The Usual Choices
City Lights (Charlie Chaplin)
Dracula (Tod Browning)
Frankenstein (James Whale)
Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy)
The Public Enemy (William Wellman)
But how about...
Five Star Final (Mervyn LeRoy)
Wise-cracking; gum-chewing; hard-bitten; and cynical...gotta be cynical: this is the very best of the pre-WWII newspaper movies (during WWII, the American "Free Press" seemed to develop a conscience...a united front and all that). A bit scary to see how much the press was/remains a tool for societal manipulation, dictating the opinions which commonfolk should hold. Edward G is at his best here, constantly washing his hands to get rid of the stink of his editorial job, surrounded by lowlife who are a sidestep away from being the criminals they report on. Embellished with quality actors such as Boris Karloff and Aline MacMahon, this film crackles along at a classic 1930's pace giving us an entertaining lesson in history, journalism and ethics.
...and what about...
Dance, Fools, Dance (Harry Beaumont)
This surprisingly-compassionate movie starts off as a Roaring Twenties socialite fest, then BOOM! Black Tuesday hits, and suddenly becomes a struggle-street shot of reality. Other surprises/joys include: Joan Crawford impressively & convincingly making the transition from airhead flapper to modern working girl (she is quite moving in this role...except for her dancing, where she looks like a pair of spasming calipers...whoever told her she could dance?) and Clark Gable in another one of his tough-guy star-making performances (he made 12...12!!! movies in 1931). This could have so easily slid into the soap but the strong direction by Harry Beaumont (especially in the action scenes) steers it true. If only he and the studio had rethought and scrapped the sappy crappy happy ending though...be prepared to cough up a furball.
...not to mention...
Smart Money (Alfred E. Green)
I'd never even heard of this movie until I started my research for this blog page. And this obscurity is in spite of the film being the only time Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney appeared together! (and it's no small thrill seeing them team up). A curious little movie: all about a small-time gambler who seeks to enter the big-time, gets conned, gets revenge, gets big-time himself. The story wanders around, shifting mood without ever jarring, so it is never less than intriguing and sometimes engrossing. Impossible to predict what is coming up next, it follows its own trail, with even the ending being a peculiar mixture of happy and unjust. The film has a good spirit and the director (who also made the brilliant 1933's Baby Face) is someone who is now a personal Subject for Further Research.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg)
I'm not much of a fan of the Marlene + von Sternberg films (the only one I unreservedly adore is 1932's Shanghai Express). I usually found them to be so totally structured around the star to be openly fetishistic - pace, supporting characters and dialogue were all secondary to putting Marlene on a cinematic pedestal. Dishonored seems to have enlarged all of these flawed priorities (it drags; the casting of Victor McLaglen as a Russian colonel is ludicrous; the conversations are largely just wordy air), to the injury of the film. And yes, it is gorgeous Marlene (who is slightly blobby in this) who saves it all from absolute farcical disaster. Maybe Josef was right to give her all of his attention.
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| "No thank you Igor...I couldn't possibly eat another kebab." |
#01 A Night Nurse (Wellman)
#02 A Frankenstein (Whale)
#03 A City Lights (Chaplin)
#04 A Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (Mamoulian)
#05 A- Five Star Final (LeRoy)
#06 A- The Miracle Woman (Capra)
#07 A- Smart Money (Green)
#08 A- Monkey Business (McLeod)
#09 A- Dracula (Browning)
#10 A- Dance, Fools, Dance (Beaumont)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- Little Caesar (LeRoy)
#12 A- The Front Page (Milestone)
#13 B+ Girls About Town (Cukor)
#14 B+ The Public Enemy (Wellman)
#15 B+ Blonde Crazy (Del Ruth)
#16 B+ Guilty Hands (Van Dyke)
#17 B+ Street Scene (Vidor)
#18 B+ The Maltese Falcon (Del Ruth)
#19 B+ Private Lives (Franklin)
#20 B+ Platinum Blonde (Capra)
#21 B+ City Streets (Mamoulian)
#22 B+ Hell Divers (Hill)
#23 B+ The Champ (Vidor)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B The Last Flight [this is what you would get if F. Scott Fitzgerald had written The Best Years of Our Lives]
> B The Secret Six [Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone & Ralph Bellamy as hardcore gangsters...HA!]
