Sound Films I

Julie Suedo

Juliette Compton

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I Accuse My Parents (1944)

Starring Mary Beth Hughes……£7.49

 

I Didn’t Do It (1945)

Starring George Formby……£7.49

 

I See Ice (1938)

Starring George Formby and Kay Walsh……£7.49

 

I Take This Woman (1931)

Directed by Marion Gering and starring Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, Helen Ware and Lester Vail, this film has a runtime of 77 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: A wealthy New York socialite falls for and marries a cowboy while out West. Her father disinherits her, and after trying to make a go of it as a cowboy's wife, they agree to divorce and she returns back east to her family. However, she soon changes her mind and determines to get her husband back.

Review: Kay Dowling (Carole Lombard) is a very spoiled brat. Because her family is rich, she doesn't take life very seriously and occasionally gets herself into trouble...and knows they'll bail her out of whatever predicament she gets herself into from time to time. While her father talks tough and convinces her to go out west to find herself, he and the rest of them are enablers and as a result Kay is a very weak person.
Out west, she inexplicably falls for a poor ranch hand, Tom (Gary Cooper). Very impulsively (how else would Kay do ANYTHING??), she marries him and they are dirt poor, living in a cabin on a desolate ranch. Not surprisingly, she soon tires of it and goes running back to her parents. What's next?
In many ways, this is less a traditional film and more a morality tale. But it fortunately does not come off as heavy-handed and is well acted. Not a great film but a good one worth seeing….£7.49

 

I Thank You (1941)

Starring Arthur Askey……£7.49

 

Ideal Husband, An (1947)

Directed by Alexander Korda and starring Paulette Goddard, Michael Wilding, Diana Wynyard, Hugh Williams, C.Aubrey Smith, Glynis Johns and Constance Collier this film has a runtime of 92 mins and boasts an excellent Technicolor print.

Review: Avoided this for years because of its underwhelming reputation, and was delighted by a recent TCM showing. It's a fine filming of a muckraking Wilde comedy, in which, typically of the author, observations about class and sex and money are often dropped in, not to further the plot, just to allow Wilde to epigrammatically vent as only he could. It's a ravishing production in eye-popping Technicolor, swamped by Cecil Beaton gowns and played by a most competent cast. If Diana Wynyard's moral righteousness becomes a little wearying, I suspect it's the character rather than her playing of it, and she's matched splendidly by Hugh Williams' tortured, blackmailed statesman. Michael Wilding was never better, Glynis Johns is young and comely, and Paulette Goddard not only maintains a convincing accent but absolutely catches the charm, opportunism, and wise verbal sparring the character needs. It's a fine companion piece to the matchless "Importance of Being Earnest" of five years later, and much more eye-catchingly cinematic….£7.49

 

Idiot, The aka Hakuchi (1951)

This film is based on the novel of the same title by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Setsuko Hara, Masayuki Mori, Toshirô Mifune and Yoshiko Kuga, it has a runtime of 166 mins and the print quality is very good. This is a Japanese language film with English subtitles.

Plot: Kinji Kameda, a war veteran, was almost executed in a military process, that was until a last minute reprieve found him innocent of the charge. The resulting turmoil, spent in a VA hospital, led to him suffering mentally, he now clinically deemed an idiot. The military having declared him legally dead in the ensuing time makes him open to abuse by anyone who wants to take advantage of him. While outwardly he seems an odd man to most, some can see below the surface to his wisdom and humanity. With nothing, he heads to Sapporo where his only contact to the outside world, Mr. Ono, will help him get back on his feet. En route, he befriends Denkichi Akama, a proverbial redneck who knows a certain darkness hangs over him. Akama went away to earn enough money to marry Taeko Nasu, a woman of ill-repute having lived her entire life the kept woman of older wealthy Mr. Tohata. Taeko is now an inconvenience in Tohata's life, and as such he has offered a substantial dowry to any man willing to take her off his hands. The man stepping forward is Mr. Ono's associate, Mutsuo Kayama, who truly loves Ono's daughter, Ayako, a straight-forward woman not one to suffer fools. Kayama vows that he will still marry Ayako if she makes the simple request to him not to marry Taeko. Upon his arrival in Sapporo, Kameda begins to fall in love with Ayako himself, while on their chance meeting, a deep emotional bond forms, which some construe as the truest of love, between Kameda and Taeko in each understanding the other's sadness. That bond does not sit well with Akama, who is more prone to violence than to peace and happiness. This situation becomes more complex as some try to do what is best for him/herself, while others want what is best for others, this potent mix which may lead to tragic consequences.

