Captains Courageous (1937)

After getting suspended from school, a rich spoiled brat has to accompany his father on business via ship. When he falls overboard, he's rescued by a fishing boat and has to live and work on the boat for weeks, until they return to port. The adjustment isn't easy for him or the crew.

I first saw this with my boys back when they were in elementary school and remembered that we all enjoyed it immensely. It doesn't disappoint on second watch, either -- it's so charming and heartwarming. My only gripe is with Spencer Tracy's overdone accent, but even that is doesn't get in the way of this film's loveliness.

A-

The Amazing Adventure (1937)

Ernest Bliss, a rich man who spends his days at various diversions, visits a doctor to basically diagnose his ennui. When the doctor says the issue is too much money and that Bliss should spend a year earning his own way, Bliss accepts the challenge.

It's a slight but charming little story. Bliss finds out quickly just how difficult it is not to be born into money. Every day's a struggle and he's at the mercy of others just to secure basic necessities. His eyes are opened and the experience changes him in a fundamental way. There are absolutely no surprises, but it's a sweet way to spend an hour.

B 

Night Must Fall (1937)

Old Mrs. Bramson is set to give Danny, her maid's boyfriend, a talking-to about marrying the girl since he's already sampled the goods... but instead winds up being charmed into hiring him as a live-in companion. Soon after, a missing woman is found murdered, which puts the entire household at unease. Olivia, Mrs. Bramson's niece who sees right through Danny, is equal parts horrified and titillated by the possibility that Danny is the culprit.

This is a really weird little movie. It's not exactly scary, nor is it played for laughs. The thrill that runs through Olivia when talking to Danny feels almost sexual in nature and I bought it. She's clearly bored with her life and her romantic option and an adventure -- even a sordid one -- is welcome in her life. Like Olivia, I was happy to be caught off-guard by what I was seeing.

B+

A Damsel in Distress (1937)

Famed dancer Jerry Halliday (Astaire), tired of women who chase after him, is intrigued by a rich girl who jumps into his cab to escape her manservant. There’s dancing, singing, and a hilarious segment set at the fair involving moving floors and distortion mirrors. The delightful Gracie Allen made me giggle dozens of times with her silliness.

The one drawback is Joan Fontaine as the love interest. She's a bit of a personality void and can barely dance, but it would take more than a boring love interest to really hurt this romp as Astaire, Burns, and Allen are banging on all cylinders.

B

Conquest (1937)

I quite enjoyed the first third or so of this movie. During it, a former Polish peasant turned countess (to a much older count) worships Napoleon, but is alarmed to find out that he is interested in her romantically. When her country asks her to indulge him for their sake, she obliges and falls in love.

But then things get very blah moviewise. It's never downright bad, but it did take me a couple of weeks to finish up the watching as I stopped being interested in how things were going to conclude.

C+

Swing High, Swing Low (1937)

Story in a nutshell: American slacker just out of the service (Fred MacMurray) meets a pretty girl (Carole Lombard) on a short layover in Panama. She shapes him into something worthwhile by, you know, believing in him and stuff. He takes his new-found confidence and trumpet-playing gifts and leaves her behind. She keeps the faith for a while but he eventually loses her. So he falls on hard times because she was the only good thing in his life. Because he's now pathetic again, she goes back to him. Somehow, with her in his arms, he gets his trumpeting mojo back.

I can only assume the cycle repeats in perpetuity. Sorry if I spoiled anything.

D+

The Hurricane (1937)

The entire movie is a flashback -- we're told that a strip of wasteland was once an island paradise and then we travel back in time to see it as it used to be.

Manakoora is a beautiful place full of happy free spirits. They know the ocean and the vegetation and co-exist with the occupying French. The story focuses on a young couple: Terangi and Marama. He's the prom-kingy gifted sailor and she's the daughter of the chief. They've got their whole lives laid out before them, but then Terangi winds up in prison for assaulting a white man, Marama bears their daughter alone, and a hurricane hits.

Not sure what the moral here is supposed to be. Don't cage a beautiful wild creature? Watch out if you're happy, because the world's about to crap on you? Don't try to find meaning in melodramas that feature sarongs?

C+

One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)

Deanna Durbin's primarily a singer, so building a film around her acting doesn't really work. I wouldn't be up for a film that employed her solely as a singer either -- but that's neither here nor there.

She's the whole show here -- cast as a controlling yet adorable (supposedly) young girl scheming to get her father and a group of his fellow unemployed musicians working again. I just got tired of the same manic "youdon'tunderstandthough--" "butyouhaveto--" "justlistenI'm--" back and forths. The adults don't listen to her and she doesn't listen to them and, despite what the screenwriters apparently believed, interruption isn't the same thing as banter.

C-

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)

Feels like one movie for the first act…and completely shifts gears (for the better) in the second. Not aces, but fun.

B-

In Old Chicago (1937)

Ridiculous fictional story of brothers going their separate ways in the early days of Chicago (one's a gambling saloon-owner; one's a too-honest-to-be-for-real lawyer; and one's a momma's boy), who turn out to be the O'Learys of the famed cow that started the great Chicago fire. Not worthwhile.

C

Topper (1937)

Rich & fancy-free couple die and then haunt their uptight banker in order to do a "good deed" and get into heaven. It's not particularly bad -- it's just boring. The same joke done 20 times just isn't funny. Also, this version of death looks alright to me. You get to do everything you used to do plus be invisible! What's so bad about that?

C

Lost Horizon (1937)

Interesting concept - idealistic but disillusioned diplomat is whisked away (along with those few assorted characters who happen to be on board a rescue plane with him) to a hidden utopia called "Shangri-La." Is it Paradise or a prison?

I hear they cut it to 95 minutes for television broadcasts...the longer version might be worth catching. The over 2-hour cut I saw just kept telling us the same things over and over.

C+

Dead End (1937)

Shows too much of its stage heritage…just a little too neat. Still, not bad.

C+

Camille (1937)

Liked it. Liked Greta. Liked Robert. I’m all for the stories where sacrifices must be made and they don't wind up together and there's confusion and there's misunderstanding, but -- at the core -- there's love. This was one of those. And she winds up dead. Never a bad ending when that happens -- if you hated her, good! If you loved her, waaaah (but bravo for your unflinching choice).

B