DVD/150: SADIE McKEE (Clarence Brown, 1934)

MGM knew what Joan Crawford's fans wanted and SADIE McKEE is the quintessential 1930s Crawford vehicle.

Her persona changed from the silent era's Bright Young Thing to Depression Heroine, a working-class girl who achieves the man of her dreams and glamorous Adrian-designed gowns.

Sadie McKee is the daughter of a cook for a wealthy family, growing up with the family's son Michael  She overhears him denouncing her boyfriend Tommy who has been fired suspected of theft and, after denouncing him and his guests, Sadie impulsively elopes with Tommy to Manhattan.

Through cabaret performer Opal they find a room but the next day Sadie is left alone when Tommy takes a last-minute singing job touring with their sexy neighbour Dolly.

Sadie becomes a dancer where Opal works, and there meets the affectionate but alcholic millionaire Jack Brennan and his lawyer... Michael.

To spite Michael, Sadie unhappily marries Brennan...

Shelf or charity shop?  SADIE McKEE is a keeper.  Directed by one of her favourites Clarence Brown, Joan acts with a steely determination as if, despite the plot contrivences, you WILL believe the storyline.  Needless to say, Adrian's costumes are glorious. Crawford's then-lover Franchot Tone knows his place and Edward Arnold makes the most of the sozzled Brennan. The supporting cast is peppered with cracking performances: Jean Dixon as big-hearted but cynical Opal, Esther Ralston as the singer Dolly, Leo G Carroll as Brennan's disapproving butler, Zelda Sears as the salty boarding-house owner, Akim Tamiroff as the excitable cabaret manager and Candy Candido as a manic double-bass player!  It was a delight to spot - in one scene with no dialogue but plenty of sour facial expressions - Ethel Griffies, best remembered as the sceptical ornithologist in Hitchcock's THE BIRDS.  Sadly Gene Raymond's performance as Tommy hasn't dated well, acting with the eye-wobbling woodeness of a ventriloquist dummy.  Oh and if you like are the song ALL I DO IS DREAM OF YOU this is the film it was composed for and it is repeated endlessly!

DVD/150: ANNA KARENINA (Clarence Brown, 1935)

Of the 14 film adaptations of Tolstoy's novel, despite flaws, Garbo's is still my favourite.

Producer David Selznick gave it his usual heavy 'tasteful' gloss with lavish sets, hundreds of extras and Adrian's excellent costumes.

How many people today have seen a Garbo film?  She is iconic for heavy-lidded remoteness but I suspect that, probably like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, the image is all people know.

In close-up, she relies on ironic half-smiles, a lifted eye-brow and despairing eye-rolls of silent screen acting - she had already played Anna in 1927 in the silent film LOVE - but it is impossible to watch anyone else when she is on screen.

For an actress known for weary isolation, Garbo comes alive onscreen with other actors especially Basil Rathbone and Freddie Bartholomew's terribly British Sergei.  Rathbone gives us an icy, controlling Karenin while suggesting the confused man beneath.

Shelf or charity shop? Madame Karenina will stay in my DVD plastic storage box - a special mention for the excellent supporting performances of Reginald Owen as Vronsky's louche army pal Yashvin and an unbilled Constance Collier as the imperious Countess Lidia.  As usual, the role of Vronsky proves too much for the actor playing him, Fredric March is fine in the end-of-the-affair scenes but seems out of his depth in the earlier scenes of grand passion.

Dvd/150: WIFE VERSUS SECRETARY (Clarence Brown, 1936)

By the mid-1930s the prohibitive production code made it difficult for Jean Harlow to play the tart-with-a-heart roles that made her famous so MGM subverted her persona in WIFE VERSUS SECRETARY - accused by others of being a homewrecker she is in fact just a devoted secretary.

Magazine publisher Clark Gable is happily married to Myrna Loy but, when she hears rumours of his relationship with secretary Harlow, Loy's suspicions overtake her.  This is not helped when Harlow secretly flies with Gable to Havana suddenly but we know it's all innocent as he is secretly trying to acquire a newspaper and only Harlow knows the plan.

Although billed as a comedy drama, director Clarence Brown concentrates more on the marital drama with Harlow standing glumly by, realizing her actual feelings for her boss when boyfriend James Stewart suggests she give up her job when they get married.

Shelf or charity shop?  As it's on the same disc as CHINA SEAS I will hang on to this one...