Review: The beginning of The Idiot is surprisingly rough, apparently due to producers who hacked an hour and a half out of the original cut. Short scenes are interrupted by unhelpful expository text, and I felt immediately lost. I turned to the beginning of the wikipedia plot synopsis to try and figure out who these people were and what was going on, and that was enough to keep me going (although it's pretty spare).
There were also moments where I felt Kurosawa was trying to hard, without show-off cinema moves that suggested he wanted this to be his Citizen Kane.
But once the movie clicks into gear, it is incredible. By the time I got to the lengthy, incredibly intense scene at Taeko's birthday party, I was riveted.
This is a very talky movie that succeeds because of some extraordinary powerful dialogue and some incredible performances. Setsuko Hara is amazing as a bitter, complex woman, and Toshiro Mifune has the presence of a caged tiger. Masayuki Mori is wonderfully fragile as the saintly, confused title character, and Chieko Higashiyama as Ayako's mother brings a wonderful humor to her role as the one other truly honest person in the film.
At it's best - the birthday scenes, the exchanging of charms section, Kameda's courtship of the mercurial Ayako - it is as good as anything Kurosawa has ever made.
Yes, the movie was cut to ribbons, and that's very bad, making the beginning incomprehensible and some elements, like Kameda's obsession with a knife, extremely perplexing. Yet the film is so powerful that it can sweep aside all those flaws and leave you stunned by its wonderfully Russian intensity….£7.49

 

If I Had A Million (1932)

Starring WC Fields, Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton……£7.49

 

I’ll See You In My Dreams (1952)

Starring Doris Day and Danny Thomas……£7.49

 

Illusions Travel By Streetcar (1954) aka La ilusión viaja en tranvía

Directed by Luis Bunuel and starring Lilia Prado, Carlos Navarro, Fernando Soto and Agustin Isunza, this film has a runtime of 82 mins and the print quality is very good. This Mexican film has Spanish audio with English subtitles.

Plot: Confronted with the unfortunate news that their favorite Streetcar, no. 133, is going to be decommissioned, two Municipal Transit workers get drunk and decide to "take 'er for one last spin," as it were. Unfortunately, the "one last spin" ends up being an all-night and all-day scramble to stay out of trouble, as they are confronted with situation after sometimes bizarre situation that prevents them from returning the "borrowed" Streetcar!

Review: Don't think this is a light film just because it's a comedy made with Mexican actors. There are many layers here and much clever satire not only on the Mexican society of that period but (as always with Bunuel) human behavior in general. The ironic detachment of the director is never so far as to render these characters unrealistic caricatures; far from it, they're as fully real as anything in 'Los Olvidados,' except here things are examined from a much less cynical angle. Comedy is, after all, the flipside of tragedy and if comedy sells better, you only run the risk of being misunderstood by most of the audience on a very superficial level; on a deeper level even the commonest comedy fan implicitly gets the message. This film is in many ways similar in its structure and tone (and on a deeper level even in subject matter) to Alexander Payne's 'Citizen Ruth' and 'Election' or Todd Solondz's 'Welcome to the Dollhouse.' Except here, Bunuel shows less 'cruelty' than in most of his other films; here he tries his hand at an homage to certain great American comedies of the '30s and '40s which managed to use comic misadventures to veil serious messages underneath. The difference is that Bunuel consciously planned and fully intended this result whereas the Americans may have just ended up there unexpectedly and unconsciously….£7.49

