The Soul of the Movie Sometimes a movie enters you while you watch it. These days a movie often enters you well before you pay to see it, the soul of the thing having been conveyed to you by too-long trailers and saturation advertising. But is sometimes the case that a movie — especially one… Continue reading Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Tag: f1932
Films released in 1932
Jewel Robbery (1932)
Sex, Drugs and Crime William Powell is responsible for a huge element of our loves, the smoothness that has comic irony behind it. He invented it. There are a few of his movies that are essential viewing, but those are after the government thugs decided what movies should be like in “moral” terms. So you… Continue reading Jewel Robbery (1932)
The Old Dark House (1932)
Extremes without Connection This is James Whale in his prime, for better or worse. The film was lost for generations before being reclaimed and restored, and for that reason is celebrated beyond its merits. What we have is a collection of stereotypical scenarios and characters. A stormy night. A collection of stranded travelers. A very… Continue reading The Old Dark House (1932)
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Graphic As 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 used in nearly all of them, only “Silence… Continue reading 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Tombstone Canyon (1932)
Haunted House meets Mystery meets Western I 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 finding themselves after the disruptive introduction of sound. They… Continue reading Tombstone Canyon (1932)
The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Case (1932)
Displaced Mind and Eye The 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 us in deducing the truth from the same information… Continue reading The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Case (1932)
If I Had a Million (1932)
Two Leers The 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 this case, the connection is a millionaire who… Continue reading If I Had a Million (1932)