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Post by topbilled on Dec 30, 2022 16:22:20 GMT
This neglected film is from 1938.
Married to a woman like that
This was the last ‘A’ film that Kay Francis made under contract at Warner Brothers. Her next few pics at the studio were decidedly smaller affairs. Boss Jack Warner hoped by casting her in B films, that she would quit, and he wouldn’t have to continue paying her hefty salary. But Miss Francis hung in there, and her movies, regardless of budget or stature, still contained strong central performances.
This time she gets to work opposite Pat O’Brien. In a way the first 25 minutes of the story are about O’Brien’s character. He’s a guy who started out at the bottom and ascended the ranks at a prestigious advertising agency. Along the way, he impressed one of the bosses (Thurston Hall) and captured the heart of the man’s daughter (Francis). He elopes with her, even though she’s about to marry the agency’s other boss (Ralph Forbes). Of course, it’s something that her father must accept.
We see O’Brien as the boy wonder of Madison Avenue. He has a great job, a beautiful trophy wife and all the money he could want. Then things take a dreadful turn. Francis’ papa embezzles from the firm and high-tails it to Europe. This means O’Brien has to step in and cover the company’s financial losses by relinquishing his own stock. He does this to prevent a scandal, to keep the business afloat and to protect his wife from the truth about her crooked old man.
Francis’ character finally gets something important to do when she realizes she can help snag an influential client and boost the agency’s fortunes. She does such a stellar job, proving her own aptitude for business, that it wounds O’Briend’s male pride. The dialogue in the film is very thought-provoking in this regard.
This is not just a battle of the sexes. It’s a thesis about the worth of both people in a marriage. Of course, there are plenty of melodramatic moments. O’Brien quits his job, leaves Francis and travels the world; while she takes over his office and makes a huge success of everything. In an interesting sequence, we glimpse how crafty she is at wooing a prospective new client (Grant Mitchell).
By this point O’Brien’s back in town. He signs on with a rival agency and starts to steal accounts from Francis and Forbes. Meanwhile, a looming divorce which is almost finalized, means Francis will be free to remarry. And she may try to head back to the altar with Forbes.
However, we know she will have a change of heart and reconcile with O’Brien. But not before she gets to say what’s on her mind. To the film’s credit, she isn’t forced to surrender her job and return to her previous position as a self-sacrificing society wife. At the end of the story, they are much more equals. They are in it all the way…together for the long haul.
But I was pleasantly surprised how well she works with O'Brien. I think they both benefit from a strong script. Because he gets most of the action in the first 25 minutes, we have a very strong sense of him as a breadwinner with a slight ego. Then when she starts becoming successful and squeezes him out of the limelight, there is this very dynamic back-and-forth that occurs, where they snarl at each other but manage to still generate sparks.
I really enjoyed the film, and it should be better known.
As for Thurston Hall, who plays Francis' crooked father, his character is allowed to get away with his crimes. He returns from his European vacation and is never required to pay back the money he embezzled. He humorously tells his daughter that he is now retired. |
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Post by topbilled on Jan 8, 2023 2:45:16 GMT
This neglected film is from 1949.
Their last flings
It’s amazing how a whole film can be hung on a paper-thin plot. This Warner Brothers comedy is a mostly light-hearted romp that is played with a flair for the absurd, but the cast wisely refrain from going overboard. Credit goes to director Peter Godfrey for reigning it in and keeping things in check.
The basic premise is actually not silly at all and quite plausible. Husband Larry (Zachary Scott) has recently returned from the war, and he’s reclaimed his old job of running a successful music business.
While he was away, wife Olivia (Alexis Smith) kept the company going, and did rather well. In fact, she sustained profits and made sure the men had jobs to come back to…she wasn’t exactly Rosie the Riveter, but she was still doing her part during the war years, and then some!
Of course now that Larry’s back, Olivia has been reassigned to the home. She has two maids that do everything around the house for her. So she spends most of her time lunching with her rich girlfriends or else reading spicy novels. She’s bored to tears and would like to return to work at the company.
One day she goes downtown to visit Larry at his office. He has just had a meeting with some staff, telling them he was going to hire a new personal assistant. He has someone in mind for the position, but that someone is definitely not his wife. However, due to a misunderstanding, Olivia is led to believe the new position will be hers. She is ecstatic to learn her days of domestic drudgery are over.
