Jane Barnes Movies
- 1995
He is one of the most influential and innovative photographers in the fashion industry and one of the first to elevate his craft into a true art, dominated more by the artist's vision than the subject itself. This documentary tells his story. With an eclectic blend of biographical information, his work, and his commentary upon it, the film tells his story in a non-linear way. Highlights include his description of how he got a teen-age Natassja Kinski to pose naked with a large python crawling across her body and his memory of the night Marilyn Monroe came to his place and danced for hours while he photographed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1937
One of the advantages of holding an MGM stock-company contract in the 1930s was the occasional opportunity to star in one of the studio's "B"-pictures. Maltese character actor Joseph Calleia, hitherto confined to supporting villainy, was permitted to play the hero in MGM's Man of the People. "Drawn from today's headlines," the story dealt with small-town political corruption. Unable to make a living as a lawyer, Italian-born Jack Mareno (Calleia) sells out to a high-pressure political machine. Elevated to the position of assistant District Attorney, Mareno is expected to "play ball" with the local racketeers. Finally rebelling against this set-up, Mareno turns his back on his dirty-handed sponsors and runs for office as an independent. Designed as just another programmer, Man of the People turned out to be something rather special, thanks in no small part to the heartfelt performance by star Joseph Calleia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Calleia, Florence Rice, (more)
A Star is Born came into being when producer David O. Selznick decided to tell a "true behind-the-scenes" story of Hollywood. The truth, of course, was filtered a bit for box-office purposes, although Selznick and an army of screenwriters based much of their script on actual people and events. Janet Gaynor stars as Esther Blodgett, the small-town girl who dreams of Hollywood stardom, a role later played by both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in the 1954 and 1976 remakes. Jeered at by most of her family, Esther finds an ally in her crusty old grandma (May Robson), who admires the girl's "pioneer spirit" and bankrolls Esther's trip to Tinseltown. On arrival, Esther heads straight to Central Casting, where a world-weary receptionist (Peggy Wood), trying to let the girl down gently, tells her that her chances for stardom are about one in a thousand. "Maybe I'll be that one!" replies Esther defiantly. Months pass: through the intervention of her best friend, assistant director Danny McGuire (Andy Devine), Esther gets a waitressing job at an upscale Hollywood party. Her efforts to "audition" for the guests are met with quizzical stares, but she manages to impress Norman Maine (Fredric March), the alcoholic matinee idol later played by James Mason and Kris Kristofferson. Esther gets her first big break in Norman's next picture and a marriage proposal from the smitten Mr. Maine. It's a hit, but as Esther (now named Vicki)'s star ascends, Norman's popularity plummets due to a string of lousy pictures and an ongoing alcohol problem. The film won Academy Awards for director William Wellman and Robert Carson in the "original story" category and for W. Howard Greene's glistening Technicolor cinematography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janet Gaynor, Fredric March, (more)
The MGM historical "spectacular" San Francisco was allegedly based on a three-sentence synopsis, submitted verbally to producer B.F. Zeidman by studio troubleshooter Bob Hopkins. The story begins on the Barbary Coast on New Year's Eve, 1906, as rakish but likeable political boss Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) hires demure young singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald) to perform at his rowdy Paradise gambling house. Local priest Father Mullin (Spencer Tracy), Blackie's best friend, disapproves of the exploitation of the lovely Mary, feeling that she's suited for classier surroundings. Jack Hurley (Jack Holt), Nob Hill socialite and Blackie's political rival, agrees with Father Mullin and offers the girl the opportunity to sing with the San Francisco Opera. Blackie, who's fallen in love with Mary but won't admit it to himself, jealously holds on to her contract, forcing Mary to walk out on him. For the rest of the film, Mary is torn between the "respectable" lifestyle offered her by Hurley and the baser creature comforts provided by Blackie. It looks for a while that Hurley has won out, but fate takes a hand in the form of the devastating San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906 (a special effects tour de force for art directors Arnold Gillespie and his uncredited associate James Basevi). Hurley is killed in the holocaust, while Blackie, desperately searching for Mary in the rubble, at long last finds religion and prays to God for his sweetheart's salvation. At the end, an unidentified bit player shouts defiantly "We'll build a new San Francisco!" -- and by golly, they do! The Hollywood censors were not so much bothered by the sexual subtext of San Francisco or its harrowing earthquake finale as they were by a scene in which Father Mullin is knocked down by an unrepentant Blackie. To "purify" this potentially blasphemous sequence, screenwriter Anita Loos quickly added an earlier scene in which Mullin and Blackie, both dressed in turtleneck sweaters, genially duke it out at an exercise gym, whereupon the priest cold-cocks Blackie with the greatest of ease. By establishing that Mullin could have punched out Blackie, but chooses not to in the controversial later scene, not only allows that scene to pass, but also strengthened the priest's character. San Francisco proved to be one of MGM's biggest hits, remaining in almost constant reissue for the next three decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, (more)
