Last night, we watched "Sign of the Wolf"(1941), which I found on a Youtube horror movie channel. Whoever uploaded it obviously didn't bother to watch it first, because it isn't a werewolf flick, but about German Shepherd dogs, based on a book by Jack London. That was no problem of course, because we love dog movies. In this one, "Judy Weston" (Grace Bradley) is a trainer of champion Shepherds "Smokey" and "Shadow". She's flown them to a competition in her private plane, accompanied by her assistant "Ben" (Mantan Moreland). Smokey does well at the show and is about to take home a blue ribbon, but is then disqualified when his kennel partner Shadow picks a fight in front of the judges. Smokey retaliates, costing him the championship. Another owner offers to buy Shadow from Judy, to take him off her hands, and she accepts, but Ben loves Shadow and can't bear to see him go, so he sneaks him on board the plane before they depart, and before he can be sold.
Up in the air, they encounter a schtorm. Judy is forced to crash land in what I imagine is the Yukon, given Jack London's writing turf, "Call of the Wild" and all that. When the plane crashes, Judy is seriously injured. Ben is luckier, escaping with just a bump on the head. Smokey jumps from the wreckage and runs off into the woods, while Shadow - who was hidden in the luggage compartment - frees himself and runs to get help. Through the wilderness he finds a fox farm, run by "Rod Freeman" (Michael Whalen) and his nephew "Billy" (Darryl Hickman), with "Beulah" (Louise Beavers) as their cook. Shadow barks to get their attention, and Rod follows him out to the plane wreck, where he rescues Judy and Ben.
Back at Rod's place, the village doctor tends to Judy, and it looks like she's going to recover, but she'll need a long rest. Rod is at first hesitant to let her and Ben stay there, however, because of Shadow. "I can't have a dog around my foxes." But Ben promises him that Shadow won't cause trouble, and Billy loves shadow at first sight, so Rod lets them stay while Judy is recovering. Ben can't bring himself to tell her that Smokey is lost in the woods, but she eventually finds out when Beulah inadvertently spills the beans. By that time, a pair of poachers find Smokey and take him back to their cabin. One of them recognizes him from a "missing" poster Rod has put up. "Hey, ain't this the dog there's a reward for?" "Yep", says his partner, "500 dollars, but he's worth $100,000 if we can get him to empty them fox kennels." From the poster, the poachers know that Smokey is a dog show champion. He's already trained to jump walls from his competitions, so they work from there and teach him to retrieve pelts, with meat as a reward. Smokey is soon adept, and now the poachers are ready to have him do the real thing, to hop the kennel fence at Rod's farm, and kill and bring back all his foxes. Smokey is gonna make them rich, and the kicker for the poachers is that, if anyone gets wise, they can blame it all on Shadow, who is staying with Judy and Ben at Rod's place and who has already been observed running through the woods.
By now, Rod's nephew Billy is bonded to Shadow and taken him for his own. It's full-on Boy and his Dog time, so when the poachers blame the fox stealing on Shadow, and Rod decides to put him down, Billy stands in the way. "No! I won't let you shoot him!" Sooner or later, Shadow (who began as the second banana to Smokey) was always gonna become the Hero Dog, and when Billy saves him from execution, he runs off to the poacher's cabin, where Smokey is still imprisoned. Rod and the other villagers follow, with rifles, and the poachers are caught red-handed. Shadow and Smokey are reunited, and at first Judy (now fully recovered) is ready to fly home.
But you can't have a Dog Movie end like that, so when Billy says he doesn't want anyone to leave, Judy, Ben and the doggies stay, and everyone becomes one big family.
