Newsletter for October 2023
Oct 4, 2023 20:30:43 GMT
Andrea Doria, Fading Fast, and 3 more like this
Post by topbilled on Oct 4, 2023 20:30:43 GMT
CLASSIC FILM TELEVISION & RADIO Newsletter
OCTOBER 2023
Message board highlights:
Neglected films
Here
Everyday TopBilled reviews a neglected film produced between 1930 and 1959. All genres are included. Fading Fast also provides reviews, focusing on precodes which were produced between 1930 and 1934.
10/1..CALIFORNIA (1947)..PAR — western
10/2..MAN IN THE ATTIC (1953)..FOX — horror
10/3..FAIR WIND TO JAVA (1953)..REP — action adventure
10/4..DOUGHBOYS (1930)..MGM — precode
10/5..THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT (1941)..WB — crime
10/6..DARK WATERS (1944)..UA — thriller
10/7..DANGEROUS CROSSING (1953)..FOX — thriller
10/8..DRUMS ACROSS THE RIVER (1954)..UNIV — western
10/9..YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1937)..BRIT — crime drama
10/10..BAHAMA PASSAGE (1941)..PAR — adventure romance
10/11..KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY (1945)..MGM — war drama
10/12..THREE SECRETS (1950)..WB — drama
10/13..TENSION AT TABLE ROCK (1956)..RKO — western
10/14..THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR (1933)..UNIV — precode
10/15..MAN ABOUT TOWN (1939)..PAR — comedy
10/16..BLANCHE FURY (1948)..BRIT — drama
10/17..BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE (1952)..RKO — action adventure
10/18..WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS (1934)..MGM — drama
10/19..FURY AT FURNACE CREEK (1948)..FOX — western
10/20..THE NAKED JUNGLE (1954)..PAR — horror
10/21..BLOOD MONEY (1933)..UA — precode
10/22..EAST OF THE RIVER (1940)..WB — crime
10/23..PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943)..UNIV — horror
10/24..SHE COULDN’T SAY NO (1954)..RKO — comedy
10/25..NO GREATER GLORY (1934)..COL — drama
10/26..TAIL SPIN (1939)..FOX — aviation drama
10/27..IN OLD CALIFORNIA (1942)..REP — western
10/28..THE LOST MOMENT (1947)..UNIV — horror
10/29..SO LONG AT THE FAIR (1950)..BRIT — suspense
10/30..SVENGALI (1931)..WB — precode
10/31..BLIND ALLEY (1939)..COL — drama
Essentials
Here
On Saturdays in October we will be looking at some of those wonderful horror pictures produced in the 1940s by Val Lewton. Join TopBilled & Jlewis every Saturday.
Val Lewton horror
October 7: THE CAT PEOPLE (1942)
October 14: THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
October 21: I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
October 28: ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
Don’t Be So Melodramatic!
Here
On Sundays in October our theme is Gothic Melodramas. Join the live discussion with films that include Margaret Lindsay, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Joan Fontaine and Valerie Hobson. Start time is 3 p.m. Eastern. Don’t be late!
“Gothic Melodramas"
Presented by TopBilled
10/1 THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1940)
10/8 DRAGONWYCK (1946)
10/15 MOSS ROSE (1947)
10/22 IVY (1947)
10/29 BLANCHE FURY (1948)
Remake City
Here
On Mondays we share clips of original films and remakes found on Yancey Cravat’s YouTube page. Sometimes there are trailers and Word of Mouth segments as well.
This month’s articles:
STUDIO SUPERSTARS: RKO, PART 2…
We’re continuing our year-long look at the studios’ top stars with Part 2 on RKO. Radio Pictures produced some fantastic motion pictures during the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. These films featured amazing stars like…
Dawn O’Day was a child actress who changed her stage name to the character she played in RKO’s adaptation of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. Based on its overwhelming success with audiences, Anne Shirley was put in similarly themed coming-of-age dramas for the rest of the 1930s. She eventually matured and took more grown-up roles after 1940. Among these were her long-suffering wife in a version of THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER, as well as a Raymond Chandler mystery which would be her last film, MURDER MY SWEET.
