Emma (1932)

Having watched Marie Dressler as the star of the month on TCM, it amazes me that her and the films she appeared in are so forgotten today. From 1930 to her death in 1934, Marie was voted as the biggest box office drawl in Hollywood. She was not your typical Hollywood star, mostly because she was in her 60's at this time, but she was extremely popular with early 1930's audiences. One of her best performances was in the 1932 film Emma.

This film was directed by Clarence Brown, who had previously directed Marie in Anna Christie (Greta Garbo's first talkie). Brown was a big director of the silent era directing such films as Flesh and the Devil, Kiki, and The Trail of '98. He would continue to have a great career in the talkie era with The Yearling, National Velvet, and Conquest.

In this film Marie plays a nanny named Emma, who is essentially a mother in all but name of the children. After the children grow up she decides to take a trip to Niagara Falls. She is worried about leaving the family. The family's father (played by Jean Hersholt) decides to go with her, and ends up asking Emma to marry her. The father passes away and leaves the money to Emma. His children are angry and want to sue Emma over this money. The exception to this is Ronnie (played by Richard Cromwell) who has a stronger connection to her than the other children.

This film also featured Myrna Loy in her first role for MGM. She was also working on two other films at this time, and was very stressed. Marie told Myrna  "Get your chin up, kid. You've got the whole world ahead of you." Helping Loy to gain back her confidence and put on a great performance. Loy had nothing but nice things to say about Marie Dressler in her autobiography Being and Becoming. She would go on to a great career at MGM appearing in such films as The Best Years of our Lives and The Thin Man.

Emma is an amazing film. Marie Dressler's performance is near perfect, the script is great, the film is fantasticly directed, and everything just works. The story is sentimental, but is extremely effective and the sentiment never feels forced. This is a must watch movie for all lovers of classic film.

The movie was a big success at the box office and Marie Dressler was nominated for an academy award for this film (though she didn't win).

-Michael J. Ruhland

Recourses Used
tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1546/Emma/articles.html

The Adventures of the Roadrunner (1962)

No matter how many great cartoon series are made Looney Tunes will always be the greatest (or at least my favorite). These series not only contains many of the greatest cartoons ever made, but also some of the greatest films ever made. I am obviously not the only one to feel this way. These cartoons have found away into many of our subconscious minds. We can quote these cartoons without even thinking about it. The characters have become old friends and have been burned strongly into our minds for our whole lives. It may seem strange that I can talk about something Looney Tunes related on my Forgotten and Overlooked Films blog, but due to various reasons The Adventures of the Roadrunner has been unjustly forgotten.

In the late 1950's and early 1960's Looney Tunes were becoming not just big hits in movie theaters, but also had a huge television following thanks to The Bugs Bunny Show. It was because of this that Chuck Jones decided to make a TV series based off of his Coyote and Roadrunner characters. The result was this pilot episode. This episode was directed by Chuck Jones as well as by his current layout artist, Maurice Noble and one of his animators, Tom Ray. It would be animated by Chuck's usual team of animators (at this time) including Ken Harris, Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Tom Ray and Bob Bransford. However for whatever reason, this pilot was not picked up by any TV networks. Because of this it would be released in theaters as a single near half an hour short film.

The film begins with a theme song written by Looney Tunes composer Milt Franklin. After that it starts as your normal Roadrunner cartoon as the Coyote tries many ways to catch the Roadrunner and of course constantly fails. However this time Wile E. Coyote speaks directly to the audience about his plans. He had spoken before in some Bugs Bunny cartoons, but this is the first time the character talked in a Roadrunner cartoon. Then we see the characters are been watched on TV by Looney Tunes character Ralph Philips and his brother. Ralph admits sometimes he thinks he is the Roadrunner. Ralph's brother decides (since he wants to be a psychiatrist) to psychologically look at the root of Ralph's problem. This leads to the classic Ralph Philips cartoon From A to ZZZZZ. Then we see more of the Coyote's failed attempts to catch the Roadrunner. Ralph then asks his brother why the Coyote would want to eat the Roadrunner. Wile E. Coyote breaks the fourth wall and explains to the kids about all the delicious foods, roadrunners are made of.

