Two that I enjoyed over the weekend (hooray for DVR):
VIRTUE (1932) is a gritty little melodrama about Mae (Carole Lombard), a prostitute ready to walk the straight and narrow instead of the streets, and Jimmy (Pat O'Brien), the taxi driver she begins a new life with -- only to have the old one rear its ugly, two-faced head.
I was going to write a full review, but Danny at Pre-Code.com has done a marvelous job of that already, so go have a look! Allow me to add that Lombard is on par with Barbara Stanwyck in this -- the entire film feels more like a down-and-dirty WB production rather than Columbia. Top-notch and I recommend it highly.
SEARCH FOR BEAUTY (1934) is crazy. The plot of a health-and-fitness magazine trying to run a beauty contest almost doesn't matter; this whole film is sex on screen with a healthy thumbing-of-the-nose at the Hays Code. It's gotta be the most salacious of the pre-Codes I've seen (and that's saying something)! Danny at Pre-Code.com again does the honors with his review. YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE. Also: Toby Wing Speaks! She gets actual billing!
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You may wonder why I'm no longer doing my own reviews. Well, the fact is: there are so many other bloggers that are much, much better at it than I am! So you'll continue to see poems, actor profiles, and other interesting tidbits on FF+SS, but reviews will be from other film bloggers worth your attention (and boy, are there some wonderful ones)! I'll still be adding my two cents though. ;)
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4 comments:
I find "Virtue" Carole Lombard's best performance prior to her pivotal role in "Twentieth Century." She exhibits a toughness similar to Stanwyck and gives her Mae a multidimensional texture. If it is reminiscent of a Warners film, it might be because several months before, Carole rejected a loanout from her home studio of Paramount to Warners to make "Taxi!" with James Cagney, deeming it a demotion of sorts. Loretta Young took the female lead, "Taxi!" became a substantial hit, and Lombard long regretted her decision.
"Virtue," written by Robert Riskin (who would romance Lombard between her dalliances with Russ Columbo and Clark Gable), has much of a "Taxi!" feel to it, down to the cabbie as male lead portrayed by the poor man's Cagney, Pat O'Brien.
She really is fantastic in this, hard-edged yet vulnerable.
Thanks for the shout outs, it's much appreciated! And I'm with VP (so far at least), Virtue is a beaut.
You're welcome! Your reviews are fabulous!
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