The Maltese Falcon (1931)

The Maltese Falcon (1931)

[5] A mysterious woman enters detective Sam Spade's office with information about a valuable statue called the Maltese Falcon. Spade is soon swept up into a mystery involving multiple pursuers of the statue in this famous story from Dashielle Hammett. This film…
Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Red-Headed Woman (1932)

[5] Jean Harlow plays such a nasty little character in Red-Headed Woman, sleeping her way to the top of the workforce while ending marriages left and right. She's so cold and calculating, I almost wish the movie would have been like most…
M (1931)

M (1931)

[7] Peter Lorre gives a star-making performance as a child murderer running from both the law and the criminal underground in this stylish early 'talkie' from Fritz Lang (Metropolis). As much as I love both Lang and Lorre, M is a mixed…
Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

[8] It's the Great Depression and young boys (and a few girls) are running away from home to lessen the burden on their poor families. This movie follows two boys, played by Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips, who hop aboard train after…
Tarzan and His Mate (1934)

Tarzan and His Mate (1934)

[6] Poachers are looking to rob a legendary elephant graveyard of its ivory in the first Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan sequel. I think the sequel is just as entertaining as the original.  The sexual innuendo is more pronounced (we even get a nude…
Monkey Business (1931)

Monkey Business (1931)

[4] I want to like a Marx Brothers movie. Really, I do. But this is the third for me (after their earlier efforts, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers) and so far, no dice. In this, their first film written specifically for the…
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

[5] This early Best Picture Oscar winner is a three-hour mix of song, dance, and narrative, much like Broadway Melody before it. I was expecting a real stinker, especially when the opening credits revealed "Fashion Parades by Adrian". But apart from being…
Mad Love (1935)

Mad Love (1935)

[7] Peter Lorre stars as a doctor so obsessed with an actress (Frances Drake), that after a train wreck destroys her husband's hands, Lorre offers to perform a transplant. Problem is, the new hands once belonged to a murderer, and old habits…
Scarface (1932)

Scarface (1932)

[6] Paul Muni plays a thinly-veiled version of Al Capone in Howard Hawks' Scarface, a grim, violent gangster flick that was pretty controversial for its time. The lack of bloodshed keeps it tame by today's standards, but myriad onscreen deaths and an…
Animal Crackers (1930)

Animal Crackers (1930)

[4] Groucho, Chico, Zeppo, and Harpo are back for their second big-screen soire. This one hangs loosely on a stolen painting plot, with Groucho playing a returning safari hunter at a rich aristocrat woman's house where all the action takes place. Like…