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The Kiss before the Mirror (1933)

The daring drama of two men, two women and the unwritten law.

Filmmaker(s): James Whale

When a famous doctor kills his adulterous wife, he is defended by his best friend, an attorney who suspects that his own wife is having an affair.

04 Mar The Kiss before the Mirror (1933)

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Sight, Insight. used to have such a thing as a courtroom movie. The lawyer — usually the lawyer for the defence — would make a presentation designed to affect us while it affects then, often in the same way. Think Atticus Finch. These projects revolve...

Published March 4, 2023

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
Tagged: 1930s, f1933, p2010

Before Midnight (1933)

Lurking FINGERS of DEATH reached out of the dim and ghostly past!

Filmmaker(s): Lambert Hillyer

A detective tries to figure out who killed a man who predicted his own death.

30 Jun Before Midnight (1933)

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The Written Mystery early thirties was a time of great experimentation with the detective narrative, leading eventually to noir. This is one of those experiments, and a rather fine one. It has a framing device where an old cop is telling a young one about the...

Published June 30, 2023

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
Tagged: 1930s, f1933, p2010

Betty Boop’s Hallowe’en Party (1933)

Filmmaker(s): Dave Fleischer

Betty Boop hosts a Hallowe'en party with a few uninvited guests.

27 Jul Betty Boop’s Hallowe’en Party (1933)

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Underaware really like some of these Betty Boop cartoons. Many of the early ones deal with the overlap of evil, sex and hallucinogens, often mixed with jazz and Black men. This is one of the tamer ones in terms of the evil tone: she’s in...

Published July 27, 2023

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: 1930s, f1933, p2005

Blondie Johnson (1933)

LOVE made her beautiful... WANT made her daring... MEN made her ruthless!

Filmmaker(s): Ray Enright

Crime

Drama

A Depression-downtrodden waif uses her brains instead of her body to rise from tyro con artist to crime boss.

20 Jan Blondie Johnson (1933)

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Suckers most of the movies in this period tried to find some new way of telling the detective story, many worked on the gangster side as well. Today, we don’t quite appreciate the cleverness in the variety. I think in part because the things that...

Published January 20, 2024

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Ones |
Tagged: 1930s, f1933, p2006

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

Madman? Monster? Murderer? Scientist?

Filmmaker(s): Fritz Lang

Crime

Mystery

Thriller

After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.

09 Dec The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

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Viewer Possession comment is on the fully restored Criterion edition.) I see that my comments on the Mabuse films have been deleted. There was an IMDb era when any offended reader could exact revenge by successfully complaining of scores of comments. But I guess that's apt...

Published December 9, 2024

| Categorised as Fours, IMDB Comments |
Tagged: 1930s, f1933, p2008

The Old Man of the Mountain (1933)

Filmmaker(s): Dave Fleischer

Animation

Betty Boop goes to see the fearsome Old Man of the Mountain for herself; he sings the title song and a duet with Betty.

11 Dec The Old Man of the Mountain (1933)

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Spooky Black Magic music videos derive from this little masterpiece. It had an earlier incarnation in 'Minnie the Moocher' where Betty goes to a subterranean hell, enticed by the devil's music. While there, she encounters demons with whom she 'dances.' In both of these, the music...

Published December 11, 2024

| Categorised as Fours, IMDB Comments |
Tagged: 1930s, f1933, p2004

If I Had a Million (1932)

YOU'VE OFTEN SAID IT! NOW SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

Filmmaker(s): Ernst Lubitsch, Norman Taurog, Norman Z. McLeod, H. Bruce Humberstone, James Cruze, Stephen Roberts, William A. Seiter, Lothar Mendes

Drama

Comedy

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

17 May If I Had a Million (1932)

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Two Leers thirties had more experiments in exploring genres than any other time. One of those was the episode genre. It has become only a curiosity in later years because a great many films (and most comedies) are just a series of episodes loosely connected. In...

Published May 17, 2022

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
Tagged: 1930s, f1932, p2005

The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Case (1932)

Filmmaker(s): Graham Cutts

A young woman turns to Holmes for protection when she's menaced by an escaped killer seeking missing treasure. However, when the woman is kidnapped, Holmes and Watson must penetrate the city's criminal underworld to find her.

06 Dec The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Case (1932)

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Displaced Mind and Eye form — at least as established in the Holmes stories and subsequent early detective fiction, has the reader experience things in the order the detective does. In the best, there is some tension as we know the detective is ahead of...

Published December 6, 2022

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: 1930s, f1932, p2015

Tombstone Canyon (1932)

Filmmaker(s): Alan James

A range lawman (Ken Maynard) unmasks a black-cloaked phantom killer (Sheldon Lewis).

06 Dec Tombstone Canyon (1932)

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Haunted House meets Mystery meets Western love watching these films from the early thirties. Rarely are they good in the way that I need as a modern viewer. But the story is not the one the movie directly delivers, but the larger story of movies...

Published December 6, 2022

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Ones |
Tagged: 1930s, f1932, p2015

20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)

MEN without WOMEN...MEN without HOPE! smash their lives to pieces against their STEEL CHAINS!

Filmmaker(s): Michael Curtiz

Crime

Drama

Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.

24 Dec 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)

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Graphic I write this, “Shawshank Redemption” is IMDB’s number two top movie of all time. I find that absolutely fascinating. The prison movie isn’t quite a genre to itself because the story possibilities vary so. But there is a definite collection of cinematic devices that are...

Published December 24, 2022

| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
Tagged: 1930s, f1932, p2006