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Post by topbilled on Oct 26, 2022 17:46:04 GMT
Reviews for Warner Brothers films will be placed here.
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Post by topbilled on Nov 7, 2022 14:35:04 GMT
This neglected film is from 1941.
Constance Bennett in the tropics
In the late ’30s and early ’40s, Warner Brothers had a prolific B-picture unit. To save costs, this unit often recycled plots from earlier hits. Or else they reused a script that had already been filmed, with slight modifications to bring things up to date.
LAW OF THE TROPICS is a remake of OIL FOR THE LAMPS OF CHINA, a 1935 crowd pleaser that starred Pat O’Brien as an executive working at an overseas location for his company. This time around, contract player Jeffrey Lynn is assigned the role.
Instead of taking place in the Orient, the action is now set in South America with the attendant Latin stereotypes.
To cover the fact that this B production had a smaller budget than the original, the studio hired Constance Bennett for the lead female role. She plays the part of the exec’s wife in a makeshift marriage of convenience. As expected, Miss Bennett provides her usual touch of glamour. Her career as a star was on the downswing, though you’d never know that by how she looks and acts in this picture.
Another change to the story is that the corporate product is no longer oil but rubber. I guess this was done to make a clearer connection to contemporary concerns about the use of rubber for national defense. After all, the U.S. was on the verge of joining a world war.
Of course much of this is shot on the Warners backlot, and frankly it shows. But I think in films of this type, we can suspend some disbelief. One character says the goal in building up the company’s presence in foreign posts is to extend the reach of civilization…implying law and order, which these other cultures must lack in spades. This feels like a polite business way of advocating the nation’s presence in international locales, as part of the United States’ ongoing Big Stick diplomacy.
As a modest studio effort meant to appeal to a mainstream audience, the story never is allowed to get that deep. Or to cause viewers to question what America does abroad. Most of what we see is couched in melodramatic terms. This is where Miss Bennett’s casting is helpful.
Constance Bennett was known for a series of precode tearjerkers a decade earlier. In those outings, she played troubled dames dealing with checkered pasts. She gets to do the same here. There is an unwritten law in Hollywood, not the tropics, where a gorgeous woman made to suffer on celluloid for more than 70 minutes– with her assorted romantic entanglements and unending angst– will make us feel better about our own comparatively uneventful lives.
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 7, 2022 16:03:17 GMT
As you note, Warner Bros. recycled scripts in many ways. A big-budget Warner Bros. riff on this one ⇧ and an entertaining-as-heck movie is 1940s "Torrid Zone" with James Cagney, Pat O'Brien and Oomph Girl (!) herself Ann Sheridan. Cagney and Sheridan's chemistry is off the charts.
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Post by topbilled on Nov 15, 2022 17:07:46 GMT
This neglected film is from 1938.
Beloved Bonita
Bonita Granville was good at playing incorrigible young girls. She had a memorable turn as a spoiled rich kid in Sam Goldwyn’s THESE THREE (1936), where she stirred up considerable trouble for the characters played by Merle Oberon and Miriam Hopkins. I am sure her performance in that picture is what led to Warner Brothers creating this coming-of-age drama for her, since she is basically playing a similar role.
In early scenes we learn that her wealthy mother (Natalie Moorhead) doesn’t know how to handle her. In fact, most of the child-rearing in the Morgan home is left to the servants. This means that Granville is often lashing out and at odds with the butler (Emmett Vogan). He goes overboard in trying to get her back in line.
Sometimes her well-meaning father (Donald Crisp) tries reasoning with her, but time interacting with his daughter is minimal, since his focus is on business.
Sadly, Moorhead and Crisp become so distant that they fail to recognize the girl’s thirteenth birthday. Feeling neglectful, Granville escapes the unpleasantness of her folks’ home and ends up spending free time at the house of a black boy (Stymie Beard) who’s become one of her best friends. She sees how much her friend’s mother (Bernice Pilot) dotes on him and his sister, causing her to realize what she’s missing in her own life.