> B Arrowsmith [The Citadel, told slower]
> B Waterloo Bridge [I miss Vivien Leigh, her descent into desperate immorality and the WWII bookends]
> B The Man in Possession [old tittering sex-comedy made quite enjoyable by Robert Montgomery]
> B Dirigible [adventure / disaster flick with some exciting scenes, poor acting and not enough dirigibles]
> B The Bachelor Father [a little too creaky but the two lead performances are pips]
> B The Star Witness [not-always-homogenised blend of cute (crotchety old man) and nasty (kid gets kidnapped)]
> B- Possessed [rags-to-riches Joan Crawford, seeking respectability but getting Clark Gable instead]
> B- An American Tragedy [Sylvia is wonderful and the film dies when she does]
> B- Are These Our Children? [aka Losing an Oratory Contest in High School Made Me a Teenage Killer]
> B- The Easiest Way [poor poor girl must choose between true love and being a financially-secure slut]
> B- Skippy [an adult's preferred version of childhood]
> B- A Free Soul [another celluloid victim of Norma Shearer]
> C The Black Camel [Charlie Chan #2 and he is totally surrounded by a lot of really crap acting]
> D Cimarron [blecch]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1931 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Chances (Dwan); Gentleman's Fate (LeRoy); The Ghost Train (Forde); A House Divided (Wyler); Illicit (Mayo); Ladies Man (Mendes); The Mad Genius (Curtiz); Mata Hari (Fitzmaurice); Quick Millions (Brown); The Royal Bed (Sherman); The Sin of Madelon Claudet (Selwyn); Surrender (Howard); Svengali (Mayo); Tabu (Murnau); Ten Cents a Dance (Barrymore); Trader Horn (Van Dyke)
Best Performances of 1931
Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul
Wallace Beery in The Champ
James Cagney in The Public Enemy
Charlie Chaplin in City Lights
Helen Hayes in The Sin of Madelon Claudet
Fredric March in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar
But how about...
Sylvia Sidney in An American Tragedy
While really a supporting role, Sylvia's presence is felt long after she has met with accidental foul play. Like a fawn lured by treats, she is immediately both innocent and doomed. The actress manages the crafty feat of not coming across to us as pathetic (or, as Shelley Winters did in the 1951 remake, just bloody annoying) despite believing every lie coming out of her milksop-suitor's mouth. We know what is about to happen, and while the film's title alludes to the young man's ruination of his life, the real tragedy is this good-hearted girl and her delusion that she was desired and loved. We miss her when she's gone.
...and what about...
Kay Francis & Lilyan Tashman in Girls About Town
A pair of young women who go out with men, flirt, give favours, say yes, and expect and get expensive gifts = Gold Diggers of the 1930's. It's pretty obvious from the get-go that these two give sex for money, but, in the grand Hollywood tradition, they have hearts of gold and are really looking for Love. Even back in 1931, this was a 2D cliche, but Kay & Lilyan give it the dual sparks of comedy and charm. While Lilyan gets all the best lines (she's feisty and clever), Kay is busy being tired of the prostitute-lite lifestyle and falls in love with Joel McCrea. But it is as friends that the women shine, bringing out the best in each other, like a flapper version of Butch & Sundance. Or something.
...not to mention...
Barbara Stanwyck & Clark Gable & Joan Blondell in Night Nurse
BARB - kind, good-hearted and tough as nails, this is the quintessential Barbara Stanwyck performance. Hardening as she shakes off her naivety, but never losing her compassion and courage, Barb the crusading nurse proves that she can both take it and dish it out - verbally and physically.
CLARK - pre-romantic / pre-moustache leading man, this is the Clark "do-we-make-him-a-gangster-like-Cagney?" Gable performance that the fan magazines ignored. A woman-beater; a child-abuser (he deliberately starves two little girls!); an absolute bastard and still sexy after all these years.
JOAN - this gum-chewing, seen-it-all woman is the one who we all want as our best friend / sidekick pal. Loyal, funny, early-experienced (and wise because of it), she does more than support the leads; she enhances their performances every time she interacts with them.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Wallace Beery in The Champ & in The Secret Six & in Hell Divers
Wallace Beery as a champion boxer; Wallace Beery as a criminal mastermind; Wallace Beery as a Navy bombardier. Regardless of the role, Wally played the same persona: hat tipped to the side; loud & slow & buffoonish; "aw gee" & "shucks" & "swell" are his favoured exclamations; a face that looks like it's been slept in for a week. And, to my mind, this ex-female-impersonator was totally phony in everything he tried to do in movies. Can't quite make the sociological connection to help explain his extraordinary popularity with Great Depression audiences - did they think he was one of them? Beats me, but, for the ages, Wallace is no more enduring than Vistavision. He came; he was fat; he went.