For the time being, Larry lets her believe this, instead of admitting the truth he’s promised the assistant job to an old flame (Veda Ann Borg). Larry’s ex is now married to someone else (Douglas Kennedy) and the guy suspects an affair might be going on.
It doesn’t take long for Olivia to arrive at the same conclusion. Especially when she learns her job was supposed to go to the other woman. She is jealous, but also upset to learn of her husband’s patronizing attitude. There’s a double standard here– he’s willing to hire a married woman, just not her, even though she’s the one who kept the company going while Larry was fighting in the Pacific. Not able to deal with Larry’s behavior, Olivia announces she wants a divorce and kicks Larry out.
This is where the plot gets a bit haphazard and farcical. We see a series of exhausting stunts that Larry pulls to try and get back into their home and into Olivia’s good graces. But she’s still angry and hurt. Eventually he is able to convince Olivia that he only has eyes for her and no other woman.
Like Shakespeare would say, it’s all much ado about nothing. A job opportunity that is not really a job opportunity. An affair that is non-existent. A broken marriage that is not broken at all. It’s amusing fluff that still makes salient points about the roles within a marriage in the postwar era.
As for the meaning of the title, we could interpret it as Larry’s last fling with another woman (flirting with the idea of being with his ex again); or as Olivia’s last fling with the outside world before she finally accepts her role as a society wife who doesn’t need to work because her husband is giving her everything she needs.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 11, 2023 14:36:18 GMT
This neglected film is from 1951.
Across to Santa Loma
This was Kirk Douglas’ first western. He’d been making films in Hollywood for about five years, mostly for producer Hal Wallis, and it was a chance to do something different. In a way he is perfectly suited to roles that take him into the great outdoors, galloping across rugged country in the saddle.
As good as Douglas is here, playing a lawman haunted by the death of his father, it is Walter Brennan who steals the picture. Brennan is a rustler in the wrong place at the wrong time who gets blamed for the murder of a rancher’s son. The rancher (Morris Ankrum), his surviving son (James Anderson) and a bunch of hired men intend to string Brennan up and leave him to the vultures.
While pleading for his life, Brennan admits to the rustling but insists he didn’t kill anyone. Ankrum doesn’t believe him and wants Brennan to die. However, before the lynching can occur, Douglas and his two deputies (Ray Teal and John Agar) show up out of nowhere and put a stop to their vigilantism.
These lawmen plan to take Brennan to a town several days’ ride away, where Brennan will stand trial and have his fate decided by a jury. Of course, Ankrum has his own ideas and thus the conflict of whether or not Brennan will actually make it to trial forms the basis of the plot.
Before heading off, Douglas and his deputies stop off at Brennan’s place for food and fresh horses. This is where we meet Brennan’s daughter (Virginia Mayo). She has her own plan to keep her pop out of trouble. She knows how to use a rifle, so she makes Douglas take notice of her. And considering how pretty she is, his interest will extend beyond law-and-order.
There are a few unexpected twists. Agar’s character gets shot halfway across the sun-scorched desert to Santa Loma. He has a poignant death scene riding on the same horse with Douglas, who is trying to prop him up and keep him alive. Meanwhile, another standoff has taken place with Ankrum’s men. This leads to his surviving son being taken as a prisoner by Douglas and Teal, which creates new problems.
Walter Doniger’s script contains some heartfelt moments that make this a most satisfying western to watch. Of course justice will prevail, and Brennan will be exonerated. But it’s what we learn about these men on the journey that matters most. In the end, Brennan resigns himself to a much “worse fate” than hanging: he will become Douglas’ father-in-law, and this new family dynamic helps solve Douglas’ personal problems.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 11, 2023 17:23:31 GMT
This neglected film is from 1951.
Across to Santa Loma
This was Kirk Douglas’ first western. He’d been making films in Hollywood for about five years, mostly for producer Hal Wallis, and it was a chance to do something different. In a way he is perfectly suited to roles that take him into the great outdoors, galloping across rugged country in the saddle.
As good as Douglas is here, playing a lawman haunted by the death of his father, it is Walter Brennan who steals the picture. Brennan is a rustler in the wrong place at the wrong time who gets blamed for the murder of a rancher’s son. The rancher (Morris Ankrum), his surviving son (James Anderson) and a bunch of hired men intend to string Brennan up and leave him to the vultures.
