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Miss Pinkerton (1932, Lloyd Bacon)
It’s not difficult to assign blame for Miss Pinkerton‘s failings, it’s difficult to identify anything good about it. I suppose Joan Blondell bad in the lead, but she isn’t good. She’s just doing a...
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Penguin Pool Murder (1932, George Archainbaud)
Penguin Pool Murder, besides the peculiar title (and lack of a definite article), opens like almost any other early thirties mystery. A possible unfaithful wife, Mae Clarke, has a swindling louse of a...
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The Most Dangerous Game (1932, Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel)
Running about an hour, The Most Dangerous Game shouldn’t be boring. But it somehow manages. Worse, the boring stuff comes at the end; directors Schoedsack and Pichel drag out the conclusion with a...
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The Studio Murder Mystery (1932, Joseph Henabery)
The Studio Murder Mystery is a lame little short mystery. It takes place at a Hollywood studio, just before and after a troublesome star is murdered. The before parts aren’t so bad–Henabery has a...
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Breaking Even (1932, Aubrey Scotto)
Breaking Even has a number of surprises. Its star, Tom Howard, came from vaudeville and it shows. Not in a bad way, the short’s structured for his style. The only bad thing about Even is its editing....
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The Thirteenth Guest (1932, Albert Ray)
The Thirteenth Guest has a lot of problems, but its biggest failing is Frances Hyland’s script. Hyland doesn’t just have a lot of logic problems, he also has a bunch of lousy humor. There’s Paul...
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Taxi! (1932, Roy Del Ruth)
Even when the story falls apart, Del Ruth’s direction still keeps Taxi! somewhat afloat. It only runs seventy minutes and the first half is pretty good stuff. When it starts, the film’s about one cab...
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The Phantom of Crestwood (1932, J. Walter Ruben)
When the politics of a murder mystery are more interesting than the mystery, there’s a bit of a problem. The Phantom of Crestwood involves a woman of the world (Karen Morley) blackmailing her former...
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The Monster Walks (1932, Frank R. Strayer)
I went into The Monster Walks with what I consider reasonable expectations. I thought it would be bad. I thought it would be a bad, low budget, rainy night in a mansion with a killer ape loose movie....
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Island of Lost Souls (1932, Erle C. Kenton)
What’s so incredible about Island of Lost Souls is how Charles Laughton doesn’t overpower the entire picture. Laughton’s take on the mad scientist role–playful, gleeful, callous, cruel–is a joy to...
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The Old Dark House (1932, James Whale)
The Old Dark House is a strange film about strange people doing strange things. Director Whale and screenwriter Benn W. Levy rarely let the film get a set tone–unless one counts the consistent mix of...
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The Mummy (1932, Karl Freund)
The Mummy is a strange horror movie. While there’s a definite villain–a monster–in Boris Karloff’s resurrected mummy, he poses a danger specifically to only one cast member–Zita Johann. She’s the...
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Grand Hotel (1932, Edmund Goulding)
Grand Hotel opens with an expository sequence–director Goulding cuts between each of the film’s major players as they talk in the hotel’s telephone booths. It’s a brief, fantastic sequence, thanks to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Studio Murder Mystery (1932, Joseph Henabery)
The Studio Murder Mystery is a lame little short mystery. It takes place at a Hollywood studio, just before and after a troublesome star is murdered. The before parts aren’t so bad–Henabery has a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Breaking Even (1932, Aubrey Scotto)
Breaking Even has a number of surprises. Its star, Tom Howard, came from vaudeville and it shows. Not in a bad way, the short’s structured for his style. The only bad thing about Even is its editing....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Thirteenth Guest (1932, Albert Ray)
The Thirteenth Guest has a lot of problems, but its biggest failing is Frances Hyland’s script. Hyland doesn’t just have a lot of logic problems, he also has a bunch of lousy humor. There’s Paul...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Taxi! (1932, Roy Del Ruth)
Even when the story falls apart, Del Ruth’s direction still keeps Taxi! somewhat afloat. It only runs seventy minutes and the first half is pretty good stuff. When it starts, the film’s about one cab...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932, J. Walter Ruben)
When the politics of a murder mystery are more interesting than the mystery, there’s a bit of a problem. The Phantom of Crestwood involves a woman of the world (Karen Morley) blackmailing her former...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Monster Walks (1932, Frank R. Strayer)
I went into The Monster Walks with what I consider reasonable expectations. I thought it would be bad. I thought it would be a bad, low budget, rainy night in a mansion with a killer ape loose movie....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Grand Hotel (1932, Edmund Goulding)
Grand Hotel opens with an expository sequence–director Goulding cuts between each of the film’s major players as they talk in the hotel’s telephone booths. It’s a brief, fantastic sequence, thanks to...
View Article
