Mandalay (1934) User Reviews

Engaging melodrama

[hildacrane · 8/10 · 23 November 2005]

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."

Enjoyable

[jenkins-21 · 6/10 · 11 October 2006]

Enjoyable 30's potboiler if you are a Kay Francis fan (as I am) Just saw this on TCM after years of wanting to see it. It starts out as a Dietrich/Sternberg foreign locale kind of pic, but switches gears midway and becomes a standard soap opera tale. Like many Warners 30's films its barely over an hr and parts of the story seem left on the cutting room floor or are not fleshed out properly. For example, its never explained why Francis is hiding out with Cortez on his boat in the beginning. Francis is not particularly believable as a Russian on the lam in the Orient, but she is effective playing the part, as long as you don't dwell on her background for too long. The first part of the film is very entertaining and risqué, its a shame it switches gears once Kay takes off for Mandalay. Kay wears some fab gowns and is always watcheable. She gets to sing too(probably dubbed), but 3 times for the same song is a little much. This role was originally intended for Ruth Chatterton, whom I cant picture playing it. Its campy fun and Kay is Kay. Watching her can be addicting........

One man's poison ...

[Spondonman · 8/10 · 23 November 2008]

... is another's lovely little film! I think I must have liked every 1929-1935 film I've seen Kay Francis in for one reason or another – whatever character she was playing she was still playing Kay Francis. Mandalay is no exception – and even as a murderous prostitute she should be the main reason to watch this, without her dignified elegance it would have been a very different film. Her private life may have a series of bi-sexual conquests and abortions but on screen she was the epitome of good breeding if occasionally bittersweet.

In steamy Rangoon the girlfriend of petty gun-runner Ricardo Cortez is abandoned to the tender mercies of Warner Oland wanting a "hostess" to run his nightclub. As sinister Oland eloquently says of sordid Cortez "it was a question of you or a cargo of guns and you lost". This naturally turns her against all men, using them to eventually run away from them to the perhaps unfortunately named Mandalay and taking up with a heavily drinking doctor along the way. Director Michael Curtiz's prints are all over this expert potboiler – it always makes me chuckle when near the beginning Cortez explains to Francis that they're going to Nick's Place –" one always ends up in Nick's" – Claude Rains was merely paraphrasing in Casablanca after all! Mind you, glorious as she was Ingrid Bergman couldn't hope to out-match Francis's dress- or hat-sense. For me the money shots are of her with Cortez at the beginning (with or without lotus flowers), and later on the bed lighting her cigarette plotting revenge. I can't understand previous comments about her getting away with it at the end – earlier hunky doctor Lyle Talbot had told her clearly there was only a 1 in 100 chance of surviving the jungle where the pair were planning to go, in other words a 99% chance of dying from malaria. Better odds than hanging though!

Although this was perhaps not the type of film in which she could murmur "Divine" to someone imho it's still a pretty divine film to watch - nothing heavy to report on, simply 64 minutes of pleasure. Also must be a must for Pre-Code cinema fans.

Kay Francis Suffering (Again!) and a Pre-Code Ending

[tjhodgins · 6/10 · 12 August 2012]

Mandalay is the kind of exotic pre-code potboiler that is fun to watch even though none of it can be taken seriously. Perhaps that's the reason it is so entertaining, in a predictable sort of way.

Much of it is set in Rangoon, with lovely Kay Francis head-over-heals in love with heel Ricardo Cortez. Since it is Cortez, and he specialized in playing smooth cads, it isn't long before Francis is heart broken and soon working as a courtesan in a dive run by Warner Oland, always impressively menacing as a villain.

Francis' character becomes something of a local legend called Spot White, and soon she makes enough cash from men to be on her way out of the dive and in a boat on her way to Mandalay. There she meets nice but alcoholic doctor Lyle Talbot, not long before that rat Cortez shows up again. We'll leave it there for the story line.

