Disney Animated Shorts (1930)

Produced by Walt Disney Studios

In Autumn, all of the creatures of the forest are busy making their preparations for winter. Squirrels gather nuts, a porcupine spears some apples and the beavers finish up their dams. Of course, each one of them contributes to the music of the forest in their own way. 

In Just Mickey, the titular mouse performs music on a violin for an unseen audience. He has to deal with an obnoxiously cackling heckler and cries his way through a sad number. 

In The Cactus Kid, Mickey arrives at a saloon in the Old West where Minnie works. At first, he fails to impress her, but when Minnie is abducted by a peg-legged villain, Mickey must become the hero. 

Each of the three Disney shorts here is six or seven minutes long. They are light on dialogue, story or characters and heavy on music. Like every single move a character makes finds a corresponding member of the orchestra. Color me annoyed. 

They're such simple plots, there isn't a ton to say. Just Mickey almost seems like a 3D short in places with the exaggerated scale and perspective they use. The only other surprise was to see Mickey strap on a pistol and get into a gunfight in The Cactus Kid. Not quite the image we have of the character today. 

These are all very slight, so I won't say much more. I was exceedingly bored by each of them. No official ratings, but I can't recommend anyone check these out.

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All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Directed by Lewis Milestone

Starring  Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray

Produced by Universal Pictures 

In a small German town, people line the streets to cheer on soldiers heading off to fight the French during World War I. A teacher stands before his class as the sounds of the celebration waft through the room. He implores his boys and their de facto leader Paul to enlist and defend the Fatherland. And to a boy, they do. 

Of course, once they join the army, every heroic illusion they have is shattered. Their kindly postman arrives as a reservist who is an overbearing dictator of a drill sergeant. They arrive at the front and find no food. They are given thankless tasks like stringing wire across the battlefield at night. Of course, those tasks seem like heaven compared to sitting in a trench, waiting for an errant grenade to find its target. 

Fortunately, Paul and his friends are taken under the wing of Katz, a veteran who may show them how to survive a war. Who will live? Who will die? And how will the experience change their lives forever? 

Sometimes, I have the sheer joy of watching a film that seems not just ahead of its time, but timeless. 

All Quiet on the Western Front is an absolutely fantastic (anti-)war film from director Lewis Milestone. It tells the tale of a group of gung-ho but naive German teenagers who are all too quickly introduced to the horrors of war. 

The film is cliched in its broadest strokes. You get the young idealistic soldier confronting the grizzled veteran who can only laugh at the youth he knows is about to either quickly grow up or die. You have the overbearing but clueless commanding officer. There's even that initial group of kids, small enough to be friends, but large enough that we know there will be a body count. 

What elevates All Quiet on the Western Front above its tropes is its focus on smaller moments and details combined with Milestone's bravura direction. 

There's an early tense scene with the troop assigned to sneak into the middle of the battlefield at night to string wire across it to slow the enemy's charge. I've seen that wire in dozens of other war films and never once considered how it got there or the danger its placement entailed. 

The boys, led by Paul (played by Lew Ayres), learn to appreciate a good pair of boots, a stale heel of bread and even a poster of a girl (in the absence of the real thing). They encounter the insanity of both bayonet charges and cooks who refuse to feed them (because the chef had prepared dinner for 150 and only 80 returned from the lines). 

The film features some of the best realized infantry battle sequences I've ever seen, but the one I want to highlight is a charge through a graveyard. As grenades rain down, headstones and even coffins become projectiles to be reckoned with. And when Paul ends up trapped between forces in a crater with a dying enemy soldier? Perfection. 

I found myself constantly seeing other war films in the early entry in the genre. There is a prolonged battle sequence which had to (and I mean HAD TO) be an influence on Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan opening. And when Paul returns home from the war on leave and finds he can no longer relate to those he had left behind? I couldn't help but think of Jeremy Renner's The Hurt Locker character's problems with his home life. 

 More than anything though, All Quiet on the Western Front is about the relentlessness of war. What I remember most is the constancy of the gunfire and barrages. The sound never lets up. Every moment has an inherent tension: it may be our hero's last. 

 If there's a weakness here, it's Ayres as Paul. He is perfect early on as the young, clueless recruit sent into a war he cannot possibly comprehend. But his performance is so earnest throughout the film that when he starts describing the horrors he has encountered, you never totally buy it. 

Fortunately, the film is so reliant on its ensemble that the weakness there is completely counterbalanced. All of the actors are great, but Louis Wolheim steals the movie as the wily veteran Katz. He is so fantastic as first Paul's mentor and then his friend, you want to just stay with him in every frame. 

Also of note is Slim Summerville as Tjaden. He basically plays the comic relief role throughout with a presence and features that reminded me of Harry Dean Stanton. 

By the time we reach the film's conclusion, there is an inevitability to what must happen. I'm not sure I totally buy the last frames, but there's no denying the juxtaposition of beauty and horror it represents. 

All Quiet on the Western Front is not simply an anti-war film. It's THE anti-war film. We see the horror of battle and what it does to the children sent to fight and die. Men are valued until they are a corpse; after that, they are debris. 

***** out of ***** 

NOTE: All Quiet on the Western Front won the 1930 Academy Award for Outstanding Production (today's Best Picture Oscar) and Best Direction.

