The reason I recently contacted my first true romantic partner at the age of 15 (I was 15, I hasten to add, probably she was thereabouts too) was partly, as she recently said “it’s intriguing”. But a second reason is that I’ve been exploring (of late) western eras and was trying to place our summer romance in the context of what was going on before, what happened later.

What I came up with was that we were right at that western timepoint when it began its swift descent away from 50s romance and into human dealings being sleazy and druggy, heavy metaly, the music now big complicated sounds, much windbaggery, not much fun anymore in that innocent way. Just big, super-serious ideas, without the life experience to give them depth.

There was another pre-wartime era in some ways similar to the 50s and I don’t mean the 20s, whose jazz we watch on Sundays here … no, I mean the 30s, during the depression, maybe up to just before America entered the war.

But it was not just that factor … it was that American film had come out of Silents and was adjusting to sound, also color, plus the Hays Code, plus Prohibition … and that’s where my links come in, as part of the review (south of the video below):

An IMDb review of this “Republic” movie (1hr 14mins):

“The Spanish Cape Mystery may be formulaic and clichéd, but that’s doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad. In fact, I had quite a bit of fun with it. The plot is just what you’ve come to expect if you’ve seen a number of these mystery films from the 30s. Ellery Queen goes on vacation (if you’re staying next to a detective on vacation, head home) when a series of murders breaks out nearby. One odd aspect of the murders is that all of the victims were found wearing their swim clothes. Once Queen (finally) starts to investigate, it’s not long before a killer is unmasked.

When I say the movie is formulaic and clichéd, it’s filled with things we’ve all seen a thousand times in movies like this: a crotchety old patriarch, a house full of relatives trying to secure their inheritance, a beautiful young daughter for our detective hero to fall for, a bumbling local sheriff who can’t seem to get anything right, and suspects galore. But somehow it all works. The movie is nicely paced and at 73 minutes, events unfold quickly. The acting is overall better than I expected.

Highlights for me included Helen Twelvetrees (what a revelation) as Queen’s love interest, Harry Stubbs who plays a bumbling sheriff as well as anyone I’ve seen, and Berton Churchill as Queen’s judge friend. In fact, I thought Donald Cook in the main role of Ellery Queen was the weak link. He’s too bland. Decent production values for a 30s era B-quickie, nice sets, and some interesting dialogue make this one a fun, late-night film. Overall, a very strong 6/10 from me.”

This review deserves a look too, to place the film in context:

http://queen.spaceports.com/Movie01.html

I should say this third review is necessary to paint the picture of the times, of life in Hollywood, in America just then:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Twelvetrees

The plot avoids real life for most people during the grim depression days and that was the whole point … the atmosphere of these films is upbeat, almost screwball comedic, wisecracking, not grim … and in our own grim days right now, just before the crash and civil war, it’s a welcome relief from the dark, depressed 40s movies or the angst ridden 50s films.

Then we get into the communist with the illuminist wife … the Roosevelts and the way they took in all of America except for maybe 15% of thinkers … McCarthy, John Birch versus CoFR.

So yes … last night, I was lost in that era, then the late 60s, early 70s … and fell asleep before the grim 2018 to 2030.