Michael Curtiz directs it all at a fast pace, Francis gets to fashion some lovely gowns and wide brimmed hats (which her female fans demanded of her) and Cortez, as always, is a convincing louse. The film runs not much past an hour, which helps, and has a true pre-code ending which will not be revealed here. If the film had come out just a year later the ending would have been different, that's for sure.

A decent time waster, with some effectively atmospheric Oriental sets, and rather nicely photographed. Francis fans will have a good time, I feel. For others, a pre-coder that turns a bit soapy in the final half but worth sticking out, if only for that ending.

pre-code meller of some historical interest

[goblinhairedguy · 6/10 · 13 November 2005]

"Mandalay" starts off as if it's going to be a real pre-code classic along the lines of "Safe in Hell" or "Red Dust". Kay Francis is abandoned by her gunrunning lover in Rangoon, and is doomed to become a courtesan (with the great moniker "Spot White") in Warner Oland's high class cabaret/brothel. Unfortunately, once our heroine escapes these confines and hits the river for Mandalay, the film becomes a turgid melodrama.

Michael Curtiz's baroque direction keeps matters visually interesting, but he can't breathe any life into the dismal characters. Ms Francis's lisp is more prominent than usual and Lyle Talbot shows why he deserved a future in Ed Wood extravaganzas. Plus, they both should have impaled the studio hairdresser. Although Oland plays an Oriental as usual, he's not saddled with the Charlie Chan accent this time, and shows plenty of mettle. Ricardo Cortez comes off the best with much spontaneity as an opportunistic rogue.

Pre-code buffs will definitely want to hang around for the conclusion, wherein the perpetrator of an insidious criminal deed blatantly walks off into the sunset scot-free! The short running time and jumps in the narrative make one wonder how much of the back-story was left on the cutting-room floor.

Interesting pre-code with Francis as a reformed prostitute...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 25 September 2008]

Every once in awhile a viewer can become aware that Michael Curtiz is behind the camera on the directing chores because MANDALAY is a visual treat, every shot artistically framed.

And KAY FRANCIS fans won't be disappointed because she wears a variety of striking gowns as a woman fleeing her past as a prostitute/singer in a cabaret/brothel run by WARNER OLAND (yes, he of the Charlie Chan series).

LYLE TALBOT makes an attractive doctor for Francis to become attached to shortly after assuming a new name. His scenes of drunken despair are extremely well done and had me wondering why he never became a bigger star in the '30s.

*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD:*****

The rogue responsible for Francis' downfall is RICARDO CORTEZ and he plays his part with a good deal of charm, although his character is definitely a villain who probably deserved the fate in store for him.

The surprising ending has Francis walking off into the sunset with her handsome doctor friend, after causing Cortez's death, thanks to pre-code freedom.

Summing up: Especially interesting for Kay Francis fans.

Colorful, amusing nonsense

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 9 May 2007]

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 ****

A Fascinating Pre-Code Lost-and-Found!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 9 August 2008]

Although some critics might cavil at the classification, all the elements of film noir rise to the fore in this steamy melodrama that director Curtiz handles at such a stylishly headlong pace there is little time to reflect on whether its downbeat story is too good to be true-to-life. One's only regret is that Tony Gaudio has so totally suffused this movie in attractively noirish lighting, details of its exotic sets and Miss Francis' shimmeringly beautiful costumes are often lost. But you can't have everything. All the players acquit themselves most creditably. True, a little more of Mr Littlefield would probably have strained our patience, but editor Thomas Pratt has wisely cut his scenes to the bone. And I hardly noticed Mr Bing at all. It's the principal players that command attention throughout. The alluring Kay Francis always captivates our sympathy, as does Talbot who plays the sodden hero with considerable panache. As the no-good, Cortez skillfully manages to be both charming yet repulsive. In all, Mandalay is a fascinating pre-code lost-and-found.

A routine script, but what a fashion parade!

[rhoda-9 · 6/10 · 25 August 2017]

If you feel a bit dozy watching Mandalay, you're probably reproducing the state in which the screenwriters produced this lackluster script. Samples: "I was a coward. I ran away. But I couldn't run away from myself." "None of that matters to me. (pause) As long as I have you."

