Bad Girl - 1931 - USA

Bad Girl - 1931 - 5/10

 
Kitchen sink schmaltz of two working class stiffs with zero communication skills.
First meeting is hardly meet-cute, and the progression into marriage seems madness.
Over and over, they miss cues and generally misunderstand the other.
Understandable if there was a torrid romance before the menfolk shipped off to war.
The aftermath of those marriages turned into Noir murders.
Anyway, Dorothy is “bad” with Eddie for one night, which is enough to get knocked up.
Eddie, wildly acclaimed on release, grated on me throughout.

The Easiest Way - 1931 - USA

The Easiest Way - 1931 - 6/10

 
Ma and Pa have five kids - five mouths - to feed, ages ten to twenty.
Pa used to work as a longshoreman, now he finds excuses.
Laura, the oldest, quits her department store job to be a model.
Successful, too, catching the eye of the big boss who woos her and makes her a “kept woman”.
No, the word mistress is never used, although she has a nice apartment, limousine, furs, jewels.
Later on, a moral dilemma.  The poor, honest guy or the older, rich man?
Remember, this was the Depression.  Folks were starving to death, freezing in winter.
Pre-Code drama with great MGM cast, and bleaker than their usual fare.

The Naughty Flirt - 1931 - USA

The Naughty Flirt - 1931 - 5/10

 
Two grifters calculate heiress Kay is worth 5 million.
She is a Jazz baby, party goer, wildly living it up like the Twenties still roared and there was no Depression.
The male gold-diggers are too obvious for her, and she sets her sights on a stuffy lawyer.
Feather-lite comedy for Alice White, who flutters and flounces and sparkles those big eyes.
White often gets compared with Clara Bow, I imagine because of those expressive eyes.
There is nothing to this film, unless you want to gaze at her.

Secrets Of A Secretary - 1931 - USA

Secrets Of A Secretary - 1931 - 6/10

 
On a drunken whim, heiress Helen marries caddish Frank, disowned by his family.
Abruptly, her father dies and Helen discovers the Crash had left him – and her – penniless.
So, she takes a job as social secretary (AKA - personal assistant) to a wealthy family.
Where she soon attracts a Lord, and finds racketeers in the background.
Pre-Code potboiler enhanced with a young Claudette Colbert and the mellifluous Herbert Marshall.
Depression romantic froth, elements might have contributed to My Man Godfrey (1936).

Dishonored - 1931 - USA

Dishonored - 1931 - 6/10

 
She’s not afraid to live, nor is she afraid to die.
Overhearing her comment, the top man with the Austrian Secret Service recruits Marta.
Assignment: find out who’s working with the Russians during the Great War.
Dietrich, as ever, looks fabulous!  She even nails a comic sequence as a simple-minded servant.
Victor McLaglen is another matter altogether.
He smirks worse than a Cheshire cat, and few would buy him as a Russian aristocrat.
Their scenes together show limited chemistry, and the narrative drifts into woozy melodrama too often.
Nevertheless, this is a Marlene Dietrich / Josef Von Sternberg film, so a must.
Blackie, the Paramount cat, steals every scene he is in.

Gold Dust Gertie - 1931 - USA

Gold Dust Gertie - 1931 - 5/10

 
Attempted screwball comedy is unbearable.
Did audiences really laugh at this in the 1930’s?
Gertie tries to shake down two ex-husbands, now married to dragon queens.
Actually, did she even divorce either?  Is she a bigamist?
No matter, she’s angling for a 50 year old sugar daddy.
One forced situation stacked upon another.
Farce, shtick, low-brow, etc …  Was there a script?  The whole thing feels improvised.
Some enjoyed the final speedboat chase.  Too long, and I wished they crashed into each other.

Windy Riley Goes Hollywood - 1931 - USA

Windy Riley Goes Hollywood - 1931 - 5/10

 
Based on a comic strip, brief adventures of an ineffectual blowhard.
He somehow winds up in Hollywood as an under-assistant, screwing up everything.
Unfunny comedy, tedious script, obnoxious leading man.
Why watch?  Fatty Arbuckel directs, following his blacklisting.
Louise Brooks in her first talkie after returning from Europe.
Tempting for fans of either actor, but still a poor film.

Night Nurse - 1931 - USA

Night Nurse - 1931 - 7/10  

 
Night emergency is what nurses Lora and Malonney are assigned after breaking curfew.
Late night means crazies, gun wounds, and underworld characters.
The hospital setting is shown to be extraordinarily lacking, which would change after the Code came in.
Stanwyck and Blondell are nurse chums, both assets are on display, rude jokes, crass behavior.
More?  Clark Gable as a thuggish chauffeur.  Drug addiction, children in peril, skimpy lingerie.
Not quite Baby Face (1933), but this remains a wild film.
Essential Pre-Code gem, and one that annoyed the decency crowd and led to the Production Code.

