Mon 22 Jul 2013
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: SONG OF THE EAGLE (1933).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[6] Comments
SONG OF THE EAGLE. Paramount, 1933. Richard Arlen, Charles Bickford, Jean Hersholt, Mary Brian, Louise Dresser, Andy Devine, George E. Stone. Director: Ralph Murphy. Shown at Cinefest 19, Syracuse NY, March 1999.
Hersholt plays a genial brewery owner who attempts a comeback after the lifting of Prohibition, but refuses to go along with the extortion scheme of former employee and now big-time mob boss, Charles Bickford.
Arlen is the honest son, Dresser the naive, and Devine a brewery employer who stays with Hersholt while certified rat George E. Stones casts his lot with Bickford. The scene in which Bickford gets his comeuppance is highly improbable although enormously satisfying.
This plays like a Warner Brothers meller that got a bit soft in the head when it was re-routed through Paramount, but it’s still great fun.
July 23rd, 2013 at 10:13 pm
Walter
Do I understand correctly that you saw this film in Syracuse…? And, was that experience something to repeat?
July 24th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
Yes, I did see the film in Syracuse, at the 1999 Cinefest, although if Steve hadn’t included that information I wouldn’t have remembered whether I saw it at Cinefest, Cinevent, or Cinecon.
Cinefest always has a superb program and if I had the energy I used to have I would still be attending. The only problem with Cinefest was that it’s scheduled for early to mid-March and weather is always iffy there at that time. Otherwise, a great experience.
July 24th, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Thanks — I was concerned about just that, the weather. Too bad.
July 24th, 2013 at 11:17 pm
Yeah, the weather- no coats, umbrellas and sturdy shoes available, no central heating – how hard it must be to live in caves and hope for Ice Ages’ end .
The Doc
July 25th, 2013 at 11:14 am
Ah, but Doc — I am an old man.
July 25th, 2013 at 2:35 pm
I’m not so crispy, myself, but to attend an indoor event of something that fascinates me should’nt die for lack of warm clothes- THAT is what I wanted to say.
The Doc