The dialogue, however, hasn't been through the mill as often as Kay Francis. Once more, she suffers! She is betrayed! She lives a life of shame! But, boy, does she clean up, with an arm that looks like a jewelry display for diamond bracelets and a wardrobe heavy on the sequins, satin, and chiffon--with a little embroidered organdie number for when she is Redeemed. I don't know how she did it, but Kay always had more sophisticated evening gowns than anyone, even Joan Crawford. There is also a number that out-Dietrich's Dietrich, when she sweeps into the police commissioner's office in a skin- tight gown, a hat the size of a cartwheel, and a fan half as big as she is!

This and some incidental players and pleasures (Ruth Donnelly, Hermann Bing, Rafaele Ottianao) make Mandalay agreeable enough. But what dumb dialogue--when someone knocks on Kay's door and calls her with a name by which she is known only to one person, she not only asks who it is but is shocked to see him when she opens the door! Never mind, just go with the flow, like Kay.

A steamy melodrama only fans of Kay Francis may fully enjoy.

[Art-22 · 5/10 · 23 November 1998]

This melodrama was directed with a heavy hand by the usually reliable Michael Curtiz, with virtually no comedy relief, and there were too many problems with the movie. Kay Francis' character wasn't as sympathetic to me as it was supposed to be. True, she was forced into Warner Oland's amoral club when her lover and protector, Ricardo Cortez, abandoned her penniless in Rangoon, Burma. I had no problem with her being a high priced prostitute there to survive (a patron remarks that instead of calling her "Spot White," the name she adopted, she should have been called "Spot Cash"). Presumably, she made a lot of money, so why did she extort 10,000 rupees from Commissioner Reginald Owen, when he wanted to deport her back to Russia? She could have simply bargained for just leaving to a destination of her choice to prevent her from revealing the tryst Owen had with her a year earlier. It turned me against her. I liked the very surprising ending, which was completely against the Production Code, yet to be fully implemented later in 1934. Thus, the film was denied a certificate for re-release by the Hays Office in 1936. For a 65-minute film, it was very noticeable that Francis sits down at a piano three times to play and sing the only song in the film, "When Tomorrow Comes," in its entirety. It's a nice song, but three times was monotonous and an indication the thin plot was being padded. (The song was also obviously dubbed, since Francis had trouble with words containing the letter "R" and you don't hear "Tomowwow.")

Compact, superb role by Francis, nice filming, fast plot

[secondtake · 8/10 · 7 April 2018]

Mandalay (1934)

There are a few great reasons to see this movie. For one, it's an early Michael Curtiz film (he's the guy who did "Casablanca" and "Mildred Pierce"). Another, it stars the great Kay Francis, who is what we expect from her-charming, intense, subtle, significant. And finally, this is a pre-Code film (barely) with that little edge that makes it fresh. The plot is a bit jarring at first--the leading character played by Francis is Tanya (or Spot White, later) and she is trapped into being a nightclub hostess (and prostitute?). Francis is great at being both the victim and the ultimate in femme fatale (or a woman of power, at least). She's great. The cast around her is strong, too, and the scenes keep changing and evolving, so you have to stay awake to keep up. There is some really fabulous cinematography here, by the great but unheralded Tony Gaudio. One scene uses a mirror in the center of the frame to show one scene while the background shows another, giving us a fast impression of her nightclub. In smaller ways, the camera moves and approaches the key moments with elegance. Other scenes have just a great sense of light and drama (the short part with the turning paddlewheel of the boat at night is great). Everything begins in Rangoon. The scene shifts eventually to Mandalay, which is an inland city in Burma (Myanmar now). It requires a nice boat ride through the jungle, with all sorts of characters along. There are issues of servitude, alcoholism, virtue (as seen by Westerners visiting Asia), and maybe (in a strained way) love. It's a lot of drama and I like it, held in place finally by Francis. And check out the last five seconds. This is truly a pre-code film, and if justice is served in the end, it isn't what the Hays Code would ever have allowed. Sweet

Steaming along to Mandalay

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 27 March 2020]

A lot appealed to me when 'Mandalay' was recommended here to me, in the more like this section. That it was directed by a great director in Michael Curtiz got my interest and seeing the names in the cast interested me further. Do like Kay Francis a lot, though she was often better than her material, Ricardo Cortez always makes for a good villain and Lyle Talbot is good when the role is interesting. The story did sound interesting but was worried about how the melodrama would fare.

