Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) Review

Juror #3 says:  This was the 1930's movie I was most excited to watch when we assembled our list.  I absolutely love the premise - two boyhood friends take separate paths in life with one becoming a priest and the other a criminal.  The criminal is revered by the same children in the neighborhood that the priest is trying to mentor.  In the end, with the criminal sentenced to the electric chair, the priest asks his longtime friend to give up the only thing he has left, his reputation as a tough guy, and die a coward...for the children.  As much as I loved the premise (and the ending didn't disappoint), I felt the overall production value was lacking.  The directing was poor and the story ended up more fragmented than it should have been.  I would absolutely love if this movie was remade, as the motif is timeless.  I rate it 3/5.


girl by locker says: I'm not sure what it is, but I have had a lot of high expectations this era, perhaps because it is the golden age of Hollywood. We recently watched "Angels with Dirty Faces" and though I definitely liked the movie, I thought I was going to fall in love. It had all the makings to have my socks blown off - gangsters, Cagney, Bogart. And while every aspect was solid, I just wanted more. In the end, there is a battle between good and evil - between the city corruption run by gangsters and the town priest who wants to start a boys club to help keep the kids away from the life of crime - and I felt it was all tied up in a neat, little bow. Life isn't that tidy.

There were 2 high points of the movie. 1. Bogart. I had never seen him in a villainous role before. He completely rocked. 2. The final scene in which Rocky Sullivan, played by Cagney, walks to the electric chair. His childhood friend, who is a priest, asks him to die in a way in which the town children will not look up to him. He says he won't do it but ultimately, he cries and begs for his life. As the viewer, we are left to wonder if he was actually scared or if he pulled off the final wishes of the priest. I choose to believe he did it for the priest. In other parts of the movie when his friend's life was threatened, he protected him. I think he did the same here.

Overall, entertaining movie. Solid. Well done. I give it 3 out of 5 stars on Netflix.

Film 20: Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Netflix Summary: Tough guy Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) plays Pied Piper to a gang of teenage hoods (the Dead End Kids) while boyhood pal turned priest Jerry Connelly (Pat O'Brien) tries to save their souls in this gangster classic from director Michael Curtiz. The two vie for control of the neighborhood, but when Connelly is almost killed by Rocky's duplicitous associates (Humphrey Bogart and George Bancroft), Rocky guns them down and finds himself sentenced to death.


Fun Fact: The famous Irish bar "Rocky Sullivan's Pub" in New York City was named after Cagney's character.





Film Viewing Due Date: 9/4/10

A Star is Born (1937) Review

girl by locker says: Being that this movie has been remade twice since the original 1937 production, I really wanted to like it and had high hopes. It is a classic Hollywood story in which a young girl, Esther Blodgett, reaches for her dreams and sets her ambitions on becoming a movie star. When she reaches Los Angeles she eventually meets and falls in love with Norman Maine, a celebrity actor and alcoholic who is on his way down the stardom scale. He is still high enough in his career and can use his clout to get Esther her first foot in the door though, eventually, her star eclipses his.

 

While it is a solid movie, extremely well-written and posing interesting questions on what we will give up in order to obtain our ambitions, it overall left me lacking something. Frederic March is stellar in his role of Norman Maine and has a perfect balance between stardom, ego, fragility, and I was moved with how he played his spiral down into a has-been. Janet Gaynor also played an excellent part and was, in fact, a great choice to play the innocent girl not yet tainted with the trials of life. However, I just never bought into the fact that her character was able to outshine that of March's. He always seemed to be the bigger star to me, even when he turned into a nobody. 

 

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars on Netflix. It is definitely an interesting movie to watch, in particular for anyone who seeks a career in the entertainment industry or even a highly ambitious one. It will make you stop and think about what is important in life.  

Juror #3 says: I believe I know why this movie was remade a few times - it didn't fulfill its potential.  The other reason being that Hollywood has always been in love with Hollywood, so this tale of an actresses rise from humble beginnings to a movie star while a popular actor's star fades clearly struck a chord.  In the end I couldn't help but think that the script needed about three more rewrites, but what I suspect is that this movie fell victim to producer edits.  The story and character development was way too cautious for the plot line, as if the movie was created by focus groups.  I felt everything in this movie fell short with one exception - the use of technicolor film.  After watching so many black and white films up to this point, A Star is Born looked as if you could take each shot from the film, frame it and hang it on your wall.  But that isn't nearly enough for me to recommend this movie.  I rate it a 2/5

Film 19: A Star is Born (1937)

Netflix Summary: The original version of the thrice-lensed, behind-the-scenes tale about celebrity's double-edged saber. Starry-eyed Esther Blodgett yearns to make it big in Hollywood, and when she captures the attention, and heart, of matinee idol Norman Maine at an A-list party, she's on her way. But while Esther's star soars, tosspot Norman's career nose-dives. Will Tinseltown's vagaries destroy their love?