Joe Penner was a well-known vaudeville and radio comedian who had already appeared in a few musical comedies at Paramount with Jack Oakie, before he was signed by RKO in the mid-1930s. For the next several years he kept audiences in stitches by starring in a series of zany comedic vehicles that showcased his considerable talents. Penner’s tenure at the studio came just after RKO’s biggest comedy names Wheeler & Woolsey had stopped making films. Most of Penner’s radio programs have been lost, but luckily, his RKO pictures survive. Sadly, Joe Penner died in 1941 at the age of 36. He was so popular among the people he had worked with in the entertainment business that more than 2000 mourners turned out for his funeral.
Katharine Hepburn was one of RKO’s brightest stars in the 1930s. Studio execs had signed her to a contract based on the recommendation of George Cukor. He was casting the first version of A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT, which would provide Hepburn with her motion picture debut. After that she had delightful turns in LITTLE WOMEN and MORNING GLORY, for which she received her first Best Actress Oscar. She went on to give heartbreaking performances as ALICE ADAMS and MARY OF SCOTLAND. She tried comedies, but when those vehicles didn’t connect with audiences, she was labeled box office poison. In 1938 she bought out the rest of her contract and headed to Broadway. She had a massive hit with the stage version of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and signed with MGM for the movie adaptation. But it’s her early films at RKO which show a younger and more vulnerable side of the actress.
Robert Ryan had bit parts in the early 1940s at other studios, before he caught on at RKO in 1943’s THE IRON MAJOR. He was quickly upgraded to better material with better directors. By the end of the decade, he was one of RKO’s busiest most versatile actors. He could do tough guy roles as well as more sympathetic characters, like the one he played in THE SET UP. Long after his early costars at the studio had moved on, he was still working at RKO when he appeared in the remake BACK FROM ETERNITY as a heroic pilot. It didn’t take an eternity for people to realize Robert Ryan was a great performer.
In the early to mid-1930s, Ann Harding was one of RKO’s top actresses. She was always given the best scripts at the studio, and when she was loaned out, it was usually for lavish productions at MGM or Paramount. There was a casual quality about her, and a calmness in her line deliveries, no matter how severe the circumstances might be which faced the characters she played. Probably her greatest film is DOUBLE HARNESS opposite William Powell. And her work with Richard Dix and Brian Aherne should not be missed either.
OSCAR HISTORY: ACTORS HONORED IN THE 1920s & 1930s…
Best Actors
1927-28: Emil Jennings..THE LAST COMMAND/THE WAY OF ALL FLESH (Melodramas)
1928-29: Warner Baxter…IN OLD ARIZONA (Precode Western)
1929-30: George Arliss…DISRAELI (Biographical Drama)
1930-31: Lionel Barrymore…A FREE SOUL (Melodrama)
1931-32: Wallace Beery...THE CHAMP (Sports Drama)
1931-32: Fredric March…DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (Literary Horror)
1932-33: Charles Laughton…THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII (Historical Drama)
1934: Clark Gable...IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Romantic Comedy)
1935: Victor McLaglen…THE INFORMER (1935) (Thriller)
1936: Paul Muni...THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR (Biopic)
1937: Spencer Tracy…CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (Literary Drama)
1938: Spencer Tracy…BOYS TOWN (Melodrama)
1939: Robert Donat...GOODBYE MR. CHIPS (Romantic Drama)
Analysis:
In the beginning, the Oscars covered a twelve-month period spread over two years. Also, a performer could be given an award for their work in multiple pictures, which explains why the first recipient, Emil Jennings, was recognized for two films.
Wallace Beery and Fredric March received nearly the same number of votes, so a tie was declared that year. Clark Gable’s win was the first for a comedy, and historically, comedies are overlooked by Academy voters. Spencer Tracy became the first person to earn back-to-back Oscars for Best Actor. The screen’s top actors were often lauded for roles in which they played historical characters or well-respected authority figures. This is reflected in the wins for two British stars, Charles Laughton and Robert Donat.