 

I’m No Angel (1933)

Starring Mae West and Cary Grant……£7.49

 

Importance of Being Earnest, The (1952)

Starring Michael Dennison and Joan Greenwood……£7.49

 

In A Lonely Place (1950)

Starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame……£7.49

 

In Name Only (1939)

Starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Kay Francis and Charles Coburn……£7.49

 

In Old Arizona (1928)

A very early sound film which was described in publicity posters as the first all talking outdoor movie. Directed by Irving Cummings and starring Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe and Dorothy Burgess the film has a runtime of 95 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: Army Sergeant Mickey Dunn sets out in pursuit of the Cisco Kid, a notorious if kind-hearted and charismatic bandit of the Old West. The Kid spends much of his loot on Tonia, the woman he loves, not realizing that she is being unfaithful to him in his absence. Soon, with her oblivious paramour off plying his trade, Tonia falls in with Dunn, drawn by the allure of a substantial reward for the Kid's capture -- dead or alive. Together, they concoct a plan to ambush and do away with the Cisco Kid once and for all.

Review: Despite the desert setting and saloons and the presence of a Mexican bandit, cavalry officers and senoritas, this is really an exotic romantic drama (based on a story by the renowned O. Henry) as opposed to a straight Western. Being an early Talkie, it's obviously creaky – with very dated acting – but retains plenty of interest for the non-casual film-buff even after all these years: for one thing, it basically served as a template for the myriad Westerns that followed involving the exploits of some famous bandit or other (beginning with King Vidor's BILLY THE KID [1930]); besides, the flirtatious character of Dorothy Burgess may well have inspired Linda Darnell's Chihuahua in John Ford's classic MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) nearly twenty years later!
Warner Baxter was a popular star of the era who has been largely neglected over the years; his Oscar-winning performance here isn't bad, but seems hardly outstanding at this juncture – his talent is more readily evident, in fact, in such later films as 42ND STREET (1933) and John Ford's THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936). The same can be said of Edmund Lowe: if he's at all remembered today, it's for his "Quirt & Flagg" series of war films with Victor McLaglen (three of them helmed by this film's original director, Raoul Walsh), the Bela Lugosi vehicle CHANDU THE MAGICIAN (1932; in the title role), and the noir-ish gangster drama DILLINGER (1945). While his character curiously speaks in modern i.e. 1920s slang, he interacts well with both Baxter and Burgess – especially effective is the scene where he comes face to face with Baxter's Cisco Kid at a barber shop and, ignorant of the latter's identity, lets him slip away.
The film features a couple of songs (one of them, by the famed songwriting trio of DeSylva-Brown-Henderson, is heard several times throughout and even serves as an Overture to the feature proper) and archaic comedy relief by a number of minor characters – notably Burgess' long-suffering elderly maid. There's far more talk than action here, but the twist ending (subsequently much copied) is remarkable if anything, because it's unexpectedly pitiless for a film of its era! Incidentally, the lead role was to have been played by Raoul Walsh himself but he was injured (eventually losing an eye) in a driving accident; Irving Cummings replaced him behind the cameras (and, oddly enough, alone received the Best Director nomination, despite Walsh's name still appearing in the credits)!...£7.49

 

In The Navy (1941)

Starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello……£7.49

 

In The Soup (1936)

Classic British comedy starring Ralph Lynn……£7.49

 

Inadmissible Evidence (1968)

Directed by Anthony Page and starring Nicol Williamson, Eleanor Fazan, Jill Bennett, Peter Sallis and Eileen Atkins, this film has a runtime of 95 mins and the print quality is very good.

Plot: A lawyer's agonizing journey to the breaking point of his private and professional lives as he becomes more and more alienated from everyone connected with him.