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Another Fine Mess (1930)

Directed by James Parrott

Starring  Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and Harry Bernard

Produced by Hal Roach Studios 

Stan and Ollie are once again in trouble with the law and take to hiding out in a vacant mansion. Trouble ensues when a wealthy couple arrives to lease the house and our heroes must pose as the owner, his butler...and the maid. 

Can the duo convince the potential renters they are the owners? And what will happen when the actual owner returns from vacation? 

 Remember that feeling you got when you watched the latest attempt by Saturday Night Live to take one of their recurring one-joke characters and stretch that into a feature film? 

That's pretty much my reaction to Another Fine Mess. 

Granted, it's only 30 minutes long, but over that half of an hour, the comedy basically has two jokes: smug superiority over the rich, and Stan's exasperated impersonation of a woman. 

I'm sure at the time of the Great Depression the former gags were funny and culturally relevant. However, today it's hard to see the humor. The wealthy are just too much of a caricature. The portrayal is over-the-top. Now that could work if any of the gags went as far, but it's basically Hardy's not-as-clever-as-he-thinks observations about the social elite that are meant to carry the story. It all comes across as out of balance. We are waiting for a payoff, for anything to happen, and it never does. 

More successful are Laurel's gender-bending transformations between butler and maid. The look of exasperation on his face is certainly smile-inducing, but the only true moment of humor comes in his one-on-one interactions with the wife of the potential renter. Laurel carries the joke exactly as far as it needs to go and you watch the scene unsure of how much his straight woman is laughing out of character. 

On the whole, Another Fine Mess ranks as a misfire. I kept waiting for some escalation, but it plays the same notes right up until the last moments. 

** out of *****

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Monte Carlo (1930)

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

Starring Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan and Claud Allister

Produced by Paramount Pictures

It's a big day for Prince Otto Von Liebenheim. He is prepared to marry the beautiful Countess Helene Mara. The only problem is that is bride has left him at the altar. Again. For the third time. Undeterred, the prince vows to find and wed the countess.

Meanwhile, Helene has boarded a train with her servant Bertha. She's in such a hurry she didn't even bother to check where the train is going. She reviews the train's itinerary and settles on Monte Carlo as a destination. Once there, she can take her relatively modest amount of money, gamble a bit and earn enough to live in the manner to which she is accustomed.

And it almost works. After betting on number 16 and winning four times in a row at the roulette table, she loses it all on her fifth try. While she's at the tables, frittering away her last pennies, Count Rudolph takes notice of the beautiful countess and resolves to win her heart.

After being rebuffed by the bride-on-the-run, Count Rudolph assumes the guise of a hairdresser and begins caring for the woman he loves. She however thinks he is a commoner and no matter how strong her attraction, she decides she must keep away.

What will happen to the countess once the hotel learns she is penniless? Will "Rudy" reveal his secret? And who will Helene choose when the prince arrives to take her back?

 

As with many of the early sound movies, Monte Carlo is something of a mixed bag. It certainly has its issues (a dud of a leading man and a series of unmemorable songs), but a light tone and Jeanette MacDonald's performance ultimately are enough to carry the film. The movie grabs you from the beginning with a comically over-the-top turn by Claud Allister as Helene's fiancé. When he swears to the crowd he will find and return with his fugitive bride-to-be, the music shows the sly incredulity of the wedding guests that this "simp" of a prince can actually pull it off. 

Then we get to spend some time with MacDonald as Helene and she is the perfect combination of beauty, naivete and flirtatiousness. She belts out "Beyond the Blue Horizon" on her train ride to Monte Carlo in a nicely staged scene that combines MacDonald's voice, the sounds of the train and even a chorus of farmhands working in the fields to provide one of the film's high points.

Once Jack Buchanan's Count Rudolph is introduced however, the film just slows to a crawl. Any charisma and charm he has seems to come only in comparison to the amusingly annoying prince. You just don't see what Helene would with Rudy.

That said, the film takes full advantage of its pre-Code status to fill Helene and Rudy's interactions with all manner of double entendres. After his disastrous tryout, Rudy ingratiates himself with the countess by giving her a scalp massage. And the moans of ecstasy MacDonald lets out make her eavesdropping servant blush. She demands that Rudy "service" her and he provides a knowing smile in response. There's a lot of fun to be had in the dialogue.

I did love the ending of this. The film cleverly climaxes with Helene at a play with the Prince watching a story that closely parallels their own. It serves as a fun sort of confession and apology for Rudolph so that the love birds can be together.

On the whole, Monte Carlo is entertaining if not particularly memorable. If you're looking for a fun, pre-Code musical, you could do worse.

*** out of *****

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Abraham Lincoln (1930)

Directed by D.W. Griffith

Starring Walter Huston, Una Merkel and William L. Thorne 

Produced by D.W. Griffith Productions

In a small, nondescript log cabin in Kentucky, a small child is born. We see him grow up and fall in love only to lose her to disease in her 20s. He courts an ambitious woman and runs unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.

But with the country teetering on the brink of a civil war, his party turns to him to be its Presidential candidate. Can he win the White House? Will he lead his country through its most difficult hours? Does he fight vampires? And should he give up going to the theater?

Abraham Lincoln follows the life of one of our most famous Presidents from his log cabin birth to his assassination. It's well-acted and well-directed. So what's it missing?

Every major detail of his life. 

We see nothing of his Presidential election. No Gettysburg address. The Emancipation Proclamation, the Lincoln Douglas debates... all given only the most cursory of treatments. 