Best Supporting Actors
1936: Walter Brennan…COME AND GET IT (Historical Drama)
1937: Joseph Schildkraut…THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA (Biographical Drama)
1938: Walter Brennan…KENTUCKY (Equestrian dama)
1939: Thomas Mitchell…STAGECOACH (Western)
Analysis:
This category was not created until 1936. The award’s first recipient, Walter Brennan, would win again in 1938 and in 1940. Thomas Mitchell’s win was a rare example of an actor being recognized by the Academy for a western role.
SPECIAL FEATURE: BEST OF THE NEGLECTED FILMS VOL. 2…
This month TopBilled presents his list for the best neglected films he’s watched so far during 2023:
Here are ten title that I consider the Best of the Neglected films we’ve profiled so far in 2023. A few gems I feel our readers should seek out…
1. THE SILVER CORD (1933). This is probably a bad one to lead off with, because I really can’t explain why this strange precode captured my attention like it has. Is it Irene Dunne, whom I love in everything she did? Or is it the fine RKO production values? Or is it the unique performance Laura Hope Crews gives as a controlling mother? Maybe it’s that great sequence when Frances Dee’s character falls through the ice. This is such a memorable, unusual film.
2. I LOVE A SOLDIER (1944). I’m partial to Paramount films. I’m partial to romcoms. I’m partial to wartime films. And I’m partial to Paulette Goddard. I’m also partial to Beulah Bondi who gives a poignant performance as an elderly woman who’s lost a beloved family member in the war, yet still manages to make time for others who are dealing with their own sacrifices. Some films are more transparent than others in how they convey the zeitgeist of their given era. This film feels like how life must have been for a lot of people in 1944. It’s a work of fiction, obviously, but it’s just so real.
3. DON’T TURN ‘EM LOOSE (1938). This is the best gangster film from the 1930s that wasn’t made at Warner Brothers. It’s an RKO picture that skillfully weaves prison reform with family drama. It has one of the most unique casts. Where else do you get Lewis Stone on loan out from MGM playing father to Betty Grable? The crime scenes are gritty, but the violence (shown or otherwise implied) is balanced out by the domestic scenes. What we have is a family any viewer might know, despite such highly dramatic circumstances.
4. SAIGON (1948). The fourth and final picture that teamed Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake at Paramount. It’s my favorite one of theirs and the one that is least known by today’s viewers. The flying scenes, combining wartime intrigue with action, are well-filmed. The romantic elements are classy. And a lot happens without really overwhelming the audience.
5. THE FLAME (1947). Vera Ralston pictures are almost indefinable. I think this is her best one. It’s a melodramatic noir from Republic that is infused with spirituality and redemption. The supporting cast is divine: Blanche Yurka, Hattie McDaniel, Henry Travers and Broderick Crawford. But it’s the triangle at the heart of the picture that is most engaging, where Miss Ralston is torn between two brothers played by Robert Paige and John Carroll.
6. TRIBUTE TO A BADMAN (1956). James Cagney turned in a lot of excellent performances during his long motion picture career, but I feel this MGM western in Technicolor, filmed on location in Colorado, is his best. Cagney’s earlier roles, dynamic as they may be, are always missing one thing…maturity. In BADMAN, we finally see his maturity at the end of this picture and it’s sublime. It’s easy to pay TRIBUTE to him.
7. LOOK BACK IN ANGER (1959). Richard Burton provides us with a brutal performance. We get drawn into the up-and-down angst his character goes through, and what he learns from his relationship with Claire Bloom’s character. We also have Edith Evans playing his mother in some harrowing scenes. The characters seem real, despite the heightened aspects of their dire, impoverished and troubled situations. Burton is in total command of the pathos and the chaos. It’s such a fascinating film I never get tired of re-watching it.
8. SEA WIFE (1957). Richard Burton again. Joan Collins said between scenes, Burton tried to get her in bed several times and she rejected him. That sexual tension adds to the story, since spoiler alert ahead, Collins is playing a nun stranded at sea with Burton who is supposed to feel something for him but of course cannot act on it. There are two other people in the life raft with them, an older British man, and a young African American man. I appreciate the finely detailed character studies in the film. There is a very suspenseful and unexpected death scene involving one of those other two guys and a shark, years before Jaws. The studio, 20th Century Fox, filmed exterior scenes of the picture in the Caribbean. What I like here is how they all learn something, but they all don’t quite get what they want, only what they need.
