After Bill (Grant Withers) succeeds in ducking his marriage to Marie (Joan Blondell), his pal Jack (Regis Toomey) offers to put him up. Jack's wife, Lily (Mary Astor) has no objections, but as time goes on, Bill and Lily start to have feelings for one another.
Other Men's Women is rather an odd movie. The
consensus of our group was that it didn't quite know what it wanted to
be: a romance for the women, or an action-adventure movie for the men.
It did have both elements, with the love story between Grant Withers and
Mary Astor playing out within the context of railroad men. Mary
Astor's character, Lily, disappears for most of the end of the movie,
and one wonders why she would leave her now-blind husband even with the danger of a ensuing flood.
We did enjoy
this early James Cagney appearance. His characterization of Eddie was a
delight - from his first appearance atop a railroad car to the scene
where he meets his girl friend at a fancy club in work clothes - then
proceeds to strip down to the tux he had donned underneath. Add to that
a little dance step of joy, and you can't help but smile at the man who
will launch to "overnight" success as Tom Powers in only two months. He
was an amazing dancer; it's a shame he didn't get to do more of it, but
it does make what we have even more to be appreciated.
The
juxtaposition of the beginning and ending scenes, both set in the same
cafe, really gave you a good look at the development of Grant Wither's
Bill White. A nice advantage of seeing these on DVD is the ability to
go back and compare the two scenes.
Here's a brief scene with Mary Astor and Grant Withers:
Search for Beauty is the final entry in the Pre-Code
Hollywood DVD set, and what a hoot. Buster Crabbe (of Flash Gordon and
Buck Rogers fame) plays an Olympic swimmer who becomes an editor for a
health magazine, only to discover the owners are interested in a
sex magazine. One interesting point is that the movie opens at the 1932
Los Angeles Olympics, showing Crabbe's character, Don Jackson, winning
the gold medal in the 400 meter swim meet - the event for which Crabbe
actually won his gold medal. His best girl is played by Ida Lupino
(appearing as a platinum blonde!). Both are hired by the magazine to
give it credibility, while the publishers fill the rag with salacious
pictures and stories.
There is lots of innuendo here; there are
also male and female swimmers in showers; beauties in bathing suits and
tight training outfits; ladies dancing on table tops in lingerie. In this musical number, you can get a glimpse of some of the milder aspects of the movie:
But parts of the movie are even a bit racier: there
are also naked male bottoms. Early in the film, we venture into the
locker room at the Olympics, to witness several young men running to
showers bare bottomed.
We found the combination of Buster Crabbe, as our
upright hero, and Robert Armstrong, as our loose-moraled publisher (his
character, Larry Williams, just got out of jail as a result of selling
non-existent oil wells) amusing. And, of course, it is never hard to
have James Gleason in a movie, even when his character is not quite on
the right side of the moral.
Finally, do watch to see the scene in
which Ida Lupino listens to two female writers relating the sensational
stories they have written for the magazine. These two look like they
should be teaching Latin, not writing salacious stories!
This week, we watched Murder at the Vanities (or, as the title card had it Earl Carroll's Murder at the Vanities).
The jacket of the dvd said it broke every rule of the code. We agree.
We had young ladies in costumes that barely covered anything (and what
WAS covered was so sheer as to appear transparent)
Vanities star
Eric Lander (played by Danish actor Carl Brisson) announces his
intention to marry his costar Ann Ware (Kitty Carlisle), much to the
annoyance of wannabe lover Rita Ross (Gertrude Michael). We soon learn
that Rita is a vindictive sneak; she has stolen papers and photos from
Eric's flat that implicate his mother in a murder. Soon afterwards, the
private detective (Gail Patrick, finally getting to play a non-bitch)
Eric has hired to recover the stolen papers is found murdered.
We
were taken by the suggestiveness of the whole piece. The previously
mentioned almost-nudity; the fact that we are being asked to sympathize
with a murderer (I won't say more than that. You will have to watch the
movie); the producer (Jack Oakie) who is obviously sleeping with one of
the cast members; the police detective (Victor McLaglan) who so clearly
is setting up a night TO sleep with another young lady. And then there
is the number in which black and white dancers all dance and sing
together to the music of the Duke Ellington orchestra. When we consider
that Shirley Temple got flack for holding Bill Robinson's hand a few
years later, we were stunned. Oh, and then there is the musical number about marijuana:
Was this a great movie? Nope, but it was funny - and worth seeing. You'll be surprised!