'Mandalay' is by no means one of Curtiz's best films, consider it more a little above average minor work. All have done better, but nobody actually is disgraced. It is a great looking film and the performances are good. What is less successful is the story, which starts off good and ends surprisingly but too much of the second half is silly melodramatic soap that lacks surprises and is not as interesting. So 'Mandalay' is a slight mixed bag, with a little more good than bad.

Visually, 'Mandalay' looks wonderful. There is a lot of beautiful photography throughout, there is nothing cheap about the locations and Francis' wardrobe has the wow factor. The music fits the atmosphere well, and the song is a lovely one (the number of times it was used was not necessary though). The script in the first half has snap, bite and fun with a daring edge, while the story was absorbing in the first half. The ending is as has been said very surprising and not what one expects.

Curtiz directs with good skill visually and dramatically, though he didn't seem as engaged once the second half started before the spark came back towards the end. Francis is alluring and sensual, her role is perfect for playing to her strengths and she has no trouble commanding the screen. Talbot is good as a character not near as interesting, he is hardly bland. Cortez is typecast, but it was a character he played very well indeed, which he acts with a sinister touch, and it was clear the studio knew that. Warner Oland also does well and doesn't overdo his part, grate or feels out of place.

On the other hand, the second half isn't as strong. It loses momentum, from a little too much padding, and the dialogue loses its snap, becomes stilted and gets at its worst pretty stupid. The story also gets very soap-operatic and in pure over-heated melodrama fashion and creaks badly, it was like watching another film.

The supporting cast has some interesting names, but only Oland and Ruth Donnelly rise above their material. Everybody else struggles to register as characters that are never really fleshed out and feel like plot devices instead. As said, as lovely as the song is it is too repetitively used.

Concluding, starts well and ends surprisingly but loses its way generally in the second half. Worth seeing for the production values and the three leads. 6/10

What do you get if you cross a sentimental melodrama with an action adventure?

[1930s_Time_Machine · 5/10 · 30 June 2023]

"I want to watch a Kay Francis picture" is not something many people would say. There's usually no point, most of her output were samey sentimental, melodramas made to cheer up 1930s women. This one however is great. It's still a sentimental melodrama but is a lot more rip-roaring and rollicking than you might expect.

It's that familiar old story: boy meets girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy sells girl into prostitution, girl meets alcoholic carrying a bag of poison....the usual stuff. An on-line definition of melodrama could just link to this film. Like Spinal Tap's amp, everything in this is set at level 11: as the story progresses, the characters become ever more exaggerated - almost caricatures of real people but the acting is so good you can actually believe that real people are like this. This isn't something I'd say too often but Kay Francis is brilliant in this film. She begins as a sweet, innocent young girl but within no more than a couple of weeks, she's not just the ultimate femme-fatale, vicious and sharp-tongued but the town's most infamous high-class prostitute. A couple of years later we see her as a sad and forlorn young woman mournful for the loss of herself and searching for some sort of redemption. Kay Francis achieves these impossible transformations so well that you really believe that this could all actually happen.

