Last night, we had a pre-Code cautionary tale called "The Road to Ruin"(1934). Pop culture has long given us the notion that there were no such things as teenagers before the mid-fifties, but as you can see in this film, the teens and young adults were partying just as heartily in the early 1930s, albeit with less drugs but just as much liquor. In other words, 'twas ever the same. The message is that such a lifestyle can lead you on the road to ruin, which is what happens to nice girl "Ann Dixon" (Helen Foster), the new kid in town. She lives with her mother who, it is insinuated, is separated from her father. Ann is demure but very pretty, which gets her noticed by the Cool Chick at school, "Eve Monroe" (Nell O'Day), who wants a gal to influence and pal around with.
Eve hangs out after school with two boys, "Ed" and "Tommy" (Bobby Quirk and Glen Boles). Ed is her boyfriend, a total cut-up. Tommy owns the roadster they cruise around in. They drive around drinking and carousing, which will eventually result in "Hot Rods to Hell." Eve is brassy and sassy. She's like that because her Mom throws wild booze rave-ups, adult style, at their house, and her Dad is long gone. The only grown-up example Eve has is irresponsible and loose. That's why she wants to corrupt Ann, because she's secretly miserable and misery loves company. But you'd never know Eve is unhappy cause all she does is party, make herself available, and party down some more. In doing so, she fancies herself sophisticated. Soon after befriending Ann, she's got her smoking cigs and drinking. She shows Ann her copy of a sexy novel, the words of which shock Ann (it's probably Lady Chatterly's Lover). But it all has an effect, and soon Ann is riding around in Tommy's hot rod, too, with Eve and Ed. Tommy likes Ann. He's not a bad kid, (and Eve is the leader of their group), but he drinks a lot, and one day down at the lake, when they're all smoking and drinking, Tommy takes advantage of Ann when she's drunk. There were things you couldn't say, even in pre-Code movies, but it's clearly insinuated that Tommy date-rapes Ann. She's crying, but forgives him, and they both try to forget about the incident.
Soon after this, Eve takes them all to a nightclub. There are sharks in the water now, circling the fresh meat. Anytime you see a handsome, slick-suited, dark-eyed thirtyish man in one of these movies, with his black hair slicked back, you know he's pure evil. Two of these guys are sitting at a table in the club. They spot the teens, Ann catches their eye, and "Ralph" (Paul Page) knows she's an easy mark.
All kinds of things are insinuated about Ralph. He's about 30 (Ann is 17), and Ralph may be an opium dealer, a pimp, a white slaver, or all three. It isn't made clear, for reasons previously explained, but he's not dissimilar to Harvey Keitel in "Taxi Driver". He's scum. But Ann, having been dated raped by Tommy and corrupted by Eve's influence, is now thoroughly sexualised, and she's become addicted to lust and drawn by male power. What happens next is a prime example of what they now call grooming. Ralph approaches Ann at the teens' table, playing The Suave Gentleman, and asks if she'd like to go to the beach the next weekend. Of course, he invites all the kids, to not look too obvious, but only Ann gets invited back to his mansion. Pretty soon she is going to big shot parties and Tommy is out of the picture. The parties include skinny dipping, and orgies are implied. During one party at Ralph's mansion, a wealthy middle-aged couple next door is getting irritated by the noise. The man likes seeing the naked girls in the pool but his wife wants him to call the cops. Finally she calls them, and Ann is taken to jail with along with Eve, where they are given an "exam" by a female doctor, which shows that Ann is pregnant.
Ralph, her new boyfriend, can't afford to have Ann pregnant if he's gonna pimp her out to rich men, so he (nicely) insists that she needs to get an abortion (the language is insinuated). "It's the only way out of this", he tells her. Ann is so confused and impaired by now, that she goes along with it even though she's terrified. And of course, the "doctor" is a backroom butcher, and of course Ann hemorrhages, or gets a blood infection (it isn't made clear) and she dies. The whole thing is extremely depressing, so watch it if you want. It is well done, and Helen Foster and Nell O'Day are good actresses, so it gets Two Big Thumbs Up. But boy is it a downer. The picture is very good. ////
The previous night, we found a superb early spy flick entitled "Inside the Lines"(1930), taken from a play of the same name and first made as a silent film in 1922. Legendary early actress Betty Compson stars as "Jane Gershon", an urbane young English woman in love with Naval officer "Eric Woodhouse" (Ralph Forbes), whom she recently met at a party. World War One has started. He talks of marriage before he's called for duty. She declines: "We've only known each other a week. I have to go to London, ask me when I get back." They part ways, and she goes immediately to an office building, where she furtively knocks on a door. Inside is her controller: she's not English, or a civilian. She's a German spy! Her controller sets up her next mission, on the Rock of Gibraltar, where the British Royal Navy is massing. She's to go to their requisitioned headquarters and pose as a friend of the former Lady of the Manor. Her cover is that she's "been away for seven years" in case anyone notices that she looks different than the friend she's portraying. But her looks are a close enough match to pull off the impersonation, and her controller has coached her on all the personality traits and information she needs to know in case she is questioned about details. Her mission, once she arrives, is to open an electrified safe, hidden behind a "trick" bookcase, and retrieve British naval war plans that are crucial to German victory.
She's got all the information memorized, and when she gets to Gibraltar, she is welcomed by surprise but with open arms. "Oh, Lady So-and-So! 'Tis so good to see you after all these years!" The admiral in charge gets a warning from an old British drunk, a former sailor, who swears she is a German spy, but after the admiral and his lieutenant slyly question her in conversation, she passes muster by getting all the answers right, thereby avoiding the trap, and the admiral believes she's who she says she is after all.
But what she never counted on is that Officer Woodhouse shows up at the mansion, the man she fell in love with at the beginning of the film. That was in England; now here he is in Gibraltar, thousands of miles away, at the same headquarters she has successfully penetrated. As always, thank goodness for screenwriters' coincidences! Woodhouse wonders what she's doing there, and playing the bon vivant society woman with a different name. He only knows her as Jane from England, the beautiful lass he met and wanted to marry.
As a military officer, he knows about spies, how they use fake names and their general m.o's. He's just seen a spy shot that very morning. He becomes sure that Jane's a German spy when she asks him not to call her Jane, but instead of turning her in, he begs her to flee Gibraltar because he loves her. "Even if I never see you again, I beg you to do as I say! I don't want you caught and killed!"
But she's not about to leave because she's sworn to complete her mission, and is also proud of her reputation as the most dedicated agent in German foreign intelligence. The (veddy) British fleet is massed just off the coast of The Rock, sending signal messages with their lights. An attack may be imminent. Jane has gotta get those plans from the safe, but her German controller has indicated that she will at some point meet another agent known as 54. "No one knows who he is or what he looks like, not even me". In other words, the dude is ultra top secret, but she's been told he will identify himself by some means. "You will know it is 54, and you are to give him the plans." All of this is taking place under the noses of the (veddy) British naval hierarchy, including her boyfriend, Officer Woodhouse. How will she possibly pull it off?
The plot is worthy of a John Le Carre novel, the layers are gradually revealed, and there's a twist so unexpected that you won't see it coming. Man, you had to not only have nerves of steel to be a spy, but you had to also be a good actor or actress, and a very quick thinker because you were often impersonating real people, so you not only had to know every detail of someone's life, but you also had to be ready for curveball questions. Betty Compson is first-rate in the lead, as is Ralph Forbes as her co-star. The great character actor Mischa Auer has an important role as a silent but imposing "sahib" assistant to the admiral in charge. The script and direction are so good that we're gonna give "Inside the Lines" Two Huge Thumbs Up. For a 1930 talkie, it's surprisingly well done. Very highly recommended, the picture is just a tad soft. ////
And that's all for tonight. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. My blogging music was "You" by Gong and "Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into" by Gilgamesh. My late night is Bruckner's 6th by Karajan. Have a great rest of your holiday weekend. I send you Tons of Love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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