AH, WILDERNESS! (1935)

This delightful little film takes place on July 4th, 1906 in a quiet neighborhood in Connecticut.  Young Eric Linden is head over heels in love with his neighbor Cecilia Parker, but when he sends her some racy poems to her, her father forbids her to see him.  He's heartbroken.  At the same time his drunken uncle (Wallace Beery) comes home for the holidays and brings all kinds of comedic antics home with him.  He's also been courtin' Aline MacMahon for 18 years now and she hasn't budged an inch.  Brother Mickey Rooney blasts off a ton of fireworks in the front yard.  Father Lionel Barrymore and mother Spring Byington try to keep everything under control.

I really liked this film.  The story was fun and the acting lively, but I think the thing that I liked the absolute most was seeing Lionel Barrymore and Wallace Beery together.  As you remember, just three years earlier they were at each others throats in GRAND HOTEL, but her they are laughing and having a great time together if.  I really enjoyed that.

Quick pace, good feelings, an absolutely stunning supporting cast, I can't really think of anything not to like about AH, WILDERNESS! besides the one scene of a dog with firecrackers tied to his tail.  That was some goddamn bullshit right there. Pissed me the fuck off. Poor dog.

Animal cruelty. 

WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928)

Enjoyable dark silent film about a magician (Lon Chaney) who, when he finds out that his wife is running off with Lionel Barrymore, gets in a fight with him and ends up paralyzed from the legs down.  Later on he hears that his wife has returned with a baby girl.  Chaney rushes to go see his wife, but she's dead.  So in an act of revenge he takes the baby and believing that it's Barrymore's child, has her raised in the "lowest dive in Zanzibar" while he himself has tracked down Barrymore who is now an ivory trader.  Chaney uses his magician skills to trick the local tribesmen and with their help he's been stealing ivory from Barrymore's men.  As planned this enrages Barrymore.  Chaney then reveals that he's behind the thefts and sets up a meeting to enact his final revenge.

For being made in 1928, WEST OF ZANZIBAR is pretty grim, especially the revenge on the child aspect.  When it was first mentioned I almost thought it was gonna go an OLDBOY way, but it ended up going the MANON OF THE SPRING direction instead.  If you are interested in silent cinema then you should definitely check it out.  It's not the greatest silent ever (or even in the Top 100), the pace is kinda slow and even though the mood is dark (and this was Pre-Code), really nothing too unacceptable happens onscreen, but it's still an enjoyable film and watching Chaney's sneering while he's dragging his legs around the joint is worth the price of admission alone.  The biggest problem I had with the film was believing that Lionel Barrymore could be evil.  He's made such a powerful impression in my handsome brain with his performances in films like GRAND HOTEL and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU that it's really difficult to take him seriously as the bad guy.

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU (1938)

James Stewart is the son of an ultrawealthy banker and his ultrasnooty wife, but as love would have it James falls for Jean Arthur who has quite the eccentric family.  And even worst...they're middle-class!  Yikes!

To say that YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU is idealistic and overly sentimental is an understatement, but you know what?  I still love it and I always get a little teary-eyed during that harmonica scene.  Yea, the story is completely unbelievable, but who cares?  It's a fun time.

Quick pace, great ensemble cast full of familiar faces and happy tears.  What more could you ask for? Well, some closure on that Grandpa's IRS situation would be nice, but it never happens.  I guess his troubles just disappear kinda like they do in films of this kind.  Highly recommended.