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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 28, 2023 14:56:42 GMT
Love in the Rough from 1930 with Robert Montgomery, Dorothy Jordan and Benny Rubin
Love in The Rough is a schizophrenic early "talkie" that combines elements of a musical, slapstick/screwball comedy and vaudeville. These styles are all, somewhat, "held together" by a choppy poor-boy-loves-rich-girl story.
It's also an opportunity to see Robert Montgomery, a huge star of the 1930s, early in his career and in the type of role he would perfect as movie-making technology and style advanced throughout the decade.
Montgomery, here, plays a modest shipping clerk. His insecure boss, upon discovering that Montgomery is an outstanding golfer, invites Montgomery, incognito to avoid embarrassment, out to his fancy club for a week to give him tips to improve his game.
Along with his buffoonish friend and coworker, played by Benny Rubin, Montgomery decamps for the rarefied air of an exclusive country club to instruct his boss. Once there, though, he sees an attractive rich girl, played by Dorothy Jordan, and his plans change.
In terms of the plot, the rest of the movie plays out as most poor-boy-loves-rich-girl movies of that era did. Jordan, a pretty girl, but so-so actress, is mistakenly led to believe Montgomery is a shipping tycoon. He lets her think that as he wants to keep her interest.
They flirt, get close and, then, get serious, which leave Montgomery in the uncomfortable position of either having to come clean about his true station and risk losing Jordan or to marry her under false pretenses.
It all climaxes, as these types of stories almost always do, with the truth coming out, feelings being hurt, the parents - for better or worse - getting involved and then some deus ex machina untangling the mess.
That's the plot of Love in The Rough, but the plot is only part of the whole in this grab-bag-of-styles movie. There are also several "side shows," including a few musical numbers with "Go Home and Tell Your Mother" feeling a bit like a modern music video.
It's not quite a full musical, but the actors do break into song now and then. The actors, especially Rubin, also engage in short screwball-type skits where pottery is broken or people are "accidentally" hit with swinging golf clubs.
Finally, and this was a precode thing, too, there are several "ethnic" sketches as when Rubin and another actor do a short routine all in Yiddish. One has to wonder what percentage of the movie-going population ever spoke Yiddish.
Dated as the movie is, many of the clothes and much of the "country club" lifestyle in it has a modern Ralph Lauren feel. To this day, Lauren's company openly acknowledges that it gets inspiration from the movies, fashion magazines and newsreels of this era.
Love in The Rough was state of the art movie making for 1930. Yet in only a year or two, as talking-picture technology and storytelling rapidly advanced, it would seem dated with its awkward transitions and mishmash of styles that bordered on Vaudeville.
Today, it takes a little understanding of where movie making was in 1930 to appreciate Love in The Rough, a not-great movie, even in its day. But seen as a historic Hollywood curio, despite its "crazy" blend of styles, it is still moderately entertaining.
N.B. I like the movie's poster art so much, I used it for the picture with these comments versus my usual approach of using a pic from the movie. To this day, you will still see versions of that style of illustration popping up here and there. |
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Post by topbilled on Aug 28, 2023 15:16:42 GMT
Great paragraph:
Dated as the movie is, many of the clothes and much of the "country club" lifestyle in it has a modern Ralph Lauren feel. To this day, Lauren's company openly acknowledges that it gets inspiration from the movies, fashion magazines and newsreels of this era.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 2, 2023 17:48:31 GMT
This neglected film is from 1932.
Plumbers need love too
While I won’t discount Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante as a team, since they do have a good rapport and made a few precodes together at MGM, I think Keaton works better on his own, when it’s just him with a prop doing a gag. Also, what I like about Keaton is that he’s able to understate a situation and make the laughs come naturally. This is the complete opposite of Durante, whose wild gesticulations and overly enunciated ha-ha-ha’s are anything but subtle.
I can’t really be too hard on Durante, since he’s not the only one overacting in this film. The supporting players, frumpy Polly Moran and handsome Gilbert Roland, are also prone to exaggeration. Then there’s Irene Purcell, fourth billed but actually in the second most important role opposite Keaton as the love interest. She’s a vamped up Jean Harlow, louder than everyone else, with not one ounce of restraint.
