Celebrating the Rise of Skywalker!

Today is the official release day for "Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker", and to celebrate, we're presenting a gallery of art featuring some of the great characters from the galaxy far, far away!

By Gary Erskine

By C. Love

By Colleen Doran

By Russ Manning

By Gene Day

By Gene Day



By Tony DeZuniga

By David Golding

By Randy Martinez

By Randy Martinez

By Carmine Infantino & Gene Day

By Arthur Adams

By Art Hodges

By Bill Sienkiewicz

By Admira Wijaya

By Odoro

'The Christmas Dream' brings Holiday Cheer

The Christmas Dream (1901)
Starring: Uncredited Actors
Directed by Georges Méliès
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A child dreams about more than just fairies and sugar plums on Christmas Eve.

"The Christmas Dream" consists of a series scenes of Yuletide merriment and magic, as dreamed by a child. Some of them are standard Christmas scenes (such as church bells being rung and a sumptuous feast for rich nobles being shared with a beggar). some are variations on standard Christmas imagery (angels delivering presents by dropping them down chimneys, and dancing fairies magically turning a wintery landscape into a Christmas tree), and others are just plain strange (such as some sort of weird Christmas parade with Punch & Judy-style jesters and a line of can-can dancers; I think maybe it's the 12 Days of Christmas song brought to life, but I'm not sure).

There’s no plot to speak of in this film, just lots of Christmas cheer. For a Méliès film, it's also very light on special effects, with only a couple simple (compared to what he does in other films) tick photography shots. It's not his most remarkable work, but it's worth checking out if you're in the mood for something with a different sort of Christmas Spirit. What's more, you can watch it in this very post, by clicking below!

The Milla Jovovich Quarterly

Is Milla looking into a second career as a cab driver or a rocketship pilot? We don't know, but we do know that while this may be her last appearance in these parts during the 2010s, she'll be back for the Roaring '20s Redux!

In memory of Thelma Todd

For all of 2019, I've been reviewing at least one film featuring actress Thelma Todd each week, and posting quarterly photo galleries from Todd's modeling sessions, having declared it The Year of the Hot Toddy. During this time, I have focused entirely on the legacy of entertainment this talented actress left behind, which, sadly, seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

Today is December 16, and on this day in 1935, Todd passed away. She died of carbon monoxide poisoning, in a car that was idling in a closed garage. Whether her death was accidental or homicide, we'll never know, but it has eclipsed everything else that she brought to the world. Aside from this single paragraph, we here at Shades of Gray will always remember Thelma Todd for her performances instead of her death. We will always remember her lighting up the screen with some of Hollywood's stars, such as....

William Powell and Gary Cooper

Chester Morris

Cary Grant

Buster Keaton

Bela Lugosi, Marjorie White, William Collier Jr, Ona Munson & Joe E Brown

The Year of the Hot Toddy may be coming to an end--we have two weeks and two reviews left--but plan to continue to remember Thelma Todd in 2020 and beyond. In this space, you will find reviews of her films every few weeks, plus photo galleries every few months in the Thelma Todd Quarterly post series, and we will close the coming year with post like this one highlighting the many great actors she appeared along side. We hope you'll continue to join us in celebration of this great and beautiful actress's life instead of morbidly dwelling on her death.

'The Balloonatic' doesn't exactly soar

The Balloonatic (1923)
Starring: Buster Keaton and Phyllis Haver
Directors: Buster Keaton and Eddie Kline
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A young man (Keaton) becomes stranded in the wilderness after accidentally taking off in a balloon. Will the more out-doorsy girl (Haver) he encounters be his salvation, or will she be the death of him?

"The Balloonatic" is one of Buster Keaton's lesser efforts. It's a series of loosely connected skits that sees our hero move from a bad day at the amusement park to a worse time in the wilderness, with the connecting element no so much being Buster but the far more interesting character of the young woman he first tries to put the moves on at the amusement park (and gets a black eye and bloody nose for his fresh behavior) and then later crosses her path again in the wilderness. But, as fun as Phyllis Haver's character is, the film is still feels disjointed and directionless.

This isn't the first Buster Keaton short I've watched that felt like its elements didn't quite connect properly ("The Frozen North" springs immediately to mind as the worst "offender" so far), but it is the first that felt like it lacked heart, as well as being short of elaborate stunt-based comedy that's made his other shorts so spectacular.

