scottman1932

Haven't seen that one. has TCM shown that one? I don't recall it being shown before.

*Any 20's film or musical suggestions of your own Scottman? * Hi Thelma, TCM once in a while will run RIO RITA (1929), RKO's extraviganza. It stars Jone Boles, Bebe Daniels and Wheeler and Woolsy.The second half of the film is in color. Ernst Lubitsch's THE LOVE PARADE (1929) is also fun. THE BISHOP MURDER CASE (1930) is also very good. shot in 1929 and release in Januray of 1930, it stars Basil Rathbone as Philo Vance. Sometimes this one gets run on TCM as well. DYNAMITE (1929) is a pretty good film, its C.B. DeMille's talkie debut. If you can track down a copies of these, I would recommend FOLLOW THRU (1930), a neat two color Technicolor musical from Paramount with Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carroll. Also THE KING OF JAZZ (1930), Universal's all star review movie in two color Technicolor features the Paul Whiteman band. Frank Capra's 1930 film RAIN OR SHINE is also good. This was a big hit on braodway with several songs, but Columbia pictures did not use any of the songs. Joe Cook, who stars in this one was also the show's star when it ran on Broadway.

I wouldn't be surprised, as the majority of the film was shot on the quiet, as most of the Warner brothers did not want to make an all talking feature film at that time. LIGHTS OF NEW YORK was originally supposed to be a Vitaphone short.

Overall, LIGHTS OF NEW YORK is not the worst movie I have ever seen, but it does have its moments. There are a few scenes where the actors recite their dialogue in a very stilted manor. It comes off as funny instead of dramatic.

POP is a 100% talkie. Among the neat bits in the film are Nancy Carroll singing "Dancing To Save Your Sole" on an enormous shoe box with the Abe Lyman Orchestra. Also Clara Bow sinig "True To The Navy" It at one time had two ciolor technicolor scenes in it, but to my knowledge, they doid not survive. The print I taped fom Z channel in the late 80s did not have the finale ("Sweeping The Clouds Away") in color (which it should have been).

Films like I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (1932), HELL'S HIGHWAY (1932), while crime dramas, would not fall into the "gangster" genre. Also THE LAST FLIGHT (1931), CENTRAL AIRPORT (1933) and UNION DEPOT (1932), would appeal to men too. Also in the Horror genre I would add ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932). It's pretty creepy too, turning animals into "human-like" beings is pretty creepy stuff! Most any James Cacney or Edwad G. Robinson film from that period would work. Cagney's non gangster roles would include BLONDE CRAZY (1931), TAXI! (1932), JIMMY THE GENT (1934). For Robinson, FIVE STAR FINAL (1931), THE HATCHET MAN (1932), TWO SECONDS (1932) would be good Robinson's gangster spoof THE LITTLE GIANT (1933) is a real hoot, with some wild dialogue it in. Lots of movies to choose from.

TCM has run this film in the past, but not recently.

A slight correction, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is a part talkie. It has a couple of talking sequences, but for the most part is a silent film. It was origianlly released in two color Technicolor, but only survives in black and white. This would be a great candidate to colorize. The current quality of colorization lends itself nicely to the look of two color Technicolor.

I like Alice White and look forward to you article. It seems that very little of her silent output has survived. The good news is that she was able to make some talkies at Warner Brothers through at least the pre-code era. She's great in PICTURE SNATCHER (1933) and JIMMY THE GENT (1934). I also like her in THE WIDOW FROM CHICAGO (1930), and SHOWGIRL IN HOLLYWOOD (1930).

It seems to have been a requirement of that period. Stanwyck has one and plays St. Louis Blues in BABY FACE and WOMEN THEY TALK ABOUT as does Marlene Dietrich in SHANGHAI EXPRESS. Love those portable grammophones (and their women)!

I watched a tiny bit of it Sunday afternoon, and it looks like it should be pretty good! It looks like it has a bit of the Warners' grittyness to it. Not surprising, since it's from Zanuck's 20th Century Pictures.

An interesting thing about the ending on the restored version of TOLL OF THE SEA, is that since they had a shooting script to work with ,they were able to tie up any loose ends with titles, and they used an original two-color Technicolor camera to shoot some footage of the ocean in order to heve some sort of visuals for the last bit of the film.

BLOOD MONEY (1933) with Frances Dee and George Bancroft is gong to be on the Fox Movie Channel Sunday morning (website says 10a, which I think is eastern time) and on Wednesday, May 28th at 9:30a (which I believe is eastern time) I haven't seen this one before, but I hope it is good!

I really liked his performance in INTRUDER IN THE DUST (1949).

Those are some neat clips. I would love to see this film.

LOVE IN THE ROUGH and THE EASIEST WAY are good films ANOTHER LANGUAGE is also excellent. I don't recall STRANGERS MAY KISS or LOVERS COURAGEOUS as being all that good. LOVE IN THE ROUGH has a few good songs in it, although Dorothy Jordan does not sing all that well. THE EASIEST WAY also has the lovely Anita Page in it. While not really a pre-code, HIDE-OUT is a good film.

I really like two-color Technicolor. I would watch PEACOCK ALLEY just to see Mae Murray in color. Or at least forward to the color part! ;-)

...Or Frank McHugh in THE DARK HORSE ;-)

Indeed. I haven't seen PEACOCK ALLEY,other than the clips that were used in the Bronlow & Gill HOLLYWOOD series, but it looked like it was very slow and dull.

I hope Time Warner does release another Forbidden Hollywood volume this year. There is so much pre-code product in the Time Warner library that I would love to see released to DVD. Titles like MADAME SATAN (1930),BAD COMPANY (1931), TWO SECONDS (1932), DOWNSTAIRS (1932), BEAUTY AND THE BOSS (1932), I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER (1934) would be welcome additions.

THE BLACK CAT would fit into the pre-code genre. It also got a good mention in the book _Sin In Soft Focus_. I think it may be available on DVD. I know it was released on laser disc in the 90s.

She was a bit better in BACHELOR APARTMENT (1931).

If Universal thought there was enough money in producing a DVD edition of REMEMBER THE NIGHT, they would do it in a heartbeat. The problem with a lot of the films form this period (and earlier) is that there is a much smaller audience that will purchase these films. So the studios that own them are not as interested in spending the money for such a limited return. The sad fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Americans under 30 do not know who Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were, so Universal (and Paramount too) are very reluctant to spend the money to make a DVD version of films like REMEMBER THE NIGHT. Which is why when companies like Time Warner put out DVD packages like FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD Vol.2, I try and support it by purchasing a copy so that there might be a volume 3 (for example).

Hi "W.G.", FORBIDDEN is what would have been called in the 1930s, a "woman's picture". To some degree it is soap opera like, but still it is an enjoyable film. Adolphe Menjou and Barbara Stanwyck are both excellent. It has some similarities to Joan Crawford's POSSESSED (1931),although they have very different outcomes. As a fan of pre-code and poverty row films, I liked it very much. TEN CENTS A DANCE was directed by Lionel Barrymore. I think it may be among his last directoral efforts, as he was talked into appearing in front of the camera for good after A FREE SOUL (1931).

TCM will be shoing it again in August, along with TEN CENTS A DANCE (1931) which also stars Ms. Stanwyck.