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10/1/08
Cimarron (1931) this evening (10/1) at 8pm ET: unbelievably creaky in a perfectly wonderful way. Seeing the heroic figure of Richard Dix in this movie, you know exactly what the over the top acting style of the theater was like before the movies came along. Bombastic, delightfully unrealistic and quite winning. Not necessarily to everyone's taste, and there are some good and bad elements mixed together throughout the story, but stick around for Yancey's speech to the crowd about to pass judgment on one of their citizens.
The Lost Squadron (1932) at 10:15pm ET: absolutely crackerjack if unlikely story of a pack of WWI fliers led by Dix, and featuring a very young and breathtaking Joel McCrea. Robert ('twas beauty killed the beast") Armstrong, believe it or not, gives a good performance too. Watch for his, *ahem*, rude, pre-code gesture at one point while flying. And any movie with Erich Von Stroheim as a sadistic director and Mary Astor as a beauty in danger of being sullied can't be all bad!
10/08/08
Stingaree (1934) 10:15am ET: a mixed bag, but since it pairs Dix, as an Australian bandit, with songbird Irene Dunne, it has its moments. I particularly enjoyed Dix's expression when he speaks of faraway London and when he approaches Dunne in his wilderness lair after kidnapping her. Pretty racy and fun stuff, if you suspend belief, and let William Wellman's fast paced story wash over you.
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10/20/08
The Ghost Ship (1943) 7:45am ET. A haunting movie produced under Val Lewton that doesn't entirely hang together, though individual scenes, such as when Dix sadistically watches a huge hook on board ship swing dangerously over the heads of his deck hands, or when he explains that his power over his men has no limits do have some eerie power. Richard Dix's health was reportedly in decline during this period, which may explain his relatively low energy here. Or maybe he just didn't understand the script any more than this viewer.
Wish that The Whistler series of movies he made before his death later in the '40s would pop up on the schedule again.