THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924)

Could the suitor to the princess really be nothing but a common thief?
Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad

"It is an entrancing picture, wholesome and beautiful, deliberate but compelling, a feat of motion picture art which has never been equaled and one which itself will enthrall people time and again. You can see this film and look forward to seeing it a second time."-New York Times, March 19, 1924.

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I can certainly see why this fanciful updating of the Arabian nights was such a hit with audiences in 1924. It starred the biggest action star of the era (Douglas Fairbanks) and is epic in presentation, but never forgets to be fun. The plot of the film involves Fairbanks as the thief in the title, who seeks to amend his ways when he falls for the princess of Bagdad. The film features such later staples of films as magic carpets, invisibility cloaks, a battle against some pretty scary spiders and other monsters and an elaborate competition against rival suitors. It might be difficult for modern audiences to view The Thief of Bagdad without thinking of similarities between this and Disney's Aladdin. At least it was for me.

Yes, it is true that 1924 special effects aren't going to hold up that well, but I think the effects are pretty fun even now and work well within the framework of the story. If you tend to get bored with silent film dramas, this one may be a good one to watch to try to shake yourself out of it.-C. Cox, 1001: A Film Odyssey

The thief (Fairbanks) and the Princess (Julanne Johnston) 

discover a whole new world on their magic carpet in

The Thief of Bagdad

ME AND MY GAL (1932)

MORE 1001 MOVIES FROM THE 30's

(Post 6 of 20)

 Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett in Me and My Gal

Me and My Gal is an early talkie that's kind of a romance, kind of a comedy and kind of a crime drama. The major appeal of the film is the pretty snappy dialogue from Arthur Kober (Everything is jake!), early starring roles for Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett, and brisk direction from Raoul Walsh.There's a certain rawness, liveliness and artistic freedom in many of these pre-code films and this is in evidence here.There are also some pretty good comic relief bits as well.

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to...(tie) the three drunk guys.
One of the comic relief bits I'm referring to is the perpetual drunken nature of character actor Will Stanton that is pretty much in evidence in every scene he is in. Will's drunken character is almost the main character in the movie for the first twenty or so!

There is another drunk bit half way through the film featuring Stanton, Billy Bevan and Frank Atkinson involving who struck who with a salmon (or was it a bloater?).

Stanton had over 100 movie credits during his career...by the looks of his listings most were of a much smaller nature than his role in Me and My Gal.

Will Stanton strikes a tough guy pose

Billy Bevan is one of those actors you may have seen in clips of old Mack Sennett comedies. I'm pretty sure I used to see him in a clip running down the street in a long running paint store commercial.

Bevan had a successful career in silents and eventually had a nice career as a supporting players once talkies came around as well.

Billy Bevan and his signature droopy moustache

Englishman Frank Atkinson had 185 movie credits ranging from 1930 until the 1960's.

 

 Frank Atkinson- "It was a bloat-ah!"

WHITE HEAT (1949)

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE 
(Post 2 of 50)

"Made it Ma! Top O' the World"

If you are talking about Jimmy Cagney movies, the first one that may come to mind might be his star making vehicle The Public Enemy. Or you may think of his Academy Award winning role in Yankee Doodle Dandy. A personal favorite of mine is Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three. All that aside, I don't think there is any movie that typifies the Cagney screen persona than White Heat.

Cagney was a movie veteran in 1949 and had done a lot of gangster pictures up to that point. But I'm not sure he ever played anyone as evil and crazy as Cody Jarrett. He's got a mother obsession, a history of mental illness running through his family that has clearly come down to him, dramatically ill-timed side-splitting headaches, a beautiful but unfaithful wife who he still has an unfortunate passion for and has to constantly cope with people that betray him. 

And have would-be Cagney impressionists ever have a better line to use than, "A copper! A copper! How do you like that boys? And we went for it. I went for it. Treated him like a kid brother. going to split 50-50 with a copper!" Or if you don't like that one, you can always just scream, "Made it Ma! Top of the World!"

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to…Fred Clark. I could give this to reliable second tier leading man Edmond O'Brien or Virginia Mayo as the Cagney's lovely but devious wife. But I'm going for character actor specialist Fred Clark, who really is playing against type here as Cagney's criminal connection. I just finished watching another Clark role (and a funnier one) as a movie producer in Sunset Boulevard. I've also seen Fred in plenty of other films (sometimes with toupee, sometimes without), but I honestly seem to remember him most from his TV roles, including the doctor on The Beverly Hillbillies and as the neighbor in The Burns and Allen Show.

HIGH SIERRA (1941)

“But the fix blew up and a screw put the blast on me.” If you hear a line like this, you know you’re probably watching a Warner Brothers gangster movie from the 30's or 40’s. Ah, when police were coppers, women were dames, men wore snap-brim hats and your only goal in life was to crash out, whether in actuality or just metaphorically.

I watched many of these gangster movies growing up, mostly thanks to Ted Turner’s superstation. I’ve also seen a lot of Humphrey Bogart movies. Yet somehow I missed one of the most famous, High Sierra.

The first thing I noticed about High Sierra is the amount of talent involved. The screenwriters were W. R. Burnett (of the book Little Caesar, which I have actually read) and John Huston (who later became, of course, John Huston.). The director was Raoul Walsh, whose most memorable film might be White Heat (“A copper! I treated you like a brother and you’re nothing but a stinking copper!" or something like that). The cast was headed by Ida Lupino (Whose name I like to use creatively in sentences as in “Don’t go all Ida Lupino on me”). Also of note in the cast is Henry Travers, though it’s very hard to think of him as anything but Clarence Oddbody, angel second class. Willie Best’s performance here would probably make Spike Lee shudder, but Sidney Poitier roles were a generation away and even then were mostly reserved for Sidney Poitier. I’ve also got to mention Pard the dog, played by Zero according to the credits. Sure he brought bad luck, but oh, so cute!

But what this movie is most remembered for is Humphrey Bogart. Relegated to supporting roles as heavies in the 30’s, this film is acknowledged as his breakout role, which led to the more heroic Bogart from The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.

What’s interesting in High Sierra is that “Mad Dog” Earle represents a kind hybrid between phases of Bogart’s career. Earle is still a criminal, but he still exhibits a soft spot for cripples (his word), yappy dogs and wanting to do his heist by the book even after the man who hires him dies.

I wasn’t sure how to end this blog, so I’ll just type my opening again. “But the fix blew up and a screw put the blast on me.” I’m going to try to bring this line up in conversation whenever the opportunity arises.