Wow. Musical / Comedy / Romance / Science Fiction. All at once.
To begin with, this seems like a transfer from a pretty good VHS tape. There are so many noise artifacts in the image I’m not sure if the dancers are fully naked or wearing outfits that are mostly tight.
The acting is similarly fuzzy. As is the story. This is set in the Far Distant Future Year of 1980! People have their marriages approved by the government, but our hero appeals the ruling. While waiting, he, his friend, and a man from 50 years ago become the first to fly to Mars.
There’s some excellent miniature and special effects work, though, some of which is almost as good as ❝Metropolis.❞
There’s a fun connection with ❝The She-Monster.❞ The ‘Scandinavian’ butler in that film is the ‘Comedic Lead’ in this film.
If you would like to see a film, this is one!
★★☆☆☆
It’s not often you have a bedroom farce / musical / romantic / disaster film these days. Given this came out in 1930, it’s probable that the idea was to cram as much sound into the thing as possible, so it ended up being ALL TALKING! ALL SINGING! ALL KABOOMING! as a direct result.
Speaking of 1930, it was a full seven years prior to the disaster in Manchester Township, New Jersey involving the Hindenburg (Luftschiff Zeppelin #129), so a disaster involving a dirigible was not yet seen as being in poor taste.
Yes, that’s the disaster.
Look, this movie is almost a century old, so don’t come complaining to me about ‘spoilers!’
The acting is a old-fashioned; the pacing slow; the dialogue super-sexist; and the hetero-normative, escalator style relationships are hardly au courant; but it’s a fun ride. There’s also some fun costumes that Bob Mackie would have loved.
Surprisingly good!
★★★☆☆
Witness the birth of the newspaper drama in Lewis Milestone’s 1931 classic The Front Page. This sharp, fast-paced comedy redefined journalism films and set the tone for decades of Hollywood wit. Starring Pat O’Brien and Adolphe Menjou.
Watch on #YouTube ⬇️
https://youtu.be/XgsHGa2dKgU
or #Rumble
https://rumble.com/v6zku8s-the-front-page-1931-lewis-milestones-screwball-comedy-masterpiece.html
#TheFrontPage #LewisMilestone #PatOBrien #AdolpheMenjou #ScrewballComedy #ClassicFilm #JournalismMovie #PreCodeHollywood #1930sCinema #FilmHistory
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