There are plenty of good biopics out there that play as a highlight reel of a person's life. Others focus on a less consequential event as a way of humanizing and illuminating a public persona. Griffith tries to do both here. He chooses to move throughout Lincoln's entire life over the course of 90 minutes, but focuses on the smaller moments in between the larger actions. It just never quite works. 

We meet an early love of young Abe's, but the next scene is at her deathbed. We don't spend enough time with her to care or even to feel the impact of her death on the rest of Abe's life. Similarly, Lincoln declares throughout that the Union must be preserved. Yet none of the smaller moments give the viewer any better understanding of why the future President believes this. 

Where the film actually takes off is in its second half when Lincoln has become President (in an election that happens entirely off-screen). We see his Cabinet, certain they will be able to steamroll an inexperienced politician, surprised by his resolve. There's the wonderful image of a vast bank of telegraph operators providing the President with his only sense of how the war proceeds through accounts shaded by the overconfidence of his commanders in the field. There's genuine tension in these scenes despite the fact that we know how it all turns out. 

The film's denouement is Lincoln's assassination at Ford's theater and Griffith cannot pull off the same feat. The action proceeds slowly, clearly with the intention of building up suspense, but it doesn't work. We know the assassin is successful. Making it worse, Griffith actually already showed us this very moment in history in The Birth of a Nation and did so far more effectively. 

To the extent anything in the film's first half works, it's due in large part to Walter Huston. As Lincoln, he's believable as brawler, as a young man in love, as a patriot, as a President. He has a carefree personality that turns grave and somber when faced with matters of state. He handles the frenetic movement of the script perfectly. 

The only other issue worth mentioning is the obviousness of some of the script. It's filled with a lot of winking "you'll never amount to anything" dialogue which of course is meant to give the audience (which has the benefit of 20/20 historical hindsight) a brief chuckle. However, after the fifth time you use that device, it starts to lose its charm.

Ultimately, Abraham Lincoln is hampered by its approach. The film flits from inconsequential moment to inconsequential moment, providing just enough information to intrigue without providing any illumination on the man behind the myth. The result is a solid lead performance, a lot of wasted narrative energy and ultimately more questions than answers for the audience. 

**1/2 out of *****

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Educational Films of 1930

It's time once again for everyone's favorite feature: educational films!

We are in the 1930s and we're learning about beavers (the animal, so stop snickering) and gliding.

Without further ado:

Beavers



No sound to this one which would normally mean it's pretty boring, but I found this strangely hypnotic to watch.  I definitely learned a bit (assuming our knowledge of beavers has not dramatically advanced in the last 100 years).  And the cute factor goes up exponentially when some young beavers are introduced 2/3 of the way in.

(Note: all double entendres above were entirely intentional).

Gliding



 

This looks awesome.

This film covers the sport of gliding.  After an early portion that covers a toy recreation of Charles Lindbergh's glider, the movie moves into the actual early gliders.  No cockpit.   Just you and the open air.

I've gotta think this was an amazing sport to try. And Boy Scouts used to do it.  How awesome would that have been?

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Soup to Nuts (1930)

Directed by Benjamin Stoloff
Starring Ted Healy, Charles Winninger, The Three Stooges
Produced by Fox Film Corporation

So here it is: The debut of the comedy trio we all know and love as The Three Stooges. Moe (billed here as Harry Howard), Shemp Howard and Larry Fine make their first appearance on the big screen. 

It turns out that even in the beginning they were really entertaining.  Their characters here are more subdued than we may be used to, but you can see the beginnings of the comic stylings of the team.

Of course, the problem in Soup to Nuts is they are relegated to the background for almost the entirety of the piece.

It's clear at the beginning here, the writers and producers are going for a Marx Brothers vibe more than anything.  The star of the piece for all intents and purposes is Ted Healy's character (creatively named "Ted"), who is basically an imitation of Groucho without the glasses or moustache.  He's followed around by a mute fireman (Fred Sanborn) who poorly fills the Harpo role.  The Stooges collectively are playing Chico (interestingly, with Shemp, not Moe, in the alpha dog role).

While you can see the beginnings of what will become the Three Stooges bread and butter, Healy and Sanborn are painful to watch.  Healy's every line delivery feels forced and over-written and Sanborn's eyebrows move as though they are aliens from another planet in the most distracting of ways.

None of this even touches on the film's "A" plot which follows costume shop owner Otto Schmidt who is more interested in inventing useless and overly complicated machines (the film was written by Rube Goldberg and features some of his designs).  The man's shop is taken over by a creditor, who dispatches his son Carlson to oversee the operation. 

Carlson immediately falls for Otto's daughter Louise and tries to win her heart.  She of course cannot love the man she sees as taking her dad's shop.

Ted works for Schmidt and loves hanging out at the local firehouse, populated by the Stooges and the mute fireman. 

In the end, Ted and Carlson concoct a way for the latter to win Louise's hand at the fireman's ball.  The plan goes awry and their is a very nicely-shot fire sequence featuring the inept Stooges trying to rescue Carlson and Louise.

I can't say Soup to Nuts is a good movie.  It's boring and tedious and inconsistent in its camerawork and sound design.  It is however worth it as a curiosity.  Every time Shemp, Moe and Larry come onto the screen, the film crackles and pops.

I just wish there was a bit more of them.

** out of *****

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The Blue Angel (1930)

Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron
Produced by UFA

Professor Rath is an instructor at a small college in Germany. None of his students give him the respect he believes he deserves. After a particularly trying session, he notices one of his students trip on the way out of class. The boy drops a photo from a local cabaret, featuring the beautiful Lola.

