Old Movies To Avoid (Racist, Super Depressing, Or Just Bad)
Not 'so bad that it's good'; just bad. Trash that you can't enjoy.
Covers the 1910s-1950s.
If you want good old movies, I have IMDB lists for those too. You deserve good movies in your life.
Covers the 1910s-1950s.
If you want good old movies, I have IMDB lists for those too. You deserve good movies in your life.
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- DirectorHanns Heinz EwersStellan RyeStarsPaul WegenerGrete BergerLyda SalmonovaBalduin, a student of Prague, leaves his roystering companions in the beer garden, when he finds he has reached the end of his resources. He is scarcely seated in a quiet corner when a hideous, shriveled-up old man taps him upon the shoulder and whispers vaguely of a big inheritance for Prague's finest swordsman and wildest student if he will enter into a certain agreement. Balduin rebuffs him, satirically asking his weird companion to procure him "the luckiest ticket in a lottery or a doweried wife." The old man goes off chuckling and thence onward persistently shadows Balduin, exerting a sinister influence over him, while Balduin is still disconsolate under the frowns of fortune. The Countess Margit Schwarzenberg, hunting with her cousin, to whom her father has betrothed her, meets with an accident. She is thrown over her horse's head into a river, but Balduin, who has been directed to the spot by his evil genius, plunges in and rescues her. Subsequently Balduin calls to inquire as to her condition at the castle of her father, the count, but be makes a hurried departure when Baron Waldis arrives, the contrast in their appearance discrediting him. His desire to win the countess and to humiliate the baron becomes so pronounced that he readily accedes to the compact suggested by Scapinelli, the old man, who has so pertinaciously dogged his footsteps, particularly when he learns that untold wealth and power will be his when he assigns to the other the right to take from his room whatever he chooses for his own use as he desires. The agreement is signed. Balduin receives a shower of gold and notes as his portion; Scapinelli takes Balduin's soul exposed in concrete form by his shadow. Balduin prosecutes his love affair assiduously and with apparent success, till the baron is informed of it by a jealous gypsy girl. He challenges Balduin to a duel, and the latter, assured of his superiority as a fencer, readily agrees. Count Schwarzenberg learns of the impending duel and appeals to Balduin not to kill "my sister's child, my daughter's future husband, and my heir." Balduin gives his promise, but when he goes to the venue of the duel he meets, his own counterpart stalking away derisively wiping his gory sword on his cloak. Balduin turns and in the far distance sees the dying victim of the deed he swore he would not do. He rushes from the spot horror-stricken. When he regains sufficient composure he makes his way to the castle of the count, but is refused admission. Determined to explain that he had no complicity in the death of the baron, Balduin climbs into a room in which the countess is seated. She receives him coldly, but soon succumbs to his ardent wooing. Just as he seeks to leave her she notices he has no shadow and that the mirror gives no reflection of him; and she drops back affrighted, the ghastly apparition of himself which takes shape in the corner of the room sends Balduin scuttling away from the castle in a paroxysm of terror. He makes a frenzied flight through a woodland estate and the streets of Prague, but wherever he stops to recover his breath he is haunted by the counterpart of himself. He reaches his rooms and draws a murderous looking fire-arm from its case. As the phantasmagorical figure strides towards him with a sinister grin, he fires, and in a few minutes the blood gushes from his own side from a fatal wound.A guy befriends an elderly witch who he just met, as soon as the movie starts, with no context, except that the guy is adventurous and doesn't hang out with people his own age. Right off the bat, he gives the witch his life story, with no prompting. By the next day, he trusts this stranger enough to sign a contract with him. The whole movie is so contrived.
SEE INSTEAD: The 1926 remake. It variously goes by the titles The Student of Prague and The Man Who Cheated Life. - DirectorGiovanni PastroneStarsItalia Almirante-ManziniLidia QuarantaBartolomeo PaganoCabiria is a Roman child when her home is destroyed by a volcano. Sold in Carthage to be sacrificed in a temple, she is saved by Fulvio, a Roman spy. But danger lurks, and hatred between Rome and Carthage can only lead to war.No one's going to tell you this because of this movie's historical significance, but I'm here to warn you that this movie is very forgettable.
The sets and costumes are incredible and I believe they're historically accurate (as far as I can tell). The special effects and stunts were game-changers and still look stunning. If you pause the movie at any point, it will look like a painting. But looks aren't everything.
There are too many characters and they have weak subplots that don't relate much to the subplots of the other characters. It's a bunch of random, bad stories and characters with no personality whatsoever (They're just kind of The Soldier, The Little Girl, etc.).
But my biggest problem with the movie is that it's told through a very Christian lens; rather than a historical lens. Rather than using historical information about ancient Carthage, the movie uses the Bible's made-up information about Carthage that was specifically used to vilify Carthage and to vilify all Pagans. As a Pagan, I find that pretty insulting.
Also, there's plenty of Blackface and brown face, and there's an attempted rape scene. - DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishMae MarshHenry B. WalthallThe Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.The KKK are the heroes. Also, lots of Blackface. This movie was incredibly racist, even by 1910s standards.
"What does the director have to say for himself?" you may wonder. D.W. Griffith said that Blackface allows moviegoers to distance themselves from the real world, because they know that those aren't real Black people. Lol, ok. Sure, dude. - DirectorAbel GanceStarsAlbert DieudonnéSéverin-MarsA scientist develops a powder that he believes will have the effect of distorting reality for those who take it. To test its effect tries it out on his assistant, a dog, himself and two young couples.Pure nonsense.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronMae MarshThe story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.This movie is anti-feminist. In the story set in modern day (1916), feminists are the "intolerant" villains. The intertitles say that most women join the feminist movement because they're too unattractive to find a husband. WOW.
Here's how that anti-feminist propaganda goes. The Boy (he isn't named) likes how The Dear One (she isn't named) looks and so he grabs her and rudely declares that she is his gal now. He kisses her against her will. Her father kicks him out of the hallway, shoves his daughter, and yells at her to beg God for forgiveness. So, he blames HER. She, too, blames herself. Inexplicably, she decides to date The Boy. What??
Unsurprisingly, eventually The Boy tries to rape her. She locks herself in her apartment to get away from him. He asks if they can have sex if they get married. She gets excited and says yes. Apparently, we're supposed to root for this couple.
They get married and have a baby. But then The Boy gets framed for a crime he didn't commit and gets sent to prison.
A feminist group hears that The Dear One is raising a baby in poor living conditions and investigates. They find out that The Dear One can't afford a doctor for the baby and has alcohol in the apartment. They report her to child services, which is comprised of feminists, and they seize The Dear One's baby. Obviously, none of this is remotely close to what the feminist movement was like in the 1910s.
The Dear One hires a gangster to get her baby back by less than legal means, but he tries to rape her. The gangster's wife has been tailing him and shoots him dead for cheating on her.
The Boy serves his jail time so he can go home. This trashy script totally forgot about the baby so I guess The Dear One is never getting that baby back.
Also, this movie has a lot of brown face. - DirectorFebo MariArturo AmbrosioStarsEleonora DuseFebo MariNietta MordegliaSet in Sardinia, a barren and disconsolate land, where Rosalia, a poor young mother, entrusts her only son, Anania, to the natural father, who is well-off and already married. The years pass. Rosalia ages in misery, Anania becomes an adult and is about to marry. He returns to the country in order to find his mother and invite her to the wedding, but his fiancée does not appreciate this. Rosalia is abandoned once again...This is only valuable for historical purposes. One of the inventors of method acting, Eleonora Duse, plays the lead. Although she was approached for movies, this was the only one she made. She didn't seem to enjoy the movie-making process. Her method acting really shows, because she's always fiddling with something or doing something with her hands.