To compliment the absurdity of the characters (Ricardo Cortez is also great - he must have had fun doing this), the plot itself takes a massive detour away from reality. As daft as it all gets, you don't question it, you go along with this nonsense and it's not until it's all over that you wonder why you were so engaged with it. The reason for that is because it's directed with such gusto and passion by Michael Curtiz. He doesn't give you any time to rest or sit back and think about what's happening - he injects a real sense of urgency which keeps you on the edge of your seat. He does exactly what a filmmaker's job is: he makes the unbelievable believable. He also makes this movie look great - you start to feel claustrophobic as that hot and heavy sticky air of Rangoon surrounds you. There's a lot more care gone into this than was typical for Warner Brothers, every frame seems to have been carefully planned out. It a very professional, well made emotionally stirring story.

Kay Francis melodrama - enough said

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 25 August 2012]

Kay Francis stars with Ricardo Cortez and Lyle Talbot in the 1934 potboiler "Mandalay" directed by Michael Curtiz.

Francis plays Tanya Borodoff, who is madly in love with gunrunner/worm Tony Evans (Cortez) in Rangoon. While at a club owned by Nick (Warner Oland), Tony is ordered by Nick to get a boat and pick up some guns for the black market. And he wants Tanya to stay behind and work for him in his club. Tony agrees, dumps poor Tanya, and takes off.

Tanya doesn't want to work for Nick, but she's advised by a coworker to use the men in the club to her own advantage. Tanya does so, gets in trouble, and is about to be deported when she blackmails the police captain. She gets 10,000 rupees from him, changes her name, and takes off for Mandalay by boat. On the boat, she meets a drunken doctor (Lyle Talbot)...and Tony! Well, as usual, Kay's got the spectacular outfits. She also sings "When Tomorrow Comes" -- several times. She looks great. Francis always projected class and sophistication, making her an odd choice for a gunrunner's girlfriend who has to work as a prostitute. Nevertheless, her dignified performance carries the film. Cortez is appropriately slimy, and Talbot is quite young here and charming. I remember him from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. What a career he had.

Evidently Shirley Temple was supposed to be in this film, but her scenes were deleted.

Precode film, melodramatic - for Kay Francis fans, and, thanks to Turner Classic Movies, there are many again.

This flick provides an essential travel tip for cruise ladies . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 30 March 2021]

. . . 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!

Classic Film

[whpratt1 · 6/10 · 15 October 2008]

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.

I want to do something decent for once in my life

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 8 May 2014]

***SPOILERS*** The story of two lost souls adrift in a sea of uncertainty has Russian immigrant form Communism Tanya Borodoff aka Spot White aka Majorie Lane, Kay Francis, hook up with disgraced doctor, he blotched an operation at West Point where his patient died, Greg Burton played by Lyle Talbot who try to put their shattered lives back together while on a trip up the Irrawadi River to the city of Mandelay. It's then that Tanya's former lover and wannabe pimp Tony Evans, Ricardo Cortez, in him selling her into a white slavery ring drops in, from the local swamp, unexpectedly.

It's Tony who want's Tanya to come back to him and help him open up a combination bar bordello in Mandalay with her being the madam. Before the plot can go into action Tony disappears from sight with all the evidence pointing at Tanya as have murdered him! That by her spiking his booze with poison and hauling him, a 200 pound man, overboard as he got eaten by a group of hungry man eating crocodiles. With her now reformed alcoholic lover Dr. Burton standing by Tanya's side she plans together with him to face the music when the boat reaches shore and defend herself against the charge, 1st degree murder, placed against her.

***MAJOR SPOILER*** We soon find out that the slippery Tony Evans isn't dead at all he faked the whole thing and is now back, with another identify, to bring Tanya back into the fold as his hostess or madam of his bar restaurant bordello that he soon plans to open up in the red light district in downtown Mandalay. With Tanya fearing that she'd be exposed as an illegal alien and shipped back to the Soviet Union or Russia she grudgingly agrees to goes along with Tony's plans until a light bulb light up in her pretty head when he asks her to a toast. It's then that Tanya gets Tony to do for real thing that he faked just hours before. Thus putting an end to his scheme he planned for her of sin and depravity and free her to start a new life with her new love Dr. Burton. Who in fact, due to his acute alcoholism, had no idea what was going on in the entire time he was in the movie but still had a good time, boozing, being in it.!