For a film titled "The Ballonatic", this is flick is very grounded. Most of the gags are modest, the stunts little more than prat-falls, and the balloon isn't much more than a device to get Keaton's character from the amusement park into the wilderness. While here is a little business onboard the drifting balloon, I really wanted a little more airborne dangling action, so while this colors my opinion of the movie as a whole, it's also fact that there are several routines that are predictable and therefore feel like they've gone on for too long by the time the pay-off arrives; and that Keaton already did similar bits in other films, and did them better. (The fishing routines in both "Hard Luck" and "Convict 13" are funnier than the one here.)

That said, the film does feature some very funny interactions between Keaton and Haver (with her rescuing him, and he later trying to rescue her but her ultimately having to give up on being the damsel in distress and deal with the threat on her own). Keaton also has some very funny bits with a canoe, both in and out of the water. There's just nothing as wild or exhuberant as what viewers experience in some of Keaton's other films. The relationship between Keaton and Haver's characters is one of the most interesting ones in any of Keaton's shorts, but it doesn't quite make up for the shortcomings. This isn't a bad film--it's lots of fun--but it isn't as good as Keaton's other works.

But why don't you check out this film for yourself, below. Afterwards, you can let me know if you agree or disagree with my take on it.

'Counsellor at Law' is undeservedly obscure

Counsellor at Law (1933) 
Starring: John Barrymore, Bebe Daniels, Onslow Stevens, Isabel Jewell, Melvyn Douglas, Doris Kenyon, Thelma Todd, John Hammond Dailey and Vincent Sherman
Director: William Wyler
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

George Simon (Barrymore) is a workaholic and a highly successful attorney who clawed his way up from the gutter to an office high atop New York City in the Empire State Building. Over the space of a few days, he finds his professional and personal life crumbling to ruins.

"Councellor at Law" is a swift moving drama whose origins as a stage play are clearly evident throughout its run-time. While that's usually a negative in these reviews, this film is the exception that proves the rule. All the film's action takes place within the high-cielinged, art-deco rooms that make up the Law Office of Simon & Tedesco, so the limited locations and characters moving about as if they're following blocking on a stage and arriving stage left and existing stage right isn't a distraction. It also helps that the entire cast is made up of actors who are film veterans--some of whom got their start as child actors during the silent film days, like Bebe Daniels--and therefore are all giving cinematic-oriented performances rather than being stagey and projecting and emoting so the audience in the back rows can pick up on what's going on.

John Barrymore and Bebe Daniels, the film's stars, give particularly impressive performances. They both give perfect examples of what "show, don't tell" means. Daniels' character never expresses the deep love and respect she has for her boss, Simon, nor how much it pains her to see how blind he is to the disrespect and disregard he gets from the blue-blood wife (Doris Kenyon) he loves above everything else. Bebe had, literally, grown up on movie stages and at this point had more than 20 years of film acting behind her--and it shows. Similarly, Barrymore's best moments in the film come in near-wordless scenes, and the moments in the picture when he lost all hope and is contemplating suicide are some of the most impactful bits of filmmaking I've come across. (Barrymore's acting is top-notch, but he is ably supported by a director and technical crew who understood how to take full advantage of the black and media they were working in.)

While Barrymore and Daniels shine the brightest here, the supporting cast is also spectacular. Among the most remarkable performances are Thelma Todd in a small, but important role, as one of George Simon's shady clients with a case against an even shadier person who as wronged them; Doris Kenyon as Simon's snobbish wife whose actions demonstrates that he only has value to her so long as she can exploit his love for her and desire for acceptance in her social circles, with Melvyn Douglas taking a turn as a blue-blood leech with with lecherous designs on the wife underscoring this point; and Onslow Stevens and Isabel Jewell, as Simon's law partner and the office receptionist/switchboard operator respectively, providing office and period flavor for the story.

All in all, this film is an example of all the good things works from this period has to offer. It's got cool art-deco sets (since it's set during the 1920s, probably right around the time the stock market is getting ready to crash); a flawed hero who is obviously the embodiment of the film's major social and political messages but who is the creation of writers who have enough respect for the audiences intelligence that he isn't also a funnel-shaped mouthpiece for those messages; and snappy dialogue that moves scenes from lighthearted to dramatic with blinding speed.