But the movie itself is very depressing and doesn't really have a plot. - DirectorJoe MayStarsMia MayBruno KastnerGeorg JohnHilde Warren, a famous actress, is impregnated by a convicted murderer and becomes plagued by visions of an extremely gaunt and sepulchral Death. Upon discovering her child is the image of its criminal father, Hilde must decide whether to allow it to live or to kill it and risk the embrace of Death himself.This is... problematic.
A woman marries a bad boy and the Angel of Death warns her that their unborn son will be a bad boy too, so she should kill herself so that he's aborted. Um, wow. She doesn't, and her son indeed is just like his father. Death visits her multiple times, encouraging her to kill herself to end her suffering. Eventually she gets so fed up that she murders her son and then herself.
So I guess the movie is saying that a woman should pay for the sins of her husband and her children? - DirectorA.W. SandbergStarsValdemar PsilanderGudrun HoulbergPeter FjelstrupA successful clown is abandoned by his wife for a count.Ladies, don't leave your husband. If you do, then your parents will be so ashamed of you that they will disown you.
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsBruno DecarliBernhard GoetzkeHermann PichaAfter years travelling the world, Count Greven returns home with the art treasures he has collected. But his disposition has altered dramatically and he is a troubled man. Will he suffer alone or can he be helped and freed from this malady?Nothing really happens in the movie and it's pretty depressing. A mad scientist is told that he's going to die on a specific date because of his greed. The stress over drives the guy to kill himself.
There's a really dumb scene where he tries to end world hunger by converting nitrogen into some other element. The only purpose of that scene is to show that he's trying to finish his life's work before he passes on. But he gives up immediately and that subplot is dropped.
Also, there's yellow face. - DirectorNino OxiliaStarsLyda BorelliAndrea HabayUgo BazziniA Faustian tale about an old woman who makes a pact with Mephisto to regain her youth, in return she must stay away from love. After the deal she meets two brothers who fall in love with her.This plot is so dumb and problematic.
A woman named Alba makes a Faustian bargain that she will be a young woman forever as long as she never falls in love. A demon just gives her this gift. She doesn't have to sacrifice anything for it (ex. he doesn't ask for her soul) and the demon doesn't stand to gain from this transaction. He just delights in watching her inevitably fall in love and lose her youth. So, it's more or less a prank, which is dumb.
As for the love story, a man named Sergio falls in love with Alba immediately and threatens to kill himself if she won't go on a first date with him. This is portrayed as Sergio truly being in love with Alba. I guess she was planning on turning him down, because Sergio's brother, Tristano, begs her to go on the date so that Sergio won't kill himself. Threatening to kill yourself if someone won't be with you is an abusive tactic. It's blackmail. Alba's response is completely baffling. She starts making out with Tristano, and he likes it. She never shows up to the date, so Sergio kills himself. And get this - Sergio killing himself causes Alba to realize that she was in love with him. UGH. WHAT. - DirectorRobert ReinertStarsEduard von WintersteinLia BorréErna MorenaDoubt and uncertainty ensue when the figurehead of a rebellion goes to court for an alleged rape.A wealthy woman (Marja) doesn't want to marry her fiancé (Richard), so she accuses a poor man (Johannes) of raping her. Although in this case the allegation is a lie, there is a whole lot of disturbing survivor-blaming that follows. Her brother mainly believes her because he's having a nervous breakdown and not thinking clearly. Her mother's first thought is that Marja might be lying. One of the reasons Johannes is found guilty is because he's an academic who has been giving Left-Wing speeches.
Since Marja was lying, the message the movie sends is that rape allegations shouldn't be given the benefit of the doubt. Ugh.
Ultimately, Marja commits suicide and, as she lay dying, she apologizes to Johannes and says she's always loved him. Gag. - DirectorRobert ReinertStarsEduard von WintersteinSybill MorelWerner KraussA Chinese opium dealer takes revenge on Westerners who have corrupted his wife.This is one of the first exploitation films (movies that somewhat comedically exaggerate the 'dangers' of social deviance), and it does have some of the hallmarks of later ones. However, this was made only one year after WWI, so it has more doom and gloom. The gloom makes the movie a lot longer than it should be. Most of the actors do use yellowface, but it was the 1910s, so I don't hold it against them.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHelge NissenHalvard HoffJacob TexiereIn 4 episodic tales of human suffering: the temptation of Jesus, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution and the Russo-Finnish war of 1918, Satan attempts to win God's favor.Almost no effort is made to tie these stories together and even less effort is put into hiding the fact that the movie is just trying to convince you to be a communist. I came here for Satan; not Bolsheviks.
- DirectorKarl Heinz MartinStarsErnst DeutschErna MorenaRoma BahnA Cashier in a bank in a small German town is alerted to the power of money by the visit of a rich Italian lady. He embezzles 60, 000 Marks and leaves for the capital city, where he attempts to find satisfaction in politics, sport, love and religion.A man can't live with the guilt of being a thief. That's literally the entire plot. Skip it.
- DirectorWallace WorsleyStarsCharles ClaryDoris PawnJim MasonA deformed criminal mastermind plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs.This is really depressing.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsVictor SjöströmHilda BorgströmTore SvennbergOn New Year's Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.Two women throw themselves at an abusive alcoholic who has tuberculosis and likes to spread it to people who annoy him. He ends up giving his wife and kids tuberculosis on purpose. Okaaaay.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsArnold KorffLulu Kyser-KorffLothar MehnertIn the castle Vogeloed, a few aristocrats are awaiting baroness Safferstätt. But first count Oetsch invites himself.. Everyone thinks he murdered his brother, baroness Safferstat's first husband, three years ago. So he is rather undesirable. But Oetsch stays; arguing he is not the murderer and will find the real one...The name sounds cool, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the movie. There isn't much plot, there's no suspense, and the acting is terrible.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsOlaf FønssMia MayConrad VeidtThe unfaithful wife of a cruel Indian prince attempts to escape from his domination.An English architect is commissioned to build a tomb for an Indian prince but he isn't allowed to leave until the project is completed. That sounds much cooler than it is. It's really boring.
The gist of the movie is that Indians are evil.
Also, most of the characters are in yellow face. - DirectorJoe MayStarsOlaf FønssMia MayConrad VeidtIrene saves Herbert and the two help Princess Savitri flee the palace.This is the second half of The Mysteries of India, which makes the movie an excruciating 3 hrs & 40 min.
This part is more racist and ablest. The Indian characters are mostly royalty, the royals' servants, or the leper colony in the catacombs. I feel like the lepers are supposed to represent a stereotype of Indians being filthy, animalistic, and greedy. I feel like the royals are supposed to represent a stereotype of Indians being abusive, violent, sadistic, untrustworthy, and egocentric. - DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsAlfred AbelFrida RichardAud Egede-NissenA shiftless young man becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman and yearns to find her again.Lorenz steals money from his aunt. He doesn't need the money. He just wants it so he can spend it on mistresses. When his aunt threatens to have him arrested for theft if he doesn't pay her back in three days, he asks his gangster friend, Wigottschinski, to steal the money from her while she's asleep. Wigottschinski kills her and then gets the money. For some reason, we're supposed to feel sorry for Lorenz.
- DirectorCharles BryantAlla NazimovaStarsAlla NazimovaNigel De BrulierMitchell LewisSalome, the daughter of Herodias, seduces her step-father/uncle Herod, governor of Judea, with a salacious dance. In return, he promises her the head of the prophet John the Baptist.This is basically a ballet. It's all symbolism and no plot.
