Law And Order - 1932 - USA

Law And Order - 1932 - 6/10

 
Frame Johnson, brother Luther, sidekick Deadwood, and shotgun wielding Doc Brandt arrive in Tombstone.
Where a gang of outlaws rule, rustle cattle and shoot opponents in the back.
Tensions simmer until conflict flares at the OK Corral.
Violent Pre-Code is a reimagined version of Wyatt Earp.
Earp had died just three years previously, and widow Josephine was fiercely protective.
Not as sanitized as all later versions (which omitted Earp's brothels, thieving, etc...).
Pristine restoration in 2025, along with commentary.

Doctor X - 1932 - USA

Doctor X - 1932 - 6/10

 
A serial killer plagues lower Manhattan.
Police consult Dr. Xavier and his research clinic.
Since the murders occur nearby, authorities suspect someone working there.
Then, there is the pesky newshound, digging for a story.

 
The sets, lighting, makeup, everything about the clinic is first rate fantastic.
Any and every thing associated with the reporter (annoying Lee Tracy) is dismal.
If it wasn’t for the “comedy”, this two-strip color film would be a classic.

Red-Headed Woman - 1932 - USA

Red-Headed Woman - 1932 - 7/10

 
Lil chases after boss Bill, who is young, handsome, rich.
Oh, and married, too.
No matter, Lil cooks the sausage … a couple of times … and Bill is soon hers.
Does Bill ever wise up?  Even when Lil targets his even wealthier friends?
Heavy cutting notwithstanding, this steamy Pre-Code reeks of sex, adultery, innuendo.
For teens who think they invented sex, your grandma, your great-grandma was way ahead of you.

The Greeks Had A Word For Them - 1932 - USA

The Greeks Had A Word For Them - 1932 - 5/10
AKA - Three Broadway Girls

 
Jean returns from Paris, penniless, failing once again to snag a sugar daddy.
With roommates Polaire and Schatzi, she is soon back to her old ways.
In effect, she tries to appropriate Schatzi’s Pop, then Polaire’s mentor, then fiancé.
Saucy Pre-Code film is more suggestive than anything.
Ina Claire dominates; she is a pale Mae West copy, lacking West’s charisma and delivery.
Joan Blondell may be top-billed, but she is given little to do.
Direction is lazy throughout, static and stage bound.

Shopworn - 1932 - USA

Shopworn - 1932 - 6/10

 
College grad, pre-med David and waitress Kitty overcome a frosty beginning.
Then the relationship becomes serious enough to consider marriage.
Noses soon twitch.  Kitty may be a nice girl, decent, but not our kind.  Our class.
Interference is hard-nosed, and the pair don’t stand a chance.
Plain faced Regis Toomey OK, if oldish, as the square son.
Stanwyck luminous as the smitten Kitty, with a core of steel.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3366591

Beauty And The Boss - 1932 - USA

Beauty And The Boss - 1932 - 6/10

 
The Baron runs his own investment bank, and seems to specialize in mergers and acquisitions.
He keeps a string of lovely ladies on the side, yet work is all business.
Except for those secretaries who wear short skirts and low cut blouses.
Ones who cannot take dictation, but would prefer to take –
Then he hires a mousy thing, who is as efficient as a machine and just as sexless.
Pre-Code comedy brims with innuendo.
One knows the mouse will transform.

Ladies Of The Jury - 1932 - USA

Ladies Of The Jury - 1932 - 6/10

 
Long, long before Twelve Angry Men there was this gem.
The elderly rich man has been murdered.  Allegedly by his trophy bride.
Who was an ex-chorus girl, and she is French!
Two strikes and the jury has made up its mind … save for one well-heeled biddy.
Edna May Oliver is almost insufferable at the beginning, but her character settles down.
There is a jury panel, lawyers, judge, bailiff, witnesses, and by the end one has a quick sketch of personalities.
Pre-Code comedy is barely an hour, but is packed with details, jokes, innuendo.