If it sounds like I am blasting this film because of how the cast handle their roles, I am not. Actually, I found THE PASSIONATE PLUMBER to be quite hilarious and give it a score of 8 out of 10. Sometimes I am in the mood for over-the-top ham-fisted comedy, but I do think this film would have been better if there had been someone with a laidback delivery, besides Buster, who could help him balance out the others.
Even the extras behave in an animated fashion during a casino scene. There are minor roles played by French speaking actors whose “oui” sounds like “whee!” and well you get the idea, this is a farce that operates like a raging forest fire totally out of control.
One thing I admire about Buster Keaton’s comedy, whether it’s the silent kind or these later talkie versions, is just how experimental he is. He takes a few pratfalls in a scene where he disrupts Moran’s housekeeping duties.
Then there is the part at the casino, where he has been mistaken for an assassin. He runs through the joint, hopping on a gaming table, hopping off, running into the lobby, darting up a huge flight of stairs…men scramble after him, trying to catch him.
They nearly reach the top of the staircase, before Keaton backtracks and staggers down the steps. They all stagger back down with him like a bunch of falling dominoes. You can tell that Keaton and director Edward Sedgwick decided to see if they could get laughs from a chase up and down a flight of stairs. It doesn’t exactly work, but they tried…and the action just continues on to the next sequence filled with the next set of gags and attempts to make the audience laugh.
As a result of this kinetic approach to storytelling, we have a highly energetic romp. THE PASSIONATE PLUMBER is about a bumbling paramour. It is based on an earlier hit starring Marion Davies called THE CARDBOARD LOVER which was remade again with Norma Shearer. Of course, Davies and Shearer don’t inject it with the same sort of voltage that Keaton does. And even during the story’s slower moments, there is still plenty of half-baked action to keep us engaged.
Miss Purcell has a great sounding voice, and it’s a shame that she didn’t make very many movies. She was a millionaire who preferred working on stage and traveling. Life as a movie star apparently did not interest her much, but she does memorable work in this film and I am eager to see two other films she made at Metro, one with William Haines and another with Robert Montgomery both from this period.
The cast member who had the most success in the sound era of Hollywood films is probably Jimmy Durante, who would later reinvent himself as a musical comedy star at MGM in the 1940s appearing in productions with June Allyson, Esther Williams and Frank Sinatra. I have to admire Mr. Durante for his ability to make fun of his famous schnoz.
I guess it was his calling card…there is a scene where Roland’s character “honks” him and more shtick at the end with him and Miss Moran involving his large proboscis.
This is still Buster Keaton’s film. He is athletic, spacey, wry and daresay even sexy in the repeated kissing scenes. What an unusual package.
While THE PASSIONATE PLUMBER may not be deemed 100% classic, it still has some laugh-out-loud moments and I did enjoy watching it. Certain bits reminded me of W.C. Fields and Woody Allen. Cinema’s best comedians inspire each other, and in turn they inspire us not to take ourselves so seriously!
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Post by Fading Fast on Sept 2, 2023 18:25:18 GMT
The Passionate Plumber from 1932 with Buster Keaton, Irene Purcell, Jimmy Durante, Gilbert Roland and Mona Maris
The Passionate Plumber suffers from an identity crisis. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be a Buster Keaton vehicle, a Keaton and Jimmy Durante pairing or a romantic comedy, so it tried to be all three and became a muddle.
The talent is here with Keaton, Durante and Irene Purcell, plus Mona Maris' stunning jawline, and there are several funny lines and skits, but the parts never gel. Several scenes seem to exist to highlight Keaton or Durante, or Keaton and Durante, which is fine, but results in the movie often feeling like a bunch of Saturday Night Live comedy sketches knitted together.
The plot has Keaton playing an American plumber working in Paris (just go with it) who is called to the house of another American, played by Irene Purcell, to fix her shower. Purcell is having an affair with a man, played by Gilbert Roland, who claims his wife won't give him a divorce.
