When Gavin Gordon’s grandson announces he wants to marry a woman of a different social class, Gordon recounts his own similar tale from years earlier when he fell in love with opera singer Greta Garbo. Garbo is quite capable when portraying a tragic romance, but the film itself doesn’t offer much else. It is short and simple but it feels longer than it actually is.
Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Director
Bette Davis is a hostess at a nightclub that has recently switched its ownership to a notorious gangster. District Attorney Humphrey Bogart tries to get any of the hostesses to testify against their boss, but none of them are willing to until a series of circumstances give them no choice. Bogart’s role is a relatively small one for him, but Davis brings along her A-game. She’s tough-as-nails and streetwise, but capable of a soft vulnerability when necessary.
When they find themselves as the only guests at their hotel because of a snowstorm, bitter divorcee Mary Astor and grumpy widow Melvyn Douglas develop feelings for each other much to the chagrin of their young children. A relatively new addition to my collection of Christmas films, I really enjoy the chemistry between Astor and Douglas here. The development of their relationship from adversaries to romantics is lovely. Sadly he attention is taken away from them and their relationship in the lesser second half. It instead is focused more on the kids’ shenanigans in trying to keep their parents apart. It’s still fun seeing children in a film misbehave in a realistic way rather than the precocious cutesiness that is usually seen in movie kids. 
Bubbling Over is a short with an all Black cast featuring the incredible talent of Ethel Waters. Waters is a poor woman saddled with the laziest husband alive along with his incredibly lazy family. It mostly serves as an artifact of its time, but it does have a few entertaining musical numbers. Waters wasn’t in nearly enough films so I’ve been checking out those I can find.
Guard Dog is a Bill Plympton cartoon that attempts to explain why a neurotic dog barks so much. Even with the dog protagonist, I’m not much of a fan of Plympton’s animation style. The short plot does tie up nicely that at least produces a bit of a chuckle in the end.
Oscar Nomination: Best Short Film, Animated (Guard Dog)
In a case of mistaken identity, newly fired saleslady Ginger Rogers is presumed to be the mother of a foundling she helped save. Complicating the situation, her attractive former boss David Niven offers to give her her job back if she continues to care for the child he presumes is hers. There’s not a lot that screams Christmas about the film as it begins at the end of the holiday season, but it is a sweet little romance with more hijinks as presumed fathers emerge once it has been settled that Ginger is the mother. 
Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Original Story
After the suicide of Spencer Tracy, a much-despised railroad tycoon, his lifelong friend and secretary Ralph Morgan recounts to his own wife what brought the man to such a desperate act. Coming from a humble background, Tracy was educated by his first wife and then encouraged by her to pursue greater pursuits, to the detriment of his family life. It’s an odd story that doesn’t work on many fronts. There is not a great feel for the qualities of Tracy’s character. While the film portends to be a straight telling of the man’s life, there’s a strong sense of judgment in its chosen form with Morgan out to convince his wife that Tracy was noble and entirely justified in every action he undertook.
The first filmed version of the Dr. Kildare character, this story centers on an ex-con, played by Barbara Stanwyck, who searches for the young daughter whom she lost track of while she was in jail. Babs is incredible in portraying the desperation of the mother’s predicament, her worthless bank robbing husband dead and the only person who might know the location of her daughter is an unscrupulous gangster. Joel McCrea is likable as Kildare and the two of them play well off each other.
This is essentially an early version of A Star is Born where Constance Bennett is an aspiring actress and waitress who finagles a meeting with Lowell Sherman’s famous director. While her star quickly rises, his falls. I enjoyed there not being a romance between the protégé and the mentor, keeping their relationship one of friendship and support. Unfortunately that means there is a dislikable separate romance added to the actress’s story. Constance Bennett is enjoyable in portraying the course of the character’s career from the naivety and ambition of her early career to the world weary ending.
Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Original Story
As a tale of three friends and the dilemma that occurs when two of them change paths, this film offers interesting questions on morality and duty. Unfortunately what drives these three apart is that the two decide to join the Texas Rangers, casually killing Natives and robbers alike, while the third decides to continue his life as an outlaw. Fred MacMurray has the strongest performance of the three as the one most torn between his loyalty toward his friend and the duty he has taken to bring him in. Jack Oakie acts as if he were cast in a comedy with a huge grin on his face during the first robbery and every action after. I enjoyed the early scenes of camaraderie when the three of them were working together better than the aggregate of the film. 
Oscar Nomination: Best Sound, Recording
After Naughty Marietta, I was apprehensive about watching additional Jeannette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy pairings. This was many times better than that film. The story is a relatively familiar one, a married couple has been starring in the musical Sweethearts for the last six years. To their producer’s (played by the talented Frank Morgan) chagrin, they become exhausted from the constant professional demands of being in a successful play and hear the siren’s song of Hollywood calling. You get the typical operatic songs from the duo, but also the years of developed chemistry. Additionally, there’s a delightful wooden shoe tap routine by Ray Bolger in the play within the movie. As MGM’s first feature-length color film, it’s cute and offers enough to be entertained by. 
Oscar Win: Cinematography (Honorary)
Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Recording; Best Music, Scoring