Academy Awards: The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning the award for Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (March), Best Actress (Gaynor), Best Assistant Director, and Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay.


Film Viewing Due Date: 8/25

It Happened One Night (1934) Reviews

girl by locker says: It Happened One Night did not disappoint. Well, maybe a little bit – just an eensy, weensy tiny bit – but I think that is because my expectations were gargantuan and no movie could possibly have met them. In the end, I still rate it a 4/5 and that is only because we can’t rate half stars on Netflix.
I knew the movie took place on a bus, and I assumed because of the title that it obviously was something that happened over the course of one night. Logical, no? However, the plot is carried out over the course of several nights and I wonder if they did that because the title would not have been as catchy. It Happened Over Several Nights just doesn’t have the same panache.
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert have an undeniable chemistry, and I read that though this movie swept the Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay) neither one of them actually wanted to be in it. They were forced into the parts as punishment by their respective studios. Colbert only agreed to take on the part if they could finish filming in 4 weeks so she could go on vacation. Whether those are just urban legends, the result is spectacular – witty, crisp, stunning cinematography, wonderful character arc, and a must see for any classic film buff out there.

Juror #3 says:  It Happened One Night was extremely well done.  The dialogue, the acting, the cinematography.  As we progress through our curriculum it's clear that the filmmaking evolves substantially from film to film.  I find myself wondering when along our film study journey that this may cease to be the case.  This was another giant leap forward in filmmaking.  Having said that, there were moments in It Happened One Night where I really just wanted to fast forward.  Maybe I started the movie too late.  I felt like I knew the ending and neither character was all that redeeming...at least not enough for me to really care.  The arc of the movie was all about love, which is fine, but I didn't really like either character all that much more.  I rate it a 3/5.

Film 15: I'm No Angel (1933)

Netflix Summary: Hollywood icon Mae West stars in this 1933 comedy -- which she also wrote -- as Tira, a resourceful circus performer and swindler who, despite her natural distrust of men, falls head over heels for a handsome businessman (Cary Grant). One of the few Mae West films to elude heavy censorship, this entertaining tale is notable for featuring one of the bombshell's most famous quotes: "When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better."



Film Viewing Due Date: 6/21/10

Freaks (1932) Review

Juror #3 says: The 1930's are quickly shaping up to be a formative decade for film.  First we watched the movie M which brought a type of sophistication to filmmaking, and then there is the movie Freaks which takes everything we've previously seen in film and turns it upside down in an "up yours" kind of way.  I loved it.  No, love isn't a strong enough word, I LURVED it.  There are real circus freaks (many from Coney Island) and scenes created to make the audience as uncomfortable as possible - which also complements the entire point of the movie - a dark statement on humankind and how we perceive anything deemed abnormal.  
Even in today's torture-porn culture audiences would be shocked.  I was so enthralled with this film that I watched every minute of the special features on the DVD.  The background is as interesting as the film itself - the whole process seems so bizarre and improbable, but that's the amazing thing - there is an air of normality to it which is precisely what makes it so disturbing.  The movie was based on a short story called Spurs which I found online and read.  I have to say, Tod Browning took the short story to another level.  The only disappointment in Freaks is that it was censored by the studio and over 30 minutes were removed from the final cut, including a much harsher ending which included a castration scene as well as the mauling of the female antagonist.  I wish someone would piece the movie back together in Tod Browning's original vision.  Still, if you find this world of oursas bizarre, and fascinatingly so, as I do, then Freaks is a MUST see.  I rate it 5/5 stars.


girl by locker says: Freaks definitely shocks the viewers of the film, and I can only imagine how much more shocking it was back in the 1930's. I read that one woman actually attributes her miscarriage to watching the movie. The performers are actual circus freaks with various abnormalities - midgets, hermaphrodites, a man with only a torso to name a few. The first scene in which we see the "freaks" all together they are playing and frolicking about a field. I must say I that I was more than shocked during this scene and to me, that is what the movie was about - making the audience uncomfortable with "freaks", putting them in your face. I'm glad I watched the movie, and I definitely consider it an advancement to what we have seen in the 1920's, but overall I didn't enjoy the actual story. I enjoyed the spectacle. I rate it 3/5 stars.