The characters are in a fantasy world where they're all bisexual and dripping with lust. Salome, who's a grown woman with the personality of a petulant child, gets rejected by St. John the Baptist. What is a saint doing there? They captured and imprisoned him for some reason. I guess this is supposed to be Hell? Anyway, she has him decapitated and kisses his decapitated head. That's it. That's the whole movie. - DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeAud Egede-NissenGertrude WelckerArch-criminal Dr. Mabuse sets out to make a fortune and run Berlin. Detective Wenk sets out to stop him.I know you're not supposed to like Dr. Mabuse because he's a bad guy, but there's literally no reason to like him and it's baffling that two women are willing to do literally anything for him. He's unattractive, literally always angry, and doesn't even pretend to be nice. He physically abuses Cara and doesn't bail her out of jail when she takes the fall for him. He kidnaps Dusy and murders her husband (via mind control). This dumb movie is somehow 4 1/2 hrs long!
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsCarol DempsterHenry HullPorter StrongA young orphan girl, courted by an unpleasant older wealthy man who has a hold over her adoptive mother, falls in love with a young stranger at a party. Odd noises begin to be heard as a group of bootleggers clandestinely try to get away with their hidden loot. One of them is killed and the young man is suspected of being the killer.Brown face*, Blackface, the n-word, AND it calls Africans "primitive." Holy cow. This movie is incredibly racist, even by 1920s standards.
* White people play Middle Eastern characters.
The main Black guy (white guy in Blackface), Black Sam (wow), is a bootlegger who uses stolen WWI valor. Sheesh.
Additionally, the intertitles say that Africa is a land of abundant natural resources. Natural resources apparently have value; not the African people.
Bizarrely, I didn't even know that the maid was in Blackface until the end, because her skin isn't painted and she isn't wearing stereotypical Black jewelry or anything like that. She's supposed to be a light-skinned Black woman or perhaps a white-passing Black woman. I guess we're supposed to infer that from the fact that Black Sam flirts with her and she likes it. If she were white, I guess her reaction to his flirting would be screaming and running away. Wow, dude.
SEE INSTEAD: For a movie about people being stuck in a building with a killer because there's a hurricane outside, see the masterpiece Key Largo (1948). It stars the legendary Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Lionel Barrymore. - DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsBenjamin ChristensenElisabeth ChristensenMaren PedersenFictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.To me, these feel like random stories that aren't strung together very well.
- DirectorEdward D. VenturiniStarsWill RogersLois MeredithBen Hendricks Jr.The village of Sleepy Hollow is getting ready to greet the new schoolteacher, Ichabod Crane, who is coming from New York City. Crane has already heard of the village's legendary ghost, a headless horseman who is said to be searching for the head that he lost in battle. The schoolteacher has barely arrived when he starts to pursue beautiful young heiress Katrina Van Tassel, angering Abraham Van Brunt, who is courting her. Crane's harsh, small-minded approach to teaching also turns some of the villagers against him. Soon, many want to see him leave the village altogether.This is a tricky one because the movie IS faithful to the short story. However, it makes the aggravating artistic choice trying to make Ichabod unlikeable. It wants you to root for Brom, since Brom is victorious in the end.
Ichabod is a likeable character because he's bookish and clumsy, and he's in the inherently comedic situation of being the awkward new teacher in town. But you wouldn't know it from this movie. He's mostly just arrogant. The actor they cast, Will Rogers, doesn't try to make Ichabod charismatic either.
So is Brom likeable in this movie? No, he's still that jock that picks on the nerds.
SEE INSTEAD: Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949) is faithful to the short story while also being lots of fun. Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999) isn't faithful to the story but it's a great movie. - DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftMax HillerAn aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.The ending is so bad that the one and only intertitle says that the ending is "quite an improbable epilogue."
- DirectorPeter Le Neve FosterStarsJ.K. BowdenFrancis PadmorePembroke StephensA wandering musician comes into the possession of a bewitched instrument.Pure nonsense.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsGloria SwansonTom MooreLilyan TashmanGloria Swanson plays Tessie McGuire, a shopgirl who, when her boyfriend breaks their date one evening, goes to a party with a louche crowd of artists and hangers-on. She wows them with some zesty mimicry, and so gains an introduction to a better-paying job, impersonating a high-toned Russian countess to attract snobby customers into a dressmaker's establishment.I hate these movies that tell women to sit at home all day (Knitting, I guess?) or else they're doomed and deserve what's coming to them. Tess goes on dates and has a job, which are terrible qualities in a woman, apparently. At least Tess turns out alright at the end, because a guy takes pity on her. Not sympathy; just pity.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPaul RichterMargarete SchönTheodor LoosSiegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, sets off on a treacherous journey to the Kingdom of Burgundy to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Princess Kriemhild.A woman has a heroic man murdered by making a false accusation of rape. Because women are liars, I guess.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsMargarete SchönGertrud ArnoldTheodor LoosPrincess Kriemhild vows to avenge her husband's murder but must overcome her brothers who swore allegiance to Hagen. She marries Etzel, King of the Huns, and persuades his army to attack Hagen, but she loses more than she bargained for.This is the second half of Die Nibelungen. That makes this boring movie 4 1/2 hrs. long! It's cool looking, but that will only keep your interest for an hour.
There's also a lot of yellow face. - DirectorCharles HinesStarsJohnny HinesFaire BinneyEdmund BreeseAn auto racer driving through a small town finds himself tangled up in a local political controversy, an election and a mystery that surrounds a supposedly "haunted" car that speeds through town with no driver and disappears before anyone can catch it.Who is this for? A local election is coming up and a group of teens plan a series of pranks to sabotage the election process. I really don't appreciate the premise of white people rigging elections in the 1920s, because that actually happened in that era, except it was in order to keep people of color from voting.
The pranks are immature, which makes me think this is for preteens. But preteen aren't typically interested in politics. Granted, preteens do like seeing people destroy stuff. There are plenty of YouTube channels centered around that premise.
At any rate, it's an awful plot.
Also, we see Black people eating watermelons. Because of the stereotype of Black people eating watermelons. Because 'humor.' - DirectorMarcel L'HerbierStarsJaque CatelainLéonid Walter de MaltePhilippe HériatClaire Lescot is a famous first lady. All men want to be loved by her and among them is the young scientist Einar Norsen. When she mocks at him, he leaves her house with the declared intention to kill himself.This plot is so stupid.
A mad scientist named Wladimir asks a famous singer, named Einar, to go on a first date with him or else he'll kill himself. She tells him to go kill himself then. Einar gets engaged to an Indian prince instead. Wladimir leaves Einar a letter asking her once again to go on a date with him or else he'll kill himself. She doesn't see the letter until after work, so Wladimir figures that she rejected him. Thus, he kills himself. For some sexist reason, everyone blames Einar for his death and says she should go to jail for that. But she didn't do anything wrong!
Inexplicably, Einar realizes that Wladimir, who she met for like 20 seconds and wasn't interested in before, was her true love, and she feels terrible about his death. Then it turns out that he faked his death to get her attention, and they end up together. That's just straight up emotional abuse.