Rath heads to the club that night to catch the boys in the act. While there, he meets Lola and is oblivious when one of his students stows the dancer's underwear in his coat.   

Rath is obsessed with Lola and welcomes the opportunity to return the panties to her the following night. After some talking, the professor ends up spending the night. 

His rendezvous makes him late for the next day's class and infuriates the principal who knows where Rath spent his evening. Rather than apologize, Rath professes his love for Lola and resigns his professorship to marry the dancer.

But the now-former-academic's honeymoon quickly comes to an end. He does not like Lola's profession and takes a job as a clown in her show to make a little extra cash. Meanwhile, Lola seems to have eyes for the show's new strongman. 

When Lola's traveling show heads back to Rath's hometown, the former esteemed professor is set up to be a laughingstock. How will Rath deal with this turn of events? And can he retain the love of Lola?

 

I struggle with The Blue Angel. 

On the one hand, it's a perfect little morality tale about a self-important, pseudo-intellectual who gets the comeuppance he so richly deserves. 

On the other, it doesn't give you anything to cheer for. His students are brats. The show's performers are bad guys. It's not entertaining and you don't learn anything you didn't already learn from countless hours spent interacting with other human beings. 

The big weapon the film has in its favor is of course the fantastic Emil Jannings in the lead role. He is perfect as a professor who believes he is untouchable until of course he becomes the husk of a man upon his fall. 

But Jannings is also the problem here. We've seen all of these notes before. He brings the same pride and authority to the doorman in The Last Laugh and the general in The Last Command. He also ends up in the same haunted shell by those films' climaxes. The difference of course is those other films are simply better than anything The Blue Angel has to offer. 

This is the film that brought Marlene Dietrich to prominence and I can safely say that she's good here. She plays Lola as both bored with her existence, but intrigued when the local professor takes an interest. 

There is one interesting thread that is never fully explored. By the film's end, Rath is forced to play a clown in Lola's show. The denizens of his hometown, whom he previously derided and sat in judgement if, get the final laugh. 

However, in earlier scenes, the show already had a silent, but melancholy clown who Rath seemingly took the place of. Given the film's ending, I wonder about that unnamed clown. How did he get there? Does Lola regularly consume men like Rath to ultimately play the fool before discarding them? Are simply seeing a moment in a cycle of destruction? 

The movie suggests this, but really doesn't spend much time on it. Ultimately, The Blue Angel is far more interested in showcasing Jannings. 

Is this a good movie? A well-made, well-acted movie? Absolutely. Can I recommend others sit through it? Well... 

***1/2 out of *****

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Anna Christie (1930)

Directed by Clarence Brown

Starring Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford and George F. Marion

Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer (MGM)

Chris, an old barge captain brings his female… companion Marthy down to the local bar. We know immediately he’s a regular and does not need much excuse to drink, but tonight he’s in a celebratory mood. His estranged daughter Anna is coming from Minnesota to visit him.

The sailor steps out for a few minutes and in walks Anna to share a drink with Marthy. Chris eventually returns and we learn that Anna spent the last 15 years in a forced servitude with extended family, escaped to St. Paul as a nursing aide, fell ill and was recently released from the hospital. Her dad offers to let Anna stay on his boat and she reluctantly accepts.

Chris dreams of getting a place for his daughter inland and living out his years away from “that old devil sea.” Anna however seems to have rediscovered herself on the water. She loves living on the boat.

One foggy night, the barge encounters three men floating on a listless piece of debris in the open ocean. Anna and her father rescue the men and she begins to fall for Matt, one of the burly ship-wrecked sailors.

Anna ultimately finds herself in a tug of war between her father’s desire to make up for lost time and Matt’s gruff love for her. Will she choose either of the men? And what terrible secret from her past will be revealed before it’s all over?

Anna Christie holds a special place in film history. It’s Greta Garbo’s first speaking role in a movie. The German-born actress was a late-comer to talkies as she had to learn English first. The marketing for the film was a simple yet elegant two-word sentence: “Garbo speaks.”

Important is one thing. Good is something completely different. And this is not a good film.

The film centers around a coal barge, which seems an apt analogy for the entirety of the film. It’s slow and plodding. It literally feels like it’s being dragged along. It’s ugly and messy to watch and listen to. And no one says “barge” and thinks excitement. This is dull, dull, dull.

Garbo is pretty much terrible. Her every line reading seems muffled and garbled. There were moments where Anna’s demeanor reminded me not of a sultry temptress, but of a character Kristen Wiig might play on Saturday Night Live.

George Marion’s Chris manages to make Garbo look like Meryl Streep. His character is annoying. His every mannerism is frustratingly juvenile and his voice is the cinematic equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. I came close to shutting the film off just to escape him.

The only saving grace in the film is the performance of Marie Dressler as Marthy, Chris’ friend and prostitute. Marthy is constantly drunk and can turn from playful to belligerent on a dime. Her screentime is limited which probably adds to her charm. I imagine two hours of her would be as grating as Marion, but here it is just enough.

The film is staid and stagnant as shot by Clarence Brown. Even in storm and fog sequences, there’s no tension, no sense that anything is happening at all. It’s conventional in almost every aspect. The only time Brown seems to have fun at all with his camera is during Anna and Matt’s date at the carnival. Brown mounts a camera on a roller coaster and looks down the tower of a strongman game as Matt swings the hammer to ring the bell.

