Poll

What is your favorite?

haven't seen any
6 (60%)
don't like any
1 (10%)
other
0 (0%)
The Doorway to Hell (1930)
0 (0%)
Illicit (1931)
0 (0%)
Svengali (1931)
0 (0%)
Night After Night (1932)
0 (0%)
The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933)
0 (0%)
The Mayor of Hell (1933) [co-directed by Michael Curtiz]
0 (0%)
Convention City (1933)
0 (0%)
Ever in My Heart (1933)
0 (0%)
Gambling Lady (1934)
0 (0%)
The Man with Two Faces (1934)
0 (0%)
Bordertown (1935)
0 (0%)
Go Into Your Dance (1935) [co-directed by Michael Curtiz]
0 (0%)
The Petrified Forest (1936)
1 (10%)
Give Me Your Heart (1936)
0 (0%)
Black Legion (1937) [co-directed by Michael Curtiz]
0 (0%)
Call It a Day (1937)
0 (0%)
It's Love I'm After (1937)
2 (20%)
They Shall Have Music (1939)
0 (0%)
The House Across the Bay (1940)
0 (0%)
The Great American Broadcast (1941)
0 (0%)
Confirm or Deny (1941) [co-directed by Fritz Lang]
0 (0%)
Moontide (1942) [co-directed by Fritz Lang]
0 (0%)
Orchestra Wives (1942)
0 (0%)
Crash Dive (1943)
0 (0%)
A Night in Casablanca (1946)
0 (0%)
Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 10

Author Topic: Mayo, Archie  (Read 921 times)

1SO

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Mayo, Archie
« on: April 10, 2016, 09:00:56 AM »
1. It's Love I'm After
2. Charley's Aunt
3.The Great American Broadcast
4. The House Across the Bay
5. Bordertown
6. A Night in Casablanca
7. Ever in My Heart
8. The Mayor of Hell
9. Night After Night
10. The Life of Jimmy Dolan
11. Crash Dive
12. Angel on My Shoulder
13. Gambling Lady

14. The Man With Two Faces
15. The Doorway to Hell
16. Moontide
17. Illicit
18. Confirm or Deny
19. Go Into Your Dance
20. The Case of the Lucky Legs
21. Call it a Day
22. Svengali
23. Black Legion

24. The Petrified Forest
« Last Edit: September 01, 2022, 11:05:23 PM by 1SO »

MartinTeller

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Re: Mayo, Archie
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2016, 12:01:44 PM »
1. Moontide
2. A Night in Casablanca
3. The Petrified Forest

1SO

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Re: Mayo, Archie
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2018, 09:33:08 PM »
Confirm or Deny (1941)
★ ★
Fritz Lang wanted to focus on Hitler's attempt to invade England, but the studio wanted to tell a love story during the London Blitz. Lang was delighted when a medical condition removed him from the picture and it's impossible to tell what he might've filmed in the final product. I wasn't the least bit surprised to learn the story of an obsessed reporter comes from Samuel Fuller.  Though he didn't write the script, there's the same snap and bite found in the far more successful Park Row.

It just takes a while to get there. The first half-hour of this 75-minute movie sets up little besides a developing romance between Don Ameche and Joan Bennett. Things pick up once Ameche comes up with a hustle to get the news out ahead of everyone else, but he doesn't have the commanding patter of Cagney or O'Brien. There's an interesting idea about not reporting the news because the Germans read the paper too, but the material needed Fuller's direction (or Lang) to really make it spin.

1SO

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Re: Mayo, Archie
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2018, 01:50:36 PM »
Call it a Day (1941)
★ ★
I kept thinking this was Warner's other hack Lloyd Bacon (Bacon. Mayo.) and was going to comment on him being responsible for the worst performance by James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland, but they get to split responsibility. Like Bacon, the director can also take credit for some fine comic gems - Larceny Inc. for Bacon and It's Love I'm After for Mayo - but here there's the sense that most any other director on the lot would've made better decisions. (Except Bacon maybe.) It's not all bad. Roland Young has an excellent story, full of smiles and laughs and the final scene is quite touching and romantic. But a pox on any filmmaker than makes poor Olivia come off like a bad actress.

1SO

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Re: Mayo, Archie
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2018, 08:59:07 PM »

Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
Mistakenly filed away for Shocktober, this does have a sequence set in Hell and a story involving Satan (Claude Rains), but it's a more lighthearted affair, with Paul Muni as a gangster given a 2nd chance. In Scarface, Muni played one of cinema's greatest crime bosses, but here he's unbelievably dumb, thuggish and slow to catch on. However, Rains is perfectly cast in one may be one of his greatest roles. (It's so hard to choose.) He knows the right amount of playful mischief and sinister scheming to bring to each moment. Make me wish he played The Devil more often. Also with Anne Baxter, giving off a strong Jenna Fischer vibe.
★ ★ ★ - Okay

1SO

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Re: Mayo, Archie
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2020, 01:19:17 AM »
Moved this here because I mistakenly credited the film to Lloyd Bacon.


Charley's Aunt (1941)
★ ★ ★ - Good
Greatly exceeding my expectations, this is a terrific screwball farce starring Jack Benny in a Mrs. Doubtfire type situation. I thought Benny dressed up as an old woman would wear thin quickly, but it turns out to be a perfect part for the droll, vein comedian, who's really only able to play his stage persona. Courting him her are Edmund Gwenn (Santa in Miracle on 34th St) and Noir giant Laird Cregar. Also stars Kay Francis (as the real Aunt), Anne Baxter, Reginald Owen (Mary Poppins) and Richard Haydn (Ball of Fire, Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland). With a plot that keeps folding in on itself, so much so I had to pay attention to remember everyone's goals, this is the Screwball Comedy from right below the top of the shelf, and I thought there wasn't anything left up there for me to Discover.

Antares

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Re: Mayo, Archie
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2020, 05:53:26 PM »
It's Love I'm After

The Petrified Forest

The Mayor of Hell
Black Legion
Angel on My Shoulder
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Mayo, Archie
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2020, 03:41:30 PM »
Ever In My Heart, 50°
Extraordinary (81-100˚) | Very good (61-80˚) | Good (41-60˚) | Fair (21-40˚) | Poor (0-20˚)

 

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