9. THE HOUSE ON 56TH STREET (1933). Nobody can play melodrama like Kay Francis. She’s perfect in this Warner Brothers precode that features her alongside Gene Raymond, Ricardo Cortez and Margaret Lindsay. There are some good twists and turns. It is almost like two films in one. There is more than a tinge of irony at the end, since Francis has loved and lost, but manages to survive. Sometimes Miss Francis is upstaged by the huge hats and other accessories she wears. But that is part of what makes watching her so entertaining.
10. STANDING ROOM ONLY (1944). Paulette Goddard again. This time she’s paired with Fred MacMurray. The story focuses on an executive and his secretary who pose as servants to gain accommodations during a housing shortage in wartime Washington D.C. There are a few memorable supporting cast members who provide some rather droll humor. What I love about most of these Paramount romcoms from the war years is that light and fluffy romantic nonsense is just as “important” as the country’s most serious problems.
c) 2023
OCTOBER SCHEDULE
1 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1940)
2 Remake City: MAKE ME A STAR (1932) / MERTON OF THE MOVIES (1947)
3 Performer of the Week: Anne Shirley at RKO: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (1934) / THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941) / MURDER MY SWEET (1944)
4 Classic Duo: Gene Tierney & Dana Andrews: BELLE STARR (1941) / LAURA (1944) / THE IRON CURTAIN (1948) / WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950)
5 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs Kay Francis: MY BILL (1938) / WOMEN IN THE WIND (1939)
6 Special Theme: Having Wonderful Movies: HAVING WONDERFUL TIME (1938) / HAVING WONDERFUL CRIME (1945)
7 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: CAT PEOPLE (1942)
8 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: DRAGONWYCK (1946)
9 Remake City: JEWEL ROBBERY (1932) / THE PETERVILLE DIAMOND (1942)
10 Performer of the Week: Joe Penner at RKO: THE LIFE OF THE PARTY (1937) / MR. DOODLE KICKS OFF (1938) / GO CHASE YOURSELF (1938)
11 Classic Duo: Dale Evans & Roy Rogers: COWBOY AND THE SENORITA (1944) / HOME IN OKLAHOMA (1946)
12 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs Patric Knowles: FIVE CAME BACK (1939) / A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1940)
13 Special Theme: Out West with Yvonne De Carlo: TOMAHAWK (1951) / RAW EDGE (1956)
14 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
15 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: MOSS ROSE (1947)
16 Remake City: FIVE CAME BACK (1939) / BACK FROM ETERNITY (1956)
17 Performer of the Week: Katharine Hepburn at RKO: CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933) / SPITFIRE (1934) / BREAK OF HEARTS (1935)
18 Classic Duo: June Allyson & James Stewart: THE STRATTON STORY (1949) / THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1954) / STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND (1955)
19 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs Alan Ladd: CHINA (1943) / CALCUTTA (1946) / TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST (1946) / BEYOND GLORY (1948) / BOTANY BAY (1952)
20 Special Theme: Too Many Spouses: TOO MANY WIVES (1937) / TOO MANY HUSBANDS (1940)
21 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
22 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: IVY (1947)
23 Remake City: THE MUMMY (1932) / THE MUMMY (1959)
24 Performer of the Week: Robert Ryan at RKO: THE SET-UP (1949) / SECRET FURY (1950) / ESCAPE TO BURMA (1955)
25 Classic Duo: Boris Karloff & Bela Lugosi: THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936) / BLACK FRIDAY (1940)
26 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs John Wayne: HONDO (1953) / THE SEA CHASE (1955)
27 Special Theme: Monogram Noir: DILLINGER (1945) / DECOY (1946)
28 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
29 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: BLANCHE FURY (1948)
30 Remake City: FRANKENSTEIN (1931) / THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
31 Performer of the Week: Ann Harding at RKO: THE CONQUERORS (1932) / DOUBLE HARNESS (1933) / THE FOUNTAIN (1934)
OCTOBER 2023
Message board highlights:
Neglected films
Here
Everyday TopBilled reviews a neglected film produced between 1930 and 1959. All genres are included. Fading Fast also provides reviews, focusing on precodes which were produced between 1930 and 1934.
