Forsaking All Others (1934) Film Review

Plot Summary - Three friends since childhood in a love triangle - Mary (Joan Crawford) has been in love with Dillon (Robert Montgomery) since they were kids, Jeff (Clark Gable) has been in love with Mary since they were kids. Jeff arrives back in town from Spain with plans to ask Mary to marry him, until he finds out it's the day before Mary's wedding to Dillon! Mary seems to see Jeff as a sort of pal/uncle and asks him to "give her away" (she also sits on his lap, her "favorite seat in town" - okay, what's that all about?). Oddly, Dill runs off that night with former girlfriend Connie, a bitch who arrives to seduce him and he inexplicably bites, leaving Mary at the alter! Whoa. She runs off to stay with a friend (Billie Burke) in the Adirondacks and is soon quite the sports gal. Mary and Jeff are invited some weeks later by Connie to attend a party being thrown by herself and new hubby Dillon. Mary decides to go and spit in their eye sort of speak, as she means to look on her ex-fiance as "last year's hat". Well, that fails - married man Dillon keeps calling her and they finally get together for a fun day in the country with hamburgers, bicycles, and hi-jinks - still in love. They end up having to spend the night in the Adirondacks house, but no funny stuff (you know what I mean, this is the thirties). Jeff pretty much has backed off, as Dillon and Mary begin their romance again - what's next for these three?!

Review - This is a cute film, boosted up by three top stars of the thirties. I like the clip in the opening credits where the three walk towards the camera - her in bride dress, the two men dolls in top hat and tails. I did watch this to see favorite Robert Montgomery - woo, though his character is sort of a charming cad (don't really like to see him like that). Pretty good, fairly predictable, typical thirties light romantic comedy. Rating - 7.5 to 8/10 stars

Blondie of the Follies (1932) Film Review - Marion Davies

Plot Summary - Precode comedy/soap opera/love triangle starring Marion Davies as Blondie, NYC uptown tenement gal whose best gal pal Lottie (Billie Dove) gets a job in the Follies and has soon gone Park Avenue, wearing silver fox furs and very slinky robes (that seem just on the edge of popping open!) - apparently she's being kept by millionaire playboy Larry Belmont (Robert Montgomery). When Blondie goes to visit Lottie at her fancy Park Avenue digs, she meets handsome Larry and they hit it off, much to Lottie's distress. Soon Blondie is out on the town with Larry, getting drunk at a speakeasy, and worrying her family by staying out until dawn without phoning! Dad is mad. Larry thinks "she's cute", Blondie thinks the same about Larry (and me too!). But when Lottie declares her love for Larry, she also declares him hands off - Blondie, a good girl, backs off immediately. But that doesn't stop her from meeting her own older "sugar daddy", joining the Follies, and getting set up in her own Park Avenue apartment.

Review - This is a fun to watch, very entertaining film. The movie starts right off the bat with a rolling on the floor cat fight between Blondie and Lottie (they DO fight a lot, then make up throughout the film). Robert Montgomery is his usual charm boy self - I'm crazy for that handsome fellow!! Marion Davies is quite funny, her big blue eyes full of expression in this film. And - the two of them have loads of chemistry together, I must say. Fun party scene with Jimmy Durante as himself and Marion doing a spot-on imitation of Greta Garbo in "Grand Hotel (1932)". Zasu Pitts also appears in this film, as Blondie's sister (rather a small part, unfortunately). Nice looking print as screened on TCM. I liked this one a lot. Rating - 9 to 9.5/10 stars

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) Film Review - Alfred Hitchcock directed

Plot Summary - Romantic comedy with a touch of screwball, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Married couple David and Ann Smith (Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard) have an agreement of never leaving the bedroom after a quarrel until they have made-up - even if it takes days! This is how we are introduced to this handsome looking couple. They set rules for each other and agree to answer questions honestly. When she asks if David would marry her if he had to do it all over again he says - well, "no". Well, oddly enough, that chance arrives sooner than they would think - seems through a technical glitch involving their marriage license, they were never really married. Ann finds out about the glitch the same day, but David doesn't know she knows. When he takes her out to their old favorite restaurant that evening, "Momma Lucy's" (which turns out to not have the charm they remembered - but, hey, the dinner is only 65 cents) he neglects to do the expected - ask her to marry him and get married that night (remember, this is the forties!). So - he is thrown out of the house and ends up living at his men's club and getting advise from a chum in the steam room. Soon Ann goes on a date and gets a salesgirl job at a department store. They proceed to try and make each other jealous and she's soon going out with his business partner, while David goes on a double date with the steam room pal and two floozies. The inevitable happens, you can probably guess!

