Tag Archives: 1930s

The Last Outpost (1935) Charles Barton, Louis J. Gasnier, Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Gertrude Michael, Action, Adventure, Romance

The Last Outpost (1935)
In World War I, British-officer Michael Andrews is captured by a band of Kurdish raiders on the Eastern Front, and is rescued by a man calling himself John Stevenson, although he refuses to tell his name to Andrews. The two men form a strange friendship, and help save an entire Kurdish village from a massacre and also avert a surprise attack on the British army-unit stationed there. Andrews suffers a wounded leg and is sent to the British military-hospital in Cairo. He falls in love with a nurse, Rosemary Haydon, and she with him, but she is married although she has not seen nor heard from her husband in over three years. It is at this point that the man who saved Andrews’ life turns up to claim his wife, who is Rosemary. The latter bids adieu to Andrews who does not know that the man he considers his best friend is also the husband of the woman he loves. But, by pure coincidence and chance, both Andrews and Rosemary’s husband come face-to-face again in a remote garrison that is under…
Read More »

China Seas (1935) Tay Garnett, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Action, Drama, Adventure

China Seas (1935)
Dynamic Alan Gaskell captains a ship bound from Hong Kong to Singapore. Gaskell tries to turn over a new leaf from his hard-drinking lifestyle after becoming attached to a refined high class English lady, Sybil Barclay. His former girlfriend Dolly is extremely jealous of the budding relationship and tries hard to get the Captain back. He is apparently unimpressed with her loud, obnoxious, and uncivilized manners, even though she is extremely beautiful. After a temporary take over of the ship by gold-seeking Asian pirates, Captain Gaskell must deal with the fact that Dolly and her drinking pal, Jamesey MacArdle, are implicated in the crime.
Read More »

Shukujo wa nani o wasureta ka / What Did The Lady Forget? (1937) Yasujirô Ozu, Sumiko Kurishima, Tatsuo Saitô, Michiko Kuwano, Comedy, Drama

Shukujo wa nani o wasureta ka AKA What Did The Lady Forget (1937)
An affluent medical professor, Komiya, and his bossy wife, Tokio, are to look after Setsuko, their high-spirited niece from Osaka. Setsuko is a liberated woman who does what she wants, including smoking, even though she is a minor. On Saturday, the professor does not feel like going to his weekend golf game, but his wife packs him off anyway. So he leaves his bag at the apartment of his student Okada, and goes to a bar with a friend. Setsuko traces him there, and insists that he take her to a geisha house. When she gets rather tipsy, the professor calls Okada to take her home, while he sleeps at Okada’s. The wife becomes suspicious of Setsuko when she sees Okada bringing her home, and also of her husband when she discovers that he did not go golfing.
Read More »

Le bonheur / Happiness (1935) Marcel L’Herbier, Gaby Morlay, Charles Boyer, Paulette Dubost, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Le bonheur AKA Happiness (1935)
Released in English-speaking countries as Happiness, Le Bonheur was based on a play by Henry Bernstein. Charles Boyer stars as a fervent anarchist who vows to kill anyone who represents “the establishment.” As a result, he ends up shooting idolized music-hall singer Gaby Morlay in full view of her audience. After this unpromising start, Boyer and Morlay get to know each other, eventually falling in love. At his attempted-murder trial, Morlay offers to testify on Boyer’s behalf – but he refuses, determined to become a martyr to his cause. Things work out in a most unexpected fashion in this offbeat romance, released in the U.S. in 1935 to capitalize on Boyer’s burgeoning American popularity.
Read More »

In Gay Madrid (1930) Robert Z. Leonard, Ramon Novarro, Dorothy Jordan, Lottice Howell, Drama, Musical, Romance

In Gay Madrid (1930)
Ricardo, a young law student in his home town of Madrid, is a carefree playboy who loves nightclubs and courting pretty girls. His father hopes to instill a more serious attitude in his son by transferring him to a school in the rural town of Santiago. At Santiago, his father’s old friend is to be his guardian. When Ricardo arrives at Santiago he joins a fraternity, and continues his carefree lifestyle while serenading and courting his guardian’s daughter, Carmina. But when Ricardo’s former girlfriend Goyita arrives for a visit, events take a serious turn …
Read More »

Aldeia da Roupa Branca / The Village of White Clothes (1939) Chianca de Garcia, Beatriz Costa, Manuel Santos Carvalho, José Amaro, Comedy

Aldeia da Roupa Branca AKA The Village of White Clothes (1939)
Gracinda, a young laundry washer, lives with her godfather, “Uncle” Jacinto, and together they run a family business, doing the laundry for residents of Lisbon in their small village in the outskirts of that city (Canecas). Unfortunately, the business is not going very well, but that changes when Gracinda decides to go to the city to try to convince Chico, “Uncle” Jacinto’s son, with whom she is in love, to return to the village and give new life to the business. The village is preparing for the annual festivities and a dispute erupts between “Uncle” Jacinto and his business rival , the widow Quiteria, when each of them invites different bands to play at the same time during the party and dances.
Read More »

Special Agent (1935) William Keighley, Bette Davis, George Brent, Ricardo Cortez, Crime, Drama

Special Agent (1935)
Newspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career of racketeer Alexander Carston. Julie Gardner is Carston’s bookkeeper. Bradford enters Carston’s organization and Julie cooperates with him to land Carston in jail. An informer squeals on them. Julie is kidnapped by Carston’s henchmen as she is about to testify.
Read More »

You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939) George Marshall, W.C. Fields, Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy, Comedy

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
Larson E. Whipsnade runs a seedy circus which is perpetually in debt. His performers give him nothing but trouble, especially Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. Meanwhile, Whipsnade’s son and daughter, Phineas and Vicky, attend a posh college. Vicky turns down her caddish but rich suitor Roger Bel-Goodie, but changes her mind when she learns of her father’s financial troubles. Will Vicky marry for money or succumb to the ventriloqual charm of Edgar Bergen? Will Whipsnade’s Circus Giganticus make it over the state line one jump ahead of the sheriff?
Read More »