10/1..CALIFORNIA (1947)..PAR — western
10/2..MAN IN THE ATTIC (1953)..FOX — horror
10/3..FAIR WIND TO JAVA (1953)..REP — action adventure
10/4..DOUGHBOYS (1930)..MGM — precode
10/5..THE WAGONS ROLL AT NIGHT (1941)..WB — crime
10/6..DARK WATERS (1944)..UA — thriller
10/7..DANGEROUS CROSSING (1953)..FOX — thriller
10/8..DRUMS ACROSS THE RIVER (1954)..UNIV — western
10/9..YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1937)..BRIT — crime drama
10/10..BAHAMA PASSAGE (1941)..PAR — adventure romance
10/11..KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY (1945)..MGM — war drama
10/12..THREE SECRETS (1950)..WB — drama
10/13..TENSION AT TABLE ROCK (1956)..RKO — western
10/14..THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR (1933)..UNIV — precode
10/15..MAN ABOUT TOWN (1939)..PAR — comedy
10/16..BLANCHE FURY (1948)..BRIT — drama
10/17..BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE (1952)..RKO — action adventure
10/18..WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS (1934)..MGM — drama
10/19..FURY AT FURNACE CREEK (1948)..FOX — western
10/20..THE NAKED JUNGLE (1954)..PAR — horror
10/21..BLOOD MONEY (1933)..UA — precode
10/22..EAST OF THE RIVER (1940)..WB — crime
10/23..PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943)..UNIV — horror
10/24..SHE COULDN’T SAY NO (1954)..RKO — comedy
10/25..NO GREATER GLORY (1934)..COL — drama
10/26..TAIL SPIN (1939)..FOX — aviation drama
10/27..IN OLD CALIFORNIA (1942)..REP — western
10/28..THE LOST MOMENT (1947)..UNIV — horror
10/29..SO LONG AT THE FAIR (1950)..BRIT — suspense
10/30..SVENGALI (1931)..WB — precode
10/31..BLIND ALLEY (1939)..COL — drama
Essentials
Here
On Saturdays in October we will be looking at some of those wonderful horror pictures produced in the 1940s by Val Lewton. Join TopBilled & Jlewis every Saturday.
Val Lewton horror
October 7: THE CAT PEOPLE (1942)
October 14: THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
October 21: I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
October 28: ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
Don’t Be So Melodramatic!
Here
On Sundays in October our theme is Gothic Melodramas. Join the live discussion with films that include Margaret Lindsay, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Joan Fontaine and Valerie Hobson. Start time is 3 p.m. Eastern. Don’t be late!
“Gothic Melodramas"
Presented by TopBilled
10/1 THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1940)
10/8 DRAGONWYCK (1946)
10/15 MOSS ROSE (1947)
10/22 IVY (1947)
10/29 BLANCHE FURY (1948)
Remake City
Here
On Mondays we share clips of original films and remakes found on Yancey Cravat’s YouTube page. Sometimes there are trailers and Word of Mouth segments as well.
This month’s articles:
STUDIO SUPERSTARS: RKO, PART 2…
We’re continuing our year-long look at the studios’ top stars with Part 2 on RKO. Radio Pictures produced some fantastic motion pictures during the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. These films featured amazing stars like…
Dawn O’Day was a child actress who changed her stage name to the character she played in RKO’s adaptation of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. Based on its overwhelming success with audiences, Anne Shirley was put in similarly themed coming-of-age dramas for the rest of the 1930s. She eventually matured and took more grown-up roles after 1940. Among these were her long-suffering wife in a version of THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER, as well as a Raymond Chandler mystery which would be her last film, MURDER MY SWEET.
