THE CRASH

THE CRASH (1932). Director: William Dieterle. 

Linda Gault (Ruth Chatterton) grew up very poor and is determined that she'll never be poverty-stricken again. Her husband Geoffrey (George Brent) drinks and importunes her to get stock tips from a man (Henry Kolker) who's smitten with her. When Geoffrey goes broke after the Wall Street crash of 1929, Linda takes what money she can gather and goes off to a sun and fun retreat where she meets millionaire Ronald Sanderson (Paul Cavanagh). Should she go for the loot or settle for love? Who cares? This is a minor film with Chatterton giving a surprisingly stiff and obvious performance. A secondary love story concerns Linda's French maid Celeste (Barbara Leonard) and her lover Arthur (Hardie Albright). 

Verdict: Watch Dodsworth [with Chatterton in fine form] instead. **.

THE PURPLE DIARIES: MARY ASTOR AND THE MOST SENSATIONAL HOLLYWOOD SCANDAL OF THE 1930S

THE PURPLE DIARIES: Mary Astor and the Most Sensational Hollywood Scandal of the 1930s. Joseph Egan. Diversion; 2016.

In the 1930s actress Mary Astor decided to divorce her husband, Franklyn Thorpe, apparently even before she embarked on an affair with the married playwright George S. Kaufman (whose wife was either very understanding or a complete chump). Although Kaufman was hardly anyone's idea of an especially attractive man, he apparently made Astor thrill and throb at his ministrations. Thorpe had had numerous affairs of his own, so his attitude toward the l'amours of his wife was a tad hypocritical.  There was a highly publicized custody battle over Astor and Thorpe's young daughter, Marylyn (sic), in which Astor's diaries -- which included intimate details of her numerous affairs as well as those of others -- took center stage, especially in the press. (The tomes were called the "purple diaries" because the ink Astor used at least seemed purple in color.) This made the powers-that-be in Hollywood nervous at exactly which star might be mentioned in the diaries, so a special group was assembled to convince Astor to reach a quick settlement. A fabricated diary was passed around and the lawyers each did their best to either suppress the real books or introduce passages from them in court as evidence.

This is one of two books that look at the Mary Astor custody case. I haven't read the other book, but this one is well-put-together and interesting, although after awhile a reader may grow tired of this long-ago trial, the stuff of which is so commonplace today. Astor was working on the film Dodsworth while the trial proceeded, and her co-star Ruth Chatterton, who played her love rival in the film, was one of her biggest supporters and attended the trial with her nearly every day. This is not a biography or career study, so Astor's films are only mentioned in passing. The most interesting section of the book has to do with the grown-up little girl's relationship -- or lack of same -- with her parents. Apparently Astor turned into a kind of termagant who had no interest in hearing her daughter's opinion and whose attitude seemed to be "my way or the highway." Too bad.

Verdict: Interesting look at a now-forgotten chapter in Hollywood scandal history. ***. 

GIRLS' DORMITORY

Simone Simon and Herbert Marshall

GIRLS' DORMITORY (1936). Irving Cummings.

"A boy who is graduating is just a boy, but a girl who is graduating stands before you a full-fledged woman."

Professor Anna Mathe (Ruth Chatterton) has been helping Dr. Stephen Dominik (Herbert Marshall), director of a girl's school, with a book project, and is secretly carrying a torch for him. She gets unexpected competition from Marie Claudel (Simone Simon), a pretty 19-year-old student at the school, who is also in love with the middle-aged Professor Dominik. When Professor Augusta Wimmer (Constance Collier, in a most unsympathetic role) finds a love letter Marie wrote to an unknown man in a waste basket, she convenes a council to determine if Marie should graduate. Wimmer and another male professor think her behavior -- they believe she had a rendezvous with this man -- is scandalous and brings disfavor to the school, while two other professors think they are making too much of a school girl's infatuation. As one of them puts it, "my mother was married and had two children at Marie's age." Anna and Stephen are both sympathetic to the girl. The simple story is okay, but it's the acting from all concerned, especially Simon [in her first American film] and Marshall, that put this over. [Not to give away the ending, but if this movie has a moral it's that men like 'em young.] Chatterton (Dodsworth) is not photographed at all flatteringly in this, but her warm, self-sacrificing character is not meant to be glamorous. Tyrone Power shows up very late in the picture as Marie's handsome cousin. John Qualen is a likable if rather outspoken hand around the school, and others in the cast include J. Edward Bromberg and Dixie Dunbar.

Verdict: So-so romance with good performances. **1/2.  

LILY TURNER

LILY TURNER (1933). Director: William A. Wellman.

Lily (Ruth Chatterton) has lousy luck with men. Her first husband, Rex (Gordon Westcott) deserts her after she gets pregnant and turns out to be a bigamist. Her second husband, Dave (Frank McHugh), marries her to make her respectable again, but prefers drinking to anything else and the marriage is never consummated. Finally Lily meets handsome, virile Bob (George Brent), while both are working for a shifty shiller of magical elixirs and the like, Doc McGill (Guy Kibbee). Frustrated horniness seems to be the sub-theme of this movie, with everyone -- including the demented strongman Fritz (Robert Barrat) -- either lusting for Lily or for Bob, who "sends" Mrs. McGill (Marjorie Gateson). This is an odd -- and oddly likable picture -- with good performances from the cast, and a somewhat poignant, if inconclusive, conclusion. This could have used an extra fifteen minutes or so to strengthen the story and characters, but it isn't half bad.

Verdict: Holds the attention. ***.

DODSWORTH

DODSWORTH (1936). Director: William Wyler.

"Love has to stop somewhere short of suicide."

Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) has retired and his younger wife Fran (Ruth Chatterton) wants to spend her remaining days with him on the continent, where she wants to forget she has grown children and live a gay social whirl. Dodsworth is a simpler, less exciting soul and only wants to return to Zenith, the small town they come from. "You're rushing at old age," Fran tells him "and I'm not ready for that yet!" Before long Fran is being courted by and falling for younger men while Sam meets a sympathetic woman named Edith (Mary Astor). The interesting thing about the movie is that you find yourself switching allegiances mid-stream, at first rooting for the lively, fun-loving (if pretentious and snooty) Fran to shake the starch out of Sam, but then recognizing that Fran's life-loving vivacity has its dark and selfish side. Huston and Astor are fine, but Chatterton nearly steals the picture as Fran, and there are also excellent performances from Maria Ouspenskaya (as the mother of one of Fran's suitors), David Niven, Paul Lukas, and Gregory Gaye. "Have you considered how little happiness there can be for the old wife of a young husband?" Ouspenskaya asks a horrified Chatterton. John Payne also has a small role. Screenplay by Sidney Howard from the novel by Sinclair Lewis.

Verdict: A bit contrived at times but otherwise excellent. ***1/2.

JOURNAL OF A CRIME

JOURNAL OF A CRIME (1934). Director: William Keighley. From a play by Jacques Deval.

Ruth Chatterton learns that her producer husband (Adolphe Menjou) has fallen in love with a pretty and callow young actress. She takes his gun, goes to the theater, and shoots her, just as a bank robber who shot a teller tries to use the theater as a hide-out. Naturally, the robber is blamed for the mistress's murder, but Menjou finds his gun backstage and figures out the truth. [“Fiend! Fiend!” he keeps saying to his wife once they're home.] Menjou decides not to give his wife up to the police, hoping she'll crack and do the right thing as their relationship crumbles. This is very potent material, but the movie pretty much sticks to the surface and never explores with any depth the shattering emotions going on underneath. The dead girl is virtually forgotten and the teller we see shot early in the movie is hardly mentioned; there's little attempt to examine all the moral issues. One of the most interesting scenes has Chatterton going to see the bank robber convicted of her rival's murder on the eve of his execution, but otherwise the story goes in all the wrong directions, and the film's potential is wasted. Although Chatterton gets stronger as the picture proceeds, another problem with the movie is that both she and Menjou give comparatively perfunctory performances.

Verdict: Missed opportunities. **.