The 1930s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

[Altair]

Surely too, Tarzan the Ape Man was a crucial influence on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

[domino harvey]

Been catching up on WC Fields’ films and it’s pretty obvious why these aren’t especially popular anymore: so many of them saddle him with a shrill, shrew wife and compound injustices upon him which he must weather in a way that could perhaps be amusing in a short but not at feature length… but then most of the movies also still feel like short subjects padded and stretched just over the finish line of an hour running time. I think my big error was watching what seems to me to be clearly his most successful film (and one that is still only just okay), You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man, first, and then expecting the other ones would be as good or better. Doubtful at this juncture. At least that one lets him bamboozle and scheme, which is so much more amusing than watching some hag endlessly berate him

[ballmouse]

I had the same feeling watching some Harold Lloyd films. I get you want to make him the butt of a joke so you have a gag and everyone laughs at him. But then they pile them on without any reprieve with gag after gag, and it is just seems more like merciless bullying and mean spiritedness than anything. Did audiences find that funny back then? It doesn't seem very funny now (tell me if I'm in the minority here - I've never seen these in a theater with a crowd so maybe I've just lost my sense of humor watching these alone).

[domino harvey]

I loathe this kind of mindless oppression stacking too (I always think of it as the Barretts of Wimpole Street approach). Virtually every Looney Tunes short is built on the same kind of comedy of frustrations but they’re also only six or seven minutes long

[Roger Ryan]

… I think my big error was watching what seems to me to be clearly his most successful film (and one that is still only just okay), You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man, first, and then expecting the other ones would be as good or better…

You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man is my least favorite Fields vehicle, so had I seen it first, I would have had the experience you were hoping for. I don’t know what one can say in support of Fields if you don’t find It’s A Gift or Man On The Flying Trapeze among the finest comedies of the 30s which they are to me (I know you don’t like Gift). The supposed “padding” results in a tempered pacing that I find very appealing as these are small town stories that allow Fields plenty of time to do battle with the tiniest of distractions, allowing for the broad (pratfalls) and subtle (the myriad of under-the-breath mutterings) to build together.

I find Fields’ best films to be very modern since there is no pretense that there’s a happy home life centered around a patriarch provider. Harold Bissonette or Ambrose Wolfinger straight up lies to his family incessantly in a series of vain attempts to achieve peace of mind. These are anxiety-ridden characters who are desperate to feign competence when confronted by anyone so the solution is to seek isolation. Most of the humor derives from this which I think is strikingly original for comedies of this era and wouldn’t be replicated until Albert Brooks and, later, Larry David began their careers.

As for the “shrill, shrew wife”, I think Kathleen Howard creates very funny foils in both of the films I mentioned above. Her delivery of a non-sequitur with high-minded certainty can be as funny as Fields’ bits of business.

But, yeah, comedy does not work objectively. Somehow, what Fields does charms me to no end.

[domino harvey]

Unfortunately Man on the Flying Trapeze was indeed one of the ones I did not enjoy. And in that one he not only gets it from his annoying wife, but his annoying mother in law and everyone’s favorite slack jawed yokel Grady Sutton. I think Fields can be very funny in spots (and a mess like Never Give a Sucker an Even Break mildly succeeds overall because he has enough good bits in it to overlook the rest), but yeah, I think we definitely get different things out of his output if the wife stuff works for you

[TechnicolorAcid]

Unfortunately Man on the Flying Trapeze was indeed one of the ones I did not enjoy. And in that one he not only gets it from his annoying wife, but his annoying mother in law and everyone’s favorite slack jawed yokel Grady Sutton. I think Fields can be very funny in spots (and a mess like Never Give a Sucker an Even Break mildly succeeds overall because he has enough good bits in it to overlook the rest), but yeah, I think we definitely get different things out of his output if the wife stuff works for you

Have you seen The Bank Dick or My Little Chickadee, those are my favorites of his filmography

[domino harvey]

I saw the Bank Dick over fifteen years ago and unfortunately don’t remember anything about it, so technically I started with that one not Cheat. I picked up the Kino Blu with the other Fields titles to revisit, though

[Lowry_Sam]

When I first got a computer with a dvd drive as a student I would take out all the dvd's from the library from Criterion because I had liked everything on the label. The Bank Dick was the first title I came across where I discovered Criterion could do wrong. I found it an unbearable watch and have never been compelled to watch another from him, the again I also had the same reaction to The Marx Brothers and Duck Soup. There's just something about the forced humor of the era that makes me groan. I'd rather watch earlier silent physical comedy (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd) or later verbal comedy of 40s & 50s than Fields or Marx Brothers which I find as excruciating to sit through as It's a Mad, Mad...World.

[domino harvey]

Le Bonheur (Marcel L'Herbier 1934)
The plot is absolute nonsense- anarchist attempts to murder a famous actress but only succeeds in wounding her, a trial and inexplicable romance ensues. The pacing of the film is all over the place- there's a courtroom scene that really has no reason to last as long as it does and the set-up is given far more time than the actual meat of the story and it's not until very near the end that the film spits out it's points about fame, etc.
However, L'Herbier seems to be having great fun conjuring up as many visual flourishes as possible; scene transitions are accompanied by wipes, visual effects, double exposure, the camera swoops here and there whenever possible and shots are framed from a dizzying variety of angles. It can feel gimmicky but is often exhilarating.
Boyer's all eyes as the Anarchist and you can see why he was on the verge of becoming a superstar, unfortunately Gaby Morlay looks a good 20 years his senior and gives a performance that regularly tips over into histrionics (although some of this is down to her character). Last but not least (but, actually, maybe least) of the starring trio; Michel Simon gives an outrageously camp performance as Morlay's manager, although the offensive eye-rolls and mincing are interspersed with a few hints of depth in the characterisation.
Much like these ramblings, it's a mess. But despite its myriad flaws I have a feeling that there's plenty here that will stick with me- the two train station set pieces (one real, one constructed), the performance of the titular song where Boyer's resolve first weakens, and particularly the prison visit where Paulette Dubost's (Lisette in La Règle du Jeu) innocent visits Boyer, her face falling in and out of shadow through the grate and bars looming between them.

Pathe have put out a really nice restoration on Blu ray in France which is English friendly for the feature but not the extras.

This is quite a mess but I thought the first half or so was a delightful whatsit where I could never peg how it even got greenlit because it is so charmingly odd. Unfortunately the back half gives way to an unconvincing (and indeed implausible beyond the realms of acceptability for any audience buy-in) romance that is impossible to take seriously or even ascribe symbolic meaning because it’s just so dumb that it comes across as contempt for the viewer. What a bummer it wasn’t the discovery it seemed poised to be at the outset, but I’d still give a mild recommendation because this movie is nuts!