An American musical drama directed by Lloyd Bacon and Bubsy Berkeley, starring Warner Baxter, George Brent and Ginger Rogers.
A theater director is putting on a stage musical and a new actress joins his group.
Mediocre, but moderately entertaining. The "pre-code" element comes in the form of the lead actress being involved with 2 men: 1 financially backs the play and the other is her vaudeville partner. The plot was not very interesting to me, but reminded me of Me and Orson Welles (2008) and Topsy Turvy (1999). I'm not really into the "getting ready for a theater performance" plot. The characters were acted well and some showed some depth. Check out the girl with the monacle (image). Watching black and white 4:3 video again after so long is different. Way back then, the camerawork was really obvious and basic, but showed everything going on very clearly. Another time difference was the audio. Everyone was almost announcing their dialogue. I could hear all of it, but there was not much variety. There must be something between announcing and whispering which makes sense... Oh yeah! The 1970s and 1980s had reasonable audio. If you liked the other 2 films I mentioned above, this would be good to watch. Otherwise, eh... I rate it o.k. because it wasn't very bad or very good.
An American fantasy directed by Norman Z McLeod, starring Cary Grant and Gary Cooper.
A compressed version of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
Holy shit! I didn't know that such great films were made in 1933. As far as early movies go, I would rank this among Nosferatu, Haxan, Metropolis and Journey to the Moon. The special effects were as cheap, cheesy and easy as they come, but looked so "in place". I liked that the plot spanned both sections and that it went through them so quickly. Watching a film this old should not be a long, drawn out process. I got a version on Archive.org with incoherent subtitles that I was tempted to pause and read for humor, but turned them off to actually watch the movie. The sets were absolutely beautiful and the costumes matched. I have to rate this best because for that time, it is one of the top 5 films I've seen.
A British drama directed by Alexander Korda, starring Charles Laughton.
The king is always unhappy with his wives. He gets rid of them and then is pressured into marrying another.
This was really dull. The plot did not hold my attention and there were only two main characters. The video style was prehistoric, but the sound was actually not bad. A little quiet, but it didn't have pops, clicks or audio artifacts. The only thing worth noting is that the king always got angry and kicked the barber out as soon as shaving cream had been applied to his face. Overall, just not a good movie. I rate this bad.
An American western directed by Armand Schaefer, starring John Wayne.
An apparent murderer on the run from the law falls in with a band of outlaws. It becomes apparent that he is not guilty and the real killer is revealed.
This was very standard, but not annoying. Plot and characters were mostly clear and the audio and video were passable. Most of all, this was boring. All of these western films got cranked out because they were the thing to do, but watching ALL of them seems an interminable and unrewarding task. I have doubts if I will finish my viewing and review writing of public domain films. I rate this tolerable.
An American western directed by Robert N. Bradbury, starring John Wayne and George Gabby Hayes.
A singing cowboy encounters a shot sheriff and a young woman who has just robbed a stage coach in the desert. He lends the woman his horse and leaves the sheriff for dead, sneaking aboard the stagecoach against the will of it's drivers who want to kill him. In town, he finds that there is a dispute over water and land rights involving a corrupt businessman.
According to Wikipedia, this was the first pairing of John Wayne with Gabby and featured a soon to be abandoned dubbed singing theme because Wayne was not a singer. The plot and characters were clearly presented and it kept my attention through the whole 52 minutes. The audio and video were decent, given the early production date. There were some instances of breaking the 180 degree rule, with characters moving one way, cut, they're moving the other direction. The most notable was when the male and female leads were leading their shared horse to the barn. The title sounds like it could be a Rhapsody of Fire song. Overall, it was not too bad, but definitely not good. I rate it tolerable.
An American crime film noir directed by Christy Cabanne, starring Pat O'Brien and Neil Hamilton.
A shady businessman is paid to start some trouble. Everyone else has meetings about it.
This was so boring that it hurt to watch. I believe I coined a term about talking movies a while ago, but don't remember the exact wording. I turned it off after 32 minutes of blah blah blah and a quick shootout. Rated shit, don't watch, let's move on.
An American horror directed by Frank R. Strayer, starring Fay Wray, Dwight Frye and Melvyn Douglas.
A small town in Europe is experiencing repeated murders that look like they were done by vampires. A scientist, his daughter and the daughter's boyfriend work to solve the mystery.
This actually looked alright. Most of this was because they used sets from other, higher budget films. The plot was a little vague and I thought there were too many characters. The audio wasn't all that great. There is a joke at the end that was funny then and even funnier now. The hypochondriac old woman is complaining about health problems that don't exist and the scientist gave her epson salts. In light of the modern development of "bath salts" as the new nighmare drug, the joke gained unintended meaning. Overall, it was lackluster. I rate it poor.
An American crime mystery directed by Albert Ray, starring Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot.
A rich man dies by falling from his balcony and rival news reporters try to figure out who killed him.
SO BORING! The simple plot and barely identifiable characters made watching this a chore. Even though the actors were moving quickly onscreen and the duration was only an hour, the slow pacing made the film plod and drag unbearably. The audio was low quality and I noticed some sloppy editing, mostly in the video. The only positive aspects were the good looking female lead (no female anatomy points though) and the black maid refusing to enter the morgue. Overall, it was just so boring and so pointless. I rate this bad. Don't watch it.
An American drama directed by Lowell Sherman, starring Mae West and Cary Grant.
A whore is at a bar and some stuff is going on. Seriously.
There was almost no plot to this film and what there was was very badly communicated. There were 2 good characters and the rest were extras. I'm typing of the whore and her black maid here. The style was standard '30s/'40s in black and white video with sub-par audio. Basically, I watched nothing for about an hour, but it did receive female anatomy points because Mae West is beautiful. I rate it poor.
A fantasy directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Fay Wray.A film director finds a leading woman for his new movie and takes her to a mysterious island. On the island, the native people provide human brides for a giant ape and kidnap the woman in an attempt to give her to the ape. The film crew and sailors chase the ape when he captures the woman and both parties have run-ins with prehistoric beasts. They eventually capture the ape and bring him to New York city where he escapes captivity and picks up the woman again.I've seen the 2005 remake of this and I've got to say that I prefer the 1933 version. Marcel Delgado made the monsters for this film and they look very similar to Ray Harryhausen's creations. The scenes on the wild half of the island are my favorite as raw vegan dinosaurs turn carnivorous and attack the humans. On the "new world order symbolism" side of things, when Fay Wray puts on the dress, there is a dangling phallus-like accessory on it that amused the hell out of me. I'm rating it worthy, which is more than the 2005 remake could ever hope to get. Suck on that, Hollywood!
