Hot on the trail of a missing heiress, ace New York reporter Duke Lester outwits his rival, Christine Nelson, and causes her to lose her job. Read More »
Tag Archives: 1930s
Tower Of London (1939) Rowland V. Lee, Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Barbara O’Neil, Drama, History
In the 15th century Richard Duke of Gloucester, aided by his club-footed executioner Mord, eliminates those ahead of him in succession to the throne, then occupied by his brother King Edward IV of England. Read More »
The Lady Vanishes (1938) Alfred Hitchcock, Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Mystery, Thriller
In Alfred Hitchcock’s most quick-witted and devilish comic thriller, the beautiful Margaret Lockwood, traveling across Europe by train Read More »
The Irish in Us (1935) Lloyd Bacon, James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, Olivia de Havilland, Comedy
The family consists of Pat, the cop, Mike the fireman, Danny the boxing promoter and Ma. Pat wants Danny to get a real job, because most of his fighters end up in Polookaville and Pat wants to marry Lucille. Read More »
Blonde Venus (1932) Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, Herbert Marshall, Drama
American chemist Ned Faraday marries a German entertainer and starts a family. However, he becomes poisoned with Radium and needs an expensive treatment in Germany to have any chance at being cured. Read More »
Let Us Live (1939) John Brahm, Maureen O’Sullivan, Henry Fonda, Ralph Bellamy, Crime, Drama
Two innocent men are wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The fiance of one of them convinces a police detective of their innocence, and together they try to find the real killer before the men’s execution date.
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Gold is Where You Find It (1938) Michael Curtiz, George Brent, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, Drama, History, Romance
Colonel Ferris, a wealthy farmer in northern California, is strongly opposed to hydraulic mining, a new method developed during the gold rush of the 1870’s Read More »
The Devil Is a Woman (1935) Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill, Edward Everett Horton, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Film told in flashbacks of an older man’s obsession for a woman who can belong to no-one but can frustrate everyone. Read More »
Un grand amour de Beethoven / Beethoven’s Great Love (1936) Abel Gance, Harry Baur, Annie Ducaux, Jany Holt, Biography, Drama, Music
1801, in Vienna, two young women, his pupils, are in love with him. Thérèse de Brunswick’s love remains unrequited even though she and Beethoven are engaged for years; Juliette Guicciardi, whom Beethoven loves but who marries a count, regrets that decision, but by then he and Thérèse are engaged. Read More »
Das Mädchen Johanna / Joan The Maid (1935) Gustav Ucicky, Angela Salloker, Gustaf Gründgens, Heinrich George, Biography, Drama, History
The story of Joan of Arc has been filmed so often that it need not be repeated here. This 1935 version obviously can’t quite compete with the masterworks Dreyer, Bresson, or Rivette derived from the same story, but it’s nevertheless a very effective film which focuses much more on the intrigues of the men around Joan than on the girl herself, who gets surprisingly little screentime. Read More »
The Cheat (1931) George Abbott, Tallulah Bankhead, Harvey Stephens, Irving Pichel, Drama
Love, lust, possession, money, social standing, and addiction. Elsa Carlyle is impulsive and a gambler; though loved by her husband Jeff, she’s spoiled and selfish, concerned with social standing. Read More »
Operator 13 (1934) Richard Boleslawski, Marion Davies, Gary Cooper, Jean Parker, Drama, History, Romance
Gail Loveless, a spy known as Operator 13 working for the Union and Federal cause during the Civil War, posing as a Confederate woman named Anne Claybourne, meets and falls in love with Confederate Captain Jack Galliard. Dusguised as an octoroom maid at a Confedarate military ball, she learns and relays secrets to the Union forces that are devastating to the Rebel cause. Assigned to the case to track down and kill the spy maid, Galliard learns she is also the woman he loves, but proceeds with his assignment. He captures her but is in danger of being captured himself as Federal forces are approaching. Gail/Anne saves him and they part to wait until peace comes to resume their romance.
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Sanders of the River (1935) Zoltan Korda, Paul Robeson, Leslie Banks, Nina Mae McKinney, Adventure, Drama
British District Officer in Nigeria in the 1930’s rules his area strictly but justly, and struggles with gun-runners and slavers with the aid of a loyal native chief.
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Dishonored (1931) Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Drama, Music, War
The Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
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Der Choral von Leuthen / The Anthem of Leuthen (1933) Carl Froelich, Walter Supper, Otto Gebühr, Olga Tschechowa, Elga Brink, Biography, Drama, History
The story of the rise to power of King Frederick II (aka “Frederick the Great”) of Prussia of his military campaigns to make Prussia a major power in Europe.
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