Review: The original Broadway production of "Inadmissible Evidence" by John Osborne opened at the Belasco Theater on November 29, 1965, ran for one hundred sixty-seven performances and was nominated for the 1966 Tony Award for the Best Play. Peter Sallis re-created his stage role for this movie, as did Nicol Williamson, who was nominated for the 1966 Tony Award for Actor in a Drama. Author John Osborne also wrote the screenplay.

'Inadmissible Evidence' is a film unlike any other I have ever seen. From the moment we are introduced to the anti-heroic main character, played to perfection by Nicol Williamson, we are gripped by his every movement.
Yet, due to his strong, bewildering performance, our attention is solely directed to him, and not to the many other characters, plot twists and story. The John Osborne tale was complex enough as it was without the ordeal of confusing flashbacks and such fierce characterizations.
I may be crazy, but I actually think that this film would benefit from a poorer cast! After all, Williamson is so fascinating, that we completely forget about the story itself, and we can't help being bewitched by his London solicitor who slowly descends into emotional bankruptcy while analyzing his own existence and the harm he has done to others - his wife, his mistresses, and the carefree young man he used to be.
About the flashbacks... I guess they were a mere device that the producers of the movie thought would be helpful, since the movie is almost a filmed play. Nevertheless, the device backfires, and only add to the utter confusion of the viewer.
Well, all in all, this is an unusual, gripping film, that features a powerhouse performance by Mr. Williamson, but whose gloomy, depressing, confusing and existentialist point of view are definitely not for the ones who are looking for breezy entertainment….£7.49

 

Incident, The aka Jiken (1978)

Directed by Yoshitarô Nomura and starring Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinobu Ôtake, Toshiyuki Nagashima and Tsunehiko Watase, this film has a runtime of 138 mins and the print quality is excellent. This is a Japanese language film with hardcoded English subtitles.

Plot: The body of Sakai Hatsuko, a woman of 23 who has been slain with a knife, has been found in a forest. Some days later, Ueda Hiroshi, a 19-year-old shipyard worker, is arrested and charged with the murder. At Ueda's trial, a complex story unfolds. "The Incident" is a study in unrestrained passion and jealousy.

Review: This is a fairly straightforward legal drama with some pleasing stylistic flourishes courtesy of Nomura. Though at the core of the tale, there seems to be a subtle social commentary pertaining to a growing sense of lawlessness and societal decay as evidenced by increasing truculence of the contemporary youth, this mostly yields center stage to the love triangle antedating the murder which the trial is investigating in its proceedings. Film's initially dry portrayal of the legal process is later varied by colorful retrospections detailing the relationship between the defendant and the slain victim; Nomura remains mindful in introducing nonlinearity into the equation and aptly keeps balance between the past and the present, maintaining adequate focus whilst elaborating on the murderer's backstory. Film's primary strength probably consists in that none of the characters is unequivocally nefarious and that most of the people populating the story engage in wrongful conduct for their own misguided, ill-conceived reasons, still attempting to do good whilst navigating through the moral gray area. Even the yakuza character does not turn out stereotypically irredeemable with the final scene coming out especially heartwarming and constituting a perfect coda to the similarly toned narrative. The storyline is further bolstered by the presence of such acting veterans as Shin Saburi and Tetsuro Tamba among other familiar faces. Starring Keiko Matsuzaka, Shinobu Ôtake, Toshiyuki Nagashima….£7.49

 

Indiscreet (1931)

Stars the lovely Gloria Swanson. Review: Gloria Swanson spurns her suitor in Indiscreet when she realizes he is a cad and hopes to be done with the relationship. Unfortunately, he turns up again and her younger sister is in love with him. This creates quite a predicament for Gloria Swanson's character and she chooses to humiliate herself to save her sister and ends up risking her upcoming marriage to the man she loves. If you are a fan of 1930's movies, this is worth watching to check out Gloria Swanson in action. There's an hilarious performance by Maude Eburn as the aunt which livens things up....£7.49

 