I only have one real complaint about this film, and it relates to an otherwise excellent sub-thread about office romances/sexual harassment that runs through the film. While one of the clerks is constantly and crudely hitting on the receptionist, a young lawyer in the firm is just as constantly and politely asking Bebe Daniels' character on dates. She constantly rebuffs him with escalating hostility, because she is increasingly distraught over how everything is falling apart for George Simon, as well as Simon's obliviousness to how he is being badly used by people he thinks are on his side. Ultimately, the young lawyer has had enough of her coldness, stops pursuing her, but he hands her a letter of some sort during their last exchange. We never find out what's in that letter, and I really wanted to know what that was because that subplot (out of the many in the film) remains unresolved at the end.

"Councellor at Law" is an undeservedly obscure film. If you appreciate early talkies, or have been impressed with John Barrymore and Bebe Daniels in other roles, you need to see it.

It's Friday the 13th...

... and that means our old pal Jason is stopping by for a visit!

Visit Bryan Baugh's website here.

Christmas is coming...

... and Esther Ralston is putting the final touches on the decorations here at Shades of Gray! Have you gotten yours up yet?

Dawn of the Photobomber

Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)
Starring: Charlie Chaplin and Henry Lehrman
Director: Henry Lehrman
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An attention-loving jerk (Chaplin) ruins the day of a film crew trying to document a boxcar race in Venice Beach.

"Kid Auto Races at Venice" is one of those films that show the more things change, the more they stay the same. Anyone who's been part of a crew trying to film or take photos when members of the public are around, has had to deal with "photobombers"--and even if you haven't had to deal with them directly, you've probably seen their handiwork in photographs and evening news stand-up sequences. Even as early as 1914, attention-whoring photobombers were common enough that Charlie Chaplin lampooned them in a delightful, mostly improved, short film.

This was Charlie Chaplin's second screen appearance, as well as the beginnings of his "Little Tramp" signature character, so those Chaplin fans who have yet to see this little film will find that checking it out below will be six, well-spent, enjoyable minutes. Everyone with an interest in filmmaking, or who has worked as a photographer, should also get a kick out of it. (The proceedings become even funnier when you realize that there are real photobombers photobombing in the background while Chaplin and Lehrman are making a film the film that's lampooning them.)

Musical Monday with Mariah Carey

Then there was that time that Mariah Caray hopped in a time machine and went on television to perform her hit Christmas song "All I Want for Christmas is You" before she was even born.

It's a Spider-Woman Sunday!

By Tradd Moore

It's winter, and Jessica Drew, the first and best Spider-Woman of them all, can't stand the cold. So she's going to leave the windswept cities of America behind...

By Frank Cho

... spread her wings and fly south...

By Bruce Timm

... to spend the next few months on a beach with her friend, Howard.

By Val Mayerik

The Last Pairing of Chase & Todd

The Nickel Nurser (1932)
Starring: Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, Geraldine Dvorak, Estelle Etterre, Hazel Howell, and Billy Gilbert
Director: Warren Doane
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A socially awkward efficiency expert (Chase) is hired to teach a millionaire's daughters (Todd, Etterre and Howell) the importance of being frugal with money. The young women endeavor to make his time with the a living Hell, partly by one of them switching places with their Swedish maid to he thinks he has an ally among the servants.

While Thelma Todd and Charley Chase were absolute comedy gold on-screen, "The Nickel Nurser" was the last film in which they would appear together. Todd had already been assigned to headlining her own own comedy series at the Hal Roach Studio, and she was also being "lent out" by boss Roach to other studios for parts in feature films. But, thankfully, she was also "lent" to Chase's production unit, so we got to enjoy Todd and Chase together one last time.

While "The Nickel Nurser" isn't the best film in which they appeared together--or even close to it--the scenes they share once again clearly display how they brought out the best in each other when performing together, and they are among the funniest and most focused in this otherwise chaotic picture.

The scenes where Chase and Todd play off each other--both of which revolve around the "trading places" game that the spoiled rich girls are playing--earned a full star by themselves, bringing this picture from a Low Six to a Low Seven rating. The problem here is mostly that the characters and their actions feel mostly unmotivated by anything we learn about them, and that the gags are mostly disconnected from any logic or thought-processes that a human being might have.

For example, why does Charley assume that he going to the household to teach small children about financial matters--and, more importantly why didn't the girls' father tell him he was going to be dealing with young women? And why is the butler so rude to Charley when he first arrives? There are funny bits related to these, but they are badly motivated. And the film opens with a truly mindless and pointless bit that has Charley crash though a door because he sat on a mouse trap. This sloppiness  in story-telling and illogic is not typical of the Charley Chase-helmed comedies I've seen so far.