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures...

[Randy_D · 8/10 · 1 August 2001]

...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!

One of Kay Francis' last trashy Pre-Code thrillers.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 January 2013]

Kay Francis is famous for making tons of trashy Pre-Code dramas for Warner Brothers. Since they were released before the tougher Production Code was adopted in mid-1934, all kinds of craziness occurs in the films--adultery, murder, unpunished sin and much more. "Mandalay" was one of the very last of these scandalous films, as it came out in early 1934. In subsequent films, such goings on were NOT allowed and many of Francis' films from before mid-1934 were either not re-released or were trimmed heavily to comply with the censorship demands of the new Code.

This film is set in Burma---the first portion in Rangoon and then a boat ride to Mandalay. Kay Francis is running from something--though you don't know exactly why. She's hiding out with her lover (Ricardo Cortez) and the film is amazingly frank about their sexual relationship. However, soon he sells her out--leaving her with a scumbag (Warner Oland) who forces her to work as a 'hostess'. While it's never said that she turns tricks, this does seem to be the implication. She apparently is VERY good at it and amasses a small fortune--and leaves for a better life in Mandalay.

Most of the rest of the film is set aboard a slow-moving riverboat. There she meets an odd doctor (Lyle Talbot)--a man who is going to work with plague victims as a way to do penance. And, although she plays a very jaded and world-weary dame, slowly she begins to fall for the man. Then, out of the blue, Cortez gets on the boat and, well, you'll have to see for yourself what happens next. I don't want to spoil the Pre-Code fun! So is the film worth seeing? As a guilty pleasure, absolutely. The film is chock full of stuff you just won't see a few months later--particularly how Francis dealt with Cortez when they met again. Never dull...and a bit sleazy! Worth seeing.

By the way, get a load of Francis' dresses--they are even more outlandish than usual--especially given she's in Burma!!

She used to be "Spot White", but Cash is Green!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 6 March 2013]

Last night, Kay dreamed she went to Mandalay again. Not the Mandalay of Daphne DuMaurier's "Rebecca", but an exotic land far away where a beautiful woman in a gold lame' dress becomes the most notorious female in the country. This is a story with three acts. Act One: Kay is living happily with the man she loves (Ricardo Cortez) who ends that quickly by "selling" her services to club owner Warner Oland who basically becomes her "pimp", her a hostess/companion receiving "favors" from his clients. Her get-away won't be easy through Act Two, but she manages it. This is where she appears in the famous gold lame dress, an unfortunate choice for wardrobe which reveals Kay to be rather flat-chested. Kay does get to really act when she utilizes secrets against the local law to get out of Mandalay for good.

Act Three finds Kay shipboard on her way to Mandalay where she meets an alcoholic and suicidal doctor (Lyle Talbot), their romance bringing them both back to life. As she begins to accept her happiness, Cortez pops back up to destroy everything she's been clamoring for. Sound like a Dietrich movie? I certainly thought so as I watched the exotically made up Francis suffer, scheme and seduce her way across Asia. It wasn't a good year for Ricardo Cortez in Kay Francis films-he is disposed of in each of them, a metaphor for career typecasting if ever I saw it. Talbot, who later went on to Ed Wood movies (like "Plan Nine From Outer Space") has an interesting presence. Oland continues his Fu Manchu character with Rafaela Ottiano his Madame DeFarge like mistress who has aged past her prime and advises Kay how to use her new position to her advantage. Ruth Donnelly offers a few amusing lines as a shipboard busybody with Shirley Temple only briefly visible in a walk-on. Some of the plot devices are absolute toddle, but when you've got a fashion parade by the famous clothes horse of the 30's, who's gonna quibble?

