The Shining Hour (1938)

MGM films are easily distinguished by their production values, which were top in the industry. If you turn the TV on midway through an MGM movie, you are likely to know it is an MGM movie just by the quality of the set design, the music, the costumes, the cinematography, and of course the "big name" actors. 

The Shining Hour had all of the above - except for a quality script. Unfortunately, this brought the whole film down to a Columbia "B" movie status. As entertaining as the film was, the plot seemed so absurd mid-way through that it turned into a comedy - at least for the two of us watching it. We had a grand laugh! But I doubt this was the intention of Keith Winter's original stage play. 

The story around The Shining Hour is a simple love triangle turned into a rectangle. Henry Linden (Melyn Douglas) comes from a socially prominent Wisconsin farming family. On a trip to New York City, he falls in love with dancer Olivia Riley (Joan Crawford) and asks her to marry him. Henry's brother David (Robert Young) reads about their engagement in the newspaper and flies to New York City hoping to stop the "impossible" marriage. He hadn't met Olivia yet, but he already knew she didn't belong in the Linden family. Hrumph! David questions her integrity so she slaps him in the face and marries Henry. 

When the newlyweds arrive at the grand Linden estate, they are greeted by David and his wife Judy (Margaret Sullavan) but not by Hannah (Fay Bainter), Henry and David's sister, because she, too, was against the "impossible" marriage. These Lindens are making a bad impression as wealthy country snobs. 

Judy takes to Olivia instantly and the two become fast friends and Olivia tries her best to become one of the proud Lindens.... in fact, she fits like a glove. Hannah begins to tolerate her and all seems to be going well until David suddenly has a change of heart and falls in love with Olivia! She tries to resist his charm but he continues to pursue her, even during the party when Henry and Olivia are celebrating the completion of their big new beautiful house. Judy suspects as much but Henry is blissfully unaware of any complications until Olivia begs him to take her away on a long honeymoon - that very night.

This seems to be the crutch of the problem with the Lindens. They greet one another during the day like they never slept together the night before. All of their romantic entanglements seem like they are being played out at a college campus and not one of them is really married. Throughout the second half of the film, Olivia repeatedly says she is "no good" and does not deserve the love of Henry since she never really loved him when she married him, however, it is Olivia that is making the only effort to being a loving spouse. Henry continually leaves her alone as though he were a travelling salesman... as a gentleman farmer what could he possibly be doing on a farm so late at night? David is even more aloof towards Judy. He wears dinner whites in the evening and riding clothes during the day so, unlike Henry, I doubt he works on the farm and yet he barely talks to Judy. 

Sadly, Hannah is the worst of the lot. Towards the end of the film, she goes into a jealous rage and burns Henry's new house down. Director Frank Borzage captures this scene well and we see Fay Bainter dressed in black, her hair all tussled, and laughing like a mad woman. The next scene, Henry and David still have ash on their face from putting out the fire and Hannah is back to being primly dressed and calmly serving them a cup of coffee. It is these abrupt transitions that no doubt led critic Bosley Crowther to calling the film "a hackneyed story of a definitely inferior grade."

The hackneyed transitions could have been fixed if the runtime was just a bit longer. The Shining Hour is only 76 minutes long and that seems much too short for such a dramatic script - even the Andy Hardy films ran over 80 minutes! Audiences thought little of the film as well and MGM ended up swallowing a loss of over $137,000. Joan Crawford had suggested the play as a property worth buying so Louis B. Mayer was probably cross with her. 

After reading this review you may be thinking "Is this film even worth watching?" and the answer to that is, yes, definitely! Joan Crawford and Melvyn Douglas are wonderful in the movie, it's a top-notch production (except for the preposterous story), the Cedric Gibbons sets are gorgeous, the setting is scenic, you'll get to see Joan Crawford dance, and the ending is amusing, so why not watch it? 

Nugget Reviews - 23

Johannisnacht ( 1956 )  14k 

An opera singer divorces her husband shortly after an extended performing tour in America. Years later, she returns to Germany to see her daughter whom her husband hid away in a chalet in the valley. Willy Birgel, Hertha Feiler, Erik Schumann, Sonja Sutter, Wolfgang Grunner. MGM Pictures. Directed by Harald Reinl.

A sweet romance from Delos-Film studios. Austrian-born Hertha Feiler, who often starred in comedies with her husband Heinz Ruhmann, is given a decent dramatic part here and the location filming of this "Heimatfilm" is beautiful. There is also a nice sub-romance going on between Erik Schumann and Sonja Sutter. 

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A Royal Scandal ( 1945 ) Elect.

