PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Oh, Boy! 1938

Oh, Boy! 1938 Written by Douglas Furber and Dudley Leslie, directed by Albert de Courville.

Albert Burdon play Percy Flowers, he's a chemist and his father Horatio, played by Bernard Nedall, is a Beefeater. Percy has a girlfriend called June, played by Mary Lawson, but she's easily swayed by a tall and handsome guy. Percy wishes he was tall and strong so he can win June back.

He soon gets his wish when he meets a crackpot Russian inventor who's developed a formula to make people strong. Percy takes the formula, slugging back way too much, and it reverts him to childhood. Young Percy is still played by Albert. The inventor has gotten himself hurt and wound up in hospital, Horatio has a hard time finding him. He succeeds eventually and the antidote is administered just in time for Percy to foil a robbery of the Crown Jewels. 

It's not overly original but there's some pretty harmless slapstick and fun jokes. It's part of Network's The British Film series. I would watch it again someday.

The Ghost Walks 1934

The Ghost Walks 1934 Screenplay by Charles Belden, directed by Frank R Strayer. Belden would go onto write 4 of the Charlie Chan series, Mr Moto's Gamble, Dracula's Daughter and a bunch of films I haven't seen. Frank started in the silent film era and his 27 year careen ended in 1952. He directed a few films I've seen, Murder At Midnight, The Monster Walks, Gorilla Ship and The Vampire Bat. He also directed a dozen of the Blondie and Dagwood films. I have a set with a bunch of them that I haven't watched yet.

It's dark, the rain is fierce, the roads slick. A playwright is driving a producer and his secretary when they skid into a fallen tree blocking the road. He suggests they go to a local house to get out of the rain. The playwright turns out to know the man of the house and they are admitted. Once inside strange things begin to happen and a woman is murdered.

The playwright confesses it was a put up job, he's hired his actor pals to act out the play he wrote, but the producer doesn't believe him, at first. Enter a guard from a sanitarium who's looking for an escaped madman. Now everyone is jumpy.

It's a nice take on the old dark house story but as a comedy. There's a fair number of OK jokes, fun characters, and plenty of secret passages, yelling and larking about. I got a kick out of it and would watch it again someday. You can see if you like it by clicking the link in the title above.

Best Of British Classics Double Feature Vol 1

   

Tomorrow We Live 1943 Released in the US as At Dawn We Die, which I find sounds hopeless, that's the opposite of what the movie is about. It's WW2 and the German's have occupied France, John Clements is a Frenchman who has some intel on the German's U-Boat base to give to the British. The resistance operates in the town and they set up an escape to England.

The Nazis are harsh masters, fining the village for violations, abusing and killing the citizens for minor infractions. It gets worse once the SS get there. There's a whole subplot devoted to collaborators. The things people had to do to stay alive, didn't always pan out. A lot of people died.

Not a happy story but a hopeful one. Dorothy Hope wrote the original story, Anatole de Grunwald wrote the screenplay and George King directed. A good solid film that has interesting characters and a nice bit of danger. You can see it on YouTube. I've linked to it in the title above.

Inquest 1939 Elizabeth Allan is accused of murder and Hay Petrie plays the KC that defends her at the inquest. It's a nice complicated story that's based on a play by Michael Barringer, he adapted his own play with Francis Miller, the director is Roy Boulting. There's a good bit of humor, despite the hangman looking over Elizabeth's shoulder. Hay works to find out what happened and comes through a champion. Well worth seeing.

Buy Me That Town 1941

Buy Me That Town 1941 Murray Boltinoff, Harry Gourfain and Martin Rackin wrote the story, Gordon Kahn wrote the screenplay, Eugene Ford directed. Some old comic fans might recognize Murray from his days at DC comics, he worked there from 1940 into 1988.

When gangster Sheldon Leonard gets called up for active duty in the Army his coworkers lay low. Lloyd Nolan and Albert Dekker decide to hide out in a small town where they got a speeding ticket. He buys the town and plans to rent hiding places to hot gangsters. Chink is released from the Army and decides to muscle in on the action. It doesn't go so well for Chink but Lloyd and Albert do just fine. Constance Moore plays the romantic lead for Lloyd. There are a number of good actors of the day in the cast, Edward Brophy, Warren Hymer, Horace McMahon, Rod Cameron, Russell Kicks, Charles Lane, Trevor Bardette and George Chandler. They all appeared in plenty of films and TV watched in my youth.

A pleasant bit of business and something I would watch again someday.

Calm Yourself 1935

Calm Yourself stars Robert Young and it came out in 1935. George B Seitz is the director and Arthur Kober wrote the screenplay based on the book of the same name by Edward Hope.

After being fired from his job as an ad executive Robert starts his own business, Confidential Services Inc. He hires Madge Evans as his secretary and they have some adventures trying to help his customers. You'd be right if you guessed there's romance ahead. A baby and a great dane provides some additional comic relief.

It was alright, pleasant but average. You can find out if you like it on YouTube, there's a link in the title. There's a DVD from Warner Archive but at nearly 20 smackaroonies it's a bit dear. I'll gather up a YouTube download in case I want to see it again some day.

Late Extra 1935

Late Extra is a 1935 British film with James Mason and Alastair Sim. It was James first film and Alastair's 5th. The script is by Ingram D'Abbes and Fenn Sherie, the director is Albert Parker.

