Stingaree (1934)

Period dramas from early Hollywood are not my cup of tea. Most-if not all- period films are based off books and sometimes they were pretty racy. Because of the ridiculous Hayes Code whatever was racy of course had to be eliminated or worked around it. That is my number one reason, my number two reason is because they are just boring as sin. What really makes me mad with period films is the society especially towards women. Women were supposed to be proper and not speak their mind or be daring. I guess I am too modern in my thinking to look past cultural norm from different time periods. But I will admit some are not too bad. I will watch Gone With the Wind, Jane Eyre (the one with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles), and a few others but not many. One period film I was able to watch and enjoy was Stingaree from 1934.

            Hilda (Irene Dunne) is a helper on a farm for the Clarksons in late 1800s Australia. They receive a letter that a man named Sir Julian Kent is coming to their house. Sir Julian is an opera manager and Mrs. Clarkson (Mary Boland) thinks she has a great opera voice. Hilda can really sing and beautifully but Mrs. Clarkson does not let her since she knows Hilda is much better than her. Hilda wants a chance to sing for Sir Julian. Mrs. Clarkson tells Hilda she has no voice and that she is being sent to another woman’s house for the night to watch the woman’s children. Hilda is miserably upset at her lost chance.

            Mr. Clarkson asked the police inspector to keep an eye out for Sir Julian since there is a bandit named Stingaree (Richard Dix) in the area. Stinagree comes to the inn where the inspector and Sir Julian are. No one knows he is the famous bandit. He talks to Sir Julian about music and London since he is also from there. The coachman Howie barges in saying he has been robbed. The police inspector and his squad go outside to investigate. Stingaree holds up the bar and takes Sir Julian with him. Howie holds up the bar too, he is working with Stingaree.

            Stingaree goes to the Clarkson’s home. Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson have left leaving Hilda behind. From outside Stingaree hears Hilda singing. He walks into the house startling her but he tells her to keep playing. Hilda thinks Stingaree is Sir Julian and he goes along with it. She asks him to take her away so she can sing. The Clarksons come back early. They say Sir Julian has been murdered. Stingaree, still claiming to be the opera manager tells the couple they have heard wrong that he is Sir Julian. Later on the inspector from the inn comes to the Clarkson’s home. He recognizes Stingaree and tells Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson that the man is an imposter. Sometime later Stinagree has to leave and he takes Hilda with him. The real Sir Julian, who was only roughed up, shows up at the party. Stingaree holds the party up so Hilda can get a chance to sing for the real manager. Stingaree grabs Hilda and takes her away through the woods on his horse. Unfortunately Stingaree is shot and injured forcing Hilda to go back to the Clarksons.

            Mrs. Clarkson kicks Hilda out of the house for what she did at the party and for thinking that Hilda is immoral for being out in the woods alone with a bandit. Sir Julian comes and says he will take Hilda to London. Hilda is beyond thrilled but the next day she does not want to go because Stinagree is still out there. Stingaree manages to give Hilda a music box with a letter in it telling her to go to London.

            Hilda becomes a great success. She still thinks of Stingaree. Julian loves her he wants to marry her but she cannot. Hilda wants to go back to Australia to look for Stingaree. Julian very graciously sets up a concert in Melbourne. Stingaree is still an outlaw there is no way he would be able to get close enough to the opera dresses in his normal attire. He manages to steal the governor’s clothes right off of the man. Hilda’s performance suffers because she thinks Stingaree will not show. He manages to get inside and be seen by Hilda. She has the orchestra play their song. As she sings the police catch on to Stingaree. Hilda hears gun shots go off and she faints thinking Stingaree has gotten hurt. She receives a note telling her to send her maid away. As soon as she does Stingaree shows up at the window. He takes her away into the night for a second time.

            Irene Dunne and Richard Dix were perfect together. Their chemistry was great. Irene Dunne I just adore to bits she was so perfect in every role she was in. Richard Dix was so believable as the rugged bandit with a sensitive kind side. Neither side was played as much as the other which was great to see. Dix has the look and body language that made Stingaree a very good character. He was so handsome as well I just stare at him whenever I see him in a film. 

