Young Katharine Hepburn appeared in her Hollywood film debut, co-starring
with John Barrymore in a serious drama entitled A Bill of Divorcement (1932). In the mid 1930s, Hepburn starred in Alice Adams (1935), famous for its painful-to-watch dinner scene. Later in the decade, she would star with Ginger Rogers in Stage Door (1937), a backstage look at prospective New York theatrical actresses living together in a boarding house.
Bette Davis emerged as a star at Warner Bros. only after being loaned out to RKO and starring as a sluttish, wicked Cockney waitress in the studio's Of Human
Bondage (1934). Snubbed for an Academy Award for her performance, she was given a consolation Oscar for Best Actress in Warners' Dangerous (1935), a lesser role.
In 1938, Bette Davis again demonstrated her star status with her portrayal of a selfish Southern belle in William Wyler's Jezebel (1938), a role she was given (again as consolation) after failing to win the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in the following year's epic, Gone With The Wind. For Davis' performance, she won her second Best Actress Award. In the following year, she starred in two of her best-known roles: in Dark Victory (1939), and The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex (1939). One of the most famous weepers of all time, King Vidor's Stella Dallas (1937) starred Barbara Stanwyck as the sacrificial-mother figure.
with John Barrymore in a serious drama entitled A Bill of Divorcement (1932). In the mid 1930s, Hepburn starred in Alice Adams (1935), famous for its painful-to-watch dinner scene. Later in the decade, she would star with Ginger Rogers in Stage Door (1937), a backstage look at prospective New York theatrical actresses living together in a boarding house.Bette Davis emerged as a star at Warner Bros. only after being loaned out to RKO and starring as a sluttish, wicked Cockney waitress in the studio's Of Human
Bondage (1934). Snubbed for an Academy Award for her performance, she was given a consolation Oscar for Best Actress in Warners' Dangerous (1935), a lesser role.In 1938, Bette Davis again demonstrated her star status with her portrayal of a selfish Southern belle in William Wyler's Jezebel (1938), a role she was given (again as consolation) after failing to win the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in the following year's epic, Gone With The Wind. For Davis' performance, she won her second Best Actress Award. In the following year, she starred in two of her best-known roles: in Dark Victory (1939), and The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex (1939). One of the most famous weepers of all time, King Vidor's Stella Dallas (1937) starred Barbara Stanwyck as the sacrificial-mother figure.
Charlie Chaplin:
Comedian-director Charlie Chaplin survived the arrival of sound by deliberately r
emaining silent in his two comedy films in the 30s. [He did not perform in a film with a speaking role until the 1940s.] One of his finest films as The Tramp, City Lights (1931) featured a soundtrack and sound effects, but its dialogue was provided by title cards. Chaplin, again as the pantomiming Little Tramp with co-star Paulette Goddard, satirized the dehumanizing industrial society in his still-silent production of Modern Times (1936) - considered the last great silent film. It had synchronized sounds (various noises) and included a nonsense song that Chaplin actually sang with gibberish. The masterful film symbolized how technology, mass production, and machinery could literally suck victims into its gears. Other silent film comedians, such as Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd did not survive into the 30s.
Comedian-director Charlie Chaplin survived the arrival of sound by deliberately r
emaining silent in his two comedy films in the 30s. [He did not perform in a film with a speaking role until the 1940s.] One of his finest films as The Tramp, City Lights (1931) featured a soundtrack and sound effects, but its dialogue was provided by title cards. Chaplin, again as the pantomiming Little Tramp with co-star Paulette Goddard, satirized the dehumanizing industrial society in his still-silent production of Modern Times (1936) - considered the last great silent film. It had synchronized sounds (various noises) and included a nonsense song that Chaplin actually sang with gibberish. The masterful film symbolized how technology, mass production, and machinery could literally suck victims into its gears. Other silent film comedians, such as Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd did not survive into the 30s.The Marx Brothers
The mad-cap, anarchic comedians, the Marx Brothers dominated the 1930s
. Their first films were made by Paramount Studios (first on the East Coast and then in Hollywood) - the Marxs' second film comedy in the sound era was Animal Crackers (1930). They also starred in Norman McLeod's Horse Feathers (1932), a take-off on college education and football. Their last film for Paramount was Leo McCarey's critically-acclaimed, surrealistic, anti-establishment, anti-war classic Duck Soup (1933) - a flop in the year of its release. Their biggest hit, their first film for MGM, was Sam Wood's classical music/comedy A Night at the Opera (1935), teaming them with the legendary Margaret Dumont. At the peak of their success, the Marx Bros. repeated their comedic formula in Sam Wood's A Day At The Races (1937), an enjoyable film - but the last of their great comedies.
The mad-cap, anarchic comedians, the Marx Brothers dominated the 1930s
. Their first films were made by Paramount Studios (first on the East Coast and then in Hollywood) - the Marxs' second film comedy in the sound era was Animal Crackers (1930). They also starred in Norman McLeod's Horse Feathers (1932), a take-off on college education and football. Their last film for Paramount was Leo McCarey's critically-acclaimed, surrealistic, anti-establishment, anti-war classic Duck Soup (1933) - a flop in the year of its release. Their biggest hit, their first film for MGM, was Sam Wood's classical music/comedy A Night at the Opera (1935), teaming them with the legendary Margaret Dumont. At the peak of their success, the Marx Bros. repeated their comedic formula in Sam Wood's A Day At The Races (1937), an enjoyable film - but the last of their great comedies.The Popular Thin Man Series:
The
first of six popular comedy/mysteries from 1934 to 1947 in The Thin Man series, based on the Dashiell Hammett novels, opened in 1934 - The Thin Man (1934). It starred the married, sophisticated detective duo William Powell and Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles), famous for their witty quips. [The two were first paired in Manhattan Melodrama (1934).] Fox Studios was responsible for launching the classic Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes mystery series, popularized in the 1940s by Universal Studios with almost a dozen further installments. The first of fourteen appearances, pairing Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, was in Fox's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) and soon after in Fox's follow-up The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939).
The
first of six popular comedy/mysteries from 1934 to 1947 in The Thin Man series, based on the Dashiell Hammett novels, opened in 1934 - The Thin Man (1934). It starred the married, sophisticated detective duo William Powell and Myrna Loy (as Nick and Nora Charles), famous for their witty quips. [The two were first paired in Manhattan Melodrama (1934).] Fox Studios was responsible for launching the classic Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes mystery series, popularized in the 1940s by Universal Studios with almost a dozen further installments. The first of fourteen appearances, pairing Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, was in Fox's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) and soon after in Fox's follow-up The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939).
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