ONLY YESTERDAY

ONLY YESTERDAY (1933). Director: John M. Stahl.

"This sort of thing is no longer a tragedy. It isn't even a melodrama. It's just ... something that happened."

A man receives a letter from a woman that he has completely forgotten, but who tells him that she has given him a son he has never known. No, it's not Letter from an Unknown Woman, but a variation that takes place in New York at the time of the stock market crash. Mary Lane (Margaret Sullavan) had shared a night of passion with Jim Emerson (John Boles) some years before, but when she goes to see him when he returns from WW1 he doesn't even remember her. She is determined to raise their son and stick it out until he does remember her, but instead Emerson marries another woman. Years go by, and Mary resists romantic overtures from others [reminding one of Back Street, which both Sullavan and Boles appeared in, albeit in different versions]. This was Sullavan's first movie and she delivers, and Boles is also fine as the object of her affections. Jimmy Butler scores as their young son, as does Billie Burke as Mary's sympathetic and up-to-date Aunt Julia, who sings "Tiptoe through the Tulips." Bramwell Fletcher and Reginald Denny are also in the cast. It all builds to an undeniably moving conclusion. Stahl also directed the Boles-Irene Dunne version of Back Street, as well as Leave Her to Heaven.

Verdict: Good acting helps put this over. ***.

CRAIG'S WIFE

John Boles and Rosalind Russell

CRAIG'S WIFE (1936). Director: Dorothy Arzner.

"If a wife is the right kind of woman, her destiny should be in her own hands, not her husband's."

In the second film version of George Kelly's Pulitzer prize-winning play (after the silent), Rosalind Russell stars as Harriet Craig, whose home and its furnishings are the most important things in her life, much more important than people. Harriet likes things just so, and isn't above running other people's lives when she feels the need to. When a friend of Walter, her husband's (John Boles), murders his wife and commits suicide, Harriet fears their involvement may cause an unwanted wrinkle in their pristine universe. In the meantime, Walter's beloved Aunt Ellen (Alma Kruger of Saboteur) objects to the way her niece-by-marriage keeps everyone out of her home, and is slowly but surely distancing Walter from all of his friends, and has it out with her. "It isn't an opinion I have of you, Harriet," she tells the younger woman. "It's you I have." Harriet's sister is sick, so she has her own niece, Ethel (Dorothy Wilson), stay with her and tries to run her life as well. Craig's Wife is pretty faithful to the play [unlike the remake with Joan Crawford] but the problem is that Kelly's play is rather dated, and by no means can be seen as having a truly feminist perspective despite some of Harriet's cold if sensible attitudes. The performances are all very good, including Billie Burke as the widowed neighbor, Mrs. Frasier, and Jane Darwell as the housekeeper, Mrs. Harold. Arzner also directed Merrily We Go to Hell.

Verdict: Intriguing at times despite its age, and well-acted by all. ***.

BETWEEN US GIRLS

Diana Barrymore and Kay Francis as mother and daughter

BETWEEN US GIRLS (1942). Director: Henry Koster.

In this very oddball comedy, the actress Carrie Bishop (Diana Barrymore) learns that her mother, Chris (Kay Francis), is engaged to a man, Steven (John Boles), who thinks her daughter is just a little girl. Afraid that he will jilt her mother when he learns that the "little girl" is actually twenty-years-old, she decides to pretend to be a girl of about 12. Things get especially complicated when Steven's associate, Jimmy (Robert Cummings), accuses the "real" Carrie of child abuse after she supposedly hits the child, and then literally socks her, Carrie, in the jaw. Still Carrie stupidly continues the deception ... Francis and Cummings are fine, as is Andy Devine in a lively, likable performance as Carrie's manager, and the picture is nearly stolen by Ethel Griffies as the stony Irish housekeeper, Gallagher. [The scene when Gallagher threatens to quit and packs her bags to the consternation of mother and daughter is the best in the movie]. As for Barrymore, she reveals a real talent in this, but unfortunately is forced to play an idiotic part and perform in several embarrassing sequences. On the other hand she has a splendid moment performing with talented little Scotty Beckett when Carrie plays Queen Victoria in a play. (Her attempts at Sadie Thompson are less successful perhaps because she's deliberately playing too broadly, and her Joan of Arc at the end is only adequate.) Another scene stealer is Lillian Yarbo as the funny, ever-complaining black maid, Phoebe, who claims it was more fun when she was working in a funeral parlor. Francis' hairdo in this is especially grotesque. Between Us Girls has a couple of amusing moments, but it's too strange, poorly scripted, and has a fairly moronic premise as well, from which it never quite recovers.

Verdict: A bizarre curiosity but hardly a good movie. **.

ONE HEAVENLY NIGHT

Evelyn lays a big egg in "One Heavenly Night"

ONE HEAVENLY NIGHT (1931). Director: George Fitzmaurice.

Flower girl/usherette Lilli (the amusingly named Evelyn Laye) aspires to be just like the notorious man-hungry chanteuse Fritzi (Lilyan Tashman), and she gets her chance when Fritzi asks Lilli to impersonate her on a trip to the tiny kingdom of Zuppa. There Lilli meets the handsome Count Tibor (John Boles), and the two fall in love after an initial unpleasant encounter. One Heavenly Night is, alas, not an example of one of your more memorable operettas, having an uninteresting story, tedious comic relief, and songs that are only vaguely pleasant at best. Playing a young ladies man, Boles is sexier than in such dramas as Back Street and Stella Dallas, in which he was convincingly middle-aged only a year later. Neither Laye nor Tashman are terribly attractive by Hollywood standards; although Laye isn't a bad actress, she lacks distinction. One problem with Laye in this movie is that she's rather affected even before she begins her impersonation of the haughty Fritzi. Leon Errol is on hand as Lilli's vocal coach and loving buddy, but even the great comedian isn't able to do anything to save the picture. Laye made a few more films in the thirties, and then wasn't seen again for twenty years. That same year Fitzmaurice directed Greta Garbo in Mata Hari and he guided Barbara Stanwyck in her second film and first sound picture, The Locked Door.

