Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #198 :: May 9•15

Crowvision Inc.

Films that were released this week over the last century include a classic 1924 silent comedy, a 1934 Joan Crawford film that was later featured in another Joan Crawford film, a 1944 camp classic, a 1954 3D gorilla and an Ed Wood ‘classic’, Shirley MacLaine decked out to the nines in 1964, a pyrotechnic Drew Barrymore in 1984, a 1994 cult classic with a tragic legacy, a 2004 ‘swords and sandals’ epic, and a 2014 film starring a man with a papier maché head. Scroll down the list to see this week’s film premieres and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.

1924

• May 11 – Between Friends (USA, Vitagraph Company of America)
• May 11 – Racing Luck (USA, Monty Banks Productions Inc.)
• May 11 – Sherlock Jr. (USA, Buster Keaton Productions)
• May 11 – The Circus Cowboy (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• May 11 – The White Moth (USA, Maurice Tourneur Productions)
• May 11 – What Shall I Do? (USA, W. W. Hodkinson Corporation)
• May 12 – Bluff (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)
• May 15 – Behind Two Guns (USA, Sunset Productions)
• May 15 – Range Blood (USA, Ashton Dearholt Productions)

Between Friends is based on the 1914 novel of the same name by Robert W. Chambers. The film is considered lost. Prints of Racing Luck are held in the collections of Cinémathèque royale de Belgique in Brussels and Gosfilmofond in Moscow. The Circus Cowboy and What Shall I Do? are lost films. The White Moth survives at the Library of Congress, Museum of Modern Art, and Gosfilmofond in Moscow. A nitrate print of Bluff is held in the Library of Congress. A print of Ridgeway of Montana is in the collection of EYE Film Institute Netherlands.

Sherlock Jr. was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1991. The film was originally titled The Misfit. During the filming of a stunt, star Buster Keaton fell and broke his neck, something he did not learn of until an exam in 1935.

1934

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

• May 9 – Sadie McKee (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• May 10 – Blue Steel (USA, Paul Malvern Productions)
• May 11 – Cheaters (USA, Liberty Pictures)
• May 11 – Private Scandal (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• May 11 – Strictly Dynamite (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• May 12 – General John Regan (AUS, Herbert Wilcox Productions)
• May 12 – In Love with Life (USA, Invincible Pictures Corp.)
• May 13 – Boss Cowboy (USA, Victor Adamson Productions)
• May 15 – The Broken Melody (UK, Twickenham Film Studios)
• May 15 – The Man from Utah (USA, Paul Malvern Productions)
• May 15 – The Road to Ruin (USA, Willis Kent Productions)

General John Regan has no known US theatrical release date. The Broken Melody was released in the US on October 30, 1934 as Vagabond Violinist.

Sadie McKee, starring Joan Crawford, is based on the 1933 short story ‘Pretty Sadie McKee’ by Viña Delmar. The song ‘All I Do is Dream of You’ is featured in the opening titles, but is better known for its inclusion in Singin’ in the Rain. Scenes from the film are used in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? to depict Blanche Hudson’s (Crawford) acting career.

Blue Steel was released as Stolen Goods in the UK. The film has fallen into public domain. General John Regan was a ‘quickie quota’ film produced for Paramount’s UK division.

Dorothy Davenport co-directed The Road to Ruin under the name ‘Mrs. Wallace Reid’. Davenport also has a small role in the film. The film is a sound remake of a 1928 silent of the same name which starred Helen Foster. Foster reprised her role in the remake even though she was 27 years old and playing a high school girl.

1944

• May 10 – Show Business (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• May 10 – The Contender (USA, Sigmund Neufeld Productions)
• May 10 – The Hour Before the Dawn (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• May 11 – The White Cliffs of Dover (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• May 12 – Cobra Woman (USA, Universal Pictures)
• May 12 – My Boy Johnny (USA, short, Terrytoons)
• May 13 – Cowboy and the Senorita (USA, Republic Pictures)
• May 13 – Detective Kitty O’Day (USA, Lindsley Parsons Productions)
• May 14 – Tucson Raiders (USA, Republic Pictures)
• May 15 – Gas (USA, short, Leon Schlesinger Studios)
• May 15 – Ruff and Tuff (USA, short, Filmcraft Productions)

The Contender has been shown on TV under the title Challenger. The Hour Before the Dawn was based on the 1942 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The White Cliffs of Dover is based on the verse novel The White Cliffs by Alice Duer Miller. Cowboy and the Senorita marks the first film appearance of Roy Rogers with his future wife Dale Evans.

Detective Kitty O’Day was intended to launch a new detective film series, but only one sequel was produced. Tucson Raiders, based on Fred Harman’s comic strip Red Ryder, is the first of 23 Red Ryder feature films.

1954

• May 10 – Under the Counter Spy (USA, short, Walter Lantz Productions)
• May 12 – Jail Bait (USA, Howco Productions)
• May 13 – Musty Musketeers (USA, short, Columbia Pictures)
• May 14 – Gorilla at Large (USA, Panoramic Productions)

Jail Bait is also known as Hidden Faces. The film features Steve Reeves in his first appearance, and was one of the few films he made using his own voice as most of his later films were made in Italy and dubbed by other actors. This was the first and only role for Clancy Malone, who was a grocery store delivery boy before expressing an interest in acting to director Ed Wood. The film marks the last performance for silent film star Herbert Rawlinson, in a role that was meant for Bela Lugosi. Rawlinson died from lung cancer the night after filming was completed. Model and radio star Theodora Thurman makes her only film appearance.

