1931-1940

  • Karl Hartl – Gold (1934)

    1931-1940DramaGermanyKarl HartlSci-FiThird Reich Cinema

    Synopsis:
    ‘Hans Albers stars as Werner Holk, an engineer who is working with Professor Achenbach on a machine that will turn lead into gold. When an “accident” occurs that costs the Professor his life, Holk swears vengeance, and determines that the mastermind behind the sabotage was Scottish millionaire John Wills, who has his own rival group working on the same machine. Wills actually hires Holk on to help make his machine a success, and while at first Holk is determined to destroy Wills’ effort from within, when Holk meets Wills’ daughter Florence he begins to second guess his mission.’
    – AlsExGalRead More »

  • Dimitri Kirsanoff – Rapt (1934)

    1931-1940Dimitri KirsanoffDramaSwitzerland

    Rapt, also released under the names ‘The Kidnapping’ and ‘Magic Mountain’, is a simple drama set in the enchanting Swiss Alps. Two agrarian villages are separated by the mountains; they are idyllic but each is wary of the village on the other side. Bucolic life is disturbed when a young maiden, Dita Parlo, is stolen from her side of the mountain.Read More »

  • Sifrid Miladinov – Galicnik (1940)

    1931-1940DocumentarySifrid MiladinovSilentYugoslavia

    Quote:
    This ethnographic and historical silent 16mm cinematic jewel was filmed in 1940 by Sifrid Miladinov – a professional photographer and amateur filmmaker from Kumanovo, a man with eclectic range of interests.
    In 16 short but precious minutes you will see what the village of Galichnik, the famous Galichnik wedding and our ancestors looked like 80 years ago – in color! – very unusual at that time. Maybe some of you will recognize your great-grandfather, great-great-grandmother, old family house, alley, tree, entrance door. Sifrid Miladinov’s film is a rare opportunity to look back in the past through authentic, original archive footage. We thank the descendants of this film enthusiast, the Miladinovi family from Zagreb, for depositing the film in our national film archive – the Cinematheque – several years ago.Read More »

  • Thorold Dickinson – Gaslight (1940)

    1931-1940DramaMysteryThorold DickinsonUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    ‘Twenty years ago, old Mrs. Barlow was killed in her home at 12, Pimlico Square for her priceless rubies. The murderer searched the whole house without finding them, then disappeared. The house has been empty since then, but now Paul and Bella Mallen move into the apartment. Bella Mallen suffers from forgetfulness and nervousness – at least that is what her husband tells her. An elderly horse wrangler, B.G. Rough worked as a policeman twenty years ago and still remembers the unsolved case. He notices that Mr. Mallen looks just like Louis Barre, Mrs. Barlow’s nephew. And why does Mr. Mallen mysteriously leave every night just to go into the apartment next door, no. 14?’
    – Mattias ThuressonRead More »

  • Alfred Hitchcock – Secret Agent (1936)

    1931-1940Alfred HitchcockDramaThrillerUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    ‘In World War I, Brodie, a successful novelist and soldier, is pronounced dead and given a new identity by the Secret Service. Sent on an espionage mission in Switzerland, he is teamed with a fake ‘wife’, Elsa and an assassin, the General.’
    – BFI ScreenonlineRead More »

  • Leslie Pearce – The Dentist (1932)

    1931-1940ComedyLeslie PearceShort FilmUSA

    Synopsis:
    An unconventional dentist (W. C. Fields) deals with patients in slapstick fashion.Read More »

  • Clyde Bruckman – The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)

    1931-1940Clyde BruckmanComedyShort FilmUSA

    Synopsis:
    Fields relates the sad tale of his son who went astray in the city. Adapted from Fields’ 1928 Ear Carroll Vanities sketch “Stolen Bonds.”Read More »

  • George Cukor – The Philadelphia Story (1940) (HD)

    1931-1940ComedyGeorge CukorRomanceScrewball ComedyUSA

    Quote:
    With this furiously witty comedy of manners, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era’s most iconic leading lady—thanks in great part to her own shrewd orchestrations. While starring in the Philip Barry stage play The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn acquired the screen rights, handpicking her friend George Cukor to direct. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant), who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid reporter on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart, in his only Academy Award–winning performance). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a tale of regret and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time.Read More »

  • George Cukor – Holiday (1938) (HD)

    USA1931-1940ComedyGeorge CukorRomanceScrewball Comedy

    Quote:
    Two years before stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and director George Cukor would collaborate on The Philadelphia Story, they brought their timeless talents to this delectable slice of 1930s romantic-comedy perfection, the second film adaptation of a hit 1928 play by Philip Barry. Grant is at his charismatic best as the acrobatically inclined free spirit who, following a whirlwind engagement, literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancée’s aristocratic family—setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister (Hepburn). With a sparkling surface and an undercurrent of melancholy, Holiday is an enchanting ode to nonconformists and pie-in-the-sky dreamers everywhere, as well as a thoughtful reflection on what it truly means to live well.Read More »

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