Joe Penner was a well-known vaudeville and radio comedian who had already appeared in a few musical comedies at Paramount with Jack Oakie, before he was signed by RKO in the mid-1930s. For the next several years he kept audiences in stitches by starring in a series of zany comedic vehicles that showcased his considerable talents. Penner’s tenure at the studio came just after RKO’s biggest comedy names Wheeler & Woolsey had stopped making films. Most of Penner’s radio programs have been lost, but luckily, his RKO pictures survive. Sadly, Joe Penner died in 1941 at the age of 36. He was so popular among the people he had worked with in the entertainment business that more than 2000 mourners turned out for his funeral.
Katharine Hepburn was one of RKO’s brightest stars in the 1930s. Studio execs had signed her to a contract based on the recommendation of George Cukor. He was casting the first version of A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT, which would provide Hepburn with her motion picture debut. After that she had delightful turns in LITTLE WOMEN and MORNING GLORY, for which she received her first Best Actress Oscar. She went on to give heartbreaking performances as ALICE ADAMS and MARY OF SCOTLAND. She tried comedies, but when those vehicles didn’t connect with audiences, she was labeled box office poison. In 1938 she bought out the rest of her contract and headed to Broadway. She had a massive hit with the stage version of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and signed with MGM for the movie adaptation. But it’s her early films at RKO which show a younger and more vulnerable side of the actress.
Robert Ryan had bit parts in the early 1940s at other studios, before he caught on at RKO in 1943’s THE IRON MAJOR. He was quickly upgraded to better material with better directors. By the end of the decade, he was one of RKO’s busiest most versatile actors. He could do tough guy roles as well as more sympathetic characters, like the one he played in THE SET UP. Long after his early costars at the studio had moved on, he was still working at RKO when he appeared in the remake BACK FROM ETERNITY as a heroic pilot. It didn’t take an eternity for people to realize Robert Ryan was a great performer.
In the early to mid-1930s, Ann Harding was one of RKO’s top actresses. She was always given the best scripts at the studio, and when she was loaned out, it was usually for lavish productions at MGM or Paramount. There was a casual quality about her, and a calmness in her line deliveries, no matter how severe the circumstances might be which faced the characters she played. Probably her greatest film is DOUBLE HARNESS opposite William Powell. And her work with Richard Dix and Brian Aherne should not be missed either.
OSCAR HISTORY: ACTORS HONORED IN THE 1920s & 1930s…
Best Actors
1927-28: Emil Jennings..THE LAST COMMAND/THE WAY OF ALL FLESH (Melodramas)
1928-29: Warner Baxter…IN OLD ARIZONA (Precode Western)
1929-30: George Arliss…DISRAELI (Biographical Drama)
1930-31: Lionel Barrymore…A FREE SOUL (Melodrama)
1931-32: Wallace Beery...THE CHAMP (Sports Drama)
1931-32: Fredric March…DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (Literary Horror)
1932-33: Charles Laughton…THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII (Historical Drama)
1934: Clark Gable...IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Romantic Comedy)
1935: Victor McLaglen…THE INFORMER (1935) (Thriller)
1936: Paul Muni...THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR (Biopic)
1937: Spencer Tracy…CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (Literary Drama)
1938: Spencer Tracy…BOYS TOWN (Melodrama)
1939: Robert Donat...GOODBYE MR. CHIPS (Romantic Drama)
Analysis:
In the beginning, the Oscars covered a twelve-month period spread over two years. Also, a performer could be given an award for their work in multiple pictures, which explains why the first recipient, Emil Jennings, was recognized for two films.
Wallace Beery and Fredric March received nearly the same number of votes, so a tie was declared that year. Clark Gable’s win was the first for a comedy, and historically, comedies are overlooked by Academy voters. Spencer Tracy became the first person to earn back-to-back Oscars for Best Actor. The screen’s top actors were often lauded for roles in which they played historical characters or well-respected authority figures. This is reflected in the wins for two British stars, Charles Laughton and Robert Donat.
Best Supporting Actors
1936: Walter Brennan…COME AND GET IT (Historical Drama)
1937: Joseph Schildkraut…THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA (Biographical Drama)
1938: Walter Brennan…KENTUCKY (Equestrian dama)
1939: Thomas Mitchell…STAGECOACH (Western)
Analysis:
This category was not created until 1936. The award’s first recipient, Walter Brennan, would win again in 1938 and in 1940. Thomas Mitchell’s win was a rare example of an actor being recognized by the Academy for a western role.
