Directed by Frank Borzage • 1932 • United States
Starring Gary Cooper, Helen Hayes, Adolphe Menjou
Classic Hollywood’s arch-poet of romantic mysticism, Frank Borzage, transforms Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel into a feverish paean to the transcendent power of love. Gary Cooper is the troubled American ambulance driver serving in the Italian Army and Helen Hayes the British Red Cross nurse with whom he finds seemingly impossible love amidst the tumult of World War I. It all builds toward a delirious, expressionist climax in which physical and spiritual passion meet death in an ecstatic embrace.
Directed by William A. Seiter • 1933 • United States
Starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase
Legendary comedy team Laurel and Hardy’s finest feature finds the pair going to elaborate lengths to deceive their disapproving wives in order to attend the annual convention of their Shriners-...
Directed by Jean Vigo • 1934 • France
In Jean Vigo's hands, an unassuming tale of conjugal love becomes an achingly romantic reverie of desire and hope. Jean (Jean Dasté), a barge captain, marries Juliette (Dita Parlo), an innocent country girl, and the two climb aboard Jean's boat, the L'Atalan...
Directed by Juan Bustillo Oro • 1934 • Mexico
Starring Víctor Urruchúa, Carlos Villatoro, Magda Haller
This vividly stylized, broodingly intense early Mexican sound melodrama by Juan Bustillo Oro hinges on an audacious flashback structure. When an ailing monk recognizes a new brother at his cloi...
