Mandalay

Moviecut—Mandalay

source: Mandalay

Mandalay

. . . on the make: never travel with fewer than TWO bottles of fast-acting lethal poison. A bordello chick mostly known as "Spot" takes this truism to heart during MANDALAY, and it really saves her bacon. When her bad former boyfriend (who sold her into harlotry) turns up on her river cruise vessel like a wooden nickel, Spot is put in an awkward position after he ransacks her stateroom, finds her first bottle of poison and drains it to fake a suicide that the authorities could construe as a murder by Spot. Fortunately, when this con artist "suicide and drowning victim" bobs up again to pester Spot, she whips out her SECOND killer concoction and slays him once and for all. You go, girl!

In 1934 apparently Kay Francis, (Tanya Borodoff/Spot White) was the heart throb of all red blooded men, however, I cannot agree about her looks, but she could act. Tanya is in love with Tony Evans, (Ricardo Cortez) and she works in a café owned by Nick, (Warner Oland) who tells Tony to get a boat and try to secure guns for the black market. Tanya is dumped by Tony and she is heart broken and eventually becomes a high class call girl. Tanya finally gets a chance to get away and travel to Mandalay and meets up with a Dr. Gregory Burton, (Lyle Talbot) who is a drunk and Tanya tries to break him of his bad habit and they fall in love with each other. The story takes many twists and turns and is a very entertaining film. I must mention the fact that Warner Oland played the role as Charlie Chan during the early 1930's and 1940's. Gem of a film to view and enjoy.

...for 'Francis, Kay' (qv) while she is stuck in Rangoon, Burma. After being dumped by her crud of a boyfriend Kay resorts to a few unsavory deeds in order to survive, but ends up hating herself as result. While it's hard to condone the crimes she commits, specifically the "hostess" part, the victims of her other dark deeds, well, deserve what they get. That goes for police officials as well as cruds. The lovely Miss Francis gives another fine performance in Mandalay. I've managed to catch a handful of her movies recently and she has yet to disappoint. On a side note, I found it interesting that Turner Classic Movies gave Mandalay a "G" rating. Hmmm, prostitution, murder, blackmail, gunrunning, etc... I wonder what their definition of "PG" is!

In Rangoon, gunrunner Tony Evans (Ricardo Cortez) gets a bad deal from scheming nightclub owner Nick (Warner Oland). Nick is more eager to have Tony's performing girlfriend Tanya Borodoff (Kay Francis). He tricks her to believe that Tony had abandoned her. With the stage name of Spot White, she has to work the men of the club to survive. This has an unknown Shirley Temple in a minor role. More than anything, this is Kay Francis doing woman's work and I love the darker ending. There is no need for a happy ending in this one.

A charming cad in Rangoon bargains with his nemesis using his devoted lady-friend as a pawn; she loses, ending up in the prostitution racket before seeking out her revenge. Outrageous pre-Code melodrama from director Michael Curtiz really turns up the heat. Sultry Kay Francis mixes quite well with the tropical scenario, though leading man Lyle Talbot is mostly forgettable (who wouldn't be with Francis chewing up the scenery?). It only runs 70 minutes yet packs a good wallop, with colorful supporting players and an amusing twist finish. However, whoever was responsible for excising Shirley Temple's scenes was hopefully horsewhipped. **1/2 from ****

Poor Ricardo Cortez. While undoubtedly a fine fellow in real life, in his reel life of the early '30s, he was almost always a cad, and, more often than not, he paid big time for it. He was very good at being a cad, as demonstrated in "Mandalay." The movie, set in a back lot Rangoon, is snappily directed by Michael Curtiz, who always brought his Hungarian verve to a film (Mildred Pierce, Casablanca, The Sea Hawk, among many). Some of the night club scenes are reminiscent of Josef von Sternberg's exoticisms. Kay Francis can do no wrong, as far as I'm concerned (and I look forward to reading the new bio "I Can't Wait to be Forgotten"). Those big dark eyes and that velvety voice! And as a character in the film comments, she "certainly can wear clothes."