Jon Hancock“Shall I have you measured for a robot’s helmet?”
d4doomeSearch for Beauty (1934). Crooks run a health magazine and health farm offering sex rather than health. Athletes (Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino) are employed to provide a respectable front. It’s trashy, sleazy, exploitative, smutty pre-code fun.
My review: https://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2023/06/search-for-beauty-1934.html
#precodehollywood #precodemovies #precode #classicmovies #classicmovie #1930smovie #goldenagehollywood #BusterCrabbe #IdaLupino
PeteI'm #HomeNow.
What I hadn't realised was, I booked a seat on the balcony which was actually the arm chair from an old three-piece suite we donated to #TheCurzon when they were renovating the balcony. It's been beautifully reupholstered, and is much comfier now.
So, I sat watching an old #BlackAndWhite film in the chair I used to watch old black and white films on TV when I was a child. #BusterKeaton, #HaroldLloyd, #BusterCrabbe, #Chaplin, #LaurelAndHardy.
Evil Larry
A ★★ review of Devil Riders (1943)
Buster Crabbe goes from being the romanticized Billy the Kid to the less problematic "Billy Carson" but it's basically the same character. Fuzzy St. John is still his sidekick. Outlaws want to pit Pony Express rider Billy against the stagecoach company because they want to keep the government out of the badlands (or something like that). Even though it's under an hour, it still seems padded (mainly because of the weak Tex Williams musical numbers. Tex is no Gene or Roy). Average Poverty Row time filler. Directed by Sam Newfield.
A ★★★½ review of Buck Rogers (1939)
I had seen both feature length versions (BUCK ROGERS back in middle school, PLANET OUTLAWS much much later), this is my first time watching the full serial (albeit a colorized copy). Buster Crabbe stars as Lt. Buck Rogers, capitalizing on his earlier success as Flash Gordon (ironic, since Gordon was meant as a copy of Rogers). Rogers and his buddy Buddy have been in suspended animation for 500 years. They awaken in a world ruled by tyrant Killer Kane. Buck and Buddy team with rebel Wilma Deering to enlist the help of Saturn in defeating Kane. Unlike Crabbe's FLASH GORDON,
A ★★★★ review of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton) is at it again and Flash (Buster Crabbe), Zarkov (Frank Shannon), and Dale (Carol Hughes, replacing Jean Rogers) must stop him. They seek out the help of Prince Barin (Roland Drew, HITLER: BEAST OF BERLIN boxd.it/16eYod ) and his assistant Captain Roka (Lee Powell, THE LONE RANGER serial boxd.it/IyrRF ). Unfortunately, we get some relatively bland actress playing Princess Aura instead of Priscilla Lawson. Most of Ming's dirty work is handled by evil Sonja (Anne Gwynne). With Herbert Rawlinson (BLAKE OF SCOTLAND YARD boxd.it/KAagz ). Worth checking out, though the first is still the best.