Frank S. Nugent
Frank S. Nugent's reviews only count toward the Tomatometer® when published at the following Tomatometer-approved publication(s):
New York Times
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) |
The dwarfs and animals are flawless from the start. Chromatically, it is far and away the best technicolor to date, achieving effects possible only to the cartoon, obtaining -- through the multi-plane camera -- an effortless third dimension. - New York Times
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| Posted Dec 21, 2022
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) |
Mr. Smith is one of the best shows of the year. More fun, even, than the Senate itself. - New York Times
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| Posted Nov 09, 2022
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The Shop Around the Corner (1940) |
A pretty kettle of bubbling brew it makes under Mr. Lubitsch's deft and tender management and with a genial company to play it gently, well this side of farce and well that side of utter seriousness. - New York Times
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| Posted Nov 08, 2022
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When Were You Born? (1938) |
It consists merely of using a routine murder mystery as a pretext for expounding the zodiacal rigmarole. - New York Times
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| Posted Oct 21, 2022
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Redes (1936) |
Descriptively it is good camera work, but it is inadequate to the picture's narrative phases. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 25, 2021
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Babes in Arms (1939) |
We definitely don't like the screen play by Jack McGowan and Kay Van Riper. If we must have hokum, let us at least disguise it gracefully, even when it's with music. - New York Times
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| Posted Feb 19, 2021
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Tevye (1939) |
[Tevya], with the famous Maurice Schwartz in the title role, is a serious character with definitely comical overtones. - New York Times
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| Posted Dec 11, 2020
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The Girl From Mexico (1939) |
A shrill, spirited, senseless slapstick comedy, played at the catch-as-catch-can pace which Miss Velez prefers to set. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 27, 2020
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Mexican Spitfire (1939) |
It is slapstick pure and edifyingly simple, well-paced and abundantly pastried, with Lupe Velez and Leon Errol tossing lines and custards with great abandon. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 26, 2020
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True Confession (1937) |
Although True Confession had a pulpwood sound, it proved yesterday to be a highly polished, smoothly grained Yule log which deserves to crackle right merrily... from now until well after Christmas. - New York Times
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| Posted May 05, 2020
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The Plainsman (1936) |
The Plainsman is another of those action-crammed, spectacular and inaccurate canvases that Mr. De Mille delights to paint and audiences generally are delighted to see. - New York Times
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| Posted Apr 22, 2020
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Island of Lost Men (1939) |
[The jungle setting] suggests that if the camera were swung no more than a frame or so to either side it would reveal a filling station, or a roadside food dispensary in the shape of a hot dog. - New York Times
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| Posted Apr 22, 2020
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Anything Goes (1936) |
It gets by, but without distinction. - New York Times
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| Posted Apr 22, 2020
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Daughter of Shanghai (1937) |
A tense, melodramatic atmosphere -- something between Limehouse Nights and I Cover the Waterfront -- is successfully maintained in Daughter of Shanghai. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 17, 2019
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King of Chinatown (1939) |
Paramount should have spared us and its cast (Akim Tamiroff, Anna May Wong, Sidney Toler and J. Carrol Naish principally) the necessity of being bothered with such folderol. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 17, 2019
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The Walking Dead (1936) |
Horror pictures are a staple commodity, and this one was taken from one of the better shelves. - New York Times
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| Posted Oct 18, 2016
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Heroes for Sale (1933) |
Many a mystery is less bewildering than Heroes for Sale, which was not intended as a puzzler at all. - New York Times
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| Posted Jun 05, 2014
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You Can't Take It With You (1938) |
It's a grand picture. - New York Times
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| Posted Jan 13, 2014
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Here Comes the Navy (1934) |
A fast-moving comedy enriched by an authentic naval setting. - New York Times
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| Posted Jan 31, 2012
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Chu Chin Chow (1934) |
Britain's long-heralded invasion of the American film market has begun with the offerings at the Roxy of Chu Chin Chow, a tuneful, spectacular and robust adaptation of the Oscar Asche comic operetta. - New York Times
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| Posted Sep 03, 2011
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The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) |
An excellent biography, just as it is a notable photoplay, dignified in subject, dramatic in treatment and brilliantly played by Paul Muni, Fritz Leiber, Josephine Hutchinson and many other members of the cast. - New York Times
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| Posted Apr 04, 2011
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Pinocchio (1940) |
It still is the best thing Mr. Disney has done and therefore the best cartoon ever made. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 10, 2008
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Louise (1939) |
It is not at all likely that Louise will revolutionize either the operatic stage or the motion picture, but it is shorter than the opera, and the general public will find it a lot easier to sit through. - New York Times
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| Posted Nov 15, 2007