Fortunately, things get better in the second half of the film, which also contains the scenes where Todd and Chase treat the audience to their fabulous on-screen chemistry. Charley gets locked out of his room, but needs to talk to Todd. She refuses to see him, because he is wearing only a night shirt... so of course he puts on a suit of armor that's on display in the hall. This is the sort of "logic" that is working in many of Chase's comedies--it makes sense as a solution to a problem, even if it's not the most practical one. The suit of armor is also one-half of the fuel for the film's insane climax--the other being a shotgun-wielding butler--and the way the action and gags build on each other in a tightly planned way is more like other Chase films than the first half of this picture, and it brings "The Nickel Nurser" to a close on a high note. (The climactic minutes of "The Nickel Nurser" feel like complete, unbridled chaos to the viewer, but that's only because the sequences are so carefully constructed and choreographed. In fact, given that Chase had co-writing credit on this film, and he would soon also be directing himself in his Roach pictures, I wonder if he stepped in and took control of this film to save it?)

While "The Nickel Nurser" isn't the best of Chase's films, nor the best he made with Thelma Todd, it's always good to see them together, and it makes this a highlight among the 15 films included in the two-disc DVD set Charley Chase at Hal Roach: The Talkies Volume Two, 1932-1933.

Christmas is coming!

And Mary Pickford has some advice that is good for you and the poor store clerks.

(Although we may have to send her to sensitivity training in the new year...)

'Redskin Blues' is full of toe-tapping music and weirdness

Redskin Blues (1932)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors
Director: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry are chased and captured by a hostile Native American warriors. Is this the end of our heroes?

Some of the cartoons starring the original "Tom & Jerry" duo are just plain awful,others have not aged well, but a few are full of funky weirdness that lasts throughout the ages and which should be as amusing to viewers now as they were 85+ years ago. "Plane Dumb", for example, is so full of racist stereotypes that it even made this indifferent-to-all-your-FeeFees GenXer cringe (although given the inexplicable and casual nature of the extreme transformation of the characters into a pair Step-n-Fetchit/Sleep-N-Eat clones, I wonder if there might not be a pop cultural reference/context/connection that's been muted by the passing decades).

When I first started watching "Redskin Blues",  which was released immediately after "Plane Dumb" in 1932, I feared I was in for another festival of racism. Our heroes are under attack by Indians, all of whom are wearing war bonnets... but this one veers off into unexpected territory, beginning with the war bonnets becoming the starting point of some surreal action and continuing straight through to an ending I am sure no viewer will see coming.

Now, I'm certain there are things in this cartoon that those out there who are looking for something to take offense at will need a fainting ouwill be clutching their pearls over, especially in the light of the cartoon's title and the fact the Native Americans are the villains of the story. (Well... as much as anyone can be a villain in this bit of nonsense.)

In the final analysis, I think there may be a couple of interesting points floating around in the madness that is "Redskin Blues"--music bridges cultural gaps, to name one--although I could also be assigning meaning to this cartoon the way I might see a wild boar riding a butterfly in one of those ink blot tests. At the very least, it's a crazy and entertaining cartoon that you can watch it right here, right now, via embedding from YouTube.

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Musical Monday with the Scatman!

Twenty years ago, on December 3, 1999, one of the greatest performers to ever grace the pop music scene. John Larkin--better known as Scatman John--left this world. He brought us a unique fusion of club music and scat, and he so loved performing that he literally worked himself to death.

Larkin had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 1998, and his doctors told him to slow down and take it easy. Instead, he recorded one final album and embarked on a 24-city tour. He collapsed on stage at the end of his final concert on November 26, 1999.

Scatman John's first single (released by Danish label Iceland Records) is about how he overcame his shybness and severe stutter through his music... and carries the message that if could perservere than so can you. Today's post is dedicated to the memory of Scatman John and the example he is for all of us.

'Palooka' is barely ring-worthy

Palooka (1934) (aka "Joe Palooka")
Starring: Jimmy Durante, Stuart Erwin, Lupe Velez, Marjorie Rambeau, William Cagney, Tom Dugan, Mary Carlisle, Robert Armstrong. and Thelma Todd
Director: Benjamin Stoloff
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Joe Palooka (Erwin), the goodhearted and terminally naive son of a legendary, retired boxer (Armstrong) is catapulted to the top of the boxing world through happenstance and the shenanigans of his shady manager and promoter, Knobby Walsh (Durante). When a sexy vamp (Velez) tempts him to party instead of train, and the true champion he defeated more through luck than skill (Cagney) engineers a rematch, things start to look pretty grim for Joe...

