Prestige

Is very good as Verlaine, military man assigned to field outpost in Saigon circa 1900's. His wife, Therese Verlaine is portrayed by Ann Harding, whose father is in charge of her husband's assignments.

When she first embarks to join her husband, her father issues the speech as quoted on title page. ..."It is their job to uphold higher standards to restore order....to rise up to the upbringing and status of the white man"... . This he says is "prestige" (which today is rather out of context, the word prestige in America has been decimated to a materialistic meaning and has nothing to do with honor or pride in today's America. Sadly, I might add.

However, it is an interesting antiquated viewpoint. Verlaine is in charge of a rather ramshackle bamboo prison in the third world country then known as, Annam (later North and South Vietnam). Captain Verlaine tries to rule with an iron fist at first as we see a prisoner is executed for a petty crime in the most brutal fashion. There is some sort of gallows device made of bamboo. The scene is very effective and believable.

Then Captain Remy Baudoin arrives as he is friends with Therese and wants to see if she is surviving the jungle and heat. He somewhat cheers her up, to which Verlaine becomes drunk, jealous of his wife's friendship and angry at his overall job requirements. Douglas is believable here, while very young and unless most of us check the credits we would not be sure this was him.

The natives eventually revolt, as Therese first visits the prison and is shocked at the conditions. She is disturbed that her husband maintains such a facility, for native peoples whose primary crime is poverty. They eventually revolt but succumb in the end, Captain Verlaine has restored order.

While the story is a bit unreal at times, the photography (mostly filmed in Venice, FL) is intriguing and realistic, we can feel the heat and what it must be like to live in a bamboo hut in 104 degree, humid temperatures.

Well worth seeing for the era, the dialog and Douglas in an early dramatic role. 9/10.

I think what one reviewer said is true - people in North America in those days had not a clue what Vietnamese looked like, as many in the penal colony shown in "Prestige" are black.

This film has to do with colonialism, and the power or prestige, if you will, of the white man. It was filmed in Florida; somehow Hollywood often made you believe their sets or U.S. locations were Europe or the Tropics or the jungle.

Prestige is not in great shape and some of it was difficult to understand. Melvyn Douglas is a French officer in the army, assigned to oversee a penal colony in Indochina.

Capt. Andre Verlaine (Douglas) is engaged to marry the lovely Therese Du Flos (Ann Harding), but when he finds out where he's going, the marriage is put off. She has another man interested -- Remy (Adolphe Menjou). After a while, though, Therese talks her father (Ian McLaren), a Colonel, into letting her join Andre.

Unfortunately for her, Andre is a bit like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. He gets where he's going and turns into a whack job almost immediately. When Therese arrives, he's passed out on the floor from booze. He's been driven crazy by the heat, the bugs, the humidity, and the isolation.

He and Therese marry and he makes an attempt at straightening himself out, and Therese tries to adapt to the country. Meanwhile, Andre is trying to get a transfer.

When Remy arrives and informs Andre that he has to stay at the post indefinitely, he snaps and becomes jealous of Remy and Therese, believing she wants to be with him.

Tay Garnett, who directed, was trying out some new camera work in this film, doing tracking shots and using a lot of dolly shots. Originally in films, the camera couldn't be moved - I think many directors were experimenting with this new freedom.

I did see some criticism of the acting. Let me say it was very 1930s. Melvin Douglas had many mood changes, and they were very dramatic ones No matter what his instinct told him -- and I feel he was one of the greatest actors ever -- the style in those days was way, way over the top as compared to now.

If he came off as unstable and almost like a multiple personality, it's because, let's face it, the character probably was just that. Not a well man by any stretch. Douglas had so few opportunities to do anything with a range in it until his older years, it was kind of nice to see him do this.

Odd movie, depressing in spots, its point of view strange, but it's a good study of what colonialism was like.

Yes the movie is full of racists, has racist language but I wouldn't call the movie itself racist - the whites are shown no mercy. This movie is worth seeing for its realism, and the way it ends. No spoilers here, but I found the ending eminently satisfying, unlike other reviewers. And Ann Hardy is such a gem - so much better than the stars who held the screen for longer than she (Crawford, Davis etc). Adolph Menjou is a perfect snake. Melvin Douglas captures arrogance - and its consequences perfectly - and the "natives" are brilliant in their forceful presence.

Another pre-code movie that is startling contemporary (except for the "racist premise") in its depiction of how the relationship between a man and a woman can be impacted by events beyond their control, especially if they ignore their environment.

The mostly B director, who made a lot of exotic back-lot adventures (his amusing memoir is called "Light Up Your Torches and Pull Up Your Tights"), is blessed with the most mobile camera 1931 could offer in this impressively atmospheric melodrama, set mainly in an Indochine penal colony, where bride Ann Harding has come to help commanding officer Melvyn Douglas. Garnett and his DP roam all over the place, with some tracking shots that are quite amazing for their time--one, taking Harding and Adolphe Menjou from a hotel lobby to a train station, lasts a couple of minutes and takes in every word of dialog, and is perfectly framed. Some of the tracking isn't to any particular purpose, but it's a lesson in how versatile the sound camera had gotten in just two years (compare this to anything from 1929). The premise is offensively racist and may have raised some eyebrows even in its day: As Harding's stiff-upper-lip father tells her, in so many words, she and Douglas are fighting for the white man's prestige and dignity, by proving their ability to lord it over all other races. But if you can put up with that, you get a sweaty, compelling little picture with some show-stopping set pieces. Harding is, as always, womanly and unforced, with an innate calm, and Douglas, replacing Robert Williams, who died unexpectedly, convincingly goes through some awful mood swings. It's very well and innovatively shot on what may be an RKO back lot but sure looks like the real thing. The climax strains credibility, and Garnett pushes harder for atmosphere than he absolutely has to, but it's interesting throughout and quite different from much of the assembly-line studio product of the day.

Melvyn Douglas and Ann Harding star in this odd little outing. I say odd because it's supposed to take place mostly in Vietnam at Lao Bảo Prison. But, it makes you wonder why some of the 'natives' are black---such as Clarence Muse! I wonder if folks back in the 1930s had no conception of what Southeast Asians looked like or if the studio was just being extremely sloppy. The film is also odd because it was filmed about 20 minutes from my house--in Venice, Florida. Considering all the palm trees, it probably was a pretty good substitute for going overseas for the filming.

The film begins in France. A commandant of an overseas French penal colony is being court martialed and Douglas is one of the judges. Ironically, after finding this man derelict in his duties, Douglas himself is sent on a similar assignment to run a prison along the Mekong River. This means his fiancée will have to eventually join him--and Harding's character arrives more than a year later. By then, her sweetie has degenerated significantly--showing serious signs of mental illness and alcoholism. Apparently he is NOT adjusting well to this life. What's next? See the film.

"Prestige" suffers mostly because the acting is a bit too florid--with Douglas showing a lot of googly eyes and looking pretty goofy. In addition, you are expected to like the French but can't help but see them as interlopers--and the characters aren't all that likable either. And, oddly, despite the crazed performance, the film is often a bit dull. Not a terrible movie---but also not a particularly good one, either.