{"id":7009,"date":"2013-09-04T20:04:56","date_gmt":"2013-09-05T00:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7009"},"modified":"2013-09-12T17:08:09","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T21:08:09","slug":"film-friday-the-thirteenth-1933","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7009","title":{"rendered":"Film: Friday the Thirteenth (1933)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>F<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: \u00a0n\/a \/ DVD Extras: \u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Label: n\/a\/ Region: \u00a0n\/a \/\u00a0Released: n\/a<\/p>\n

Genre: Drama<\/p>\n

Synopsis: The lives of complete strangers are interwoven in this drama prior to a tragic bus crash.<\/p>\n

Special Features: \u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear of an accident \u2013 There are victims \u2013 Strangers to one another \u2013 Supposing we could put back the clock and see how chance made these strangers share this appalling moment\u2026..\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Utterly forgotten gem of various destinies tied to a pivotal bus crash where two of the riders do not survive. Like a good mystery, each stranger boards the bus, and the identities of the victims aren\u2019t revealed until the end \u2013 a clever device that allows the writers and director Victor Saville to ratchet the tension as we become more engrossed by the very private sagas of the affected characters.<\/p>\n

Stacked with a star-studded cast, Friday the Thirteenth<\/strong> is also superbly scripted, with a great mix of bawdiness, wit, irony, and pacing \u2013 perhaps not a surprise, since the credited writers include Sidney Gilliat (co-author of Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s The Lady Vanishes<\/strong> and Jamaica Inn<\/strong>), and making his screenwriting debut, Emlyn Williams (Hitchcock\u2019s The Man Who Knew Too Much<\/strong>, and the classic play Night Must Fall<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

(One line of dialogue spoken by a character is sure to be a head-turner: when a banker and his fianc\u00e9e chat in a subway car, she voices her admiration of his hard working \u201clike a n*gger\u201d!)<\/p>\n

The intercut stories include Millie, \u201cthe non-stop\u201d variety girl (Jesse Matthews) who may or may not abandon her pedagogical suitor (Ralph Richardson, with hair!) for a job with her teasing burlesque hall boss; an investor (Edmund Gwenn) who may lose his shirt due to a hasty investment his dementia-steeped wife is told to process; a shipping clerk unaware his wife is plotting to abandon their marriage; a married milquetoast (Robertson Hare) who meets a shady lady in a dog park; a banker whose position and marriage may be ruined by a clever blackmailer (a suave Emlyn Williams); and a Caledonian Market barker (the inimitable Max Miller, who steals the film) suspected by the police of possessing a stolen brick-a-brac.<\/p>\n

Although made on a tight budget \u2013 the bus crash is mostly fast shots and an optically rendered \u2018smashed glass\u2019 effect \u2013 there are some unique locations within the production, especially the Caledonian Market<\/a> which is shot semi-documentary style as a mass of vendors blaze through the opened gates to stake out their market turf. There\u2019s also a few qualities which make the film very much pre-Code \u2013 namely Matthews\u2019 character, and some dancing shots that, while straight wide shots, are perhaps a little too appreciative of Matthews\u2019 assets \u2013 and to a much lesser degree, a rather darkly humorous quip by a boy and his aunt in the film\u2019s last scene.<\/p>\n

Victor Saville directed Jesse Matthews in Evergreen<\/strong> (1934), and after moving to Hollywood, made The Green Years<\/strong> (1946), Green Dolphin Street<\/strong> (1947), Kim<\/strong> (1950), and The Silver Chalice<\/strong> (1954).<\/p>\n

Sonnie Hale, who plays the bus conductor, had acted with Matthews (whom he later wed) in several films – Friday the Thirteenth<\/strong> (1933), Evergreen<\/strong> (1934) – and directed her in three films: Head Over Heels<\/strong> and Gangway <\/strong>(both 1937), and Sailing Along<\/strong> (1938).<\/p>\n

Note: this title is available as a free download from Archive.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a><\/p>\n

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Vendor Search Links:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" \"\"—New movie releases on iTunes<\/a>\"\"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0F<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ F . Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: \u00a0n\/a \/ DVD Extras: \u00a0n\/a Label: n\/a\/ Region: \u00a0n\/a \/\u00a0Released: n\/a Genre: Drama Synopsis: The lives of complete strangers are interwoven in this drama prior to a tragic bus crash. Special Features: \u00a0n\/a . . Review: \u201cYou hear of an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[2211,1759,2212,2210,2213],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1P3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7009"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7024,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009\/revisions\/7024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}