While pleading for his life, Brennan admits to the rustling but insists he didn’t kill anyone. Ankrum doesn’t believe him and wants Brennan to die. However, before the lynching can occur, Douglas and his two deputies (Ray Teal and John Agar) show up out of nowhere and put a stop to their vigilantism.
These lawmen plan to take Brennan to a town several days’ ride away, where Brennan will stand trial and have his fate decided by a jury. Of course, Ankrum has his own ideas and thus the conflict of whether or not Brennan will actually make it to trial forms the basis of the plot.
Before heading off, Douglas and his deputies stop off at Brennan’s place for food and fresh horses. This is where we meet Brennan’s daughter (Virginia Mayo). She has her own plan to keep her pop out of trouble. She knows how to use a rifle, so she makes Douglas take notice of her. And considering how pretty she is, his interest will extend beyond law-and-order.
There are a few unexpected twists. Agar’s character gets shot halfway across the sun-scorched desert to Santa Loma. He has a poignant death scene riding on the same horse with Douglas, who is trying to prop him up and keep him alive. Meanwhile, another standoff has taken place with Ankrum’s men. This leads to his surviving son being taken as a prisoner by Douglas and Teal, which creates new problems.
Walter Doniger’s script contains some heartfelt moments that make this a most satisfying western to watch. Of course justice will prevail, and Brennan will be exonerated. But it’s what we learn about these men on the journey that matters most. In the end, Brennan resigns himself to a much “worse fate” than hanging: he will become Douglas’ father-in-law, and this new family dynamic helps solve Douglas’ personal problems.
Amazingly, you can say that about several of Brennan's picture, which is quite a compliment to him as he was usually in pictures with A-list stars. |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Jan 12, 2023 1:21:19 GMT
Just read what TB and Fading Fast said about Pattern (UA), and how this WB film - Along the Great Divide. What you two are doing here with neglected films is great. But I'm having trouble keeping up! (seriously I'm still figuring out how to "find" new content).
So if you don't see me comment it isn't that I'm wishing to read what is posted.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 12, 2023 14:02:45 GMT
Just read what TB and Fading Fast said about Pattern (UA), and how this WB film - Along the Great Divide. What you two are doing here with neglected films is great. But I'm having trouble keeping up! (seriously I'm still figuring out how to "find" new content). So if you don't see me comment it isn't that I'm wishing to read what is posted. |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Jan 12, 2023 16:36:52 GMT
Just read what TB and Fading Fast said about Pattern (UA), and how this WB film - Along the Great Divide. What you two are doing here with neglected films is great. But I'm having trouble keeping up! (seriously I'm still figuring out how to "find" new content). So if you don't see me comment it isn't that I'm wishing to read what is posted. That does help because it explains what "new" meant (I assume it was that but now you confirmed it), and I like when a site takes one to the first unread comment since I tend to visit a few times per day and that makes it easier to see new comments. Thanks |
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 12, 2023 18:02:06 GMT
If it's a thread you've visited before, there will be a button in front of the thread that says NEW. Hover over it for a few seconds then click, and it will take you to the first unread comment in the thread. Hope this helps! That does help because it explains what "new" meant (I assume it was that but now you confirmed it), and I like when a site takes one to the first unread comment since I tend to visit a few times per day and that makes it easier to see new comments. Thanks |
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Post by topbilled on Jan 19, 2023 17:08:43 GMT
This neglected film is from 1939.
Sentimental journey
This was another chance for John Garfield and Priscilla to team up. They had previously been paired to great success in FOUR DAUGHTERS (1938) and DAUGHTERS COURAGEOUS (1939), both tearjerkers with similar themes and nearly identical casts. The public liked seeing these two perform together on screen, so it was a no-brainer for the studio to cast them in another production.
This time we have the usual romantic melodrama, but the circumstances their characters face are a bit more grim. Probably inspired by Fritz Lang’s YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (1937), about a young couple on the lam, DUST BE MY DESTINY is a tale about the hard knocks of life getting in the way of our lovers’ happiness.
Garfield’s character begins the movie just released from prison, and we see him roam from place to place hopping freight trains with a few dead end kids (Bobby Jordan & Billy Halop). He winds up in trouble again and is sent to a work farm, where he meets Miss Lane, who is the stepdaughter of the foreman.
