PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Friday Night Movies 820

Chamber Of Horrors 1940 Based on the Edgar Wallace novel The Door With The Seven Locks, screenplay by John Argyle, Gilbert Gunn and Norman Lee, directed by Norman Lee.

Before a rich guy died he'd stowed the family jewels in his crypt, it's got 7 locks on the door, the keys go to the person who inherits. After his death the lawyer's find the keys in their trust have been stolen. The baddies have 6 keys, someone has the 7th key, the baddies won't stop at murder to get it. People get murdered and detectives from Scotland Yard are on the case.

It's about average, fairly good cast, bit of humor, some murderin', a bit of gun play, all kept me interested.

A Shriek In The Night 1935 Story by Kurt Kempler, screenplay by M H Hoffman JR, directed by Albert Ray.

Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot are rival reporters who have a bit of a relationship. Lyle keeps asking her to marry him and she turns him down. They're both on the scene of a suicide, Larry tagged along with the police detectives and Ginger is working under cover as the dead man's secretary. The rich guy jumped out of his apartment window and smacked into the pavement 4 stories below. Ginger  thinks the dead guy was somehow connected to racketeer Joe Martini. The crook has an apartment in the building. The suicide starts to look fishy when another body turns up.

It's more of a comedy than the first film, there's a few good laughs and some yelling and running about. Entertaining cast for the most part. About average.

All Over Town 1937 Story by Richard English, screenplay by Jerome Chodorov and Jack Townley, directed by James W Horne.

An Olsen and Johnson comedy with the guys playing vaudevillians who get involved with a doomed production and murder. They are trying to help a young woman who's inherited the theater, she's got a backer but someone behind the scenes is sabotaging the show. 

There's plenty of noise and after a while I got tired of Chic Johnson's giggling. The rest of the film is about average. I did get a big laugh at the shoot out at the end. You never see anyone reload their pistols but the baddie and the cops hurl lead like confetti. Luckily they are such terrible shots and no one gets killed.

After Dark 1932

After Dark 1932 Based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Jefferson Farjeon, screenplay by John Barrow, directed by Albert Parker. It's a short, 45 mins, murder mystery that's pretty noisy. A guy on a train gets his emeralds stolen by an old man. The old man hides them in a clock in a shop when he figures out he's being followed by the man he robbed. The clock gets sold before the old man gets there to retrieve them. Now he has to go bother a different old man in his big old mansion. It's a place filled with excitable noisy people. It's kind of a blend of old dark house and screwball comedy without so many jokes, just noise. I thought it was barely average but I still got a laugh or two.

The Black Abbott 1934

The Black Abbott 1934 Story by Philip Godfrey, screenplay by Terence Egan, Direction by George A Cooper. Sadly no poster could I find. I didn't recognize anyone in the cast of this old dark house kind of film. Lord Pilkdown lives in a manor house in a small English country town. His house is next to an old monastery which is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of the long dead abbot. The viewer does see a hooded figure lurking in the back ground and so did the maid. She's the comic relief machine and a bit of a screamer. The Aunt gets a look at the Black Abbot and passes out. Shortly after his Lordship disappears. Soon a ransom demand is made. The local police are called. It's about average for that sort of thing. I got a couple of laughs out of it. It's quick and breezy, only 53 mins, and has a good ending. You can take a gawk at it on YouTube, link in the title above.

Hook, Line And Sinker 1930

Hook, Line And Sinker 1930 Written by Ralph Spence and Tim Whelan, directed by Edward F Cline and his assistant Frederick Fleck.

Bert Wheeler, Dorothy Lee and Robert Woolsey are back together again. The guys are insurance salesmen, they help Dorothy open up a run-down hotel she's inherited. Dorothy has a thing for Bert but her mother wants her to marry a well off lawyer. Robert makes a play for Dorothy's mom with some positive interest returned. The trio open the hotel and cater to the well off. That attracts a nice selection of rich people who need to store their jewels in the big safe at the front desk. That swag attracts some crooks, in the form of a couple of rival mobs, who take up residence in the hotel. There's plenty of noise and running about. It eventually culminates in a big shoot out in the lobby.