A young idealistic lieutenant warns Catherine the Great of treachery within her court. She finds his loyalty and good looks very appealing and makes him her boy-toy, much to the chagrin of his true love, Queen Catherine's lady-in-waiting, Anna. Tallulah Bankhead, Charles Coburn, Anne Baxter, William Eythe, Vincent Price, Mischa Auer. 20th Century Fox Pictures. Directed by Otto Preminger and Ernst Lubitsch.

Ernst Lubitsch was a master at creating frothy comedies. He reached his prime in the early 1930s with such classics as Monte Carlo, The Smiling Lieutenant, One Hour with You and Ninotchka, but even he couldn't save this film from Preminger's heavy-handed direction. While there were a few amusing sequences in A Royal Scandal, overall the comedy seemed force. Tallulah Bankhead gave a grand performance as Catherine the Great, with some excellent support from character actors Charles Coburn and Sig Ruman, in spite of the circumstances.

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King Richard and the Crusaders ( 1954 ) 14k.

While encamped in the Holy Land, two noblemen plot to murder Richard the Lionheart and make his death appear to be from a Saracen attack, but his loyal knight Sir Kenneth discovers the plan. Rex Harrison, Laurence Harvey, George Sanders, Virginia Mayo, Robert Douglas. Warner Brothers. Directed by David Butler. 

Rex Harrison and Laurence Harvey give engrossing performances in this otherwise run-of-the-mill Crusades adventure, based upon Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Talisman". George Sanders makes an unconvincing King Richard, and Virginia Mayo's presence serves merely as eye-candy, but the Technicolor is beautiful and it's fun watching Rex Harrison tackle an Arab role.

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Scaramouche ( 1923 ) Elect.

A quiet French lawyer becomes a revolutionary after a nobleman kills his friend in a duel. Ramon Navarro, Alice Terry, Lewis Stone, Julia Swayne Gordon. Metro Pictures. Directed by Rex Ingram.

Production standards were high in this Rex Ingram silent classic, but the film fails to capture the excitement of Rafael Sabatini's novel and lingers on a bit too long. The zest that Stewart Granger brought to the part of Andre Moreau in the 1952 remake was non-existent in Novarro's portrayal. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford would have been ideal casting choices instead. However, the French Revolution sequences at the climax were truly hair-raising.

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The Toy Wife ( 1938 ) 14k

A flirtatious and frivolous Southern belle marries her sister's serious-minded fiancee. He later comes to regret not having found himself a more sensible wife. Luise Rainer, Melvyn Douglas, Barbara O'Neil, Robert Young, Alma Kruger. MGM Pictures. Directed by Richard Thorpe.

Luise Rainer was fresh from her Oscar-winning performance in The Good Earth when she starred in The Toy Wife, MGM's consolation project after losing the book rights to Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind". This southern belle story put the spotlight on Rainer, allowing her - as "Frou-Frou" - to swoosh her hoop skirts around New Orleans and playfully toy with the heart-strings of not one, but two, gentlemen. It makes for engrossing soap. Barbara O'Neil earned the role of Ellen ( Scarlett's mother ) in Gone with the Wind, thanks to her performance in this film as Frou-Frou's sister. 

Winter Sports in Films of the 1930s and 1940s

Whether you were born in a warm climate or the heart of the Arctic itself, the appeal of winter sports is undeniable. The crisp cold air, the thrill of the high-speeds, the beauty of the surrounding scenery capped off with the enjoyment of warming up with a cup of hot cocoa while sitting beside a roaring fire is one of the best pleasures to be had in winter. And if you are lucky enough to have a roasted sweet-potato near by, grab it. 

However, if there are palm trees blowing gently in the breeze outside your window, or so much snow has fallen that you can't shovel your way out of the house, then the next best thing to participating in winter sports is watching others romp in the snow. 

So grab a cola, find some pretty brunettes ( or a Jerry Colonna ) to sit beside and enjoy some good old-fashioned winter fun courtesy of Hollywood's dream factory. 

SKATING

All of the popular stars of the 1930s and 1940s strapped on a pair of skates and hit the ice ( sometimes the hard way ) for at least one film. Sonja Henie, the most famous ice skater of the 1930s starred in ten productions for 20th Century Fox during her reign as the studio's ice queen. You can see her twirl in dizzying circles in One in a Million ( 1936 ), Happy Landing ( 1938 ), Second Fiddle ( 1939 ) and Wintertime ( 1943 ) where she starred opposite such glamour boys as Don Ameche and Cesar Romero.