That Dress!!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 17 December 2012]

By the time "Mandalay" was released Kay Francis was realising that decamping to Warner Bros. from Paramount had not been her best career move. She had a lackadaisical attitude about the scripts she accepted, her attitude being that as a top star the studio wouldn't put her into rubbish - she didn't reckon with the cut throat Warner Bros. "Mandalay" was yet another Ruth Chatterton hand me down. Chatterton had defected to Warners around the same time as Kay and as the studio's No. 1 star was paid a staggering $9,000 a week - but that didn't last long. One of the mysteries of Hollywood, to me, was why Lyle Talbot didn't become a bigger star. He could play bad guys and sympathetic heroes equally well and in the early thirties was good looking - but his role in "Three on a Match" as a weakling hoodlum may have typecast him. At least in "Mandalay" he was given a more rounded characterization.

Joseph Von Sternberg may have made this a classic but under the hands of Warner's macho all purpose director, it emerged as "high camp" - with Kay being given some incredible dialogue, such as "If you touch my garter, I'll scweam"!!! Once, Kay's status had demanded script writers scan the story looking for any pesky Rs and Ws but by 1934 nobody cared. Kay plays Tanya Borisoff, mistress and traveling companion of Tony Evans (Ricardo Cortez) who abandons her at seedy "Nick's Place" in Rangoon, in exchange to pay off his debts - Warner Oland is the slimy proprietor. She soon becomes "Spot White" - the star attraction who slinks down the stairs in "that dress" (a beautiful knockout glittering silver sheath, that is often shown in photos of Kay at her most alluring). After some sage advice from an old hand, "The Countess" (Rafaela Ottiano) Tanya decides to ruthlessly take the patrons for whatever she can get and she soon has secrets about all the higher up officials which comes in handy whenever she is due to be deported.

To escape the "heat" she sets off for the cool, green hills of Mandalay and on the boat she meets alcoholic doctor, Gregory Burton, (Talbot) who is also going to Mandalay to help with a black fever epidemic. When a small child dies on board because Burton is too drunk to help, Tanya decides that, as two misfits together, they can help each other - until Tony re-enters the picture. As if Tanya could fall for his sleazy embraces again, he spins her the old story of "life hasn't gone right for me since I left you" - but secretly he is still up to his neck in trouble until he receives a coded message to warn him that the police are on his trail. He even proposes that Tanya come back with him where he will set her up as the top hostess at his club!!!

More action is packed into the last 10 minutes than the rest of the movie combined. Tanya is held on suspicion of murder (a charge she is innocent of) because of Tony's disappearance and a small bottle of poison that is found in his cabin but when Tony unexpectedly returns, Tanya then paves the way for a chance of happiness with her soul mate Gregory. Being made just before the code was enforced there is a sultry scene between Kay and Ricardo which leaves nothing to the imagination.

Spicy, Pre-Code Hash

[boblipton · 7/10 · 11 January 2022]

Out in the Far East, formerly rich Ricardo Cortez sells mistress Kay Francis and her extensive wardrobe to nightclub owner Warner Oland. After making enough money, er, hostessing and a spot of trimming police commissioner Reginald Owen, she picks up drunk doctor Lyle Talbot and reforms him (no, really). But as they re sailing up the San Joaquin River to Stockton (it's supposed to be the Irawaddy), up pops Cortez.

I've seen it before, but have no memory of it, and the reason is apparent; it's a hash of pre-code tropes, with Miss Francis in her usual immense assort of costume changes. It's why for decades she was decried as having no particular talent, just a clothes horse with a speech impediment. It a slur, of course, even if Warner Brothers occasionally gave her a vehicle in which she was just that, someone for Orry-Kelly to put beautiful clothes on, for an uncredited singer to sing a song while Miss Francis lip-synched to it, and for Thomas Pratt to work his editing magic on. It's certainly watchable and more. Looking at the credits for this movie, it's clear that the Warners knew what a winner they had in Miss Francis, and spent their money freely on her vehicles. I was fascinated while watching it. But it's piffle, and derivative piffle at that.

