OVP: The Invisible Woman (1940)

Film: The Invisible Woman (1940)

Stars: Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charles Ruggles

Director: A. Edward Sutherland

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Special Effects)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

This month we are devoting all of our classic film reviews to Golden Age Horror films that I saw for the first time this year.  If you want to take a look at past titles (from this and other seasons of this series), look at the bottom of the page for links.

Horror in the 1930's & 40's has a tendency to read as a bit comical to modern audiences.  Because we are so used to horror being genuinely scary, anything that falls short of that is camp.  This is how films like Young Frankenstein are so successful in retrospect-because they feed off of this unintentional humor that read (at the time) as straight drama.  As the genre continued, though, we did see even contemporaneously movies acknowledging this (Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man have characters that are so wry it is clearly intentional), though today's film, The Invisible Woman, takes it a step further; this is, despite being billed above as a "horror" film (it does feature an "invisible woman," a monster trope from Universal during the era), not a horror picture but a romantic-comedy.  Though it has a supernatural element, no one could be scared by what is happening in The Invisible Woman, but instead I'm glad to report they can be charmed by it, as The Invisible Woman is sweet & fun.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film starts with Richard Russell (Howard), a wealthy attorney, funding his friend Professor Gibbs (Barrymore) and his experiments in making people invisible.  Russell is potentially going to cut Gibbs off, so Gibbs has to find a subject for his invisibility for free.  He gets that in Kitty Carroll (Bruce), a beautiful model who wants to enact revenge on her boss who treats his employees like garbage. Professor Gibbs' experiment is successful, and Kitty goes & haunts her old boss (who changes his ways).  In the process, though, we learn of a side effect of Kitty's experiment-while she can return to normal, if she drinks alcohol she'll go invisible again, giving her less of a science experiment and more of a superpower.  There's a side story involving a group of criminals trying to steal Gibbs' machine to use for their criminal endeavors, but the main story is Kitty learning to love herself & fall in love with Russell, a playboy who meets his match in the sassy Bruce.

The film's plot reads as a standard-issue romantic comedy with a twist, and that's what it is.  Though Bruce is onscreen only for a handful of sequences (unlike most of the "invisible" movies, we actually get to see her visibly for chunks of the picture), her voice work is excellent, and I thought she was fun with both Barrymore & Howard.  Barrymore, at this point in his career his stardom a shell of his former glory, is the best part as a doddering eccentric, playing him less mad and more quirky.  Barrymore is an actor that I really enjoy, and despite alcoholism ravishing him of his movie star looks & shortening his life, his talent still shines here with a showy, fun part.  The movie's side plot with the criminals feels a bit tacked-on and underwritten, but the central trio work well together & it's fun.

The film was cited for one Oscar, a rarity among the Universal Monster movies, for Best Special Effects.  I honestly thought the invisibility tricks were impressive.  The best of the bunch would be when Bruce (or whomever is her stand-in her) throws a live cat at another actor, convincingly selling that the (real) cat is floating in the air before getting a rude surprise.  The actual invisibility scenes are a bit of a "turning the lights off & on" but with the sets being kind of playful, you won't really mind.  All-in-all, this is one of the better monster sequels even if it can't possibly be billed as horror.

Past Horror Month Reviews (Listed Chronologically): The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love, The Raven, Werewolf of London, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Mummy's Hand, The Wolf Man, Cat People, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Tomb, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, The House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Blob, The Masque of the Red Death

Twentieth Century (1934)

Film: Twentieth Century (1934)

Stars: John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns

Director: Howard Hawks

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2021 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different one Alfred Hitchcock's Leading Ladies.  This month, our focus is on Carole Lombard-click here to learn more about Ms. Lombard (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Last week we discussed the earliest stages of Carole Lombard's career, when she was being romanced on (but not yet off) screen by Clark Gable, and was still married to William Powell, which brought her an amount of celebrity that she wasn't really earning onscreen.  In 1934, though, she made what seemed immediately after as a mistake-she turned down the lead role in It Happened One Night, which would eventually go to Claudette Colbert, and win her an Oscar (to be fair to Lombard here, Loretta Young also turned down the part & Clark Gable wasn't thrilled about doing it either...no one knew they were headed to immortality on that film's set).  Instead, she made a couple of modest hits (Bolero, We're Not Dressing), and then was put in Twentieth Century.  This movie would not be a hit-it was a bit of a flop with audiences...but it would completely change the course of Carole Lombard's career.

(Spoilers Ahead) Twentieth Century is about a cruel, bombastic (but genius) director named Oscar Jaffe (Barrymore), who has been tasked with making a lingerie model named Mildred Plotka (renamed Lily Garland, and played by Lombard) into a stage star.  Though he basically tortures her (this movie rings a lot differently in the #MeToo era, though in the film his treatment of Lily is played for laughs), it works.  Lily is splendid in the show, with a knack for the stage, and they continue working together in a series of huge hits.  Lily, though, dumps Oscar once she's outgrown him personally & professionally, and moves to Hollywood achieving stardom.  Oscar, though, can't live without his muse, and produces a string of flops, and at one point to stave off his collectors, disguises himself aboard the Twentieth Century Limited, a train headed from Chicago to NYC (and back again).  Lily is on the train, and though she pities Oscar to a degree, she doesn't want to work with him again, and is going to make a play with his rival.  Oscar, though, tricks Lily in the closing scenes of the play into thinking he's dying, and making her sign a contract with him while she's overcome with emotion...and then he uncovers his charade, but she's already under contract.  The film ends with the two of them reunited, in their own version of tortured codependence.