Behind Stone Walls - 1932 - USA

Behind Stone Walls - 1932 - 5/10

 
The dinner party was breaking up anyway.
The District Attorney (aspiring Governor) is taking wife Esther to theatre.
Until the courthouse phones, saying only HE can handle an extradition.
With that, Esther slips off to play hide the sausage with the best friend.
Grade-C Pre-Code is loaded with sleaze.
Adultery, murder, blackmail (financial and sexual), and sly courtroom deals.
Acting is stilted, directing stagey, dialogue a river of pauses and gushes.

Forbidden - 1932 - USA

Forbidden - 1932 - 6/10

 
Small town librarian, Lulu, realizes life is passing her by.
She empties her savings account and boards a cruise to Havana.
Lulu enjoys a shipboard romance with a distinguished lawyer.
Which continues all the way back to New York.
Even though he is slightly married, the affair escalates.
Birth control?  In the 1930’s?  Oops.
Stanwyck and Menjou are great together, with Bellamy a conniving heel.
First third really moves, making for an enjoyable Pre-Code.
Sadly, for me, the plot slowly settles into Capra schmaltz.

Devil And The Deep - 1932 - USA

Devil And The Deep - 1932 -  6/10

 
Commander Sturm is insanely jealous of any junior officers near his wife.
He watches, eavesdrops, lays snares, then acts, whether his suspicions are grounded or not.
Oddly structured film has several initial acts romantic triangles and jealously.
Followed by submarine dramatics in the depths.
Of course, one watches this for the cast: Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Tallulah Bankhead.
Charles Laughton dominates proceedings as the mad commander.

Son Of Kong - 1932 - USA

Son Of Kong - 1932 - 5/10

 
Denham returns to Skull Island and finds Kong’s young offspring.
The youngster is smaller and far, far friendlier.
The set design is still there, yet seems diminished.
I kept thinking of Tarzan films.
This is safe for children, whereas the original was one scary film.
Storywise, this is poorly written, perhaps rushed by the studio.
The finale is memorably infuriating.  Watch if you must.

Die Herrin von Atlantis - 1932 - Germany

Die Herrin von Atlantis - 1932 - 6/10

 
Trying to control feuding tribes, two French Legionnaires get lost in the Sahara.
Who are then abducted and transported endlessly downstairs.
Based on the opening monologue, we are supposed to accept this as Atlantis.
Everything from attire to activities to kief abuse argue against this.
Then there is the ruling queen, Antinéa, who, aside from local music, dining, and a pet leopard, her main distraction is capturing and draining lost menfolk.
Frustratingly, this aspect is barely alluded to.  Director Pabst of 4 years earlier was bolder.
Very slow “adventure” film.  Check the sexier 1949 remake, Siren Of Atlantis.

The Dentist - 1932 - USA

The Dentist - 1932 - 7/10

 
Over-protective father vents his anger and frustration upon his patients.
The girl desires to marry the man who delvers ice – certainly a long term career.
Patients who arrive in anxiety find their worst fears confirmed.
Those more laissez faire, do better.  The Bolshevik and long-legged contortionist stand out.
In the middle of treatment, he takes off to play golf.
For those who have sat for hours in a medical waiting room – wondering – this has your name on it.

The Crusader - 1932 - USA

The Crusader - 1932 - 5/10

 
Namesake being the new District Attorney, cleaning up the troubled burg.
How troubled?  Who knows!
He talks a lot to self-righteous citizens, while a muck raking, guttersnipe reporter rolls in dirt.
Our reporter is an annoying caricature, and it seems perplexing that he has not been killed.
Lew Cody fine as the reformed nightclub owner.
Most will view for Evelyn Brent, but she is underutilized.
Often tagged as Pre-Code, it is a stagey, early talkie – and too talky at that.

