1930s_Time_Machine
Joined Dec 2021
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1930s_Time_Machine's rating
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1930s_Time_Machine's rating
Any fan of pre-code pictures who's never seen this is missing out on the treat of their lives. It's got everything: romance, action, a dashing hero and a beautiful young lady all neatly packaged into just over an hour.
Films made under the First National brand are generally a bit shabbier than their Warner Brothers counterparts but this one looks like it could have been made by MGM. It's a proper big budget production - there's even a proper full musical score running through it.
The acting is natural and believable, the script is realistic (well for 1931), the camerawork is clever and interesting and the superb fluid direction keeps your interest through every single minute. The war and battle scenes are extraordinarily impressive. We're not talking GAME OF THRONES C. G. I. Wizardry but considering what you see is hundreds of real actual of people on real massive sets, it's pretty amazing. Not only does this transport you body and soul to the horrors of 'the front' but the domestic scenes too, whether in foggy London or the country house are made so realistically you feel you're actually there.
Like all the best early thirties movies, its story is wonderfully simple and straightforward but this one is also brilliant - well this old romantic hippie loved it. Even with his weird accent but this time with a director who knew how to use him, Doug Fairbanks is great (unlike in most of his early pictures). So too is his 'brother' Anthony Bushell but the shining light is Rose Hobart (Molly) who looks remarkably Norma Shearer, sounds like Norma Shearer and even does those Norma Shearer gestures. She hasn't quite got Shearer's inexplicable sexiness but she comes pretty close. She was an interesting young lady and carved out a decent career for herself as an alternative Norma Shearer until falling foul of the foul McCarthy witch hunts of the late forties.
If early thirties movies are your thing - you'll seriously love this. Curiously it's not that well known but it's one of the best made from that era and in my opinion is fabulously entertaining.
Films made under the First National brand are generally a bit shabbier than their Warner Brothers counterparts but this one looks like it could have been made by MGM. It's a proper big budget production - there's even a proper full musical score running through it.
The acting is natural and believable, the script is realistic (well for 1931), the camerawork is clever and interesting and the superb fluid direction keeps your interest through every single minute. The war and battle scenes are extraordinarily impressive. We're not talking GAME OF THRONES C. G. I. Wizardry but considering what you see is hundreds of real actual of people on real massive sets, it's pretty amazing. Not only does this transport you body and soul to the horrors of 'the front' but the domestic scenes too, whether in foggy London or the country house are made so realistically you feel you're actually there.
Like all the best early thirties movies, its story is wonderfully simple and straightforward but this one is also brilliant - well this old romantic hippie loved it. Even with his weird accent but this time with a director who knew how to use him, Doug Fairbanks is great (unlike in most of his early pictures). So too is his 'brother' Anthony Bushell but the shining light is Rose Hobart (Molly) who looks remarkably Norma Shearer, sounds like Norma Shearer and even does those Norma Shearer gestures. She hasn't quite got Shearer's inexplicable sexiness but she comes pretty close. She was an interesting young lady and carved out a decent career for herself as an alternative Norma Shearer until falling foul of the foul McCarthy witch hunts of the late forties.
If early thirties movies are your thing - you'll seriously love this. Curiously it's not that well known but it's one of the best made from that era and in my opinion is fabulously entertaining.
Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen have nothing on this! That this was released at the start of the war to boost morale seems bizarre. Superbly made - yes, engaging - yes but it's also one of the most miserable films I've ever seen.
This is not light entertainment - you don't want to watch this after a bad day at work. But if you want an absolutely gritty and authentic, albeit intense depiction of working class life in England in the early thirties then this is a must. It's as far removed from Hollywood or even Gainsborough escapism as imaginable. The weird logic in releasing this just as the horror of the war was beginning was that at least things are better than they were a few years ago. You'd never have got anything as critical of society as this being released in Nazi Germany, or even the USA at this time.
The title, Love On The Dole might suggest that this is a typical 1930s depression movie with a sweet young couple managing to find happiness against the backdrop of adversity: it's definitely not. As you'll realise if you make it through to the end, love in this context is trying to do what's right for those you love even if that's sacrificing your own chance of happiness. It's not a happy film but it does have a really positive message about the goodness of humanity. This isn't about a young couple in love, that type of love is a luxury that can't be afforded. Love and marriage and for many, even happiness is just something that exists at the pictures.
