73. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Running Time: 96 minutes
Directed By: Mervyn LeRoy
Written By: David Boehm, Erwin S. Gelsey
Main Cast: Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Warren William, Aline MacMahon

A MUSICAL HAT TRICK: PART THREE OF THREE

Well the three film long musical tribute has come to an end with the "Gold Diggers of 1933", and I must say it was a pretty good ending, as this film didn't fail to please and had a couple of really fun musical numbers.

The film opens with it's most ironic moment, when Ginger Rogers sings her rendition of "We're In the Money", even going as far as to sing one verse in pig latin, a moment that I thought was incredible. While Ginger is going on and on about having more money than she knows what to do with and lighting up the screen, she is interrupted by a group of I.R.S. agents who are there to shut down the show, due to lack of payment by the producer, Barney Hopkins. The Depression is hitting everyone hard and that doesn't exclude the lavish showgirls and big name producers of musical stage shows. Everyone in show business is basically put out of work and we focus in on our three main girls.

Polly, Carol and Trixie, the movies three main female leads, share an apartment and are flat broke. They even have to resort to stealing their daily milk from their neighbors and getting by on whatever food they have around the house. Then the news breaks that Barney is putting on a show, and the three girls see their big opportunity. Barney, later comes to the apartment to inform them that they'll all be needed, and that all he needs is at least $15,000 to put the show into production. Across the way, in the next apartment, he overhears Brad playing the piano and demands to see him front and center. Brad (played innocently by Powell) comes over to inform Mr. Hopkins that he writes his own songs and lyrics. Barney wants them in the show, as he feels they directly symbolize man's struggle in today's society and that they'll go great with that theme. Brad also tell Barney that he'll advance him the cash to put the show into production, as long as his main squeeze, Polly, has a feature role.

The show goes into production and Brad is hounded day in and day out, to play the lead male role in the show. He refuses, never giving any excuses, just flat out saying "NO!". When showtime comes, and the lead male can't go on, due to back injury, it's up to Brad to save the show and the livelihood of everyone involved. He agrees and the show is a hit. It comes out the next day, however, that the reason he didn't want to do the show (despite silent accusations from Trixie that he may be a bank robber) that he's a member of a blueblood family, who would out and out disaprove of his part in the show...and they do. He goes to visit them the next day, and while the newspaper has already informed them that he was in the show, he adds to it, by informing them that he'll be marrying Polly. His brother and the family lawyer, Fanuel H. Peabody, decide they must put a stop to all this business, declaring that showgirls are nothing but parasites and gold diggers. What follows, is a series of hilarious bits, where the girls play the rich men for suckers, sapping them of lots of dough.

While this wasn't my favorite musical of the three that I watched, it sits firmly at second place. I'd have to give the first place honors to "42nd Street". "Gold Diggers of 1933" had two really alluring musical numbers, in: "We're In the Money", which I thought was priceless, no pun intended and "Pettin' in the Park", a very catchy number performed by Powell and Keeler. There were a few down times of the film, but for the most part it was a good flick and one that I'd definitely see again, down the road. I should mention, before I totally wrap up this musical portion of the book, the choreographer, Busby Berkeley, who banged out an impressive three musicals in one year and all that included some marvelous routines. If nothing else, I'll certainly remember the name of the man behind all of those dance steps and set pieces that gave these films even more life than they already had. I also want to mention some fine actors/actresses who appeared in two or three of the flicks: Dick Powell, who was in all three and certainly a fine man to watch on the screen, Joan Blondell, who was in "Gold Diggers" and "Footlight Parade" and who I thought was fantastic in both roles and Ruby Keeler, who also did some amazing tap dancing and was a pretty good little actress back in the day. There were others, but those were the three that really caught my eye.

RATING: 6.5/10 Like I said there were a few down points, but all in all this more than just your average musical, it also had some good storyline points to go with it.

NEXT UP: She Done Him Wrong...With the musicals behind us...for now, we take a look at our first Cry Grant film. Review should be up later tonight, or tomorrow.

January 21, 2010 8:19pm

64. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Running Time: 93 minutes
Directed By: Mervyn LeRoy
Written By: Howard J. Green, from the memoir by Robert E. Burns
Main Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Edward Ellis

THE GRANDPAPPY OF ALL PRISON MOVIES DOESN'T DISAPOINT

I had heard of, so many times, this film with the very long title, but in all my days of watching movies I had never seen it, that is, until today. I had high hopes for this one going in, and I wasn't wrong, as "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" delivered the goods in more ways than one.

Paul Muni plays James Allen, who's just returning home from World War I with aspirations of being a construction worker. His dreams of wanting to build and create things are quickly dashed as he gives in to his old supervisor and goes back to work at the local factory. However, when his mother realizes how important his dreams are to him, she gives him her blessing to go and pursue his desired occupation. Allen travels all around the country looking for work as a construction worker, getting laid off from several jobs and flat out being told "NO" when asking for work at others. Eventually, he's reduced to a tramp, wandering the streets, without foor or money.