The Old Dark House - 1932 - USA

The Old Dark House - 1932 - 6/10

 
No matter how atrocious the weather, one never goes knocking at the gloomy manor.
Still, there is the timeworn excuse:  I didn’t know!  Nobody told me!
Plus – the rain truly is dreadful, and the car is leaking.
Do they recognize the door opening butler as Boris Karloff?
The travelers arrive, dry themselves, try to ignore how fearfully eccentric the inhabitants are.
For a creaky, locked-room film, this moves quickly and many images are downright eerie.

Call Her Savage - 1932 - USA

Call Her Savage - 1932 - 7/10

 
Wild child Nasa (an incredibly sexy Clara Bow) leaves Texas for Chicago.
Has a fling with, and marries a cad.  After he dumps her, well, no birth control in the 1930’s.
A hot Pre-Code flick breaks numerous taboos:
A gay bar, girl fights, half-breed allusions, excess alcohol, unwanted pregnancy.
Bow was near the end of her career by this point, with weight problems and national scandals.
Plus, like other Silent stars, she had an absolute phobia of the microphone.
Tawdry throughout, although her next and final film, Hoopla is another good Clara vehicle.

The Most Dangerous Game - 1932 - USA

The Most Dangerous Game - 1932 - 6/10

 
Despite a few liberties with the source (Richard Connell’s story), this remains one of the finest adaptations.
Enroute to a big game junket, sportsman Railsford washes up ashore on a deserted island.
Cossack nobleman Zaroff lives there with huge manservant Ivan and a pack of hounds.
Along with temporary visitors who arrive there from time to time.
Soon, Railsford realizes that, while Zaroff is likewise a hunter, he prefers highly intelligent quarry.
Remade dozens of times, this benefits using sets from King Kong, and Leslie Banks’ fierce performance.

Are You Listening? - 1932 - USA

Are You Listening? - 1932 - 6/10

Bleak Pre-Code title from MGM, starring Billy Haines and a confusing assortment of blondes.
Haines writes and directs (commercials, comedies, dramas) for a radio station.

 
He carries on with another writer, deals with his scold of a wife (actress Karen Morley rips this).
A cynical film, Are You Listening has a dark tone and captures the anxiety of the Depression.
The other narrative is of the three sisters trying to “make it" in the City.

 
Women chase husband material (wealthy or high earners), men grope as casual predators.
Being Pre-Code, expect negligees, easy access relationships, unscrupulous villains.
Numerous old stars and character actors in downbeat film.

Three Wise Girls - 1932 - USA

Three Wise Girls - 1932 - 6/10

 
Single girls in New York.  One struggling, one cruising, one conflicted.
Jean Harlow in an early role is the conflicted girl.
Attracted to a man, a married man, whose wife “won’t give me a divorce.”
An oft used excuse.
For all the romance and swinging, this is stuffy, though Harlow fans will relish.
Me?  I watched because I wanted to see the “struggling” girl, Marie Prevost.
A faded Silent vixen, Prevost gives her character humor and humanity.
Prevost would be gone in four years, Harlow in five.

Lelíček In Sherlock Holmes' Service - 1932

Lelíček In Sherlock Holmes' Service - 1932 - 6/10
AKA - Lelíček ve Službách Sherlocka Holmese

 
The great detective agrees to find a double for an endangered monarch.
The king of Puerto Rico.
He finds a suitable candidate in Prague, persuades him, and they catch the train to Puerto Rico.
Bear with me.
Turns out the king, an anxious milquetoast, has reasons to be concerned with assassination.
Anarchists are easy to recognize as their garb is a cross between pirate and gypsy and Zorro.
Once the pair reach Puerto Rico, the kingdom is recognized instantly.
This is not the Caribbean, this is Freedonia!

 
There is no Zeppo, but there are songs in this creaky comic gem from Czechoslovakia.
The double is a handful for Holmes, though the love starved queen knows a thing about scepters.

Note:  English subs can be difficult to locate for this.  The one set I found had some issues.
I fixed timestamps, clarified dialogue, and a few other tweaks.
My subs = https://subscene.com/subtitles/lelek-ve-slubch-sherlocka-holmese/english/1889245
or - http://www.addic7ed.com/movie/140729