MOVIE OF THE DAY: "CRIME WITHOUT PASSION" (1934)

As the Greek Furies of vengeance swoop over New York in search of their next victim -- yes, you read that right -- they land in a courtroom where Lee Gentry, the self-described "Champion of the Damned", is smoothly clearing another (guilty) client charged with murder.

But what Grant doesn't count on is eventually firing a trigger. Having accidentally shot his ex-flame Carmen Brown, Grant must now use every trick he's ever used to clear himself of murder. 

Retracing his steps, destroying some pieces of evidence while creating others, he appears to be on the verge of his greatest triumph yet -- emphasis on "appears". No wonder why the Furies are laughing like Greek hyenas.

 

Would you trust this man to clear you of
murder?

 The first of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's four picture deal with Paramount, Crime Without Passion was also Claude Rains' first movie following his talkie debut in The Invisible Man, thus allowing audiences a view of the face behind the voice. 

While his (apparent) toupee and Snidely Whiplash mustache are initially distracting -- perhaps he's supposed to look like a caricature of the archetypal sleazy lawyer -- Rains' silky delivery, matched with his undeniable talent quickly put any trepidation aside. 

"Look at me when I'm lying to you!"

Rains also convincingly plays Grant as a self-pitying cad juggling two women at once. The first, Whitney Bourne, is a high society dame, while his sidepiece, Carmen Brown, dances at a Times Square nightclub.  Carmen threatens suicide after being cut loose, leading to the chain of events that puts the crafty lawyer in jeopardy.

 

 

Never trust a lawyer you can see through.

Grant panics -- he's not used to being on this side of a crime. Only one person is smart enough to provide advice: himself, appearing in ghostly form, reminding Grant of all the ways he's gotten clients off the hook. He obviously never heard the cliche about a person acting as his own lawyer having a fool for a client. But at least Grant is a classy fool.

 

They're more interesting than pigeons flying,
overhead, that's for sure.

More than other Hecht-MacArthur pictures, Crime Without Passion is
often a technical marvel, thanks to cinematographer/associate director Lee Garmes, and  Slavko Vorkapich, who helped create the montages and remarkable prologue of the Furies wreaking havoc over Manhattan. Bizarre today, they must have been overwhelming in 1934.

MacArthur (left) and Hecht (right)
buttonhole their star.

 Crime Without Passion has a few in- jokes for observant audiences. Hecht and MacArthur share a cameo as newspaper reporters -- their original profession --  talking to Grant following another courtroom triumph. That's one way of keeping production costs down.

Helen Hayes notices the camera while
Fanny Brice seems to be scrolling through
her 1934 iPhone.

Another surprise for the sharp-eyed are Broadway stars Fanny Brice and Helen Hayes sitting in a theater lobby as Grant creates an alibi. Further in-jokes: Hayes was married to MacArthur, while Brice's "Baby Snooks" character was parodied earlier in the movie by another actor. These private japes are almost as dizzying as the montages.

 

 

What's the matter with these kids today?

  Filmed at Paramount's Long Island City studio, along with a handful of West Side location shots, Crime Without Passion drags only when the character of Carmen Brown is onscreen, due to her syrupy dialogue, and the fact that her portrayer, Margo (yes, just Margo) was only 16. Her whiplash dance routine, where it appears her head is ready to fly off, more than makes up for it.

 

 

As with the other Hecht-MacArthur Paramount productions, Crime Without Passion is unavailable on DVD but easy to find on YouTube (in a somewhat muddy print) and Ok.Ru video in far better condition here. It's one of the few movies on this blog where "you've never seen anything like it" is a compliment. Just watch out for the Furies. They take no prisoners.

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Another Hecht-MacArthur production, Soak the Rich, can be found here.

MOVIE OF THE DAY: "THE CLAIRVOYANT" (1934)

The Clairvoyant, a classy British production, takes no moral or scientific stand on the concept of telepathy. Therefore, believers and non-believers alike will find it alternately consoling and irritating. All in all, an excellent idea.

A charlatan named Maximus and his wife Rene are touring the British music halls with a phony mind-reading act. One night, a sympathetic fan named Christine channels her own real telepathic gift through Maximus, turning his life upside down. 

While his salary and acclaim rise dramatically, his personal life falls apart, as he spends more time with Christine; neither can work without the other. And in their wake lies a stream of tragedy. By the end, Maximus is on trial for the deaths of hundreds of workers in a subway tunnel disaster. They really should have seen that coming, right?

The unanswered mystery looming over the The Clairvoyant's climax is if Maximus predicted these events, or if Christine caused them to happen by using Maximus as her telepathic receiver, for her own nefarious reasons. (Did I mention that her father is the publisher of the biggest newspaper in London?) Max, just hang up on her!

"Hello all you people in radio land. I hope you haven't
made any long-term plans."

The Clairvoyant's poster promises "The Eternal Triangle," but it's more like two-and-a-half sides. While Christine is clearly enamored of Maximus, even behaving like his wife in front of Rene, the love is never returned. He might be spending time with her, but he really is working late -- honest!

The eyes have it.

Director Maurice Elvey heightens the drama with quick edits and extreme close-ups, especially of the always-wonderful Claude Rains (as Maximus). Somehow, in the pre-CGI age, Rains' eyes positively glow when he goes into a trance. Technicians had to work at these things back then. 

Modern audiences would probably find much of The Clairvoyant a bit unsubtle. I think that's the point. This movie is about a phony who discovers that he's the real deal -- and has the body count to prove it. How subtle would their reaction be? Even if their eyes didn't glow.