Where was Shirley Temple

[bruno-32 · 22 August 2012]

Caught this last night on late TV. Robert Osborne of TCM's said to look for a young 6 year old Shirley Temple in a scene. I didn't see her, but its possible I dozed off, in this rather boring movie. I really don't understand the popularity of Kay Francis...by viewers. Then again she was not of my generation and maybe that is all they had back in those days. I find her sort of a matronly looking. Not a bad actress at the few times I have seen her movies, but certainly not sexy in my eyes. AS for the leading man, Richard Cortez, I was wondering if he was Mexican, or arrived at that conclusion by his last name? Not a bad actor, and he was pretty popular in that era of movies. Skip this.

Frustrating and regrettably middling

[I_Ailurophile · 5/10 · 5 March 2022]

For good and for ill, 'Mandalay' is a little bit uneven. While some fine editing tricks are employed to light up the screen in a couple places, transitions are decidedly curt, and inelegant. While some key performances are quite fine, there's a perfunctory ease and distinct inauthenticity to too many moments that thusly serve their narrative purpose, but fail to meaningfully convey impact or sincerity. In keeping with the common trend of pictures of the era, and most especially those with a like runtime of about 1 hour, 'Mandalay' maintains a brisk pace to cram as much narrative as possible into that length - but with the result that no story beat is realized with nearly as the weight that it deserves. And I suppose one could try to shoehorn an artistic interpretation into their viewing experience to assign meaning to the fact that protagonist Tanya has only one song to sing, but this isn't the type of film where such mindfulness belongs in the first place - and indeed, the repetition rather comes across as nothing more than heavy-handed emphasis of the character's plight.

None of this is to say that 'Mandalay' is bad. There's really quite a lot to like about it, not least of all star Kay Francis. Though constrained by the forced pace and tight construction of the film that inherently diminishes her appearance, she puts in an able display of acting characterized by strong range and poise. The broad strokes of the writing offer up suitably complex characters, a compelling story, dynamic scene writing, and vivid dialogue. And I most certainly appreciate the consideration put into costume design, hair and makeup, set design and decoration, and some fine camerawork. I'd like to say I enjoyed this more than I do.

However, those detractions I've highlighted so substantially reduce what 'Mandalay' would have been that at best the film's most redeeming qualities can only just provide balance. The utmost nonchalance that dampens the greatest possible gravity is felt most keenly with some of the most ponderous story beats in the last third of the feature, letting each mostly come and go with such passivity that it's almost hard to care at all. The stunt that concludes the climax is direly, pointedly ungenuine, and the final scene brings the movie to a close with terrible brusqueness. And just as all these regrettable faults serve to restrain the cast's performances, they are also hamstrung not least of all by character writing that fails to truly capture the imagination. Tanya could and should be a vibrant personality: commanding the room as Spot White, exhibiting reasonably righteous anger and personal strength in the last third of the film, and deep, unremitting sorrow at the turns her life has taken. We get glimmers of these aspects of her character, but they are ONLY glimmers. Supporting character Dr. Gregory Burton (Lyle Talbot) is a mess of a human, brimming with hope of redemption while possessing robust sociability and wallowing in his flaws. Yet, again - we see mere shades of what this character should be.

I'm one of the last people who would champion the concept of the remake as a virtue of the modern film industry, but I earnest feel like this is an instance where it would be of significant benefit. 'Mandalay' bears some great ideas and a fine cast, but very simply, this movie is a fraction of what it should have been. And I mean that literally and figuratively: this 1934 film clocks in at only 65 minutes, and its story beats and characters aren't given the profundity that they would communicate were they explored more fully in a feature of, say, two hours. To be honest, I readily imagine Eva Green in Kay Francis' role.

This isn't outright bad. But its shortcomings are very plain. There are worse ways to spend an hour, though it's hard not to be frustrated with recognition of what the title could have been. As it is, 'Mandalay' is unfortunately a little middling - the cast do the best they can with the material as it presents, but the value and the disadvantages all but cancel each other out. Recommendable mostly just for unfailingly enthusiastic fans of older movies.

woman's work

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 11 January 2022]

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.