Twentieth Century sounds meaner than it is (that description makes it sound like Lily is a constant victim, which while she is certainly the injured of the two, the movie doesn't really come across that way).  The film is such fun (though it's worth noting, it's not It Happened One Night).  Most of the joy from the film doesn't come from the script (which is wry, but not breaking a lot of ground), but from the two leads.  Barrymore, in particular, is sensational as Oscar Jaffe.  He plays him with comic genius, overacting (blissfully) and riding this character til dawn.  If you've read this blog for a while you know I have a fondness for John Barrymore (I also thought he was marvelous in Dinner at Eight), though Twentieth Century was the end-of-the-road for the troubled actor as a regular leading man.  Due to his alcoholism, he'd basically be unemployable soon, playing bit parts in film until his death from cirrhosis at the age of 60 in 1942 (despite his vast age difference & poor health even when they were filming he would outlive his Twentieth Century leading lady by a few months).  But more on that in a few weeks.

While Barrymore is the revelation in this cast, Lombard is nearly his equal.  To this point in her career she'd never shown the incredible knack for screwball comedy she displays here, not just eating into the one-liners, but also the physical comedy bits in the film as well.  While audiences didn't warm to this movie, critics did, and noted how Lombard seemed at-ease in a part like this, and was soon being cast in similar films.  Just two years later, she'd be an Oscar nominee & have graduated from leading lady to one of the most famous women in America...a status she almost certainly wouldn't have reached without this gem.

Dinner at Eight (1933)

Film: Dinner at Eight (1933)
Stars: Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, Billie Burke, Madge Evans, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, John Barrymore
Director: George Cukor
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

In a quest to prepare for 31 Days of Oscar, I have been trying to quickly and efficiently view as many movies from my DVR as is physically possible (every year this is an uphill battle, every year one that I lose).  As a result, you'll be seeing a lot of obscure Oscar nominees on this blog in the coming weeks as I progress through the Oscar Viewing Project & 31 Days in a fight to see what day I actually run out of space.  Weirdly, though the first film that I decided to watch lounging on my DVR wasn't an Oscar nominee, but simply a movie that I have long wanted to see, and in a signficant moment for my cinematic viewing career, the first time I have ever seen a Jean Harlow picture.

(Spoilers Ahead) Dinner at Eight is the sort of movie that doesn't get made today, and quite frankly doesn't really have an obvious evolutionary successor in movies today either.  An all-star film, it is littered with fine theatrical performers (the Barrymores, Dressler, Burke), and is the sort of drama that plays largely like a comedy because everyone is so eloquent.  Centered around a dinner party that Millicent Jordan (Burke) is throwing for a noble couple that are visiting from England, we see all of her guests, as well as her ailing husband Oliver (Lionel Barrymore), encounter struggles during the height of the depression.  It's a very serious film when taken on the surface, but these actors are so eloquent and frequently witty (particularly Dressler & Harlow) that there's enough comic relief so you'll be forgiven into thinking that it's a dramedy of sorts.

Honestly-it's a very well-done movie, one that I'm surprised didn't get more Oscar love (in an era where supporting performances were crowned it's impossible to think that some of these people wouldn't have been nominees), particularly considering it's nearly the equal of Grand Hotel the previous year (it's been a few years, but I think I favor the Best Picture winner just slightly over this one).  The film is less a cohesive plot and more a series of acting duets between the principle players, as we learn more about them.  It's very well-written, and you leave without a proper villain (Wallace Beery comes the closest as a gruff businessman, but even he gives an understanding of wanting to stick it to people who simply didn't want his success because of where he grew up), but instead a sharp understanding of these characters.  It's surprisingly thorough-no one goes into cartoon-mode, and there's more than room for such a fare (I suspect on the stage that actors would lean a bit more heavily into their stereotypes).

Look at the way that Harlow finds a courage in her trophy wife as the film progresses, essentially blackmailing her husband into a better life for both of them.  Dressler, who can be truly hammy, shows her cards early and plays her Carlotta as a woman who is scared not only of being broke, but perhaps more so of being a joke, someone who was taken seriously and is now on the outskirts of her life.  Perhaps best of all is John Barrymore, who courageously plays an actor who is starting to be washed-up and perhaps being outdone by those around him who were more talented than handsome.  It's a small part (in one of several ironies in the film, he's an actor complaining about how small his part in a play is), and one that borrows quite a bit from reality (Barrymore's struggles with booze, age, and his then faltering matinee idol status feels a bit reality-inspiring-art), but it's terrific work.  His final scenes are harrowing, as we realize that he can't bounce back to who he once was, and to paraphrase The Hours, "he has to die so the others can appreciate life more."  The film itself is a jewel, and while it's hard to adjust to melodrama when you're not used to it, once you do you find that this film's "forgotten classic" status is more than earned.