After she returns home, she becomes even more unruly. There is a very effective scene where she sets fire to her bedroom to get attention. This is followed by a memorable sequence where she is on the road with the butler, who had disapproved of her black friend. As they drive along the highway, Granville grabs the steering wheel which results in the vehicle crashing into an oncoming motorist. The other driver is killed, and someone must assume responsibility.
A short time later Granville has taken the blame for the accident, and she’s sent to a reformatory. She has difficulty getting along with the other girls at first, and doesn’t do her chores correctly. She is still a privileged teen with a tremendous chip on her shoulder.
She gradually softens under the tutelage of the head mistress (Dolores Costello). They form a special bond, and Granville starts to experience love and proper discipline.
As the 62-minute B film heads down the final stretch, we see a change in Granville’s character that allows her to become more human. Interestingly, the actress would shed these bad girl roles soon afterward and become cast as more wholesome types. Especially when Warners assigned her to a series of B crime flicks playing adolescent sleuth Nancy Drew.
As for Miss Costello, she began her film career as a child star but had advanced to more sophisticated roles. In addition to playing a maternal figure with Granville, she was also Freddie Bartholomew’s mother in LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY as well as Tim Holt’s mother in THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. She had her hands full with Holt, who played a real brat!
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Post by topbilled on Nov 20, 2022 17:09:38 GMT
This neglected film is from 1958.
Natalie grows up
A few weeks ago some classic film fans watched MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR live on YouTube and commented as it played. It was a very enjoyable experience. I was glad this title had been chosen, since many of us had never seen it before.
It’s a Warner Brothers production…though the rights now belong to Paramount, which controls the Republic Pictures library. The film ended up with the Republic collection, because Aaron Spelling had ownership of Republic, and he bought the rights since he was married to Carolyn Jones. She is one of the costars. In fact, Miss Jones earned a special award for her work here. She is that good.
But then, they are all quite good here. It’s mainly a breakout role for Natalie Wood, as the title character…she had been stuck in less mature parts as a young girl and teenager. Even her performance in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE was juvenile…but now she finally gets to blossom into her first real adult role, and she’s wonderful. Elizabeth Taylor had turned it down, so it’s not surprising that Miss Wood’s hairstyle and general look evokes Miss Taylor’s.
Lead actor Gene Kelly was coming off a 15 year run at home studio MGM, where he was usually cast in musicals, which were his bread-and-butter. He had a serious role on loan-out to Universal in CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY; and there were dramas like PILOT #5, BLACK HAND and THE DEVIL MAKES THREE.
After leaving MGM, he was anxious to go against type. But I don’t think the cad he plays in this story suits him very well, because he’s much older than is required. Despite the smarmy veneer, he is still just too darn likable…even when he is unshaven. I can see why he went into directing and cut back on acting.
Herman Wouk’s story begins with our Jewish heroine Marjorie Morgenstern (Wood) getting ready to attend her brother’s bar mitzvah with relatives. Family members include father and mother (Everett Sloane & Claire Trevor); as well as a kind uncle (Ed Wynn). The Uncle Samson character has a fair amount of screen time in the beginning, before he is abruptly killed off halfway into the picture. It is obvious that Wynn charmed the pants off everyone while filming his scenes.
The main plot revolves around Marjorie coming of age through a first love experience that she has trouble getting over. While working with her girlfriend Marsha (Carolyn Jones’ character) at a summer camp for girls, she goes to a nearby resort.
At the resort, she meets two men who will play an important part in her life. One is Noel Airman, a past-his-prime stage talent (Gene Kelly’s character); and the other is a young writer (Martin Milner) who takes a shine to her. Meanwhile, Marjorie has dreams of becoming a successful actress.
Wouk’s bestselling novel has Marjorie not ending up with either guy, but for the sake of the movie and its box-office viability, she needs to find happiness with one of them. I was pleased that she finally chose Milner, or so it is suggested, and not Kelly who in many ways had been all wrong for her.
