Blind Adventure.

Review #2057: Blind Adventure.

Cast: 

Robert Armstrong (Richard Bruce), Helen Mack (Rose Thorne), Roland Young (Holmes the Burglar), Ralph Bellamy (Jim Steele), John Miljan (Regan, Gang Leader), Beryl Mercer (Elsie, the Maid), Tyrell Davis (Gerald Fairfax), Henry Stephenson (Major Archer Thorne), and Laura Hope Crews (Lady Rockingham) Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack (#283 - King Kong, #604 - Mighty Joe Young, #709 - The Most Dangerous Game, and #914 - Son of Kong)

Review: 

Okay, so remember Son of Kong (1933)? That was the rushed sequel to King Kong that retained the uses of Ernest B. Schoedsack as director/producer while featuring Robert Armstrong and Helen Mack (replacing Fay Wray from the original film) as the stars to basically be second-nature to the big effect (the film itself, well, was pretty disappointing, but that was a long time ago). Of course, there was one other aspect retained from the original Kong in Ruth Rose (familiar to Schoedsack, because she was his wife) as screenwriter. You may wonder just what does this have to do with Blind Adventure? Well, that was the other 1933 movie released by RKO Radio Pictures that had Armstrong and Mack as stars with Schoedsack as director, and Rose as a writer (Robert Benchley delivered uncredited work for the film); oddly enough, Cooper didn't produce the Kong sequel but did produce Blind Adventure. Schoedsack was a most curious filmmaker, as one would expect from somebody that honed their skills in the Signal Corps in World War I. He directed various films with a good chunk in collaboration with Merian C. Cooper (they met in Europe in 1918 and coincidentally were both pilots during the war), whether that involved producing films spent in the wilderness such as Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927) or dramas such as The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) or effects-driven features such as Dr. Cyclops (1940) and his last key effort in Mighty Joe Young (yet another movie with Armstrong, Rose, and Cooper). Schoedsack died in 1979 at the age of 86.

The movie is perhaps too fitting for B-movie status within its 65-minute runtime and a premise involving "An American in foggy England all by himself". The enjoyment of the film depends on just how much you can take the film at face value with such little time to allow it to coat in interest. But B-movies were a dime a dozen, so those familiar with hazy surroundings will probably just be fine with what the film is selling, and I did eventually go with it, perhaps because sometimes one really does just go with the flow. So here we are with a plot about wrong houses wrapped in pea soup fog, incriminating cigarette cases, and friendly burglars. Armstrong I think is confident enough to hold the ship together with being thrust into such a strange time, which mostly means competent timing that is played for a bit of contrast with everyone that isn't about bluster with the previous Schoedsack ventures. Mack makes a casual lead to get thrust into the proceedings that mainly involves a bit of going along with whatever is happening and a bit of relief when it comes to "trifles". Of course, Young makes for a pleasant bundle of chuckles as the sly fox in the middle of pursuers and bumblers. This includes a minor adversary in Bellamy, who at least seems game within the mild diversion that comes when packed with other minor heavies that see one of them get bonked on the head at one point. As a whole, the enjoyment of the film depends on just how much a diversion one finds within such a short and measurable time, and I think it works out just alright, so take that for what it is worth.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Angel (1937).

Review #2008: Angel.

Cast: 

Marlene Dietrich (Maria, Lady Barker / "Angel"), Herbert Marshall (Sir Frederick Barker), Melvyn Douglas (Anthony 'Tony' Halton), Edward Everett Horton (Graham), Ernest Cossart (Chris Wilton), Laura Hope Crews (the Grand Duchess Anna Dmitrievna), Herbert Mundin (Mr. Greenwood), and Dennie Moore (Emma MacGillicuddy Wilton) Produced and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (#1026 - The Shop Around the Corner, #1358 - To Be or Not to Be, #1881 - The Love Parade)

Review: 

Ernst Lubitsch actually once was a production manager for Paramount Pictures, you know. Yes, when it comes to mainstream prominent names of directors running a studio, there really is just one name to consider, and Lubitsch didn't even last that long in the position. In fact, he did not last long after at Paramount after 1936, with this being his penultimate film there. Since 1928, he had made most (not all) of his features there, which went from The Patriot to Bluebeard's Eighth Wife. But not all directors can stay in one place, even if they do provide a touch of interest. Angel is also important in the discussion of Dietrich, because it was her last film with Paramount under contract, with her next feature not being until Destry Rides Again in 1939. The film was based on a play called Angyal by Melchoir Lengyel. Guy Bolton and Russell Medcraft wrote the film while Samson Raphaelson and Frederick Lonsdale wrote the screenplay. It was the only time she starred in a Lubitsch film, and she was paired with Marshall, who had starred in Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (1932), one of a handful of films he would do as a leading man (which included a good deal of romances). 

The touch that Lubitsch provides to making a quality light drama is to keep one's interest firmly upon these sophisticated people and the mishaps that makes romance one to amuse with rather than be afraid of it. It runs at a careful pace of 91 minutes that shows the dynamic that comes together in a love triangle that is seemingly more than two people and one's workload. It is the movie that shows just how much sense one is not going to make when it comes to the nature of men and women, with the latter being particularly apparent. Dietrich plays things with the solemn dignity required in a role that has her cherished in different ways when paired with Marshall or Douglas, which makes sense when you see the dynamics of marriage being contrasted with a night of odd adventure. She is vulnerable even in her grace that seems different her time spent with Josef von Sternberg when it comes to cherishment. Marshall (who appears last among the triangle, intentionally presented as such when it comes to a man presented as a "League of Nations" man) does pretty well as the middleman of romance, a gentleman that clearly has affection for his wife, but it is evident to see how much of his affection for his wife runs in tandem with his affection of his work, which works to the levels needed when it comes to the inevitable climax. Douglas fills the key piece of the triangle as the obsessive man struck between his connection with an old friend and the connection that he believes he has with someone that seems apt to be called "Angel". Simply put, it is charming to see one have a helpless obsession when it comes to what we know is coming with the inevitable confrontation over just what is going to happen with the choice of a woman. There is some comic relief when it comes to Horton and Crews, since one cannot have romance without onlookers present to see from afar that are just living in their element, which is probably best stated in a scene where a few butlers are taking back plates of food meant to be ate for a meal between the love triangle only to find that two of them did not eat a bite. By the time one has gotten to the end of the film in its lovely presentation of the inevitable of irrational decisions made in the name of passions, you have found that your time has been spent quite well, one where the director and the cast are working hand-in-hand in making sophisticated entertainment. It should make a good time for those who are interested in Lubitsch or Dietrich, that much is clear.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.