Indiscretion of an American Wife, The (1954)

Starring Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones. A married American woman has gotten involved with another man while visiting relatives in Rome. She decides that the time has come to break off the relationship, and she makes plans to return home to her husband. But she soon realizes that she is not at all sure about what she wants to do, and she continues to agonize over her decision....£7.49

 

Informer, The (1935)

Starring Victor Mc Laglen and Heather Angel……£7.49

 

Inspiration (1931)

Directed by Clarence Brown and starring Greta Garbo, Robert Montgomerie, Lewis Stone, Marjorie Rambeau, John Miljan and Joan Marsh, this film has a runtime of 76 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Release of the movie was delayed because of a lawsuit Pathé brought against MGM. Although the novel by Alphonse Daudet was in public domain in the USA, it was still under copyright protection in Europe. Pathé won the lawsuit.

Plot: In Paris, artist's model Yvonne has been immortalized by the painter Jouvet, the sculptor Henry Coutant and Galand, the author of a book of love. Said to be "as well-known as the Eiffel Tower," the popular and free-spirited Yvonne has served as the inspiration to some of the greatest artists and writers in Europe. At a party attended by bohemians and artists, Yvonne becomes bored by the pretentious guests, including Coutant, who tries to rekindle his romance with the model to no avail. Yvonne sulks in a corner until she meets the handsome André Montell, who, to her astonishment, is not an artist, but a student studying at the Consular Service. Immediately taken by André, Yvonne suggests that they leave the party. Yvonne neglects to tell her husband Vignaud, whom she does not love, that she is leaving with another man. She also neglects to tell André that she is married. A romance between André and the model soon flourishes, and Yvonne shows her willingness to give up the security and comfort of her marriage for André. Meanwhile, André is visited by his uncle Julian and Madeleine, a childhood playmate of his. Yvonne instantly becomes jealous of André's attentions to Madeleine. Later, after Yvonne tells her husband that she does not plan to return to him, she tries to throw him out of his own house. André, overhearing the fracas, realizes that Yvonne is married and after apologizing to Vignaud for the affair, leaves. Later, while modeling for Coutant, Yvonne tells André that she loves only him, but she is immediately attacked by Odette, a jealous model who insinuates that Yvonne is a wanton woman with a sordid past. Although Yvonne tries to convince André that the allegations are not true, he does not believe her and tells her that he wants to forget that he ever knew her. On her way out, Yvonne slaps Odette for driving André away. Time passes, and Yvonne, destitute, walks by André on the street near his school, but he ignores her. When Yvonne is unable to pay a small bill at a nearby cafe, André sees her distress and pays it for her. He then takes her to dinner and realizes that she has been living like a pauper. Before André leaves for Algiers, Yvonne discovers that he is going to marry another woman and calls him a coward and a liar for not telling her earlier. Tragedy strikes when Yvonne's friend Liane Latour commits suicide after being spurned by playboy Delval. Shocked by the news, André fears the same fate may befall Yvonne and decides to return to her. However, since André last saw Yvonne, she has been seeing Mr. Normand, an ex-lover who was imprisoned for writing bad checks. Intent on preventing her suicide, André pleads with Yvonne to marry him, and she accepts. Later, though, Yvonne realizes that he came back to her out of sympathy. After writing André a farewell letter, in which she tells him to forget her and marry the right woman, Yvonne leaves him.

