Corsair

This is really enjoyable. Its low IMDb rating is mainly because it's compared with Roland West's other two 'masterpieces.' It's not a great picture but if you like early thirties movies, you'll like this - it's still one of the better films of 1931.

Roland West was unquestionably a genius in terms of pushing the boundaries of the filmmaking technology to the limits and beyond. His first two sound features, the fabulous ALIBI and the interesting THE BAT WHISPERS were amongst the most outstanding and impressive very early talkies. His technical skill is also evident with this one but there's a problem. By 1931 other talented directors had caught up with him in terms of technical prowess and these seemed to understand what movies now needed to be. It wasn't enough just to be a technical genius, a director needed to get his actors to be real people.

Although in terms of imaginative camera angles and innovative fluidity conveying action, Mr West's direction is superb but his direction of his actors simply doesn't make them come alive to us . Like you find in a lot of films from the very early days of the talkies, the dialogue is horribly stilted with each actor saying their lines with the next one waiting in turn to say theirs. This however is not from the very early days of the talkies - it seems at times like you're watching a film from 1929. His style doesn't seem to have moved from the 20s to the 30s.

ALIBI immersed you a wonderful expressionist dream world. BAT purposely had a theatrical feel where stagey acting worked in that particular context. This however is meant to be realistic and Mr West doesn't quite manage to create that sense of reality. His leads played by Chester Morris and Thelma Todd are fascinating characters but we don't get to know them. Why they're the way they are is absolutely intriguing so you desperately want to know why they're like that and what makes them tick. In the hands of a more modern (well for 1931!) director, the characters' personalities are emotions could have been explored but West, the silent movie genius now seems like yesterday's man.

Possibly this turgidity was hampered by his choice of leads because his supporting actors are really good in this. He actually gets great natural performances from Ned Sparks and surprisingly even from Mayo Methot - in fact if these had been given the leads, this might have been a classic. Frank McHugh is also in this - looking younger than ever and as always, he's great fun.

Chester Morris however is completely unauthentic and out of his depth as the good guy who turns into a ruthless gangster (that role would have been ideal for Ricardo Cotez or even Fredric March but that's by the by). Thelma Todd might be fine as a foil in comedies but she's definitely not cut out as a dramatic leading lady (Mr West was of course somewhat enamoured with her at the time).

The poor characterisation of Morris and Todd doesn't however make this a bad film - it's actually head and shoulders above a lot of films from 1931. It's exciting, full of clever twists, it's beautifully put together and will keep you watching - it's just that you feel it should be a lot better.

For Todd fans the first part showcases her lively appeal. Here, she's cast as a pampered debutante used to getting her own way. Then she meets football hero Morris who's self-disciplined down to his toes, and surprisingly rejects her romantic overtures. Unfortunately, Todd's stellar role soon recedes as the murky storyline with Morris's hijacking scheme takes over. Too bad for Todd fans.

The film's pre-Code 1931, but here there's surprisingly little innuendo to reflect those pre-censorship years. Still, there remains the lingering drama of Prohibition, and that's what the plot turns on, as Morris is out to prove that he's as effective at becoming rich as Todd's ruthless Wall Street father, Steve. The rivalry's set up when Morris refuses, as an employee in Steve's brokerage, to bilk an unfortunate old lady at Steve's command. Morris's heated exchange with his boss amounts to a telling snapshot of a time when stock markets were crashing and Wall Street needed money no matter how ruthlessly gotten. Thus football hero Morris shows his principled core despite the desperate tenor of the times. But how will he prove that his ethical approach to riches is as effective as Steve's unprincipled methods like bilking an old lady.

Here the story turns a couple of twists, as arrogant Steve bootlegs for needed money by running an offshore smuggling operation, while the ethical Morris surprisingly hijacks that operation with his gunboat, the Corsair. So it looks like the steely Morris has turned to a form of crime in order to compete with rival, Steve. So what's going on with the film's apparent hero. Has he lost his sense of right and wrong by becoming a hijacker even if it is for illegal booze.

Anyway, that's the nub of a good plot. Trouble is that on screen it plays out in fuzzy, dispersed fashion that fails to generate much suspense or involvement. In short, the story's potential is squandered along with actress Todd. Nor does it help that Kohler, the chubby gang boss Big John, mugs-it-up to a clownish distractive degree . All in all, the flick's no tribute to ace director West or to those who fleshed out the screenplay. Still, there are memories of the incandescent Todd shortly before her tragic death. Too bad she didn't get the screen time here that she so richly deserved.

