Miracles for Sale

The first time I ever saw Florence Rice, that I know of, was in Four Girls in White. I fell in love with her immediately! Don't let one of the other reviews fool you, Florence was a talented hard working actress with a natural appeal, the girl next door type. She also had a comedy streak in her. She and Robert Young create some real "magic" in Miracles for Sale. (pun intended)Tod Browning brings his directorial good sense to the proceedings. Miracles for Sale is a delightful slice of a bygone era.

Sometimes being born privileged is a drawback. Was Florence the victim of petty Hollywood jealousies keeping her from being the huge star that she showed promise of being? Forty seven movies in ten years, OK they weren't all epics but she worked with some pretty heavy hitters. Perhaps in this day of DVD/VHS and our fascination with nostalgia, Florence Rice can be re-born into the STAR she should have been.

I understand this was the famous Todd Browning's final film; well, he certainly picked a good one to go out on. MIRACLES FOR SALE is a murder mystery with a twist: all the suspects are either magicians or oculists. This naturally makes for a very spooky and atmospheric thriller, which is well handled by Browning and the cast. Robert Young is perfect as the glib magician hero, Florence Rice is appealing as the frightened heroine, and Frank Craven and Cliff Clark supply some hilarious dialogue. Unlike many murder mysteries of this vintage, though, MIRACLES doesn't fall into unsuspenseful slapstick by trying to ape the Thin Man films--it gets positively creepy in parts. Also refreshing is the fact that Young's character doesn't deny the existence of the supernatural: he just thinks that the murder in this case is the work of humans. As you would expect in a magician murder mystery, there are several tricks and illusions in the plot, one of which took me in completely. My brother, an amateur magician of sorts, also passed this one on the accuracy of its depiction of the magic profession. Check it out; you won't be disappointed.

Creative, underrated detective picture from MGM. The final film from Dracula director Tod Browning. The story has an illusionist taking on fake spiritualists and investigating murder. Robert Young heads a solid cast with particularly fine support from Frank Craven, William Demarest, and Henry Hull. It's a B movie but given that it has MGM's excellent production values you'd never know it wasn't an A. It also has one of the most exciting openings to any movie from this period. Bonus points for the cool secret room Young's character has.

The Thirties were racing towards their close, accompanied by a curious speeded-up style of film dialogue, as though the writers were being paid by the word. These flat, metallic exchanges are suitable enough for wisecracks, but they kill any sincerity in lines that are meant to carry emotional depth. So for example, the film opens on Robert Young (later to be your favourite TV doctor Marcus Welby) putting the case for exposing fake mediums in order to protect genuine seekers after psychic truth. He sounds like more like an auctioneer at a meat-market.

This was the last film to be directed by Tod Browning, who exploits his own early experience in the circus by replicating all manner of smoke-and-mirror spectaculars that can hold the attention of audiences who may have been left somewhat behind by the intricacies of the plot. But a conference of magicians is always going to make a good start to a murder story.

It was Browning who had also directed the first Dracula talkie, and he brings in touches of it here, notably in the casting of Gloria Holden, previously of Dracula's Daughter, whose disdainful manner was believed to reflect her genuine boredom at appearing in movies she felt were beneath her. But her disdain manages to suggest mystery, and we are kept wondering whether this glamorous medium will be unmasked before the end. Glamour of a more conventional kind is provided by Florence Rice as the vulnerable blonde at the mercy of sinister dark forces. They say there were also some dark forces in the studio, claiming that it was only her well-connected father who got her the roles, apparently blighting her career.

One joke that certainly wouldn't be allowed today - a haunted skull moving its jaw up and down ("Obviously a woman!"). And a good disciplined performance by a fortyish William Demarest as the regulation sceptical cop.

I am no scholar of Tod Browning. Therefore, it's not clear to me why his career seems to have ended so early and with this movie. It's a mystery, with a bit of comedy and quite a bit of romance.

Robert Young is excellent in the lead role, and he is not an actor I ever liked much. The supporting cast is superb. The spooky looking Gloria Holden is especially effective, though listed way down in the credits.

This man directed Dracula, a very famous movie, and Freaks, a unique and endlessly fascinating movie. Why did his career end within the same decade as those two? This is, despite its name leads, a programmer. The late 1930s and the 1940s were filled with hybrids like this. Not much of a swan song, I'd say.