The Mask Of Fu Manchu

1932 - MGM
Directed By Charles Brabin


SYNOPSIS

An Englishman (Lawrence Grant) uncovers the location of Genghis Khan's tomb. He plans an expedition, but is kidnapped by the fiendish Dr. Fu Manchu (Boris Karloff) and his sadistic daughter (Myrna Loy.) The duo want the mask and sword of the Mongol ruler to take over the world. The rest of the expedition sets out to uncover the riches of the tomb, and try to rescue their comrade.

MY THOUGHTS

MGM made few horror films during the golden age... and clearly the studio was trying to outdo Universal, who recently brought Dracula and Frankenstein to the big screen. One way was to make a kinkier and darker film. MGM achieved this with The Mask Of Fu Manchu.


Fu Manchu was released 2 years before the strict production code was enforced. Pre-code films were much freer to depict sexuality and other 'depravity.' Several torture devices, characters delighted at torturing others, an opium den, racially charged dialogue (against both Asians and whites) are just some of the soon-to-be no no's that this film dishes out one after another. Sure, they are tame by today's standards but they are still eye-opening at times, especially Fu Manchu's proclaimed desire to wipe out 'the white race.'

The movie is based on a series of pulp novels, and that spirit is captured perfectly on the big screen. Its scant 70 minute run time puts the film in high gear nearly the whole time, lacking the clunky pacing of many early sound films, like Dracula. The short run time would signify a "b" movie, but Fu Manchu's exquisite sets, make up, lighting and special effects say otherwise. MGM gave the little horror film the usual gloss it did to all of its 'classier' productions.

Boris Karloff, who brought humanity and sympathy to his role of Frankenstein's monster, relishes in pure evil here.
Myrna Loy's kinky, wicked role is light years from her most famous role as sophisticated Nora Charles in the Thin Man series. Both actors camp their roles up, knowing just how ridiculous the plot is. The film is truly alive when they are on screen and they are a delight to watch.



The Mask Of  Fu Manchu is far, far, far away from today's 'politically correct' climate, but is still fun and highly entertaining for fans of early horror.

Short Cut To Hell

1957 - Paramount Pictures
Directed By James Cagney

SYNOPSIS

A hitman (Robert Ivers) is double-crossed by the man (Jacques Aubuchon) who hired him to kill two city workers in Oakland. The hitman heads to Los Angeles to get revenge. On the train there he meets a young singer (Georgann Johnson,) who just happens to be the girlfriend of the head detective (William Bishop) who's after him.

MY THOUGHTS

A 'B'-movie remake of a film noir gem.

Short Cut To Hell is a remake of the 1944 film This Gun For Hire which starred Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and Robert Preston. The remake lacks the pop, artistry, chemistry and the star-making performance of Alan Ladd.

The film is James Cagney's first and only effort as a director. He crafts a well paced film with tension building throughout. It's a wonder why he didn't direct another film. He shows some promise but it would have been better to see him tackle some more original material.

Cagney clearly shows he can handle actors. Robert Ivers is cold-as-ice as the hitman, exactly what you would expect from a real hitman. I found Georgann Johnson to be annoyingly cutesie in her role... almost to the point of being unrealistic, but it perfectly balances out Ivers' dour character. Johnson clearly went the opposite direction of Veronica Lake in the same role. In this Gun For Hire, Lake's character clearly falls in love-love with the hitman. Here, it's more of a motherly love.

Still despite it's good points, Short Cut To Hell is just a pale copy of a much stronger film.

Blu-Ray Review: The General

1926
Directed By Buster Keaton + Clyde Bruckman

One of the greatest of all silent films was one of the very first to make the leap to blu-ray.... and the transfer is amazing.
The added clarity of blu-ray adds so much to The General. The film has been the victim of poor, cheap public domain releases for decades. The first time I saw the film some of the nighttime sequences were so dark, you couldn't tell what was going on at all, while during the day, the focus was muddy or the film was brutally scratched up. Kino International's print cures ALL those ills.
 There is NOT ONE scratch on the film the whole way through. There are small white speckles throughout the print but they are minor and not distracting. What is distracting, is the added clarity and sharpness draws your eyes away from the action to stare at the beauty of the surroundings! (This is NOT a complaint!)

Accompanying the film is your choice of three completely different musical scores and several extras:

--- The General was based on an event during the Civil War known as the 'Great Locomotive Chase' when Union operatives stole the locomotive and several southerners raced to get it back. You can learn this history and get a tour of the real General, which resides in a Georgia museum. This is the longest special feature and runs nearly 20 minutes.
---'A brief tour of filming locations' is also included, though the 'tour' is just a few of black and white photos interspersed with footage of the film. At a scant 4 minutes, it barely scratches the surface.
--- Two filmed introductions of past TV airings are also included, one by Gloria Swanson, the other by Orson Welles.
--- A 5 minute montage of Keaton's many humorous uses of trains from his shorts and other feature films.
--- And last and probably the rarest, a minute of home movies taken of the making of the film. I doubt much behind the scenes footage exists from the silent era, so it's great to see this brief glimpse.