Also, the Indian prince is played by a white guy. The Indian prince is a very jealous guy with a bad temper, which I think might be a racial stereotype. - DirectorWalt DisneyStarsVirginia DavisLeon HolmesSpec O'DonnellWhen a ball is accidentally knocked through the window of a neighborhood haunted house, Alice is the only one brave enough to go inside to retrieve it. While she's in there she falls and bumps her head, sending her to a cartoon dreamworld in which she rescues a cat and battles some spirits in a ghost town.This Disney short has a racial slur. Alice says that the spooky house is full of spooks (ghosts). A friend of hers points to their Black friend and says, "A spook?!" The Black friend says Alice meant GHOST spooks. Spook was considered to be a highly offensive racial slur for Black people at the time.
Though it's a slur that has thankfully faded into obscurity, you can infer that it's racist anyway, since the kid points to the Black kid and the Black kid gets mad. - DirectorOtto MessmerFelix the Cat enters the Old West and battles cruel gunmen and savage Indians.A racist short.
The Victorian era Wild, Wild West. A man puts up a sign advertising a flour brand called Mammy's, and their mascot is a grotesque-looking Black maid or slave. Felix the Cat snatches the stack of pancakes from the drawing on the sign. Mammy jumps out of the sign and angrily chases Felix.
Felix keeps roaming around for food. He comes across many Native Americans. They're grotesque-looking and speak broken English. Felix ends up in a shootout and very graphically kills a Native American. Apparently that's fine. But he gets arrested for shooting a 'cigar store Indian' statue. - DirectorEwald André DupontStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftLya De PuttiPrologue: The murderer "Boss" Huller - after having spent ten years in prison - breaks his silence to tell the warden his story. "Boss", a former trapeze artist, and his wife own a cheap side-show that displays ''erotic sensations''. But he longs for his former glamorous life in the circus. When he meets the orphan Berta-Marie, he falls under her spell and leaves his wife and young son behind. He makes Berta-Marie his partner in a new trapeze number. One day, the famous trapeze artist Artinelli takes note of them and engages them for his trapeze show in Berlin. Their salto mortale becomes an immediate sensation. Calculatedly and cold, Artinelli seduces Berta-Marie and destroys "Boss'" happiness.Berta Marie gets violently raped by Artinelli, but then Berta starts dating him. I guess they're depicted as in love at this point? Berta's also dating a married man named Boss, who gets jealous and kills Artinelli and Berta.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsVirginia ValliCarmelita GeraghtyMiles ManderTwo couples' romances are fancifully intertwined.A woman is stuck with an alcoholic husband who is cheating on her with a white African woman, towards whom he's physically abusive. The wife moves on with her life, but it's rather depressing for a romance movie.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsWilliam HainesJack PickfordMary BrianTom Brown shows up at Harvard, confident and a bit arrogant. He becomes a rival of Bob McAndrew, not only in football and rowing crew, but also for the affections of Mary Abbott, a professor's daughter.Rich white guy (Brown) forces an engaged woman (Mary) to kiss him, two times. She turns him down both times, but he continues to hit on her. He literally says, "Just like a woman! She says yes when she means no!" Not only is that a terrible message, but Mary actually doesn't indicate that she likes him. Brown's dorm roommate has to guilt trip Mary into going on a date with Brown.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsNorma ShearerCharles Emmett MackCarmel MyersMary (Shearer) and Carlstop (Mack) are lovers. The former is a trapeze artist, while the latter is a pickpocket. Mary gets entangled in a nearly fatal situation with Lieberkind (Miljan), a lion-tamer, and his jealous wife Yonna (Myers), who victimizes Mary.The entire first 17 minutes are an attempted rape scene. Mack basically says, 'My mistake. I thought you were a sex worker,' and proceeds to court Mary. We're supposed to like this guy.
Then Mary gets a job and her boss, Lieberkind, attempts to rape her. His wife gets mad at Mary instead of at Lieberkind. Later on, Lieberkind does rape Mary. Again, Lieberkind's wife blames Mary for it.
Also, why does this take place in 1913? They never explain that.
SEE INSTEAD: For great carnival-themed thrillers, see He Who Gets Slapped (1924) and The Unknown (1927). - DirectorGrigoriy KozintsevLeonid TraubergStarsAndrei KostrichkinAntonina EremeevaAndrei KaplerOne of the most acknowledged film interpretations of classic short story "The Overcoat" (1842) by Nikolai Gogol, describing a fate of a "small person".The moral of the story is, 'Life sucks and then you die.'
- DirectorA.W. SandbergStarsGösta EkmanMaurice de FéraudyKate FabianThe clown Joe Higgins and the circus princess Daisy have grown up together and seem perfect for each other.This is very depressing.
Daisy leaves her husband for another man. After her boyfriend breaks up with her, Daisy begs her father to let her come back home. Her father is so furious about her having left her husband, that he refuses to speak to her. He doesn't even give her any money. The intertitle says that this was the righteous thing for him to do. Really? Because Daisy's response to this is committing suicide.
SEE INSTEAD: For great carnival-themed thrillers, see He Who Gets Slapped (1924) and The Unknown (1927). - DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsAdolphe MenjouRicardo CortezCarol DempsterGeoffrey, a young and impoverished writer, is desperately in love with Mavis, who lives at his boardinghouse and is also pursuing a writing career. Unable to marry her because of his poverty, in his anger he curses God for abandoning him. Soon Geoffrey meets Prince Lucio de Rimanez, a wealthy, urbane gentleman who informs Geoffrey that he has inherited a fortune, but that he must place himself in the Prince's hands in order to enjoy the fruits of his inheritance. What Geoffrey doesn't know is that Prince Lucio is actually Satan, who is using Geoffrey as an experiment to show God that he can corrupt anybody.They managed to make selling your soul to Satan boring. The guy marries the rich woman who doesn't love him, instead of the poor woman who loves him. That's it. That's the tragedy.
Ordinarily Faustian morality plays like this have things like tasteful nudity and erotic dancing. Lucifer doesn't offer anything interesting in this movie. He doesn't need to be in the story at all. He just as easily could've been the rich woman's friend. Lucifer being there just makes the movie pretentious, because it's trying to be deeper than it actually is.
SEE INSTEAD: The best old Faustian morality plays are Destiny (1921), The Student of Prague (1926), and Faust (1926). - DirectorWalt DisneyStarsMargie GayA mouse and his boss pose as dogcatchers and grab a schoolhouse full of dogs; they use several other ruses to round up dogs for, as we discover, a sausage factory. Alice and Julius are on the trail soon after the first caper, but it takes them a while to catch up with the bad guys. They do, and Julius tricks the big boss into getting clobbered by the sausage guy, then turns the dogs loose on him.Easily the darkest and worst thing that Disney has ever made.
A mouse and a bear, who are in the KKK, pose as dog catchers to catch stray dogs. What they do with the dogs is grind them into sausage. Presumably the dogs represent Black people. Alice (our protagonist) frees the dogs, so we add a white savior to the mix.
Now, kiddies, what did we learn today? Yeah, I don't know either. I don't understand what the point of that story is. - DirectorJames YoungStarsLionel BarrymoreCaroline Frances CookeGustav von SeyffertitzAn innkeeper murders a wealthy guest to pay off his debt, but his conscience will not allow him to get away with the crime so easily.This is depressing and the ending is pretty abrupt.
This guy is a mostly decent guy but desperation drives him to rob and murder a guy. He does it to pay off debts and to give his daughter a dowry so that she can get married. That's why it's weird that this character is doomed. He's kind of the protagonist, but he meets a cruel fate. The one upside is that he confesses and repents, so his soul can go to Heaven. - DirectorBennett CohenStarsFrancis X. Bushman Jr.Jack PerrinKathryn McGuireA young man inherits a mansion in a Florida swamp from an uncle he never knew he had. When he, his assistant and the estate's executor arrive at the house, the audience catches sight of someone crawling in the window, though the house is supposed to be unoccupied. As the house staff begins to arrive they sense a strange presence in the house, and when a young woman no one knows runs into the house to escape a knife-wielding psycho, the occupants realize they may be in danger from both outside and inside the house.They kill the cat onscreen. Not cool, man.
