Heat Lightning (1934) directed by Mervyn LeRoy

Last month a local revival theater (The Patio Theater) held a special screening of 1934's Heat Lightning, directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It was a 35mm print from the Library of Congress, and a special guest was in attendance: Margaret Talbot, daughter of Lyle Talbot, one of the stars of Heat Lightning. She wrote a book about her father The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father's Twentieth Century and was there to sign copies and to introduce the film and do a Q&A afterward.

Heat Lightning takes place in the hot Mojave Desert. At the start of the film, an older couple's car breaks down and stops at a diner / auto garage / motel. The wife is played by Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath). We are introduced to the waitress (Ann Dvorak) and then the mechanic (Aline MacMahon).

The husband has a few choice remarks about women as mechanics, but Aline MacMahon is tough and teaches him a lesson or two when she's able to get them back on the road in no time.

Later we find out that the two are sisters, and the story becomes more interesting. Aline's a little older, and a bit overprotective of Ann, who wants to go out and have fun with a suitor that Aline disapproves of.

Though the movie feels like an ensemble, for the most part the focal point is Aline's character (and she is clearly the lead in a standout performance). I was really impressed with her performance and this film overall. I can't think of another movie with her in the lead; she's always in supporting roles.

Other characters come to the diner, for food, gas or car repair. Frank McHugh provides some comedy relief (the movie is mostly a drama) as a chauffeur to two divorcees: Glenda "Torchy Blane" Farrell and Ruth Donnelly. And there's a great night sequence where a Mexican family plays a lovely song while "heat lightning" lights up the night sky above the Yucca trees.

As I mentioned before, this movie belongs to Aline MacMahon's character, and you really get to know her in this film. Preston Foster and Lyle Talbot play a couple of criminals on the lam who think they can stay at the motel. But Aline shows them a thing or two. You have to see the movie to find out what happens.

There are a number of flirtatious remarks and and some sex scenes that were characteristic of a pre-code film (this was one of the last pre-code movies).  One scene involves Glenda Farrell taking a bath in a small little tub in the back of the motel.

Highly recommended.

A Free Soul (1931)

Clark Gable plays a mobster who falls for his lawyer's daughter (Norma Shearer). She falls for him too, finding him more exciting than her current beau (Leslie Howard).  Lionel Barrymore plays her father, an alcoholic, who isn't happy about his daughter mixed up with Gable. Her family doesn't approve either, and won't even let her back in the house when the affair goes on too long. Shearer enjoys the thrill of the romance, even after she's almost killed by rival mobsters shooting at Gable in his car. Gable is great in this movie, and is one of his last "supporting" roles.

Lionel Barrymore won the Oscar for Best Actor in a great performance as the alcoholic lawyer who tries to go sober but struggles to do so. In one scene, he gets so drunk that he wanders off on a freight train and gets lost. In another scene, someone jokingly slaps him on the back and he reacts by saying, "Who's that - John L. Sullivan?" I had to look that person up to know who he was talking about; Sullivan was a boxer who was famous around the early 1900s.

The movie has a surprise twist near the end.

Directed by Clarence Brown. Highly Recommended

This was the first movie I watched on Warner Archive Instant, a new streaming service that is like Netflix, but features only Warner Archive titles. It's in a "beta" testing phase right now, and I was able to watch it for free. Once the service kicks off, I would be interested in subscribing - there are some great titles available!

Other blog reviews about this movie:
Booze Movies (review of A Free Soul)

Moonlight and Pretzels (1933)

Karl Freund, the legendary cinematographer (Metropolis), tried his hand at a musical with this 1933 feature, which is Busby Berkeley-esque.  The story begins in a small town with an aspiring songwriter (Roger Pryor) who writes a love song for his crush, a record store clerk (Mary Brian). He sells the song, and it becomes a huge hit. Roger then moves away from his small town and heads to Broadway, seemingly forgetting his roots - and his crush back home. I liked the scenes where she comes to audition for his new show (titled "Moonlight and Pretzels") and tries to rekindle his memory of her. Much of the rest of the film deals with the production and financial aspect of the show, which I didn't find that interesting, and the humor is lost in the second half. The movie ends with a big finale from Roger's show dealing with the Great Depression. You can watch it here:

Freaks (1931)

I first watched this movie in 1994 and it really wasn't easy to watch. It has one of the best endings ever.

Another review from Four Star Films here

Midnight Mary (1933) starring Loretta Young

From 1933, MGM: Loretta Young stars in this thrilling story of a woman on trial - who may or may not be guilty of murder.

