Random Thoughts

Union Pacific. Cecil B. DeMille. 1939.

So this is the XVIIth, I mean, seventeenth week of 1939, which means that we’re in late April. What kind of movies are movies are they doing in spring?

This is really epic — it’s got that epic movie feeling going: One group of people is trying to get a railroad built (on a schedule), and some scoundrels are trying to sabotage it all.

There’s like two dozen characters and a clear objective.

It’s a type of movie I associate more with the sentimental 50s than the wise-cracking 30s?

Is this some kind of film trickery? Is this the same actor pasted four times onto the screen? Or is this an example of The Casting Curse: A casting director so fond of one type of face that they cast same-looking actors in all the roles?

This is gonna be difficult to make sense of.

OK, he looks different.

So evil!!!!

I thought DeMille was getting in some pretty heavy anti-racist stuff here…

But not really.

I really like Barbara Stanwyck’s extremely horny performance.

She’s Irish, see?

The movie loses most of its epicness in scenes like this. They seem to go on forever. As love triangles go, this one is… odd.

When the Native Americans (err, see above) finally attack, they’re more goofy than anything else, so I’m not sure whether to put that in the racist or anti-racist column for DeMille…

Anyway, the big scenes here are really fun and exciting, but there’s a bunch of really kinda dragging scenes in between. It’s not a bad movie — there’s a bunch of performances that are really fun to watch.

But it’s kinda a mess as a movie?

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.

Dark Victory. Edmund Goulding. 1939.

*gasp* Bette!

They’re talking really fast, see?

Is that Ronnie?

It is!

I thought this was gonna be a noir crime thing, but it’s a very dramatic drama instead? I’m digging it. Everybody’s talking like they’re in an early 30s crime thing, though. See?

Boo. When they introduce the male protagonist it goes downhill. (He’s the doctor in the background.)

Is this going to be one of those dreadfully earnest movies?

The doctor guy (George Brent) is totally suited for the role… but he’s so stoic that he’s practically dead, which is a bit much. Somebody a bit more lively might have worked here? Cary Grant would have been a bit too much in the other director, but… er…

It’s so difficult getting snaps of Bette Davis where she doesn’t look insane. In context it’s all wonderful, but all the snaps are like this.

Snaps are easier if your face never moves.

That’s the weepingest ending ever. *sniff*

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.

Never Say Die. Elliott Nugent. 1939.

OK, so this is about a hypochondriac millionaire at a spa. I’m guessing there’ll be hi jinx!

Monty Woolley!

This is very funny! And quite risque. As screwball comedies go, it’s very, very screwy. Martha Raye is a comedic genius.

Oh!

Preston Sturges! I should have known! The script is just too good.

The final scene is comedy genius. I laughed and laughed.

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.

East Side of Heaven. David Butler. 1939.

This is most amiable. Joan Blondell, Bing Crosby, and a plot that doesn’t feel like it’s going to be too taxing for my poor branes.

There haven’t been many musicals in this blog series? Last night was the Vernon and Irene thing, which was, I suppose, but like this one, all the musical numbers are “well-integrated”. That is, we only get singing when it could actually have happened (sort of; some of these situations are a bit contrived) in the real world. Instead of the normal musical thing of people just breaking out into music and then pretending nothing happened afterwards.

Since there’s two of these movies in a row, I’m wondering whether that was a thing they were really going for around this time? More “realistic” musicals?

This is the most patient baby ever in the history of babies in movies.

It’s good, but it lacks the pizzazz to push it over into being hilarious — instead it’s just amiable and amusing.

This blog post is part of the 1939
series.