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| "I don't care what they say. Those flu injections HURT!" |
#01 Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar
#02 Sylvia Sidney in An American Tragedy
#03 Fredric March in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
#04 Charlie Chaplin in City Lights
#05 Joan Crawford in Dance, Fools, Dance
#06 Barbara Stanwyck in The Miracle Woman
#07 Barbara Stanwyck in Night Nurse
#08 Clark Gable in Night Nurse
#09 Edward G. Robinson in Five Star Final
#10 Joan Blondell in Night Nurse
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Colin Clive in Frankenstein
#12 James Cagney & Joan Blondell in Blonde Crazy
#13 Kay Francis & Lilyan Tashman in Girls About Town
#14 The Marx Brothers in Monkey Business
#15 Clark Gable in A Free Soul
#16 C. Aubrey Smith in Bachelor Father
#17 Boris Karloff in Frankenstein
#18 Miriam Hopkins in Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
#19 Marion Davies in Bachelor Father
#20 James Cagney in The Public Enemy
#21 Adolphe Menjou in The Front Page
#22 Bela Lugosi in Dracula
#23 Jackie Cooper in The Champ
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul [the best bit was when he fell over...a shame it was after his big speech]
> Norma Shearer in Private Lives [her very best film performance...which means that she's okay]
> Norma Shearer in A Free Soul [are you kidding?]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1931 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Night Nurse (William Wellman)
SILVER: Frankenstein (James Whale)
BRONZE: City Lights (Charlie Chaplin)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar)
SILVER: Fredric March (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde)
BRONZE: Charlie Chaplin (City Lights)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Joan Crawford (Dance, Fools, Dance)
SILVER: Barbara Stanwyck (The Miracle Woman)
BRONZE: Barbara Stanwyck (Night Nurse)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Clark Gable (Night Nurse)
SILVER: Clark Gable (A Free Soul)
BRONZE: Dwight Frye (Frankenstein)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Sylvia Sidney (An American Tragedy)
SILVER: Joan Blondell (Night Nurse)
BRONZE: Miriam Hopkins (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: James Cagney & Joan Blondell (Blonde Crazy)
SILVER: Kay Francis & Lilyan Tashman (Girls About Town)
BRONZE: The Marx Brothers (Monkey Business)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Jackie Cooper (The Champ)
SILVER: Jackie Cooper (Skippy)
BRONZE: Marilyn Harris (Frankenstein) [for how wonderfully she acts like a ragdoll as she is carried through the village by her understandably distraught father]
The Alternate Razzies for 1931 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Cimarron (Wesley Ruggles)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Wallace Beery (The Champ)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Norma Shearer (A Free Soul)
The Special Awards for 1931 are:
DIRECTORS HALL OF FAME: THIS YEAR'S INDUCTEES
[at least three A-List films in their oeuvre; awarded in the year of their greatest film]
> Tod Browning :: Rouben Mamoulian
CAN YOU SPOT?...BEST CAMEO or FLEETING APPEARANCE of 1931
> That's Robert Young as the pilot reporting missing airplanes in Hell Divers
NEAR-MISS CASTING of 1931: LUCKILY FOR US...
> Paul Muni missed out on the Bela Lugosi role in Dracula
NEAR-MISS CASTING of 1931: UNLUCKILY FOR US...
> Joan Crawford missed out on the Norma Shearer role in A Free Soul
BLOCKBUSTER!: TOP 3 HIGHEST-GROSSING MOVIES of 1931
>$$$ Frankenstein distributed by Universal
>$$ City Lights distributed by United Artists
>$ Trader Horn distributed by MGM
THE BEST OSCAR DECISION OF 1931
> Frederic March (co)-won Best Actor for Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
THE WORST OSCAR DECISION OF 1931
> Wallace Beery (co)-won Best Actor for The Champ
BEST DID-YOU-KNOW TRIVIA of 1931
> In Little Caesar, Edward G. Robinson had to have his eyes cellophane-taped to stay open whenever he fired a gun.
MOST INTERESTING BEHIND-THE-SCENES / BACKSTORY of 1931
> In the Marx Brothers movie Monkey Business, Groucho says to actress Thelma Todd's character: "You're a woman who's been getting nothing but dirty breaks. Well, we can clean and tighten your brakes, but you'll have to stay in the garage all night".
Four years after this joke, Thelma was found dead in her car inside a garage with the engine running.
She had been there all night.
For more details about this tragic incident, go HERE.
BEST ONE-LINER of 1931
> "It's alive. It's alive. It's alive! It's alive!! It's alive!!!"
Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein in Frankenstein
FADE OUT / SCENE ENDS: GOODBYE & THANKS...
[Personal Fave Film: Sunrise 1927]
