Category: 1940s

I have a minor goal to watch all the classic Monster movies. This one is definitely on the low end of the genre. There is no menace to the Wolf Man (his acts of terror are mostly performed hidden behind scenery) and his makeup is on the lamer side. While the acting is pretty good, particularly Claude Rains, the telling of the story itself has a very B movie feeling. Lon Chaney Jr as the titular character is a bit of a stalking creep at the beginning, making the romance elements suspect. There are also indications of people disliking his rich family, but that isn’t fleshed out either. The sets are complete awesomeness though. The eerie forest with the fog rolling through is pure soundstage magic.

Since watching the Whoopi Goldberg’s Moms Mabley documentary, I’ve been trying to watch her few film appearances. Sadly the quality of the version on Hoopla is extremely poor, but was watchable enough. The story is not anything new for the 1930s-40s, a group of performers have to put on a show to save the boardinghouse, but it does offer the chance to see Moms and other acts of the time in action. I did chuckle at the little twist at the end.

So used I am to seeing Edward G Robinson as a crime boss, it took a few moments to get used to having him play a sensitive artist and emasculated husband. It is difficult to watch the world and the people around him torment him even when he occasionally is given a small win especially since the audience knows what’s going on behind his back. I wonder if at least the ending would have been kinder to him if it were a pre-Code film. I appreciate the complexity of Joan Bennett’s character, showing that she’s a victim falling for the wrong guy that is obviously going to lead to her demise while take the same advantages of Robinson’s character.

Between this and the adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express that I’ve seen, I wonder if I should put some Agatha Christie on my To Read list. This one has a fairly similar structure to Clue though none of the madcap antics, which means it can’t possibly reach the status of that incredible film but is still an enjoyable story on its own. The entire ensemble worked well together with no one really trying to outshine anyone else. They kept me guessing as to who was being truthful and who was actually the murderer. The version on Amazon was unfortunately in color. For most of the film this didn’t matter, but was distracting during some of the low lit parts. It seems that some of this story, particularly the ending, were changed for the play version and most film adaptations take their cues from that. I’d love to see a version that is faithful to the book.

My third of the four James Stewart – Margaret Sullavan pairings, this one has them again joined by Frank Morgan. I generally enjoy World War II films from the era before the United States entered the war, if anything to try to figure out what took us so long, but this one didn’t really pull me in. It all felt a bit too American as if it wasn’t just filmed in Utah and Idaho but also set there, barring the swastikas everywhere. The movie feels a bit like propaganda pushing how awful the Nazis are for picking on our heroes, though they did manage to get both Roberts Stack and Young on their side, but it did manage to piss off Hitler and the chemistry between Stewart and Sullavan is beautiful so there are wins there. Sad that this is their last movie together, though I still have one more to watch and annual Christmas viewings of The Shop Around the Corner.

Tyrone Power really fits in the role for this character, capable of looking derelict and beatdown but just as easily looking smooth, calm, and at the top of the world. He “can’t understand how anybody could get so low” is quote from his character early on and both he and the audience are set on a journey to find out. Carnivals make a wonderful backdrop for a variety of stories from people on the brink of desperation to those on the margins of society to others with grandiose ideas of becoming something bigger. Though only 1/3rd of the female supporting role, Joan Blondell is always worth watching. I’m surprised that Guillermo del Toro has adapted the story. Despite the presence of Bradley Cooper leading an otherwise impressive cast, I am intrigued.