Sep 24, 2021
For this pass at Warner Bros. 1937, we have two more vehicles for Dave's favourite actress, Kay Francis: Confession, Joe May's scene-for-scene remake of the German melodrama Mazurka; and Michael Curtiz's Stolen Holiday, a version of the Stavisky affair with Francis, Claude Rains, and Ian Hunter making up the Curtiz Triangle and Orry-Kelly, as usual, fearlessly emphasizing the outré bodies of Warner's female stars. How do you prefer to see Kay Francis: as a sort of combination of Stella Dallas and the Michael Douglas character from Fatal Attraction, mowing down Basil Rathbone in the name of Sacred Motherhood? Or inspiring Claude Rains to discover unsuspected depths of decency with her talent for unconditional friendship? The beauty of this episode is: you don't have to choose.
Time Codes:
0h 01m 00s: Warner Bros. 1937 Studio Data
0h 04m 02s: CONFESSION (dir. Joe May)
0h 33m 49s: STOLEN HOLIDAY (dir. Michael Curtiz)
Studio Film Capsules provided by Clive Hirschhorn’s The Warner Brothers Story
Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler
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* 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 latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.
* Check out Dave’s new 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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