The extras are not exhaustive, but provide excellent support for this classic. Due to the high esteem the film has, I'm surprised there is no audio commentary by a film historian that could shed more insight on the making of the film. Did the various musical scores take up too much space on the disc?

This is the best possible way to see The General, until time machines are invented so we can see it pristine on opening day.

Go West

1940 - MGM
Directed By Edward Buzzell


SYNOPSIS

Two poor brothers (Chico + Harpo Marx) dream of going west, finding gold and striking it rich. They out-con a con man (Groucho Marx) and soon find themselves looking for fortune. For helping out an old man, the two get a deed for some land. Unbeknownst to them, the old man's daughter's boyfriend had intentions on selling the land to a railroad and being able to afford to get married and set them up for life. When the railroad company snatches the deed from the brothers, they, the con man, and the boyfriend team up to get it back.

MY THOUGHTS

Though it's not the Marx Brothers at top form, Go West still very funny and highly entertaining.


The characters the Marx Brothers play are way out of their element in the old west and that's why the humor works. Most of the classic comedic actors and groups headed out to the old west. The concept was still relatively fresh in 1940, but still Go West suffers from "been there, done that" syndrome:

--- The hilarious opening scene (where Groucho believes he is scamming Chico and Harpo) (see above video) plays way too much like the famed "Tootsie Frootsie Ice Cream" bit in A Day At The Races. Still, the long scene is nearly as funny as that epic classic.

--- Go West wraps up with an insanely crazy runaway train sequence that evokes Buster Keaton's The General. It's far from a direct copy... but when the brothers start chopping up the train for firewood... it gets a little close for comfort.  (Keaton did work as an uncredited gag-writer on this film.)

--- The film features some strong musical moments. As usual with their films, Chico plays a piano piece and Harpo also plays a song on the harp. These (as in all their films) slow down the film's madcap pace.

--- And, as with all their MGM era features, the trio must help out a pair of troubled lovers. That duo, John Carroll and Diana Lewis, are beyond bland. They make you pine for Allan Jones and Kitty Carlisle who played those type of roles best in A Night At The Opera.
So, much of the film feels like you've seen it before elsewhere, and better.

Still, the witty one-liners from Groucho, the dim-witted mangling of English by Chico and the surreal visual comedy of Harpo are all top notch. The brothers are at the top of their game, despite the material.

There are better western parodies and better Marx Brothers films, but Go West is still enjoyable. It's probably one of their better 'lesser' films.

Dark City

1950 Paramount Pictures
Directed By William Dieterle


SYNOPSIS

Cops shut down Danny Haley's (Charlton Heston) gambling joint, leaving him without income.  He and his pals (Ed Begley + Jack Webb) fleece a businessman (Don DeFore) for thousands of dollars. After losing everything, the businessman hangs himself. The businessman's unseen brother (Mike Mazurki) starts killing them off one by one, Danny ditches his girl (Lizabeth Scott,) heads to Los Angeles and then to Las Vegas to escape his fate.

MY THOUGHTS

It's amazing how many good little film noirs there are out there that are not well known, like Dark City.

Dark City marked the film debut for Charlton Heston, and its obvious from the start why he became a star. His strong, tough screen persona is there from the first frame. He's surrounded by many familiar faces that are nearly all uniformly good.
Much like with Humphrey Bogart in Dead Reckoning, Lizabeth Scott has little chemistry with her leading man and her nightclub singing duties take up too much time of the film. They really only needed to show her singing once to establish what she did for a living, though she does have a pleasing voice.


Dark City isn't as overly artsy with lighting or unique camera angles like Touch of Evil (also starring Heston) but is still identifiably noir due to its dark subject matter and less than heroic characters.

Not showing the psychopathic brother builds great suspense as the audience doesn't know what he looks like (apart from the ring on his hand) anymore than the cops or Haley and his crew do. Apart from that, the story and its execution is pretty pedestrian.

Dark City is far from a definitive noir, but fans of the style shouldn't miss it. There is plenty to like.
 

Dodge City

1939 - Warner Brothers
Directed By Michael Curtiz


SYNOPSIS

Dodge City is ruled by an outlaw Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) and is the kind of place where it's not even safe for a kid to walk down the street during the day. Trail boss Wade Hatton (Errol Flynn) arrives with friends (Alan Hale + Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams) and is inspired by the extreme violence to take the vacant job of sheriff. He begins to bring law and order to the town, irking Surrett. Surrett's gang starts going after two newspaper reporters (Frank McHugh + Oliva de Havilland) trying to expose him as a crook... giving Hatton enough fuel to take down Surrett and bring peace to the town.

MY THOUGHTS



Westerns had long been the stuff of 'B' movies, but by the end of the 30's they'd come into vogue. Dodge City (along with Stagecoach and Destry Rides Again) rode the first wave of 'A' western pictures and it does it in style.

Practically every Warner Brothers film of the 30's moved at a breakneck speed. Apart from the main set pieces, Dodge City slows down to a more leisurely pace. One of the few Technicolor films of the era, the slower pace shows off the beautiful settings in vivid color even better than the fast-paced The Adventures of Robin Hood. Thanks to the expert direction of Michael Curtiz, even with the slower pace, it doesn't drag at all.

