Le club des casse-cou

An early film glorifying the role of stuntmen in early Hollywood, characterizing them as brave daredevils who look at the possibility of dying with a smile and great stoicism. There are some scenes here that are indeed quite hazardous, including falls down stairs, swinging over to a burning building, boating down some seriously churning whitewater rapids, and various car crashes. They don't rise to the level of the best stuntwork from the period, but the ones towards the end are at least worth checking out, if you're getting bored during the rather dull middle part of this film.

In 'Stunt: The Story of the Great Movie Stunt Men' (1974), John Baxter lists 55 deaths in California film productions over the years 1925-30, and fans of old films have undoubtedly come across many a scene that looked truly harrowing to make. It's just interesting to me that no one questioned the ethics of filmmakers to put people at such risk, even if the stuntmen involved were willing, and it's certainly not questioned here. Instead, this comes across as a propaganda piece for Hollywood, and annoyingly, it's women who take the blame for accidents involving stuntmen more than once. Relationships should be avoided because they make stuntmen lose their edge, you see, and it's "bad luck" to have one's wife on the set. In one scene, a woman literally distracts her husband while he's trying to perform a dangerous stunt, causing him to fail and another man to die.

The other issue is the flimsy story draped around the stunts. A bottle breaking is an omen for a stuntman dying, and sure enough, it happens. A newcomer is initiated by pouring water through a funnel and down his pants, which humorously enough I had just seen in another film, 'The First Auto' (1927). A woman attempts suicide but after being saved by a couple of guys, is all smiles with them shortly thereafter. A love triangle develops but there are no hard feelings, just smiles. The film wants to make us feel there is danger all around - in the stunts, the pregnant woman not getting proper medical care, and there not being other work because of the Depression - but tonally it needed to be darker to accomplish this. It's worth a look, but guard your expectations.

This is one of the most energetic of the non-Hoppy entries in Boyd's film resume. Here he's Skipper Clark, the nominal head of a group of Hollywood stunt men called, what else, THE LUCKY DEVILS... a bunch of hard drinking, womanizing guys who are full of superstitions. The #1 rule is a married guy can't be a stunt man, which is proven by the death of one of the newly married guys. Enter a beautiful-yet- despondent Dorothy Wilson, easily the best performer in the movie, who threatens the Devil's dynamic. I don't want to give away the plot, but the real interest is the behind the scenes look at early sound movie making. There's several extensive scenes (including a great opener) involving stunt work... many outdoors (along with some obvious rear projection stuff). Lots of talk about safety but you won't see anyone practicing it. Bruce Cabot's seen here as a stunt man, but it he's wallpaper, seemingly saving his voice for his part in then-in-production KING KONG... Creighton (Lon Jr.) Chaney looks 20 years younger than he would just 8 years later in THE WOLF MAN. Enjoy it and add up the felonies Boyd commits in the last 5 minutes of the movie...

Lucky Devils (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Last month I watched a short called Thrills for Spills, which focused on stunt players in movies and this film here features one intense stunt, which was featured in that short. This RKO film, based on stories by two real-life stuntmen, stars William Boyd as the leader of a group of stuntmen who always tells his men not to fall in love because this will get them killed in their stunts because their minds will be on their wife and not the job. Boys eventually falls for a woman (Dorothy Wilson) who never makes it in Hollywood and his love for her costs a stunt to go horribly wrong. Soon Boyd is without a job and when his wife needs $100 to get into a hospital he must try one of the most dangerous stunts out there for the money. This film is pretty silly but it moves incredibly well in its short 64-minute running time. Boyd is very energetic in his role and the supporting cast is just as impressive. Bruce Cabot and Lon Chaney, Jr. (still using his real name Creighton) plays two of the stuntmen and it's always nice seeing them in these types of roles. Roscoe Ates, the stutterer in Freaks, has a role here as well, which requires him to be humiliated throughout. The stunt scenes are all very well done and it's nice seeing a movie taking a look at these men who never get enough credit.

Lucky Devils is the story of William Boyd and William Gargan and a fraternity of men in the same profession. While watching this film these guys had the same devil may care attitude that flyers have. I could have been watching Dawn Patrol.

One thing Boyd says though, no marriages, no attachment to women of any kind because you lose your edge and nerve. Then of course he falls for Rose Wilson and when they expect a third one, Boyd has to start concerning himself with family.

If this film had been made at MGM instead of RKO this would have been perfect for Clark Gable. No criticism of Boyd who did a lot of these action films before becoming Hopalong Cassidy.

Lucky Devils hlds u well. I couldsee a remake with Matt Damon and Brad Pitt.

... before he left modern dress roles forever and became Hopalong Cassidy for the long term.

The film starts with an extremely violent bank robbing scene. Men armed with automatic weapons storm the bank from the doors and the glass ceiling in broad daylight. Anybody, customer or employee, who even looks the wrong way gets filled full of lead. An operator trying to reach the police is punched in the face and is thrown down the stairs. Then the police arrive and a director yells "CUT". You've been watching stuntmen do their stuff including the telephone operator! Have I got your attention?

The rest of the film is about Hollywood stuntmen and the fact that they are "lucky devils" to be alive at the end of each work day. There was no Osha or workman's comp, or class action lawsuits in 1932. You die in a stunt, too bad for you. But while you are alive the pay is good, and the more dangerous the stunt the better the pay.

So obviously some superstitions grow up around such men who are always in danger. If a bottle breaks, then some stuntman is going to "get it". And by "It" I don't mean an Academy award. And there is the slogan of the business that "A good stuntman makes a bad husband and a good husband makes a bad stuntman". And if a good husband becomes a bad enough stuntman that he dies on the job, the wife is left broke. So Boyd's character is never going to get the marriage bug. But then he meets her - a starving unemployed girl he saves from suicide, and his motto goes down the tubes. How will this work out? Watch and find out.

This is not your typical precode. There is no extra or premarital sex going on. The things in this film that the code would stomp out in 1934 is all of the violence and dangerous stunts and probably even the suicide attempt by the jobless desperate starving girl. And then there is a police chase scene in which the police are outsmarted. That would be gone during the production code era too.

Things to look out for? For one, note that the script writer is a woman, sitting right next to the director on the set, editing on the fly. Ask Frances Marion how that career worked out for women after about 1935 when the suits began to realize they had made it through the talkies and the worst of the depression and could jettison women in important jobs behind the camera. Also, look out for a very young Lon Chaney Jr. among the stuntmen almost a decade before he becomes The Wolfman.

Highly recommended.