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All of my classic movie reviews are listed below with the most recent posts at the top of the list. I choose this as the default view because I like to think of my newest article as my best article. Some of the oldies aren't bad either, but you're much more likely to run into straight plot summaries or since revised opinion the deeper you get into this main list.
This page used to include a tabbed feature showing alternative ways to view my list of reviews, but this list grew so long that the page began to crash. I've kept the alternative views on the site, but now you'll have to click over to other pages to browse them:
Reviews Sorted by Quality Rating (my favorite!)
Reviews Sorted Alphabetically by Title
Reviews Sorted by Earliest Release Date
Reviews Sorted by Most Recent Release Date
If you are new to the site you will quickly notice that I mostly write about movies released during the 1930s. I'm especially fond of the early '30s pre-Code films, though I don't necessarily like every movie that I've written about. While I do cover the occasional Silent Film or sometimes work my way into the 1950s, I spend most of my spare time with the '30s stuff and the volume of those posts will reflect that.
Following is the default view with most recently created posts appearing at the top of the page. Visit the links above to view them in different orders.
The Story of Temple Drake (1933) – Paramount Adapts Faulkner's Sanctuary
Remember the Night (1940) Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray
The Wolf Man (1941), Lon Chaney Jr., and the Universal Horror Legacy
Three on a Match (1932), A Second Look: Bogart, Action, Warren William
Pick-Up (1933) Starring Sylvia Sidney and George Raft
Are These Our Children? (1931) Starring Eric Linden and Arline Judge
The Woman Accused (1933) Starring Nancy Carroll and Cary Grant
No Man of Her Own (1932) Starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
Terror Aboard (1933) – Grand Hotel of Murder on the High Seas
My Woman (1933) Starring Helen Twelvetrees, Wallace Ford
Man Made Monster (1941) Introduces Lon Chaney Jr to Universal Horror
Change of Heart (1934) Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell One Last Time
Special Investigator (1936) – Richard Dix Stars in Erle Stanley Gardner Story
Red-Headed Woman (1932) Reveals New Jean Harlow
'One Sunday Afternoon' With Cagney & Co. in 'The Strawberry Blonde'
The Roaring Twenties (1939) Starring James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart
Behind the Green Lights (1935), Cops Vs. Mouthpiece in Mascot Indie
6 Hours to Live (1932) for Warner Baxter in Rare Fox Film
The Vice Squad (1931) Starring Paul Lukas, Kay Francis, Judith Wood
Babbitt (1934) Starring Guy Kibbee, Aline MacMahon
Ten Cents a Dance (1931) Starring Barbara Stanwyck
What Price Hollywood? (1932) Starring Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman
Viña Delmar and Uptown New York (1932) – World Wide's Bad Girl
The Widow from Chicago (1930) Starring Alice White
Girl Missing (1933) Starring Glenda Farrell, Mary Brian
The Cat Creeps (1930) – Universal's (Mostly) Lost Dark House
Josef von Sternberg's Underworld (1927) Starring George Bancroft
Young Bride (1932) Starring Helen Twelvetrees and Eric Linden
Wild Boys of the Road (1933) Meets "Boy And Girl Tramps of America"
The Good Fairy (1935) Starring Margaret Sullavan and Herbert Marshall
Ace of Aces (1933) Starring Richard Dix and Elizabeth Allan
The Wedding Night (1935) Starring Gary Cooper and Anna Sten
The Patent Leather Kid (1927) Starring Richard Barthelmess and Molly O'Day
Manhattan Melodrama (1934) Starring Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy
Show Them No Mercy (1935) Starring Rochelle Hudson and Cesar Romero
King Kong (1933) in New York, March 1933
Blood Money (1933) Starring George Bancroft, Frances Dee
The Murder Man (1935) Starring Spencer Tracy
The Mind Reader (1933) Starring Warren William
Good Dame (1934) Starring Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March
Child of Manhattan (1933) Starring Nancy Carroll, John Boles
They Gave Him a Gun (1937) Starring Spencer Tracy, Gladys George, Franchot Tone
Secret of the Chateau (1934) Universal Murder Mystery Starring Claire Dodd
Blonde Crazy (1931) Starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell
Lady and Gent (1932) Starring George Bancroft and Wynne Gibson
Captains Courageous (1937) Starring Freddie Bartholomew and Spencer Tracy