Dodge City plays with every western staple that we now call a cliche (except the duel at high noon.) The barroom brawl (see video above,) gun-play in the streets, a bad saloon girl, cattle drive, new sheriff in town, walking on top of moving trains, lynch mobs are all there and more. The filmmakers take these familiar scenes and make them epic. Most western barroom brawls usually only have about a dozen fighters, Dodge City has at least 50 people battling at once!

Errol Flynn is his usual dashing self and the top-notch production benefits from top-notch supporting players. Like most of their parings, Flynn and de Havilland hate each other but grow to like each other by the end.

Alan Hale usually supported Flynn as a sidekick. Here he gives one of his best comic performances.  Wanting to ditch alcohol, he joins a temperance movement with a bunch of old bitties. The temperance meeting is right next to the saloon and the brawl spills over to the meeting (again see above,) dragging Hale's character back into the fold of the 'sinners.' He's funny throughout the film.

Ann Sheridan seems to relish the 'bad saloon girl' role, but is given little to do apart from sing and dance on stage... but she looks good doing it.

Stagecoach and Destry Rides Again may stand a cut above Dodge City as works of art, but the Errol Flynn-starrer is more fun.

The Flying Deuces

1939
Directed By A. Edward Sullivan


SYNOPSIS


Spurned by love in Paris, Ollie (Oliver Hardy) is inspired to join the Foreign Legion. He drags his buddy Stanley (Stan Laurel) into joining with him, but they don't realize it's an army until after they've signed up. Now they must try and escape.

MY THOUGHTS 

A silly and entertaining outing for the great comedy team of Laurel & Hardy.

This is my first experience with Laurel & Hardy with sound, having seen many of their silent shorts. I found their physical humor to still be top-notch... but the dialogue weak. They deliver the jokes well, with quite a few laughs... but the writing lacks the sharpness of The Marx Brothers, Three Stooges, or Abbot and Costello.

The film moves at the same fast pace as one of their older two-reeler shorts. It's about 70 minutes, so it is like 3 two-reelers back-to-back-to back. It's structured much that way as well: pre-Legion/Legion/escape. Much of Deuces seems familiar, so it would not surprise me that some of the material was recycled from earlier works, making it a 'greatest hits' of sorts.

Speaking of the Marx Brothers, Laurel does a parody musical number playing the harp, a la Harpo. Hardy also apes Greta Garbo, with an unexpected "I vant to be left alooone."

The ending is unique, bizarre and a bit unexpected... but it sets up one last silly visual gag.

The Flying Deuces is far from a masterpiece, but it's a lot of fun and would be a great introduction to the team for people put-off by silent films.

The Naked City

1948 - Universal International
Directed By Jules Dassin




SYNOPSIS


New York detectives investigate the murder of a model and uncover that she was involved in a ring of jewel thieves.

MY THOUGHTS

A film noir classic!


The plot may seem tame today, compared with the hundreds of hours of police procedural TV shows that have come since (including the Naked City series that aired from 1958-63) but the film still remains entertaining and exciting. The characters are all dynamic and interesting, especially Barry Fitzgerald's somewhat aloof Det. Muldoon. But the real star was the city.

The film was entirely shot on location in Manhattan... many times with hidden cameras. So the actors did their thing on the streets of the city among an oblivious public. This brings an amazing sense of realism.
The voice-over, by producer Mark Hellinger, is dated, and cheesy at times, but it was common at the time  for film noir that was going for a docu-drama approach like The House on 92nd Street and many others.

All in all, the story keeps you interested and it builds suspense the whole way through to the action-packed conclusion. There are 8 million stories in the naked city... and this one is a pretty damn good one.

Blu-Ray Review: Bambi

1942 - Walt Disney Pictures
Directed By David Hand



Disney once again outdoes itself in bringing one of its greatest classics to high def.
The jaw-dropping animation has never looked better... from the opening pan through the forest, to the spring, to the winter snow, to the climactic fire. The fifth Disney animated feature build upon the previous four in quality and technical precision. The blu-ray highlights this astounding achievement.

To accompany the film, Bambi has an entire forest-worth of special features.
Two new (but not actually completed) cut scenes are included, along with a modern recording of a deleted song. Interactive Galleries let you look at production drawings and others... in a far more advanced way than those terrible photo galleries in the early days of DVD.

Inside Walt's Story Meetings is like taking a DVD commentary to the next level. Actors reenact the actual transcripts of story meetings between Disney, his animators, and writers right along with the movie. Plus, bonus content (like 2 Mickey Mouse cartoons) can be accessed when a pop-up message appears.

The disc also debuts the studio's new Second Screen feature which can sync a laptop or iPad to the film to provide even more bonus content. Not having either, I can't attest to how successful it works.

Yet more features include games and activities for kids.

And on top of all that, the extras from the previous DVD return, including a making of feature, trailer, 2 other deleted scenes, and more.

To take all of that in in one sitting would be beyond exhaustive... and that's why a disc like this is such a great deal... and a great celebration of a true classic.