Corsair (1931)

** (out of 4)

This is a rather interesting movie as it would turn out to be the final film for director West. The director would take time off after this film to do other business but of course this would end in scandal as his girlfriend, Thelma Todd, would be murdered and a lot of fingers pointed at West. Todd also appears in this film under the fake name of Alison Loyd. A former football star (Chester Morris) can't cut it on Wall Street and after being fired he swears to make money no matter what it takes. He decides to become a pirate and hijack boats carrying alcohol so that he can re-sell it on the streets. When the film finally ended after 74-minutes I was asking myself if that was it because there's really not too much going on. The film has a low budget, which keeps it from being more epic like I'm sure the director and stars wanted but West's direction keeps things floating throughout. The screenplay is pretty standard without many twists or turns in terms of the story. Being from the pre-code era and considering how much trouble West and Morris got into with Alibi I was expecting more in terms of grittiness but that's not here. The entire film plays pretty safe with the exception of one death scene on a hijacked boat but everything is pretty much lost with the really bad ending. I was also rather disappointed with the performance as Morris who has become one of my favorites. He really seems to sleepwalk through the role and doesn't have any of his normal charm. Todd, I'm guessing, tried a dramatic turn here, which might explain the name change but she doesn't come off any better. She certainly isn't bad in the film but she can't fill that Jean Harlow type role too well. Cagney's buddy Frank McHugh steals the film playing a drunk. Fans of the director might want to check this out since it turned out to be his last movie but I doubt too many find it that entertaining.

Aside from a rather silly underlying premiss, this makes for quite an entraining little thriller. Handsome, but wooden, Chester Morris is "John", a football-star graduate who arrives on Wall St. With a bit of a conscience. That isn't what his unscrupulous boss "Corning" (Emmett Corrigan), nor his rather grasping daughter want. Rather than compromise his sense of decency, he decides to beat them at their own game by diverting illicit liquor being smuggled into the country. Errol Flynn, he isn't - and the backdrop photography is poor, but the story moves along quite well with half decent efforts from Thelma Todd as the daughter ("Alison") and from Fred Kohler as the kingpin "Big John". The story is nicely circular, what goes around comes around - little jeopardy but some fun escapades and the opportunity for us to sit back and enjoy it's simplicity. Not a film anyone will remember, but an adequate way to kill 75 minutes.

The early moments of Corsair offer a big buildup for our first look at Alison Loyd: we can hear her conversation with dance partner Frank McHugh, but our only view is of the back of her head. A moment later she is introduced to football hero Chester Morris, and again, she speaks unseen….until finally, in close up, her big smile flashes onto the screen. –Of course, it's Thelma Todd's smile. This big introduction apparently aims at establishing Todd as a mysterious and glamorous figure; presumably, this is why Todd is billed as "Alison Loyd" for the first and (I think) only time—to differentiate her "new" persona from the light comic actress Thelma Todd had been (and would continue to be, thank heavens!).

Unfortunately, the plot and dialog of Corsair offer Todd/Loyd little else to do besides smile and act alternately spoiled and silly. Her character is a major motivator to the actions of other characters—but she really does little and develops less herself. Which is too bad! Director Roland West didn't do Thelma justice by setting her up as a dangerous female and then giving her practically no depth, surprises or even decent lines to speak.

Chester Morris comes off better as a football hero turned banker turned pirate. Fired from his broker job for being unwilling to steal a little old lady's savings, he sets out to prove the boss banker wrong in his assertion that Morris doesn't have the nerve to be successful. Nerve? Morris sets up a booze pirating operation that is daring, dangerous and profitable…and sells the banker liquor by the boatload.

The middle section of the movie builds tension around Morris's organization and the danger he faces as his victims—a gang of smugglers themselves—eventually catch on to his operation and hatch plans to capture and wipe him out. Indeed, it turns into a pretty good adventure movie once it gets rolling.

Frank McHugh adds liveliness in his role as Morris's right hand man. Fred Kohler is appropriately menacing as "Big John" the smuggler. Morris, a solid lead, gives an excellent performance as a man who chooses and sticks to his own unique code of conduct.

The scenes between Morris and Todd ought to be the highlights of a film like this….but it's just the opposite. They speak so slowly…how do you make Chester Morris and Thelma Todd into slow talkers? –It's not just a function of the movie being an early talkie, either; there's a deliberateness to these scenes apparently meant to be serious and dramatic—and instead, all it does is drag.

As an adventure, it's not bad. But darn, in the "dramatic" sections, this is a movie in bad need of some zippy dialog.