During the 1930s and 1940s, the "Joe Palooka" newspaper strip grew to become the most popular in the U.S. Debuting in April of 1930, it ran for almost 55 years with the final installment seeing print in November of 1984. There were several film adaptations made of the strip, of which this was the first, so it's fitting that it's an "origin tale".

Sadly, Joe Palooka (affably played by Stuart Erwin) is almost crowded out of his own movie by his manager Knobby Walsh (obnoxiously played by Jimmy Durante). All in all, this film is more a vehicle for Durante than anything else, even to the point where he even gets to ruin the film's ending with one last, incredibly lame gag.

I confess that it's a mystery to me that Durante had a long career headlining anything. He's funny in small doses, but when he gets as much screentime as he does here, he gets very, very tiresome. His dominance of this picture turns it from what could have been a pleasant little sports picture into a grating festival of pain where I found myself rooting for the "villains" (prime among them being William Cagney's Al McSwatt, and Lupe Velez's slutty, gold-digging boxing groupie) just so I could enjoy some illusion of justice being served for Durante's crimes against humanity in this picture.

As for the rest of the cast, they're all pleasant and fun to watch. The aforementioned Stuart Erwin is likable as the title character, while William Cagney is one of the more charming bad guys you're ever likely to come across in a film. One the feminine front, Marjorie Rambeau is great as Joe Palooka's tough-as-nails retired showgirl mother, while Lupe Velez is fun, as well as getting some great lines, as the career-wrecking temptress. (Guys in the audience will also appreciate a couple of gowns Velez wears that would be falling off her if not for double-sided tape. Velez obviously didn't appreciate, or perhaps trust, one of the dresses, since she was constantly figiting with it.)

Robert Armstrong and Thelma Todd have small, but crucial, roles in the film (as Joe Palooka's father and the hussy who broke up his parents' marriage), and they deliver their usual strong performances. In fact, I liked Todd so much in her small role that I wish she and Velez could have swapped parts and characters. (This is probably just a reflection of my affection for Todd as a performer, as well as my unfamiliarity with the "Palooka" comic strip.)

"Palooka" is not a film I think you should go out of your way for, unless you're a Jimmy Durante fan. It may be entertaining if you have fond memories of the comic strip, or if perhaps you simply can't get enough of sports-themed movies, but the overwhelming presence of Durante taints those aspects of the film... and there are better movies about the smalltown-boy-does-good-in-sports that are more worthy of your time.

'Be Your Age' is fun, but falters at the end

Be Your Age (1926)
Starring: Charley Chase, Lillian Leighton, Frank Brownlee, Gladys Hulette, and Oliver Hardy
Director: Leo McCarey
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A corrupt attorney (Brownlee) wants control of money inherited by a recently widowed woman (Leighton), so he forces his mild-mannered and financially desperate clerk (Chase) to romance her.

"Be Your Age" is one of those films that, although I found it funny, I felt so sorry and/or embarrassed for the characters that I was hoping for a level of justice that I suspected wouldn't be possible in a comedy. Although the film glosses over it, the attorney played by Frank Brownlee's character is a vile human being who preys on his employee's family and financial troubles, and forces that employee to play with an older woman's affections. It's hinted that the attorney has romantic feelings for the widow beyond just his love her money, but I think every action he takes indicates that the money is what he loves over everything else.

As the film unfolded, I felt sorry for Charley, because he was a good guy being forced into doing horrible things because he needed to help his family; he was being made to trick an affection-starved recently widowed woman that he loved and wanted to marry her (even though it was obvious to everyone that it was her social secretary with whom he shared a mutual attraction). Meanwhile, I felt embarrassed and very sorry for the widow whose affections were being toyed with, just so a money-hungry lawyer could gain control of her wealth; she so wanted to believe Charley was in love with her that she even ignored the obvious interest that Charley and the secretary had shown in each other at the attorney's offices.

All that said, it was amusing to watch Charley Chase play a bashful character who is forced into being a gigolo and the series of misfiring romantic gestures he tried, his final desperate attempt to avoid the target of his "affections", and his cartoonish expressions of shyness were all hilarious. It was also very emotionally satisfying to see him "man-up" and come clean with the widow about why he had been romancing her--even if was actually confessing to the wrong person. All around, Chase gives an excellent performance in this film.

