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Poll

What's your favorite film by Lloyd Bacon?

Moby Dick
0 (0%)
42nd Street
5 (22.7%)
Picture Snatcher
0 (0%)
Footlight Parade
2 (9.1%)
Wonder Bar
0 (0%)
He Was Her Man
0 (0%)
Here Comes the Navy
0 (0%)
The Irish in Us
0 (0%)
Frisco Kid
0 (0%)
Cain and Mabel
0 (0%)
Gold Diggers of 1937
0 (0%)
Marked Woman
0 (0%)
Ever Since Eve
0 (0%)
San Quentin
0 (0%)
A Slight Case of Murder
0 (0%)
Racket Busters
0 (0%)
Boy Meets Girl
0 (0%)
The Oklahoma Kid
0 (0%)
Invisible Stripes
0 (0%)
Brother Orchid
0 (0%)
Knute Rockne All American
0 (0%)
Footsteps in the Dark
0 (0%)
Affectionately Yours
0 (0%)
Larceny, Inc.
0 (0%)
Action in the North Atlantic
2 (9.1%)
The Fighting Sullivans
1 (4.5%)
It Happens Every Spring
0 (0%)
Miss Grant Takes Richmond
0 (0%)
Kill the Umpire
0 (0%)
The Fuller Brush Girl
0 (0%)
The Frogmen
0 (0%)
The French Line
0 (0%)
She Couldn't Say No
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
12 (54.5%)
don't like any
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 22

Author Topic: Bacon, Lloyd  (Read 5459 times)

1SO

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2014, 07:39:11 PM »
Miss Grant Takes Richmond
* * *

Lucille Ball plays a helpless, hopeless train wreck on legs who turns everything upside down. This could be the pilot for "I Love Lucy", only this is better because instead of Ricky there's William Holden because Frank Tashlin is one of the writers, it's actually funny. (Only Tashlin could get away with having a character say "I'm always in for Dick." in a 1949 film.)

1SO

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2014, 10:18:33 PM »
Marked Woman
* * 1/2

Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart do what they can, but the script - very early work by Robert Rossen - lacks the usual Warner Brothers crackle. Davis and her pack of cocktail waitresses at times are a less daffy version of the pack from Mad Miss Manton, but this is a much more serious picture, including a key beating scene that's hard to sit through and meant to be that uncomfortable. In today's world Lloyd Bacon would be directing television. He's capable, but rarely puts an artistic stamp on the work. A couple of shots here involving multiple exposures and fog are simple effects, but for him rather lavish. I don't watch Bacon's films for him, but for the people he got to work with.

1SO

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd
« Reply #12 on: February 06, 2014, 02:21:22 AM »
Lloyd Bacon helped create what you get with a television director. Hand him the script and the cast and make sure he brings the film in on time with the stars playing to their strengths. His earlier work is dominated by the greatest names on the Warner Brothers lot. His later films look like a Comedy series from the small screen. It all depended on the quality of the script. Footlight Parade is on top thanks to Busby Berkeley's typically elaborate musical sequences.

1. Footlight Parade
2. Larceny Inc.
3. Action in the North Atlantic
4. Footsteps in the Dark
5. 42nd Street
6. Gold Diggers of 1937
7. Cain and Mabel
8. The Irish in Us
9. San Quentin
10. The Oklahoma Kid
11. The Famous Ferguson Case
12. Cowboy From Brooklyn
13. Miss Grant Takes Richmond
14. Here Comes the Navy
15. Kill the Umpire
16. Mary Stevens, M.D.
17. Indianapolis Speedway
18. Wings of the Navy
19. The Frogmen
20. Racket Busters
21. Home Sweet Homicide
22. Devil Dogs of the Air