SPECIAL FEATURE: BEST OF THE NEGLECTED FILMS VOL. 2…
This month TopBilled presents his list for the best neglected films he’s watched so far during 2023:
Here are ten title that I consider the Best of the Neglected films we’ve profiled so far in 2023. A few gems I feel our readers should seek out…
1. THE SILVER CORD (1933). This is probably a bad one to lead off with, because I really can’t explain why this strange precode captured my attention like it has. Is it Irene Dunne, whom I love in everything she did? Or is it the fine RKO production values? Or is it the unique performance Laura Hope Crews gives as a controlling mother? Maybe it’s that great sequence when Frances Dee’s character falls through the ice. This is such a memorable, unusual film.
2. I LOVE A SOLDIER (1944). I’m partial to Paramount films. I’m partial to romcoms. I’m partial to wartime films. And I’m partial to Paulette Goddard. I’m also partial to Beulah Bondi who gives a poignant performance as an elderly woman who’s lost a beloved family member in the war, yet still manages to make time for others who are dealing with their own sacrifices. Some films are more transparent than others in how they convey the zeitgeist of their given era. This film feels like how life must have been for a lot of people in 1944. It’s a work of fiction, obviously, but it’s just so real.
3. DON’T TURN ‘EM LOOSE (1938). This is the best gangster film from the 1930s that wasn’t made at Warner Brothers. It’s an RKO picture that skillfully weaves prison reform with family drama. It has one of the most unique casts. Where else do you get Lewis Stone on loan out from MGM playing father to Betty Grable? The crime scenes are gritty, but the violence (shown or otherwise implied) is balanced out by the domestic scenes. What we have is a family any viewer might know, despite such highly dramatic circumstances.
4. SAIGON (1948). The fourth and final picture that teamed Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake at Paramount. It’s my favorite one of theirs and the one that is least known by today’s viewers. The flying scenes, combining wartime intrigue with action, are well-filmed. The romantic elements are classy. And a lot happens without really overwhelming the audience.
5. THE FLAME (1947). Vera Ralston pictures are almost indefinable. I think this is her best one. It’s a melodramatic noir from Republic that is infused with spirituality and redemption. The supporting cast is divine: Blanche Yurka, Hattie McDaniel, Henry Travers and Broderick Crawford. But it’s the triangle at the heart of the picture that is most engaging, where Miss Ralston is torn between two brothers played by Robert Paige and John Carroll.
6. TRIBUTE TO A BADMAN (1956). James Cagney turned in a lot of excellent performances during his long motion picture career, but I feel this MGM western in Technicolor, filmed on location in Colorado, is his best. Cagney’s earlier roles, dynamic as they may be, are always missing one thing…maturity. In BADMAN, we finally see his maturity at the end of this picture and it’s sublime. It’s easy to pay TRIBUTE to him.
7. LOOK BACK IN ANGER (1959). Richard Burton provides us with a brutal performance. We get drawn into the up-and-down angst his character goes through, and what he learns from his relationship with Claire Bloom’s character. We also have Edith Evans playing his mother in some harrowing scenes. The characters seem real, despite the heightened aspects of their dire, impoverished and troubled situations. Burton is in total command of the pathos and the chaos. It’s such a fascinating film I never get tired of re-watching it.
8. SEA WIFE (1957). Richard Burton again. Joan Collins said between scenes, Burton tried to get her in bed several times and she rejected him. That sexual tension adds to the story, since spoiler alert ahead, Collins is playing a nun stranded at sea with Burton who is supposed to feel something for him but of course cannot act on it. There are two other people in the life raft with them, an older British man, and a young African American man. I appreciate the finely detailed character studies in the film. There is a very suspenseful and unexpected death scene involving one of those other two guys and a shark, years before Jaws. The studio, 20th Century Fox, filmed exterior scenes of the picture in the Caribbean. What I like here is how they all learn something, but they all don’t quite get what they want, only what they need.