The supporting cast are also great in their various parts. Frank Brownlee portrays a character the viewers will love to hate--he's nasty, but he avoids the melodramatic over-the-top emoting that even at this late date in the silent period could still be seen in the portrayal of villains. Lillian Leighton plays the role of the widow with equal parts credulousness and sympathy-evoking charm, while Gladys Hulette is cute as Chase's true love interest. Oliver Hardy rounds out the main characters as the widow's adult son, Oswald, who spends the film either confused or irritated, but he's a nice addition to the cast. It was also interesting to see Hardy doing something other than the character that soon would become his signature and one-half of his pairing with Stan Laurel.

My only problem with the film--and one that caused me to knock it down at least one full star on my ten-star rating--is the ending. It's a "happy ending" for every character in the film, even the one who, from my vantage point, deserved to be beaten senseless by the rest of the cast (or someone) and left by the side of the road. Maybe I misinterpreted the attorney's motivation and desires, but I really doubt it. I hate it when villains come out ahead in films--especially comedies--because I see enough of that in real life, so I really wish "Be Your Age" had turned out a little differently.

But why don't you watch the film yourself, and perhaps even share your take on it? I've embedded it below, via YouTube, as well as provided a link to a DVD that contains the flick and 11 other short films. (Including a modern-day silent movie pastiche directed by and starring film preservationist and historian John K. Carpenter.)

Happy Thanksgiving to my American visitors!

I wish all my American visitors and readers have a happy Thanksgiving with friends and family. And I want to say that I am thankful for the few dozen of you out there who visit regularly, whether you're American or not!

Join Harold & Bebe and go 'Back to the Woods'

Back to the Woods (1919)
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Bebe Daniels, Harry Pollard, Bud Jamison, Marie Mosquini, T. Henderson Murray, and Arthur Housman
Director: Hal Roach
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A city slicker (Lloyd) and his man-servant (Pollard) head into the country where they run into lions, bears, a flirtatious Native American girl (Mosquini), and gun-toting hillbillies (Jamison and Daniels).

"Back to the Woods" is a great short film that delivers an even mix of situational comedy and slapstick and features Harold Lloyd and Bebe Daniels not only at their best and working with some excellent material.

Lloyd plays another one of those love-starved/sex-starved characters that seems to have been his bread-and-butter during the late 1910s. His character is less obnoxious than in, for example, "Ring Up the Curtain" and "Hey There". which is good because if he had been he probably would have gotten shot by Bebe Daniels' character. Their interaction throughout the picture is mostly as equals, as they rescue each other from bears and the psychotic backwoodsman played by Bud Jamison. It makes the film more palatable to the modern viewer, I think.

The characters played by Lloyd and Daniels in this film are also more appealing that the ones they portrayed in "Off the Trolley" where they were equals who were equally interested in getting laid but also equally unpleasant personality-wise. While "Back to the Woods" has characters who are an example of opposites attract, "Off the Trolley" is one of perfect mates).
Aside from the character interplay between Lloyd and Daniels, the most amusing parts of the film are scenes involves them interacting with bears... and it appears to be Lloyd in some of the scenes with an actual bear.




The version of "Back to the Woods" I've embedded below is not only the one I found online that's the clearest visually, but the music track is also better and more thoughtful than much of what is provided for many of these films. Check it out--it's well worth 10 minutes of your day!

Christmas is coming!

Although the Thanksgiving turkeys haven't even been cooked yet,  it's also worth noting that there are only 30 days to Christmas! (Janet Leigh and her little helper encourage everyone to get the shopping and wrapping done early this year, so as to avoid stress.)

Musical Monday with Becca Krueger

It's Thankgiving later this week. Many people are traveling to visit relatives in other cities, states, and perhaps even other countries. By Friday night, many may be feeling like the characters in the song "Hit the Road, Jack" and feeling less than thankful. I hope this won't be case for most of the visitors to this blog... maybe this cover of the Ray Charles song and video from Becca Krueger and her band will be like a happy talisman that will keep everything nice and peaceful!

'Done in Oil' is a pretty good picture

Done in Oil (1934)
Starring: Patsy Kelly, Thelma Todd, and Arthur Housman
Director: Gus Meins
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A struggling artist (Todd) is both helped and hindered by her friends (Kelly and Housman) when the three concoct a scheme to manufacture an image for her as a famous French painter who's come to the U.S.

"Done in Oil" is one of the better films teaming Patsy Kelly and Thelma Todd. Instead of trying to make Kelly being loud and obnoxious funny just because she's loud and obnoxious while also subjecting viewers to clumsily executed, overlong slapstick routines, this film goes with situational comedy. In other words, this film avoids the things that drag down many of the entries in this series of films and instead takes the approach that elevated the winners. This is a movie where the comedy grows out of character interaction and satirical commentary that holds up to this day.