Claire Trevor does a brilliant job as the judgmental mother, and she steals nearly every scene in which she appears. A great moment occurs when she goes toe-to-toe with Kelly, informing him that he isn’t good enough for her daughter, until she learns he’s the son of a powerful judge.
Trevor’s character is all about prestige, and about the family forgetting its humble roots. Fortunately, Miss Trevor doesn’t go too overboard…so we do get a flesh and blood woman with unlikable traits, not a scenery chewing witch.
Another good scene comes near the film’s conclusion, when Carolyn Jones’ character marries a man (Jesse White) who is clearly not her first choice. There’s a touching pre-wedding discussion with some heartfelt dialogue, where Jones and Wood consider how life is turning out for both of them. Though some of what we see on screen is riddled with cliches, we still get a genuine look at people in transition trying to make the most of their situations.
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Post by topbilled on Nov 24, 2022 16:29:16 GMT
This neglected film is from 1938.
Sweet movie
Sometimes a newer film might be a blatant copy of a previous hit, but the audience– well aware of this fact– doesn’t seem to mind. Warner Brothers’ B picture unit has cranked out a 62-minute crowd pleaser with an adorable little girl (Janet Chapman); two redeemable mugs (John Litel and Frank McHugh); and an attractive woman (Ann Sheridan). Of course, it’s all a pleasant rehash of Universal’s LITTLE MISS MARKER that made Shirley Temple a star.
Litel’s character, similar to Adolphe Menjou’s character in the Miss Marker movie, is a gambler entrusted with the care of an orphan (Chapman). She becomes a rather convenient alibi when he gets in trouble with the law. Then when she helps pick winners at the racetrack, he decides she’s worth keeping around.
The twist here is that the girl thinks the man could be her real dad. This is why she doesn’t want to return to the orphanage. So on some level, we have a deluded child and a crooked father figure, who both need each other. McHugh’s character provides customary support and functions as the comic relief Greek chorus.
Sheridan comes in to the story as a neighbor of Litel’s. Predictably, she takes a motherly interest in Chapman. If she didn’t, we wouldn’t have the making of a family.
As things progress, Sheridan becomes romantically involved with Litel. Events move at a brisk pace, as most B films do. However, the plot does pause in a few spots to allow adequate character development between the main characters. The film is certainly far-fetched with almost zero plausibility or any connection to reality. But the premise works, because the audience wants to see the girl in a more normal domestic environment. And while Chapman is no Shirley Temple, she’s still quite endearing.
The one slight complaint I have here is how much touching and kissing goes on. The authority figures, such as the police as well as the nuns at the orphanage, often rest their hands on the girl’s shoulder…or pat her on the head. When Chapman becomes part of Litel’s world, she is in extreme moppet mode, hugging and kissing him often.
I guess it’s supposed to be funny that a tough crook has these tender moments with the girl, but some of it seems overdone. He shares so much affection with young Chapman, one wonders how Sheridan will compete!
For the most part, though, the story taken in its broader context, is harmless. It’s meant to be a light-hearted poke at the hardships of life. Parts of the narrative are so sugary sweet, I found myself going into a diabetic coma.
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Post by topbilled on Dec 2, 2022 13:05:56 GMT
This neglected film is from 1952.
Wit and skill with a rope
In the postwar era, Americans were feeling nostalgic. There was a trend in Hollywood movies towards biopics about famous entertainers. Pictures were produced about Al Jolson, Rudolph Valentino, Buster Keaton, Eddie Cantor (who plays himself in this film), and Will Rogers. Mr. Rogers was a well-known personality on stage and radio, who transitioned successfully to movies. He became a bonafide star at Fox in the first half of the 1930s.
Rogers probably would have continued to delight audiences with his homespun humor, which always contained a touch of political satire…if he hadn’t died in a plane crash at age 55. Rogers’ rise to fame, his marriage and his tragic death are all depicted in this “A” budget effort from Warner Brothers.
