Re: Best Original Story 1932/33
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:54 pm
I agree that Duck Soup is an easy substitution -- even beyond the Marx Brothers' trademark zingers, it probably has the most cohesive plot of any of their films as well.
Mister Tee wrote in another post that a lot of films from this era come off pretty creaky today -- while that's true, the number that I'd say dip down into the flat-out amateurish is pretty low. But I think Rasputin and the Empress is one of them. It's the kind of movie that you just KNOW is going to be a rough sit going in -- an early sound era drama about the Russian Revolution sounds like the last thing I'd ever watch for pleasure. And yet somehow it's even more stiffly written and clumsily silly than you'd imagine, with Lionel Barrymore in that obviously pasted-on beard virtually impossible to take seriously as the eviler-than-evil Rasputin. I think this is a terrible movie. (And one random observation: it's REALLY weird to see a movie where the swastika is associated with the HEROES, something that would be utterly unimaginable within just a few years and on into infinity.)
The Prizefighter and the Lady is just sort of rudimentary, focusing on a love quadrangle that has practically zero invention to it. And the plot has a lot of filler -- at one point the narrative just stops for a big musical number, despite there being no explanation for the boxer protagonist to have suddenly become a musical theater performer. I'm not sure what the movie is even supposed to be building toward either -- Max Baer's character doesn't seem to have learned anything from his affairs, but it seems like we're intended to cheer for him in the big fight regardless just because he's played by the star? I didn't find this very compelling.
While watching a lot of these lesser '30's nominees for these polls, I started to wonder if maybe movies from this era have all just dated so much, it's mostly impossible to watch any of them as entertainment any more. Happily, I came to One Way Passage. It definitely has a movie-movie quality to it -- when Kay Francis looks at William Powell in the opening scene, it's about as obvious a case of love-at-first-sight in movie history. But the central doomed romance is engaging throughout, and the supporting characters provide a lot of welcome humor to act as a tonic to the grim nature of the set-up. And I agree about the ending -- I actually gasped at the surprise of the unexpected final shot. This easily gets my vote among this trio.
Mister Tee wrote in another post that a lot of films from this era come off pretty creaky today -- while that's true, the number that I'd say dip down into the flat-out amateurish is pretty low. But I think Rasputin and the Empress is one of them. It's the kind of movie that you just KNOW is going to be a rough sit going in -- an early sound era drama about the Russian Revolution sounds like the last thing I'd ever watch for pleasure. And yet somehow it's even more stiffly written and clumsily silly than you'd imagine, with Lionel Barrymore in that obviously pasted-on beard virtually impossible to take seriously as the eviler-than-evil Rasputin. I think this is a terrible movie. (And one random observation: it's REALLY weird to see a movie where the swastika is associated with the HEROES, something that would be utterly unimaginable within just a few years and on into infinity.)
The Prizefighter and the Lady is just sort of rudimentary, focusing on a love quadrangle that has practically zero invention to it. And the plot has a lot of filler -- at one point the narrative just stops for a big musical number, despite there being no explanation for the boxer protagonist to have suddenly become a musical theater performer. I'm not sure what the movie is even supposed to be building toward either -- Max Baer's character doesn't seem to have learned anything from his affairs, but it seems like we're intended to cheer for him in the big fight regardless just because he's played by the star? I didn't find this very compelling.
While watching a lot of these lesser '30's nominees for these polls, I started to wonder if maybe movies from this era have all just dated so much, it's mostly impossible to watch any of them as entertainment any more. Happily, I came to One Way Passage. It definitely has a movie-movie quality to it -- when Kay Francis looks at William Powell in the opening scene, it's about as obvious a case of love-at-first-sight in movie history. But the central doomed romance is engaging throughout, and the supporting characters provide a lot of welcome humor to act as a tonic to the grim nature of the set-up. And I agree about the ending -- I actually gasped at the surprise of the unexpected final shot. This easily gets my vote among this trio.