“The Roaring Twenties,” “Call a Messenger” (Movie Reviews – 11/11/39)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 11/11/39 | Frank S. Nugent, B.R.C., H.T.S., Douglas W. Churchill

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime”.)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Reply: “The Roaring Twenties” original trailer

“The Roaring Twenties” opening credits

“The Roaring Twenties” clip 1

“The Roaring Twenties” clip 2

“The Roaring Twenties” clip 3

“The Roaring Twenties” clip 4

“The Roaring Twenties” clip 5

“The Roaring Twenties” clip 6

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Ping.

[MinuteGal]

What caught my eye in the clippings above was the notice that Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was performing at Carnegie Hall in recital.

What a storied life this great composer/pianist lived!

He was born into a noble Tatar family. He was a student of Tchaikovsky. His life spanned the tsarist years plus the Russian Revolution which drove him impoverished from his homeland to Switzerland, then to the U.S. where he gave concerts to support his family. (His wife was his cousin which created a sensation in the late 1800's).

Thanks, Homer.....this little blurb has inspired me to pay a visit to Borders to see if they have a good biography of the life and times of a musical legend. To think many freepers were alive during his final years is awesome as we're prone to think famous classical composers were extinct like dinosauers before we were born.

Rachmanioff's music will endure because it's beautifully musical and skillfully written.

Leni

[Lancey Howard]

Wow! ‘The Roaring 20s’ has always been one of my favorite movies. Ever.
Big Cagney fan here.

[Lancey Howard]

Heh.. I also loved ‘Little Caesar’ (Edward G. Robinson) and ‘Public Enemy’, movies which this reviewer also sniffs at. It’s funny, but to this reviewer movies about the ‘20s must have been like movies about the 1990s would be to us.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

What caught my eye in the clippings above was the notice that Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was performing at Carnegie Hall in recital.

Tomorrow's main thread includes a review of the Carnegie Hall performance. He only played one of his own compositions. He also did Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, and Chopin. An accompanying article covers Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's "Coriolanus" overture and the fifth and sixth symphonies. I hope New Yorkers appreciated what they had back then.

[MinuteGal]

Thanks for the heads up on the Rachmaninoff review tomorrow. I'll watch for my ping!

This should be interesting as the composer was also notable as being one of the great pianists in the entire world during his career.

Leni

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I also loved ‘Little Caesar’ (Edward G. Robinson) and ‘Public Enemy’, movies which this reviewer also sniffs at.

So you don't agree that they were horrendous nosegays?

I just noticed this from the review of 'Call a Messenger.'

this review may one day achieve a measure of immortality . . .

If B.R.C. only knew.

[Lancey Howard]

So you don't agree that they were horrendous nosegays?

Heh, no, I don't.... And I don't even know what a nosegay is.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I just finished watching "Roaring Twenties." I thought it a fine motion picture. I don't hold the faux documentary stylings against it as Frank Nugent does in such a big way. How can you go wrong with Cagney and Bogart? Nugent didn't even mention Bogart in his review. I guess he was still a rising star in '39.

And a nosegay is a small bunch of flowers. What a "horrendous nosegay" is I still don't know.

[MinuteGal]

"I just finished watching 'Roaring Twenties' "

Where do you get all these golden oldies you watch?

I want some.

Leni

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Netflix.

[MinuteGal]

Thanks.

Leni

[Lancey Howard]

I have always been a huge Jimmy Cagney fan and have seen ‘Roaring Twenties’ a handful of times. Love it. Also, the other movie dissed by Nugent was ‘Little Caesar’ with Edward G. Robinson. Also excellent.

And yeah, Bogie was still a rising star in 1939. That’s why he had the “schmuck who gets killed” role in the movie.

[Lancey Howard]

‘The Public Enemy’ (1931) was also excellent and even somewhat disturbing in a few scenes. (One murder in particular sticks with you.) Be sure to watch the original “pre-code” version. It was the movie that launched Cagney.

By the way, in 1998 ‘The Public Enemy’ was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” (Wiki).

Nugent apparently missed the boat on that one,too.