- 1935
In a rare starring role, character comedian Edward Everett Horton is top-billed in Your Uncle Dudley. Horton is a civic-minded patsy who puts his own interests on the back burner so that he can help out his neighbors. In the true spirit of "No good deed goes unpunished," all Horton has to show for his efforts is a wallful of paper citations and a mountain of debts. Realizing that he has been taken advantage of by the less honest townsfolk, Horton does a "worm turns" scene, though he continues to extend generosity for the truly deserving. Your Uncle Dudley was based on a stage play by Howard Lindsay and Bertrand Robinson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lois Wilson, John McGuire, (more)
- 1935
Gene Autry's second starring western for Republic was the well-named Melody Trail. Unlike Autry's inaugural vehicle Tumbling Tumbleweeds, which offered an equal blend of action and music, this second effort is virtually all music, with occasional comedy relief from Smiley Burnette. The story finally takes flight when a baby left in Gene's care is kidnapped, and travelling gypsy Frantz (Willy Castello) is suspected. All turns out okay, albeit with a minimum of fisticuffs and gunplay. The film's mass-wedding finale (an intriguing precursor to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) features several lovely starlets who figure significantly in the storyline, the most prominent of whom is 18-year-old Ann Rutherford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, (more)
- 1935
Unlike most low-budget B-Westerns, several of Hoot Gibson's vehicles from Diversion Pictures were based on a literary source, in this case a pulp fiction novel by Colonel George B. Rodney. Helmed by former Our Gang director Robert McGowan, Frontier Justice presented Gibson as Brent Halston, a carefree cowboy whose father (Joseph W. Girard), a cattle rancher, has been committed to an insane asylum by a certain Dr. Close (Lloyd Ingraham). But as Brent discovers, the good doctor is operating as an agent for unscrupulous sheep owner Gilbert Ware (Dick Cramer), a megalomaniac who wants to drive the cattle ranchers off their lands. When Brent tries to interfere, Ware's even more unscrupulous partner John Wilton (Roger Williams) has him framed in the killing of a sheep farmer (Silver Tip Baker). About to be lynched by the vengeful sheep owners, Brent makes his escape, taking Ware hostage. Naturally, everything is neatly settled in the end when Wilton is exposed as the real murderer. Photographed by the veteran Paul Ivano, who had functioned as cinematographer on such silents as The Four Men of the Apocalypse (1921) and the notorious but handsomely mounted Queen Kelly) (1929), Frontier Justice was certainly better-looking than most inexpensive genre films, a fact that boded well for the remainder of Gibson's six Westerns for Diversion Pictures. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Jane Barnes, (more)
- 1934
Dedicated to "the memory of Florence Nightingale," White Parade might have been better dedicated to the cliche experts at Fox Studios who put this highly entertaining, highly predictable film together. The film chronicles the probationary period of a new team of student nurses in a midwestern hospital. Loretta Young has top billing, so we know she'll make first cut. In fact, Young is so magnificent she practically walks on water; even when offered the opportunity of marrying wealthy John Boles, she chooses to devote her life to nursing. Adapted from a novel by Ryan James, The White Parade managed to cop an Academy Award Nomination for Best Picture of 1934--one of eleven nominees that lost to It Happened One Night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Loretta Young, John Boles, (more)
- 1934
Playboy novelist Michael Shawn's (Warren William) chickens come home to roost in Such Women are Dangerous. Accused of murder, Shawn desperately searches for character witnesses to help him out in court. Alas, all of his former lovers are in a vindictive mood, and all hope to see Shawn fry for what he's done to them. By the time he's been raked over the coals by ambitious DA Stanley (Irving Pichel), Shawn himself believes that he's guilty! The film is ostensibly an object lesson in how a guiltless man can be condemned by a combination of circumstantial evidence and lack of character, but it's doubtful that this theory would hold water in the light of some of the more spectacular real-life murder cases of the 1990s. Such Women are Dangerous is adapted from Odd Thursday, a novel by Vera Caspary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Baxter, Rosemary Ames, (more)