Review: Any Garbo film deserves 10 stars - just because she's in it. She is what makes this otherwise not believable story worth seeing. Unlike Crawford or Shearer, only Garbo could turn this dross into gold. The major weakness is the object of her love - Robert Montgomery. I've read that Montgomery in interviews refuses to talk about this film, his only co-starring role with Garbo. And having now seen the film, the reason for his reticence is plain. How he must have squirmed in his seat at the film's premiere, for both the role and his performance are mediocre. The young Clark Gable - an MGM contract player like Montgomery - would have been better cast and would have explained why Yvonne was smitten with him.
My favorite scene is where at the beginning of their affair Andre is finishing breakfast in the hotel's romantic and idyllic park-like setting when Yvonne arrives with a gift of flowers for him. Yvonne is no longer bored by life and the men in her life. She is in love! Yvonne has inspired love in all the male artists who have been her former lovers (established in the early party scene) but none have inspired love in her. Nor, ironically, does she inspire true love in Andre. How is that possible? Regardless of her past lifestyle - which does not seem so unrespectable to today's audience - in the end, Yvonne makes the right choice and does what's best for the both of them.……£7.49

 

Interference (1928)

Directed by Lothar Mendes and Roy Pomeroy and starring William Powell, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook and Doris Kenyon, this very early talkie has a runtime of 83 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent.

Plot: Paramount's 1st ALL TALKIE Reported killed in action, Philip Voaze(William Powell) lives under an assumed name in London. Deborah Kane(Evelyn Brent) a former love, discovers him and tries to blackmail his wife, Faith(Doris Kenyon), who has since remarried. Learning of this attempt and that he has a fatal heart disease, he kills Deborah and turns himself in to the police.

Review: Stilted, very much a filmed stage play, "Interference" being Paramount's first all talkie was it's most important film of 1928. It was designed to be a "special event" with impresario Daniel Frohman appearing in a talking prologue (not in the print I saw) and promising that "thanks to the talkies, no more will our best plays be confined to a few big cities". It did show what would happen to the cinema in the next couple of years - the fluidity of the silent cinema camera was bought to a static, grinding halt as movies were filmed in one or two rooms, with characters being grouped around tables and vases of flowers where microphones could be hidden.
What really appealed to contemporary critics was the cultured way the actors spoke and that it was the first talkie done in "the drawing room manner" - boy, how sick everyone would soon be of "teacup dramas". It did not have a plot that involved bootleggers, gangsters or chorus girls. Actors spoke in a refined way, not in the "dese, dems and dose" vernacular. The praiseworthy reviews helped to shackle films to rigidity, although there were a couple of scenes that did advance cinema technique. When Evelyn Brent weeps, viewers only hear her but see William Powell's face trying to figure out what to do next, the same thing happens when she writes a letter - you know she is writing but only Powell's calculating face is shown. Apparently critics of the day thought it was such a wonderful revelation as it would save money on sets!!!
Phillip Voaxe (William Powell) arrives back in town in time to attend his own memorial service. He was just one of many soldiers listed as missing in action during World War One. At the service, Della (Evelyn Brent), a discarded and vengeful mistress, recognizes him but when he refuses to resume their relationship she begins her interference. When they had originally been involved, Phillip had been married to Faith (Doris Kenyon), who has since married heart specialist John Marley (Clive Brook). Della wastes no time in visiting Faith, to tell her the news and also to inform her that she has incriminating letters - so the blackmailing begins.
Phillip accidentally meets Faith when he visits Dr. Marley as a patient. William Powell, Evelyn Brent, Doris Kenyon and Clive Brook - possibly the most distinguished cast in a very early talkie, but for me, Evelyn Brent, a veteran of silent films far outshone the rest. She was outstanding and with a clear voice proved she was a natural for talking pictures. She should have had a very long career but by the early 30s she was beginning to be a fixture on poverty row. Clive Brook, on the other hand, was so stiff, his occupation could well have been a butler - even giving a little butler like bow when leaving Della - "Mi Lady"!!!
Just when you think the movie is ending - Della is killed and even though you know who the guilty party is - A is instantly suspected because of the little bottle of poison that she has taken from her husband's surgery. B is in a rare flurry of activity and obliterates all traces of the poison - then C confesses, it is made clear he is dying of a heart ailment and will not stand trial, he barely makes it to the door before he collapses in the policeman's arms.
Roy Pomeroy was the director and it is a crazy story that could only have happened in the riotous, panic stricken year when talkies came to stay. A year or so previously he had been a special effects whiz who had devised the eye catching scenes in "The Ten Commandments". He was then sent on a tour of Western Electric to learn all about sound (only because no-one else wanted to!!) He came back armed with know how and power. He asked for a rise from $250 a week to $2,500 and got it because nobody else at the studio knew how to shoot sound. But when he demanded $3,500 a week for his next movie he was out because by now others knew the secret!!
Recommended.  ……£7.49