There's a stereotypical Black character who's just there for comedic relief. The joke is that supposedly Black people are easily spooked. It's an uncomfortable stereotype, and also the actor just isn't funny.
Plus, a white guy plays a Chinese guy.
There's no actual reason to watch this movie because it's cheap ripoff of similar movies, most of which are much better. Not everything in this movie is coherent, and the only thing that really happens is they have a fight on the roof at the end.
SEE INSTEAD: The Bat (1926), which is a fun killer-in-the-house movie with lots of secret passages and booby traps. - DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMasuo InoueAyako IijimaYoshie NakagawaA man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.This is incredibly depressing.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsWerner KraussRuth WeyherIlka GrüningA scientist is tormented by an irrational fear of knives and the irresistible compulsion to murder his wife.While I appreciate that this movie introduced audiences to the concept of therapy, that doesn't make it an interesting movie. The climax is when the patient and therapist interpret the patient's dream. If we could try to interpret it too, that could've been interesting. However, it's too abstract and we aren't given the relevant information about his life that we would've needed to know.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsLon ChaneyOwen MooreRenée AdoréeTwo thieves, the Blackbird and West End Bertie, fall in love with the same girl, a French nightclub performer named Fifi. Each man tries to outdo the other to win her heart.This is very depressing.
Also, a derogatory term for Asians is used twice. - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIvor NovelloBen WebsterNorman McKinnelBound by honor, a successful schoolboy takes the blame for his roommate's indiscretion, and it's all downhill from there.Rich white guy thinks his life is ruined because he dated mean women.
Also, one person uses blackface. - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIsabel JeansFranklin DyallEric Bransby WilliamsA recently divorced woman hides her scandalous past from her new husband and his family.A woman's life is ruined because she got a divorce, then ruined even worse after another divorce.
SEE INSTEAD: Easy Virtue (2008). It's closer to the original source material. It's a romantic comedy about a wild American woman marrying into an old-fashioned wealthy English family. - DirectorTod BrowningStarsJohn GilbertRenée AdoréeLionel BarrymorePerformers in a Budapest sideshow encounter love, greed, and murder.Cock (lol fitting) is a terrible guy who we're supposed to feel sorry for at the end. He's mean to his co-worker Salome and almost murders her after she warns someone that he's a gold digger. I mean, just look at the poster! What's worse is that he's mean to Salome's dying father who Salome loves dearly. And yet Cock and Salome live happily ever.
SEE INSTEAD: For a great carnival-themed romance movie see The Circus (1928), starring Charlie Chaplin. - DirectorChester M. FranklinStarsLionel BarrymoreJacqueline GadsdonCharles DelaneyA detective goes in search for the villain responsible for several burglaries and a murder.This plot makes no sense. It's kind of unintentionally amusing in its absurdity, but not funny enough to be a 'so bad that it's good' movie. More than anything, it's just hard to follow what's going on.
It's clearly trying to be a knockoff of The Blackbird (1926), which is a very confusing movie but a completely coherent one with a well-written plot.
SEE INSTEAD: The Blackbird (1926) - DirectorMax ReichmannStarsPaul WegenerMary JohnsonHugo DöblinA man lives alone in the wilderness for years, practically becoming an animal in his mind. When he comes across humans again, they believe him to be a yeti.This is incredibly depressing.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsBetty BalfourJean BradinFerdinand von AltenA spoiled heiress defies her father by running off to marry her lover. However, Daddy has a few tricks up his sleeve.A woman's father tricks her into thinking they lost their wealth in the stock market, just to teach her a lesson about thrifty spending. He also hires a creepy bodyguard to spy on her and report her progress. She thinks he's a stalker who wants to rape her. Somehow that's supposed to be a funny punchline.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJameson ThomasLillian Hall-DavisGordon HarkerAfter his daughter weds, a middle-aged widower with a profitable farm decides to remarry, but finds choosing a suitable mate a problematic process.This movie is intertitle-heavy, which I think is one of the reasons that it's way longer than it should be. The other reason is that it's pretty redundant. It would've worked better as a talkie, because it doesn't really have visual humor like slapstick or prop comedy.
- DirectorBryan FoyStarsHelene CostelloCullen LandisMary CarrA gangster frames two bootleggers for the shooting of a police officer in New York during the prohibition.The acting is terrible. The actors move and talk in slow, unnatural ways. The climax is when a gangster's wife turns him in to the cops since he refused to stop cheating on her with younger women, but it's not even satisfying because she feels really bad about turning him in.
- DirectorHerbert BrenonStarsLon ChaneyBernard SiegelLoretta YoungA professional clown and a self-indulgent count learn to help each other with their problems, but then become romantic rivals.This guy adopts a girl and when she grows up, he falls in love with her...
SEE INSTEAD: For a great carnival-themed romance movie starring Lon Chaney, see He Who Gets Slapped (1924). - DirectorTod BrowningStarsLon ChaneyLionel BarrymoreMary NolanA magician seeks vengeance upon the man who paralyzed him and the illegitimate daughter he sired with the magician's wife.This movie is too depressing to be enjoyable. This guy adopts his rival's daughter as a form of revenge, and makes her get a job at a cheap saloon. There, she becomes an alcoholic (although she ends up quitting alcohol).
SEE INSTEAD: For a great Hoodoo-themed horror movie, see The Skeleton Key (2005). Hoodoo isn't exactly the same as Voodoo, but it's very similar. - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnny OndraCarl BrissonMalcolm KeenA fisherman and a rising young lawyer, who grew up as brothers, fall in love with the same girl.A woman's life gets ruined because she wants a divorce.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsLouise BrooksJosef RovenskýFritz RaspAfter falling pregnant by a pharmacist and refusing to marry, a young woman is ejected from her home and sent to a strict girls' reform school.A woman gets raped like five times.
- DirectorDorothy ArznerStarsClara BowFredric MarchMarceline DayWild girls at a college pay more attention to parties than their classes. But when one party girl, Stella Ames, goes too far at a local bar and lands in trouble, her professor must rescue her. Gossip linking the two escalates until Stella proves that she is decent by shielding an innocent girl and winning the professor's respect.Isn't it romantic when men scold women about how they should avoid parties and wear longer dresses? The entire movie is comprised of slut-shaming.
Also, some creeps at a bar try to abduct a group of women and they manage to grab one. She manages to get away but, while escaping, her teacher shows her a different route back to the college. Then he gets annoyed that she dragged him into that mess. She apologizes for that a lot. - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsSara AllgoodEdward ChapmanBarry FitzgeraldDuring the Irish Civil War in 1922, a family earns a big inheritance. They start leading a rich life, forgetting what the most important values are.Awful war movie with very stereotypical Irish characters.
- DirectorFrank MoserPaul TerryTwo cats go on a date at a Chinese restaurant, but get swarmed by kidnappers.A racist short.