Review - Hitchcock delves into comedy, and does a nice job of it - I found this film quite amusing, even laughed out loud several times (watching by myself). The star quality of Lombard and Montgomery really helps boost this film up - Robert Montgomery happens to be one of my absolute favorites, and he oozes his usual charm in this. I was amused by the part of Ann's mother who, of course, pushes daughter to come home to mama if hubby doesn't remarry her. Okay, there's an "I Love Lucy" with almost the exact plot as this film, including the restaurant not being the way they remember - hehe. Enjoyed the chipper, whistling background music in this film. Hmm - you really know this was the forties when Ann makes up a new rule for their hubby/wife partnership - "a wife should conduct herself to please her husband". And just wondering, why do men in old movies always have a club to go to when thrown out by the wife? Was this really the way it used to be - or just movie stuff?! Rating - 9/10 stars

Free and Easy (1930) Film Review - Buster Keaton

Plot Summary - Buster Keaton talkie about Elvira Plunkett (Anita Page), a small town beauty contest winner, "Miss Gopher City", Kansas heading for Hollywood and travelling with her goofball manager Elmer J. Butts (Keaton) and her very overbearing Mama. On the train she meets handsome movie star "Larry Mitchell" (Robert Montgomery) who brings her to a premiere of his new film, MGM's "The Love Call", at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Soon Elvira and mom are at the studio, watching Larry filming a musical. Elmer has all sorts of trouble getting into MGM and gets himself chased around the lot by a guard, managing to wreak havoc on several films being shot. Larry tries to help Elmer by getting him a small part - but Elmer can't hack his one line "the Queen has swooned". After a Hollywood party, Larry invites Elvira to his place, but turns out to be just a wolf in innocent Elvira's eyes. And Elmer ends up getting a screen test in Larry's film, for the comedy part - soon just about everyone has gotten a part in this film but Elvira! A love triangle with Larry and Elmer both in love with Elvira is in the works too, but gee, that "Larry" sure is a good-looking one.

Review - Okay, here's the good - the film shows a nice glimpse of Hollywood circa 1930, including behind-the-scenes at the MGM studio, outside of the Chinese Theatre, not to mention some neat to see cameo parts by such silent era stars as Jackie Coogan, William Haines, Lionel Barrymore, director Fred Niblo, and more. Robert Montgomery is oh so young and handsome (he's one of my personal faves), Anita Page is charming and beautiful, Buster Keaton made me laugh several times (I thought his dance moves were pretty good too!), even the actress, Trixie Friganza, who plays the Mama is very funny. The bad - the sort of "film within a film" stuff just goes on too long. And by that I mean the movie that everyone is starring in which looks like a complete dud, and they show way too much of scenes being filmed from this - I was getting quite bored with it. Okay movie, not up to Keaton' silents though. Rating - 7/10 stars

Rage in Heaven (1941) Film Review

Plot Summary - Psychological melodrama opening in a Paris "clinic for the insane" where the doctor discusses a patient going by the name of "Ward Andrews" who suffers from extreme paranoia and is proclaimed "dangerous", capable of anything - even murder. Okay - that patient escapes before we see him, cut to the English estate of Philip Monrell (Robert Montgomery) who arrives after months abroad to see his aging mother - he brings with him his best friend, one Ward Andrews (George Sanders), who he has just run across in London. The two men meet mother's beautiful new secretary/companion Stella Bergen (Ingrid Bergman) and are soon both courting her. Philip quickly begins to show himself as a bit of a head case - he likes to sit in trees, is afraid of moonlight, and develops a huge, strange jealousy over Stella's attentions to his friend Ward. TWIST / SPOILER - well, I think you may see where this is leading, revealed fairly early in the film, actually - see, it turns out that Philip Monrell likes to pose as his friend sometimes, live as him, feel Ward's success for himself (yeah, sort of a la "Talented Mr. Ripley") - Philip was posing as "Ward Andrews" while in Paris and is actually the insane one. But Ward leaves and Philip takes over the romance and much sooner than you would think is married to Stella and taking over, rather poorly, as manager of the family steel works. Philip is really, very deeply disturbed as he feels everyone is against him and constantly talks about "Ward", questions Stella's love as he accuses her of secretly being in love with Ward, he evens invites Ward to stay with them and "test her". His obsession with Ward is very strange indeed - could the idea of murder being very far off?

Review - This is an okay film - - though it certainly starts a bit slow (I was getting somewhat bored by the middle), the end part definitely becomes quite interesting. Of course, having three top-notch actors play out this weird love triangle certainly helps things along - I actually found it a little hard to not think of George Sanders as the "bad guy", I'm so used to seeing him in more dangerous roles. Okay, a few things about the plot I wonder about - first, why do they make the mother disappear for the majority of the film - first appearances made it seem like she would be more in the story, as Monrell definitely seems like a real "mama's boy" gone nutters. Second, I seriously question why Stella ever married this guy in the first place - he shows signs of jealousy and craziness right from the get-go - at the very least, he seems like a sulking bore and a drag (well, he is Robert Montgomery, one of my favorites I must say - so maybe that helps - spark!). And then there's the cat - sad; this is one extremely twisted fellow. A decent film, worth a watch. Rating - 7/10 stars