Mädchen In Uniform - 1931 - Germany

Mädchen In Uniform - 1931 - 6/10

 
14-year-old Manuela is sent to the strict girls school.
Mother dead, father away soldiering, her aunt just cannot be bothered.
The school scrimps on meals, confiscates any incoming food, and is harsh with punishment.
Not the nightmare that was Diary Of A Lost Girl, yet it is unpleasant.
The girls are a gregarious bunch, and teacher Fraulein Von Bernburg is adored by all.
In fact, Manuela soon develops a crush on the woman which leads to consequences.
Although viewed as a lesbian film (and there are overtones), these are young girls, desperate for affection.

Singapore Sue - 1931 - USA

Singapore Sue - 1931 - 5/10

 
Sailors enter the bar / cafe in the middle of the dance revue.
The showoff immediately hits on the girl selling dolls and souvenirs.
No matter how attractive, she ignores the pompous boor, no matter that he is Cary Grant.
Early Grant role, and his manner and delivery are straight out of music hall
Musical short, three songs.

Drácula - 1931- Mexico

Drácula - 1931- 6/10

 
Virtual shot-for-shot remake of the Lugosi classic.  Same sets, same cameras.
The Mexican version is less static, is sexier, is, in many ways, flashier.
Pretty clear, the Mexican team, working the late shift, either saw US rushes, or caught some of the shooting.
Either way, scene after scene boasts notable improvements.
Carlos Villarías, however, is no match for the charismatic Lugosi.
Despite my (slight) reservations, this remains must-see for Horror fans.

Tonight Or Never - 1931 - USA

Tonight Or Never - 1931 - 6/10

 
She has the vocal talent, the pipes, but does not have the oomph.
The passion.  For she has not lived, has not suffered.
Somewhat on a whim, opera starlet Nella initiates an affair with an admirer, despite hearing reports he is a gigolo.
Once risqué comedy seems dated now, plods at times, and is over talky, perhaps owing to its Belasco roots.
Swanson is melodramatic throughout, a diva in Chanel.
Alison Skipworth underutilized.

Expensive Women - 1931 - USA

Expensive Women - 1931 - 6/10

 
Early Pre-Code melodrama opens with woman in lingerie chatting with friend in bathtub.
Plot meanders into bored rich types, quite the thing in the Great Depression, who drink and party all day.
Heiress Dolores Costello meets composer William Warren and they seem a good fit,

 
Until she meets his younger friend, a dashing but weak willed gentleman.
Affairs, guilt, oh-so-adult agreements while everyone drinks and dances and laughs.
With something like this I usually end up looking at gowns and set-design.
Interiors all seem to be so white back then.
Photography is period “silver screen” though all shots of Costello and her campy friend (Polly Walters) soft focus.
One of the party goers resembles Wini Shaw (“Lullaby Of Broadway") though I could find no confirmation of such.

My Past - 1931 - USA

My Past - 1931 - 6/10

 
Steel tycoons, partners, one old, one young, fall for the same showgirl.
Bebe Daniels is the alluring Doree, Joan Blondell her sharp chum.
This Pre-Code has nude swimming, bedroom action, adultery, casual morality.
“Ultra modern” girls, says one gent, are here today, gone tomorrow.
The first half is racy, the second stodgy.  Lewis Stone’s as fading sugar daddy is the most sympathetic.
Trappings throughout of furs, jewels, champagne, seem like a dimly remembered take on the half lit world of the Roaring Twenties, swept away two years earlier.
Look for the book Daniels reads, “The Maltese Falcon,” which would be her next film.

Blonde Crazy - 1931 - USA

Blonde Crazy - 1931 - 6/10

 
Jimmy Cagney hooks up with Joan Blondell, and they move from the small burg to a great midwest city to New York.
Plying the old badger game on rich fools, easily distracted by rolled stockings and perfume.
Cagney plays his usual brash, lecherous male, leering at a bevy of bottled blondes.
Cynical tone undercuts the comedy, and the romance angles are guarded on all sides.
At its heart, a grim journey as stakes and consequences mount with each outing.

The Maltese Falcon - 1931 - USA

The Maltese Falcon - 1931 - 5/10

 
First filmed version of Hammett's novel remains faithful to the plot.
Riccardo Cortez's Spade is a breezy, cheery private eye, though.
Maybe because client Ruth Wonderly (the very steamy Bebe Daniels) runs short of hard currency, but offers soft assets in exchange.  Note the date, this was PreCode.
No wonder Sam is so happy.
Next morning, while she sleeps one off, detective Spade rummages through her belongings, digging for clues.
Film not bad, not good either.  Drags at times.
Cortez either miscast or misdirected.
In or out of clothes, Bebe remains easy on the eyes.

Guilty Hands - 1931 - USA

Guilty Hands - 1931 - 6/10

 
Wealthy rake summons his lawyer to his Atlantic island.
Money needs to be thrown at ruined female conquests, including a 16 year old who “committed suicide.”
That clears the path so he can marry a young beauty … his attorney’s daughter.
The lawyer vows murder!  Also on the island is the daughter’s old flame, and the millionaire’s mistress.
5¢ if you can guess who will die.
A “locked room” mystery with numerous suspects, although viewers know the culprit.
The cynicism of this is pure Pre-Code, as we watch exactly how the guilty escape.
Early talkie is creaky, but not static.  Audio is good, too.
Brief film, wait for the nasty surprise ending.