This is Patsy Kelly's film. Her character both creates and solves most of the film's conflicts as she bumbles through the story in a hilarious fashion. She and Housman share one of the film's most amusing scenes--where she creates a "work of art" and he critiques it as she goes. Kelly is also very funny in a bit that pokes fun at the "blackface" performances. At this point in the evolution of cinematic entertainment, the once-common practice of white actors dressing up like black people was increasingly viewed as distasteful, and Kelly doing it here is an amusing send-up of those performances. Over all, this film might contain the best performance I've seen from Kelly in this series yet.

Meanwhile, Thelma Todd serves as this picture's "straight man". She has very little to do but to be the launching pad for the antics and ridiculousness of the rest of the characters, but given how ridiculous they get, the island of stability and normality that she provides gives an important contrast. I think this is yet another testament to what a talented actress she was; she commanded the scene when she was called upon to do so, but she was equally adept at staying in the background while others took center stage. Not all actors are capable of that. (All that said, Todd did also get to show her funny side in this picture--at the very beginning as she and Kelly are ending a session where Kelly had been posing as Juliet for Todd as she painted; and toward the middle when she discovers that the ruse of her being a French painter visiting the States has attracted three actual French art critics.)

The only complaint I can mount about "Done in Oil" is that it's another entry in the series where I wish a little more care at been put into the script writing. The action in the kitchen (where Kelly and Housman are trying to stage Todd's fete with the art critics) and that in the living room (where Todd is trying to entertain and ultimately get the three Frenchmen to look at and buy her paintings) feel too disconnected. There should have been more inter-cutting between the two locations and sets of characters.

"Done in Oil" is included in the three DVD collection, together with all the other films in which Patsy Kelly and Thelma Todd shared the screen.

From the InspiroBot Zodiac...

What the Stars dictate about people born between November 22 and December 21 (according to the all-wise, all-knowing InspiroBot:

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving!

Here at Shades of Gray, we're hunting and gathering everything needed for a great Thanksgiving feast! We hope that all our visitors will be getting together with family and friends and be thankful for the time you have with one another.

Meanwhile, someone decided to remind Elizabeth Montgomery that November is National Native American Indian Heritage Month…

Musical Monday with Tom & Jerry

In 1931, the Van Beuren Studios launched the Tom and Jerry series of animated shorts. Stylistically, the series inhabits a middle-ground between Felix the Cat of the 1920s and the first few years of Betty Boop cartoons... but they often manage to be more trippy than even what those series had to offer. Tom and Jerry didn't enjoy the popularity of those other characters, though, and their adventures came to an end in 1933.

By Milton Knight

There were 26 Tom and Jerry cartoons released. The good ones are very good, but the bad ones... oh, my God! The bad ones are so bad that even the audiences of the 1930s must have been bored or perhaps even offended by them.

Right now, though, I'm going to give my thoughts on the best Tom and Jerry cartoon I've watched so far. It's embedded below, so you, too, can watch it right here. I think you'll find it will brighten you day!



Piano Tooners (1932)
Starring: Margie Hines (various voices)
Director: John Foster and George Ruffle
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A pair of zany piano tuners step up to save a opera diva's recital and end up turning it jazzy.

"Piano Tooners" is a cheerful cartoon with fun musical numbers and playful visuals that will keep you smiling from from the opening song through the grand finale where the big-boosmed diva literallyblows the roof of house. In between, we're treated to dancing, piano-playing mice, one of the weirdest music recital ever put on film, a maid transforming into a jazz singer, and Tom and Jerry's innovative piano-tuning techniques.

The experience of watching is further enlivened by a steady stream of visual side gags that come and go in the blink of an eye, as well as miscellaneous comedic nonsense that ranges from cute to risque. I was particularly amused by all the gags involving the diva, and I found the bits with the mice very cute.

But take a look for yourself. Let me know what you think of it, either here or on my Facebook page!

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'An Unseen Enemy' is a little creaky but still worth watching

The Unseen Enemy (1912)
Starring: Dorothy Gish, Lillian Gish, Grace Henderson, Elmer Booth, and Harry Carey
Director: D.W. Griffith
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Recently orphaned sisters (Gish and Gish) may be the victims of more than just robbery when their corrupt maid (Henderson) and her safe-cracking boyfriend (Carey) decide to steal part of their inheritance.

