Cinema Saturday - The First Year (1932)

1932 Ad from a mystery magazine

     This ad was in a mystery cut up group of magazines I purchased a few years ago.  I'm not sure exactly what magazine they are since none of the remaining pages have the title of the magazine nor the date.  The magazines are full of torn out pages and cut out pictures.  At some point someone was trying to create scrapbooks or more than likely it was a recent person trying to make a buck by selling certain cut out images and ads.  Naturally, the probably beautiful covers as well as the table of contents are missing, so I really have no idea as to the actual magazines themselves.  Naturally, they do present some clues.  This ad provides a big clue to the year of this magazine.  The First Year was released 31 July 1932 so I've some to the conclusion that this issue is probably from 1932 and more than likely close to the release date such as June or July.  I also noticed that much of the magazines look quite similar to the features and look of Film Fun magazine or one of the similar magazines published by the same company.  Film Fun really is a fun look into the early film community.  Plus they had amazing cover art, specifically the amazing girl art of Enoch Bolles.

Swedish poster

     I haven't seen the film The First Year.  As far as I can tell, it's not available anywhere for purchase.  The film is one of the many pairings of Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell.  The two would become an infamous film couple - paired with each other an amazing 12 times!  

     The First Year is based on a play of the same name written by Frank Craven.  It ran on Broadway for over 700 performances and the story was quite popular apparently.  Having not seen the film and limited availability makes it difficult to get a plot for you all.  Perhaps it doesn't survive?  Or maybe one of those films that is sealed?  It just doesn't seem to be anywhere.  For a film based on a quite popular play it seems so odd to me that it basically has disappeared.  If you know the whereabouts, by all means, let me know.


     The plot appears to be this: Grace Livingston (Janet) marries Tommy Tucker (Charles) even though she lusts for another man because of his wealth and power.  She becomes bored with her marriage and the honeymoon is definitely over.  She tries to remake her husband into the kind of man she wants in order to gain the lifestyle she wants to live. 

     This definitely sounds like a film I would watch if I could find it.  I adore 1930's films for the fact that many of them are basically stage plays performed in front of you.  The character and the language are so important.  No special effects - just amazing acting.  Throw in some glamorous costumes and I'm completely hooked.  I can't help hoping that Warner Archive (Basically my favorite film purchase site) will have a copy of this and put it out.  As of now I'm adding it to my list of films that I probably will never see for various release or destruction issues.