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. 

THE BIG HOUSE (1930)

THE BIG HOUSE is, to my limited knowledge, the earliest prison film of the Sound Era and it's pretty damn good.  It opens with a drunk driver getting booked into the prison on a manslaughter wrap.  Right off the bat you can see this punk has a yellow streak a mile wide.  Due to overcrowding he's thrown into a small cell with two hardened criminals.  Time goes by and the new kid never toughens up.  One of his cellmates escapes and, because he hates the new guy so much, he plans on murdering the new guys sister, but ends up falling in love with her!  More stuff goes on, but you'll just have to see for yourself.

Modern audiences will probably find it way too dated, but if you give it a chance I think you'll enjoy it.  Wallace Beery is tough as nails as a shit-talkin' murderer and was even nominated for an Oscar for his performance.  He didn't win, but female screenwriter Frances Marion did win and ended up being the first female to win an Academy Award for writing.

Not the greatest prison film ever, but most definitely one of the most influential on the young genre.  Check it out.