 

Invisible Avenger (1958)

Starring Richard Derr and Helen Westcott……£7.49

 

It Always Rains On Sunday (1948)

Starring Googie Withers and Jack Warner……£7.49

 

It Happened In Brooklyn (1947)

Starring Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante……£7.49

 

It Happened To Jane (1959)

Starring Doris Day and Jack Lemmon……£7.49

 

It Pays To Advertise (1931)

Directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Carole Lombard, Norman Foster, Richard ‘Skeets’ Gallagher, Louise Brooks and Eugene Pallette, this film has a runtime of 65 mins and the print quality is good.

Plot: To prove his thesis that any product--even one that doesn't exist--can be merchandized if it is advertised properly, a young man gets together with his father's savvy secretary to market a non-existent laundry soap. Complications ensue when his "product" turns out to be more successful than even he imagined--and now he has to deliver.

Review: Norman Foster plays Rodney Martin, playboy son to self made man Cyrus Martin (Eugene Palette), head of a soap company. Cyrus has paid 5000 dollars to his secretary, statuesque Mary Grayson (Carole Lombard), to make Rodney fall in love with her and therefore stop his silly publicity stunts that make dad look bad in the papers and go to work. Cyrus promises her another 5000 if the whole thing works out with Rodney being a serious working man.
Cyrus pretends to be outraged by the match, pretends to fire Mary, pretends to cut off Rodney without a cent if he goes through with any marriage to her, but it is all a ruse. But the ruse is about to get out of Cyrus' control.
Rodney meets up with slick publicity man Ambrose Peale (Skeets Gallagher), playing his usual mischievous part. Ambrose suggests they start on an advertising crusade for a product that doesn't even exist yet - "13 soap". It's named by Rodney and the name means "Our soap is an unlucky number for dirt". Rodney is determined to beat dad at his own business. So soon there are jingles, ads, billboards with pretty girls in bathtubs (this is the precode era - anything goes) all over town. But Rodney and Ambrose have spent so much money on making their product a household word they have nothing left to make a product with, much less pay the rent.
Cyrus is angry at the 13 Soap ads everywhere he looks, and a competitor accuses him of making his son's company a front for his own soap and withdraws from their mutual agreement not to get into advertising wars. Worse yet, Mary is falling for Rodney for real.
So Rodney has name recognition and no product and no money. Dad has a product, money, and no ad campaign. How will this all work out? Watch and find the humorous answer.
This is the beginning of Eugene Palette's grumpy roles, a type of character that he made famous in "My Man Godfrey" and "The Lady Eve" - the put upon self made man of industry with daffy relatives that don't know the value of a dollar. If you are expecting Carole Lombard the screwball comedienne to show up here, she has not found that persona yet. As for Skeets Gallagher, he was always fun whenever he showed up in early Paramount roles.
The only reason I can figure that this one doesn't have a higher rating is that the copy in general circulation is a poor print taken from old VHS tapes when it was shown on TV twenty or thirty years ago. That doesn't mean that the film is not clever and well done. I'd recommend it. …£7.49

 

It Started With Eve (1941)

Directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin, Charles Laughton, Robert Cummings and Guy Kibbee, this film has a runtime of 91 mins and the print quality is excellent.

Plot: A young man asks a hat check girl to pose as his fiancée in order to make his dying father's last moments happy. However, the old man's health takes a turn for the better and now his son doesn't know how to break the news that he's engaged to someone else, especially since his father is so taken with the impostor.