            I cannot get over the fact that William Wellman directed this film and that Merian C. Cooper produced it. When I hear their names I think of adventure films, I think of Wings and King Kong. I would never think they would have made this melodrama (although Wellman did make The Heiress and Cooper did produce a lot of non-adventure films for RKO).

            Stingaree was not a bad period piece. The story was alright I was not crazy about an ambitious young woman running off with a bandit. How many times has that storyline been done? I did not like the stuffy period-ness to it with the constricting costumes and silly morals. Stingaree is only really worth watching if you are a fan of either Irene Dunne or Richard Dix. Stingaree is available to own on DVD through a seller on Amazon but it is a rare release from TCM so it is expensive. It is not available to watch through Youtube. I managed to catch it on TCM so keep an eye out for it on the channel.

 

Reno (1939)

“You just watch my smoke, Abe. I'm gonna make Reno the biggest little city in the world.”

            Reno is one of the over five hundred films that were made in Hollywood in 1939. With so many big time films made in this year the other hundreds of films that were made tend to go under the radar. Reno I only took notice of because Gail Patrick played a lead part and I am sure that if the cast was lesser known it would be completely forgotten.

            A woman named Mrs. Ryde is in a gambling house run by Bill Shear (Richard Dix). She finds the roulette wheel is being controlled electronically. Bill tries to blackmail her into keeping the control a secret. Unfortunately Mrs. Ryde called the police before Bill could speak to her. Bill is arrested and at the trial is his own lawyer. He calls himself as a character witness under his real name Bill Shayne. He tells the court about how he first came to Reno in 1905.

            When he came to Reno he went to see a lawyer named Augustus Welch. Bill meets Welch’s secretary Jessie (Patrick). He likes her and asks her to do some typing for him at night. Bill takes a case for a drunkard and wins. He takes Jessie out to celebrate and asks her to marry him. Eventually Bill begins to take mining cases to help the miners in the desert and becomes very successful.

            One day Jessie comes home and finds Bill speaking to another woman. He has taken her divorce case. Jessie is not happy with him for talking to another woman and taking a divorce case. In time the mines dry up and Bill no longer has any clients. The woman he helped with the divorce sent him one thousand dollars. Not long after this women begin to pour into Reno looking for divorces and gambling comes into town.

            Work takes Bill away from home and planned engagements. He does not even come home for their daughter’s birthday. Jessie goes looking for him. She finds Bill with one of his female clients at a restaurant. Jessie tells Bill that John, a client’s uncle she had been showing around town, will marry her if they get a divorce. At dinner in a different restaurant Bill punches John. Jessie leaves Bill and sells their house. Bill tells his friends he could not take his own medicine and that he should fight his divorce. Jessie’s lawyer tells Bill that she wants him to fight. On the day of the divorce hearing Bill is summoned to a meeting of lawyers. He has been disbarred. When Jessie leaves with John and their daughter she tells Bill he can see their daughter whenever he wants to. He replies that he does not want to see her she can have everything she wants with her mother and John.

            At the trial Bill and the court learn that Mrs. Ryde is Bill’s daughter. The case gets thrown out.

            Gail Patrick and Richard Dix were excellent together. Gail Patrick always played the other woman or the snotty woman the others never liked. She was a very good actress who does not get enough credit. Patrick was a very good leading lady. Dix was perfect in role. He too, I feel, is an actor who does not get enough credit. I like both Patrick and Dix in their other roles I have seen them in.

            Reno is a typical film story where someone finds success, gets everything they want, then loses it, and for some shady reason gets thrown in jail and then is let go at trial. Despite being a typical story Reno was very good. It was well made and perfectly acted by Gail Patrick and Richard Dix. Reno is hard to find it is not available on Youtube or DVD. I watched the film through TCM some time ago. Keep an eye if the channel airs it again.