Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels
by Howard Hughes
from Universal Studios
Two bright facets light up Hell's Angels, a 1930s aviation melodrama. One is the extraordinary footage re-creating World War I air battles; the other is 18-year-old Jean Harlow. Both are enough to offset the cornball story and stilted dialogue, the latter added late in production, with the advent of motion-picture sound. The movie, almost three years in the making, with a budget of nearly $4 million--very high for its day--was the obsession of eccentric millionaire director Howard Hughes. Apparently, the authenticity of the dogfight scenes was so important to Hughes that he piloted a plane himself, and ended up breaking a few bones in the process. More shocking, it's said that three pilots lost their lives making the movie. The sequence depicting an epic encounter between the British Royal Flying Corps and a German zeppelin is especially stunning, thanks to the eye-popping use of hand tinting. A bombing raid on a German munitions depot is also remarkably convincing.
The movie's other bombshell, Jean Harlow, fairly jumps off the screen as an upper-class floozy who plays fast and loose with the two leading men, RFC pilots Monte and Roy Rutledge (Ben Lyon and James Hall), one a scoundrel and one a saint. Harlow glows in the film--it's immediately obvious why her appearance here put her on the fast track to Hollywood stardom. Beauty, sex appeal, vulnerability, audacity--whatever the intangible something is that makes a movie star, it's clear Harlow had it, even as a teenager. --Laura Mirsky
Crooked Circle
by H. Bruce Humberstone
from Gotham Distribution
I Cover the Waterfront
by James Cruze
from Alpha Video
I Cover The Waterfront
Crimson Romance
by David Howard
from Reel Enterprises
German-American Fred von Bergenwhose (Albright) decides to return home amid anti-German sentiment feelings in the US, joined by his impetuous American test pilot friend Bob Wilson (Lyon). They both join the German army, and Bob finds himself at odds with the sadistic Commandant (Von Stroheim). Both men also end up falling in love with the same girl, ambulance driver Alida Hoffman. But when WWI breaks out and America joins the war, Bob cannot shoot down his own fellow Americans and joins up with the American side, pitting friend against friend. Tragedy strikes when one of the two is shot down, leaving the other to console Alida.
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Indiscreet
Silent screen star Gloria Swanson "speaks" in ace director Leo McCarey's sharp and sophisticated pre-code romantic comedy, Indiscreet (also released as Careless Heart).Swanson is Gerry Trent, an affluent dress-shop owner who specializes in designing very smart things for very smart ladies. Sick of her philandering boyfriend, wealthy playboy Jim Woodward (Monroe Owsley), she emancipates herself from his clutches on New Years Eve. Gerry's hiatus from romance is short-lived as she falls for writer Anthony Blake who's just penned the bestseller "Obey Thy Impulse." The lovestruck couple do exactly that and soon find themselves engaged. Seeking retribution from being spurned, Jim secretly court's Gerry's little sister, Joan (Barbara Kent). When Jim and Joan announce their engagement, it comes as a complete and horrifying shock to Gerry and Joan's sweet but simple ex-boyfriend, Buster (Arthur Lake). Knowing Jim to be a complete cad, Gerry and Buster hilariously scheme to break up the match while attempting to keep her sordid past with Jim hidden from Anthony.Co-photographed by Gregg Toland (Orson Welles' genius cinematographer of Citizen Kane), shot on opulent art deco sets and featuring beloved character actress Maude Eburne (The Bat Whispers, RKO's Dr. Christian films) as Gerry's nutty Aunt Kate, Indiscreet is an enchanting light comedy from the early 1930s.
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