Vivacious Lady - 1938 - USA

Vivacious Lady - 1938 - 6/10

 
Milquetoast professor goes to the Big Apple to fetch a feckless cousin.
In the nightclub, he spies the songbird and it’s love at first sight.
Within two days, they are married and heading back to small town USA.
Where he does tell his parents, his students, or fiancé that he wed a blonde lounge singer.
What would others think?  Dude, grow a spine.
Jimmy Stewart with his bumbling, stammering shtick grows tiresome; the romance rang false.
1930’s RomCom has dated badly for me.  Resonated more with Depression audiences.

Dangerous To Know - 1938 - USA

Dangerous To Know - 1938 - 6/10

 
That would be racketeer, Recka, who controls City Hall, various boards, top politicians.
Still capable of violence, yet now trying to ingratiate himself into “classy society”.
Rather than his usual bribery and intimidation, he woos a penniless aristo, Margaret Van Case.
Who may be charmed, yet won’t be bought.
Crime drama saturated with Fatalism and a touch of Melodrama.
The pedigree is outstanding.  Story by Edgar Wallace, costumes by Edith Head.
Cast = Lloyd Nolan, Gail Patrick, Akim Tamiroff, with Anna May Wong in a starring role.

King Of Alcatraz - 1938 - USA

King Of Alcatraz - 1938 - 6/10

 
The king escapes, coppers in pursuit.
He slips onboard an “adventure cruise” headed for Panama.
Likewise on the steamer are his gang, who soon enough take control of the vessel.
Gangster potboiler barely runs an hour and has menace and murders.
Lloyd Nolan and Robert Preston bicker over nurse Gail Patrick (Perry Mason fame).
Best is J. Carroll Nash, usually a character type, this time lethal and desperate as the boss.
Barely remembered gangster flick, a must for Morse Code fanatics.

The Big Broadcast Of 1938 - 1938 - USA

The Big Broadcast Of 1938 - 1938 - 5/10

 
Last fling of a mediocre franchise.
Skits and musical numbers in fast-paced if dull retread.  A formula gone tired.
Bob Hope sings, what will be his signature song,  “Thanks For The Memory” (assuming viewers still remember who Hope was, let alone his song).
W C Fields romps through chaotically funny scenes, although few and far between.

Overland Stage Raiders - 1938 - USA

Overland Stage Raiders - 1938 - 6/10

 
Fast moving, “modern” Western finds bandits ambushing gold shipments.
The Three Mesquiteers pool local resources and buy an airplane for shipping.
The bandits ain’t dumb, however, so expect shoot-ups and chases.
Early John Wayne vehicle, high on action, low on plot.
Fare that used to be after-school staples.
Final role for Silent icon, Louise Brooks.
Small world, Hollywood, in that both she and Clara Bow knew Wayne.

The Adventures Of Robin Hood - 1938 - USA

The Adventures Of Robin Hood - 1938 - 8/10

 
Errol Flynn was already a Warners star, but this vaulted him into the constellations.
Robin Hood, Little John, Will Scarlett and the Merry Men, square off against the duplicitous Prince John and his sinister henchman, Sir Guy Of Gisbourne.
Stealing from the rich, giving to the poor.  In between, Robin finds time to woo Maid Marian.
While the costumes come across as  Disneyish, everything else is first rate.
Lavish Korngold score, fantastic chemistry all around, thrilling sword fights.
This is the bar against which all other Robin Hood’s stand – and fail.
Note:  The Laserdisc has bolder colors throughout in this Technicolor gem.  The DVD, by comparison, appears washed out.  I have not viewed the HD upgrade.

Napoleon Ist An Allem Schuld - 1938 - Germany

Napoleon Ist An Allem Schuld - 1938 - 6/10

A history buff, Napoleon Bonaparte fanatic, envisions himself as emperor reincarnate.
Consequently, he is invited to  be one of the speakers at a Bonaparte convention in Paris.
Where he gets entangled with a chorus girl.
And compounds matters by telling camera snapping reporters she is his daughter.

 
For a Reichsfilme, this is rapid fire comedy, packed with innuendo, bordering on farce.
There are also several major musical numbers, one featuring showgirls in Napoleon headgear.
Always amusing, though not laugh out loud funny, since I was keeping up with subs.

Fast Company - 1938 - USA

Fast Company - 1938 - 6/10

 
Police seem baffled!
Priceless books have been stolen.
Then a reputable dealer (ahem, the villainous George Zucco) is found dead!
Who can police turn to?
Why, a married couple who happen to be antiquarian book sellers.
Yeah, a pair of “readers."
Think Nick and Nora Charles, Thin Man, and the rest is easy.
Brisk, charming mystery that falls midway between the PreCode gangster era and Film Noir.
Dwight Frye has a decent supporting role (meaning not his typecast neurotic headcase) as forger.

Stolen Death - 1938 - Finland

Stolen Death - 1938 - 7/10
AKA - Varastettu Kuolema

Finland, circa 1904, tries to break free of Czarist rule.
Revolutionaries, printing subversive flyers and broadsheets, progress to seeking weapons.
The secret police hunt them, an arms dealer blackmails them, and traps lay everywhere.

 
One of the last Expressionist films, the narrative moves too quickly for its own good.
Indeed, twenty minutes in, I paused this, quite confused, to research.
After the initial release, 15 minutes were cut (though preserved), reason for the narrative jumps.
Film scholars theorize the girl is actually a prostitute, sleeping with Russian soldiers for guns.
The arms dealer / blackmailer is her pimp.
And he doesn't count on her falling in love with one of the revolutionaries.

 
Camera work is memorable throughout, though the print is battered.
Finland actually has the complete cut, so a restored version is possible.
The director only made five films, before dying in World War II, age 29.

Alexander Nevsky - 1938 - Russia

Alexander Nevsky - 1938 - 8/10
AKA - Aleksandr Nevskiy

 
An invading army of Teutonic knights cut their way through 13th century Russia.
Prince Alexander Nevsky rallies the populace to halt the murderous foes.
Propaganda film with glorious battle sequences.
Evocative Prokofiev score aids immensely.
To you history buffs, this was meant as a warning to later Teutonic knights, the Third Reich.  

Several years ago, the university in my hamlet decided to screen this.
With the university symphony!  And a massed chorus of three church choirs.
Dazzling!

The Mad Miss Manton - 1938 - USA

The Mad Miss Manton - 1938 - 6/10

Fast paced RKO comedy aims for screwball but is too scattershot.
Rich heiress, out walking her pampered pooches, investigates an open apartment and finds a corpse.
Police are alerted, police arrive – and no body!
Chalk it up as another prank by Manton and her rich girlfriends, whooping it up in the Great Depression.
The girls do their own investigating, with or without cops and a meddling reporter.

 
Actually, the girls, swathed in furs, gowns, and jewels, are fun.
Henry Fonda is out of his depth, and there is no chemistry between him and Barbara Stanwyck (terrific).