Showing posts with label Chester Morris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chester Morris. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

The Gay Bride (1934)

Chester Morris, Nat Pendleton, Carole Lombard and Zasu Pitts in The Gay Bride (1934)

1934 was a transitional year in the film industry. The Hays Code, which had been in effect for years but not strictly enforced, was now the law of the land. Hollywood got away with a lot in those few years between the advent of talking pictures and the enforcement of the Code. Pre-Code films went on to become a genre much beloved by future generations of film buffs because of how these early 1930s films pushed boundaries. In an effort to conform to this new censorship, post-code films went through a scrubbing of content, washing away much of what titillated audiences . In 1934 especially, filmmakers were trying to figure out how to get their pre-code stories to fit into this new post-code mold. The Gay Bride (1934) is an example of how fitting a round peg into a square hole just didn't quite work out.

The Gay Bride stars Carole Lombard as Mary, a chorus girl looking to lock her wealthy racketeer boyfriend Shoots Magiz (Nat Pendleton) into holy matrimony. Ignoring the warnings of her trusty sidekick Mirabelle (Zasu Pitts), she manages to snag her cash cow. Due to the nature of his business and its occupational hazards, Mary makes quick work to secure her fortune. On her wedding night, her lawyer finalizes Shoots' will and the next day they set off on a cruise to Europe so Mary can shop to her hearts delight. When Shoots and Mary come back from their mostly disastrous trip (only Greece would have them), more trouble awaits. Shoot's assistant Jimmie (Chester Morris), affectionately referred to as Office Boy, is the only member of Shoots' crew with any common sense. He tries to protect his boss from his impending financial failure but can't protect him from the ill intentions of Mikey The Greek (Leo Carillo) and Daniel J. Dingle (Sam Hardy). All three men have an eye for Mary and one of them is set on removing Shoots permanently. Mary's desire for financial security hangs in the balance as she discovers that mob life is more than she bargained for.


"I wondered when you boys were going to tumble."

Based on Charles Francis Coe's novel Repeal, the title was changed and the story adapted to the screen by husband and wife writing team Sam and Bella Spewack, best known for their collaboration on Broadway play turned movie Kiss Me Kate. This is the only MGM film featuring Paramount star Carole Lombard. MGM was known for quality productions (or as Warner Archive's George Feltenstein called it "the Tiffany's of movie studios) and Lombard assumed this film would be one too. However, her costar Chester Morris knew it was a dud from the start. The film was directed by Jack Conway, a mainstay in the MGM stable of talent. Conway could be counted on to deliver movies to the studio execs on budget and on time.

The Gay Bride was panned by critics and did not perform well at the box office. However Carole Lombard was a bankable star and theatres made the most of it. According to Carole Lombard biographer Michelle Morgan, "The idea of Carole playing a 'gold-digging chiseller' inspired the Lowe's State Theatre in New Orleans to give out special 'Chiseller Club' membership cards to their patrons, with Carole listed as secretary. Nearby stores were also utilized and included movie-inspired floral displays in bridal shops and hair displays in a beauty parlor."

Chester Morris, Carole Lombard and Nat Pendleton in The Gay Bride (1934)


"When you missed meals as a kid money becomes awfully important."

The story had a lot of potential. I was particularly interested in Mary's motivations. She's a glamorous chorus girl who courts the attention of notorious racketeer. Having grown up desperately poor she's hell bent on having a financially secure future. In one scene, Mary tells Mirabelle that she's not about a quick buck rather she wants to have enough money to live comfortably into her 50s, 60s and beyond. A richer story would have explored Mary's history and fleshed out the characters. The final result is a movie that is enjoyable but on the whole superficial.

The Gay Bride is a hybrid of several popular genres. It starts out as a backstage story, morphs into a gangster flick, then into a screwball comedy and ends with a romance. Tying it all together is this thread living through the Great Depression. While the story and characters are lacking, viewers will be delighted by the superb cast including some 1930s all-stars like Carole Lombard, Chester Morris, Nat Pendleton and Zasu Pitts, who are all personal favorites of mine. Actor Gene Lockhart has a small uncredited role. The movie's dialogue is witty and I found myself writing down several fun quotes. I'd be interested in reading the original source material to see what potential there was in making The Gay Bride/Repeal into a Pre-Code film.



The Gay Bride (1934) is available on DVD-MOD from the Warner Archive Collection. You can hear the WAC trio George, D.W. and Matt discuss the film on the Warner Archive Podcast.


Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. Thank you to Warner Archive for sending me a copy of The Gay Bride (1934) to review!