Verdict: A not-so-heavenly hour and a half. *1/2.

STELLA DALLAS

Anne Shirley and Barbara Stanwyck

STELLA DALLAS (1937). Director: King Vidor.

Stella is a young woman in a family of mill hands who wants a better life for herself and gets it when she contrives to meet an executive at the mill, Stephen Dallas (John Boles). But although she lands the guy, Stella is a vulgar and unsympathetic person in many ways, and the two soon separate. However, Stella is redeemed by the sincere love she feels for her daughter, Laurel (Anne Shirley). But as the girl grows and bonds with her father and the new lady in his life, the widow Helen Morrison (Barbara O'Neil), Stella comes to realize that her rather declasse status may do her daughter more harm than good. Some aspects of Stella Dallas have to be taken with a grain of salt. It's one of those movies where people are terrible to other people that they love because they think they need "to be cruel to be kind" [along the lines of the guy who discovers he's going to be permanently crippled telling the woman who adores him that he hates her so she can be "free."] Once you accept that somewhat dated convention, it is easy to focus on the film's major strengths, which include Stanwyck's utterly superb performance [one of her finest in a career of excellent performances], as well as sterling work by Shirley, John Boles, boisterous Alan Hale as a friend of Stella's, O'Neill, Ann Shoemaker, Marjorie Main, and others. [Even Olin  Howlin/Howland from The Blob --years in his future -- shows up!] One of the best scenes is a very moving encounter between Stella and Helen, and the ending -- if slightly contrived and "dramatic" -- is lovely and poignant. Hattie McDaniel, Jimmy Butler, and Tim Holt also have small roles. All this and an excellent score by Alfred Newman as well.

Verdict: Stanwyck and a general air of classiness lift this out of the soap opera level, but it's definitely a classic tearjerker. ****.

BACK STREET (1932)

Irene Dunne and John Boles

BACK STREET (1932).Director: John M. Stahl.

The first film version of Fannie Hurst's famous novel of a "back street" affair is a bit more faithful to the book, but not quite as successful as the 1941 version with Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer, although the acting in this version is also top-notch. In Cincinnati, Ray Schmidt (Irene Dunne) meets Walter Saxel (John Boles), who turns out to have a fiancee. Walter and Ray fall in love, and the former wants the latter to meet his mother and see how the old lady reacts to her. On her way for the fateful rendezvous, Ray gets sidetracked when her stepsister Freda (June Clyde) importunes her to come with her to her boyfriend, who knocked her up, and demand that he do the right thing. By the time Ray arrives at the bandstand to meet Mrs. Saxel, it's too late. However, Walter and Ray meet up in New York years later and begin a life-long affair. The rest of the movie has virtually the same script as the 1942 version with the exception that Ray/Dunne has a neighbor who is also a lonely kept woman. [Another difference is that in this version Ray's father is still alive.] Irene Dunne is outstanding as Ray, and it could be argued has a stronger, more emotional reaction than Sullavan [who perhaps underplays a bit too much] as she learns of the ultimate fate of her beloved. Bole is perhaps more romantic and more tender than Boyer was in certain sequences. In any case, while this version is not as good as the Back Street of 1941, it is still a creditable and entertaining picture. Zazu Pitts has a small role as the usual dithery landlady.

Verdict: Dunne and Boles make a nice duo. ***.

SINNERS IN PARADISE

SINNERS IN PARADISE (1938). Director: James Whale.

A motley group of individuals take off for China in a sea plane and wind up crash landing near an island deserted but for Dr. Jim Taylor (John Boles) and his manservant (Willie Fung). The passengers include a nurse, Anne (Madge Evans); an heiress, Iris (Marion Martin); a mobster, Robert (Bruce Cabot), who's running from hit men; a blithering senator (Gene Lockhart); and others. The doctor has a secret and refuses to let the stranded passengers use his boat to get to the mainland; he eventually relents but there's only room on the boat for six people and the bickering turns into fighting and murder. Alas, the movie is not as good as it sounds; with all that's going on it's still a colossal bore. Some of the performances aren't bad, however. Other cast members include Milburn Stone, Morgan Conway, and Don "Red" Barry.

Verdict: One of James Whale's least interesting pictures. **.

FRANKENSTEIN

FRANKENSTEIN (1931). Director: James Whale.

Made the same year as Dracula, this is a much more successful and entertaining film, although, like Dracula, it takes great liberties with its source material. The performances are all good, with Colin Clive properly manic and intense as the obsessed Henry Frankenstein, and Mae Clarke appealing as his troubled fiancee. Although his performance mostly consists of pantomime, Boris Karloff is superb as the monster. Dwight Frye is perhaps more effective as the helpful if psychotic hunchback Fritz than he was as Renfield in Dracula. John Boles, Edward Van Sloan, and Frederick Kerr are all good as, respectively, family friend Victor Moritz, Dr. Waldman, and Baron Frankenstein, who serves as a bit of comedy relief (mercifully there isn't too much of it in the film).The scenic design is excellent and atmospheric, and the movie is very fast-paced. Bernhard Kaun's music for the opening and closing credits is good; one wishes there had been music all through the film, which cries out for it. An interesting aspect of the picture is that Henry Frankenstein goes completely unpunished for his grave-robbing and assorted malfeasances as well as the deaths caused by his rampaging monster! Followed by Bride of Frankenstein.

Verdict: Classic Universal horror. ***.