1930s

  • Pierre Prévert – L’affaire est dans le sac AKA It’s in the Bag (1932)

    1931-1940ComedyFrancePierre Prévert

    Synopsis:
    Benjamin Déboisé, a hatter, his salesman and a young man want to kidnap an American millionaire, put him in a bag and hold him to ransom. But they make a mistake: the fellow they find in the bag is not the millionaire himself, but his son…!Read More »

  • Marcel Pagnol – César (1936)

    Marcel Pagnol1931-1940ClassicsDramaFrance
    Marcel Pagnol - César (1936)

    Synopsis wrote:
    Honoré Panisse is dying, cheerfully, with friends, wife, and son at his side. He confesses to the priest in front of his friends; he insists that the doctor be truthful. But, he cannot bring himself to tell his son Cesariot that his real father is Marius, the absent son of César, Cesariot’s godfather. Panisse leaves that to Fanny, the lad’s mother. Dissembling that he’s off to see a friend, Cesariot then seeks Marius, now a mechanic in Toulon. Posing as a journalist, Cesariot spends time with Marius and leaves believing tales he is a petty thief. Only after the truth comes out can Marius, Fanny, César, and Cesariot step beyond the falsehoods, benign though they may be.Read More »

  • John Ford – Air Mail (1932)

    1931-1940AdventureDramaJohn FordUSA
    John Ford - Air Mail (1932)

    Quote:
    Level headed Mike Miller runs Desert Airport, an air mail base full of daring young pilots risking their lives to get the mail through-regardless of the weather. Following the death of one pilot in a horrific crash, Miller is forced to engage the wild and arrogant, yet skillful, Duke Talbot.

    Stars Ralph Bellamy, Frank Albertson, Pat O’Brien, Lilian BondRead More »

  • Marc Allégret – Fanny (1932)

    France1931-1940ComedyDramaMarc Allégret

    Synopsis wrote:
    Picking up moments after the end of Marius, this film follows Fanny’s grief after Marius’s departure—and her realization that she’s pregnant. Panisse continues courting her and embraces the baby’s impending arrival as a gift, so long as its paternity remains a secret. Fanny and Panisse wed, but after her baby’s birth, Marius returns unexpectedly and demands what he believes is still his.Read More »

  • Henry King – Ramona (1936)

    1931-1940DramaHenry KingRomanceUSA

    Half-Indian girl brought up in a wealthy household is loved by the son of the house against his family’s wishes and loves another Indian employed by the household.Read More »

  • Henri Decoin – Abus de confiance AKA Abused Confidence (1937)

    1931-1940ComedyDramaFranceHenri Decoin

    Synopsis:
    Lydia is a law student who, although she has many admirers, is struggling to make ends meet. With no family to help her, she turns to her friend Alice. The latter proposes a scheme that will allow Lydia to make some easy money. All she has to do is to pay a visit to the writer Jacques Ferny and pretend to be the daughter he has been looking for. With the help of an old letter, Lydia succeeds in winning Ferny’s confidence, but his wife is suspicious and starts her own inquiry…Read More »

  • Alexander Korda – Marius (1931)

    1931-1940Alexander KordaComedyDramaFrance

    Synopsis wrote:
    César runs a bar along Marseilles’ port, assisted by his 23 year old son, Marius. Colorful characters abound: M. Panisse, an aging widower and prosperous sail maker; Honorine, a fishmonger with a sidewalk stall near the bar; her daughter, Fanny, who helps her sell cockles; and, various old salts. Friends since childhood, Fanny and Marius love each other, but Marius has a secret wanderlust: every ship’s whistle stirs a longing for foreign lands. When M. Panisse seeks Fanny’s hand in marriage and when a departing clipper needs a deckhand, Marius and Fanny must decide who and what they love most. César, with his generous, comic spirit, tries to guide his son.Read More »

  • William Dieterle – Satan Met a Lady (1936)

    USA1931-1940ComedyMysteryScrewball ComedyWilliam Dieterle

    Synopsis:
    Sardonic detective Shane, thrown out of one town for bringing trouble, heads for home and his ex-partner’s detective agency. The business is in a sad way, and Shane, who has had the forethought to provide himself with a 250-dollar commission from an old lady on the train, is welcomed with open arms. When pretty Valerie Purvis walks in the next day willing to pay over the odds to put a tail on the man who did her wrong, Shane’s way with the ladies looks like paying off yet again. But things start to go wrong when his partner is murdered, and Shane himself comes home to find his apartment wrecked by a gentlemanly crook who comes back to apologise — and to tell him a fascinating fairy-story about the fabled Horn of Roland that looks like not being so mythical after all. Miss Purvis wants protection. The police want answers. And all sorts of people want the ‘French horn’… but Shane is one jump ahead of everyone all the way. Well, almost.Read More »

  • Maurice Tourneur – Justin de Marseille (1935)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaFranceMaurice Tourneur

    Marseilles in the 1930s. A respected gangster, Justin, finds himself in a deadly feud with his rival, the unscrupulous Esposito. The latter plans to steal a cargo of opium bound for China and to have Justin killed. The scheme backfires, and Justin and his cohorts flee with the stolen drugs. Later, Justin saves a young woman, Totone, from drowning, and she is easily seduced by his charms. Her jealous lover, Sylvio, tries to kill Justin, but again the murder attempt is thwarted. Justin decides it is time for a final showdown with Esposito…Read More »

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