James is a reporter and Alastair is his editor at a newspaper. The movie opens with a murder by a fleeing bank robber, he's killed a copper and the newspapers offered a big reward for his capture.  James wants that story but his editor isn't sure. Virginia Cherrill is also a reporter and she wants a meatier story too, something more exciting than the woman's stories she normally gets assigned.

Soon enough she gets her wish. James gets an assignment and takes her along. Pretty soon they're in the middle of a mess with that murderer bank robber. It's a good mix of jeopardy and japes. Sadly, the copy on YouTube I watched is pretty poor. You can see what's going on but it's a struggle. I got through to the end and so could you.

Artists And Models 1937

Artists And Models is a 1937 Jack Benny musical comedy. It's got a gang of writers listed on the IMDb: Edmund Beloin, Russel Crouse, Walter DeLeon, Lewis E Gensler, Eve Greene, Sig Herzig, Howard Lindsay, Francis Martin, William Morrow, Eugene Thackrey, Keene Thompson and Harlan Ware. The director is Raoul Walsh.

Jack is the head of an ad agency that needs a big account to survive going bust. Richard Arlen is the guy with the moola, he's also thinking he wants an amateur model from the high society ranks for his big Artists and Models ball.

Ida Lupino is a model but she's not a high society gal, she tries to trick Richard into hiring her for the job. There's a big cast and plenty of cameos too. A good number of them were names I knew: Gail Patrick, Ben Blue, Donald Meek, Hedda Hopper, Martha Raye, Andre Kostelenetz, Peter Arno, Rube Goldberg and Don Wilson.

There's plenty of running about and noise, a few good jokes and some poor ones too. I wasn't too enamored with the songs and wound up fast forwarding them. It was pleasant enough but not much above average. I'd watch it again someday but other, better comedies are going to get the attention sooner.

The Lady In The Morgue 1938

The Lady In The Morgue is a 1938 comedy crime movie based on the Jonathan Latimer novel of the same name. Eric Taylor and Robertson White wrote the screenplay and Otis Garrett directed. It was the third film in a series of novelizations of Crime Club novels. Universal made eleven Crime Club films in all. I've read a few Jonathan Latimer novels but it was long ago and I didn't keep any of them. Eric wrote 15 films with Robertson and another 35 on his own. I've seen a good number of them, he wrote all 7 of the 1940s Ellery Queen films. He wrote the 1941 horror film The Black Cat, followed by The Ghost of Frankenstein, Phantom Of The Opera, Son Of Dracula and The Whistler.

A woman is found dead in a hotel room. Two rival crooks send their minions to check out the body and a detective agency sends Detective Bill Crane, played by Preston Foster, to try to identify the body for a client who wants to find out if it's her daughter. The body is stolen from the morgue and the attendant murdered. Crane's not too popular with the local cops but he's got enough attitude for 3 detectives. When pokes his nose into the crime scene, the antics with the elevator operator made me laugh out loud. Crane isn't popular with the local cops and as the movie plays out you can see why.

 

There's a bit of romance with Patricia Ellis and some banter with the police detectives. It's funny enough and there's a good enough story to get to the end. I got a few laughs out of it and would watch it again.

Keep Fit 1937

Keep Fit is a 1937 George Formby movie. It's part of The British Film series from Network. I just got it from the UK. Amazon UK is only shipping Global Priority right now. It took 5 days to arrive after being shipped but it took 2 weeks to package the order to ship. Anthony Kimmins is the director and he worked on the script with Austin Melford. Anthony would direct four more movies with George. He'd also direct The Captain's Paradise and 14 other movies. Now I've seen all his George movies and 3 others.

George plays a shaver in a barbershop in a big fancy department store. He's got an interest in manicurist Kay Walsh but she's more interested in the man in the athletic department played by Guy Middleton. Guy turns out to be a rotter, his theft from the barber shop till gets George in hot enough water to get him fired.

The local newspaper starts a Keep Fit campaign to draw in readers. George winds up in a boxing match with Guy. His pal from the store and a couple of other guys set George up in a training camp and he tries to get ready for the big fight. George sings some songs, he does some slapstick and he charms Kay back into his arms by the end of the film. I laughed and was glad to have picked up the movie. Sadly it's only available from the UK or Australia or a bootleg in the US.

Trouble Brewing 1939

Trouble Brewing is a George Forman comedy set in the newspaper biz. George works on the presses but he'd rather be a reporter or Sherlock Holmes. Angus MacPhail, Michael Hogan and Anthony Kimmins wrote the screenplay and Anthony directed. Angus wrote plenty of good films, as did the other two. Anthony directed 4 more films with George and The Captain's Paradise. I've seen half of his 20 directed works.

George teams up with Gus McNaughton and Googie Withers, co-workers from the newspaper, to investigate the counterfeit money spree going on. George has invented an ink that stays on your finger for a week and resists coming off with soap and water. It also stays wet enough to leave fingerprints on whatever the victim touches.

That ink is what a good bit of the crime solving hinges on, George gets some on the fingers of a few people, accidentally they lead him to the criminal's hideout. There's plenty of yelling and action and falling about. George sings a couple of songs between the jokes and the detecting. I enjoyed it and would want to watch it again sometime. I just ordered Keep Fit, a 1937 George film, but it's coming from the UK. Hard to know what travel time will be. Amazon gives themselves a month long delivery window and now all their DVDs seem to be defaulting to Global Priority as the only shipping option.