Eventually, Allen meets up with Pete, a man who promises he can get him a hamburger, a very welcome suggestion to Allen's ears. Upon arriving at the hamburger stand, Pete coaxes the proprietor to give him a couple of burgers and when Pete gets a load of the cash register, he can't resist holding the place up. Allen, of course wants nothing to do with this, but when a gun is stuck in his face and he's told to empty the register, he has no choice and when the cops arrive and he's left holding the loot, he's sentenced to ten years in prison, working on the chain gang.

It only takes Allen about a year to devise a scheme to bust out of the joint and when he convinces another inmate to bend his ankle shackles with a sledgehammer, he sees an opportunity to get away. So that's just what he does and despite a hot pursuit complete with guards and their dogs, Allen is home free. Reversing his name to Allen James, so as to give himself a little bit of cover, Allen takes a job in the construction business and moves up the ladder of success pretty rapidly. When he takes an apartment from a woman named Marie, who is immediately attracted to Allen, he makes his first mistake. When Allen doesn't return Marie's affection and feelings, Marie blackmails him with the information that she knows he's an escaped convict and unless he marries her, she'll turn him in.

Basically, for me, this was a no brainer. I love prison flicks and so I knew I'd love this movie. This movie does a really good job of showing the viewer just how difficult it was to be a prisoner on a chain gang and this movie really has a little bit of everything. The suspense that is created when Allen slips off his shackles and takes off running through the southern woods, the romantic scene as Allen and his new gal Helen, sit in his car on a moonlit night and flirt like crazy. The car chase scene, which for it's time was quite elaborate. You can really connect to this character, and you really get a feel for how desperate he gets at certain times in the movie and how badly he wants to be free of his shackles so that he can continue to pursue his dreams. Paul Muni turns in a fantastic performance and makes me quite excited for his upcoming role in "Scarface: The Shame of A Nation", which I'll be reviewing in just a few days. Great movie, and although I haven't seen the other films nominated that year, "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is rightly deserving of the Best Picture Oscar that it received.

RATING: 10/10 What can I say I'm a sucker for a good prison movie and this one is top notch.

NEXT UP: Trouble In Paradise...I got it from Netflix today, but I'll more than likely save it for tomorrow, so check back then for the review of that one.

January 8, 2010 5:35pm

50. Little Caesar (1930)

Running Time: 79 minutes

Directed By: Mervyn LeRoy

Written By: Francis Edward Faragoh, Robert N. Lee, from the novel by W.R. Burnett

Main Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr., Sidney Blackmer

"MOTHER OF MERCY, IS THIS THE END OF RICO?"

Edward G. Robinson plays the title character of Caesar Enrico Bandello, aka Little Caesar, aka Rico and puts on an absolutely outstanding performance, in a film that turns out to be a one man show.

Rico and his partner Joe Massara (Fairbanks) realize that they're small potatoes, working as gangsters in the sticks, robbing two bit gas stations and never making as much loot as they'd like to. When Rico sees a newspaper article about big time mobster Pete Montana, he immediately sees stars and convinces Joe to follow him east, to the city of Chicago, where they can finally make their fortune.

Upon arriving in Chicago, Rico doesn't waste any time getting in good with another big time mobster, Sam Vettori, while Joe follows his aspirations of being a dancer and entertainer. Joe scores a nice spot as a dancer at The Bronze Peacock, where he meets and falls in love with Olga (Farrell), his dancing partner and soon to be lover. When Rico and his new crew get the idea to stick up the Bronze Peacock, they bring Joe in on the scheme and though he's reluctant, helps the gang pull off the heist. During the job, the newly appointed Crime Commissioner McClure gets shot, by none other than Rico and that's where the tide starts to turn.

Soon Rico weasles his way to the top of his own crew, powering out Vettori and taking over the gang. Before too long, Rico finds himself at the top of the crime world, even getting bigger than Pete Montana, the man who made him realize the fame and fortune for the big time, in the first place.

Along with war movies, gangster flicks aren't anywhere near the top on my list of favorite genres, however, I do find it easier to find good mob films and I'd have to brand "Little Caesar" as about an average one. There's no question that Robinson turns in an absolutely stellar performance as Little Caesar Bandello, talking as if his cheeks are stuffed with gauze and his nose is plugged with tissue paper. It's also quite interesting to see Caesar's rise to fame in the crime underworld, only to see him topple back down the ladder of illegal success. Fairbanks also hands in a passable performance as Joe, but it's not hard to identify who the real star of this film is.

RATING: 5/10 We'll cut it right down the middle as far as ratings go, and leave it at that.

NEXT UP: All Quiet On the Western Front...From war on the streets to war in the trenches.

December 13, 2009 12:34am