Supposedly Bing Crosby had wanted to play the title role, but could not obtain a loan out from his home studio Paramount. The film’s screenplay is based on a short story published in 1940 by Rogers’ widow, who would die a short time later in 1944. Warners purchased the rights almost immediately but waited nearly ten years before assigning director Michael Curtiz the task of bringing it to the screen.
Rogers’ own son, Will Rogers Jr., hopped into the saddle for the main role. He had been elected to Congress in the mid-40s but war service interfered with his political ambitions. However, he would run for office again and continued to dabble in political matters for most of his life. With his role in this film, Junior began a minor acting career, starring in westerns at Warner Brothers and Universal.
I have been trying to think of times when a lookalike son portrayed his famous father on screen. The only other example I can come up with is Desi Arnaz Jr. in a cameo as Desi Sr. in THE MAMBO KINGS (1992).
As an actor, Will Rogers Jr. tries to give us an understanding of what made his father tick…though I would say his thespian skills are a bit lacking. It feels like Curtiz is just plugging him into scenes, guiding him in a paint-by-numbers type performance, while, costar Jane Wyman as the wife, does most of the real acting.
Support is provided by Slim Pickens, who usually turned up as comic relief in B westerns. We also have Eddie Cantor in blackface during the sequence where Rogers achieves popularity working for Ziegfeld on Broadway alongside Cantor and other notable celebs of the day.
As a comedy-drama about a humble man whose wit and skill with a rope endeared him to millions of fans, THE STORY OF WILL ROGERS succeeds. As a piece of hokum pretending to pass itself off as literal fact, it succeeds even more.
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Post by topbilled on Dec 15, 2022 15:20:23 GMT
This neglected film is from 1935.
Scandal threatens to ruin everything
This is one of my favorite Warner Brothers’ B films from the 1930s. Child star Jackie Cooper has been borrowed from MGM, and he’s cast as a pre-teen enrolled at a military academy in San Diego. Though we are not told about a father, it seems as if he only has a mother (Mary Astor). She sent him to receive an education here, while she works as a vice president at a brokerage firm.
Typically, Cooper was cast with older male leads…character actors like Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore or Joseph Calleia. So it’s nice to see him enact a story with just a mother figure, and the way he and Miss Astor bond on screen makes it very believable they’d be related, since they share great affection in their scenes.
Astor’s character ends up going to prison, after she’s been charged with fraud. Of course, we know that she’s innocent and has been framed for illegal transactions by a male partner who skipped town. Since she cannot prove her innocence, she is convicted and sentenced to two years in a women’s correctional facility upstate. Knowing she won’t be able to visit her boy for the next twenty-four months, her lawyer (Roger Pryor) arranges to have her visit son Dinky (Cooper) one last time.
The lad is told that mother’s going off to Chicago to open a new corporate branch. While she’s away, the lawyer will visit Dinky when important school events occur. Dinky accepts the fact that he will be on his own for awhile, and the farewell scenes at the train station are poignantly played. We then see Astor arrive at the prison where she begins to serve her sentence, with the lawyer promising to try to overturn her conviction. He’s in love with her and will move heaven and earth for her.
Back at the academy, one of the boys who dislikes Dinky finds a newspaper article reporting the trial and incarceration of Dinky’s mother. When Dinky sees this, he is thrown for a loop. At first he cannot believe he’s been lied to, and he refuses to accept the fact that his mother did anything wrong…no matter what the other kids say. Feeling persecuted because of this, he decides to run away.
There is a nifty subplot where rich boy Dinky has made friends with kids across the fence who belong to a nearby orphanage. Some of those boys are real pals to him, not the snobs he attends school with each day.
Also, there is a cute little girl in the orphanage who has a crush on him, and Dinky seems to like her too. When the chips are down, and Dinky is going through emotional upheaval and an identity crisis, it is the kids from the orphanage who most support Dinky.
We know that everything will eventually turn out all right in the end. Dinky will learn some things about life and about himself while he runs away. At the same time, his mother will learn what is most important to her, before she is finally sprung from the slammer.