To make Roland jealous, Purcell, who cut down the wardrobe budget of the movie by never once wearing a bra, spontaneously hires Keaton to play her lover. There's also a side plot about Keaton having invented a new gun that he wants to sell to the French military (once again, just go with it).
From here, the movie is a bunch of scenes in which Purcell either pushes Roland away or tries to get him back, while Keaton tries to keep his "contract" with Purcell by kissing her in Roland's presence, often to Purcell's annoyance.
This leads to a bunch of farcical scenes such as Keaton dueling with Roland with Durante serving as Keaton's second. Durante, in theory, plays Purcell's chauffeur in the movie, but he really just pops up for additional comic relief now and then. At some point, Keaton also tries to show his new gun to a French general, which is mistaken as Keaton attempting to assassinate the man.
Most of these scenes are filled with slapstick, puns, nonsensical misunderstandings and physical humor - head bonking, falling over furniture, firing guns accidentally, etc. Half of it works and half of it falls flat.
Durante gets in some funny lines with his brand of humor, but he never really fits into this one. Keaton is enjoyable, but he, too, never seems fully comfortable in his role as the story often jarringly jumps back and forth between his routines and the Purcell-Roland love angle.
Purcell plays the romance somewhat (not that much) seriously, but Roland is either the worst actor ever or intentionally plays his role as a cardboard Latin lover. As with everything else in the Passionate Plumber, it doesn't harmonize as you have two actors playing a scene with completely different tones and style.
At the end, Roland's other lover, played by Mona Maris, pops up for the final showdown. She is beautiful to look at and adds a spark to a movie that was pretty tired by the climax, a climax that, not surprisingly, too easily wraps everything up.
The Passionate Plumber is a mediocre movie because it tries to do too many things at once, but it has so much talent hanging around that it can't help but deliver some solid entertainment and laughs. Sometimes the studio system, with too many hands involved in a project, too many resources and too much talent to choose from, produced an expensive and glossy looking kludge, like this one.
N.B. Only in a pre-code would a man be allowed to describe the woman he's been stringing along with this rude alliteration: "[She's] the kind of a woman a man finds, fondles and forgets."
Mona Maris and her jawline.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 9, 2023 14:20:27 GMT
This neglected film is from 1935.
Well-written film with sincere performances
The story is based on a play by Theodore Reeves, and it is set in a generic fictional establishment called Metropolitan Hospital. It is probably more a continuation of the studio’s earlier hit MEN IN WHITE (1934), and it sets the stage for YOUNG DR. KILDARE (1938).
However, this offering is different because the head doctor is not middle-aged like Jean Hersholt or Lionel Barrymore in those other two pictures. Instead, he is young and handsome and appears on screen in the form of Chester Morris, known for gritty crime stories. The young intern, meanwhile, is not played by Clark Gable or Lew Ayres, but by a new studio contractee named Robert Taylor.
The guys are featured shirtless within the first few minutes of the film, cleaning up after an operation. Eye candy for movie patrons. Successive scenes show Morris and Taylor in a triangle with a lovely nurse (Virginia Bruce) who just assisted in the operating room.
On-screen dilemmas involve an assortment of unusual characters. This part resembles the formula for Kildare, Marcus Welby, Trapper John and other medicos that would become popular with audiences.
A patient undergoes surgery despite his father’s objections. This leads to Morris being fired, then reinstated. Basically, his conflict is– does he want to be right, or does he want to remain on the right side of the hospital administrator (Raymond Walburn)? Faced with the prospect of career uncertainty, he toys with the idea of leaving public medicine and starting his own private practice.
Billie Burke plays a charming society matron who in her days before Glinda waves an imaginary wand and says she will set Morris up in his own lucrative practice. She has developed a crush on him, and she’s eager to fund a new facility and provide all the necessary equipment while referring her rich friends to him for pills and such!
