This Modern Age

Now, this was Joan Crawford in her lovely prime.  She plays a party girl whose mother is a kept woman.  Joan falls for a Harvard man but he becomes judgmental of her mother and Joan's lifestyle.  Pauline Frederick, who plays Joan's mother, was a successful silent actress.  She was good in "Smouldering Fires."  It's nice to see she got another break.  

Female on the Beach

This movie was a mess but it entertained me.  It didn't bore me.  It was kind of campy so it's worth a watch.  Like Flamingo Road they try to make Joan Crawford out to be a sex symbol but this was 1955 way past her prime.  That's not to say that older women can't be sex symbols like Diane Lane in Unfaithful.  It's just that it's Joan Crawford.   Joan Crawford moves into a house where a woman had a tragic fall.  She even gets into a relationship with the same man that woman had.  All of a sudden it isn't seeming like an accident.  Jan Sterling is in this and I always felt that she was an underrated actress of the 50's.  She could have been used more in this movie.  

Ring-A-Ding Rhythm

This was Richard Lester's movie before Help and A Hard Day's Night.  The one thing this movie makes clear is that England really needed The Beatles.  I got it because of Helen Shapiro who does a decent job.  She's much better at singing.  It's surprising that she is 15 in this.  She sounds and looks older.  She's one of the British girls of the '60s who sometimes gets overlooked compared to Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield.  There are a couple of acts that I like, people already in my music collection, like The Paris Sisters.  I liked Gene McDaniels.  I never heard of him before so it was worth a watch to discover one new artist.  Most of the bands in this movie though are mediocre jazz bands. 

Baby Face Harrington

This was just a really adorable movie.  Harrington keeps making mistakes like stealing someone's money who he thought stole from him.  (It was on the car seat the whole time.)  He keeps getting himself in similar situations. Soon the cops think he's like some horrific criminal.  Una Merkel is cute as his socialite wife.  This movie made me laugh a number of times.  

The Gilded Lily

This movie is just ok.  Claudette Colbert plays a woman who has to choose between two men: a wealthy man (Ray Milland) and a newspaper reporter played by Fred MacMurray.  When she turns down the advances of the wealthy man the reporter publishes a piece on her as the no girl.  She becomes a celebrity and a nightclub singer (although she really can't sing.)  I felt the movie would have been better avoiding the whole celebrity plot.  It was cute but all of these leads have done better movies.  

Don't Change your Husband/The Golden Chance

This double bill of DeMille movies is all right.  Actually, I preferred The Golden Chance to Don't Change your Husband.  In Don't Change your Husband Gloria dumps her husband for her lover only to discover he's also in a relationship with the maid.  The Golden Chance tells about a poor woman who takes up a seamstress job for finances since her husband's a drunk.  Naturally, he finds out about it only a rich man played by Wallace Reid has fallen in love with her.  Then there's a blackmail plot.  I wish there was more of an audience for silent films.  More would be released.

Espionage Agent

I liked Brenda Marshall in "Strange Impersonation."  I was hoping more with this movie but it was dull.  She and her husband try to find out Nazi secrets.  No one believes Brenda is a reliable source believing her to be on the Nazi side.  (McCrea even loses his job halfway through the movie because of that.)  I'm looking forward to finding out more about Brenda Marshall but this movie wasn't worth my time.