They have a memorable first encounter while he’s milking a cow in the barn. To the audience’s udder delight, they quickly become smitten with each other even if Garfield is reluctant to be so vulnerable with her. He soon is allowed to take her on errands into town. But the “idyllic” courtship soon hits a snag.
When an argument leads to the foreman’s death from a weak heart, Garfield fears he’ll be blamed. He decides to go on the run again, and this time Lane will hit the open road with him. They are soon married and take a job working at an Italian diner owned by Henry Armetta. Armetta’s role resembles the type of comic relief that would be handed to S.Z. Sakall in subsequent pictures at Warner Brothers.
When police catch up with them and Lane is arrested, things begin to seem hopeless. A short time later, Armetta helps Garfield break Lane out of a local jail. Again they hit the road, determined to start over somewhere else. But around every corner, they face recapture.
As you can see, the film’s dramatic episodes are somewhat repetitive, but of course, these are variations on the story’s overall theme of homelessness and injustice. Some of Robert Rossen’s script lays it all on a bit too thick, but the heavier aspects of the picture are balanced out by the sincere work of the two lead stars.
Originally the script was meant for the duo to meet a deadly demise. But this milder version of Bonnie and Clyde would be given a reprieve, when the studio decided the film needed a happy ending to ensure favorable returns at the box office. So it all culminates in Garfield going on trial, Lane testifying on his behalf, and his being pardoned. Now they are able to start fresh without anything hanging over them.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 19, 2023 17:31:26 GMT
⇧ As you note, a little heavy on the messaging, but a fun pairing with several enjoyable supporting characters.
My unpopular opinion is that I enjoy the movie "Daughters Courageous" more than "Four Daughters," but I'll gladly watch either. Either one, also, would be a fun Sunday Live movie sometime.
Here are my brief comments on "Dust Be My Destiny" from a few years back.
Dust Be My Destiny from 1939 with John Garfield, Priscilla Lane and Alan Hale
This is best understood to be Warner Brothers social commentary delivered as a movie.
Garfield plays a young man riding the rails in the Great Depression who is falsely imprisoned, then falls in love with the work farm's overseer's daughter (Lane). But after seriously injuring the overseer in a fight, Garfield and Lane escape and go on the lam believing Garfield would never get a fair shake. From there, it's the hard life of being penniless and on the road, until a few breaks come their way, but eventual exposure results in arrest for Garfield and a trial that serves as the final editorial comment.
The message the movie screams out at you is that these young men, who many see as vagrants and petty criminals, are really decent people who, if given a chance, would work hard and live honest, upstanding lives. Hollywood has been telling this tale ever since, including right up to today (see the mercifully just-cancelled TV show God Friended Me as one of many examples).
It's an emotionally appealing message of kindness, redemption, charity, hope and justice - that's why it's told again and again. And it's true, just like its opposite is true. Yes, some people are poor and struggling (and even turn to crime) because they have suffered injustice, neglect and bad luck. But some people are crooks and cheats who have failed owing to their own actions. Hollywood occasionally tells the latter tale, but it saves its passion for the former.
If you like the happy tale, Dust Be My Destiny is a good version owing to Garfield's angry martyrdom and Lane's angelic offset.
N.B. Alan Hale pops up toward the end in one of his better roles as an editor who believes in Garfield.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 25, 2023 15:59:24 GMT
This neglected film is from 1945.
Remarriage
I was eager to watch this film since it’s only aired once on Turner Classic Movies. My guess is that it is currently prevented from being broadcast due to ownership issues. It’s not a must-see film, but I found it rather charming and full of merit. Especially since I am a fan of Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton.
Warner Brothers had previously put the stars together in HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN (1944). In that earlier outing, Miss Leslie played herself and Mr. Hutton was a fictional soldier who won a date with her at the aforementioned canteen. It was a lot of bunk, really, but provided some nice escapist entertainment.
This time around, the studio has cast them in a more conventional wartime picture. They play teen newlyweds who are too young to know what marriage is about, hence the title. She is not ready to settle down and prefers going out with her friends. Meanwhile, he is arrogant and unable to understand his wife’s ‘growing pains.’ Just as he is drafted into the service, they have a huge quarrel and decide to divorce.
