1931-1940

Continuing its exploration of the weirdest moments of cinema, Cult Epics brings us Vintage Erotica anno 1940 (aka Les Archives d’Eden), a collection of French porn vignettes covering the early years of celluloid sex from 1900 to 1940.Read More »

A model marries a struggling engineer; but he won’t let her keep her job, and they can’t pay the bills, while she is wooed by a wealthy drinker.
Michael Martin (Gene Raymond) tells Paul Dodson (Ned Sparks) he knows of a better job, and they get fired. Michael asks modeling Carolyn (Barbara Stanwyck) to marry, but she wants to keep her job. After work they go dancing. Michael now earns $35 a week; but Carolyn makes $50. They get married during his lunch hour. Carolyn cries and quarrels with Michael. He hits an officer and is put in jail. In court the drunk Hugh McKenzie (Robert Young) is fined and meets Carolyn. She pleads for Michael, and he gets 30 days or $50. Hugh loans them the money. Michael’s electricity is off. Hugh is paid and reluctantly leaves.Read More »

Synopsis: from TCM
Johnny Davis, the son of gambler “Natural” Davis, Byron “By” Newbold, the son of crusading newspaper editor Barton Newbold, and Kate Pendleton, the daughter of Clare Pendleton, a wealthy widow and sportswoman, are schoolmates. Barton Newbold, who is determined to publicize Natural’s illicit activities, organizes a raid on Natural’s casino, which Natural foils by quickly transforming the gambling room into a musical recital. Newbold’s men follow Natural to Lucille Baker’s apartment, where Natural accuses her of blackmailing him and his sweetheart Clare, until he realizes that Lucille is dead. Natural finds a gun near the body, and as soon as he picks it up, Newbold’s men enter and accuse him of murder.Read More »

Quote:,This intelligent drama follows a group of medical scientists as they attempt to find the cause behind the dreaded yellow fever. It is just after the Spanish-American War, and Stone (playing Major Walter Reed) is head of a medical staff stationed in Cuba. Convinced he has found the carrier of yellow fever (nicknamed “yellow jack” by the men), Stone needs five volunteers from the US Army to serve as human guinea pigs. Montgomery heads up the enlisted volunteers, understanding well the unknown dangers of what he is about to undergo. Read More »

This vividly stylized, broodingly intense early Mexican sound melodrama by Juan Bustillo Oro hinges on an audacious flashback structure. When an ailing monk recognizes a new brother at his cloister, he becomes deranged and attacks him. Dos monjes recounts the men’s tragic shared past once from the point of view of each, heightening the contrasts between the two accounts with visual flourishes drawn from the language of German expressionism, including camera work by avant-garde photographer Agustín Jiménez.Read More »

A law student poses as a fight promoter to catch a notorious gangster.Read More »

Harold Lloyd’s most critically successful talkie. Timid milkman, Burleigh Sullivan, somehow knocks out a boxing champ in a brawl. The fighter’s manager decides to build up the milkman’s reputation in a series of fixed fights and then have the champ beat him to regain his title.Read More »

A nightclub waiter and a manicurist share the same room, she sleeps there by night and he by day. They’ve never met, but they can’t stand each other. Then one day, they meet by chance…Read More »

Lady lawyer Portia Merryman (Frieda Inescourt) defends woebegone Elizabeth Manners (Heather Angel), who is on trial for shooting her lover Earle Condon (Neil Hamilton). Ironically, Portia herself had once had an affair with Earle’s father, powerful publisher John Condon (Clarence Kolb). She has a pretty good idea of what is going on in Elizabeth’s head, since she herself was on the verge of killing Condon when he ruthlessly took custody of her illegitimate son (not Earle, though that certainly would have brought things full circle). As Portia toils and strains to free her client, she carries on a romance with Dan Foster (Walter Abel) — the attorney for the prosecution. LA Law and The Practice have nothing on this one!Read More »