"The Unseen Enemy" was a surprising treat. While its a historically important film in that it's the debut picture of future silent movie super-stars Lillian and Dorothy Gish, it's also a thrilling little drama that has held up surprisingly well. While viewers will have to have some level of tolerance for the sometimes overly dramatic acting styles of the day, this is a film with  well-drawn characters, a multi-pronged and fast-moving plot, a nicely staged action sequence involving speeding automobiles... all of which leads to a satisfying conclusion.

Although Griffith manages to deliver a story that has everything (romance, comedy, drama) in less than 1/3rd the time it takes most modern crime dramas with stories like this, it's not a perfect effort. In addition for viewers to a need to have tolerance for some over-the-top acting at a couple points, the dramatic scene shown in the picture I've used to illustrate this piece ends up being a tad more silly than suspenseful. It starts out tense, and there's a couple moments during the sequence where Griffith manages to recapture the suspense, but there's an easy way for the girls to get out of the threatening situation they're in, and even when they try to take it, Griffin cops out and makes it so they don't succeed.

I'm aware that these days one is supposed to react with faux outrage when the names D.W. Griffith and Lillian Gish are mentioned, and we're supposed to run for the fainting couch at the merest suggestion that one should watch a film Griffith directed or one that Gish appears in--because, you know, of the terrible, TERRIBLE sin against all of humanity that is "The Birth of a Nation". However, since I have a greater interest in the art of film than I have in over-the-top hystrionics that would even embarrass Elmer Booth (the most prolific over-actor in "An Unseen Enemy"), I appreciate Griffith as a man who had a talent for cinematic storytelling and who recognized potential when he met with actors. (Sure, it would have been easy for him to see the talent in the Gish sisters, who came to him already seasoned stage actresses, but he also saw the greatness in Bessie Love who had no acting experience and was just looking for a summer job.)

I recommend you check out "An Unseen Enemy", right here and now, as I've embedded it below.

'On the Loose' is worth catching

On the Loose (1931)
Starring: Thelma Todd, ZaSu Pitts, John Loder, Claude Allister, Billy Gilbert, Otto Fries, Dorothy Layton, Oliver Hardy, and Stan Laurel
Director: Hal Roach
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A chance encounter with a rich Englishman (Loder) gives a pair of young women (Pitts and Todd) hope that they'll finally have dates that doesn't take place at the Coney Island amusement park. They hope in vain, because, to a pair of wealthy Brits, there's nothing as exciting and exotic as a trip to an American amusement park.

"On the Loose" is what more of these Thelma Todd-starring short films should have been like--more situational comedy and less slapstick. More of them should also have quiet scenes like the one featured here where we just have the lead characters chatting with one another. Little moments like that makes the characters more appealing. If more films had followed the pattern of this one--presenting a complete story with a beginning , a middle, and end, and focused on characters and situational human instead of lamely executed slapstick routines and incompletely written scripts--this could have been a great series of films instead of a mediocre one with flashes of greatness every now and then. (Patsy Kelly, who replaced ZaSu Pitts after the first batch of films, might have seemed less obnoxious if she'd had material to work with.)

As for the cast, Hal Roach (doing double-duty as both studio boss and director on this one) gets excellent performances out of everyone. Thelma Todd in particular shines in this picture, giving a nuanced performance that adds a tremendous amount of fun to every scene she's in. ZaSu Pitts delivers one of her typical, competent and amusing performances; she's also doesn't have to do any awkwardly staged, badly executed physical bits.

Meanwhile, British actors John Loder and Claude Allister provide some great moments as the gentlemen who sincerely believe they are showing their dates the greatest and most unusual time they have ever experienced. (Allister repeatedly ending up between couple Otto Fries and Dorothy Layton is a very funny running gag, and it's literal punchline is one of the film's high points.)

One thing I found fascinating about this film is the amusement park setting. I remember some of the things portrayed as being present in "fun houses" when I was a kid, as well as the shooting galleries. With some of the others, I was amazed that such rides/activities could even exist in the 1930s they appeared to be so prone to getting participants injured. I haven't been to an amusement park or traveling carnival in 25-30 years, so I found myself wondering if any of those sorts of games and activities even exist anymore. Maybe I need to get out more!

"On the Loose" is one of the films included on the two-DVD collection of all the films Thelma Todd and ZaSu Pitts co-starred in

Han Solo didn't shoot first...

... because Bebe Daniels pulled the trigger before getting out of bed!