Time passes. While serving in India, he runs into a mutual friend (Dolores Moran) who drops a metaphoric bombshell on him. It seems that he’s the father of a toddler that was born after the divorce and has been given over to foster parents. Since he is unable to think about anything else, he gets an 18-day furlough and flies back to California to meet his son.
While Hutton is on his way back home, we have an extended flashback that fleshes out the marital conflicts that had occurred. We again see Moran in these flashbacks, since she was a pal of theirs, and often sang at parties. One scene has Miss Moran crooning the classic tune ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon,’ and it is a real highlight. A shame she didn’t have a longer career in motion pictures.
After Hutton returns to American soil, he reconnects with his folks (Rosemary DeCamp and a slightly miscast Arthur Shields). He also turns up at his ex-wife’s apartment and gets the wrong idea about her current lifestyle. Increasingly frustrated with her reasons for keeping the truth about their son from him, and giving the boy away, Hutton ends up seeking legal advice.
There are some excellent scenes that involve the troubled couple and a kind-hearted judge (Harry Davenport). Some of the dialogue the script writers give Mr. Davenport’s character is a bit preachy but certainly well-intentioned. Imagine Lewis Stone in the Andy Hardy movies, and you get the idea. Of course, the judge is able to convince the two exes they still love each other. Since they are now both more mature, they are able to place the welfare of the child ahead of their own.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 25, 2023 17:18:13 GMT
⇧ It's the 1930s/40s and we need a wise fatherly judge/doctor/lawyer/general/politician or just, well, father, get me Lewis Stone, Harry Davenport, C. Aubrey Smith (especially if we want him to be British), Henry Stephenson or Henry O'Neill
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Post by topbilled on Jan 30, 2023 15:51:11 GMT
This neglected film is from 1932.
Small town to big city and back
It starts in Willow Junction, a fictional Indiana town, where a naive young man (Eric Linden) says goodbye to his dog at the train station. He’s heading to New York City with money bequeathed to him by an aunt. The agent (Grant Mitchell) thinks he’ll be back inside of a month and wagers a bet on it with an onlooker. Of course, we know that it wouldn’t be a precode drama if big adventures and disaster did not await Mr. Linden in the Big Apple, so chances are he’ll be back…only it doesn’t take a month. More like a weekend, since he returns just three days later!
During those eventful three days in the city, he doesn’t actually get the blues because there isn’t enough time. He’s too busy meeting up with a slick talking cousin (Walter Catlett) who quickly introduces him to some showgirls. Yeah, these gals are a far cry from the wholesome chicks back in the midwest.
Fortunately for Linden, one of the women (Joan Blondell) is not a wild partier. She’s learned to do what she’s had to in order to survive metropolitan life, but there is a softness about her that he finds attractive. A get-together takes place later inside Linden’s hotel room, which the cousin arranges and to which is invited a motley assortment of urban types. Blondell comes to the party, and when the group goes off to another suite for awhile, they remain behind and get to know one another. She admits she is from a small town in upstate New York.
The rest of the group comes back, and trouble follows. This bunch includes a bootlegger (an uncredited Humphrey Bogart, already stereotyped by Warners); some drunken chorus girls; and another man (Lyle Talbot) who doesn’t like Bogey putting the moves on his girl.
Incidentally, Lyle Talbot is the most handsome actor in this film, more handsome than Eric Linden. One has to wonder why the studio didn’t capitalize on Talbot’s good looks and turn him into their very own Cary Grant.
Soon Talbot and Bogart engage in a brawl, the lights go out and the girl in question is killed when a broken bottle cuts her skull.
Everyone scrams, leaving Linden to deal with the death on his own since this is his room. Blondell tries to whisk him away when a detective (Guy Kibbee), whom they met earlier, turns up.
The middle portion of the film has Linden on his own, wandering around the big city trying to make sense of recent events. He stops into a club and meets a wealthy older woman (the always superb Jobyna Howland). It is implied that she is on the prowl for a younger man and indulges gigolos.
She can see that Linden is upset about something. When he overhears patrons discussing a newspaper headline and realizes the police are still looking for him, he skips out. Soon he reconnects with Blondell, and they go gambling to get their mind off their worries. But the law will probably catch up to them.
He loses all his money at a high stakes gaming table. When he accidentally drops his hotel key, someone picks it up and knows he is the man the police are looking for…so he is apprehended and taken in, with Blondell in tow.
