Updated RankingsThe World Changes (1933)
★ ★Ambitious multi-generational saga tries to squeeze too much into 90 minutes. When it leaps forward you need a minute to figure out who is the offspring of who. Stars Paul Muni, who I refer to as the classic Daniel Day-Lewis, and this is his Daniel Plainview, starting in the west and ending angry and alone, railing against everyone he knew. Some good cast – Mary Astor’s fall into madness is frightening – but this needed some time to breathe.
Fools For Scandal (1938)
★ ★ ★ – Okay At the time people thought Carole Lombard was stuck in a screwball comedy rut, (Lombard herself speaks poorly of this film), but it’s a decent entry in the genre and Lombard is in excellent form. Allen Jenkins is on hand to help. So is Ralph Bellamy, but he lays on the jealous boyfriend part too thick.
Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
★ ★ ★ – Okay I find Greer Garson to be a less interesting actress. She’s precise and hits all the right beats, but she’s Bette Davis without the force of will. In this bio/pic she plays a woman who works for the cause of orphan children. It’s fine, though some moments are framed too pristinely for Oscar momentum.
Homecoming (1948)
★ ★ ˝Clark Gable is happily married to Anne Baxter, but during the wat he has an affair with Lana Turner because… well they’re Gable and Turner. Film takes great pains to portray Gable as a loving husband and Baxter is so much more interesting than Turner. That plus Gable being around 20 years older than his co-stars take out the romance and any rooting interest.
Any Number Can Play (1949)
★ ★ ★ – Good I’m jealous of Clark Gable’s charm, which he could back with legit acting talent. I keep waiting to see him give a lesser performance in one of these less popular films, but it never happens. Turns out the film is really good too. A character drama with shades of Noir and gangster films. The kind of story with a lot going on – personal and professional – over one long eventful night. Rich supporting cast includes Alexis Smith, Wendell Corey, Audrey Totter, Frank Morgan, Barry Sullivan, William, Conrad, Edgar Buchanan and a key scene with Mary Astor. A Discovery.
Quo Vadis (1951)
★ ˝ This is why people hate sword and sandal movies. 170 minutes of ham (Peter Ustinov, more cartoonish than in Disney's Robin Hood) and cheese (Bible parables are wedged in to give class to this trash). Robert Taylor plays an absolute jerk who buys Deborah Kerr and mocks her religious beliefs, but it all works out because she loved him from the moment she first saw him. Cleopatra is not the worst of this type of film. Not even close.