Imitation of Life (1934)

Imitation of Life is a wonderfully heart wrenching drama that is definitely worth your time.

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Trouble in Paradise begins with a conman, Gaston Monescu, and a pick pocket, Lily, getting to know each other. The two end up in Paris, stealing a purse worth 125,000 francs from Madame Mariette Colet, the owner of a perfume company. When she puts out a nice reward for the purse, Gaston realizes he'd get more by returning it than selling it on the black market, and returns the purse, claiming to find it at the theater. After he claims to be a minor noble, she says that she is embarrassed to offer him a reward since he probably doesn't need the money, Gaston reassures her that he needs the money due to hard times in the stock market. It is then revealed that she is in need of a secretary, and hires Gaston for the job. He brings Lily on, and the two prepare to execute a scam, but matters are complicated by Mariette's affection for Gaston.

I didn't really get much out of the movie, and definitely wouldn't watch again, but others enjoy it, so take the plunge if it sounds interesting to you.

King Kong (1993)

I watched the newer King Kong movie last year. The older version came up on my list this week. I was surprised at how closely the newer movie had followed the older one.

I expected I wouldn't really be impressed by the old movie. Most of this is due to the fact that special effects of today have dulled the reaction that the crowd at the original film would have experienced at seeing a beast on the screen 10 times taller and a thousand times as massive as the main characters. But more importantly for my own perception of the movie, was some of the things that were done. For instance, the doorway through the wall to Kong's part of the island was massive. If I were building a wall that I wanted to keep King Kong behind, I certainly wouldn't build the door big enough for him to get through. And once the men progressed into the island, they were viciously charged by a stegosaurus, something significantly improved in the new film.

Overall, I didn't care for the older movie, and liked the new version only a little better.

I am a fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a classic miscarriage of justice film. In the film, James Allen has just returned from WWI, and decides to skip on the secure job waiting at home in order to be an engineer, doing the work he liked for the Navy. When he falls on hard times, he gets dragged into pulling a five spot out of a register at gun point, fleeing the scene when the police show up, and gets a prison sentence of hard labor.

After months in prison, he escapes, gets a job in construction, and becomes a man of respectable means. But it all falls apart when his landlady finds out that he's a wanted escaped criminal, and he feels trapped between two different prisons, being married to a woman he doesn't love or serving out his time to be free of her blackmail.

The film was similar to the more recent Shawshank Redemption. In the older film, the character is guilty, and in the newer innocent, but the system deprives both of justice in the end. I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang does spend a bit of time covering the debate between those who thought criminals should work v. those who thought the conditions of the prisons were not conducive to promoting rehabilitation.

Scarface (1932)

Scarface (1932) is the classic that started the gangster genre. The movie begins by explaining that many of the events depicted really happened, and requests the civilians watching the film demand action from their government to reign in mobster activity.

Tony Camonte starts the film as a mafia body guard turned hitman turned underboss. Tony displays ruthlessness and sadistic tendencies. An early quote on his mentality concerning killing others is "Do it first. Do it yourself. And keep on doing it." Tony figures anybody who won't kill has gone soft, and he intends to be the man on top.

Tony's boss, Johnny Lovo, lays out a plan to take over Chicago's south side alcohol trade. Tony executes the plan to perfection, before overextending and going after the North side gangsters which is when the real war begins.

This is an excellently done movie without sympathetic bad guys, and if you don't have any problems with implied violence, check this one out.

Freeks (1932)

The next movie selected was Freeks, which is about drama in a Circus, with tension between the Big Top acts and the Freeks.

The main plot is Cleopatra, the trapeze artist conning one of the little people, Hans, out of money by flirting with him. After a sham marriage, Cleopatra tries to kill Hans to inherit his money, but the ending doesn't go according to her plan.

Frankenstein (1931)

The second movie on my list was the classic Frankenstein. I've read the book, so I'm always wary of the treatment books get from Hollywood. After getting the case from the library, I noticed several other Frankenstein movies were included in the case, all of which I think I'd heard about decades ago.

Where the book is told as a flashback, the movie version is not. The movie is worth watching for the classic moments, like Frankenstein's reaction when the monster comes alive. Things go poorly from then on. Where the book has a tragic ending with Frankenstein pursuing his monster, the movie ends completely differently with a classic mob chasing the monster in the dark.

If you decide to watch Bride of Frankenstein, it begins by contradicting the end of the first movie. I couldn't watch it all of the way through, and I didn't even try with the later three movies in the case.