By the time Anna Christie sputters to its climax, Garbo is forced to reveal a secret to the two men in her life and I could have cared less. I didn’t like any of these people to begin with. They are all pretty vile in their own ways. Am I really supposed to find any pathos, treagedy or redemption in the closing moments?

Ultimately, we get what was advertised here. Garbo does indeed speak. I only wish she had something to say.

*1/2 out of *****

Photo from All Movie

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Murder! (1930)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring and Phyllis Konstam

At a boarding house for actors across from a theater, a body is found. The only suspect in the crime is Diana Baring, sitting in the same room with the body, claiming to have no memory of the deed.

The case quickly goes to trial and the jurors decide she’s either guilty or schizophrenic and a danger to others. In either case, she should be condemned.

However, one of the jurors has second thoughts. Sir John is a famous actor who begins to believe in the accused’s innocence and sets off to investigate with the help of a stage manager and his wife.

Sir John visits the scene of the crime and Diana's bedroom. He even visits her in prison. Will the trail lead to the killer? And what will the killer do once caught?

It should be no secret around here that 100 Years loves his Hitchcock. Many of the suspense master’s films are the reason I became interested in classic films in the first place.

So it’s with no small amount of disappointment that I report that Murder! is not a very good film.

At its core, we have a lot of the staples of a Hitchcock film. It’s a procedural with an unconventional character doing the detecting. It’s obsessed with identity and appearances. A lot of the fun technical Hitchcock touches are here as well. When his camera zooms or pans, it’s for a purpose. When he focuses in tight on the killer’s face at the end, it’s absolutely essential.

What the film lacks though is suspense and a compelling lead character.

In any whodunit like this, you want to build the tension and narrow the field of suspects. Well, Sir John never really investigates many suspects. He just meanders around town from scene to scene, assembling little clues. Nobody is overly concerned about his investigation or trying to stop him. It’s ponderous.

And Sir John himself turns out to be a bit of bore. His shtick is to use his theater training to suss out the mystery. So, for example, when the boarding house landlady swears the high pitched voice she heard had to be a woman, Sir John contrives to be in a separate room and talks in a female voice, fooling the landlady and demonstrating perhaps she was wrong.

It would be an interesting way of telling this tale if it were not so ham-handed. Sir John literally walks out of the room in full view of the landlady and a second later a voice that sounds like any guy impersonating a woman comes from the other room. It’s not proof that the voices arguing in the apartment; it’s proof that the landlady is a moron and that Sir John would be terrible in Tootsie.

The film is not suspenseful, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have moments of suspense. The climax of the film where the killer is wrestling with his guilt and the aftermath of that moment is nail-biting. We’re watching with bated breath to see not whether he’s the killer (we know he is), but what he’s going to do as the trap closes on him.

Still, after a promising opening, it’s a slog of cliché and exposition to get to the end. Murder! is necessary viewing for the Hitchcock completist, but that’s about as far as I’d go.

** out of *****

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The Big Trail (1930)

Directed by Raoul Walsh
Starring John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill and El Brendel
Produced by Fox Film Corporation

Breck Coleman is one of the best trackers in the West.  He has befriended tribes of Indian tribes and learned to hunt and track as well as any man.  And he is absolutely deadly with his knife.  He's just the kind of man a group of settlers blazing a path from Missouri to Oregon would want along for the trip.

Unfortunately for the travelers, Coleman has only one thing on his mind: revenge.  He's just returned from Santa Fe where his trapper friend was murdered for his bounty of wolf skins.  Coleman is tracking the killers so leading a group of pilgrims across the plains and through the mountains is out of the question. Unless...

Coleman begins to suspect Red Flack and his henchman are the murderers.  And it just so happens they have been hired to lead the caravan of prairie schooners across the country.  Coleman changes his mind so he can investigate the men.

Helping his decision to leave with the group is Ruth Cameron, an attractive settler moving west with her family.  He makes several attempts to woo her, but they all end in rejection.  And complicating things is another suitor, Thorpe, who also happens to be running from debtors and is friends with Flack.

Will the settlers reach their new homes in the West?  Will Coleman get his men or will he be shot down by the jealous Thorpe? And who will win the hand of Ruth?

Let's get this out of the way up front: The Big Trail is about as cliched and predictable a movie as you could ever see.  They set up various plot threads in the first ten minutes and you know exactly how the next hour and a half is going to play out.

The hero is going to get the girl.  He's going to get his frontier justice.  The settlers are going to get to Oregon and, while there may be a couple casualties, it won't be anyone we care about.

There are two big reasons to watch this however.  The first is all of the stuff that happens in between the plot machinations.  It's more thrilling than any of the interpersonal stories.  There's a harrowing attempt to ford a river that ends with some of the wagons and animals being swept downstream.  There's the attempt to descend a cliff face by lowering wagons by rope; again, not all of the wagons survive.  And the film makes you appreciate that each travelers survival depends entirely upon these horse-drawn, rickety bits of wood and canvas.

The most fun scene though may be an Indian attack late in the film.  The travelers literally circle their wagons and fight off the onslaught, but they pay a price for it.  As they bury their dead and women weep over lost husbands and children, the settlers move on, except for one dog who lies down next to his master's grave.  It's a great sequence in the film.

The second reason is of course John Wayne.  When he first saunters onto the screen, he could be any young actor in the world.  He doesn't have that saunter or those distinctive lines across his face that only age can provide.