It’s interesting to see the lead doctor embroiled in hospital politics, going against the establishment before such things became fashionable decades later. There is also considerable commentary on how big money interests control the medical profession, points that are just as relevant now as they were then.
Chester Morris is a skilled actor who successfully puts across the arrogance and idealism of his character. Robert Taylor, at the beginning of his 28-year association with Metro Goldwyn Mayer, shows promise with his performance. His style did not evolve much. The guys may be competing over the same girl, but there is camaraderie and friendship on display. Especially when “Sprout” (Morris’ nickname for Taylor) must conduct emergency surgery on his boss/pal/rival who’s been shot by a gangster trying to elude police.
The story dramatically shifts gears in the last ten minutes. It suddenly turns into an ironic case of the head doctor becoming his protege’s patient.
Overall, this is an engrossing and well-written film with sincere performances. SOCIETY DOCTOR perfects a formula that would be used for the many Kildare pictures which followed, as well as the countless television medical programs that came afterward.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 17, 2023 14:36:53 GMT
This neglected film is from 1950.
American postwar family
This MGM comedy is very funny in spots, even if formulaic and somewhat predictable. The trials and tribulations faced by a navy commander (Robert Walker) and his wife (Joan Leslie) are played mostly for laughs, but there is a serious undercurrent related to women’s rights– as well as women and men both knowing their places inside and outside the home.
While no doubt pleasing to conservative-minded audiences then and now, the script has a few naughty bits of adult humor sprinkled in…one of the commander’s sea colleagues has three girlfriends at the same time, and the commander’s boss, a crusty admiral (Edward Arnold) insists he sleeps in a double bed with his long-suffering wife (Spring Byington). This latter reference is in humorous defiance of the production code, since most married couples were shown using twin beds, which is what Walker and Leslie have in the bedroom of their suburban home…yet they’ve somehow produced two children.
Also in the cast we have a neighbor couple (Jan Sterling & Anthony Ross) where the wife seems to be openly lusting after Walker, and the husband seems to treat his trophy wife as a piece of property. But they are relatively harmless. Easier to take, in a sitcom-type way are the main couple’s precocious sons (Tommy Myers & Rudy Lee) as well as Muscles, the family dog (played by Finnegan Weatherwax) who adds to the domestic chaos and overall merriment of the picture.
What I like about this film is how well the leads work together, as well as the attention to detail in even the most basic scenes. After Walker’s character is inspired by something Arnold’s character says, that a home can and should be run like a ship, we see immediate changes to their domestic environment.
The cupboards in the kitchen are suddenly labeled with signs that say ‘Chow Locker,’ the boys’ eating area is designated a ‘Mess’ area, and when the boys have finished taking orders they are allowed some ‘Liberty’ or playtime in an enclosed play area out in the yard that Leslie thinks resembles a brig. Amusing stuff.
The comic highlight is a luncheon at the local women’s auxiliary where Walker mentions facts related to running a household efficiently. He says things about housewives typically taking more than nine hours per day to complete their tasks which he believes can be done in half the time. He goes over charts on how to use meat purchased at the butcher shop and displays a schedule where specific tasks are to be completed from Monday through Saturday. Oh, and he tells the women they can get all their shopping done in 30 minutes, which of course causes a collective gasp amongst the attendees. To say that he’s facing a mutiny is an understatement.
There is some expected drama when Leslie has decided enough is enough and leaves with the boys to go stay with mother. This is reminiscent of Maureen O’Hara’s character leaving after an argument with Robert Young in 20th Century Fox’s much more acerbic romp SITTING PRETTY (1948). But THE SKIPPER SURPRISED HIS WIFE is just as much fun.
Although order is restored by the time the closing credits come up on the screen, we get to enjoy a few raucous moments and begin some sort of introspection about what it means to live like an average American postwar family.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 23, 2023 14:01:49 GMT
This neglected film is from 1957.
Something poetic
Sidney Franklin directed MGM’s original version of this story in 1934. It was based on a successful stage play that producer Irving Thalberg purchased for his wife Norma Shearer. On Broadway, Katharine Cornell had been successful playing Elizabeth Barrett Browning; in fact, she reprised the role several times throughout her illustrious stage career.
