1930s Hall of Fame Part 2

Actually sent my vote already. Didn't want to spend hours wondering if I want to switch two films

I noticed a couple people mentioning the humor in Humanity and Paper Balloons. As much as I love foreign films, the humor often goes over my head.

and @pahaK makes it 6 Lists which knocks us over the halfway for votes.

__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

I just need to watch three more... then I'll be able to send my list.
:P

"I have here autographs of a hundred famous persons and not a single murderer. "

A bit of a crazy, far-fetched over the top sort of film. I know that’s how it was supposed to be but it was still hard to take it seriously. The plot is deeply silly and barely stretches to the fairly short run time.

That’s not to say there isn’t some fun to be had from the craziness, I enjoyed Lorre dressed up with metal hands and that whole crazy plot development and there was some good gothic-esque stuff with the mannequin and the creepy gargoyles at the beginning.

Lorre was good in a creepy over the top sort of way and Frances Drake (what a name!) was good too, I quite liked her character. The ending was ridiculously abrupt though.

And that's why they call it MAD Love lol

Mad Love is the story of a brilliant but lonely surgeon who is in love with an actress. The actress sadly does not return his affections and is instead in love with a handsome pianist, when the pianist gets his hands crushed Dr. Gogol replaces the hands with those of a noted knife thrower and murderer.


Gogol continues to try and woo Yvonne as his descent into madness continues until he comes up with a plot to frame Orlac for murder.


I love Mad Love for several reasons, visually it feels like a German expressionist film like Dr. Caligari. Peter Lorre's performance is also particularly good balancing between the pathetic, cruel, and insane aspects of his personality. You don't really hate Gogol because Yvonne was somewhat leading him on. Finally I enjoyed the pacing, much like Roaring Twenties the film races through it's plot to tell it in the shortest period of time.

I didn't really hate him; at the start I felt a bit sorry for him as he's so awkward. But I don't think she was leading him on at all, that's really not the impression I got. He seems a little bit stalkerish right from the start and she's clearly uncomfortable with it.

The Thin Man is a mystery/comedy serial from the 1930's, for some reason it's become one of the more popular series while many of the others have faded into history (Nancy Drew, The Falcon). As a bit of a mystery snob I have quite the dislike for this first film, the murder and crime are too convoluted and the reveal is somewhat terrible. This is the second time I've watched the film and even paying close attention I still don't follow the logistics, and reasoning for the murder.


However you can look past that sort of thing and just charm at the humor and chemistry of the leads Nick and Nora. I don't think this is peak Loy but Powell is very good in this, he has a great scene on the couch where he's shooting a small gun that I found hysterical. Loy isn't given much to do and some of the peripheral characters are one dimensional and silly but it's still an enjoyable film.

The way I perceived it was that Yvonne was in that "rock and a hard place" about being nice to, not only a fan, but someone the theater owed a lot to due to his dedication. And then, playing nice to help her husband. Even though the disgust was very apparent to us, the viewers.

Spot on.

The Goddess (1934) man do you guys love your prostitution films. For me this film was a bit of a mixed bag, Ruan Lingyu is very good in this, perhaps the best performance from any actor in this entire Hall of Fame. The story moves along briskly and the antagonistic pimp or "boss" character works very well for the story.


The big problem with the film is that it's very dogmatic everything is spelled out very simply and loudly. The "Boss" is the bad guy...though why he would stick around with prostitute for years is a little hard to follow. Education is the way to succeed and mothers are good people yadda yadda yadda. Also the climax scene where shall we say the relationship ended...that's an impossible feat.


I wish the film would have dealt more the complexities of the relationship between the pimp and prostitute. Also the print I watched this film through was horrible and took away from my viewing experience. But it was a good film, this was a fine first watch for me.

Do you mean the other way around?

No, I don't understand why someone like that would keep a prostitute like her for 7-10 years. You'd figure he'd get bored with her and dump her on the street and find a different girl in that period of time.

A pimp will keep a girl for as long as she makes money.

But the money was going to the kid and his education..you'd figure after those years he'd find an easier girl to run.

She was holding out on him but he was still making money. I wonder if he also had other girls.

I though he was a street wise opportunist, who made money anyway he could, including having other working girls that we don't see on the screen.

Yep a typical slimeball street hustler, at least how I saw it. They're all over.

I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

"How will you l ive?
"I steal."

A great ending scene to this nomination. As Muni's characters disappears in the fade out and the final line is heard in the darkness.

I don't know if it is simply a very well done job by the film makers or that I know this is from a true-life experience that brings the full weight of the gravitas to my watching experience. Regardless, the effect of it and Muni's tangible fear when he's on the run and all that he goes through, definitely did it's job on me.
I have read on other reviews on how the second escape wasn't as exciting as the first; and while I can see what they mean regarding the tension that pulsated in the first, the second did have a great little car chase to it. Loved the fishtailing of the pursuing guards down the dirt roads.

I can very easily imagine the impact this film had at the time of it's release and the studio's concern of the, then current codes, of the time in regards to what was allowed to be filmed and how. Still, they did an excellent job in both the chain gang and the life it entailed along with the fear of trying to stay out of the grip of the long arm of the law and simply have a life. Not to mention the hard-nosed mentality of the state that ran the chain gang.

I have never gotten to see this film in its entirety and thankfully, I have now.