Review: Would anyone not take a bet that a 20-year-old young woman would be mincemeat if she tried to take a film away from the skilled and hammy hands of Charles Laughton, especially when Laughton, to modern eyes, looks suspiciously like he's playing Tim Conway playing one of Conway's old, tottering geezers? It Started With Eve, an attractive romantic comedy, stars Deanna Durbin, Robert Cummings and Charles Laughton. It was a shame Laughton wasn't a few years younger. He and Durbin turn out to be quite a pair, both of them adept at delivering smart lines, doing subtle double-takes or moving from subversive good cheer to tear-jerker moments of sincerity. They dominate the film and they do it as equals. Robert Cummings was a skilled light-weight lead. Here. as in so many of his films, he just doesn't have the leading-man gravitas to appear as anything but an earnest puppy. When he shares a scene with either Laughton or Durbin, he makes a pleasant second banana.
It Started With Eve begins with Jonathan Reynolds (Laughton), a rich old tycoon, apparently on his death bed. When his son, Jonathan Junior (Cummings), comes rushing in from a trip to Mexico, old Jonathan asks to meet young Jonathan's new fiancé, who has come to New York with him, accompanied by her mother. Young Jonathan tries to contact his fiancé, can't reach her, and believing his father is now dying, happens upon Anne Terry (Durbin), a hat-check girl. He rushes Anne to the side of his father and introduces her as his fiancé. But the next day his father recovers. Now young Jonathan has his fiancé he can't let his father meet, and his father wants to keep seeing Anne, thinking she's the fiancé. The movie's an hour-and-a- half of mistaken identity and screw-ball encounters. Love finally wins out, but only after Laughton plays matchmaker and Durbin sings two or three songs. Along the way we have some clever lines ("The trouble with being sick is you have to associate with doctors!"), a good deal of skullduggery as Laughton contrives to smoke the cigars his doctor forbids him, and a fast pace set by director Henry Koster. Laughton, of course, overacts but gets away with it. He also has a comb-up hair style that, if he were a foot shorter, would let him pass for a munchkin. He does a lot of stooped-over shuffling, squinting from under his eye- brows, and little bits of business that we wind up hardly noticing when Durbin is around. She must have been quite a challenge for him. Durbin, at 20, is no longer the child star. She's well-nigh gorgeous, with a figure that could make staring illegal. She is natural and straight- forward, and completely self-assured. She's one of the few actresses who could get away with sniffing mightily or falling down next to a piano and make us smile just at her style. She was, in a word or two, sui generis. And for those who admire subversive scene-stealers, the movie has that master, Walter Catlett, playing Dr. Harvey. Catlett was in hundreds of films, usually playing blowhards or flustered shysters. He's a bit subdued here, but just the sound of his voice is enough to make me smile.
The movie is a bit of froth, expertly served. If it's a little dated, well, so am I. …£7.49

 

It’s A Grand Life (1953)

Starring Frank Randle and Diana Dors……£7.49

 

It’s A Joke Son (1947)

Starring Kenny Delmar……£7.49

 

It’s In The Air (1938)

Starring George Formby……£7.49

 

It’s Love Again (1936)

Starring Jessie Matthews……£7.49

 

It's Never Too Late to Mend (1937)

British film starring the wonderful overacting of Tod Slaughter. An evil prison administrator cruelly abuses the inmates at his prison, until one day the tables are turned. Review: This is an underrated portrait of the Victorian prison system and the chaplain who tried to change it. An evil squire(Tod Slaughter) sends an innocent man to the British version of Alcatraz in order to get his filthy mitts on a beautiful girl. The cinematography is what makes this film so memorable. The effective use of light and shadow to accentuate the misery and suffering of the inmates, many of which are victims of a corrupt system....£7.49

 

It’s That Man Again (1943)

Starring Tommy Handley……£7.49

 

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3 disks £20.00

5 disks £30.00

10 disks £50.00

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3 disks £20.00

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10 disks £50.00

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