The Man Who Played God (1932) Starring Mr. George Arliss
A Yank at Eton (1942) Starring Mickey Rooney with Freddie Bartholomew
J. Edgar Hoover's Persons in Hiding (1939) With Patricia Morison
The Cat and the Canary (1927) – Old Dark House Classic Starring Laura La Plante
White Woman (1933) Starring Charles Laughton and Carole Lombard
Arsène Lupin (1932) Starring John and Lionel Barrymore
Dark Hazard (1934) Starring Edward G. Robinson and Genevieve Tobin
Born to Be Bad (1934) Starring Loretta Young, Cary Grant
H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941) – King Vidor Brings John P. Marquand Bestseller to Life
The Films of Helen Twelvetrees – Capsule Reviews of 20 Movies
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), Universal Horror With Bela Lugosi
The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942), Universal Horror With Lionel Atwill
Men Against the Sky (1940) – Richard Dix's Ace of Aces Goes Modern
One Night at Susie's (1930) – Movie Compared to Short Story, Plus Helen Ware Biography
Five and Ten (1931) Starring Marion Davies and Leslie Howard
Downstairs (1932) Starring John Gilbert, From a Story by John Gilbert
She Had to Say Yes (1933) Starring Loretta Young
The Mouthpiece (1932) – Warren William Becomes a Star; 1932 William J. Fallon Cycle Begins
The Last Flight (1931) – John Monk Saunders Hijacks Hemingway's Lost Generation
Gladys George Is Madame X (1937), Plus Brief Biography
Blessed Event (1932) – Lee Tracy as Early Version of Winchell
Hot Saturday (1932) with Cary Grant and Nancy Carroll
Lady by Choice (1934) Starring Carole Lombard and May Robson
Black Fury (1935) – Paul Muni Stars in Another Ripped from the Headlines Story
A House Divided (1931) – Walter Huston Stars in Early Talkie from William Wyler
James Cagney is Jimmy the Gent (1934)
Majestic's The Sin of Nora Moran (1933) Starring Zita Johann
Frank Capra's Broadway Bill (1934) Starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
Secret Service (1931) – William Gillette's Civil War Melodrama Comes to RKO
Test Pilot (1938) Starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy
Lust for Life (1956) – Van Gogh from Irving Stone to Kirk Douglas
Elsie Ferguson's Only Talkie, Scarlet Pages (1930)
Richard Dix Reckons Himself The Public Defender (RKO, 1931)
Tyrone Power and Alice Faye – In Old Chicago (1937), Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) and Rose of Washington Square (1939)
More Jessie Matthews – There Goes the Bride (1932), The Good Companions (1933), First A Girl (1935) and Gangway (1937)
His Greatest Gamble (1934) Starring Richard Dix
Vivacious Lady (1938) Starring Ginger Rogers and James Stewart
Our Blushing Brides (1930) Caps Joan Crawford Trilogy
Gentleman's Fate (1931) Starring John Gilbert and Louis Wolheim as Unlikely Brothers
Winner Take All (1932) from Warner Archive's Latest Wave of James Cagney
I Married a Doctor (1936) Attempts to Update Main Street
Shirley Temple in 1934, Part 2: The Movies
City Streets (1931) Starring Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney
Snowed Under (1936) Chemistry Highlights Hilarious Warner Farce
Brief Impressions: King for a Night (1933) – Big Hearted Herbert (1934) and Father Is a Prince (1941) – Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941)
Helen Twelvetrees is Millie (1931) – With Joan Blondell and Lilyan Tashman
Sweepings (1933) and Mamie's Christmas Counter Freak-Out
Five Star Final (1931) Starring Edward G. Robinson
Don't Bet on Blondes (1935) Starring Warren William and Claire Dodd
Lon Chaney, Jr. in Dead Man's Eyes (1944) – An Inner Sanctum Mystery
The Walking Dead (1936) – Lindbergh Heart Resurrects Boris Karloff
Murder by the Clock (1931) Starring William "Stage" Boyd and Lilyan Tashman
Secret of the Blue Room (1933) With Lionel Atwill and Gloria Stuart
The Witching Hour (1934), Hypnotized by John Halliday
Blondie Johnson (1933) Starring Joan Blondell and Chester Morris
Clear All Wires! (1933) – Journalism in Classic Film Blogathon
The Devil's Holiday (1930) Starring Nancy Carroll
The Human Comedy (1943) Starring Mickey Rooney
The Constant Nymph (1943) Starring Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer
MGM's Hardy Family Series #8 – Judge Hardy and Son (1939)
Gambling Lady (1934) for the Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon
Best Picture Cavalcade (1933) Sets Stage for Upstairs, Downstairs and Beyond
First Impressions: King Vidor's The Big Parade (1925)