Then, he starts talking about justice and seeking his friend's killer.  That familiar drawl comes out, the eyes narrow and the Duke is standing before you.  It's an inexperienced version, without that bit of gravel in the voice, but it's unmistakably him.  And you smile knowing everything that lies before him and his audience.

I wish the story itself was any good.  There's some decent character work here Tyrone Power, Ian Keith and Charles Stevens make up our triumvirate of baddies and they are all very good, particularly the Powers as the grizzly-bear-like Flack.  Coleman gets a couple of supporting partners who provide a lot of fun, especially Tully Marshall as Zeke. And El Brendel provides some much needed comic relief as a settler who is constantly at odds with his mother-in-law.

I wish Marguerite Churchill was given a bit more to do as Ruth.  Her job is essentially to constantly rebuff Coleman for no reason whatsoever, until the writer decides it's time for her to profess her love.  We know it's coming so her scenes tend to be more frustrating than anything.

All in all, The Big Trail is a good if not great early Western.  The set pieces are great and you get to see a star born before your eyes.  Just wish I couldn't predict every beat of the tale.

***1/2 out of *****

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Liliom (1930)

Directed by Frank Borzage
Starring Charles Farrell, Rose Hobart and Estelle Taylor
Produced by Fox Film Corporation

Julie and her friend Marie are serving girls in a mansion. They do their work and are taken care of. There is a carpenter who comes once a week to complete odd jobs and ask Julie out on a date.

The girls' periodic trips to the local carnival help break up the routine and provide a welcome diversion. Julie particularly enjoys staring at the Liliom, a carousel barker. He seems to have eyes for her too, but its hard to tell. His job after all is to convince women to take a ride on the merry-go-round.

When Julie hops on the carousel this particular night, she receives all Liliom's attention. The owner of the ride also has a romantic interest in the carnie and threatens Julie to stay away from Liliom. He overhears and sides with Julie, beginning a night which leads to both love and the loss of both of their jobs.

Fast forward three months. Julie is living with her aunt and Liliom is sleeping on the couch. An old friend of Liliom's has a robbery planned and wants him in on the crime.

Will a pregnancy push Liliom to break the law? How far will Liliom go to take care of Julie and his unborn child?



As with many of the films from this era, Liliom has a lot going for it on the screen. The direction. The supporting performances. An interesting initial hook.

Unfortunately, this film has some fatal flaws as well.

Let's start with what shines. Liliom as filmed by Frank Borzage is absolutely beautiful to watch. The camera constantly plays with light and shadow. If it weren't for the subject matter, you'd swear you were watching a film noir.

Borzage's camera also heaps s lot of love upon Julie. There's a shot early on of her face in close up that is all you need to explain why any guy would fall for her.

Rose Hobart plays Julie not as a naive girl who is looking for adventure in her men, but as young woman who has had a hard life, but does not want to settle and be trapped in her choice of husband. It's a reserved, quiet performance that allows the emotion to come through.You understand why she might fall for the idea of Liliom given everything else going on in her life.

There are a few great supporting turns here as well. Estelle Taylor is sultry and tenacious as Liliom's employer at the carousel. Lee Tracy is slimy and shifty, but supremely confident playing Liliom's less-than-criminal-mastermind buddy. And H.B. Warner shows up in the final stanza bringing a healthy dose of authority to a critical role.

But now we come to the film's biggest liability: Liliom himself.

He's just a horrible human being. He defends Julie but then spends the next 15 minutes denigrating her or explaining how important he is. He then morphs into the worst kind of stereotype, unemployed, sleeping on his girlfriend's couch, contributing nothing to the household. Later, he gets angry and hits Julie.

The plot does him no favors as it sets him up with a false choice of sorts. Either he goes back to being a carousel barker or he robs a guy. That's it. Those are the only options. He for some reason wants to take Julie to America despite the fact that he does not seem to like her much.

Not helping at all is Charles Farrell in the title role. Liliom could have been played as macho with a code of honor. Instead, he comes across as whiny and entitled and sleazy. Every line reading seems calculated to make us hate him more.

There is a fun, out-of-the-blue twist at the end that I won't spoil here. Suffice to say it produces some of the film's best imagery and moments. However, the "why" of it feels completely unearned. And when you think for a moment on the film's final stance on domestic abuse, you can't help but feel icky.

Liliom has enough to recommend it, but just barely. Some great atmosphere and performances are swamped by a despicable lead character we are asked to empathize with.

*** out of *****

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The Silver Horde (1930)

Directed by George Archainbaud
Starring Evelyn Brent, Louis Wolheim and Joel McCrea
Produced by RKO Radio Pictures

Boyd Emerson has spent weeks traversing the Alaskan wilderness in search of gold. He's traveled alone with his sled and his team of dogs. A few days ago, he came across Fraser. Now, finally, the two men arrive at a village to seek shelter.

Only none of the townspeople want anything to do with the two men.

It turns out they have wandered into a fishing village that is at war with a fish canning corporation. The village's leader, the beautiful and mysterious Cherry Malotte, wants to build a cannery of her own, but her enemies have stopped her at every turn.

Boyd, having failed in his search for riches, sees a business opportunity and heads to Seattle to arrange financing. Of course, Boyd isn't in this for the money; he needs to impress his girlfriend Mildred, a socialite whose father disapproves of her seeing the financially-strapped man. He'd much rather marry her off to Fred Marsh, who (you guessed it!) runs the fishing operation that's plaguing Cherry.