Two cats go out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Chop Suey. Emphasis on "chop" because there's murderers up in here. The Chinese cats are very stereotypical-looking and speak in fake Chinese gibberish. They kidnap the girl cat while she's eating. No reason for it. It's just assumed that Asians are evil. Or maybe they want to eat her because of the stereotype about Chinese people eating cats. That's probably what it is. - DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsThelma ToddCreighton HaleSheldon LewisA young man of society wants to make an expedition to Africa, but his fiancée asks him for help with one of her father's guests shortly before his planned departure. Her suspicions about that guest are serious: this man tries to steal one of her father's rubies, and she and her fiance' are kidnapped and taken to a house where strange things happen. The whole thing becomes a nightmare under the direction of a mysterious Mr. Satan.I don't get why gorillas were supposed to be scary in the old days. The scary gorilla is featured a lot in this one, which kills the serious tone. Also, the test that Satan gives his cult doesn't make any sense.
- DirectorAndré CharlotJack HulbertPaul MurrayStarsTommy HandleyGordon BeggTeddy BrownA series of nineteen musical and comedy "vaudeville" sketches presented in the form of a live broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley (as himself). There are two "running gags" which connect the sketches. In one, an actor wants to perform Shakespeare, but he is continually denied air-time. The other gag has an inventor trying to view the broadcast on television. Four of the sketches are in color (in shades of yellow and brown only).This revue (variety show in movie form) has blackface and Asian actor Anna May Wong plays a painfully racist villain.
- DirectorJohn Murray AndersonWalter LantzStarsPaul WhitemanJohn BolesLaura La PlanteAmerican Pre-Code color film starring Paul Whiteman and his Jazz orchestra.This is a revue (variety show in movie form).
The cartoon segment has two black tribal men that are drawn in a really racist way.
The song "Happy Feet" may or may not have yellowface.
The song "Song of the Dawn" has white people playing Mexicans. It isn't racist, but the singer uses a Spanish accent.
The song "It Happened in Monterey" also has white people playing Mexicans. However, I appreciate that the skit isn't racist and that the song is in Spanish.
The song "Melting Pot" has white people playing Mexicans and Spaniards. Granted, the portrayals aren't racist and we get a Spanish verse of the song.
The song "Do Things For You" has a part that's supposed to be funny because it shows a physically abusive wife and her husband isn't bothered by it at all. What a terrible message to send.
To the revue's credit, there's a short comedy skit where a guy tells his fiancée's father that they decided not to have any children and that they're "lucky" that they haven't had any accidents. Premarital sex and choosing to not have kids were very taboo topics in the 1930s. - DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGary CooperMarlene DietrichAdolphe MenjouA cabaret singer and a Legionnaire fall in love, but their relationship is complicated by the results of his womanizing and the appearance of a rich man who wants her for himself.I tried to like this movie since Amy is a great character and kisses a woman (unheard of in old movies). However, the bad outweighs the good.
The main problem is that there are a lot of Spaniard women in it, played by white actors. That is, there are only white names in the credits and their Spanish pronunciation is bad. They wear stereotypical Romani clothes and literally all they do is flirt with soldiers. It's not that they're background characters. They have lines, but literally all they do is seduce men.
The theatre owner is an offensive Italian stereotype. He wears stereotypical Romani clothes, has a terrible Italian accent, and he's just there as the clumsy guy who the soldiers laugh at.
Amy has a racist black doll in her dressing room, for some reason. Her Asian doll is probably racist too, but I'm not sure.
It's also hard to watch because the acting is bad. The lines are delivered very unnaturally. I think they may have been doing theatre style acting instead of movie acting, which doesn't translate well. - DirectorFrank Moser'Gypsy' cats kidnap a mouse to eat her.A racist short.
Romani cats from Hungary set up a fortune-telling tent. A mouse woman stops by and they kidnap her to eat her. Because of the stereotypes that Romani are evil, thieves, and spiritual. - DirectorWilliam CampbellStarsSir Hubert WinsteadCharles GemoraArthur ClaytonAn expedition enters an area of the Congo jungle to investigate reports of a gorilla-worshipping tribe. After many dangerous adventures, they come upon the tribe they sought, only to watch as a virgin is sacrificed to a huge gorilla, who takes her away. The expedition follows the gorilla in an attempt to save the woman.This is the first ever found footage horror movie. I didn't know that going in, so I expected a terrible B-movie with a lot of racism and a man-eating gorilla. What I got was a surprisingly not racist* mockumentary about Nairobi, Kenya.
* Nowadays. we wouldn't call tribal people "primitive" or Africa "darkest Africa," but I don't think anyone would've taken offense to that in the 1930s and I'd say it's very mild racism. The movie actually talks about the tribal people with a lot of dignity and cultural sensitivity. For instance, the Narrator calls the most well-dressed women "African flappers."
It feels exactly like a real documentary and a real tribe. That means it feels realistic, but is also extremely boring. The point of watching documentaries is to learn FACTUAL information, so a fictional documentary defeats the whole purpose. It spends a full hour on documenting the tribe and wildlife before anything horror-related starts.
So how is this a horror movie? Well, once a year the tribe sacrifices a woman to the gorilla gods.
There are a few hilariously weird things in the movie:- They discover a new species - a mix between an armadillo and a turtle.
- For some reason, there's a Hindu priest in Mombasa, Kenya.
- There's a gigantic Lipton Tea factory in Mombasa. Product placement??
- DirectorMannie DavisJohn FosterBumbling Chinese laundromat workers slack off on the clock.A racist short.
The Chinese characters are grotesque-looking and speak in fake Chinese gibberish. The receptionist speaks broken English because the sign at the reception desk says, "Checkee No [the word gets cut off]".
They work at a laundromat, as per the stereotype. They're kind of bad at it because they're dumb.
A Jewish guy comes in to get his laundry done. He's grotesque-looking and speaks English and fake Yiddish. He writes his order down in Hebrew symbols. The Chinese cats try to figure out which 'Chinese' symbols he wrote. - DirectorFrank MoserStarsPhilip A. ScheibA Native American warrior abuses his dog and a cowboy comes to rescue it.A racist short.
This is set during the Victorian era. The Native Americans are depicted as animalistic. They slither like snakes. They run like bulls. One Native guy hits his dog, so a white cowboy comes to rescue it. The Native guy tries to steal it back, but the dog gathers the courage to stand up to him. - DirectorFriz FrelengRudolf IsingStarsMarcellite GarnerRudolf IsingThe King's MenHecklers hijack a stage show.A racist short.
There's a stern, no-nonsense security guard in front of the building. Smoke from a motorcycle covers him in ash. Suddenly, now that he's in Blackface, he becomes cowardly and whines for his "Mammy". - DirectorJohn FosterVernon StallingsTwo passengers refuse to pay their cab fare, so the taxi drives chase after them.This is a Tom & Jerry short by J. Van Beuren Studios; not to be confused with the Tom & Jerry cat & mouse cartoons by MGM Studios.
This is a racist short.
The skeletons of Black people are black-colored, speak in a stereotypically uneducated way, and sing a spiritual. They're trying to tell us that all people are NOT all the same on the inside; that Black people are a different type of human. - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsEdmund GwennJill EsmondC.V. FranceAn old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village and almost destroy each other.A man finds out his faithful wife, who is pregnant with his child, used to be a prostitute, so he decides to divorce her.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.A movie about a serial killer who kills children, that tries to make you feel bad for the killer. Sometimes, attractive murderers who kill attractive adults have a sensual quality to them that makes you like them; but there is just nothing interesting about killing kids.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsHenry KendallJoan BarryPercy MarmontBelieving that an unexpected inheritance will bring them happiness, a married couple instead finds their relationship strained to the breaking point.(A.K.A Rich and Strange) Chinese people cook a cat.
- DirectorMannie DavisJohn FosterA musical parody of Harriett Beecher Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin".An incredibly racist short.
This is set during the Victorian era. The Black people are grotesque-looking and wear tattered clothing. The Black people are in the form of various animals, and some of them are monkeys.
Boy, do we start off with a racist bang. In the first scene, we see Black people on a steamboat, eating watermelon and dancing to an instrumental version of a song called " [n-word] Love a Watermelon Ha! Ha! Ha!" The song was originally called "Turkey in the Straw" and had very different lyrics. "Turkey in the Straw" is what we modern-day Americans think of when we hear the song (or another kids' song, "Do Your Ears Hang Low"). But, it's clearly the watermelon song here, since we're looking at Black people eating watermelon.
It only escalates from there!
They start singing some song that I don't know and it's too hard to understand what they're saying due to the poor audio quality. But it can only be terrible. It's probably some minstrel song.
In the next scene, we see slaves skipping (!) and joyfully (!) picking cotton. Some of them are slacking off or taking a break. The unhappy ones are the ones who are not working or who are dragging their feet and barely working. They lazy ones. What the cartoon is trying to convey is that they'll be happy if they start singing and dancing while they work. Uh, sure. Sure they will.
Next, we see Uncle Tom at his slave cabin. A white girl (well, hippo) named Eva dances to his flute music. The song he's playing is "Old Folks at Home," which is a song about (in the song's words) "longing for the old plantation."
The overseer comes over and whips Uncle Tom, and takes him away.
Just when you thought that this couldn't escalate any further, the next scene is Tom being sold at a slave action. Slaves are shackled together with a ball and chain chaingang style and joyfully (!) singing. Tom is not joyful but, by threat of the whip, he tap dances for the crowd. A little girl (possibly a relative?) gets auctioned as well. No one bids on Tom or the girl.
To avoid auction, a woman and her toddler run away. The overseer sicks bloodhounds after them to murder them. Bafflingly, both the woman and the bloodhounds are depicted as happy and like having fun being chased/chasing the prey. How was this funny to literally anyone watching? This cartoon must have been made for Klan members.
Tom and the little girl run away to save the woman and child. And they do. They cause the overseer and bloodhounds to drown to death. They're happy to be free and starting singing. And guess what they sing, of all the songs in the world. They sing "Dixie Land," a song that says you'll die for the South because you love it so much. That is absolutely not how runaway slaves felt about slave-owning states. - DirectorJohn FosterGeorge RufleStarsAubrey LylesF.E. MillerAfter crash landing in Africa, Tom and Jerry masquerade as Africans in a futile attempt to adapt to a strange environment.This is a Tom & Jerry short by J. Van Beuren Studios; not to be confused with the Tom & Jerry cat & mouse cartoons by MGM Studios.
This short is incredibly racist.
Let's start with the title - it implies that Black people are dumb. Allow me to explain. Two pilots make an emergency landing in Africa. Even though they need to land the plane, one of them is hesitant to land in Africa. They think they'll be murdered for being white (Okaaay?) so they put on grotesque Blackface and start talking in a stereotypical African-American way. They end up getting attacked by grotesque-looking tribal people anyway. Also, the skeletons in Africa are black-colored. - DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.Depressing beyond words.
- DirectorAlbert RayStarsGinger RogersLyle TalbotJ. Farrell MacDonaldThirteen years ago, somebody murdered the wealthy host of a dinner party. Now, the guests from that event reunite at the creepy house where the crime took place to figure out who inherited the victim's estate.Just a bad detective movie. It's really boring and the characters try to make a lot of jokes, but the jokes never land.
- DirectorEdwin L. MarinStarsBela LugosiDavid MannersAdrienne AmesMurder during film shoot sparks search for a killer.Just a bad detective movie. The detectives try to crack a lot of jokes, but the jokes never land.
- DirectorJohn FosterVernon StallingsTom and Jerry find their wagon west attacked by Indians, but escape only after being rescued by all the branches of the military, including the Army's tanks.This is a Tom & Jerry short by J. Van Beuren Studios; not to be confused with the Tom & Jerry cat & mouse cartoons by MGM Studios.
This is a racist short.
The Native American men are grotesque-looking and speak a fake gibberish language. The shaman wears horns and fangs.
The Natives plan on executing Tom and Jerry. What's really messed up is that Tom and Jerry pretend to be cool with the Natives by playing some music that gets the Natives up and dancing. But they don't actually like the Natives. When the American military shows up to rescue Tom and Jerry, and to arrest the chief, Tom and Jerry have no problem with this. - DirectorDave FleischerRoland CrandallStarsBilly MurrayMae QuestelAfter watching a Paramount Noose Reel and a cartoon with Bimbo and Koko the Clown, the audience is thrilled when Betty Boop appears on stage to sing and imitate Fanny Brice and Maurice Chevalier.A racist short.
Betty Boop does a performance in red face. She uses an incredibly offensive Native American accent and speaks in broken English. Her dress turns into a teepee. - DirectorWilfred JacksonStarsPinto ColvigWalt DisneyHarriette HaddonSanta's little helpers must hurry to finish the toys before Christmas Day.A racist short.
There's a grotesque-looking doll of a Black girl. Instead of saying "Mama" like most baby dolls, it says "Mammy." Mammy being the term people used to refer to Black maids. - DirectorBurt GillettStarsPinto ColvigWalt DisneyPurv PullenWhen Pluto eats a bar of soap and ends up with a mouth full of suds, the neighborhood thinks he's caught rabies.Who was this for??
Pluto eats a bar of soap and starts coughing up soap suds, so the neighbors think he has rabies and call animal control. The animal control guy points a shotgun at him. Mickey Mouse tries to explain the situation but the animal control guy doesn't believe him. It's so sad! They make a run for it and the animal control guy runs after them and fires shots. They get away, although I don't know how that fixes the situation.
Also, the laundry mat owner is Chinese, as per the stereotype. He speaks in fake Chinese gibberish. - DirectorGeorge RufleFrank ShermanTom and Jerry are about to embark on on a voyage into space when their rocket ship is hijacked and they are taken hostage by an escaped convict.This is a Tom & Jerry short by J. Van Beuren Studios; not to be confused with the Tom & Jerry cat & mouse cartoons by MGM Studios.
This is a racist short.
Some cameras blow up in front of a few guys. The smoke from it makes their faces black, blackface style. The explosion also shreds their clothes so that they're just left with what looks like a loin cloth. So they're supposed to look like African tribal people. On top of that, the line of the song that they sing during that part is, "We can be found wherever there's a mob." That can only be racist in this context. - DirectorBenjamin StoloffStarsBela LugosiWallace FordSally BlaneThe heirs to a family fortune are required to attend a seance at the spooky old family mansion. However, throughout the night members of the family are being killed off one by one.Normally I love monster movies, but instead of having fun, I was mostly just offended.
The black chauffeur has a highly uneducated-sounding dialect, has trouble forming coherent sentences (he speaks slowly, with starts and stops), and what he says has very flawed logic (which is clear to the other characters, with their superior logic). It's just really hard to watch this 'black people are dumb' stereotype. It ruins the whole movie for me.
The maid and butler are offensive Romani stereotypes. They're "heathens" and the homeowner says that people like them don't know how to raise children properly.
A Give A Nice Guy A Chance dude named Tom keeps kissing Mary throughout the movie even though after every kiss she tells him to stop because she's engaged to another man. Were this movie not racist, Tom would've ruined it anyway. - DirectorFritz LangStarsRudolf Klein-RoggeOtto WernickeThomy BourdelleA criminal mastermind uses hypnosis to rule the rackets after death.This is the sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, kind of. I guess this is supposed to be an action movie, because there's explosions and bursting water pipes. But it's boring, nonsensical, and there's nothing artistic about it.