In real life, Mary Astor weathered many personal crises, including a notable scandal in the 1930s that saw her good name besmirched in the newspapers. She seems to bring something real to her portrayal here, and this is one of the reasons why I think so highly of this little 64-minute B film. It doesn’t just feel like the actors are going through the motions, but they are growing as human beings while doing their jobs.
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Post by Fading Fast on Dec 15, 2022 16:35:01 GMT
⇧ Outstanding review as you brought the movie alive in your comments. You also sold me as this is one I definitely want to see.
There's a very good book on Mary Astor's scandal/court case, "Mary Astor's Purple Diary" by Edward Sorel, that I read when it came out in 2016. I came away liking Mary Astor much more as she had a miserable set of parents and some bad husbands, but she soldiered on. Plus, she really did like herself some sex; that part of the scandal is true.
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Post by topbilled on Dec 24, 2022 13:59:15 GMT
This neglected film is from 1934.
The man they both want
Two things come to mind when watching this Warner Brothers melodrama that hit screens in the fall of 1934. First, the story had probably been in development before the production code was fully enforced. So it has residual precode elements. If it had been released by the studio earlier in the year, the more scandalous elements of the plot would likely have been played up.
Second, this seems like exactly the type of vehicle Kay Francis would have done. And one wonders why she didn’t take the lead role, since it was given to Verree Teasdale instead. Miss Teasdale, wife of Adolphe Menjou, is not remembered as a star actress though she was certainly glamorous enough to be one. She tended to be relegated to second-tier leads, and later, she appeared predominately in supporting roles.
The story is pretty basic as far as these things go. Teasdale’s character is an aging actress…cue the vanity…who doesn’t want to admit she’s now a bit past her prime and heading to the old folks’ home. She wants to maintain an aura of sophistication and continue projecting a degree of youthfulness. Unfortunately, one thing stands in her way.
That would be her pretty daughter (Jean Muir) who has recently come home from boarding school and blossomed into an adult. It’s not that Teasdale doesn’t love her offspring, for she certainly does…it’s just that to claim this daughter openly in a world full of theatrical snobs, she would have to admit her true age– something she is not ready to do. In a way we have a story of a young woman coming of age, as well as the mother learning to act her age and grow older gracefully.
The scenario is ripe with complications when a handsome man enters both their lives. I won’t go so far as to say George Brent’s character is a gigolo, but he is a bit of an opportunist who is hanging on to Teasdale because she can spoil him with the finer things in life. However, a conflict occurs when he meets and falls in love with Muir, without first realizing she’s related to his older lover. It’s a triangle for the ages, told in a highly melodramatic fashion.
You can see why I think Kay Francis would have been ideal here, but maybe at this stage of her career, she wasn’t quite mature enough to play the mother role. This isn’t to say Teasdale isn’t effective, since she definitely is, but I do think there needed to be more anguish registered in the mother’s expressions, realizing she was defeated. Miss Francis would have handled such scenes with considerable skill.
A fourth character is added to the mix in the form of Charles Starrett who plays a man of society that happens to be smitten with Muir. When Teasdale realizes that Muir may steal Brent away from her, she tries to push Muir into marrying Starrett.
However, as they continue to date, Muir is unable to muster up the same amount of affection for Starrett, since she’d rather be with her mother’s beau. It’s interesting to see Starrett in this type of role. By the end of the decade, he’d become a star of B westerns and make quite a name for himself in the saddle.
Of course, we are not surprised when Brent and Muir wind up together, seemingly against all odds. Teasdale’s character must step aside, and relinquish her crown as the queen since her daughter how now emerged victorious as the winner of young men’s hearts. In their own way, both ladies are desirable, but there is a passing of the torch from one generation to the next.
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Post by Fading Fast on Dec 24, 2022 16:47:37 GMT
⇧ This, " In a way we have a story of a young woman coming of age, as well as the mother learning to act her age and grow older gracefully," is a neat observation.
My comments from a few years back ⇩
The below comments were written a few years ago for another site, which accounts for their bullet-points format.
