“Massacre” on DVD
Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 77
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At long last, the 1934 Warner Bros. pre-Code, Massacre will be readily available, courtesy of the Warner Archive. I have talked about Massacre on this site a few times, so I won’t rehash all that again. I’ll just say that of the mountain of films Ann made in 1934, Massacre is one of the better ones.
Massacre is included in the Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 6, set to be released on April 2nd and is now available to pre-order. The other titles in the set are The Wet Parade (1932) with Dorothy Jordon, Lewis Stone, and Neil Hamilton, Downstairs (1932) with John Gilbert, Paul Lukas, and Virginia Bruce (really looking forward to seeing this one), and Mandalay (1934) with Kay Francis and Ricardo Cortez.
To read my previous musings about Massacre, go here, here, and here.
Go pre-order Massacre here. Huzzah!
A very, very good movie. Not just because Ann Dvorak plays her role well (as usual), but because the story line for the day featured an important issue for most all Native Americans. The lead, Richard Bathelmess, takes on a role that could have been a “just get by, walkthrough†for an actor of his caliber; but he puts more into his efforts than just being an “actor†and makes you believe in his cause. Beefing up the movie there is a host of great actors from the 1930’s that boost this movie in value: Claire Dodd, an absolutely gorgeous, talented actress. Claire was left without a father or mother before she was 10 years old but managed to join the Ziegfeld Follies in New York when she was 15 by lying about her age; and the rest is history. Claire was the kind of girl that young men left home for; while Ann Dvorak was the girl a guy wanted to proudly take home. Also in the film there are the stalwart Character actors of the time; Robert Barrat, Henry O’Neil, and even Sidney Tolar (later Charlie Chan), each were among the best in the business..and each perform well in their roles. Oops, almost forgot sinister Charles Middleton, the Sherriff in this movie, who would later become “Ming the Merciless†in the Flash Gordon serials and features that were so popular.
Now to Ann Dvorak. What can I say about Ann? She looks especially great in the part, make up coloring and all. She makes you sincerely want to have a friend as loyal as honest as her character – but after a few minutes you see Ann Dvorak, not the character; and you’ll enjoy every minute of her time on the screen! As in most movies she was in, I wish that Ann would have had more screen time. Without a doubt, she makes the flick worth buying! Buy the DVD. You won’t regret it, and you’ll watch the movie more than once, believe me…
Gotta agree with you on all points, Dick! It’s definitely worth finding 70 minutes in your day to watch it.
Films like Massacre are why i LOOOOOOVE the WB films of the early 30’s! thats an interesting collection of titles for that set…Downstairs is a riotously good show! if you havent seen it i highly recommend it!