Death on the Diamond (1934) – Baseball, Murder and Robert Young
Eric Linden Comes of Age in MGM's Ah, Wilderness! (1935)
Big City Blues (1932), Pre-Code Party in Depression-Era New York
Man Wanted (1932) – Charles Kenyon Updates The Office Wife (1930)
The Lost Squadron (1932) Starring Richard Dix, With Erich von Stroheim
The Office Wife (1930) Starring Dorothy Mackaill and Lewis Stone
Her Man (1930) Starring Helen Twelvetrees and Phillips Holmes
The Sin Ship (1931) – Astor's Frisco Kitty Makes for Holy Wolheim
The Penalty (1941) Starring Gene Reynolds and Edward Arnold
Public Enemy's Wife (1936) and Bullets for O'Hara (1941)
G Men (1935) Starring James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, and Ann Dvorak
How Green Was My Valley (1941) and the Black Slag of Time
Brief Impressions: No Other Woman – Side Streets – Evelyn Prentice – Millionaires in Prison
Night Court (1932) Starring Phillips Holmes and Walter Huston
Evergreen (1934) – Gaumont British Musical Starring Jessie Matthews
Brief Impressions, 1934 Edition: A Wicked Woman – Housewife – Success at Any Price
Panama Flo (1932) With Brief Biography of Star Helen Twelvetrees
In Brief: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Does Impressions in Our Modern Maidens (1929)
The Racket (1928) Starring Thomas Meighan, Louis Wolheim and Marie Prevost
Paramount's 24 Hours (1931) with Clive Brook, Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins
The Corpse Came C.O.D. (1947) and the Hollywood Gossip Columnists
The Farmer's Daughter (1947) Starring Loretta Young and Joseph Cotten
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932) with Ricardo Cortez and Karen Morley
RKO's Hell's Highway (1932) Beats Other Chain Gang Movie to Theaters
First Impressions: Little Women (1933) Starring Katharine Hepburn
First Impressions: Little Men (1940) Starring Kay Francis
RKO's Jalna (1935) Inspires Craving for More Mazo de la Roche
Midnight Mary (1933) Starring Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone
Gallant Sons (1940) Starring Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville and Gene Reynolds
MGM's Hardy Family Series #7 – Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939)
MGM's Hardy Family Series #6 – The Hardys Ride High (1939)
MGM's Hardy Family Series #5 – Out West with the Hardys (1938)
MGM's Hardy Family Series #3 – Judge Hardy's Children (1938)
MGM's Hardy Family Series #2 – You're Only Young Once (1937)
Show Girl in Hollywood (1930) Starring Alice White as Dixie Dugan
Safe in Hell (1931), Talkie Triumph for Tough Dorothy Mackaill
Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932) with Lee Tracy and Constance Cummings
Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935) Starring Sylvia Sidney with Melvyn Douglas
Dracula (1931) – Bela Lugosi and the Dark, Still Chilling
Paramount's The Night of June 13th (1932), Street Scene of the Suburbs
The Half Naked Truth (1932) Starring Lee Tracy and Lupe Velez
Johnny Apollo (1940) starring Tyrone Power and Dorothy Lamour
Dr. Monica (1934) Starring Kay Francis, Warren William and Jean Muir
Smart Money (1931) Starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney
Night Flight (1933) with John and Lionel Barrymore, Gable and More
Kings Row (1942) with Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan
Penthouse (1933) Starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) Starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor
Lewis Milestone's The Purple Heart (1944) Starring Dana Andrews
The Solitaire Man (1933) Starring Herbert Marshall and Lionel Atwill
Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) – Whaling Action and Clara Bow
Kind Lady (1935) Starring Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone
Stablemates (1938) – MGM Rides Seabiscuit to Hit with Beery and Rooney
Warner Baxter as The Crime Doctor: A Crime Doctor Episode Guide
Crime Doctor (1943) Starring Warner Baxter with Dr. Ordway's Origins
Government Girl (1943) Starring Olivia de Havilland and Sonny Tufts
Flesh (1932) Starring Wallace Beery and Karen Morley
The Richest Girl in the World (1934) Starring Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea
It Happened in Hollywood (1937) Starring Richard Dix and Fay Wray
The Doorway to Hell (1930) Starring Lew Ayres and James Cagney
Night World (1932) Starring Mae Clarke, Lew Ayres and Boris Karloff
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) Starring Fredric March
Freddie Bartholomew is Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