This is a very funny short with much of the charms of the best Roadrunner cartoons. The timing is perfect, the animation great, and the humor is fantastic. This definitely needs to be watched by all Looney Tunes fans.

Because of it's length this film was cut into two shorts for TV, Road Runner A Go Go and Zip Zip Hooray. Some of the jokes from this film were reused in the theatrical cartoon To Beep or Not to Beep released the next year. The Adventures of the Roadrunner is available as a bonus feature on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Recourses Used
Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons (TV documentary)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154117/?ref_=rvi_tt

Reducing (1931)

If you are like me, you having probably also been extremely enjoying having Marie Dressler as the star of the month on TCM. It is fantastic to look at the career of this fantastic comedic actress. Having been watch TCM on Monday nights recently I have been constantly delighted in the talent of this woman.  So today we are going to look at a delightful, but sadly overlooked comedy staring her and Polly Moran called Reducing.

Though she is forgotten today Marie Dressler was a huge movie star in the 1930's. Though she started her film career in 1914 in Tillie's Punctured Romance (the first feature length comedian). Though that film was a hit her film career never really took off in the silent era. However in the early 1930's her career really took off. She was not your average Hollwood star. She did not look like Hollywood's traditional leading ladies. She was also not esspically young at this time. However her popularity was inmatched. She was in fact even a bigger star then Greta Garbo, and in 1930 she won an academy award for her performance in Min and Bill (she was 60 years old at the time). She passed away in 1934 but left behind her a fantastic film legacy.

This film was directed by Charles F. Reisner. Reisner had been the associate director on the Charlie Chaplin films The Kid, The Pilgrim, and The Gold Rush. You can also see him on camera playing the bully in Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. He also directed Buster Keaton's Steam Boat Bill Jr.. He would also later direct Lost in a Harem (with Abbott and Costello) and The Big Store (with the Marx Brothers). 

The film's story begins as Polly (played by Polly Moran) invites her sister to ask her sister Marie (played by Marie Dressler) to live with her after she discovers Marie has money problems. Marie's daughter Vivian (played by Anita Page) begins to fall for the boyfriend of Polly's daughter Joyce (played by Sally Eilers) making a fight rose up in the family.

This film is a simple but delightful comedy. The jokes are quite funny, the characters very likable, the cast is great and the whole film is just pleasant to watch. It is interesting to note that this movie followed Marie Dressler's academy award winning performance in Min and Bill. Even though this is a more lightweight film she turns out just as good of a performance here. In fact all the performances in this movie are great.

This film was not popular with critics, but audiences loved it. MGM soon put Marie Dressler and Polly Moran in another film. This film would be called politics and would also be directed by Charles F, Reisner.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2155/Reducing/articles.html

Sweet Music (1935)

I love the Warner Brothers musicals from the 1930's. This of course includes beloved classics like 42nd Street, but it also includes overlooked gems like Sweet Music. It amazes me how little talked about Sweet Music is among classic movie fans. It has everything that makes me love these musicals so much. Great songs, lavish looking musical numbers, a great cast (Rudy Vallee, Ann Dvorak, Ned Sparks, Allan Jenkins...) and great humor are all here. Yes it is a corny and silly movie, but I think we could all use a little more corniness and silliness in our life and this film is very entertaining to boot.

The director of the film is Alfred E. Green. Green was never a director who had a distinctive style or genre. He directed films as diverse as Dangerous, The Gracie Allan Murder Case, Ella Cinders, The Jolson Story, Baby Face, Smart Money and this film. While he may not be on par with Alfred Hitchcock as a director, he did bring us a list of usually consistently good movies. Most of his films were usually B-movies but this is a rare A-movie for him and he pulls it off very well.

One of the main reasons for this film existing is it's star Rudy Vallee. Rudy Vallee was one of the biggest music stars of this era, and Hollywood was quick to take advantage of his popularity. His first film appearance was in 1929 with the short Radio Rhythm and that same year he would appear in his first feature The Vagabond Lover. He would have a great career as a movie actor as well with films such as The Palm Beach Story, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, I Remember Mama, and Gold-diggers in Paris, and this film. He would prove he was a great performer whether an actor or a singer. However this film was made to show off Rudy's music. He would often times clown around when performing on stage and that is taken to full advantage here. For instance Rudy does an imitation of radio star Fred Allan during a great comedy song called Outside and there is much slapstick with him and his band on stage. This film truly lets Rudy Vallee show his very likable stage image at it's best.