9. THE HOUSE ON 56TH STREET (1933). Nobody can play melodrama like Kay Francis. She’s perfect in this Warner Brothers precode that features her alongside Gene Raymond, Ricardo Cortez and Margaret Lindsay. There are some good twists and turns. It is almost like two films in one. There is more than a tinge of irony at the end, since Francis has loved and lost, but manages to survive. Sometimes Miss Francis is upstaged by the huge hats and other accessories she wears. But that is part of what makes watching her so entertaining.
10. STANDING ROOM ONLY (1944). Paulette Goddard again. This time she’s paired with Fred MacMurray. The story focuses on an executive and his secretary who pose as servants to gain accommodations during a housing shortage in wartime Washington D.C. There are a few memorable supporting cast members who provide some rather droll humor. What I love about most of these Paramount romcoms from the war years is that light and fluffy romantic nonsense is just as “important” as the country’s most serious problems.
c) 2023
OCTOBER SCHEDULE
1 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1940)
2 Remake City: MAKE ME A STAR (1932) / MERTON OF THE MOVIES (1947)
3 Performer of the Week: Anne Shirley at RKO: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (1934) / THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941) / MURDER MY SWEET (1944)
4 Classic Duo: Gene Tierney & Dana Andrews: BELLE STARR (1941) / LAURA (1944) / THE IRON CURTAIN (1948) / WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950)
5 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs Kay Francis: MY BILL (1938) / WOMEN IN THE WIND (1939)
6 Special Theme: Having Wonderful Movies: HAVING WONDERFUL TIME (1938) / HAVING WONDERFUL CRIME (1945)
7 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: CAT PEOPLE (1942)
8 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: DRAGONWYCK (1946)
9 Remake City: JEWEL ROBBERY (1932) / THE PETERVILLE DIAMOND (1942)
10 Performer of the Week: Joe Penner at RKO: THE LIFE OF THE PARTY (1937) / MR. DOODLE KICKS OFF (1938) / GO CHASE YOURSELF (1938)
11 Classic Duo: Dale Evans & Roy Rogers: COWBOY AND THE SENORITA (1944) / HOME IN OKLAHOMA (1946)
12 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs Patric Knowles: FIVE CAME BACK (1939) / A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT (1940)
13 Special Theme: Out West with Yvonne De Carlo: TOMAHAWK (1951) / RAW EDGE (1956)
14 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943)
15 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: MOSS ROSE (1947)
16 Remake City: FIVE CAME BACK (1939) / BACK FROM ETERNITY (1956)
17 Performer of the Week: Katharine Hepburn at RKO: CHRISTOPHER STRONG (1933) / SPITFIRE (1934) / BREAK OF HEARTS (1935)
18 Classic Duo: June Allyson & James Stewart: THE STRATTON STORY (1949) / THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1954) / STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND (1955)
19 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs Alan Ladd: CHINA (1943) / CALCUTTA (1946) / TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST (1946) / BEYOND GLORY (1948) / BOTANY BAY (1952)
20 Special Theme: Too Many Spouses: TOO MANY WIVES (1937) / TOO MANY HUSBANDS (1940)
21 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
22 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: IVY (1947)
23 Remake City: THE MUMMY (1932) / THE MUMMY (1959)
24 Performer of the Week: Robert Ryan at RKO: THE SET-UP (1949) / SECRET FURY (1950) / ESCAPE TO BURMA (1955)
25 Classic Duo: Boris Karloff & Bela Lugosi: THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936) / BLACK FRIDAY (1940)
26 Directors Spotlight: John Farrow Directs John Wayne: HONDO (1953) / THE SEA CHASE (1955)
27 Special Theme: Monogram Noir: DILLINGER (1945) / DECOY (1946)
28 Essentials: Val Lewton Horror: ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
29 Don’t Be So Melodramatic!: Gothic Melodramas: BLANCHE FURY (1948)
30 Remake City: FRANKENSTEIN (1931) / THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
31 Performer of the Week: Ann Harding at RKO: THE CONQUERORS (1932) / DOUBLE HARNESS (1933) / THE FOUNTAIN (1934)