Laughing Sinners (1931) With Joan Crawford, Neil Hamilton, Clark Gable
Adam Had Four Sons (1941) Starring Warner Baxter and Ingrid Bergman
The Voice of Bugle Ann (1936) Starring Lionel Barrymore with Maureen O'Sullivan
Going Highbrow (1935) With Guy Kibbee, ZaSu Pitts, Edward Everett Horton
The Devil Is a Sissy (1936) Starring Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper, Mickey Rooney
Piccadilly Jim (1936) Starring Robert Montgomery and Madge Evans
Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra (1934) Starring Claudette Colbert
Silver Dollar (1932) Starring Edward G. Robinson, Aline MacMahon and Bebe Daniels
The Wet Parade (1932) Dramatizes the Evils of Liquor … and Prohibition
Jewel Robbery (1932) – Kay Francis and William Powell for a Sixth Time
Abandon Ship (1957) aka Seven Waves Away – Tyrone Power Commands This Lifeboat
One Way Passage (1932) – Glass Stems & Spoilers: The Final Minute
One Way Passage (1932) Starring William Powell and Kay Francis
Stage Struck (1936) Starring Dick Powell and Joan Blondell
The Razor's Edge (1946) Starring Tyrone Power, A Success Story
Henry Hull is the Werewolf of London (1935)
The World Changes (1933) Starring the Many Faces of Paul Muni
The Dragon Murder Case (1934) Article Posted at Warren-William.com
Bright Leaf (1950), Gary Cooper Takes Over Big Tobacco
I Married a Witch (1942) Starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake
Lawyer Man (1932) Starring William Powell and Joan Blondell
Somerset Maugham's The Narrow Corner (1933) Starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Baseball Movie The Stratton Story (1949) Starring James Stewart
Stranger in Town (1932) – Chic Sale Takes on a Big Grocery Chain
Lust for Gold (1949) Starring Ida Lupino and Glenn Ford
Call Her Savage (1932) Stars Clara Bow as Pre-Code Dynamite
The Mole People (1956) starring John Agar and Hugh Beaumont
Symphony of Six Million (1932) starring Ricardo Cortez
A Dispatch from Reuters (1940) – Plus the Real Reuter vs. Edward G. Robinson
The Valley of Decision (1945) starring Greer Garson and Gregory Peck
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (1935)
Them! (1954) featuring Edmund Gwenn vs. Giant Ants
Red Light (1949) Starring George Raft and Virginia Mayo
Devil and the Deep (1932) Starring Charles Laughton and Tallulah Bankhead
Woman Wanted (1935) Starring Maureen O'Sullivan and Joel McCrea
Eleven Men and a Girl (1930) starring Joan Bennett and Joe E. Brown
Remembering Jackie Cooper, 1922-2011, with Peck's Bad Boy (1934)
The Criminal Code (1931) Starring Walter Huston with Boris Karloff
Personal Property (1937) Starring Jean Harlow and Robert Taylor
Watching Wings (1927) for the First Time
Employees' Entrance (1933) starring Warren William and the Franklin-Monroe Department Store
The Conquerors (1932) Starring Richard Dix and Ann Harding
Moments of Horror as Boris Karloff Stars as The Mummy (1932)
More on That Forsyte Woman (1949), Especially an Altogether Different Errol Flynn
A Family Affair (1937) Introduces Judge Hardy's Family
First Impressions: Princess O'Rourke (1943) with Olivia De Havilland
First Impressions: Arrowsmith (1931) with Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes
First Impressions: Mrs. Parkington (1944) with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon
First Impressions: Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941)
First Impressions: Bright Leaf (1950) Starring Gary Cooper
In Old Chicago (1937) starring Power, Ameche, Faye, with a Biographical Aside about Oscar Winner Alice Brady
Captain Blood (1935) Action Energized by Errol Flynn and Korngold's Score
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945) starring Nina Foch and George Macready
James Dunn and Claire Dodd star in The Payoff (1935)
Double Wedding (1937) Starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
Big Cast in MGM's 1951 anthology It's a Big Country
Mary Astor Stars in Smart Woman (1931); Screen Husband Robert Ames Dies Soon After Release
The Women star in Westward the Women (1951) with Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor and Janet Gaynor star in Small Town Girl (1936)
Walter Huston is Dodsworth (1936) with Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor
Kay Francis and Ian Hunter in I Found Stella Parish (1935)
Ronald Colman stars in A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
The Tip-Off (1931) with Eddie Quillan, Ginger Rogers and Turkey Mike Donlin