Rudy Vallee isn't the only great thing about film's cast. Especially of note are Ned Sparks and Allan Jenkins (who my fellow Hanna-Barbera lovers might know as the voice of Officer Dibble in Top Cat). Both of these actors played smaller roles in many Warner Brothers musicals. They were always quite funny in those small roles and they are even better in their larger roles here. Their parts in this film are hilarious (Ned Sparks as Ann Dvorak's agent and Allan Jenkins as a nutty publicity agent). Also what works well here is that Ann Dvorak and Rudy Vallee have great chemistry.

The song writers for this film are the great team of Al Dublin and Harry Warren (42nd Street, Gold-diggers of 1933) as well as the team of Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal (Footlight Parade) and another song writer team of  Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel (Flirtation Walk). One of the highligts of the film is the great ending musical number written by Dublin and Warren.

Critics and audiences both enjoyed the film when it was released, and I am sure many classic film fans will love it today.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Recourses Used
tcm.com/this-month/article/410227%7C409219/Sweet-Music.html

She Done Him Right (1933)

When it comes to classic theatrical cartoon shorts the studios that immediately jump to our minds are Warner Brothers, Disney, MGM, and Fleshier Brothers. However we cartoon fans too often overlook the Walter Lantz Studio (home of Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy and Andy Panda). However when you take a look at this studios output there is no doubt some really great cartons were made at this studio. Cartoons like The Barber of Seville, Ski for Two, The Legend of Rock-a-Bye Point, Convict Concerto, Fish Fry, Confidence and many others are definitely classic cartoons and great films by any standard. Because of this we are going to take a look at one of the Lantz studios most forgotten cartoons.  This cartoon is She Done Him Right.

The main character of this film is Pooch the Pup. Pooch the Pup was the first original cartoon character to come from the Walter Lantz Studio. The studio however got it's start making Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character. Who was as many of you know (it is so cool I can say that now) was created by Walt Disney. Walt would learn he did not own the rights to the character when his boss at that time Charles Mintz would demand the cartoons be made on a much lower budget, and Walt refused. Walt would leave the studio and create Mickey Mouse along with Ub Iwerks. Charles Mintz would briefly take over the character though soon Universal took the rights away from Mintz and give them to Walter Lantz. Pooch the Pup however was not that different from Oswald despite the fact that the studio was making cartoons with both characters at the same time.

This film had two directors one of them was Walter Lantz, himself and the other was Bill Nolan. Bill Nolan is perhaps best remembered today for helping redesign Felix the Cat and for his work with Walter Lantz. After Bill Nolan's work with Lantz he would become an animator at the Fleshier Brothers Studio, working on some Popeye cartoons and the feature length Gulliver's Travels. Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan were the studios main directors at this time. The animators for this cartoon include Manuel Moreno, Lester Kline, Fred Kopietz, George Grandpre, Ernest Smythe. Lester Kline and Ernest Smythe would spend their whole careers working for Lantz. With the exception of one cartoon at MGM (The Alley Cat) the same would be true for Manuel Moreno. Fred Kopietz would have a good career as a Disney animator later and George Grandpre wuld have a long career at Warner Brothers, working on many Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodie cartoons. It is unfortunate however due to their lack of credit, it is unknown who that voices for this cartoon are. Hopefully someone will find that information someday.

This cartoon is one of the great examples of pre-code (referring to the production code, Hollywood's own system of censoring it's films) Lantz at it's best. This cartoon abounds with energy. It has a very lively soundtrack  with a fantastic performance of Minnie the Moochers' Wedding Day, a lot of bizarre humor and of course many jokes the censors would not allow if it was made after the production code. The whole film is just a lot of fun, and it shows why the Walter Lantz studio was so good.

Less than a week ago me and a very good friend of mine were able to see this cartoon on the big screen like it was meant to be seen . It was a fantastic experience and if any of you get a chance to watch these classic cartoon shorts on the big screen take it. It makes these great films even better.

-Michael J. Ruhland
Resourses Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin