Frankenstein (1931)

Victor Frankenstein removes himself from society, becoming obsessed with his attempts to create life from dead tissue. Nothing can tempt him away from his experiments: not his old professor, his father, nor even his girl. But, of course, they eventually prevail and drag him away to convalesce and finally return to his old self. Too bad his creation doesn't also have a retreat from his hell.

It's one of those films that is familiar through so much parody that I knew it even though I'd never seen it. It's got everything a good story needs, including a powerful sense of the tragic -- I really felt for the sad-eyed beast who didn't know his own strength -- but it's been done so much better so many times since. It will just have to content itself with being the first rather than the best.

C+

Cimarron (1931)

Yancey Cravat: adventurer first, activist second -- husband and father...30th?

Mr. Cravat drags his wife and young son to the boomtown of Osage, OK, where they become prominent figures in the community until his feet get itchy again and he disappears for five years.  He breezes into town to defend a prostitute, give his support to his son's love for a native Indian, and put in a bid for governor...until his wanderlust kicks in again.  This time, he's gone for a couple of decades.  What happens the next time he shows up?  He dies.

"Sprawling" is the right word for this but, oddly, so is "plodding."  So many years are packed into so short a time that it's hard to ever really get a feel for who these people are and it winds up feeling rather tedious.

C-

Skippy (1931)

It's kind of like an extended Little Rascals episode...except without the talented kids or laughs.

D+

A Free Soul (1931)

Have I ever enjoyed Norma Shearer? I really don't believe I have and this time is no exception. She's a grown-up daughter who constantly refers to her fall-down-drunk lawyer father as "darling" and starts hooking up with one of his mobster clients (Clark Gable) despite being engaged to a rather decent fellow (Leslie Howard).

There's scandal and threats and murder -- only much more boring than all of that sounds.

D-

Arrowsmith (1931)

Arrowsmith (Ronald Colman) is a promising young medical researcher who tosses his high ambitions to marry the feisty Leora (Helen Hayes) and become a country doctor.

But he doesn't last long in the rural setting and he's soon tempted back into the world of big-city research, which leaves his wife as nothing more than a worried little fly buzzing around him when he bothers to come home. She continues to buzz, though -- doing her best to remain a part of his life by chasing after him wherever he goes.

It's not bad exactly -- but it's also not very heartwarming or exciting or interesting. It fails to engage as either a romance or a medical morality tale.

C-

The Smiling Lieutenant (1932)

Chevalier's "charms" are a mystery to me…but I liked this film anyway. He's caught between two women: a princess and a beautiful musician…he knows which one he wants, but they have different ideas. A pleasure.

B

Trader Horn (1931)

There's just no one to like in this film that plays like a grainy overview of the dangers of Africa. Horn is a bigoted ass with a God-complex; Peru is a namby-pamby imbecile; Nina is a screeching banshee...yuck on all counts.

D+