Last night's movie was "Police Patrol"(1933), a pre-Coder with some holdover traits from Silent film, like eye makeup on the leading man - James Flavin as "Mack McCue" - who exaggerates his facial expressions and recites his lines like he's got a lemon wedge his mouth. He and his partner "Bob Larkin" (Pat O'Malley) are detectives for LAPD. Though best pals, they're also rivals for the same gal, "Lil Daley" (Madge Bellamy), who McCue gets involved with after busting "Nolan" (Harrison Greene) a high powered gambling lord. She's actually Nolan's moll, and has been sent by him to entrap McCue in an affair, so he won't be able to testify at Nolan's trial. McCue isn't aware of Lil's association with Nolan, and he starts hanging out at her swanky pad after meeting her at a press conference. On the job, he talks her up to his partner and buddy Det. Larkin, and because Larkin wants whatever McCue has, he follows Mack to Lil's apartment the next day, waits for Mack to leave, then horns in on the action too, representing himself as a shoe salesman. Lil invites him in and ends up liking him better than Mack, and much of the first 30 minutes of the movie are spent on developing the romance, which comes off a bit stiff because of a static camera and some technical early sound-era issues involving dead air and stilted dialogue.
The flick does get moving at the halfway point, when the two detectives get in a punchout over Lil and are demoted to the Riot Squad. The gambling lord is found guilty of murdalization (having killed a hoodlum at the beginning of the movie), and is facing execution. His sentencing is pending so to hamper the judge he has his men kidnap the judge's daughter. In the process they also get McCue, and now they are holding both in a big crash pad in the hills.
But the judge won't bite on the bossman's kidnap leverage. "I am going to sentence you to death anyway, lest your tactic become commonplace. Even though you have my daughter, I still serve you justice under the law." But meanwhile, he's got the entire PD looking for his daughter and Mack at the hideaway house. Detective Larkin, feeling duped by Lil Daley (cause she's been part of the gambling ring all along) now leads the charge to rescue the two hostages.
The draw here, with a schcript that's 1/3 improvisation, is the great location footage of Los Angeles 90 years ago. It's mostly shot in and around Hancock Park, and on 5th Avenue where an old apartment building called the Chateau Laurier is located. Though that's not a schtreet many of us ever frequented, it's still cool just to see all the old cars, and pristine sidewalks in the early days of the city. There's also an awesome dirt road that goes up in the hills to the crash pad, and I'd love to know where it was because it's very likely highly developed now.
Two Big Thumbs Up, then, because the movie sneaks up on you. The script couldn't be much thinner, but early actress Madge Bellamy knows how to keep your attention by shifting her position on the couch and batting her eyelashes Silent movie-style, and the guy with the lemon wedge is amusing for the way he talks. It adds up to a winner because you don't have to pay attention until the plot kicks in. You can just look at the Hollywood scenery, and because the picture is dvd quality it's like being in a time machine. ////
Our previous night's film, entitled "The World Accuses"(1934), had a variation of a plot we've seen before: "Decent-but-misunderstood Mom loses custody of child to overbearing in-law." In this case, our Mom is "Lola Weymouth" (Vivian Tobin) who, as the movie opens, is dancing to the radio in her apartment when her mean old mother-in-law walks in. "Lucille" (Sarah Edwards) asks Lola to turn the music down, which she does (unlike John Carradine the other night), but it's clear that Momma Lucille doesn't like her. Right on the spot, she accuses Lola of neglecting her baby, "who is my son's baby, too." When Lola explains that baby likes the music too, it only make Lucille madder. Now, Lucille is rich. She pays the rent on the Weymouth's fancy apartment. When her son (Lola's hubby), gets home from work, things come to a head. Mother-in-law Lucille gives him an ultimatum over Lola: "either divorce her or you won't get another cent out of me."
Well, "John" (Paul Fix) loves his wife. "We can make it without my mother's money," he says, and in order to get the bad feeling out of the air, Lola suggests they go out for a special date, "like it was the first time we met". She takes him to the club she used to work at and they're having a nice time. They've forgotten all about the fight with Lucille. But there's an inebriated guy at the bar who knows Lola from her club days. His name is "Checkers Fraley" (Harold Huber). Checkers is a small-time crook who had a crush on Lola before she was married, and apparently thought it was mutual. On this night he's drunk and trying to make a play. Husband John wants to leave and insults Checkers in the process. Checkers then kills him with a single punch, and is convicted of manslaughter.
But now Lucille is suing for custody of the Weymouth's baby (her grandson), saying Lola's an unfit mother for talking John to the nightclub where he got killed. She hates Lola to begin with, so taking away her baby is nothing but a revenge move, but the judge rules in Lucille's favor.
Lola is distraught. One day while walking, she passes an orphanage and faints from despair. The matron of the facility catches her before she hits the ground, and offers her a job because it's obvious she loves children. Lola tells the woman who she really is - her story was in all the papers. The matron says, "I knew it was you. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Five years pass. Still working at the orphanage, Lola places an ad seeking to locate her son, just to make contact. In a related consequence, Lucille's lawyer commits suicide after it's discovered he bilked all his clients of their savings, Lucille included. She's broke now, and soon dies of stress. Lola's son "Tommy" (Dickie Moore), now five years old, gets put in his Mom's orphanage by Lucille's caretaker. But because Lola has changed her name, and because she hasn't seen Tommy since he was an infant, neither of them knows they are mother and son.
Can you believe they fit all of this into a 57 minute movie? And there's more. Tommy's playmate at the orphanage is a precocious little girl named "Pat" (Cora Sue Collins), whose Dad wants to marry Lola. Their relationship is heading in that direction when Checkers escapes from prison and goes straight to the orphanage to force Lola to hide him in the attic. Tommy and Pat like to play up there, and Checkers discovers them, which leads to a hostage standoff. But that ending (while dramatic) is beside the point. Really, it's a movie against taking children from their mothers, and also a condemnation of wealthy in-laws with the power to break up families. Maybe that happened a lot during the Depression, I don't know, but as mentioned we've seen this plot at least twice now and it's from the heart. Two Big Thumbs Up for "The World Accuses." It's highly recommended and the picture is very good. ////
That's all for tonight. My blogging music is "The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other" by Van Der Graaf Generator. My late night is Handel's Rinoldo Opera. I had a long drive today, down to the Mexican Border and back, to pick up my sister, who went to Mexico for a cosmetic procedure. I hadn't been down that way since 1971, when my Dad took my brother and me to an air race at Brown Field in Chula Vista. This was my first time being right at the border. I've never been to Mexico (or out of the country at all), but it was a fun drive, if lengthy, and it was great to see all the places Dad used to take us, like Oceanside, Miramar and La Jolla. Dad was an honorary San Diegan.
I hope you are enjoying your weekend and I send you Tons of Love as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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