Doctor X (1932, Michael Curtiz)
Doctor X has pretty much the wrong prescription for everything. After a genuinely creepy first act, which has police autopsy consultant Lionel Atwill telling the cops the only place a monthly serial...
View ArticleJewel Robbery (1932, William Dieterle)
Jewel Robbery is a delightful mostly continuous action not-even-seventy minute picture; it’s a play adaptation but never feels stagy, just enthusiastic. Especially once William Powell shows up, then...
View ArticleMurders in the Rue Morgue (1932, Robert Florey)
Murders in the Rue Morgue buries the ledes a little too often. First, it hides it’s Expressionist until we get to Bela Lugosi’s mad scientist lair and then the production design is absurdly...
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Boudu Saved From Drowning (1932, Jean Renoir)
I was really hoping Boudu Saved From Drowning would have a spectacular finish so I wouldn’t have to write an opening paragraph about how it’s a pretty funny misanthropic class comedy until the titular...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rain (1932, Lewis Milestone)
Rain is an adaptation of an adaptation. Maxwell Anderson’s script is based on John Colton and Clemence Randolph’s stage script of a Somerset Maugham story. The story’s from 1921, the play first ran in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Red Dust (1932, Victor Fleming)
I’m not sure how much would be different about Red Dust if the film weren’t so hideously racist, particularly when it comes to poor Willie Fung (as the houseboy), but at least it wouldn’t go out on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Purchase Price (1932, William A. Wellman)
For most of its seventy-ish minute run time, The Purchase Price does really well with the way it does summary. It does so well it never even seems possible the film’s just going to welch on everything...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lawyer Man (1932, William Dieterle)
Lawyer Man is a tad too streamlined. It runs around seventy minutes, charting neighborhood attorney–meaning he works with ethnic types and not blue bloods–William Powell’s rise and fall from grace. At...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Horse Feathers (1932, Norman Z. McLeod)
Horse Feathers finally finds its funny sometime in the second half. The film plays like the main plot has been removed and just a subplot remains, so it’s impressive it ever does. And when it does,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thirteen Women (1932, George Archainbaud)
Thirteen Women runs just under an hour. A minute under an hour. There was pre-release cutting on the studio’s part. But with those fifty-nine minutes, director Archainbaud is still able to create one...
View ArticleDoctor X (1932, Michael Curtiz)
Doctor X has pretty much the wrong prescription for everything. After a genuinely creepy first act, which has police autopsy consultant Lionel Atwill telling the cops the only place a monthly serial...
View ArticleJewel Robbery (1932, William Dieterle)
Jewel Robbery is a delightful mostly continuous action not-even-seventy minute picture; it’s a play adaptation but never feels stagy, just enthusiastic. Especially once William Powell shows up, then...
View ArticleMurders in the Rue Morgue (1932, Robert Florey)
Murders in the Rue Morgue buries the ledes a little too often. First, it hides it’s Expressionist until we get to Bela Lugosi’s mad scientist lair and then the production design is absurdly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boudu Saved From Drowning (1932, Jean Renoir)
I was really hoping Boudu Saved From Drowning would have a spectacular finish so I wouldn’t have to write an opening paragraph about how it’s a pretty funny misanthropic class comedy until the titular...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rain (1932, Lewis Milestone)
Rain is an adaptation of an adaptation. Maxwell Anderson’s script is based on John Colton and Clemence Randolph’s stage script of a Somerset Maugham story. The story’s from 1921, the play first ran in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Red Dust (1932, Victor Fleming)
I’m not sure how much would be different about Red Dust if the film weren’t so hideously racist, particularly when it comes to poor Willie Fung (as the houseboy), but at least it wouldn’t go out on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Purchase Price (1932, William A. Wellman)
For most of its seventy-ish minute run time, The Purchase Price does really well with the way it does summary. It does so well it never even seems possible the film’s just going to welch on everything...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lawyer Man (1932, William Dieterle)
Lawyer Man is a tad too streamlined. It runs around seventy minutes, charting neighborhood attorney–meaning he works with ethnic types and not blue bloods–William Powell’s rise and fall from grace. At...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Horse Feathers (1932, Norman Z. McLeod)
Horse Feathers finally finds its funny sometime in the second half. The film plays like the main plot has been removed and just a subplot remains, so it’s impressive it ever does. And when it does,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thirteen Women (1932, George Archainbaud)
Thirteen Women runs just under an hour. A minute under an hour. There was pre-release cutting on the studio’s part. But with those fifty-nine minutes, director Archainbaud is still able to create one...
View Article
