1935 in Movies

Movie reviews written for movies released theatrically in 1935.

1. Triumph of the Will, directed by Leni Riefenstahl (9/10)

This may be the greatest propaganda film of all-time, or it may not be, but it’s certainly one of the most ambitious.

2. The Bride of Frankenstein, directed by James Whale (9/10)

This is a completely different approach to monster movies and as such it really transcends the genre.

3. The 39 Steps, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (8/10)

I recently re-watched this with the wife and realized I had overrated it a tad from when I first saw it (during my Hitchcock phase). It has dated rather poorly.

4. A Night at the Opera, directed by Sam Wood (8*/10)

I do not remember this enough to really judge it.

5. Mutiny on the Bounty, directed by Frank Lloyd (8/10)

This is an iconic film, but I saw it well over a decade ago and so I don’t really remember enough about it.

6. The Gold Diggers of 1935, directed by Busby Berkeley (6*/10)

I cannot remember this for the life of me.

7. Sylvia Scarlett, directed by George Cukor (5/10)

So I guess this is boundary pushing for its time, with the cross-dressing, the location shooting, and so on. But it has aged so poorly. Few of the jokes hold up today. The whole thing is rather hysterically madcap (not hysterical in the funny sense, but hysterical in the histrionic sense). And the whole thing is horribly paced, seemingly suffering from the 1930s equivalent of ADD at the end.

8. Alice Adams, directed by George Stevens (5/10)

I haven’t read this particular Tarkington novel but I’ve read another and I can’t say I liked it. If the book was effective, the filmmakers messed up.

Alice and her family certainly doesn’t look poor: they have a large house (which she says is small) and what looks like nice things. I guess they sort of sound lower in the classes, but barely. They certainly aren’t poor. And it doesn’t help that they cast Hepburn, who of course looks wonderful.

The comedy is really mild and sporadic. Seemingly placed in the film just to give the audience something other than the romance to focus on. And of course most of it is really dated; the slapstick works some but most of the verbal jokes no longer register as jokes. The best joke is when Hepburn is swooning on the porch and her character’s mother turns off the bad Hollywood score.

I will say that the dinner where Alice tries pretend she’s rich is awkward effective, more than the rest of the film.

And backing dramatic conflict is sorted out so easily, which is just typical of these old Hollywood films – and maybe these old American books too. And romantic drama is sorted out even easier with no real actual concern for the supposed problem of his engagement. Who the hell knows what to say about stuff like that?

Ugh, “classic” Hollywood. Ugh.


Shorts:

“Pie in the Sky,” directed by Ralph Steiner (6*/10)

Seen as part of a compilation when I forgot to write individual reviews.

“Rhythm in Light,” directed by Melville Webber, Ted Nemeth, Mary Ellen Bute (6*/10)

Same compilations.

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