Jul 29, 2022
In this week's Jean Arthur Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, we look at two more movies from 1935, Public Hero No. 1 (directed by J. Walter Ruben for MGM) and Diamond Jim (directed by A. Edward Sutherland for Universal, with a screenplay by Preston Sturges). In the first, Arthur injects some screwball swagger into a Code-era gangster drama with an FBI agent hero; in the second, she has a dual role as the love(s) of Edward Arnold's life. We consider the qualities Arthur brings to these films, for which she was loaned out by Columbia, and marvel at the dark oddity of Diamond Jim, made not long before the advent of the post-Laemmle banker regime at Universal that thwarted Preston Sturges' first shot at directing.
Time Codes:
0h 01m 00s: PUBLIC HERO NO. 1 (1935) [dir. J. Walter Ruben]
0h 30m 17s: DIAMOND JIM (1935) {dir. A. Edward Sutherland]
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* Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring
* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s
* Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)
* Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York – “Making America Strange Again”
* Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!
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