Don't go expecting any triple-salchows however. While Sonja was the top in her field in her day ( she won three Olympic gold medals ), ten-year old skaters can outdo her moves these days. The Norwegian gal with the dimples had charm and that made up for a large part of her star appeal. Incidentally, the "ice" that she skated on was primarily frozen milk. On black and white film, water did not give off the milky white texture that the studios wanted so they mixed some cow's milk into it to give it a shine. 

The Ice Follies, which began in 1936 and toured around the world, were all the rage in the 1930s and, of course, when something is the rage Hollywood is bound to make a film about it. Joan Crawford was pushed onto the ice along with James Stewart and Lew Ayres ( playing a drunk again ) in The Ice Follies of 1939. The movie has its entertaining moments ( including a sparkling Technicolor finale with Roy and Eddie Shipstad, the founders of the Ice Follies, doing some of the skating routines ) but it crashed at the box office. 

That didn't stop Republic from releasing another Follies-themed film just two years later : Ice-Capades starring James Ellison. He looked good on ice, and so did Clark Gable and Jean Harlow when they attempted to glide without falling in Wife Vs. Secretary ( 1936 ). 

Bette Davis tried skating, too, but she fell on her rump in The Man Who Came to Dinner ( 1942 ). If you want to learn how to showoff on skates like Joseph Cotten did in The Farmer's Daughter ( 1946 ), then it's best to watch a tutorial first. Mickey Mouse gives viewers some points in On Ice ( 1935 ). 

Of course, having a partner to support you helps - just look at how much fun Loretta Young had with Cary Grant in The Bishop's Wife ( 1947 ). 


SKIING 

If you don't care for the graceful art of figure skating then how about experiencing the thrill of cold air rushing against your face as you head down the slopes on a pair of skis? We're cross-country ski enthusiasts ourselves, so instead of risking our necks on the mountainside we prefer to watch our favorite stars hit the slopes...by standing in front of a backdrop screen. 

One of our all-time favorite actors - Melvyn Douglas - could often be found playing in the artificial snow. Claudette Colbert met him on the slopes at St. Moritz in I Met Him in Paris ( 1937 ) and Mary Astor stumbled down the hill with him in And So They Were Married ( 1936 ). 

Greta Garbo also found him in the snowbanks in Idaho in Two-Faced Woman ( 1941 ). Barbara Stanwyck went to Lake Arrowhead to look for Melvyn but all she found was George Brent in My Reputation ( 1946 ). It cost her her reputation too. 

That's what happens when you don't know how to ski, you end up bumping into fellows you didn't plan on meeting. If that is a common problem then it's best to learn the fundamentals of skiing. Goofy demonstrates proper technique in The Art of Skiing ( 1941 ) with comical results. It makes you want to consider buying life insurance. 

The Alps were the ideal place and definitely the "in" place to ski during the 1930s. European socialites would go sloping on the mountains for amusement just as American society went slumming in the cities. 

Even members of royalty like Prince Rudolph ( Tyrone Power ) went to Switzerland to enjoy the fresh mountain air and the excitement of downhill skiing. It was his only form of relaxation, poor boy. Not only did he manage to get a few days of skiing into his busy schedule but he met another winter sports enthusiast ( Sonja Henie ) whom he fell in love with in Thin Ice ( 1937 ). Robert Young found romance with Florence Eldridge on the Alpine slopes as well in Paradise for Three ( 1938 ).

Most Americans could not afford to travel to the Alps, so they opted to head to the most famous ski resort of the West - Sun Valley, Idaho. 

Not only was the snow perfect for skiing but you could find Sonja Henie there too ( she certainly got around ). In Sun Valley Serenade ( 1941 ) she played a Norwegian refugee showing off her skiing and skating talent to the band manager at a Sun Valley resort - who just happened to be played by John Payne, another actor who looked great in cold-climate pictures. 

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello caught ski-fever when they headed out to Sun Valley for Hit the Ice ( 1943 ). They tried dog-sledding but found out that rolling like a snowball gets you down a hill faster! 

American society enjoyed the fun to be had in Sun Valley too. Gene Tierney played an heiress who meets a swell looking guy ( Tyrone Power ) at a resort in That Wonderful Urge ( 1948 ). Alright, he turned out to be a reporter, but heiresses can't expect everything to be perfect. 

Well, there you have it folks....these are just a few film suggestions to get you off of your couch and out of the house where you can enjoy the brisk cool air and the pleasure to be found in winter sports. 

See you on the slopes!

This post is our contribution to the Winter Sports Blogathon being hosted by Le Mot du Cinephiliaque . Be sure to head on over there to read more posts on films that featured your favorite winter sports.