When Miss Shearer appeared in the first big screen version, she too had a hit, winning over skeptical critics with her carefully measured performance of the reclusive poet.
A lot of Shearer’s success could be attributed to Franklin’s direction, so when MGM decided to remake the property, Franklin was again assigned to direct.
Originally MGM planned to put Grace Kelly in the remake, but she turned down several roles and was put on suspension. So Jennifer Jones stepped in, which was a dream come true for the actress. Miss Jones, under her previous stage name, had used a scene from the original play to audition for drama school when she was younger.
Once Jones was signed, she and Sidney Franklin went to London where they joined an all-British cast and crew to begin work on the remake. Robert Browning would be played by handsome leading man Bill Travers; and Travers’ wife Virginia McKenna was also cast, playing one of Elizabeth’s sisters.
While the earlier version featured Charles Laughton as domineering Edward Moulten-Barrett, this later production utilized the acting services of John Gielgud. Gielgud is exceptional as the tyrannical Victorian father, and his performance is a bit more modest than Laughton’s had been.
For instance, Laughton would use his eyes to suggest incestuous tendencies that may have been an aspect of the father-daughter relationship. However, biographers agree that none of this can be proved about the Barretts; only that Edward was very controlling and did threaten to disinherit his daughters if they married suitors who didn’t meet with his approval (which seemed to be all of them).
Sidney Franklin had directed Jennifer Jones in retake scenes from her earlier 1946 motion picture DUEL IN THE SUN. But other than this, he hadn’t directed a film in twenty years when this remake was produced. He had spent the 1940s and much of the 1950s serving as a writer-producer at Metro. But he was once again coaching actors in this extravagantly budgeted British undertaking. It would be his last film as director.
Perhaps because television was now ruling the entertainment industry, the picture did not fare too well when it hit movie screens. That doesn’t make it any less worthy of our attention now, since the efforts of everyone involved make it a beautiful and special experience. There’s something poetic about THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET.
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Post by NoShear on Sept 23, 2023 18:10:23 GMT
This neglected film is from 1957.
Something poetic
Sidney Franklin directed MGM’s original version of this story in 1934. It was based on a successful stage play that producer Irving Thalberg purchased for his wife Norma Shearer. On Broadway, Katharine Cornell had been successful playing Elizabeth Barrett Browning; in fact, she reprised the role several times throughout her illustrious stage career.
When Miss Shearer appeared in the first big screen version, she too had a hit, winning over skeptical critics with her carefully measured performance of the reclusive poet.
A lot of Shearer’s success could be attributed to Franklin’s direction, so when MGM decided to remake the property, Franklin was again assigned to direct.
Originally MGM planned to put Grace Kelly in the remake, but she turned down several roles and was put on suspension. So Jennifer Jones stepped in, which was a dream come true for the actress. Miss Jones, under her previous stage name, had used a scene from the original play to audition for drama school when she was younger.
I can almost hear an older Norma Shearer scolding you, TopBilled: It's Mrs. Thalberg! Interesting full-circle moment for Jennifer Jones. |
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Post by topbilled on Sept 23, 2023 18:13:57 GMT
Sometimes I feel Jennifer Jones is miscast in her films. But I think this role does suit her fragile-like quality as an actress. I don't think Grace Kelly would've been as right, so it's a good thing she passed it up.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 4, 2023 15:12:02 GMT
This neglected film is from 1930.
Unlikely war hero gets the girl
Released in the summer of 1930, more than a decade after WWI, this motion picture is a satire of life in the trenches and one of Buster Keaton’s most fondly remembered efforts at MGM. In fact Keaton considered it his best sound film from the talkie era. As a precode production, there are some amusing scenes that suggest promiscuity as well as violence, though nothing too shocking for modern eyes.
