This pre-code film tells the story of the people who live and work in the world's tallest building - The Seacoast National Bank Building in Manhattan. Taller even than the Empire State Building, it's ruled over by David Dwight (William), the bank president. The building houses businesses of all sorts, from gem merchants to dress companies and has such amenities as a swimming pool in the basement and a palatial penthouse apartment for Mr. Dwight. Dwight is assisted by his loyal secretary, Sarah Dennis (Verree Teasdale) who also happens to be his mistress. His wife (Hedda Hopper, soon to be Hollywood columnist, par excellence) and he live separate lives and she's perfectly content to soak him for dough between trips to Europe. Sarah has employed a new secretary, herself - impressionable Lynn Harding (O'Sullivan), who has caught the eye of bank clerk Tom Shepherd (Norman Foster). Mr. Dwight is not happy with the status quo, however, and he schemes to get full control over the building by creating a bubble in the stock of his bank, and decides to throw off Sarah after he gets a glimpse of Lynn. Will his selfish desires be realized or will he be lose everything?
Pre-code films are interesting to watch because the looser moral standards, coupled with the early mise-en-scene create a tension we're not used to if we're at all familiar with the classic cinema of the code era. This film doesn't disappoint on that score, featuring near nudity and foul language, not to mention explicit sexual circumstances. It's also interesting to note the elements of the story that touch on the still raw nerve of the crash of 1929, and how those circumstances relate to the financial condition of the country right now. Also featured in the film are Gregory Ratoff, Anita Page and Jean Hersholt.
This film has yet to be released on DVD. It was released on VHS in the late 90's and can still be found on Amazon. It's rather expensive though. It's occasionally screened on TCM and can be watched in full on YouTube. The entire film is above, uploaded by kalifani.
Obscurity factor: 8 (On VHS, hard to find, known to fans of pre-code cinema, not well known otherwise, on YouTube)
This film has a great history. It's the first pairing of Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, who would, more notably make Elizabeth and Essex several years later. It's also directed by Anatole Litvak who had an affair with Bette and was married to Miriam Hopkins, with whom Bette worked several times and also with whom she shared an enormous animosity - mostly likely because of that affair. Bette plays Louise, the most sensible of three sisters (the other two were Anita Louise and Jane Bryan) living in Montana at the turn of the century. She's sensible at least until she marries sports writer Frank Medlin. He has high hopes for a career as a novelist and sweeps her off her feet and to San Francisco. He's not exactly the most promising young man, however and times are tough for the young couple. After she takes a job to support the two of them, Frank runs away on a freighter to the South China Seas. The night he leaves is the night of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Louise is left to piece together her life in the ruins of that California town without Frank. Will they be reunited?
Also in the cast are Beulah Bondi, Henry Travers and Donald Crisp. It has an epic quality with an earthquake scene rivaling the better known San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracey and Jeanette McDonald.
This film isn't available on DVD yet, but a VHS was released in 1998 and can still be found on Amazon. I caught it on TCM, so it's occasionally aired. The trailer above was uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner.
Obscurity factor: 7 (known to Flynn & Davis fans, but otherwise obscure, not on DVD)
Joan Crawford went through various phases in her remarkably long career - the free spirited flapper, the, the no nonsense woman who got what she was after... This film is from her later MGM period - the young society woman phase. Joan plays Marcia, a glamorous, rich young woman who is in love with Sherry (Robert Montgomery), who's a bit of a heel. She's not happy with the situation and knows the odds are against her when she sets her mind to marry him. Her grandmother (Edna May Oliver) sees what's happening, but short of giving advice, must look on, helpless. Everyone tries to convince her to break it off, including Jim, the ex husband of a woman he had an affair with (Franchot Tone). After they're married things seem to go well, until a fateful weekend when Sherry stands her up on the weekend they were supposed to spend together. Marcia is crestfallen, but rallies to make her point by inviting Jim and his ex wife and her new husband as well as the girl who he stepped out on her with to the country for a weekend party. As you can imagine, fur flies.
No More Ladies is a good example the myriad films about the ins and outs of society relationships in the 1930's. It's beautifully art directed with magnificent, if slightly understated art deco sets and beautiful costumes. I'm always somewhat bemused by Joan when she plays this sort of role. It's so different from the Joan we all think of today. Edna May Oliver is delightful as usual and beautifully turned out and Franchot Tone is just gorgeous. It's no wonder Joan married him. Though this isn't a masterpiece, it's still a delightful throwback to the era, and a nice evening's diversion.
This film was recently released on DVD, thanks to TCM. The trailer is above, uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner. The poster above is available from MoviePosterShop.com.
Obscurity factor: 7 (Lost in the shuffle of similar films from the era, available on DVD)
When it comes to screw-ball comedy, no one has such a light touch as Claudette Colbert. Her cavorting with Rudy Vallee in The Palm Beach Story makes for one of the most delightful comedies in screen history. Lesser known, but every bit as charming is Midnight with Don Ameche. Eve Peabody arrives in Paris from Monte Carlo with nothing but the evening gown on her back. She happens on handsome cabbie Don Ameche and convinces him to drive her around town looking for work as a chanteuse. She eventually finds her way into a society party and just as she's about to be thrown out, is rescued by John Barrymore, a neglected husband who wants Eve to seduce his wife's lover away from her. So she gads about France in pursuit of the lothario, and just one step ahead of Don Ameche.
Directed by Mitchell Leisen and with a screen play by a young Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, this film touches on risque subjects like infidelity and features a woman alone getting by on her wits. It's forward thinking for 1939.
I'm happy to say this film has been rescued from total obscurity by TCM, which released a DVD of it in 2008. Before that it languished in the netherworld of largely forgotten classics. The DVD release has one of the always insightful introductions by Robert Osborne and is highly recommended. Above is a scene from it uploaded to YouTube by classicscreengems. Have a look and put the DVD on your Netflix list. You won't be disappointed!
Obscurity factor: 5 (Formerly little known, DVD available, occasionally on TCM)
Edna May Oliver is one of those ubiquitous character actors seen in films of the 30's and early 40's. You're probably familiar with her from the 1933 classic Little Women with Katherine Hepburn (she played Aunt March) and Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Greer Garson (she played Lady Catherine). Before she moved over to the greener pastures of MGM, she was a contract player at RKO, where she was cast as the lead in a series of films based on the Stuart Palmer novels about a crime solving schoolmarm. There were three of them, beginning with the Penguin Pool Murder (1932), followed up by Murder on the Blackboard (1934) and Murder on a Honeymoon (1935). Assisted ably by her detective/boyfriend played by James Gleason, Hildegarde perseveres to solve the crime and save the day.
The films are pretty fluffy, but have a fun, 1930's quality to them that makes them enjoyable to watch. They were recently on TCM in a celebration of Ms. Oliver's birthday. But while the books are still available, the films are not released on DVD. When Ms. Oliver decamped for MGM they tried to recast Ms. Withers with Helen Broderick and Zasu Pitts, but no one could embody Hildegarde like Edna May - at least until 1972 when the inimitable Eve Arden played the part in a made-for-TV movie that has persisted in eluding me. Watch for a post on that one sometime in the future! The poster above can be purchased at MoviePosterShop.com.
Obscurity factor: 7 (not available on DVD, occasionally aired on television, not available on YouTube)