"Sign of the Wolf" is my kind and your kind of movie, and it's nice to see Mantan Moreland in a different kind of role, still comic but on the sentimental side. Two Big Thumbs Up then, and a high recommendation. The picture is soft but watchable. ////
The previous night's flick was "Manhattan Tower"(1932), a very pre-Code pre-Coder in which lives converge in a New York City skyscraper, many of them at the Consolidated Products Company, where "Mary Harper" (Mary Brian) works as a secretary to the lascivious "Mr. Burns" (Clay Clement). Mary's boyfriend "Jimmy Duncan" (James Hall), doesn't like what he sees in the lobby. "Why do you let him put his arm around you?" he asks. "I have to go along to get along, Jimmy," she tells him, "if I wanna keep my job. It's no big deal, he's my boss, he means nothing to me." Jimmy works in the tower's basement, in the power plant. His buddies rib him about Mary and Mr. Burns until he threatens to one day go up to the penthouse office suites and punch Mr. Burns' lights out. But mostly, he just wants to marry Mary. They have their hearts set on a house with a $1500 down payment and they've got a gee saved; all they need is $500 more. Mary secretly asks Mr. Burns for investment advice, and gives him the thousand dollar savings to put down on a stock he recommends.
Shortly after she goes back to her desk, Burns' lawyer enters his office to tell him that the stock has hit bottom. He's broke. Worse, his wife is seeing her lawyer for a divorce, because he's been cheating on her (he's a serial cheater). In fact, though he's had his eye on Mary, she's a tad too prim and proper for him. So he turns his attentions to her secretarial partner "Marge Lyon" (Noel Francis). Marge is a sassy blonde who on that day has worn a party dress to work. She "didn't have time to change" because she was out till the crack of dawn. "But I made it to work on time," she tells Mr. Burns with a seductive wink. He likes it: she's exactly his kind of girl, and there's a line about her dress at about the 11 minute mark that's as pre-Code as it gets. Now, Marge is no pushover. She's been waiting for Mr. Burns to notice her, and now that he has, she's all over him, and soon she's got him wrapped around her finger. He likes her "initiative", and has her constantly running to his office for "important meetings". Actress Noel Francis plays Marge perfectly, with a combination of hip-swinging swagger and gum-snapping wisecrackery. Marge is one of those chicks who's hair is always messed up and who is always adjusting her dress, which in another very pre-Code scene, the men of the office are trying to look under.
But there's also bad stuff going on. A bank in the tower is the other main plot setting. This bank is the most powerful financial institution in NYC, but in a board meeting with its president "Mr. Geller" (Emmett King), we learn that, through bad investments, the bank is about to go broke. Mr. Geller pleads with his board members to keep it a secret, to avoid a run on the bank. "Gentlemen, we know finance. If you'll give me the chance, with your help I can dig us out of this."
But there's a pill popping "dizzy" secretary (Irene Rich) who can't keep her mouth shut, and a newspaperman finds out about the bank's insolvency. Mary the secretary finds out that Mr. Burns has lost her money through the bad investment, and now she and Jimmy can't make the down payment on their house. Burns' wife begs him for a divorce but he won't grant it because he married her for her money. Marge the blonde hottie secretary is only interested in Burn's continued interest in her; she gets a big shock when she's tossed aside like last night's stockings, when Burns' wife shows up with divorce leverage, i.e. blackmail.
Sooner or later, this potboiler is gonna explode, and it does when the newspaper reporter hears from the dizzy secretary that the bank is gonna go under. Then it's front page news and there's a run on the bank, exactly what Mr. Geller was fearing. That's the big climax, and it parallels the Crash of 1929, but centers on the plight of Mr. Burns, who has Mary in his office when the news comes down. She wants her money back, then her boyfriend Jimmy enters, which results in a colossal fight between him and Mr. Burns, and when it's over....
But that's all I can tell ya. "Manhattan Tower" plays out in a style of mostly light comedy mixed with mildly confrontational dramatics, until the end. The movie seeks to entertain, and it does because it's constantly on the move, but it makes it's points along the way, about risky finance and male chauvinism. Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture is very good. ////
And that's all for tonight. My blogging music is the first Atomic Rooster album and Colosseum II "Strange New Flesh". Late night is "Tristan und Isolde" by Wagner. I hope your week is off to a good start and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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