Brief look at Paramount pre-Code THE GIRL IN 419 (1933), gangster movie and hospital drama starring James Dunn with Gloria Stuart, David Manners, and William Harrigan. Directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes.
Lightning Review: Dr. Cyclops (1940) Starring Albert Dekker
Brief look at Dr. Cyclops (1940) a sci-fi/horror blend from Paramount. Plays like ’50s science fiction, but a little slow in doing so. Albert Dekker stars.
Lightning Review: Chinatown Nights (1929) Starring Wallace Beery
Lightning review takes a brief look at transitional Paramount talkie Chinatown Nights (1929) starring Wallace Beery, Florence Vidor, and Warner Oland. Directed by William A. Wellman.
Good Dame (1934) Starring Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March
Lots of Depression-era slang tossed about in Paramount’s Good Dame (1934). Carny hustler Fredric March falls for chorine nice girl Sylvia Sidney in this rarely seen pre-Code.
Lady and Gent (1932) Starring George Bancroft and Wynne Gibson
A washed-up fighter and a Prohibition-era nightclub hostess form an unlikely foster family for a 12-year-old orphan. Strong performances by George Bancroft and Wynne Gibson in Lady and Gent. Directed by Stephen Roberts. Academy Award nominated screenplay.
J. Edgar Hoover’s Persons in Hiding (1939) With Patricia Morison
A Bonnie and Clyde tale predating Gun Crazy (1950) by eleven years. Persons in Hiding is the first of four movies adapted from J. Edgar Hoover’s book of the same name. Electrifying debut by Patricia Morison with J. Carrol Naish strong opposite her.
White Woman (1933) Starring Charles Laughton and Carole Lombard
The boys play rough in White Woman (1933) with Charles Laughton and Charles Bickford upstaging Carole Lombard at every turn. Poor Kent Taylor seems to be more in peril than Lombard. Jungle terror from a Malaysian rubber plantation run by Laughton’s “King of the River.”
Hot Saturday (1932) with Cary Grant and Nancy Carroll
Paramount pre-Code Hot Saturday (1932) stars Nancy Carroll with noted young leading men Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. Grant is especially good, but Scott not so hot. Includes history of original casting plans, which included Carole Lombard, and comparison to the later Columbia film Party Wire (1935).
City Streets (1931) Starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney
A look at the most stylized of the 1931 gangster movies, Rouben Mamoulian’s City Streets (1931) from Paramount, starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney.
Murder by the Clock (1931) Starring William “Stage” Boyd and Lilyan Tashman
Tough to find and thus underappreciated, Murder by the Clock (1931) is an early mystery thriller highlighted by Lilyan Tashman, a creepy tomb alarm and a few surprising twists.
