1931-1940

  • Victor Fleming – Red Dust (1932)

    1931-1940DramaRomanceUSAVictor Fleming

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    Plot:
    Conditions are spartan on Dennis Carson’s Indochina rubber plantation during a dusty dry monsoon. The latest boat upriver brings Carson an unwelcome guest: Vantine, a floozy from Saigon, hoping to evade the police by a stay upcountry. But Carson, initially uninterested, soon succumbs to Vantine’s ostentatious charms…until the arrival of surveyor Gary Willis, ill with malaria, and his refined but sensuous wife Barbara. Now the rains begin, and passion flows like water…Read More »

  • Erle C. Kenton – You’re Telling Me! (1934)

    1931-1940ComedyErle C. KentonUSA

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    Synopsis from Allmovie.com
    W.C. Fields stars in a remake of his silent comedy So’s Your Old Man. Fields plays Sam Bisbee, an erstwhile inventor who is the laughingstock of his small town. Returning in defeat from a disastrous big-city demonstration of his latest invention, Sam makes the acquaintance of a beautiful young woman (Adrienne Ames) who happens to be an incognito foreign princess. After Bisbee tells her of how he’d like to be a success for the sake of his family, the princess decides to use her celebrity to Sam’s benefit. She arrives in his town and lets it be known of her high regard for the downtrodden Bisbee. Suddenly Sam is the town’s big shot, enabling him to merchandise his inventions and do right by his wife and daughter. Sam earns the respect he’s so long deserved–but he’s never completely convinced that the princess is who she claims to be, and keeps congratulating her on her “racket.” Based on a story by Julian Street, You’re Telling Me is climaxed by a sidesplitting recreation of W.C. Fields’ Ziegfeld Follies golf routine. ~ Hal EricksonRead More »

  • William Dieterle – Eine Stunde Glück AKA One Hour of Happiness (1931)

    Germany1931-1940MusicalRomanceWeimar Republic cinemaWilliam Dieterle

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    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Description
    The two happy fitters Eddy and Tommy are doing overtime to ensure the great travel-exhibition of the department store they work in is ready for display. Outside, they see a poor newspaper seller, who looks longingly at the beautiful things in the display window. So they simply decide to smuggle the unfortunate inside and compete to win her favor by giving her gifts from the shelves of the department store. In their frenzy of happiness, they don’t notice that the girl is taking the fun little game for the truth. When she realizes that she has to give back the alleged gifts, she runs away.
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  • Jean Vigo – Zéro de conduite AKA Zero for conduct (1933)

    1931-1940ArthouseDramaFranceJean VigoQueer Cinema(s)

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    from allmovie guide.com

    The shortest of French filmmaker Jean Vigo’s two feature-length films, Zero for Conduct (Zero de Conduite) is also arguably his most influential. The overtly autobiographical plotline takes place at a painfully strict boys’ boarding school, presided over by such petit-bourgeous tyrants as a discipline-dispensing dwarf. The students revolt against the monotony of their daily routine by erupting into a outsized pillow fight. Their final assault occurs during a prim-and-proper school ceremony, wherein the headmasters are bombarded with fruit. Like all of Vigo’s works, Zero for Conduct was greeted with outrage by the “right” people. Thanks to pressure from civic and educational groups, this exhilaratingly anarchistic film was banned from public exhibition until 1945. Among the future filmmakers influenced by Zero for Conduct was Lindsay Anderson, who unabashedly used the Vigo film as blueprint for his own anti-establishment exercise If…. Read More »

  • Fred C. Newmeyer – The Moth (1934)

    1931-1940DramaFred C. NewmeyerUSA

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    Wealthy young socialite Diane Wyman squanders her fortune and becomes involved in a scandalous raid at a wild party. Her legal guardian, a lecherous old man who has the hots for her, hires a private detective to spy on her. He tails her to a train headed for New Orleans, but she catches on to him. She befriends a young woman aboard the train and they both give the private eye the slip. What Diane doesn’t know, however, is that that her newfound friend is actually a notorious criminal known as The Moth, and she has her own reasons for helping Diane escape–she, too, is being tailed by a detective, who’s after a cache of jewels she’s stolen. Written by frankfob2Read More »

  • Mark Sandrich – A Woman Rebels (1936)

    1931-1940DramaMark SandrichRomanceUSA

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    Plot: The story revolves around Pamela, as a woman in late-1800’s England who has no intention of marriage and wishes to be her own person. After a great deal of difficulty in finding a job, she finally lands a position at a “woman’s” magazine, which covered topics such as sewing and cooking. After the editor takes sick, she moves the magazine into discussing issues of gender equality, child labor, medical care, and finding a job. She then finds herself as the unexpected leader of a movement. After an unexpected event, she is also faced with raising a child without a father, which people at that time thought was scandalous. Written by Taed Nelson Read More »

  • Sam Wood – Stamboul Quest (1934)

    1931-1940ClassicsSam WoodThrillerUSA

    The real-life career of the notorious female spy known as “Fraulein Doktor” inspired several films of the 1930s. Stamboul Quest stars Myrna Loy as a seductive espionage agent, working on behalf of the Kaiser in 1915 Istanbul. American medical student George Brent crosses Loy’s path, and the two fall in love. Divided between romance and duty, Loy opts for the latter, and apparently causes Brent’s death. She goes mad with grief, and is packed away to a mental institution, where her fevered reminiscences provide the lengthy flashback sequences in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Dmitriy Babichenko – Boevye Stranicy AKA Combat Pages (1939)

    1931-1940AnimationDmitriy BabichenkoPoliticsUSSR

    Plot:It is a political film-review about the Soviet Army and its struggle against the enemies of the Soviet Union.
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  • William A. Wellman & Alfred E. Green – Central Airport (1933)

    1931-1940Alfred E. GreenDramaThrillerUSAWilliam A. Wellman

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    Plot: Jack Moffitt’s original story deals with the realities of work for 1930s fliers. Jim Blane (Richard Barthelmess) is booted from his job as a commercial pilot when investigators fault him for an airliner crash in rough weather. He meets circus barnstormer Jill Collins (Sally Eilers) just as her pilot brother crashes to his death, and becomes her partner both in the air and in bed. They check into hotels separately but always take adjoining rooms.
    Jim doesn’t believe in marriage for fliers, and Jill soon takes up with his younger brother Bud (Tom Brown), also a pilot. And Jim’s timing is also off … although Jill loves him, she accepts Bud’s offer of marriage. Jim takes off for dangerous jobs in parts unknown, but we know he’ll have to come back to claim what’s his. Plot summary by ethanedwards.Read More »

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