For its stateside release, The Clairvoyant was re-titled The Evil Mind, probably because the studio didn't think Americans knew what "clairvoyant" meant. But it can also refer to Christine. Almost all the prognostications she sends to him wind up with people killed. And I thought I use to have annoying work colleagues.

Cheer up, Rene! You finally found a guy who thinks
the same way you do.

But perhaps that's why Jane Baxter plays Christine with an almost constant look of melancholy, even when she's allegedly happy, as if she can't help but destroy not only Maximus' life, but that of complete strangers. Like I always say: Dames, hunh?

If my wife wore a coat three sizes too big,
 I'd look pretty stunned, too.

While the making of The Clairvoyant was a brief return home for Claude Rains -- it was only his fourth movie after his star-making turn in The Invisible Man -- it's American actress Fay Wray who plays his wife Rene with a proper British accent. Either Wray was box office insurance for the US release, or she came cheaper than British leading ladies.

These days, when far-fetched "based on a true story" movies are accepted without question, it's refreshing that the entirely fictional The Clairvoyant offers no answers or explanations; the viewer is left to figure out the hows and whys. Like why co-star Athole Stewart was given that first name. I mean, anybody could have predicted that he would grow up with kids yelling, "Hey, Athole!"

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MOVIE OF THE DAY: "THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD" (1934)

Let's test your knowledge of current events. Who spoke the following passionate words?

"The people must be told who their enemies are. The unseen foe who maneuver nations into war. They must know the duplicity of men who profit from human misery and death. [...] As long as munitions stay in the hands of private enterprises, war will always be around the corner."

Was this the keynote speaker at the Libertarian Party Convention? Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Senate floor? An anonymous protestor outside last year's G8 summit? 

No, no, and no. The correct answer: Claude Rains on a Universal Studios soundstage in 1934. Now do you remember?

Possessing one of the more freakish titles in moviedom, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head is an uncompromising anti-war drama, resonating today as a startlingly contemporary attack on the hellish marriage of corrupt politicians and greedy businessmen who create war purely for their own financial gain. If the "Occupy" movement ever holds a film festival, this should be the closing night attraction. 

Paris, 1916. Paul Verin  has dedicated his life to promoting world peace. Always poor, Verin is given the chance to make money when hired to write anti-war editorials for newspaper publisher Henry Dumont-- editorials for which Dumont takes credit. But as the temptation for political power and monetary riches grows, Dumont eagerly sells out to the munitions manufacturers. 

When Verin is drafted at the outbreak of World War I, Dumont is able to keep him on the front lines, edging him closer to death -- all the while putting the moves on Verin's wife, Adele. Discovering the truth about his former friend, Verin goes AWOL and, in a fit of insanity, turns the movie's metaphoric title into shocking reality. 

Never push a pacifist to the brink.

Told in flashback as Verin confesses to a lawyer, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head is a wonderful showcase for Claude Rains, only his second movie since his star-making turn in The Invisible Man. Blessed with a mellifluous voice and eyes that can register love, loathing or madness when called for, Rains gives his anti-war dialogue, as the one quoted above, a resonance that holds up even better today than it did in 1934. A committed pacifist, Verin proclaims, "Give me a child's mind for the first 12 years of his life and I'll sweep war from the face of the earth." As my daughter can affirm, my goals are a little different. Give me a child's mind and I'll fill it with old movies, unfunny jokes, and the collected writings of Charles Krauthammer. I think we know who'll turn out better.

"At least I'm taller than your husband."

As usual, nobody plays the slick villain like Lionel Atwill as the murderously duplicitous Henry Dumont. Bad enough he uses Adele to guilt-trip her husband in trying to sell out his beliefs for financial gain. Dumont then tries to get Verin killed on the battlefront so he can have his way with her. But what's really shocking is how easily Dumont, an expert at mob psychology, manipulates the idiot masses into following whatever line he happens to be peddling. Call it the Rush Limbaugh Syndrome.

Like Men Must Fight from a year earlier, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head blames cynical power brokers for wars. The difference is, however, here we actually see those madmen plotting their war aboard a luxury liner. One of them, the manufacturer of chemical gas, appears to have second thoughts:

BUSINESSMAN #1: I hate to think of all that blood being spilled. My dear countrymen -- I  wonder just what is the duty of patriotism?
BUSINESSMAN #2: And you're the man who makes liquid fire!
BUSINESSMAN #1: Well, what good is it? The peace conference banned it.
BUSINESSMAN #3: Oh, they'll forget all their silly scruples once the first shot's fired!
  

Chess game of the damned.

Their silly scruples. Things get uglier when we learn that these "patriotic" men are selling weapons to the enemy through a dummy corporation in Switzerland. To their disappointment, they realize this could lead to the destruction of their munitions plants with their own weapons -- and, unfortunately for them, end the war. It's up to Henry Dumont -- who has sold each of them them stock in his publishing company at 5,000 francs a share -- to give some sage advice regarding "a general understanding to conserve all our natural resources." In other words, he explains, corner the market on oil and drive up the price, creating a handsome profit for all concerned. No way this really happens, right?

I first saw The Man Who Reclaimed His Head when it was run as part of a horror movie show on local television. I'd never heard of it, but the title, cast, and year of production certainly sounded promising. Around the 20-minute mark, I realized I was watching something far different than what was promised. As the years passed, I looked out for it again, but it seemed to have disappeared into movie heaven. Only a week ago -- after roughly 40 years -- I discovered it on YouTube. 

Having become more cynically aware to the ways of the world, I was stunned to see how ruthlessly, depressingly honest a movie it was. And although there isn't a werewolf, invisible man or electrically-revived corpse in its 82-minute running time, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head truly is a horror movie -- one that continues to play out in real life every day.

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To read about Men Must Fight, click here.