Although it's not easy viewing, it is compelling and gives a first-person, genuine insight into life in Manchester as the English Depression which began after the First World War became even worse as the effects of America's economic collapse hit our shores. Some of you might think that a few of the accents are more 'generic northern' than 1930s Manchester but the current Manc accent hadn't evolved by then so did sound a little more like West Yorkshire. Deborah Kerr in addition to doing a pretty passable Lancashire accent also gives an outstanding performance - you'd never guess this was her first major role.
If you like those 'kitchen sink dramas' which portrayed the social realism of the 1960s, see how it was done in the 30s.
This is not light entertainment - you don't want to watch this after a bad day at work. But if you want an absolutely gritty and authentic, albeit intense depiction of working class life in England in the early thirties then this is a must. It's as far removed from Hollywood or even Gainsborough escapism as imaginable. The weird logic in releasing this just as the horror of the war was beginning was that at least things are better than they were a few years ago. You'd never have got anything as critical of society as this being released in Nazi Germany, or even the USA at this time.
The title, Love On The Dole might suggest that this is a typical 1930s depression movie with a sweet young couple managing to find happiness against the backdrop of adversity: it's definitely not. As you'll realise if you make it through to the end, love in this context is trying to do what's right for those you love even if that's sacrificing your own chance of happiness. It's not a happy film but it does have a really positive message about the goodness of humanity. This isn't about a young couple in love, that type of love is a luxury that can't be afforded. Love and marriage and for many, even happiness is just something that exists at the pictures.
Although it's not easy viewing, it is compelling and gives a first-person, genuine insight into life in Manchester as the English Depression which began after the First World War became even worse as the effects of America's economic collapse hit our shores. Some of you might think that a few of the accents are more 'generic northern' than 1930s Manchester but the current Manc accent hadn't evolved by then so did sound a little more like West Yorkshire. Deborah Kerr in addition to doing a pretty passable Lancashire accent also gives an outstanding performance - you'd never guess this was her first major role.
If you like those 'kitchen sink dramas' which portrayed the social realism of the 1960s, see how it was done in the 30s.
Because this stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda you might think this is like the witty, clever and charming LADY EVE - you'd be very wrong. This is unfunny, stupid and boring. This turgid dirge drags on for what seems like hours.
On paper, the story sounds like it might be fun but it's executed so amateurishly you feel embarrassed for all involved. A lavatory brush could have directed this with more panache. You can understand why Fonda and Stanwyck hated this project. We can share their pain! Leigh Jason, never a particularly impressive director makes a complete hash of this. How he turns two acting legends into utterly flat, lifeless and un-engaging one dimensional non-entities is astonishing. You can't believe you're actually watching Fonda and Stanwyck.
Even worse than these two are the atrocious Scooby Doo pals we're meant to believe would be friends with Stanwyck's character. These seem have been transported direct from one of those early 1929 attempts to make a first talkie. Cringingly bad. And Jason has a terrible habit of devoting a two second close-up to each of these women when they have something incredibly banal to say. I think they're meant to be humorous interjections but they simply leave us bemused.
You're best to pretend this doesn't exist. Watch the wonderful LADY EVE instead.
On paper, the story sounds like it might be fun but it's executed so amateurishly you feel embarrassed for all involved. A lavatory brush could have directed this with more panache. You can understand why Fonda and Stanwyck hated this project. We can share their pain! Leigh Jason, never a particularly impressive director makes a complete hash of this. How he turns two acting legends into utterly flat, lifeless and un-engaging one dimensional non-entities is astonishing. You can't believe you're actually watching Fonda and Stanwyck.
Even worse than these two are the atrocious Scooby Doo pals we're meant to believe would be friends with Stanwyck's character. These seem have been transported direct from one of those early 1929 attempts to make a first talkie. Cringingly bad. And Jason has a terrible habit of devoting a two second close-up to each of these women when they have something incredibly banal to say. I think they're meant to be humorous interjections but they simply leave us bemused.
You're best to pretend this doesn't exist. Watch the wonderful LADY EVE instead.