Things come to a head. Repeatedly. There are fist fights and sea battles. And perhaps Boyd is starting to fall for Cherry. Will the two lovebirds get together in spite if Cherry's sordid past? And will the town succeed in getting its canning operation off the ground?



The Silver Horde is a tough one. It's a melodrama that demands your brain be placed in the off position. If you can do that, there is a lot to like here.

Sadly, my brain maintained a constant vigil over the action.

There is almost nothing in this plot that makes a lick of sense. Boyd shows up at this town and within a couple of days is entrusted with the massively important mission by people who do not know him. The bank gives Boyd a sizable loan despite us knowing he's poor. Boyd blurts out his entire plan to Marsh so the villain can oppose him.

SPOILERS. The worst is the deus ex machina finale. Cherry (who we learn was a prostitute in a previous life) periodically confides in Queenie, a friend from her infamous past. Well, when Mildred and Marsh become engaged, Cherry wants to get Boyd and Mildred back together. So she arrives with Queenie who announces (and I swear I am not making thus up) that she and Marsh are already married! It's an out-of-left-field reveal and it makes you wonder why Cherry didn't use this to disgrace her opponent sooner.

Beyond the ridiculous plot, the actors here are very good. Evelyn Brent is fantastic as the strong yet smitten woman at the center of the story. Louis Wolheim and Raymond Hatton are great as the film's comic relief. Gavin Gordon is fun as the movie's heavy.

Unfortunately Joel McCrea's Boyd is fairly unremarkable. And Jean Arthur shows up in an early role as Mildred, but does little to distinguish herself.

Most of the direction by Archainbaud is pretty straightforward. Once the action shifts to the sea, things become muddled. I had a lot of trouble following which person was a good guy, let alone where our lead was at any point.

There is one bravura sequence. After the village builds its cannery, we see a series of shots showing how the fish are caught, processed and canned. It's beautifully shot and provides a great time capsule for how a cannery worked in the early 1900s.

I cannot leave The Silver Horde without bringing up the sound. All of the dialogue sounds crisp and clean, but there's almost no music. You can feel the soundtrack missing at certain points, particularly during the prolonged silences that mark the first half of the film.

I like the notion of Hollywood taking audiences to more exotic locations. I just wish there was a better story. There are some good performances here, but The Silver Horde tells a tale that keeps taking me out of the film.

** out of *****

Photo from Virtual History

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Animal Crackers (1930)

Directed by Victor Heerman
Starring Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx
Produced by Paramount Pictures

The famous Captain Spaulding has returned from his latest African adventure and the the hotel run by Mrs. Rittenhouse is pulling out all the stops, including displaying a prestigious painting. But when multiple parties decide the painting may present other business opportunities, does chaos ensue? (Yes. Yes, it does.) And does the plot even matter? (No. No, it does not.)

Animal Crackers is the second feature from the world famous Marx Brothers. Groucho, Zeppo, Harpo and Chico bring their wacky antics and wordplay to a very loosely plotted art forgery/heist plot and lunacy is unleashed.

So, why am I not laughing?


Maybe I am just missing the Marx Brothers' marrow in my funny bone, but after two outings with the troupe, I'm just not feeling it.

I have an objective admiration for the way Groucho constructs a sentence. I can appreciate the way Chico mispronounces and misinterprets words. I understand Harpo as a silent id causing chaos when he appears.

I just don't find any of it funny or even amusing. I feel like any attempt I make to discuss the film makes me sound like Data from Star Trek: "Interesting, captain. Your juxtaposition of those words creates a sort of paradox. Is this what humans refer to as 'humor'?"

All that said, Animal Crackers is better Marx Brothers than The Cocoanuts was. The musical numbers are actually integrated into the plot. The plot actually gets some regular attention throughout. And Groucho does have one scene I loved where he attempts to dictate a letter. Funny stuff.

That said, I'm still not enjoying the Marx Brothers. Animal Crackers is a better effort, but not a good one. I know I've got the classics (Duck Soup and Horse Feathers) yet to come, but I'm approaching these comedies with a healthy dose of trepidation.

** out of *****

Photo from Flickering Myth

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City Girl (1930)

Directed by F.W. Murnau
Starring Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan and David Torrence
Produced by Fox Film Corporation

Lem Tustine works on his family's wheat farm. They are getting by, but just barely. His father sends Lem into Chicago to sell the wheat harvest. His dad has calculated to the penny what the wheat needs to sell for in order to avoid financial ruin.

The bad news for Lem is an oversupply of wheat leads the price to start dropping right after he arrives. If he sells immediately, the price is less than what his dad commanded him to get. But if he waits much longer, the price may be even lower. He chooses to sell.

The good news for Lem is he meets a cute waitress at a diner in the city. Kate hates her job and romanticizes what a life in the country would be like. She and Lem connect immediately and when he stands up for Kate against a rude customer? It's love.

The two marry and return to the farm in Minnesota. Lem's mom and sister love the new arrival, but his father is not pleased. At all. He sees a son who allowed a woman to distract him from his job and a woman only interested in the family's money.

Kate and her new father-in-law have an argument and he slaps her. Lem can't bring himself to confront his father and a devastated Kate withdraws from her hubby. He takes to sleeping in the loft with the farmhands.

One of the farmhands begins flirting with Kate, giving her a potential way out. Will Kate leave Lem and her life on the farm? Will Lem stand up to his father? And can the family and farmhands pull together to harvest the crop before a devastating hailstorm arrives?


