1931-1940

  • Alfred Hitchcock – Secret Agent (1936)

    1931-1940Alfred HitchcockDramaThrillerUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    ‘In World War I, Brodie, a successful novelist and soldier, is pronounced dead and given a new identity by the Secret Service. Sent on an espionage mission in Switzerland, he is teamed with a fake ‘wife’, Elsa and an assassin, the General.’
    – BFI ScreenonlineRead More »

  • Leslie Pearce – The Dentist (1932)

    1931-1940ComedyLeslie PearceShort FilmUSA

    Synopsis:
    An unconventional dentist (W. C. Fields) deals with patients in slapstick fashion.Read More »

  • Clyde Bruckman – The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)

    1931-1940Clyde BruckmanComedyShort FilmUSA

    Synopsis:
    Fields relates the sad tale of his son who went astray in the city. Adapted from Fields’ 1928 Ear Carroll Vanities sketch “Stolen Bonds.”Read More »

  • George Cukor – The Philadelphia Story (1940) (HD)

    1931-1940ComedyGeorge CukorRomanceScrewball ComedyUSA

    Quote:
    With this furiously witty comedy of manners, Katharine Hepburn revitalized her career and cemented her status as the era’s most iconic leading lady—thanks in great part to her own shrewd orchestrations. While starring in the Philip Barry stage play The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn acquired the screen rights, handpicking her friend George Cukor to direct. The intoxicating screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart pits the formidable Philadelphia socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn, at her most luminous) against various romantic foils, chief among them her charismatic ex-husband (Cary Grant), who disrupts her imminent marriage by paying her family estate a visit, accompanied by a tabloid reporter on assignment to cover the wedding of the year (James Stewart, in his only Academy Award–winning performance). A fast-talking screwball comedy as well as a tale of regret and reconciliation, this convergence of golden-age talent is one of the greatest American films of all time.Read More »

  • George Cukor – Holiday (1938) (HD)

    USA1931-1940ComedyGeorge CukorRomanceScrewball Comedy

    Quote:
    Two years before stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and director George Cukor would collaborate on The Philadelphia Story, they brought their timeless talents to this delectable slice of 1930s romantic-comedy perfection, the second film adaptation of a hit 1928 play by Philip Barry. Grant is at his charismatic best as the acrobatically inclined free spirit who, following a whirlwind engagement, literally tumbles into the lives of his fiancée’s aristocratic family—setting up a clash of values with her staid father while firing the rebellious imagination of her brash, black-sheep sister (Hepburn). With a sparkling surface and an undercurrent of melancholy, Holiday is an enchanting ode to nonconformists and pie-in-the-sky dreamers everywhere, as well as a thoughtful reflection on what it truly means to live well.Read More »

  • Leni Riefenstahl – Der Sieg des Glaubens AKA Victory of the Faith (1933)

    1931-1940DocumentaryGermanyLeni RiefenstahlThird Reich Cinema

    Plot
    Der Sieg des Glaubens (English: The Victory of Faith) is the first documentary directed by Leni Riefenstahl, who was hired despite opposition from Nazi officials that resented employing a woman — and a non-Party member too. Her film recounts the Fifth Party Rally of the Nazi Party, which occurred in Nuremberg from August 30 to September 3 in 1933.Read More »

  • James Whale – Frankenstein (1931)

    1931-1940ClassicsHorrorJames WhaleUSA

    Henry Frankenstein is a doctor who is trying to discover a way to make the dead walk. He succeeds and creates a monster that has to deal with living again.Read More »

  • William Clemens – Devil’s Island (1939)

    Drama1931-1940ThrillerUSAWilliam Clemens

    For treating a wounded revolutionary, respected brain surgeon Dr. Gaudet is sentenced to the hellish French penal colony on Devil’s Island. There, he rebels against the inhuman conditions and incurs the wrath of the brutal commander, Colonel Lucien. When Lucien’s daughter is injured in an accident and only Gaudet can save her, the tables are turned.Read More »

  • Edward Sedgwick – The Passionate Plumber (1932)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyEdward SedgwickUSA

    IMDB:
    Elmer Tuttle, a plumber in Paris, is enlisted by beautiful Patricia Alden to help her make her lover Tony Lagorce jealous. Tony, however, is two-timing Patricia with Nina Estrados. Elmer, with the help of his friend Julius, hopes to use the high-society contacts he’s made with Patricia to find a market for his new invention, a pistol with a range-finding light. But Elmer’s attempts to interest a military leader are mistaken for assassination attempts, and with Tony and half the male uppercrust of France challenging Elmer to duels, he is in hot water not even his plumbing skills can drain away.Read More »

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