Desirable from 1934 with Jean Muir, George Brent and Verree Teasdale
- A short (68 minute) B movie that works in an obvious way, but with a "Mrs. Robinson - coo-coo-ca-choo" backbeat
- Jean Muir is the stunning-to-look-at, overly-protected and hidden-from-view daughter of a Broadway star (Teasdale) who doesn't want the world to know she has a daughter (age, vanity, legitimate business reason - you choose)
- The daughter, now 19 and too old for school, shows up at her mother's apartment and accidentally meets her mother's younger secret lover, Brent (publicly, the mother and Brent are just friends, but privately...). The daughter and Brent become fast friends, but not lovers
- The mother, perforce, publicly acknowledges the daughter and tries to arrange a quick society marriage to an age appropriate boy for her daughter in an attempt to wrap everything up neatly and to abort her daughter and Brent from becoming more than friends ("and here's to your Mrs. Robinson...")
- It all comes to a boil when the daughter's fiancé's society family kinda, sorta rejects their new daughter-in-law to be who was having doubts about the marriage anyway
- The daughter's mother pushes hard for the marriage; the society boyfriend waffles; Brent tries to stay neutral - all leaving the final decision in the hands of beautiful and, basically, innocent Muir to choose
- It's an obvious, but good story with, as noted, The Graduate's ickiness of the mother's lover potentially marrying the mother's daughter - it's not openly discussed, but it's definitely in play
- It's interesting to see this early take on The Graduate more from the daughter's viewpoint and without scary Ann Bancroft's bone-chilling threat to her former lover not to marry her daughter*
- Better-than-average B movie with a lot packed into just over an hour including the aforementioned parallels to The Graduate.
*So many things have gone wrong in your life if you are either one of the participants in this conversation.
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Post by topbilled on Dec 24, 2022 17:17:05 GMT
Desirable from 1934 with Jean Muir, George Brent and Verree Teasdale
MGM remade IT'S A DATE as NANCY GOES TO RIO (1950). That time it was young Jane Powell fantasizing about a life with Barry Sullivan, who was more suited to mother Ann Sothern.
What's different about DESIRABLE is that the man is meant to marry the daughter and jilt the mother, which as you say was repeated with harsher tones in THE GRADUATE. But in IT'S A DATE and NANCY GOES TO RIO the man stays with the mother, and the daughter learns to find some guy closer to her own age and maturity level. |
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Post by Fading Fast on Dec 24, 2022 17:29:07 GMT
Desirable from 1934 with Jean Muir, George Brent and Verree Teasdale
MGM remade IT'S A DATE as NANCY GOES TO RIO (1950). That time it was young Jane Powell fantasizing about a life with Barry Sullivan, who was more suited to mother Ann Sothern.
What's different about DESIRABLE is that the man is meant to marry the daughter and jilt the mother, which as you say was repeated with harsher tones in THE GRADUATE. But in IT'S A DATE and NANCY GOES TO RIO the man stays with the mother, and the daughter learns to find some guy closer to her own age and maturity level.. I haven't seen, "It's a Date," but based on the Durbin films I have seen, my guess is it was handle in a respectful and lighthearted manner as I don't see Durbin and Francis having a Ross-Bancroft nuclear-style face-off  . That would be quite off brand for Durbin. |
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Post by topbilled on Dec 30, 2022 15:27:34 GMT
This neglected film is from 1938.
Married to a woman like that
This was the last ‘A’ film that Kay Francis made under contract at Warner Brothers. Her next few pics at the studio were decidedly smaller affairs. Boss Jack Warner hoped by casting her in B films, that she would quit, and he wouldn’t have to continue paying her hefty salary. But Miss Francis hung in there, and her movies, regardless of budget or stature, still contained strong central performances.
This time she gets to work opposite Pat O’Brien. In a way the first 25 minutes of the story are about O’Brien’s character. He’s a guy who started out at the bottom and ascended the ranks at a prestigious advertising agency. Along the way, he impressed one of the bosses (Thurston Hall) and captured the heart of the man’s daughter (Francis). He elopes with her, even though she’s about to marry the agency’s other boss (Ralph Forbes). Of course, it’s something that her father must accept.