However, he is not arrested because the hotel detective has found Talbot in a closet, having hanged himself. The detective has also found proof in Talbot’s possession– the top half of the broken bottle that killed the party girl– which clears Linden. Since Linden has run out of money, he must return to his family in Indiana but at least he is a free man.
There is a poignant scene where Blondell sees Linden off before he hops the train to the midwest. They will stay in touch and it is left open-ended that they may end up marrying someday. The last segment of the film has him returning to the station in Willow Junction, a good way to bookend the story, where he is reunited with his dog. The agent collects on the bet he won.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jan 30, 2023 16:11:37 GMT
⇧ That's a great point about Talbot. I saw an interview with him once (a long time ago, so this is from memory) where he talked about - didn't complain, just noted it - that Warners Bros wanted him primarily to play the heavy.
My comments, below, from 2022 on Big City Blues.
Big City Blues from 1932 with Joan Blondell, Eric Linden, Grant Mitchell, Guy Kibbee, Ned Spark, Humphrey Bogart and Lyle Talbot
The least interesting thing about Big City Blues is its story: a boilerplate about an enthusiastic young greenhorn, played by Eric Linden, who comes to NYC with a small inheritance and big dreams only to get fleeced and to run into trouble with the law.
What is enjoyable about this story, tired even for its time, is the window it provides into early 1930s New York City and its cast full of soon-to-be big stars or well-known character actors.
New York City itself comes off as an impressive but cold-hearted place. This was a time when skyscrapers were still new and amazing - the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the world when erected, had just been completed - and ritzy hotels, clubs and speakeasies provided for a glamorous nightlife.
While all the real New York City footage in the movie seems to be stock or shot for background, it still gave America a look at its premiere city when the country was in a Depression and few people traveled. Having grown up only sixty miles from New York City in the 1970s, even then, to this kid, the City felt as far away and hard to reach as Oz did to Dorothy.
In 1932, the large hotels, massive buildings, wide and crowded streets, lights of Broadway and ornate nightclubs with liveried doormen had to be a wonder to a struggling America. For a dime, they could sit in a movie theater and leave their drab world, even if just for an hour.
The people in the City, though, come off as being much less impressive. The greenhorn's older cousin pretends to be protecting the kid as he scams money from him. Most of the other people he meets are selfish and cynical.
The few nice people he comes to know seem worn down by the pace and hussle of the City. Even the police come off as cold-hearted men who care more about wrapping up a case than properly investigating it.
For modern audiences time traveling to the Big Apple via Big City Blues, New York, oddly, doesn't look that much different than it does today. Nineteen-thirty-two New York already had skyscrapers, over-crowded streets and a frenetic energy.
What does stand out in 1932 New York is the absolute disdain with which Prohibition was held as we see drinking parties in hotels supplied by bootleggers and speakeasies with customers from all walks of society enjoying themselves with not much more than a wink and nod from the police.
If the simple story and time travel don't hold your attention today, the impressive cast might. Fans of Classic Hollywood get to see Humphrey Bogart as a smart aleck young New Yorker in one of his first roles when his star hadn't yet shined and his pretty-boy looks hadn't yet faded.
The cast also includes Joan Blondell, Grant Mitchell, Guy Kibbee, Ned Spark and Lyle Talbot, all who would soon become regular stars or character actors for Warners Bros. for years or, even, decades.
Blondell, in particular, is a joy playing the nice girl who was a greenhorn herself only a few years ago. She and the newbie fall for each other, but the big City keeps getting in their way. Blondell, in only a few short years, would often be the wisecracking sidekick, so it's fun to see her, here, playing against her later type.
At an hour in length, Big City Blues does nothing more than tell an off-the-shelf tale, but its early 1930s window into a rich, vibrant and sordid New York City had to be fascinating to a country struggling to find work and put food on its table. That early view of New York is equally fascinating to modern audiences who, in Big City Blues, also get to see several stars right at the beginning of their film careers.
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Post by topbilled on Jan 30, 2023 16:31:24 GMT
Excellent review...I agree that BIG CITY BLUES has a rather simple storyline, some of it is quite predictable...but it's fun to see these stars at an early stage of their careers. Plus as you say, those shots of New York City function as a time capsule about one of the world's great cities.
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