William Powell and Myrna Loy star in The Thin Man (1934)
Charles Laughton stars in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
China Seas (1935) starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow
Union Depot (1932) starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Joan Blondell
The Southerner (1945) starring Zachary Scott and Betty Field
Edward G. Robinson in The Sea Wolf (1941) with Alexander Knox
The Whole Town's Talking (1935) starring Edward G. Robinson and Jean Arthur
Peggy Hopkins Joyce, W.C. Fields, et al., in Paramount's International House (1933)
Edward G. Robinson's Incredible Performance in Two Seconds (1932)
Tyrone Power breaking out in Lloyd's of London (1936)
My Woman (1933) Starring Helen Twelvetrees and Wallace Ford
The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935) starring Paul Muni with Josephine Hutchinson
Cheela the Ape stars in Captive Wild Woman with John Carradine
The Invisible Ray (1936) starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) starring Bela Lugosi and Sidney Fox
Arsene Lupin Returns (1938) starring Melvyn Douglas, Virginia Bruce, Warren William
Peter Lorre stars in MGM's Mad Love (1935)
Reflections after The Magic Box – What classic movies inspire you?
Robert Donat stars in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935)
Tyrone Power in Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942)
Diamond Jim (1935) starring Edward Arnold as Diamond Jim Brady
Louise Brooks stars in William Wellman's Beggars of Life (1928)
Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake
King Vidor's Our Daily Bread (1934) more than just a big finish
Clive Brook adapts, directs, and stars in On Approval (1944)
Fritz Lang's Fury (1936) Starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney
Early Frank Capra on TCM today, we go earlier with The Matinee Idol (1928)
Edward Arnold as Blind Detective Duncan Maclain in Eyes in the Night (1942)
Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton in Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Ronald Colman is The Late George Apley (1947)
Cary Grant in Night and Day (1946)
Charles Laughton as Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) starring Errol Flynn
Merrily We Go to Hell starring Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney
Search for Beauty (1934) starring Ida Lupino and Buster Crabbe
Viewing The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) for Leslie Howard's Birthday
Larceny, Inc. (1942) starring Edward G. Robinson and Jane Wyman
The Beast of the City (1932) starring Walter Huston and Wallace Ford
Twentieth Century (1934) starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard
Three on a Match (1932) starring Warren William and Ann Dvorak
The Young in Heart (1938) starring Janet Gaynor and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
A Free Soul (1931) starring Norma Shearer and Lionel Barrymore
About Cliff:
Lightning Reviews:
Sorted by Post Date (Latest)
Lightning Reviews already included in main index at left under "A to Z" and "Release Date" tabs.
A Bedtime Story (1933) Starring Maurice Chevalier, Helen Twelvetrees
Bad Company (1931) Starring Ricardo Cortez
There Goes My Heart (1938) Starring Fredric March, Virginia Bruce
Turn Back the Clock (1933) Starring Lee Tracy, Mae Clarke
Success at Any Price (1934) Starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Now I'll Tell (1934) Starring Spencer Tracy and Helen Twelvetrees
Lightning Review: One Hour Late (1934) Starring Helen Twelvetrees
Lightning Review: Sadie McKee (1934) Starring Joan Crawford
Lightning Review: The Shining Hour (1938) Starring Joan Crawford
Lightning Review: The Girl in 419 (1933) Starring James Dunn
Lightning Review: The Easiest Way (1931) Starring Constance Bennett
Lightning Review: Dr. Cyclops (1940) Starring Albert Dekker
Lightning Review: Registered Nurse (1934) Starring Bebe Daniels, Lyle Talbot
Lightning Review: Advice to the Lovelorn (1933) Starring Lee Tracy, Sally Blane
Lightning Review: Curtain Call (1940) Starring Barbara Read, Alan Mowbray
Lightning Review: Chinatown Nights (1929) Starring Wallace Beery
Lightning Review: The Arizonian (1935) Starring Richard Dix
Lightning Review: A Lost Lady (1934) Starring Barbara Stanwyck
Lightning Review: Full Confession (1939) Starring Victor McLaglen
Lightning Review: The Life of Vergie Winters (1934) Starring Ann Harding
Flash Review: Music Is Magic (1935) Starring Alice Faye, Bebe Daniels