Watching DOUGHBOYS, I had a strong sense of deja vu. It was clear to me that the creators of Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. had borrowed heavily from the ideas presented in this film. On TV, Gomer (played by Jim Nabors) was a bumbling recruit who always seemed to get on a gunnery sergeant’s last nerve. Here, it’s Keaton’s standard routine as well, causing chaos and confusion everywhere he goes, to the great exasperation of Sergeant Edward Brophy who is constantly shouting orders to no avail. It’s funny the first two or three times, but the shtick quickly becomes repetitive and stale.
The best comic bits are where Keaton gets to demonstrate his athleticism, such as an early scene in the recruitment office where he is forced to undergo a physical despite his attempts to avoid it. There is also a strange scene later in the movie, where Keaton joins a dance troupe on stage to entertain his fellow soldiers. While dressed as a female, he experiences a physically grueling number with another male dancer that involves slamming his body down on the floor over and over. It looks painful to watch, but is still somewhat humorous.
In case military satire and Keaton’s physical gags get to be too much, the story slows down in spots to focus on a relationship between Keaton and a girl (Sally Eilers) he’s been trying to romance since before his enlistment. Miss Eilers reminds me a bit of Mary Astor in this film. Her hairstyle seems early 30s, more than a bit anachronistic since this is technically a period piece set in the late 1910s.
We know that despite various mishaps, Keaton will end up with the girl. He will also become an unlikely hero who saves the day at the end during battle against the Germans. It’s the type of story that has a predictable quality, but is nonetheless still entertaining.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 4, 2023 15:36:15 GMT
Funny to see how many of the same points Topbilled and I hit on; it tells me I did something right this time.
Doughboys from 1930 with Buster Keaton, Sally Eilers and Edward Brophy
Buster Keaton doing physical comedy in a farcical story where his deadpan response sits at the core of the humor is what Buster Keaton does best, as seen in Doughboys, an okay very early talkie from 1930.
Keaton, in this movie, takes his comedy formula to WWI. But first, he, playing a layabout heir of a wealthy industrialist, meets a woman, played by Sally Eilers, who rejects him because of his rich idleness. Then, and by complete mistake, Keaton enlist in the Army.
Even though it's a talkie, the style echoes Keaton's famous silent pictures as much of the humor is physical comedy that has Keaton walking into doors, falling into holes, rolling in the mud and accidentally sleeping in the wrong bed.
All these pratfalls befalling Keaton prompt his famous deadpan response, which is the driver of the humor as no matter what crazy thing happens to Keaton, he just blithely takes it as if being offered a cup of coffee.
Once he's in the army, the story has two threads. In one, the "romance" continues as Eilers, who signed up for a women's auxiliary unit that entertains the troops, goes to France when Keaton gets shipped over.
The other storyline is the much-used fish-out-of-water new-recruit tale with Keaton irritating his by-the-book bullying drill sergeant, played by noted character actor Edward Brophy.
The rest of the movie is, one part, Keaton trying to charm Eilers, which consists mainly of Keaton accidentally angering Eilers on the surface, while also, reaching her at a deeper level. This part is driven, mainly, by pratfalls and misunderstanding, Keaton's stock in trade.
The new-recruit storyline, the second part, plays out with many pratfalls and misunderstandings, too, as Keaton bumbles his way through basic training, losing his bayonet, confusing orders, accidentally knocking Brophy down into a mud puddle, etc.
The climax, no spoilers coming, has Keaton at the front where he gets to show the absurdity of war, which is fair enough because there is plenty of absurdity to war, but if the good guys don't fight, the dictators aren't going to lay down their arms in sympathy.
Keaton, while making the absurdity point, accidentally wanders into a German trench, where he meets his former chauffeur. They forget they are "enemies" and have a pleasant exchange as they casually put their guns aside. It's funny, albeit obvious.
Of course, and this is no spoiler as Keaton fans know this is going to happen all along, the misunderstandings with Eilers get straightened out, Keaton gets back to "normal" life and, then, one final scene has all the craziness return in a Seinfeld-like "twist" ending.
