Crack-Up

Crack-Up (1936)

Runtime: 71 minutes

Directed by: Malcolm St. Clair

Starring: Peter Lorre, Brian Donlevy, Helen Wood, Ralph Morgan, Thomas Beck

From: 20th Century Fox

I can thank a website and YouTube for the film I watched today. The IMDb plot synopsis then the Letterboxd review:

"Colonel Gimpy heads a spy organization trying to get the plans for a new airplane. Test pilot Ace Martin agrees to help." Yes, those are real names... well, the Colonel is in disguise... and in the review below I didn't mean to make an implied Top Gun reference; maybe it's just that films about pilots are destined to have homoerotic undertones!

I'll admit, I discovered this film via the great website Rupert Pupkin Speaks, where many guests post lists of films on the obscure side that they recommend and while it tends to be action-oriented all sorts of genres can be brought up. Recently, someone brought up this film and when they mentioned that Peter Lorre was the star and he played someone named COLONEL GIMPY and he played someone who acts like a person that I'll call “mentally challenged” but actually is an undercover spy named BARON RUDOLPH MAXIMILLIAN TAGGART working for “the enemy” and I had to see this politically incorrect tale, which is easy to find online and yet it's only been seen by a few people here.

Overall, it is an odd tale and yet I was still entertained by it. I heard it described as an early version of a film noir and that seems to make sense. There's a star pilot with the great name ACE MARTIN and with the name you'd think he would be a hero but well... there are multiple people who aren't as virtuous as they first appear to be. Lorre is the clear highlight of the movie whether he acted as his true evil spy self or acted as the “harmless eccentric”. The MacGuffin here is plans for a new airplane that “enemies” would love to have.

I also have to make note of how Joe Randall (a fellow pilot) is a HUGE fan of Ace Martin; Randall has a fiance but he seems to worship Ace in an almost homoerotic way, which I don't think was the intention but that's how it came off.

Anyhow, it's a curio and if you're a Lorre fan it's worth checking out.

I'll return tomorrow night and I plan on talking about two films.