May 2018 Round-Up
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN MAY: 25
(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order)
NEW-TO-ME: 25 (21 features & 4 shorts)
REWATCHES: 0
SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN: 4 (1 feature & 3 shorts)
MOST WATCHED ACTOR: Charlie Chaplin & Gene Raymond (4 in total)
MOST WATCHED ACTRESS: Ann Sothern (6 in total)
Another month started and it wasn't getting any better with trips to the Filmoteca. A meager amount of only 4 films seen on the big screen, of which three were Charlie Chaplin shorts. Fortunately none of the Filmoteca viewings were rewatches which made my rewatch count for this month zero. The only feature film I watched on the big screen was Mutiny On the Bounty (with Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone). The Chaplin shorts were The Pilgrim, Pay Day and The Idle Class.
Mutiny On the Bounty is a long film but watching this on the big screen was a great experience. The story is compelling, the performances solid, and the production design is fantastic for a 1930s film. As a viewer you feel you are on location with the performers.
Of the three Chaplin shorts (The Pilgrim, Pay Day and The Idle Class) I found The Pilgrim the least enjoyable and funny. Reportedly Pay Day was Chaplin's own favourite of his short films. The most notable scenes include the brick throwing gag and the one with the service elevator. Also the sequence where Charlie spends a night out on the town with his buddies is very funny. In The Idle Class Charlie plays a double role, and his lonely-rich-husband character might even be funnier than the Tramp. Love the scene where we see the husband from behind, shaking uncontrollably. We are let to believe that he's overcome by grief and sobbing because his wife has left him, but when he turns around to the camera we see him shake a cocktail mixer (he has a drinking problem). Brilliant!
Since I really liked the Chaplin shorts, I also watched another short online, A Dog's Life. This is more of a love story where Charlie gets the girl and they live happily ever after with Scraps the dog and puppies. This short has its funny moments but it's also heartwarming and endearing and has the pathos that Chaplin would be known for in his later feature silents. A bit disappointed that the role of the dog isn't bigger. The scene where Chaplin and Scraps sleep together is just too cute!
The rest of my movie viewing took place at home but unfortunately I didn't make one film a day on average. It's not that I don't have time to watch movies, because I do, but lots of times I am just too tired. I do most of my film watching in bed and more often than not I get so sleepy while watching a film that I miss parts of it or I just stop watching altogether. I also had a holiday this month and spent a week with my family in Rojales near Alicante where we have a family house (which is going to be sold). There I only watched one film. Fortunately I could watch a couple of films on the way over by train and on the return journey. And a total score of 25 films seen this month is not bad at all.
So what else did I watch?
My most watched actress is Ann Sothern. I saw two of her films last month (The Judge Steps Out with Alexander Knox and Smartest Girl in Town with Gene Raymond) and decided to watch all of the 1930s films she made with Gene Raymond (5 in total). They are all light fluff and silly comedies, sometimes with a song thrown in, but they are enjoyable and the two stars have nice chemistry. The Sothern/Raymond films I watched this month are: She's Got Everything, Walking On Air, There Goes My Girl and Hooray for Love. Of these films I enjoyed She's Got Everything the most. Love the scene where Sothern has to taste all the different coffee flavours. It's also nice to see Victor Moore and Helen Broderick lead the supporting cast and end up together.
I also watched two other Sothern films, one starring Franchot Tone (Fast and Furious) and one starring Ralph Bellamy (Eight Bells). Fast and Furious is an enjoyable little mystery film with a fun scene with lions. Eight Bells is not very good but is noteworthy because I'm the first one on Letterboxd to mark the film as watched.
Furthermore I watched two Wellman films, both pre-codes: Safe In Hell and Heroes For Sale.
I've been meaning to see Safe In Hell because of the positive reviews it gets. And yes, it's good, with a stand-out performance from Dorothy Mackaill. Never seen her before but I like the way she looks and talks. It's a role that was initially intended for Barbara Stanwyck. I doubt whether Stanwyck could have done a better job than Mackaill. Mackaill's performance carries this film and I was engrossed in the story, the pre-code elements being very evident. Still, I was glad it was so short because it's too bleak and grim for my taste. Donald Cook is very bland and it's hard to believe he's the love of Mackaill's life. With another actor their love story could have been stronger. There's some nice photography by Sidney Hickox and the ending is great but all these leering and horny men gave me the creeps.
Heroes For Sale is my highest rated film of the month. Richard Barthelmess gives a good performance and becomes more handsome as the film progresses and his character ages. The film starts with war scenes and I thought they were really good. Then it moves on and gives a depiction of life during the Depression with an impressive riot scene. I was shocked to see how Loretta Young met her death during that scene and how realistic it looked. Too bad she was so underused here because I really like pre-code Young. This film never feels rushed, is compelling, and has good characterisation for such a short running time. It would have been nice if Barthelmess and Aline MacMahon had ended up together but I guess it wouldn't have been very believable. Most touching scene: the one where MacMahon puts on another dress for a night out with Barthelmess and Young. When she catches them in an embrace, she silently withdraws, shuts the door and we see her in a moment of quiet heartbreak. Great acting!