23. Invisible Stripes
24. Picture Snatcher
25. Brother Orchid
26. Three Cheers for the Irish
27. Ever Since Eve
28. The Fighting Sullivans
29. Mother is a Freshman
30. In Caliente
31. Wonder Bar
32. Broadway Gondolier
33. Wings for the Eagle
34. Miss Pinkerton
35. Captain Eddie
36. Marked Woman
37. Knute Rockne: All American
38. It Happens Every Spring
39. Submarine D-1
40. He Was Her Man
41. A Slight Case of Murder
42. Sunday Dinner for a Soldier
43. She Couldn't Say No
44. Honeymoon For Three
45. The Frisco Kid

46. The Fuller Brush Girl
47. Boy Meets Girl
« Last Edit: April 17, 2022, 06:30:02 PM by 1SO »

The Deer Hunter

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2014, 02:45:14 AM »
According to my ratings I liked Action In The North Atlantic the most but I don't really remember it. I think I confuse parts of it with Across The Pacific which I know I enjoyed more.

1SO

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2014, 08:28:25 PM »

Larceny Inc. (1942)

Larceny Inc. is one of those films I wouldn't call great, but I enjoy it immensely. I own the DVD as part of an Edward G. Robinson box set, and I've seen it three times. It's about some ex-cons who try to go legit and end up running a luggage store. The comedy only works about half the time, but that half more than makes the grade thanks to an All-Star cast of characters doing some of their most huggable work. We all have our niche cinema hangouts, and I always feel at home in Late 30s/Early 40s Warner Bros. Larceny Inc. is a great place to meet some of those names I keep posting with glee in old film after old film.

The Supporting Cast has Broderick Crawford, Edward Brophy, Jack Carson, Jane Wyman, Harry Davenport, John Qualen and Anthony Quinn. An hour in, Grant Mitchell joins the fray and young Jackie Gleason pops up from time to time. Some or all of the names may not be familiar, but you probably know most of the faces and that's a roster that never lets you down. Meanwhile, front and center belongs to Edward G. Robinson. I don't know how much Robinson you've seen, but you haven't seen enough. (I'm up to 47 myself.) If you know him mostly from his dramas and gangster films, this will be a special treat when you learn he was just as good with comedy. I had to include that 2nd Screenshot, no matter how poor the quality. The scene where he tries to wrap a present is a highlight of the film.

I had forgotten that this is a Christmas movie, which means now is the perfect time to recommend it. Holiday cheer, Christmas carols, a jackhammer disguised as a tree and Eddie G. wearing a santa suit, the large black belt slung low beneath his belly.
RATING: * * *

1SO

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2015, 12:54:20 PM »
The Irish in Us (1935)
* * *
This is quite a cast of movie stars for a lightweight comedy. Mary Gordon is the Ma of an Irish family that includes policeman Pat O'Brien, fireman Frank McHugh and boxing promoter James Cagney, whose latest protege is punch happy Allen Jenkins. O'Brien is sweet on the police Captain's daughter, but she has eyes for Cagney. (That aspiring actress is Olivia de Havilland.) The script isn't great, but it isn't a groaner and leans on the family aspect, not the Irish stereotype.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2015, 01:03:37 PM by 1SO »

oldkid

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2015, 07:07:52 PM »
I've only seen 42nd Street, but it was really wonderful.  The finale was great.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2015, 09:27:57 PM »
In that case you should put down Footlight Parade for this May. It's all that plus Cagney.

oldkid

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2015, 11:15:03 PM »
Love Cagney!
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

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Re: Bacon, Lloyd - Director's Best
« Reply #19 on: January 23, 2015, 06:22:53 PM »
Picture Snatcher (1933)
* * 1/2
Feature #42 starring James Cagney, and it's one of his more forgettable ventures. I've learned a lot about filmmaking in the days of the Studio system, and it always surprised me that so many quality films came out of throwing a bunch of talent together without much prep time to be creative with the material. This film is more what I expected from such a plan. Everyone shows up, the more talented people come off better than the rest and it's rushed out the door to make way for the next product.

Cagney made 5 films this year. Lloyd Bacon directed 5. It's a case of quantity trumping quality. Some moments are good, like an unflinching look at a woman sent to the electric chair. Though Cagney is light on the ham, it still comes off like a one-man show because aside from Ralph Bellamy there are no standouts in the cast.