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The Big House (1930)


The Big House (1930)

"They all want to throw people into prison but they don't want to provide for them after they are in. You mark my words Pop. Some day we're going to pay for this shortsightedness." - Warden (Lewis Stone)

MGM's The Big House (1930) came at a time when Hollywood was still transitioning to talking pictures and experimenting with cinematography, set design and storytelling. This was all in addition to tantalizing audiences with sound. It's one of the earliest prison films and set many precedents for future films in that genre. The Big House explored many facets of prison life: the alliances, betrayals, hierarchies and the deep animosity between prisoners and authority figures. It was one of the first films to depict a prison riot. It broke ground, pleased the critics, won awards and almost ninety years later still holds up as an enjoyable drama.

The film opens with Kent Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) being escorted to prison. He's been convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years. The prison, run by warden James Adams (Lewis Stone), is overflowing with prisoners. Cells made to hold one person now need to accommodate three. Marlowe is placed with career forger Morgan (Chester Morris) and the prison's most notorious inmate, convicted murderer Butch (Wallace Beery). Marlowe is scared, Butch is greedy and Morgan must keep a level head throughout it all. There is a protest, time in solitary confinement, a prison escape, a riot and even a love story, with sole female lead Anne Marlowe (Leila Hyams), thrown in for good measure.

Cedric Gibbons set design - The Big House (1930)
Cedric Gibbons set design - The Big House (1930)


This critically acclaimed and award winning movie brought audiences stunning visuals and crisp sound. I love to call this the "Art Deco Prison Movie" because of the beautiful and minimalist set design by Cedric Gibbons. Recording engineer Douglas Shearer brings the sounds of prison to life and won the Academy Award for Best Sound for his work. Screenwriter Frances Marion researched prison life at San Quentin and wrote the original screenplay for the film. She won the Academy Award for her script. Her husband George W. Hill expertly directed the film and some of the scenes with prisoners en masse are beautifully choreographed. I love how cinematographer Harold Wenstrom plays with light and shadow especially in the earlier part of the movie.

This film came at a time when Robert Montgomery and Chester Morris were launching their careers in Pre-Code era Hollywood. They had just made The Divorcee (1930) with Norma Shearer, a very different film from The Big House. Wallace Beery had been suffering a career slump. Frances Marion spotted Beery at the MGM commissary and thought he would be the perfect actor for the role of Butch. This part revitalized Beery's career just in time for the new wave of talking pictures.

I watched The Big House recently with my husband who usually shies away from films of this era. He loves the prison genre classic The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and I pitched The Big House as a precursor to that film. He enjoyed making connections between the two films and seeing how this early talkie film might have influenced others of its kind.

I wrote about this film back in 2010 around the time when Warner Archive had released it on DVD. They re-released the film several years later as a two-disc set with the French and Spanish versions of the film included. In the early days of talking films, MGM would produce foreign language versions of their big movies. This was the era before subtitles and after silent film title cards which could be swapped out for different text. MGM made El presidio in Spanish, directed by Ward Wing who also worked on the original version. It stars José Crespo as Morgan, Juan de Landa as Butch and Tito Davison as Marlowe. The French version, Révolte dans la prison , was directed by Pal Fejos, one of the most interesting figures from the early film era and director of one of my favorite films Lonesome (1928). Charles Boyer, who wasn't quite yet a household name in the states, has the title role of Morgan.

Chester Morris as Morgan in The Big House
Chester Morris as Morgan in The Big House
Charles Boyer as Morgan in Revolte dans la prison
Charles Boyer as Morgan in Revolte dans la prison

Jose Crespo as Morgan in El presidio
Jose Crespo as Morgan in El presidio

I watched the Spanish and French versions as was quite impressed by both. If you look closely you can see where MGM did recycle some of the scenes from the original and took some shortcuts to save money. The different actors added nuances to their performances that help distinguish those films from the original. I was so relieved that these films were shot with fluent actors and not with the original cast using phonetic Spanish or French. As a Spanish speaker I can tell you that watching a film with phonetic Spanish is a painful experience.

The Big House is not a perfect film. When Marlowe is stripped of his possessions and given a number I thought the movie would explore the loss of identity. It doesn't really happen. The numbers are not referenced much throughout the film. If you're new to early talkies, the lack of a soundtrack and the eerie quiet in the background might be a bit off putting. I'm used to this so it's no problem for me.


Robert Montgomery as Kent in The Big House
Robert Montgomery as Kent in The Big House


André Burgère as Kent in Revolte dans la Prison
André Burgère as Kent in Revolte dans la Prison

Tito Davison as Kent in El presidio
Tito Davison as Kent in El presidio

The Big House is my favorite prison film. I love the era, the performances, the characters and the story. I adore Lewis Stone, Chester Morris and Robert Montgomery so having all three in the film didn't hurt. I also love how The Big House set the bar for films to follow. If you're interested in film history, it's a must see.

The Big House (1930) two-disc DVD-R set is available from Warner Archive.

Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. Thank you to the Warner Archive for sending me The Big House (1930) for review!

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