We first see Mary (Loretta) in court. As the jury deliberates, she finds a relaxing place to wait: in the office of the court stenographer. He's an older man, and tells her he's been doing this for almost 40 years. She is stunned. "The same job"? she asks him. He tells her he hopes the jury comes back soon because he'd like to make his grandaughter's birthday party later that afternoon. His office is filled with books, and Mary looks around at all the years on the spines and remembers her life.

The rest of the movie is told in flashback. We see Mary as a young orphan girl (Loretta is convincing as a 9 year old). As she gets older she and her best friend (Joan Blondell) start hanging out with the wrong crowd. The boys they hang out with become gangsters, and she descends deeper into a dangerous life. One day she meets a handsome playboy bachelor (Franchot Tone) who falls head over heels for her at a party. He turns out to be a millionaire publisher and offers her anything in the world, including a job as a secretary.

She tries to "go straight", but she just can't escape her past.

We don't want to see Franchot get mixed up with the gangsters, and neither does Mary, a testatment to her character. I won't tell you any more. You just have to see this movie. It's a great story, well written and paced. Directed by William Wellman.

Judy wrote an impressive review of this film at her blog Movie Clasics, and you can read the review here. Another great review can be found here at the blog MONDO 70, and here at Curious Mel.

It's available on DVD part of the Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 3

Three Wise Girls (1933) with Jean Harlow

The movie begins with Jean Harlow working unhappily as a soda jerk behind the counter.  In one scene, we see Jean whipping up an ice cream sundae after a kid comes in and orders one. I love how the camera focuses in on the dish so we see the ice cream up close.


She's bored in her small town, so she and her friend Dot find an apartment in the big city. Jean meets an old friend (Mae Clark) and makes a few new ones, including dapper millionaire played by Walter Byron, who becomes smitten with her, yet holds a secret.

The movie's tone is often serious, even though Jean is funny at times with a number of her wisecracks. It leans more romantic-drama than romantic-comedy, since several of the characters are driven to some emotional extremes that wouldn't be very funny in real life.

For example, tension builds when Mae Clark's beau (Jameson Thomas) starts making passes at Jean, who has become a fashion model. Meanwhile, Walter continues to pursue Jean throughout the film, but when his secret is revealed, she is faced with having to make several uncomfortable decisions.

Waiting to see what will happen to these characters is what makes this film so enjoyable, but I won't give anything away. Will she quit her high-paying job as a fashion model? And what will she do, move back to the small town where she came from and hates? You'll just have to see the movie.

Marie Prevost's Dot provides comic relief as her flirty best friend, and she eventually falls for Walter's chauffeur (Andy Devine). They make a cute couple.

I highly recommend this one if you can catch it on TCM; it's not on DVD.

The Baroness Von Vintage, another fan of this film, reminds me that the three female leads are "wise" in the sense of being sassy, irreverent, and cheeky. Though there are three of them, Jean Harlow's character is the main focus throughout.

Directed by William Beaudine

Read a review from She Blogged By Night

I wonder if the movie "Three Smart Girls" took it's title from this film. 

Heroes for Sale (1933)

Richard Barthelmess plays Tom, a returning WWI veteran who experiences a series of unfortunate events - including a prison term - as he adjusts to civilian life. Without giving it all away, one of his struggles involves an addiction to morphine. How the character overcomes the addiction - and what he decides to do with his life - becomes fascinating storytelling that will leave you captivated from start to finish. The film is only 71 minutes, but it feels like 2 hours.

Tom finds his way to Chicago in the mid 1920s. He meets some interesting characters in a family-run soup kitchen (Charles Grapewin is the father; playing his daughter is the wonderful Aline MacMahon, who falls love with Tom from a distance). They are so much fun to watch. Loretta Young brings some romance to the story, and she is so lovely in this; there's a tender and humourous love-at-first sight moment.

Throughout the film are scenes that were considered heavily political for its time, including a scene of an angry mob and several Red Squad sequences. One character espouses a number of communist sympathies, yet over time he evolves, which is interesting to watch. It's as if the character was written to represent various political extremes under certain circumstances.

This movie reminded me of The Best years of Our Lives, the widely acclaimed film that defined the experience of returning American vets after WWII. Heroes For Sale has similar themes, and is one of the few films dealing with returning WW1 vets. References to newly elected president Roosevelt, lots of authentic signs and billboards: "Keep Moving: No Work Here". This is the kind of film that has the stories that your grandparents or great grandparents might tell you if they were in America during this time.

