[3] I’ve never been a fan of Lewis Carroll’s source material, so I’m not surprised to find this 1933 all-star studio production of Alice in Wonderland to be another tedious incarnation. You know the story: a little girl (Charlotte Henry) goes into a mirror and meets one fanciful character after another until sweet mercy brings the credits rolling. The details don’t matter: She drinks and …
[7] Heroes for Sale follows Tom Holmes (Richard Barthelmess) through a near-death experience on the World War I battle front to a resulting morphine addiction upon his return to America. We see him lose his job and get rehabilitated, only to suffer another blow when his lucrative investment in washing machines puts hard-working Americans out of work. When he leads a worker’s strike that turns …
[5] In the second of Universal’s Mummy series, two American archaeologists partner with a wealthy magician and his daughter to find the hidden Tomb of Ananka in Egypt. Their quest is hampered by a secret organization determined to protect the tomb’s whereabouts, for fear any visitors might accidentally awaken the mummy who protects it. The Mummy’s Hand lacks distinction, but still manages to somewhat satisfy …
[5] Bela Lugosi headlines this Universal horror flick as a carnival showman determined to successfully inject a human being with gorilla blood to prove that man descended from ape. But who in 1845 Paris would willingly subject themselves to such an experiment? Lugosi and his gorilla companion travel by carriage through the fog-filled streets looking for women to kidnap and inject. After many failed attempts …
[8] Five travelers end up stranded at our title location after a fierce night-time storm makes driving the English hillsides too dangerous. The family that lives there is less than hospitable, with secrets that make the evening increasingly frightening. The Old Dark House is one of the grandfathers of what is now a classic horror sub-genre. Director James Whale (Frankenstein, Waterloo Bridge) makes it a …
[4] Cary Grant stars as a gambling boss who leaves New York after getting acquitted by a jury. He intends to turn over a new leaf, especially when he falls in love with a charming woman (Benita Hume) on a cross-country train ride to California. But once they arrive at their mutual destination, Grant gets roped back into dirty business. Matters get even more complicated …
[6] In the first and least successful of their screen pairings, Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant star as swindlers who end up running a traveling vaudeville show on the shores of England. Hepburn’s character disguises herself as a young man in order to evade police looking for her father (Edmund Gwenn), a gambler on the lam. The episodic script becomes unfocused when the father becomes …
[3] British archaeologists unearth a disgraced Egyptian prince (Boris Karloff) and accidentally bring him back to life. Ten years later, the mummy — looking conveniently human — schemes to reunite with his ancient lover, now reincarnated in the body of one of the archaeologist’s girlfriends (Zita Johann). In the pantheon of Universal’s classic monster movies, The Mummy is my least favorite by a large margin. …
[6] Ruth Chatterton (Frisco Jenny) stars as a powerful automobile executive who plucks young men out of her workforce to have sex with and vows never to marry. But when a rival businessman (George Brent) refuses her advances, she begins to wonder whether the busy, working life is really meant for her. Chatterton does a fine job with Female, a film remembered for its notorious …
[4] Barbara Stanwyck plays a poor waitress who falls in love with a rich man (Regis Toomey), but his mother (Clara Blandick) is determined to keep the two apart. She even goes so far as to have a judge arrest her on a phony morals charge and send her to ninety-day reform program! Once she’s released, Stanwyck starts a new life and becomes a infamous …
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