both are pretty ugly films aesthetically, in subject matter, and in how they treat the Africans. The natives are primitive and childlike, easy fooled by sleight of hand and parlor tricks, allowing the white men to become like kings. All this while not being able to walk.

West of Zanzibar is an interesting, if a somewhat hard to watch film. The people and events are not pleasant, but that's what makes it stand out. AMRU 3.

The Devil-Doll (1936)

Two convicts escape together. One wants to exact revenge on his business partners who conspired to get him falsely imprisoned. The other wants to continue his work trying to make people little so that they eat less. When convict number 2 dies abruptly, convict 1 uses the talent of his creepy wife to complete his plan.

Wow, what crappy acting. I'm starting to think Lionel Barrymore wasn't the actor I thought he was. Seems the only part he can play is Lionel Barrymore. Still, he wasn't the worst offender in this one. Young hottie Maureen O'Sullivan did a good job playing a young hottie.

Allegedly classified as horror, it comes off more like a melodrama. The title makes it sound like an early version of Child's Play, but it's more of an early (and better) version of Attack of the Puppet People.

You see, shrinking people to six inches tall is fairly easy (obviously) but it seems their brain shrinks as well, making them incapable of free will. Lucky for convict 2, they can be controlled by staring at them with a constipated look on your face. Let's pack up the meth lab and head to Paris for some good old-fashioned revenge! Wait, how does an escaped convict and an off the grid swamp-scientist afford that? Best not to ask such questions.

Here is Tod Browning's penultimate (that's fancy-talk for second to last) directorial effort. I've seen a fair number of them and still not sure what to make of him. Seems he does well with good talent around him, and not so much otherwise. Freaks supposedly ruined his career, but he was pushing 60 by the time he did his last seven years later. Maybe TCM will run a bio on him sometime.

It's a fair, very watchable movie, that's not terribly crafted. The oversized sets for the little people to climb on were well done. And the special effects, while not amazing, were good for the day. Not Tod Browning's worst work. AMRU 3.

Mark of the Vampire (1935)

Sir Karoll has been killed and the locals conclude it's the work of a vampire. The police inspector (Lionel Atwill) isn't so sure. But local professor (Lionel Barrymore) is convinced by the initial diagnosis. Together, they investigate. Wait, didn't I just see this one? It even stars Atwill! Ok, so the set-up is very similar to The Vampire Bat, but it diverges soon enough. Promise.

Also in the mix is the Barron and executor of the estate, the victim's daughter and inheritor, and her best-bo who stands to become rich. Also there is Bela Lugosi wearing his Dracula garb with his proto-Morticia daughter. Might want to check out his creepy castle while they are at it.

So, what exactly is the Vampire's mark? Maybe it's the fang marks on the victim's neck. Or maybe it's the unexplained mark on Bela's right temple (there's an unfilmed back story). Either way, it doesn't appear to play into the story. I like to pretend Mark was Count Mora's first name. Lots of standard gothic horror elements, the level of acting you'd expect from this crew. No soundtrack, which is a drag.

At times you'd think Tod Browning was trying to re-do Dracula. The vampire passing through the giant spider web thing was done again here. As were the creepy-crawlies dancing around Mora's castle. Irena and Fedor are Mina and Jonathan, Zelin is Van Helsing, only thing missing is Renfield.

Browning would direct only two more movies, his reputation apparently tarnished by the unsavory Freaks. I think he wasn't all that great of a director, at least in the sound age. Interesting fact: his uncle was old-timey baseball great Pete Browning.

For the most part this plays out like a standard gothic horror, but Browning does play a bit. In actuality it's a remake of the now-lost Lon Chaney movie London After Midnight. The principle difference, I understand, is the Vampire angle. There are apparently lost or deleted scenes which explain some of the story, but i think it works well enough at the shorter length. Browning could never match his Dracula success (although The Unknown was by far his best work), Mark of the Vampire was in many ways a better technical effort. It works as intended. AMRU 3.5.

Key Largo (1948)

Unlike most famous movies I hadn't seen, I was quite surprised to learn that I knew nothing of the plot. I knew the gay 1980's song, and that's about it. A story on NPR mentioned the film and a song sung by Claire Trevor and they said something about the setting. It was the last of four movies in the set loaned to me by a coworker and I finally finished the set.

Bogie is a drifter, a tough man who sticks his neck out for no one. Bacall is the young hottie. Lionel Barrymore is her father. Or father-in-law. Edward G. Robinson is the gangster trying to get back into the country. Who's going to stop him? Who? Nobody, that's who!

Gangsters, drifters, cripples, and hotties are all shut into a hotel when a hurricane passes. Is Bogart tough enough to stand up to the cruel Edward G? Will hottie Bacall fall for him? Are we seriously asking these questions?

What was interesting about the movie was Claire Trevor as Robinson's ex-hoochie mamma. She's a total lush at this point and a bit of an embarrassment. Her song was memorable, not for the singing itself, but for how it plays into the plot. Typical Bogart stuff, typical Bacall stuff. Enjoyable. AMRU 3.5.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

It is true. I've lived 43 years and never saw It's a Wonderful Life in it's entirety. Until, that is, last night.

