[6] Director George Cukor (Gaslight, Adam’s Rib) adapts this stage play about a wealthy couple who invite a handful of high society friends for, you guessed it — Dinner at Eight. Everyone’s got a problem or a secret they’re grappling with, and everyone seems to be connected to each other in some way. Lionel Barrymore’s on the verge of losing his shipping company while John …
[8] Katharine Hepburn leads an ensemble cast including Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball in this witty but moving comedy/drama about aspiring Broadway actresses living together in a boarding house. Hepburn’s character comes from money and wants to find out whether she has what it takes to become an actor. When she arrives at the boarding house, called The Footlight Club, she meets women both more …
[6] Director William Wellman (Wings, Battleground) opens Safe in Hell with the title in flames, and I interpret that to mean, “Buckle up for melodrama.” Dorothy Mackaill stars as a woman who hits hard times in New Orleans while her husband is at war. She turns to prostitution to make ends meet, but early in the film a john gets rough with her and she’s …
[5] Lew Ayres and Lana Turner headline this fluffy comedy about a dancer (Turner) who is invited to a posh weekend party with a rich boy (Ayres) and his rich friends. The problem is that Ayres was drunk when he invited Turner and already has another date for the weekend. She only learns about this once she arrives at the big event. But instead of …
[6] In 18th century Italy, an orphan boy comes of age with the help of nuns and a kindly mentor, falls in love, gets embroiled in the slave trade, and fights for his inheritance in this adaptation of Hervey Allen’s sprawling novel. Anthony Adverse looks and sounds great, with immense sets, period costumes, and a rich score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Some of the supporting …
[7] Nancy Carroll stars as a young bank worker who loses her job and becomes the subject of gossip after she spends a night with a rich womanizer, played by Cary Grant. Even though Carroll never did anything improper, the town saw her arrive at a big party with one man (Edward Woods), and leave with another. Yet a third man (Randolph Scott) visits town …
[7] Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper co-star in director Frank Borzage’s adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Cooper plays an American ambulance driver who falls in love with Hayes’ British nurse in Italy during the first World War. They are secretly married and have to keep their relationship hidden from their superiors. Eventually, they are separated and their letters to each other are …
[7] Marlene Dietrich re-teams with director Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel) to play a woman-on-the-run in Blonde Venus. After her husband falls ill from radium poisoning, Dietrich performs in a nightclub to make money for his treatment. But when Cary Grant shows up at the club offering a way to make more money faster, Dietrich takes him up on his offer. (Who wouldn’t prostitute …
[6] Devil and the Deep stars Tallulah Bankhead as the wife of a U.S. naval commander played by Charles Laughton (receiving ‘introducing’ credit here). Laughton’s character is mentally ill and insanely jealous of every man Bankhead ever comes into contact with, which includes Cary Grant early on in the film, and later with Gary Cooper. Thing is, Tallulah really did sleep with Cooper (God bless …
[7] Mae West stars as an 1890’s club entertainer courting a variety of suitors while a dangerous boyfriend promises retribution if she leaves him. While the suitors keep her covered in diamonds, it’s the man running a mission next door who most strikes West’s fancy. That man is played by Cary Grant, in one of his earliest screen appearances. Based on West’s own stage play, …
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