Last evening's precode movie was Torch Singer (1933), with
Claudette Colbert as an unwed mother who is forced to surrender her baby
for adoption when she unable to find a means of support for the little
girl. Sally (or Mimi, her career name) becomes a "loose" woman by
reputation. However, IS she? We see her flirting, but never see any
evidence that her reputation is more than rumor to support her
employer's contention that torch singers must suffer for their art.
Suffer she does though, unable to find her little girl, she turns to
drink. We (the viewers in NYC) had a lot of affection for her, and felt
that her reputation was hype.
We were fascinated to learn that
Ms. Colbert did her own singing. She has two songs, a children's
lullaby and her character's signature song "Give Me Liberty or Give Me
Love". Ms. Colbert has an interesting (though not exceptional) voice -
it dark and rather throaty, but she certainly can carry a tune, and she
SURELY sounds like a torch singer.
The two men in her life, played
by Ricardo Cortez (as Tony) and David Manners (as Michael, the father
of the her baby) are surprisingly sympathetic. Both good, supportive men,
who care for her and want the best for her. We are inclined to dislike
Michael at first, but when he tells his side of the story, he becomes
easier to like. It was interesting, we felt, that the men WERE shown in
such a positive light. We expected one or the other to be the villain of
the piece. If there was a villain, it was the women (Michael's aunt)
who refuses to help the destitute Sally.
We were especially
pleased to see the interactions between Sally and the nun who runs the
hospital where Sally gives birth. There is no condemnation here - only
support. And Mother Angelica is, as we learn
later in the film, a woman of deep principle.
Again, we highly recommend this movie for those
of you interested in pre-code movies, or in Claudette Colbert. She is
just glorious!
Last week, we saw Cary Grant in a small roll. This week, we watched Hot Saturday, a 1932 film in which
Cary Grant took second billing to star Nancy Carroll. Ms. Carroll plays
Ruth Brock, a small-town bank clerk, who likes to have fun (the weekly
Hot Saturday), but is basically a "good girl". She is being wooed by
several young men, including local man-about-town Romer Sheffield (Cary
Grant). He is open in his unwillingness to ever marry, but finds her
attractive, and tells her so. She, on the other hand, is looking for
marriage, and while she likes Romer, is unwilling to compromise her
principles for a fling. In order to see her again, Romer invites Ruth's
date (Connie - played by Edward Woods, known for his turn as James
Cagney's brother in Public Enemy) to his home for a party.
Connie accepts, but is infuriated by Romer's attentions to Ruth, and
further angered when Ruth rebuffs his forceful attempts at lovemaking.
The next day, he and his new date, Eva (Lillian Bond), insinuate that
Romer and Ruth are lovers - gossip that spreads through the town like
wildfire.
We were very intrigued by the "racy bits" in this movie -
and there were several. Ruth forceably removing the bloomers that her
younger sister (Annie) steals from Ruth's drawer right from sister
Annie's body; Ruth, awakening, stark naked, after being drenched in a
storm (and her undergarments clearly displayed on a line, just in case
we were unsure that she was totally undressed); the fairly frank
discussions between Romer (and we loved his name. It is pronounced
ROAMER) and Ruth about marriage vs. involvement; Connie's physical
attack on Ruth (complete with the "you owe me this" routine).
Small-town American life is displayed as provincial and bigoted -
telephone conversations escalate the rumors concerning Ruth's night with
Romer, til it is clear she is a "loose woman". An precursor to the
1960's Peyton Place?
This is Cary Grant's sixth film, and the first in which he appears with best friend Randolph
Scott; they only have a brief scene together. Of course, even at this early stage of his career, Grant is just wonderful. His Romer is appealing, yet it is understandable why Ruth resists
him. Unlike Connie, he is a gentleman, taking her rejection with calmly.
Nancy Carroll is also appealing as Ruth - she is NOT a tease. She is
quite open with all of her dates about her goals. But the opportunity
for a Hot Saturday is just too much for some of them to reject. Here's a clip which gives you a taste of the pre-code nature of the film:
