User reviews

Please also go into the external reviews on the IMDb for this extraordinary film and read the fascinating and informative page from 'moviediva'... this person/site offers excellent insights with great photos and production history not found elsewhere... this has been every time I find information from Moviediva... so thankyou whoever you are. MGM's exciting and technically innovative 1929 production DYNAMITE is exactly that... a moral fable of a vulgar wealthy woman and her immoral flighty glamor friends learning about the hard working honest poor side of life. This is all of course, an excuse for Cecil B De Mille then at MGM for three films to showcase the latest in talkie production methods. I agree with the other positive comments on this page that DYNAMITE is a 20s art deco masterpiece and an absolute feast of Jazz age wildness and lavishness. You will also find this level of breathtaking snazzy art deco 20s life in "The Divorcée" of 1929 and the 1930 Douglas Fairbanks film from united Artists "Reaching For The Moon".... each film absolutely essential for early talkie art deco astonishment for anyone who loves this early talkie period before The Depression stopped the party. DYANMITE is a good film with a compelling story... and the pre code language and sex topic at the peppy sports party (with the wheel race with the women spinning about) in the latest in art deco swimming costumes will re set your dial for 20s party frankness. See handsome Joel MacCrea as an almost-extra. This has been screening on a daily loop on TV in Australia so we can see it and examine it repeatedly. Well worth your time.

I can't believe this was made in 1929! It would seem much later. 'Dynamite' was directed by Cecil B. DeMillle and featured Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford, Julia Faye, and Joel McCrea.. Apparently it was DeMille's first talking picture!

I got lucky because they broadcast this on TCM the same week the classic movie channel premiered their recent biography 'Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (2004)', another TCM film worth watching. It is devoid of the usual colossal cast and the behemoth type epic drama associated with most DeMille movies but am I ever glad I stayed up late for this one...the sets and costuming were pure eye candy! And while it is more simplistic than movies we think of as DeMille classics there are some remarkable scenes in this film including a glass walled bathtub with bath salts as big as the coal chunks mined out of the heroines'temporary' husband's work place. I'll not quickly forget the women's 'aero wheels' event during the sporting day at the country club. Could this have even been the inspiration to the wacky Busby Berkeley extravaganzas that didn't appear for at least another four years after 'Dynamite'? The costumes in this movie are museum worthy. There's also tremendous amount of Deco decor which is discriminating and sublime as a period piece.

The plot premise is rather sappy...spoiled rich kid falls for poor coal miner who teaches her a lesson in reality...where haven't we all heard that story before... but it's easy to forgive some minor flaws with this picture because visually it's too damn delicious to forget. The acting was decent and at times even humorous, especially amongst the love triangle. This relationship was obliging liberated given the era. And oh...the parties!

I also appreciate the lushness of a truly dynamic black and white movie from someone who understood how color translates when it desaturates. If I saw this movie when it premiered I would have marked it an 8 1/2 on a scale of 10.

There is no doubt that this is movie, resurrected by the Turner Classic Movie network, which reminds us all that fine cinematic entertainment was being made at the very beginning of "the Talkies." The plot was fairly clever for that day and time, and it simply shreds conventions.

The in-between-the-lines context of this movie is also remarkable. Recall that Prohibition of alcoholic beverages had been in effect as a federal mandate for nearly ten years, and that many States had been "dry" with Prohibition for longer than that. But "the glittering society" depicted in this movie was positively soaking in booze. Clearly this movie was written and filmed well before the banking crisis of 1928-29 turned into the bank failures and bank runs of the early 1930s. The pace of the language, the styles, the ways of talking and relating expressed in "Dynamite" show the viewer -- now seventy-five years later -- that the Roaring '20s were very frenetic, indeed.

Prohibition was something for the small towns and rural areas, or so it was said, then. It came into being because activist female leaders made their case that drunken behavior and alcoholism were twin punishments on women and on their children. The majority of bad and abusive drunks in that era, 1880 to 1920, were men, of course. The ones who suffered from their abusive behaviors were their women and their children, or others in their families.

This is a movie which is all about women and men. The lead character, Buddy Derks, is about to be executed for a murder he didn't commit. In a drunken carouse, the young man who committed the murder assaults his drinking buddy with a knife, and this fellow in his turn shoots his friend, fatally wounding him. Before he dies, on the floor of the swank club where they're drinking, he confesses to the murder which Derks has been saddled with. Justice is swift, surprisingly so, and Derks is suddenly released from death row.

He goes then to confront the society 'dame' who paid him $10,000 to marry her, in a jail cell ceremony. The why and wherefore of this marriage of convenience are really extraordinary and that twist makes the movie worth seeing, alone. But suddenly the "dame" has a husband that she really does not want, and that's where the fun begins ....

Bickford is amazing in this movie. He clearly overacts, but it seems somehow so natural for him to do so. Everybody in this moving is either dancing or roaring, it seems, so now we know something about how the Roaring '20s roared !

This "Dynamite" is pure dynamite. TCM has done film buffs a great service by showing it all, and there's every reason to petition them to show it again and again, and not just in the middle of the blooming night !! This movie earned an * 8 * for my vote and I would have given it higher marks if the sound track was made more clear, all the way through. As it stands, it is a unique and appealing cinematic treat.

I recommend it most highly and without mental reservations.

One of the best of the early de Mille works - given that most of those films featured the same stable of actors. You get to see the last glimpses of that Golden Age before the stock market crash led to the Depression (when a relay comprised of women rolling themselves along a track inside giant hoops passed for racing excitement, probably since horse racing, like alcohol, had been banned in the US at that time) Stunning costumes and Art Deco details (lucite and sequins and pincurls, oh my!) provide welcome diversion from the inconceivable plot - although the two female leads and their society set planning one's divorce so the other can marry the ex-husband is racy!

Of interest especially is the fact that you can recognize the stage training of many of the actors brought to Hollywood with the advent of sound, and how wooden previously silent actors can be when given voice. Also interesting is the characters' flagrant flouting of Prohibition, which still had 4 years left - after all, this was "pre-Code" Hollywood when there wasn't a censor to be found!

Most significant is the sound. The scene which annoys modern viewers is the chaos in the jailhouse wedding scene. However, this is one of the first instances of layered sound: the hammering of the gallows over the prisoner's singing over the wedding vows was a first for a medium that had gone talkie only a year & a half earlier.

So watch it for the details, not the drama

... are clearly illustrated here in a tale that includes a fascinating look at the idle rich at the end of the roaring 20's who are so bored that they'll try anything for a thrill, owe their income to forefathers long dead, and basically play all night and sleep all day. But that's just the set-up for the real story.

Ordinarily I'm not that huge a fan of DeMille, but I found his first foray into sound, "Dynamite", a very good and innovative film. The actors don't speechify endlessly, the camera moves, and the story moves with it. Unlike many films from 1929 it's worth a repeat viewing for the entertainment value, not just the novelty of seeing an industry in transition.

That doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of an industry in transition on exhibit, but rather than inane musical numbers, De Mille uses sound appropriately and also employs largely unknown actors from the stage to keep the emphasis on the plot and in particular, the relationships. From the hammering of the builders of Hagan Dirk's gallows and the singing of "How Am I to Know" by a fellow death row prisoner played by Russ Columbo during the wedding scene, to the strange aero wheel race at the country club, to the playing of a particular song on the radio introducing a romantic moment, this film was an innovative technological marvel when it was first released. However, technological marvels fade with time, and what you do remember are relationships that hit home and are memorable. Many have already stated the outrageous premise of the plot. What is not outrageous and rings true after almost 85 years is how you don't get to pick who you love - it just happens and it can often be most inconvenient, and how heroes can be found in the strangest places and in people you would not think would be up to the task.

I'd recommend this one highly and not just to early talkie enthusiasts.

DeMille works wonders with his first "talkie," avoiding the complications most directors encountered during this transition period. The cinematography, sound and set design are excellent, and the acting toned down the over-dramatization that most early "sound" films wallowed in. Just view DeMille's "King of Kings," directed two years earlier, to witness the advancements being made in film at the time. From the elaborate Deco rooms, to a shanty neighborhood and mine shaft, DeMille puts on quite a show. My only complaint would be the opening courtroom scene, which definitely does NOT set the scene for the rest of the movie. I wonder if those "aero wheels" were indeed a trend in Europe at the time; obviously, the sport didn't catch on.

Thank you Irving Thalberg for the sterling scripts and Cecil B DeMille for your astute direction 75 years ago. I am assuming Thalberg was involved to some extent since MGM was involved. In all this time we haven't made any better movies. This competes with them all. My favorite movies were mostly made in the Thalberg era. I am so sorry your time (Thalberg) was so short lived. And, I still weep for the demise of MGM. MGM really did lose its shine when it lost Thalberg.

This story was complex. The sets were wonderful (I loved the mirror over the bar in the apartment, and the bathtub with the bowl of bath salts). Every actor - no matter how large their role - handled their part convincingly. Several small roles - the little sister, the judge, the girl next door in the mining town, the servants, etc., all deliver performances that make you pay attention. Many scenes stand out. The competition among the women in the 'circle' races (I never saw such contraptions). The little girl clinging to her brother (that little actress did a fine job). The fiance who really was likable and a real stand up guy. I was amused by kitchen scene. The 'modern' way of women dating each other's husbands struck me, and I have seen this as a plot line before in movies of that period. The 'speak easy' preoccupation with drinking lifestyle of the time is an education as is the portrayal of life in the lower classes. Of all the movies I've seen in this time period, I feel this one most closely clues us in on what life was like.

Utterly insane story but so phenomenally well made, even though it's from 1929, it's brilliantly entertaining. This experience completely changed my opinion of De Mille - ok, it seems he was a genius after all!

Maybe because of his pompous and pretentious vats of nauseating drivel such as SIGN OF THE CROSS, I instinctively avoid the self-professed great man's movies. But his excellent FOUR FRIGHTENED PEOPLE and MADAM SATAN tempted me to give this ago. So glad I did - it's fantastic, honestly it's a million times better than I was expecting.

There's exceptions of course but I'd normally expect a 1929 talkie to be terrible. Early talkies are generally static and stagey with theatrical actors taking it in turns to enunciate their lines very, very slowly huddled around a hidden microphone. This displays absolutely none of those tell-tale traits. You'll not believe it's De Millie's first talkie! It's so dynamic and as far removed from a studio bound film as you can imagine. Clearly hours and hours of preparation went into this to get it just perfect. Like much more modern films, the camera doesn't simply point at whichever character is speaking. You get cut-always to bystanders showing and hearing their reactions. It's a proper film, not a filmed stage play.

These are people from the 1920s, real people from 1929 so don't expect them to be like us (which is part of the appeal of watching old pictures) but nevertheless the acting in this is natural with characters speaking normally and as in Mamoulian's APPLAUSE, sound is employed virtually another character. An example of that is the portentous beating of the hammer making 'Derk's' scaffold as he's waiting on death row which ominously returns in the dramatic climax.

This is not typical 1929 acting. You're drawn into believing that you're not watching actors but somehow glimpsing into the lives of real people. I've never really rated Charles Bickford before but under a skilful director he's a revelation. A pretty odd sort of guy but one who captivates your attention.

Being as I am, Mr Shallow, my inclination is to watch films with sexy ladies like Joan Blondell or Alice White so I wouldn't normally go out of my way to watch Kay Johnson but like with Charles Bickford she's thoroughly outstanding here. She's a sort of less sexy version of Norma Shearer but in my opinion a more modern and naturalistic actress - dare I say a better actress? I've already enjoyed her performance in MADAM SATAN but now that I've unexpectedly become a fan, I'm going to search out the rest of her work.

A great director, excellent acting and exceptionally high MGM production values make the maddest, silliest story into something quite amazing. Sorry Cecil for doubting you for all these years!

Being made in 1929 we even get the extended roaring of Leo the lion at the start.

This film begins with a man named "Hagon Derk" (Charles Bickford) being tried in a court-of-law for the crime of murder. Although he maintains he is innocent, the judge finds him guilty and sentences him to death by hanging. The scene then shifts to an office where several men are telling an attractive young socialite by the name of "Cynthia Crothers" (Kay Johnson) that in order to inherit her late grandfather's vast sum of money she must first be married by her 23rd birthday. Not only that, but to prevent any legal shenanigans, she must also be living with her husband for at least one week as well. That being said, while finding a good man to marry wouldn't normally be an issue for a fun-loving woman like her, the problem is that she is in love with a married man named "Roger Towne" (Conrad Nagel). Likewise, Roger is also in love with her. And strangely enough, his wife, "Marcia Towne" (Julia Faye) knows all about the love affair between her husband and Cynthia and is more than willing to divorce Roger--for a price, that is. So, after a brief conversation, which is also followed by a friendly wager, the two women come to an amicable arraignment with Cynthia agreeing to pay her $100,000 in exchange for Marcia agreeing to divorce Roger. With that in mind, oblivious to the complete terms of the will, Cynthia comes up with a plan to marry an unknown stranger on death row so that she can collect her grandfather's fortune and--once this man is executed--she will be able to pay Marcia for the divorce and then marry Roger. What she doesn't count on, however, is her new husband, Hagon Derk, being exonerated at the last minute and set free. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie had all of the necessary ingredients for a great comedy. Unfortunately, although there were some scenes which contained humor, the story kept taking dark turns immediately afterward and as a result it never really achieved its full potential. At least, not as a comedy. Conversely, I didn't quite care for the dramatic aspects either as the overall performance by Charles Bickford simply wasn't sufficient for the part. He was too loud and brusque throughout the course of the film and this essentially ruined some of the scenes that could have benefited from a much gentler tone. On that note, I should probably point out that this movie was produced during a turning-point in the motion picture industry and that many of the leading actors of the day struggled with the transition from silent films to those incorporating sound. But, having said that, it should also be noted that even accomplished critics during this time lamented the lack of consistency from one scene to the next. Be that as it may, while I certainly believe some allowances should be made for a film produced during this specific time, I don't consider this to be a great film by any stretch of the imagination and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Dynamite (1929)

*** (out of 4)

Cecil B. DeMille's first talkie was the first of three pictures that the legendary director would make at MGM. The filthy rich Cynthia (Kay Johnson) needs to be married on her birthday or else she'll lose millions from her grandfather's will. The only problem is that her boyfriend (Conrad Nagel) is already married to a woman who doesn't mind her husband dating Cynthia but she refuses to marry him unless the money is right. On the other side of the tracks, convicted killer Hagon (Charles Bickford) is about to be put to death and offers his body for $10,000 so that his kid sister will be taken care of. Cynthia decides to marry the death row inmate so that she can be "married" on her birthday and since she'll be a widow soon after she can get back to her normal life. The only problem is that after the marriage the real killer comes forward and Hagon is set free.

Is that enough plot for you? DYNAMITE features enough plots for about ten different movies and everything I wrote above is just the opening forty-minutes and that leaves eighty-seven more minutes of craziness. This is without question an incredibly bizarre film but there's no question that it's highly entertaining on so many levels. One such level is that it's just downright nuts from start to finish and I just sat there watching it in a complete amazement that anyone could actually pull it off. DeMille proves what a genius he was by taking this outrageous stories and making them work. If any other director had tried this we'd laugh them right out of the theater. I'm not sure what DeMille's secrets were but he makes us care about the characters and their fate. It also doesn't hurt that we're given some excellent performances with Bickford leading the way as the tough coal miner. This is the type of role he could play in his sleep and he pulls it off wonderfully. Johnson is very believable and good in her part as is Nagel. Julia Faye plays his wife and we get supporting performances from Joel McCrea and William Holden.

DYNAMITE features some very campy moments including the scene where the killer confesses to the crime. I dare you not to laugh during this sequence. I also found it rather hilarious how casual the wife, her husband and the lover were at hanging out with each other. I think this threesome relationship is something that even Jerry Springer would roll his eyes at. Still, this is so entertaining that it really doesn't matter and it would make a great double feature with DeMille's other 1929 film, THE GODLESS GIRL.

This film was way too long! The art deco sets were fabulous. A scene where they were pouring tea from this exquisite tea pot into this fantastic cup made me envious.

(I coveted that tea pot.) The costumes were great.(One scene at a country club the black and white costumes were eye popping.) The plot has some excellent twists and turns. I liked the death row marriage. But on the whole the movie is not a very believable melodrama.(You can' have everything.) The coal mine cave in was GREAT.(This was a wonderful action scene and it made the whole film worth watching.) I loved Kay Johnson performance very much.(Small world story: three days ago I looked up her son James Cromwell on IMDb.)

ciao>>Angelo

Even though he was one of the founders of Paramount Pictures and a president of his personal film studio, director Cecil B. DeMille found employment in 1929 for the first time outside his direct control in his movie career. His DeMille Pictures Corporation closed up shop when MGM offered him a three-picture deal, introducing him to the new world of talkies.

DeMille's first sound talking movie under Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was December 1929's "Dynamite." The director looked towards perfection in his selection of articulate talented actors. Mitchell Leisen, DeMille's assistant as well as his set designer for this movie, screen tested dozens of potential candidates. The list was a who's who in future stars: Dean Jagger, Randolph Scott, Carole Lombard. Two of the three top roles were filled by stage actors appearing in their first movie. The other was a veteran of silent movies.

Actress Kay Johnson earned the lead as socialite Cynthia Crothers, a woman who is passionately in love with married Roger Towne (Conrad Nagel). Cynthia is about to inherit a large inheritance from her late rich grandfather, but has to marry within a month to get it. Since Roger's pending divorce won't come in time, accused murderer Hagon Derk (Charles Bickford), on death row, wants to donate his body to whomever is willing to pay him $10,000 to help his poor sister. Cynthia, seeing his ad, goes to propose a marriage for the money. He accepts. They get married. Minutes before his execution, the real murderer confesses, freeing Derk. That's when things get really interesting for the coal miner Derk, Cynthia and Roger.

DeMille was ready to make movies with the microphone. As his publicist stated, "Cecil DeMille will rehearse the cast of Dynamite until it is letter perfect. This is the first time he has directed dialogue rehearsals since he left Broadway sixteen years ago." The director himself publicly stated he wasn't intimated by the new process: "Dynamite" was my first contribution of any value to sound pictures, retaining the silent techniques, and combining those techniques with sound. I brought those two together, and that perhaps is what 'Dynamite' did for the world." The movie was helped by the strong performances of the three main actors. Kay Johnson attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and appeared in several Broadway plays before getting the call-up from DeMille to appear as Cynthia. During the production, she came down with appendicitis and had to be operated on. Her movie career slowed down in the late 1930s after a robust series of film roles until she and her actor/director husband, John Cromwell, adopted a child and had one of their own, James. Fans of the TV show 'All in the Family' will recognize her son James as Archie's friend Stretch Cunningham. When Johnson divorced John in 1946, she remained in Waterford, CT., where she died at 71.

Charles Bickford, as Hagan Derk, was also a stage actor, playing alongside James Cagney in his first Broadway role in 1925's 'Outside Looking In.' His forceful film presence resembles his real personality as a strong outspoken character. At nine he was charged with attempted murder for shooting a trolly driver after his bus ran over his dog. When filming 'Dynamite," Bickford got in a physical fist fight with one of the assistant directors over his portrayal of Derk, and was always at odds with MGM studio head Louis Mayer. As a freelancer in the mid-1930s, he was mauled by a lion filming 1935's "East of Java," resulting in extensive neck scars. He never quite achieved top-tier star status, but became a popular character actor, earning three Academy Award nominations.

Busy actor Conrad Nagel was already in his 11th talkie. He was one of the few silent film stars to easily make the transition to the movie sound stage, working into the late 1950's after his film debut in 1918.

"Dynamite" was the first DeMille picture to earn an Academy Awards nomination. Leisen, the man who screen tested all the main actors in "Dynamite," was nominated for Best Art Direction.