Jack Joe Schenck Jerry Gus Van Mary Bessie Love Released by MGM | Directed By Jack Conway and Sam Wood Proof That It’s Pre-Code Good, kind ol’ Jack is the victim of a true-blue, barely-hiding-it gold digger. Marriage and divorce may be involved. Those of you who love watching men Read more
Countess Helene Mara Jeanette MacDonald Count Rudolph Farriere Jack Buchanan Prince Otto Von Liebenheim Claude Allister Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Ernst Lubitsch Proof That It’s Pre-Code Jeanette MacDonald is probably wearing just a neglige for about 25% of the movie. The Prince Liebenheim’s introductory song assures us Read more
Released by Paramount | Directed By Dave Fleischer Minnie the Moocher: Ghostly Goofs As a boy growing up in Illinois, there’s really only one thing that was a staple in every child’s cultural education. That was the movie The Blues Brothers, of course, which ran on WGN at least once Read more
Released by Paramount | Directed By Dave Fleischer Old Man of the Mountain: On Top of Old Fogey “Whatcha gonna do now?” “I’m gonna do the best I can.” Cab Calloway’s third appearance in a Betty Boop cartoon sees him as a white haired, white skinned crazy magic mountain hermit Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By Jules White Show Business: Nothing Like It “Say, you don’t need to get so high hat. Your ancestors swung through trees too.” Of all the Zasu Pitts/Thelma Todd shorts I’ve watched, “Show Business” is the one with the most screen time devoted to getting Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By Hal Roach On the Loose: Loosely Done “And those two Cornell freshman. Were they fresh!” “On the Loose” probably isn’t going to convert many people who haven’t seen any of the other Todd & Pitts shorts that I’ve been working through this week. Besides Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By George Marshall The Soilers: Working Their Way Through “The Soilers” is a bit of a letdown. This one finds Zasu and Thelma out in the suburbs trying to sell magazine subscriptions to help themselves “work their way through college.” This is patently unsuccessful since Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By George Marshall Alum and Eve: Tripping the Light Fantastic “And I suppose when the doctor comes in he’ll take out my other appendix!” “Alum and Eve” is one of the most surreal of the non-Betty Boop shorts I’ve sat through, a short where a Read more
Katrin Greta Garbo Walter Herbert Marshall Jack George Brent Released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer | Directed By Richard Boleslawski Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish The film opens with Katrin’s sister’s wedding, and she gives her sister a neglige for a wedding present. “But don’t tell mother, she’ll think it’s wicked.” “But Read more
June Betty Compson Russell Courtney John Darrow Sir Gerald Courtney Gilbert Emery Released by RKO | Directed By George Archainbaud Proof That It’s Pre-Code Our heroine is a poor street walker. “Don’t be so Victorian, Dobbs. Cocktails, Dobbs. We must have cocktails!” A bartender from Chicago is called, “one of Read more