Directed by William Wellman. Highly recommended. Available on DVD in the box set series, "Forbidden Hollywood Volume 3". For another perspective, the blog Movie Classics has a great review of this film here.

Three On A Match (1932) Early Bogart and Bette Davis

Rupert over at the blog Classic Movies Digest posted about this movie a few months ago, and I finally got around to watching it yesterday. It's so good!



Early performances by none other than Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles. (In fact, it's Bogart's first gangster role)

A pre-code film (it's part of the DVD collection "Forbidden Hollywood: Volume 2"), it's been called a "hard-core" pre-code due to the number of scenes that feature infidelity, child neglect, drug abuse, kidnapping (a touchy subject - 1932 was the year of the Lindberg kidnapping) and other debauchery (one character is sent to reform school right out of high school).

The capsule below sums it up in a nutshell:



The film really belongs to the wonderful Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell, and I can't forget to mention how good Warren William is in this as well as a lawyer who has relationships with both of them during the course of the film. Trust me, you just have to see this film. Rupert's review really says it best, so I won't say any more other than it is an unpredictable story.

This film has some fine performances by child actors, including Virginia Davis (1918-2009) who plays Joan Blondell's character as a young girl. She gets into all sorts of mischief at school; in one scene Virginia's character and a group of boys play hooky and go smoking.

Virginia Davis is considered a Disney legend, as she played "Alice" in Walt Disney's early "Alice's Wonderland" short films from the 1920s. She passed away last year at the age of 90.

The biggest scene-stealer in the film is the adorable Buster Phelps who plays Ann Dvorak's son. You'll fall in love with him in this. There's a fun scene on the beach with him playing ball with Joan and Bette, all decked out in cute beach wear (see pic below).

Buster Phelps (1926-1983) appeared in about 3 dozen films during the 1930s and 1940s.

The film is available on DVD and can be seen on TCM from time to time.



Here's another review from A Person In The Dark.  And another post from Four Star Films.

Reaching for the Moon (1930)

A funny pre-code screwball comedy about high society, starring Douglas Fairbanks. One of the best scenes features some witty banter between June MacCloy and Jack Mulhall at a party.

At the same party, Bebe Daniels takes a liking to Fairbanks, a Wall Street millionaire, and even tracks him down at work one day.

Mulhall (playing Fairbanks' assistant) arranges a date between them, which results in Fairbanks boarding a cruise ship to woo her, not without the help of his valet, Edward Everett Horton, who hilariously teaches him a thing or two about romance.

While trying to enjoy himself at sea, the stock market crashes, and complicates matters.

Bing Crosby has a cameo as a singer on the ship in upbeat musical number. This was before he got really famous. It's strange to see him in such a small role like this.









Recent post on Bebe Daniels from Iconista.

Zoo In Budapest (1933)

One of my favorite movies from pre-code Hollywood. The plot centers around three people on the run, hiding out in the zoo overnight, and eventually banding together. Has action, suspense, romance, adventure, comedy (we hear a laughing elephant after he spits water out at a lion) The entire film takes place in zoo, a feat few other films can claim.  Zebras, lions, elephants, monkeys, they're all here.

The first character is Zani (Gene Raymond), who was born and raised in the zoo by his parents - now deceased - who worked there. Zani's entire life is the zoo - he knows every inch of the place, and knows all the animals by name. His big problem is that he loves animals like a PETA activist and steals fur jackets off of old ladies. After the police are called on him, he's on the run, and hides out in the zoo, planning his escape. The second character is played by Loretta Young, a beautiful young orphan girl who escapes her field trip group into the fields of the zoo, dreaming of life of freedom outside the orphanage. Needless to say, Zani falls in love with her. Finally, there's a little 7-year old boy who runs away from his parents - actually, he runs back into the zoo after closing time...he's so obsessed with the animals.

A search party forms for Zani, Loretta, and the boy. We also have another enemy: a sleazy zookeeper, appropriately named "Heinie". Worst of all, he tries to rape Loretta Young. Then, the exciting climax features an elephant, lions and tigers and a firey blaze that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Spoiler alert: Zani saves the boy's life and the boy's parents reward him and Loretta with a life on the farm. It's an awesome film. I saw it on two different occasions at a Chicago revival house; lots of people loved it. Some didn't like the action at the end, that it was too intense. As the title says, the movie takes place in Budapest, but it could easily have taken place at any zoo.

Released into theaters April 28, 1933 by Twentieth Century Fox.