All Posts – Page 59 – Prattling before the Pratfall

That’s A Lovely Dress You’re Wearing, Mrs. Cleaver

Eddie Haskell, one of the all-time best TV characters, brought to life perfectly by Ken Osmond.

What a Swell Girl

The Age of Consent (1932) is a pre-Code campus romance that takes a couple of surprisingly dark turns in the second half. The movie title isn’t about the girl in the video, who is college age. It’s a reference to a seductive underage waitress at the restaurant where this delightful sequence takes place.

The guy is jealous because the girl he’s been dating is going out with his rich friend who has a new car. They’re like an instant old married couple. There’s an abrupt cut where I spliced out a bit of video to keep the focus on them.

The pin to reattach her strap, for either her bra or slip, is his fraternity pledge pin. It’s funny that even back then, before the Hays Office clamped down on Hollywood, she said “shoulder strap.”

The absolutely charming girl is Dorothy Wilson, who ended her short Hollywood career after getting married. She passed away in 1998 at age 88. Dorothy was a secretary at RKO, taking dictation for the director. In classic Hollywood fashion, he realized that Dorothy was perfect for a part in his next picture. Despite or perhaps because Dorothy had no acting experience, she is utterly natural and believable. Her glib, assertive patter is right up there with Myrna Loy, in my opinion. Co-star Richard Cromwell later married 19-year-old Angela Lansbury, who quickly realized he was gay and they split up almost immediately.

Brit Wit, Not Shtick

The sort of humor that the British do so very well indeed.

How very, very witty!

Play Full of Plague

This is a very neat little movie, once you accept Karloff playing a Greek. Similar in one way to “And Then There Were None,” it’s a murder mystery with a group of people stuck on an island. Except here the killer is known. Who will the plague take next?