Category: 1930s

During a heavy rain storm, a group of travelers takes refuge at a mysterious old house whose strange residents include a couple of dangerous individuals. After watching Universal Horror I’ve been wanting to check out more of James Whale’s work. While this one has some great atmosphere and effective performances by the like of Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton, the flow of the narrative is rather uneven. Locking people inside rooms while there’s a pyromaniac loose makes the climax ridiculous but also engaging. 

Written by H.G. Wells based on his own story, this follows approximately 100 years of human history from a decades-long, devastating war to a scientific age that leads to a mission to the moon. It’s a very weird film that quickly jumps through the ages but then just as suddenly drops into a very basic narrative involving generations of the same families. It’s incredible in scope, especially the futuristic sets in the last third, but if I’m to understand correctly, it fails in messaging. A post-war dystopia led with force by a intellect-less dictator leads to a different type of dictatorship pushed by science and progress, willing to gas the populace to get them to follow the ‘right’ path. It does have an interesting view for the future, especially fashions that make everyone look like some type of futuristic Roman gladiators.  

I don’t know if I’ve just seen too many adaptations of the story or if I’ve actually seen this version before, but this was exceptionally familiar. Regardless, upon this watch, I realized that other than some smoother special effects in later editions, the others don’t actually improve upon the story. The 1930s time period is perfect for the spectacle of unreflected pillaging of foreign lands and then garishly exhibiting the plunder despite plenty of warnings on the folly of both. I appreciate practical effects so much more than computerized special effects and there is plenty on display here, especially when the expedition is on Skull Island. Kong looks a bit too cute and friendly in closeup, but that aids in humanizing the poor creature.   

The co-owner of a secretarial school Jean Arthur accidentally accepts a job offer from the editor of a fitness magazine George Brent. There’s not a whole lot to the story other than added friction by way of a friend of Brent’s who needs him to take on his secretary/mistress so as to not arouse his wife’s suspicion, but it’s nice seeing Arthur not only proving how capable she is, but being promoted for it. There are a few annoying bits regarding the fitness aspect (vegetarianism treated with distain, push for sexy females on the magazine cover instead of well-built men) which unfortunate distract during such a short film.  

Braggadocious criminologist and writer Joel McCrea is hot on the trail of a jewel thief when his investigation is waylaid by jealous reporters who have played a practical joke on him, utilizing actress Jean Arthur in the process. It’s a convoluted way to get to the theater performance covering a heist trope, but it’s necessary padding for an otherwise weak plot. Arthur isn’t given much of a role, but it is cute seeing her amongst a group of men all a head taller than her.

Beginning immediately where the events of Dracula left off, Dracula’s daughter Gloria Holden steals her father’s body and begins her quest to remove the vampiric curse from her person. Most of the acting and writing holds up to 1930s B-film standards, including two bungling British detectives and a weird romance between the doctor Holden hires to help her and his shrill secretary. But it has great atmosphere and Holden is a sight to behold. She’s equal parts vulnerable and tortured while also maintaining a completely commanding presence. Attempts to reign in her sexuality, too overt even by Pre-Code standards, were incapable of smothering her raw sensuality or Sapphic undertones.