Doughboys, an early talkie, suffers from some really poor transitions where a scene will be abruptly cut off only to jarringly drop you into another scene. It feels as if the movie was poorly sliced together. (In fairness, that might just have been the copy I saw.)
The picture is helped, though, by Brophy as he was born to play a drill sergeant bent out of shape by a Keaton-like recruit (think Nabors and Sutton in Gomer Pyle: USMC). It's also helped by Eilers, a quietly charming Mary Astor doppelgänger carrying a few extra pounds.
It's nice to see, in this precode, that the "ethnicity" of the recruits wasn't scrubbed out by the censors. One recruit in particular, a Jewish man, spits out pithy comments in heavily accented English that echoes the sounds of the lower east side of NYC from that era.
Doughboys works if you like Keaton's humor of pratfalls and crazy misunderstandings delivered with a blithe deadpan, all wrapped inside a farcical story. It maybe shows the absurdity of life or it is maybe just meant to amuse and entertain.
N.B. Had Keaton been in his prime in the 1960s, his style of humor would have fit that era's thirty-minute TV sitcom humor perfectly. In the 1970s, he would have probably hosted his own variety show à la Carol Burnett.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 4, 2023 16:03:50 GMT
Good review Fading Fast.
One thing I didn't mention-- the recurring bits with Cliff Edwards playing the ukulele and singing. In fact, there were quite a few little musical numbers inserted into this picture. The ukulele is included in the final scene, where we learn Keaton's character is now manufacturing gold plated ones (as if there'd be a huge demand LOL).
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Post by sagebrush on Oct 4, 2023 22:37:25 GMT
It is fitting you should have your review of a Buster Keaton film today, Topbilled, as October 4th happens to be his birthday! 
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Post by topbilled on Oct 4, 2023 22:50:49 GMT
It is fitting you should have your review of a Buster Keaton film today, Topbilled, as October 4th happens to be his birthday!
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Post by NoShear on Oct 10, 2023 1:28:25 GMT
This neglected film is from 1930.
Unlikely war hero gets the girl
Released in the summer of 1930, more than a decade after WWI, this motion picture is a satire of life in the trenches and one of Buster Keaton’s most fondly remembered efforts at MGM. In fact Keaton considered it his best sound film from the talkie era. As a precode production, there are some amusing scenes that suggest promiscuity as well as violence, though nothing too shocking for modern eyes.
Watching DOUGHBOYS, I had a strong sense of deja vu. It was clear to me that the creators of Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. had borrowed heavily from the ideas presented in this film. On TV, Gomer (played by Jim Nabors) was a bumbling recruit who always seemed to get on a gunnery sergeant’s last nerve. Here, it’s Keaton’s standard routine as well, causing chaos and confusion everywhere he goes, to the great exasperation of Sergeant Edward Brophy who is constantly shouting orders to no avail. It’s funny the first two or three times, but the shtick quickly becomes repetitive and stale.
The best comic bits are where Keaton gets to demonstrate his athleticism, such as an early scene in the recruitment office where he is forced to undergo a physical despite his attempts to avoid it. There is also a strange scene later in the movie, where Keaton joins a dance troupe on stage to entertain his fellow soldiers. While dressed as a female, he experiences a physically grueling number with another male dancer that involves slamming his body down on the floor over and over. It looks painful to watch, but is still somewhat humorous.
In case military satire and Keaton’s physical gags get to be too much, the story slows down in spots to focus on a relationship between Keaton and a girl (Sally Eilers) he’s been trying to romance since before his enlistment. Miss Eilers reminds me a bit of Mary Astor in this film. Her hairstyle seems early 30s, more than a bit anachronistic since this is technically a period piece set in the late 1910s.
We know that despite various mishaps, Keaton will end up with the girl. He will also become an unlikely hero who saves the day at the end during battle against the Germans. It’s the type of story that has a predictable quality, but is nonetheless still entertaining.
TopBilled, your GOMER PYLE - USMC observation reminded me of viewing at least two episodes of HAWAIIAN EYE which were influenced by classic movies - KEY LARGO, for one. |
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