I enjoyed it, I'm generally liking the W&W movies after they move away from the musical format. The big dance numbers are mostly fine in the early films but I just don't care that much about the songs. You can see a fuzzy copy on YouTube, see link above. The movie has fallen into the public domain and a lot of the cheap copies that come on DVD or found on the Internet are mostly piss poor. The Warner Archive copies of the films are pretty clean and fairly sharp. They are worth spending the money on, unless you don't care for the comedy style of Wheeler and Woolsey.

Half Shot At Sunrise 1930

Half Shot At Sunrise 1930 James Ashmore Creelman wrote the story and the screenplay with some help from Anne Caldwell, Ralph Spence and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The film was directed by Paul Sloane who had just directed Wheeler and Woolsey in The Cuckoos.

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are joined once again by Dorothy Lee. The guys play AWOL soldiers running about Paris during WWI. They try to avoid the military police by dressing as military officers. They are always on the lookout for the ladies. Bert takes a shine to Dorothy's character, the daughter of a Colonel, and Robert takes a liking to the Colonel's girlfriend. They steal the Colonel's car and run about town with the MPs hot on their trail.

Edna May Oliver turns up as the Colonel's wife. There's plenty of the usual running about and slapstick. The jokes are fairly decent and there's much less singing. Everything works out for the guys in the end and I had a laugh along the way.

 

Dixiana 1930

Dixiana 1930 Story by Anne Caldwell, script by Luther Reed, directed by Luther Reed. Another film partially filmed in two strip Technicolor. They shot the last twenty minutes in Technicolor but it was thought lost until 1988 when the sequence was found and restored to the film. Max Steiner received his first credit for orchestration.

The third film for Wheeler and Woolsey still doesn't bill them as a team. This time the boys are circus performers in the antebellum south. Wheeler and Wolsey are partners in an act with Dixiana. She decides to leave the circus to marry the son of a rich plantation owner and they tag along to see the wedding.

The guys reveal they are circus folk and that goes down with the rich parents not at all. A big hubbub happens and the trio return to New Orleans. Unable to get their old jobs back Dixiana takes a job in a music hall run by a crooked scumbag. He wants to use Dixiana to ruin the rich family who spurned her, not to help her out but to make money for himself. Eventually it all works out.

I got a laugh or two, Wheeler and Woolsey have some better jokes and there's plenty of running about and yelling. You can see the film, click the link above.

The Cuckoos 1930

The Cuckoos 1930 It's based on a 1926 Broadway musical called The Ramblers by Guy Bolton, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. It was adapted for the screen by Cyrus Wood, there's a uncredited credit for Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, it was directed by Paul Sloane.

Some of the Wheeler and Woolsey films have been collected into 2 sets of DVDs, one with 9 films and the other with 6 films, the rest are released as single DVDs. The films in the sets aren't in any chronological order.

Wheeler and Woolsey are in Mexico, hanging around a casino resort. They run afoul of the local gypsies. Wheeler has fallen for a young gypsy woman called Anita. Troublesome, as the head man in the gypsy camp wants her for his bride. Anita isn't interested in the gypsy at all but he's a scumbag who isn't going to take no for an answer. Another woman at the casino, Ruth, is in love with an aviator named Billy. Ruth's aunt wants her to marry a creep called The Baron. Spurned, the Baron and the gypsies team up for a spot of kidnapping.

Wheeler and Woolsey have to come to the rescue, wading through one song after another. The guys get top billing after the success of Rio Rita and they do get more screen time. The songs are about as uninteresting to me as Rio Rita. I don't watch the films for the music. Like Rio Rita parts of the film are filmed in two strip Technicolor. The copies on the Warner Archive sets are usually pretty good. The jokes are about the same as the last movie. I got a few giggles and one time I laughed out loud.

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.