Sound Films Y-
Margaret Lockwood
Marilyn Miller
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Young and Innocent (1937)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. A film actress is murdered by her estranged husband who is jealous of all her young boyfriends. The next day, writer Robert Tisdall (who happens to be one such boyfriend) discovers her body on the beach. He runs to call the police, however, two witnesses think that he is the escaping murderer. Robert is arrested, but owing to a mix up at the courthouse, he escapes and goes on the run with a police constable's daughter Erica, determined to prove his innocence....£7.49
Young Girls in Trouble aka Girls in Distress (1939)
Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and starring Marcelle Chantal, Jacqueline Delubac, André Luguet and Micheline Presle, this film has a runtime of 85 mins and the print quality is very good to excellent. This is a French language film with English subtitles.
Plot: Jacqueline is sixteen. Her parents are kept very busy by their mutual careers (Dad is a renowned attorney and Mum is a doctor running her own clinic). When they become aware that they neglect their daughter they send her to a boarding school for girls, impeccably run by Mme Vuillard. There Jacqueline meets her new friends who are, nearly all, the children of divorced parents.They all found a league against divorce they name Licodipa.When it is the turn of Jacqueline's parents to split up, and when Margot, Jacqueline's best friend, attempts to kill herself, distress sets in among the girls of the institution...
Review: It is not an easy movie to review.To state the obvious ,it's not because
it is Pabst's work that you must applause every scene.Yes the movie has a contemporary
feel when it depicts the parents selfishness ,who do not think about their children
when they leave their spouse : the "new " family,with two dads or two mums has become
very common nowadays ;in 1939,it seemed to concern the bourgeois wealthy family .All
the characters in this flick move in luxury apartments ,the girls school has got
a pool ,the headmistress and her colleague only teach "Le Maintien" ( =lessons in
deportment).But money can't buy love ,as everybody knows,even if it helps a bit ,and
we are invited to pity all these poor rich girls ,who need love so bad.
The cast is
excellent:Marcelle Chantal ,Marcel L'Herbier's favorite in his melodramas is as credible
as a physician (devoted to her patients as we learn at the end)as she was as Russian
Empress Alexandra;Jacqueline Delubac,famous for her parts in Sacha Guitry 's works
,shines in her part of an actress who sacrifices everything for the sake of her art
;Micheline Chassagne (debut) liked the movie so much she took the name of her character
and she became Micheline Presles :her career was brilliant;Louise Carletti was not
as lucky as her,but she is the most endearing of all the young girls;to top them
all,there's the extraordinary Marguerite Moreno,who steals every scene she is in,as
usual: she did not even have to fall in the pool !The actors are less convincing,the
minister being particularly silly.
In 1939,when just before WW1 ,the French cinema
was going from strength to strength (and the directors of the era were simply the
best that ever were in the country:Carné,Renoir,Duvivier,Guitry,Grémillon) ,Pabst's
effort seems lackluster by comparison;there's something in the movie which does not
ring true;something like "you who are not rich,take a good look at the folks on the
hill,look how miserable they are ,don't you complain about your fate".And even if
these damsels in distress (check the title) are would be suffragettes when they write
new laws against divorce ,the scene with the minister (would he have welcomed them
if they had been plebeian?) sets the record straight: "when you marry (what can a
1939 girl expect from life but a rich marriage?),it will be up to you ( to be a good
housewife so your family will be safe ).
"Jeunes Filles En Detresse" is a pleasant
movie which recalls "Club De Femmes" (1936 ) -
Z (1969)
Directed by Costa-
Plot: In a mid-
Review: In a mid-
Zouzou (1934)
Directed by Marc Allegret and starring Josephine Baker, Jean Gabin, Pierre Larquey, Yvette Lebon and Ila Mecsery, this film has a runtime of 84 mins and the print quality is very good. This is a French language film with English subtitles.
Plot: As children, Zouzou and Jean are paired in a traveling circus as twins: she's
dark, he's light. After they've grown, he treats her as if she were his sister, but
she's in love with him. In Paris, he's a music hall electrician, she's a laundress
who delivers clean underwear to the hall. She introduces him to Claire, her friend
at work, and the couple fall in love. Jean conspires to get the show's star out of
town and for the theater manager to see the high-
Review: This is a simple story that really has no surprises but how can you resist a film that stars the legendary Josephine Baker? The worst part is that you don't hear her sing until the last 20 minutes and then you hear this tremendous voice that would put Mariah Carey to shame. It's also astonishing to see how different standards in film were in France. There is nudity here and it's kind of weird to see a film from 1934 that has nudity. Actress Illa Meery seems to have no problem with it. Also, their is a scene where Meery is in the same bed with her fiancé and while there's no nudity it's the suggestion of their relationship that's evident. In another scene Jean Gabin is walking down the street with a girl and his hand moves down to her rear. You can see that while Baker was not a trained actress she was a natural performer even when not singing. Her energy and personality more than carry the film and she easily steals scenes from her trained counterparts such as Gabin. That makes this film worthy of the archives. Not a great film but you can't resist watching a legendary performer that only made less than two dozen films….£7.49
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