The woman in this, Lilli, is so dumb. Her boyfriend tells her that he served time in jail for murdering his then girlfriend and his best friend. Her response is, "Why should I care? I love you." You don't even want to know why he did it?? Then he says that he makes his money by working for criminals. Her response is, "You think I'm so dense that I can't see that you're hurting?" Well, I definitely think you're dense. - DirectorFrank MoserNative Americans attack a wagon train.A racist short.
The time period seems to be present-day (1933)? The Native Americans are grotesque-looking and are depicted as animalistic. They have big noses and, like wolves, they sniff each other's noses. Like birds of prey, they use their feather headdresses to fly. - DirectorHugh HarmanRudolf IsingA bear sees if he can fly a plane to China and back to the U.S. without it breaking down.A racist short.
The bear flies past a group of stereotypical Native Americans in feather headdresses who are sitting around a totem pole.
Then he crashes the plane downwards and digs a hole to China figuratively and literally. The Chinese people are grotesque-looking and speak in fake Chinese gibberish. - DirectorMannie DavisSteve MuffatiCubby Bear auditions acts for a vaudeville show.A mildly racist short. There are some Chinese ducks (I guess because of the dish Peking duck) who are kind of offensively stereotypical-looking. They perform an acrobatics act.
- DirectorFrank MoserA man forbids a boy from seeing his daughter, but the boy doesn't give up.A racist short.
The story takes place in China, where a little girl and a little boy are in love. The girl's father finds out and forbids it. The kids protest, so he locks his daughter in a cage and sends imperial guards after the boy. But the kids do end up together.
The kids speak in broken English and the father speaks in offensive-sounding fake Chinese. The father and the guards are grotesque and evil-looking, with long nails and pointy ears. Also, the father smokes opium. - DirectorArcady BoytlerRaphael J. SevillaStarsAndrea PalmaDomingo SolerFrancisco ZárragaRosario (Palma) becomes a prostitute after losing her father and discovering her boyfriend had a liaison with another woman. In Veracruz, Rosario lives above a sordid cabaret "selling her love to the men coming from the sea." One night, sailor Alberto (Soler) rescues Rosario from the dirty hands of a drunk man. They get along and go to Rosario's room. After making love, they begin to talk and Rosario discovers they're siblings...Although this has historical value as a proto-film noir and for showing what Carnival (Mardi Gras) looked like in 1930s Mexico, it's a really depressing story.
Rosario's boyfriend cheats on her then murders her father, so she becomes a prostitute to support herself. She never finds happiness. - DirectorMarshall NeilanStarsOlive BordenReed HowesMolly O'DayA black voodoo priestess comes out of the Louisians swamps to take revenge on the white plantation owner she believes killed her husband.A white woman named Chloe is raised by a black Voodoo priestess who believes Chloe is her daughter. It turns out there was a mix-up and it was the Voodoo priestess' daughter who died as a baby, not the planter's daughter. Chloe is the planter's daughter. The priestess also mistakenly believes the planter lynched her husband. It was actually a lynch mob and the planter wasn't involved. Since the priestess believes the planter killed her husband, and since Chloe is friendly with the planter now, the priestess decides to sacrifice Chloe in a Voodoo ritual to make them both suffer.
I feel like the entire movie is black people doing bad things and white people doing good things.
SEE INSTEAD: Black Moon (1934) came out the same year and it's about an evil Voodoo priestess. It's pretty good. It's a little offensive (I mean, it's the 1930s.), but mostly it's just fun. - DirectorArthur HoerlStarsLaura BowmanAugustus SmithMorris McKennyIn a small Southern town, Baptist preacher Amos Berry and a local voodoo priestess, Auntie Hagar, get together to thwart the aims of a pimp who has come to town to recruit a beautiful young girl, Myrtle Simpson. In addition, Auntie Hagar's grandson is aiming to marry the young girl, which Auntie Hagar is also determined to stop.This is a horror movie with an all-Black cast. It's only interesting for historical purposes.
The Black community will always have people who are Christian and people who practice Voodoo/Vodun and similar spiritual paths. Both are treated with some respect in the movie. We see the Christians obnoxiously saying that Christianity is supposedly the "right" way and that Voodoo worked well enough for "the jungle days" but that something better came along. But Voodoo ends up saving the day, not Christianity.
There's quite a lot of footage of tent revival Christian mass, which is notable for historical purposes. Mass is still something you see in the majority of Black-centered movies today.
However, it's a bad movie, and my bar for old movie quality is very low, because I love old movies. The Voodoo priestess says she will curse a gangster. There's a lot of "Voodoo" dancing and Christians at church. And then it ends with the gangster getting cursed. He should've been cursed earlier so we could see him be cursed, or we should've seen him doing more bad things before he was cursed. He doesn't actually appear a whole lot in the movie.
SEE INSTEAD: Black Moon (1934) - DirectorRobert N. BradburyStarsJohn WayneBarbara SheldonGeorge 'Gabby' HayesJerry Mason, a young Texan, and Jake Benson, an old rancher, become partners and strike it rich with a gold mine. They then find their lives complicated by bad guys and a woman.A man dresses as a woman as a disguise and gets pantsed. The problem is, all the characters think he's a woman who just got stripped down... and laugh hysterically.
Also, the leading lady's costumes are terrible. They're supposed to be Victorian, but they look right out of her 1930s every day wardrobe. - DirectorChristy CabanneStarsVirginia BruceColin CliveBeryl MercerA meek governess and her mysterious employer strike up a romantic relationship.Clearly, no one read the book.
Also, somehow the random screams from the attic don't seem to faze anyone.
SEE INSTEAD: Jane Eyre (1943) - DirectorVernon StallingsCubby the bear parties in the North Pole.This is mildly racist. The Walruses get drunk and sing a song about missing the "Mammy" that they had growing up, who sang them to sleep and whatnot.
- DirectorUb IwerksShamus CulhaneAl EugsterA musical rendition of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale where a brave tin soldier with only one leg and a toy ballerina find happiness.A racist short.
There's a grotesque-looking Black doll. One white doll next to it says, "Mama." The other white doll next to it says, "Papa." But the Black doll says, "Sonny boy." I don't get the 'joke' but it can only be offensive.
Also, the king sexually harasses the ballerina. He kisses along her arm while she tries to pull away. Then he grabs her leg and starts kissing it. Sheesh. The soldier rescues her. - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsEdmund GwennEsmond KnightJessie MatthewsThe story of Johann Strauss the elder and younger.This is just boring.
- DirectorMarshall NeilanStarsLee TracyHelen MackWilliam FrawleyCon artist and racetrack tout Wally Brooks hands a lemon drop to a man in a wheelchair, saying it will cure whatever ails him, then persuades the man, a millionaire named Griggsby, to bet $100 on a horse. Wally knows this horse can't win and intends to pocket the cash. The horse does win, so Wally and his partner Dunhill, alias "The Professor," take it on the lam.The first half of this is a comedy but then the other half is a drama. That makes for an uneven tone, and it's pretty depressing at times. The bad acting (exception: William Frawley) doesn't help.
And did you know that candy takes away arthritis pain? Yeahhh it definitely doesn't.
SEE INSTEAD: The Lemon Drop Kid (1951). This is kind of a remake, although it doesn't have much in common with the original. It just borrows the Lemon Drop Kid character. The 1951 movie is a funny and fun holiday movie that I watch every year. William Frawley (Fred from I Love Lucy) plays a similar character in both movies.