I had caught parts of it in my youth. I knew the premise. I saw the Saturday Night Live skit about the "missing ending". My sister was a huge fan. Somehow I managed to miss it.

Now, everybody know that George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) gives up his life's dreams to keep his father's savings and loan in operation. The evil Harry Potter keeps trying to own or crush the S&L because it's the only thing in town he doesn't control. After things go wrong, a guardian angel is dispatched to show George what the world would be like if he was never born. Conclusion: not good. It's a Capra film so you know everything will turn out all right.

Lionel Barymore is cast against type as Potter and Donna Reed is Bailey's hot wife, her first starring role. George has a douche-bag buddy from high school (Heee-Haw!) named Wainwright who returns rich and with a hot young wife played by Marian Carr, who later went on to play Lon Jr's would-be girlfriend in Indestructible Man. That's what we call a downward slide.

A well made, satisfying movie. What did I find surprising? It's long, over two hours. It was nominated for five Oscars and won nothing. Initially, it was a financial flop. My boys weren't terribly interested but my wife, who missed a good bit of it, wants to see it again. Next year, maybe. AMRU 3.5.

Grand Hotel (1932)

1933's Best Picture about the Grand Hotel in Berlin was very Grand, and very ... hotely. For the first time ever, an ensemble cast of top actors was brought together. 

Greta Garbo, the prima donna actress who was not as good as she thought she was, plays a prima donna ballet dancer who is not as good as she thinks she is. John Barrymore plays a "Barron". I don't want to spoil anything, but since when as a character introduced as a Barron actually BEEN a Barron? Let's pretend, shall we?

John's slightly older brother Lionel plays the aged Otto, an office worker with an unnamed terminal illness (AIDS? Nawww ...) who is blowing his life's savings to enjoy himself, for once. Wallace Beery (Uncle of Noah Beery Jr from Inherit the Wind) plays Otto's boss, The Angry German Giant, who is trying to make a very important business deal. Joan Crawford is his hot young stenographer who spends much of the time scrubbing toilets and screaming about coat hangers.

The Giant wants to plow Joan, who might be willing because she "needs the money". But Joan would rather be plowed by the Barron, who was initially very agreeable. But the Barron instead falls in plow with Garbo, who charmed him with her mediocre looks and bad acting. Garbo falls for the Barron because his mother used to call him "Flix". This made sense in 1932, I'm guessing.

The Barron, who also needs money, finds it easier on his conscience to steal it rather than accept hand outs from Otto and Garbo. Doing the Giant is entirely out of the question. Then we have a climactic scene, comeuppance comes up, situations are mostly resolved, and no one gets plowed. I think. Oh, yea, and there's this morose doctor who bookends the film by saying "People come, people go. Never ever happens." That's called irony, boys and girls.

First let's chat about Joan Crawford. I'm old enough to remember the OLD Joan Crawford from the 1970s. Nasty, ugly, severe. I didn't expect to like her. But the young Crawford was hot and charming on screen. I had never seen Greta Garbo before except in very short clips. Clearly she cut her acting teeth during the silent film days, where over-the-top acting was de regueur. 1932 audiences certainly ate this up, but I found it comical. It is in this film that she recites her signature phrase "I want to be alone".

John Barrymore was a stage actor, so he knew how to talk on stage. He's the grandfather of Drew Barrymore, so forget what I said in "You Can't Take it With You". Lionel seems to play the same character. Old and amicable, even though he was only a couple years older than the dashing Barron.

There's a lot of scuttle about the film. Because Joan and Greta did not get along, they had no scenes together. The director feared they would try to upstage each other. A fearful arms race to be sure. Beery initially rejected the assignment, but was convinced to stay because his character would be the only one with a German accent, even though ALL the characters except Garbo were German. This also stands as the only Best Picture winner that didn't get nominated for any other award.

Grand Hotel is a good film and I'm glad I watched it. I don't see renting it again. AMRU 3.5. Hey, it's October. I'm going to stick to horror for now.

You Can't Take it With You (1938)

The winner of Best Picture and Best Director, this offbeat comedy is about a family that chooses to do what they want over what they should do. How they have enough money to buy food is a mystery.

The story centers around young Alice (Jean Arthur) being the rebel of the family (she actually has a "job"!) and falling in love with owners son, Tony (James Stewart). The problem is that Tony's company is trying to evict Alice and her band of nuts from the family homestead. Drew's great-uncle Lionel Barrymore plays grandpa. 

Because of the sentimentality of Frank Capra's films, they were sometimes labeled "Capra-corn". Here is a great example. There were interesting scenes and clever dialog, but come on! I think they went a little bit over the top trying to show how eccentric they were. Characters wrestling, throwing darts, painting, doing ballet, while fireworks were being set off, all at the same time! Reminds me of my old dorm room days. And in the end, all problems are solved by singing "Polly Wolly Doodle". Maybe this makes sense during a depression. I hope I don't find out. 

One thing that struck me was the ages of the characters. Young Alice was played by 38 year old Jean Arthur. Her big sister was played by 15 year old Ann Miller. And Gramps was only 22 years Jean's senior. But it worked. Lionel looked to be 100, Jean Arthur could have easily passed for 24, and Ann Miller didn't look like any teen. 

Nice to watch once, but wholly unremarkable. Frank got a best picture, but not from me. AMRU 3.