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Things to Come (1936) |
Things to Come is an unusual picture, a fantasy, if you will, with overtones of the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comic strips. But it is, as well, a picture with ideas which have been expressed dramatically and with visual fascination. - New York Times
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| Posted May 31, 2007
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Front Page Woman (1935) |
If you will keep in mind that this portrayal of newspaper work is a wee bit on the whimsy side, then Front Page Woman can be recommended as a downright amusing photoplay. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 24, 2007
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Bride of Frankenstein (1935) |
Another astonishing chapter in the career of the Monster. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 08, 2006
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Wild Boys of the Road (1933) |
Wild Boys of the Road... is disappointing, primarily because it might have been so much more than it is. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 08, 2006
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The Invisible Ray (1936) |
As the story unreels, you realize that this is just another case of a man's manager bringing him along too fast. It is no wonder Karloff's mind cracks under the strain. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 08, 2006
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The Devil Doll (1936) |
Not since The Lost World, King Kong and The Invisible Man have the camera wizards enjoyed such a field day. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 08, 2006
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Mark of the Vampire (1935) |
Like most good ghost stories, it's a lot of fun, even though you don't believe a word of it. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 08, 2006
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The Raven (1935) |
If The Raven is the best that Universal can do with one of the greatest horror story writers of all time, then it had better toss away the other two books in its library and stick to the pulpies for plot material. - New York Times
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| Posted Aug 08, 2006
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Beethoven (1936) |
t upsets me just the same to see the musical cart hitched before the cinema horse and then be constrained to admit it was probably for the best. - New York Times
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| Posted Jul 08, 2006
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Wife! Be Like a Rose! (1935) |
It has a distressing habit of stumbling over the threshold of each new scene; its fadeouts and dissolves are awkwardly amateur. Yet it has a certain sturdy honesty in the resolution of its problem and the performances are expert. - New York Times
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| Posted Jun 24, 2006
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The Spy in Black (1939) |
U-Boat 29 is the most exciting spy melodrama since the advent of the Second World War. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Anthony Adverse (1936) |
We found it a bulky, rambling and indecisive photoplay which has not merely taken liberties with the letter of the original but with its spirit. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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The Texans (1938) |
A moderately entertaining show. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) |
Although it's not a bad comedy by our current depressed standards, it has the dickens of a time trying to pass off Gary Cooper as a multi-marrying millionaire. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Sabotage (1936) |
We won't tell you what happens. That would be to cheat Mr. Hitchcock of his just reward, but it is a warning what you may expect -- which, as is the way of all Hitchcock melodramas, is the unexpected. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Craig's Wife (1936) |
The entire weight of the drama depends upon the malign effectiveness of its central character and Miss Russell, here enjoying her first real opportunity in Hollywood, gives a viciously eloquent performance. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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La Bête Humaine (1938) |
It is simply a story; a macabre, grim and oddly-fascinating story. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) |
If you don't know Mr. Karloff by this time, we will explain: He is the man whose funerals are never final. You lay a wreath on Boris in one corner and he is certain to appear in another, full of obscure, graveyard resentment. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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The Invisible Man Returns (1940) |
The Invisible Man Returns is a mite on the ghostly side, too, although neither so horrendous nor so humorous as the first one was. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Come and Get It (1936) |
Although there is nothing new in the theme, it has been simply and powerfully expressed by a number of admirable performances, and it has been played against an interesting background. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Modern Times (1936) |
Do you have to be reminded that Chaplin is a master of pantomime? Time has not changed his genius. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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After the Thin Man (1936) |
If After the Thin Man is not quite the delight The Thin Man was, it is, at the very least, one of the most urbane comedies of the season. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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That Certain Age (1938) |
Gentle but highly effective. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Le Roman D'un Tricheur (1936) |
A witty, impudent, morally subversive show which every one should see for his own content and out of sheer curiosity about the kind of fellow who is not satisfied with writing, directing and starring in a picture, but must play seven [roles] as well. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Dracula's Daughter (1936) |
A cute little horror picture. Be sure and bring the kiddies. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Elephant Boy (1937) |
The film moves leisurely, but with rare charm and visual interest. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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Jamaica Inn (1939) |
Having set his own standards, Alfred Hitchcock must be judged by them; and, by them, his Jamaica Inn is merely journeyman melodrama. - New York Times
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| Posted Mar 25, 2006
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