I haven’t seen this one in for ever and it is chock full of plot: pirates, typhoon, jewel thieves, unrequited love, rekindled lost love, duty, redemption, Gable struggling between what he wants and what he needs…and the wonderful wardrobe malfunction by Harlow that remains in the picture. What more can I ask of Tay Garnett’s 1935 hit: “CHINA SEAS”?
I’ve got a twisted pretzel in “THE FLAME WITHIN.” In this film, Harding does not want to marry. Big deal you say? Yeah, me too. But this is the 30’s and every woman wants to be married. Or NEEDS to be married. In fact it’s like there’s some kinda Law on the books that says every woman HAS to be married in the Continental United States.
Hi – I started off my sixth month of blogging by telling you my favorite films made in the 1930’s. I don’t know if you had a chance to go through it because it was lot of information. But if you did, thank you, and you could compare your list to mine. ( How crazy off am I? ) To do this list, I pulled out my old Pyramid publishing book which I bought back in 1978. I skimmed through it to make sure I wasn’t missing anything and came up with my final tally. Below are my ten tip top top ten favorite films for each year of the 1930’s.
Skimpy. I know. I have seen twenty-one films this year including “Dangerous” “The Flame Within” “Ruggles of Red Gap” “Mutiny on the Bounty” “Magnificent Obession” etc.etc. But these are the four I can watch repeatedly.
( Garbo in “Anna Karenina” – The girl can’t catch a break )
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CineMaven's ESSAYS from the COUCH 