It's a Wonderful World (1939)

 

When a tycoon is accused of murder, the private eye tracking him finds himself roped in as an accessory and attempts to evade police, kidnapping a poetess along the way. 

Hilarious screwball comedy hasn't dated a bit, but it's no surprise having Stewart and Colbert team up to a Ben Hecht script.

Halliwell*: "Madcap comedy mystery which now seems much fresher and funnier than it did at the time. A highlight of the crazy comedy cycle."

Maltin***: "Very, very funny, with Stewart having a field day...We swear by our eyes!" 

Nothing Sacred (1937)

An eccentric woman learns she is not dying of radium poisoning as earlier assumed, but when she meets a reporter looking for a story, she feigns sickness again for her own profit.

Lively and mildly amusing satire is quite dated, but watchable for its wit, fast pace and good cast.

Halliwell***: "Hollywood's most bitter and hilarious satire, with crazy comedy elements and superb wisecracks; a historical monument of screen comedy, though its freshness at the time can't now be recaptured."

Maltin***1/2: "Classic comedy...Ben Hecht's cynical script vividly enacted by March and Lombard (at her best)."

Journey Into Fear (1943)

An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by Nazi agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.

Entertaining spy drama with a suspenseful plot full of twists shows some of Orson Welles style, but is obviously not fully his intended product.

Halliwell***: "Highly enjoyable impressionist melodrama supervised by Orson Welles and full of his touches and excesses."

Maltin***: "Often baffling WW2 spy drama...still exciting."

Scarface (1983)

In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.

Deliberately sleazy, but engrossing gangster saga (clearly an Oliver Stone script!) with no redeeming character in sight with screechingly over-the-top performances by Pacino and Pfeiffer, a gawdawful 80s soundtrack (which was already dated at the time of its release) and lots of explicit violence.

Halliwell (no star): "Absurdly brutalized remake, with detailed violence and a superabundance of foul language; the film seems to want to make a political statement."

Maltin*1/2: "...but this film wallows in excess and unpleasantness for nearly three hours, and offers no insights except that crime doesn't pay. At least the 1932 movie moved. Even so, this has become a pop-culture phenomenon, with Pacino's Montana an underdog hero!"

Design for Living (1933)

A woman cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.

Despite censorship and unusual casting the is still an amazingly open-minded  and entertaining ménage à trois comedy, made with Ernst Lubitsch's sure hand for such material.


Halliwell**: "Elegant but miscast version of a scintillating play, with all the sex and the sting removed (at the insistence of the Legion of Decency, then coming into power). Ben Hecht claimed to have removed all but one line of Coward's dialogue: 'For the good of our immortal souls!'"

Maltin***: "Most of the witty innuendos are left intact (even if the pacing isn't quite right)."

Scarface (1932)

An ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.

From memory: Not just a gangster film classic, but arguably the genre's ultimate masterpiece: a wildly lively, violent, powerful, and realistic crime saga never loses its grip on the audience.

Halliwell****: "Obviously modelled on Al Capone, with an incestuous sister thrown in, this was perhaps the most vivid film of the gangster cycle, and its revelling in its own sins was not obscured by its subtitle, The Shame of a Nation."

Maltin***1/2: "Powerful gangster film is the most potent of the 1930s, with Muni delivering emotionally charged  performance...Raw, harsh, and brimming with unsubtle symbolism..."

Legend of the Lost (1957)

An American ne'er-do-well Joe January is hired to take a man on an expedition into the desert in search of treasure.

Ulisse (1954)

Ulysses' efforts to return to his home after the end of ten years of war.

Homer's epic trickled down to an adventure suitable for a younger audience; neverthless, quite entertaining.

Halliwell*: "Peripathetic adventure yarn not too far after Homer; narrative style uncertain but highlights good."

Maltin**: "Hokey, lumbering costumer..."

Queen of Outer Space (1958)

American astronauts are drawn by a mysterious force to the planet Venus, which they find to be inhabited only by beautiful women and their despotic queen.