Musty Musketeers is the 154th of 190 Three Stooges shorts produced by Columbia Pictures. The short is a remake of 1948’s Fiddlers Three and recycles footage from that film. Virginia Hunter appeared in the original film but was unavailable to shoot new footage for the remake, so she was replaced with Wanda Perry who held a fan over her face.

Gorilla at Large is the second film distributed by 20th Century Fox that was produced in 3D. The film is unusual for an independent production as it features seasoned actors — Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft — and upcoming stars — Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Burr, Lee Marvin. The film was shot at Nu Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California between the hours of midnight and 6:00 AM for about a week.

1964

• May 10 – The Hi-Jackers (UK, Butcher’s Film Service)
• May 12 – Snowbody Loves Me (USA, short, Filmation Associates)
• May 13 – Law of the Lawless (USA, A.C. Lyles Productions)
• May 13 – The Eyes of Annie Jones (USA, Jack Parsons-Neil McCallum Productions)
• May 13 – What a Way to Go! (USA, Apjac-Orchard Productions)
• May 14 – Girl with Green Eyes (UK, Woodfall Film Productions)

The Hi-Jackers has no known US theatrical release date. Girl with Green Eyes was released in the US on August 10, 1964.

1974

• May 9 – Dead Cert (UK, Woodfall Film Productions)
• May 13 – Going Places (USA, C.A.P.A.C.)
• May 15 – Mark of the Devil Part II (USA, Atlas)
• May 15 – Stavisky (France, Cerito Films)
• May 15 – The Take (USA, World Film Services)
• May 15 – Truck Stop Women (USA, Lester-Traynor Productions)

Dead Cert has no known US theatrical release date. Going Places originally opened in France on March 20, 1974 as Les valseuses. Mark of the Devil Part II originally opened in West Germany on January 26, 1973 as Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält. Stavisky received a limited theatrical release in the US on December 22, 1974.

1984

Dino De Laurentiis Company

• May 11 – Firestarter (USA, Dino De Laurentiis Company)
• May 11 – Running on Empty (USA, Film Corporation of Western Australia)
• May 11 – Secret Places (UK, Associated-Rediffusion Television)
• May 11 – Avenging Warriors of Shaolin (USA, Shaw Brothers)
• May 11 – Spasms (USA, Canadian Film Development Corporation)
• May 11 – The Natural (USA, Delphi II Productions)

Running on Empty originally opened in Australia on August 5, 1982. Secret Places was released in the US on May 10, 1985. Avenging Warriors of Shaolin originally opened in Hong Kong on March 24, 1979 as Jie shi ying xiong.

1994

• May 13 – Crooklyn (USA/Canada, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks)
• May 13 – The Crow (USA, Crowvision Inc.)
• May 13 – Trading Mom (USA, First Look International)
• May 13 – When a Man Loves a Woman (USA, Touchstone Pictures)
• May 13 – Widows’ Peak (USA, British Screen Productions)
• May 14 – A.P.E.X. (South Korea, Green Communications)
• May 15 – A Million to Juan (USA, Crystal Sky Worldwide)

The Crow was first released in Romania on February 4, 1994. Widows’ Peak originally opened in the UK on April 15, 1994. A.P.E.X. Has no known US theatrical release date.

2004

• May 13 – The Lazarus Child (USA, Eagle Pictures)
• May 13 – Troy (USA, Plan B Entertainment)
• May 14 – A Day Without a Mexican (USA, Eye On The Ball Films)
• May 14 – A Slipping-Down Life (USA, limited, Raddon Productions)
• May 14 – Ball and Chain (USA, Victory Productions)
• May 14 – Breakin’ All the Rules (USA, Screen Gems)
• May 14 – The 24th Day (USA, limited, Big Teddy Films)
• May 14 – The Keeper (Canada, GFT Entertainment)
• May 15 – Honorable Men (USA, limited, Virgina Film Company)

The Keeper premiered on home video in the US on March 28, 2006. Troy was released in the US and Canada on May 14, 2004.

2014

Element Pictures

• May 9 – A Night in Old Mexico (Spain, Quentin Quayle Pictures)
• May 9 – Devil’s Knot (USA, limited, Worldview Entertainment)
• May 9 – Fed Up (USA/Canada, documentary, limited, Atlas Films)
• May 9 – Frank (UK, Element Pictures)
• May 9 – God’s Pocket (USA, limited, Park Pictures)
• May 9 – Moms’ Night Out (USA/Canada, Affirm Films)
• May 9 – Next Goal Wins (UK, Archer’s Mark)
• May 9 – Stage Fright (USA/Canada, limited, Serendipity Point Films)
• May 9 – The Double (USA, limited, Alcove Entertainment)
• May 9 – The Hornets Nest (USA, documentary, HighRoad Entertainment)
• May 9 – The Wedding Video (USA, Timeless Films)
• May 13 – A Tiger’s Tail (USA, Film Entertainment Services)
• May 13 – As Dreamers Do (USA, Laugh-O-Gram Studios)
• May 13 – Squatters (USA, Todd Moyer Productions)

A Night in Old Mexico opened in the US on May 16, 2014. Devil’s Knot originally opened in limited release in Canada on January 24, 2014. Frank was released in the US and Canada (limited) on August 15, 2014. Next Goal Wins has no known US theatrical release date. The Double originally opened in Kuwait on March 20, 2014. The Wedding Video originally opened in the UK on August 17, 2012.