I also saw another Barthelmess movie, Alias the Doctor with Marian Marsh and Norman Foster. Director Michael Curtiz surely packs a lot of drama in only 61 minutes. The story is captivating (though improbable) but the performances are a bit stilted, maybe not so surprising since this is an early talkie.
Furthermore I enjoyed two films starring Chester Morris: Five Came Back and Public Hero Number One. Five Came Back also stars a young Lucille Ball and I love her this young and in a non-comedy role. For such a short film I thought the characterisation was pretty good and it also made sense who the five people were who were going to return. Public Hero Number One has Jean Arthur as Morris' love interest so that alone makes this film worthwhile. I went in with low expectations and thought it was quite enjoyable. Arthur's role is too small, though, but luckily there's also Lionel Barrymore playing a drunk character and doing it well.
I also really enjoyed The Bride Came C.O.D. and Million Dollar Baby. The Bride Came C.O.D. is not a good film, really silly in fact, but I couldn't help liking it. It actually gets better once the story progresses. James Cagney and Bette Davis have great chemistry together and make this a fun watch. In Million Dollar Baby I especially liked the performances of sparkling Priscilla Lane and the wonderful May Robson, as well as the playful repartee between Lane and Ronald Reagan. Though I find Jeffrey Lynn a pretty bland actor, I actually took a liking to him here and almost wished Lane would end up with him.
More films!
Daughters Courageous (with John Garfield, Claude Rains, Jeffrey Lynn and Priscilla Lane), 13 Hours by Air (with Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett) and The Window (with Arthur Kennedy and Barbara Hale) were all entertaining. Of these three films The Window is the best. It's a tense noir with some really thrilling moments. The boy Bobby Driscoll is a bit annoying at times but he's quite good. Daughters Courageous is fairly lighthearted but in my opinion could have used some stronger drama. 13 Hours by Air is a mix of action, mystery and disaster film, and I like MacMurray and Bennett together, as well as the setting of the story. But there's also a kid in it who's highly annoying.
The biggest disappointments this month were Private Lives (with Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery), The Big Street (with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball) and Miracle in the Rain (with Jane Wyman and Van Johnson). For all three films my expectations were high and unfortunately they were not met.
With Private Lives it's clear from the start that it's based on a play because it's very stagy and the performances are somewhat mannered. I could deal with that since I liked the story premise and Shearer and Montgomery look so stylish and beautiful together and their chemistry works. But when they start bickering irrationally and shouting without any reason, it went downhill for me. It just didn't make sense, they behaved very childish and it wasn't funny at all. Their characters are not very likeable either.
The Big Street was not at all what I had expected. It is a strange film, to say the least. Lucille Ball is insufferable for most part of the movie, though fortunately she also shows a vulnerable streak. Fonda plays a dopey role and you really want to talk some sense into him. Still, their performances are great. I guess it was mainly disappointing because I had expected a comedy with a happy ending and got something entirely different.
Miracle in the Rain is a bit of a sentimental weepie. Jane Wyman is good but Van Johnson's character is so annoying that I couldn't warm up to their love story. It's sad when Johnson dies but I wasn't really emotionally involved, though I have to admit that Wyman is convincing in conveying her feelings of grief. I think the spiritual bit with the coin on chain and the statue of Saint Andrew in the church is supposed to be profound and touching but I found it a bit meh and corny. Especially the moment where a delirious Wyman sees Johnson materialise out of nowhere. He embraces her and says love never dies. I definitely was not in the mood for this schmaltz. Hopefully I can enjoy and appreciate all of these three films more on a second watch.
Last but not least (but also not best) is Thirty Day Princess with Cary Grant and Sylvia Sidney. I didn't really like it but hadn't expected much anyway. The film has its entertaining moments but the plot is a bit unbelievable and as a whole it's rather silly and not very memorable.
Which brings me to the end of my round-up of May. Hope to see you with the next round-up! Cheers!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) with Clark Gable and Franchot Tone;
*The Idle Class (1921) with Charlie Chaplin;
*A Dog’s Life (1918) with Charlie Chaplin and Scraps the dog;
*She’s Got Everything (1937) with Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond, Victor Moore and Helen Broderick;
*She’s Got Everything (1937) with Ann Sothern and Gene Raymond;
*Safe in Hell (1931) with Dorothy Mackaill;
*Heroes for Sale (1933) with Richard Barthelmess, Loretta Young and Aline MacMahon;
*Heroes for Sale (1933) with Richard Barthelmess and Aline MacMahon;
*Five Came Back (1939) with Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Casey Johnson, Kent Taylor and Wendy Barrie;
*Five Came Back (1939) with Lucille Ball and Chester Morris;
*Public Hero Number 1 (1935) with Jean Arthur and Chester Morris;
*The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) with James Cagney and Bette Davis;
*Million Dollar Baby (1941) with Priscilla Lane and Ronald Reagan;
*The Window (1949) with Bobby Driscoll and Arthur Kennedy;
*Private Lives (1931) with Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery;
*The Big Street (1942) with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda;
*Miracle in the Rain (1956) with Jane Wyman and Van Johnson;
*Thirty Day Princess (1934) with Cary Grant and Sylvia Sidney.
