Showing posts with label Robert Montgomery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Montgomery. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Hide-Out (1934)



Playboy racketeer Jack "Lucky" Wilson (Robert Montgomery) is out on the town, breaking hearts and taking names. His latest racket is coercing two New York City night club owners, Shuman (Henry Armetta) and Jake (Herman Bing), into a partnership with his laundry syndicate. But the cops, including detectives MacCarthy (Edward Arnold) and Britt (Edward Brophy), are hot on his trail. After a confrontation with the police Wilson is shot but manages to escape and drive off. He heads upstate but passes out from his injury. Wilson is rescued by a local town clerk and farmer, Henry Miller (Whitford Kane), who brings him to his home to recover. Wilson tells Miller that he escaped a gangster, and hides the fact that he's one himself, and insists on having his doctor check up on him to not raise suspicion. While Wilson recuperates from his gunshot wound, he meets Miller's daughter Pauline (Maureen O'Sullivan), who is his polar opposite. She's a simple country gal and he's fast talking city guy. The Miller family is kind, generous and patient. Ma Miller (Elizabeth Patterson) fusses over Wilson and their young son William (don't call him Willie!) (Mickey Rooney), makes every effort to befriend Wilson. He learns to feed chickens, milk cows, chop wood and bring in the hay and enjoying the country life. Wilson stays longer than he should, falling in love with the beautiful Pauline. Will Wilson fess up or will he go back to his life of crime?

Hide-Out (1934) is based on an original story by Mauri Grashin and adapted for the screen by husband and wife writing team Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. Grashin received an Academy Award nomination for his story which was remade in 1941 as I'll Wait for You. The film was released August of 1934, just a month after Hollywood began to enforce the Hays Code began in earnest, officially ending the Pre-Code era of Hollywood filmmaking. I wonder if this affected the outcome of Hide-Out. What kind of story would it have been as a Pre-Code?

The film was directed by W.S. Van Dyke for MGM. He also directed The Thin Man movies, a point referenced in the marketing materials for this movie. Van Dyke, known as One-Take Woody, was MGM's go-to guy. He built a reputation on being a reliable director who would take on any production and keep it on schedule and under budget. Hide-Out was filmed, edited and released in a two month span. There was some delay however. According to the AFI, during pre-production Maureen O'Sullivan had to drop out to visit her ailing father in Ireland. Loretta Young replaced her only to have to drop out herself due to illness and was replaced with O'Sullivan.

Hide-Out is one of my favorite 1930s films. It's a sweet and charming romance. I love the concept of a city gangster out of his element in the country. Montgomery's Wilson and O'Sullivan's Pauline really develop as characters. He teaches her to be more bold. She teaches him to take pleasure in the simple things in life. Mickey Rooney is just adorable in this movie as Pauline's little brother. If you're not a fan of his on screen intensity, you might like his more subdued performance here as William/Willie. 




Hide-Out (1934) is available on DVD-MOD from the Warner Archive Collection. When you use my buy link you help support this site. Thanks!

This is Hide-Out's DVD debut. I always watch this one when it's on TCM and was very excited to see it get a DVD release. George, Matt and D.W. discuss the movie on the November 13, 2018 episode of 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 Hide-Out (1934) on DVD for 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!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Warner Archive Wednesday ~ So This is College (1929)

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So This is College (1929) is fun collegiate romp and comes to us from the early talkie era. Eddie (Elliott Nugent) and Biff (Robert Montgomery) are college roommates at a USC fraternity and best buddies.


Their bromance has carried them through until their senior year. They compete and razz each other all the time but still have a special bond and are a fiercely loyal pair. However, their friendship is tested when they both fall head-over-heels for the new girl on campus Babs (Sally Starr). They've fought over girls in the past but it has never gone this far. Babs relishes the attention both Eddie and Biff smother her with. But she is reluctant to commit to Biff who is the first of the two whom she shows interest in. She likes the control she has over both of them so when Eddie lays off her for Biff's sake, this drives Babs crazy and she starts to turn her affections to him.


It's not very often when you encounter a story that has your rooting for the bromance and against the traditional male-female romance. It was quite refreshing! I enjoyed the performances by Montgomery and Nugent and there were some scenes that bordered on the homoerotic and made me want to see them end up as a couple at the end. If anything, they have a beautiful friendship that really shines through in the story even when they are going through a rather difficult time.



Other notable cast members include Cliff Edwards (aka Ukulele Ike) who has a supporting role as Windy, a ukulele playing fraternity brother with a penchant for jokes and an ear for music. Ann Dvorak and Joel McCrea also have bit parts .



There are not that many full talkies from the 1920s, so each one of them is a gem in my opinion. So This is College sets out to entertain. It's not an All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing! picture but it is a full talkie with all three elements involved. Plus there is the collegiate setting (with lots of freshman hazing), football and a serious love triangle. College football is a big part of the story. Biff and Eddie are the top USC football stars and their friendship is key how well the team performs. Both the friendship and the team are put into jeopardy because of Babs. I wanted to sock Babs in the face (and run off with her cloche hat) in pretty much every scene she was in.

The story reminds me of Good News (1947) especially with the new girl who doesn't care who she falls for because she just likes the attention. In fact, I'd say that Good News (1947) is like an amalgamation of Good News (1930) and So This is College (1929). I'd say Pat McLellan (Patricia Marshall) from Good News (1947) is another Babs from So This is College!

IMDB notes that real football footage from a USC vs. Stanford game was used in the movie and that Sally Starr was considered to be a vest pocket sized Clara Bow. And even though this isn't Good News (1947), it's interesting to note that Patricia Marshall may be the last surviving cast member from that movie.

So This Is College from Warner Bros.


So This Is College (1929) is available as a DVD MOD from Warner Archive.

Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. I rented So This is College (1929) from Classicflix. 

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