We see O’Brien as the boy wonder of Madison Avenue. He has a great job, a beautiful trophy wife and all the money he could want. Then things take a dreadful turn. Francis’ papa embezzles from the firm and high-tails it to Europe. This means O’Brien has to step in and cover the company’s financial losses by relinquishing his own stock. He does this to prevent a scandal, to keep the business afloat and to protect his wife from the truth about her crooked old man.
Francis’ character finally gets something important to do when she realizes she can help snag an influential client and boost the agency’s fortunes. She does such a stellar job, proving her own aptitude for business, that it wounds O’Briend’s male pride. The dialogue in the film is very thought-provoking in this regard.
This is not just a battle of the sexes. It’s a thesis about the worth of both people in a marriage. Of course, there are plenty of melodramatic moments. O’Brien quits his job, leaves Francis and travels the world; while she takes over his office and makes a huge success of everything. In an interesting sequence, we glimpse how crafty she is at wooing a prospective new client (Grant Mitchell).
By this point O’Brien’s back in town. He signs on with a rival agency and starts to steal accounts from Francis and Forbes. Meanwhile, a looming divorce which is almost finalized, means Francis will be free to remarry. And she may try to head back to the altar with Forbes.
However, we know she will have a change of heart and reconcile with O’Brien. But not before she gets to say what’s on her mind. To the film’s credit, she isn’t forced to surrender her job and return to her previous position as a self-sacrificing society wife. At the end of the story, they are much more equals. They are in it all the way…together for the long haul.
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Post by Fading Fast on Dec 30, 2022 15:54:29 GMT
This neglected film is from 1938.
Married to a woman like that
This was the last ‘A’ film that Kay Francis made under contract at Warner Brothers. Her next few pics at the studio were decidedly smaller affairs. Boss Jack Warner hoped by casting her in B films, that she would quit, and he wouldn’t have to continue paying her hefty salary. But Miss Francis hung in there, and her movies, regardless of budget or stature, still contained strong central performances.
This time she gets to work opposite Pat O’Brien. In a way the first 25 minutes of the story are about O’Brien’s character. He’s a guy who started out at the bottom and ascended the ranks at a prestigious advertising agency. Along the way, he impressed one of the bosses (Thurston Hall) and captured the heart of the man’s daughter (Francis). He elopes with her, even though she’s about to marry the agency’s other boss (Ralph Forbes). Of course, it’s something that her father must accept.
We see O’Brien as the boy wonder of Madison Avenue. He has a great job, a beautiful trophy wife and all the money he could want. Then things take a dreadful turn. Francis’ papa embezzles from the firm and high-tails it to Europe. This means O’Brien has to step in and cover the company’s financial losses by relinquishing his own stock. He does this to prevent a scandal, to keep the business afloat and to protect his wife from the truth about her crooked old man.
Francis’ character finally gets something important to do when she realizes she can help snag an influential client and boost the agency’s fortunes. She does such a stellar job, proving her own aptitude for business, that it wounds O’Briend’s male pride. The dialogue in the film is very thought-provoking in this regard.
This is not just a battle of the sexes. It’s a thesis about the worth of both people in a marriage. Of course, there are plenty of melodramatic moments. O’Brien quits his job, leaves Francis and travels the world; while she takes over his office and makes a huge success of everything. In an interesting sequence, we glimpse how crafty she is at wooing a prospective new client (Grant Mitchell).
By this point O’Brien’s back in town. He signs on with a rival agency and starts to steal accounts from Francis and Forbes. Meanwhile, a looming divorce which is almost finalized, means Francis will be free to remarry. And she may try to head back to the altar with Forbes.
However, we know she will have a change of heart and reconcile with O’Brien. But not before she gets to say what’s on her mind. To the film’s credit, she isn’t forced to surrender her job and return to her previous position as a self-sacrificing society wife. At the end of the story, they are much more equals. They are in it all the way…together for the long haul.
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. That would be quite off brand for Durbin.