Another great find!!!

I picked up this awesome book at a local used book store for $20, that’s a deal! It’s “Stars of the Photoplay” kind of a Hollywood yearbook put out by Photoplay magazine from the year 1930. I love movies from the 20’s to the 40’s, but the early 30’s is my favorite time, most of my favorite actors/actresses are from that period, I love the pre code stuff, I just thank those actors had a more interesting life, those who had to go from silent to talkies. And of course Natalie is in it, she was on the way to bigger things at this point, but the thing that gets me is that is says she was married to Raymond Phillips, strange I have fond no evidence of this marriage anywhere, it only lasted 7 months, but it’s very strange that no story I have ever seen mentions this person, only Imdb has mentioned it. Some of my other favorites who are in this include: Jean Arthur, Mary Astor, Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, Mary Brian, Nancy Carroll, Ruth Chatterton, Maurice Chevalier, Ina Claire, Claudette Colbert, Betty Compson, Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, Ricadro Cortez, Marion Davies, Sally Eilers, Kay Johnson, Helen Kane, Lila Lee, Harold Lloyd, Dorothy Mackaill, Frederic March, Colleen Moore, May Pickford, William Powell, Aileen Pringle, Charlie Ruggles, Gloria Swanson, and many others!

Cross Examination (1932)

Again sorry for the poor quality photos, computer issues keep me from using screen shots, just my trusty old camera. This was a good little movie, a bit predictable, yet a different take on the typical courtroom drama. Unlike most courtroom movies that end in the courtroom, this movie takes place from start to finish in court. The story comes through as flashbacks, so really no one is the star, they all have smaller parts. Natalie is billed third but she has a smaller part than some of the others, she does fine in her little part, again as the other woman, the wife who is cheating with a young man. Over all the acting was fine, not bad for a lower budget picture.

Discarded Lovers (1932)

A classic example of Natalie Moorhead being surrounded by poor acting. Even worse Natalie gets top billing yet is killed off after only 25 minutes. Her lines flow smoothly, the way she walks and moves, she looks very natural and real, while some of her costars are very stiff and sometimes have little pauses between lines. Like always she looked fantastic and acted perfectly, her usual role as a user of men, a somewhat villain and victim. She plays an actress who left her first husband for an actor, then ruined him, while she ruined a few other men, in all about 5 people want her dead, and when she dies of course they all seem guilty. I figured it out very quickly, a lot of these lower budget mysteries fail in this aspect, the suspects seem to obvious, the person who looks most innocent ends up being the killer, been there done that. J. Farrell MacDonald played the police sergeant and he was fine, I’ve always liked him, but the others were pretty rough. It was great to see Natalie in a starring role even if it was only in half the film, she looked great, she’s a goddess, her clothes looked great for a lower budget picture. I really loved the sets, again for a lower budget movie the Art Deco sets where great, very impressive, Natalie’s house was an Art Deco lovers dream, then again Natalie herself is an Art Deco dream, if you don’t know what I mean by that, I’ll explain it in a future post.