City Girl is the tale of a boy and a girl in love and a romance that is threatened by family and duty. It's a tale as old as time, a melodrama that people have seen play out on stage and screen ad nauseum.

The difference here of course is that this tale is told by F.W. Murnau.

Murnau never does anything traditionally. He's not one to set up a stationary camera and call "action." So his camera swoops across a trading floor board to show its scope. When Lem is alone and overwhelmed by the city, the camera pulls away, seemingly swallowing him in the bustle of urban life.

The film quickly moves through Lem and Kate falling in love and it works for the most part. I buy the romance and, while the wedding feels like a rash decision, it's a telling one, building the character of the newlyweds.

The arrival of the married couple at the farm provides the most beautifully cinematic moment of the film. Kate is overwhelmed by the fields of wheat and begins running and skipping through the landscape with Lem racing behind her. The camera moves with them and you truly get a sense the characters have arrived at their own Shangri-La.

City Girl features some strong character work from a group of actors I was previously unfamiliar with. David Torrence (Ernest's brother!) is particularly good as Lem's father. He is clearly the heavy of the piece, but he never becomes cartoonishly evil. His performance keeps the character grounded which adds to the tension of the final act.

As good as many aspects of the film are, City Girl does feel a bit rudderless in its middle act. Farmhands are introduced and characters just wander through the farmhouse, bumping into and away from one another. Characters are angry with one another, but nothing happens. It's not until the film's climax when the stakes are really raised.

The farmhands are interesting characters, but their motivations seem to change according to the whims of the script. Some of their decisions feel contrived, not earned. At one point, their are given a sort of ultimatum by Lem's father and their response makes no sense.

Despite the slow middle stanza, there is a lot to like here. In comparison to Murnau's earlier work, the plot and themes are slight, but that doesn't prevent the director from creating a memorable film.

**** out of *****

Photos from Brandon's Movie Memory

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1930: So, the Great Depression Was... Wait! Someone Invented Chocolate Chip Cookies?!

Time to kick off decade number three on the site. Obviously, the event that will dominate and inform film and beyond was the Great Depression. Movies become even more prominent as a cheap form of entertainment as people struggle to get by.

There's a lot of interesting pop culture news (Constantinople becomes Istanbul), but the invention of the chocolate chip cookie has to dominate, right? I mean, is there a better mainstream dessert? (That's a rhetorical question because the answer is "no.")

In the film world, the big news for me is the first appearance of Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes label. While the initial offering features a character named Bosko, it's nice to know Bugs and the Road Runner are coming soon.

In other film news, Little Caesar is released as the first real gangster film. Greta Garbo appears in her first talkie and unknown Marlene Dietrich stars in The Blue Angel. Film dubbing debuts for foreign markets, presaging an age of Kung fu films. And silent screen great Lon Chaney, Sr. died at the age of 47.

So what are we watching? Murnau had a release (City Girl) so... definitely. My dive into The Marx Brothers continues with Animal Crackers. The Blue Angel, Anna Christie and All Quiet on the Western Front will definitely find their way onto the list.

One last note: long time followers of the site may have noticed I am spending a lot more time in each film year. That of course is driven by regret that I rushed through some early years. So I do plan on going back and catching some older films I missed the first time. The focus will still be on the "current" year's films, but don't be shocked to see some older titles start showing up.

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Bowl of Serials: Tarzan the Tiger Ep. 1

Bowl of Serials delves into the world of movie serials in cinematic history, one episode at a time.  First up, Tarzan the Tiger, a 15 episode serial that ran in theaters weekly between 1929 and 1930.  The episodes starred Frank Merrill (Tarzan), Natalie Kingston (Jane), Al Ferguson (Werper), and Kithnou (La) and were directed by Henry MacRae.

Episode 1: Call of the Jungle

Tarzan and Jane are relaxing in their manor at Greystoke, regaling their friend Werper with tales of our hero's exploits in the jungle.

In particular, Tarzan recounts the time he rescued Jane from the high priestess La. The villain saw Jane as a rival for Tarzan's affections. Thanks to some help from his elephant friend Tantor, Tarzan makes the last minute save and escapes with his love.

Jane is worried about Tarzan's return to the jungle to seek a legendary treasure. As they are speaking, a knife falls from the wall where Tarzan keeps the old jungle outfit. This causes Jane to invoke the "Omen of the Falling Knife." This is apparently bad. Tarzan laughs off Jane's warning, reminding her they are almost broke, and packs for his trip.

Meanwhile, Werper arrives at a slave mart to the north. Turns out, he is working with Achmet Zek, a slaver against whom Tarzan has waged "relentless war." Zek plans on kidnapping Jane while Tarzan's away in order to sell her into slavery.

Tarzan heads out to seek his fortune and Zek wastes no time making his move and capturing Jane. Tarzan's got his own problems. His old rival Numa the lion is looking to take him out. Can Tarzan fend off the man eater? And what will become of Jane?

I have to admit: this one surprised me. I was expecting it to be hammier and cheesier than a deli, and it was. But damn, if it's not addictive as well.

The first episode sets up a lot in a few minutes. We get Tarzan's backstory. His enemies list. The plot against Jane. And a lion attack. It's brisk and exciting.

The Tarzan outfit of course still looks ridiculous, but on the whole, color me impressed. I would definitely tune in for the next installment.

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