Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

mark.waltz This is a disappointing drama about a hard-working model (Ann Sothern) supporting her lazy family and torn between two men: an honest mechanic (Paul Kelly) who works long hours yet seems to be intent on dominating her once they get married, and a rather lecherous wealthy playboy (Neil Hamilton) whose intentions do not seem at all honorable. The lack of likable characters, with the exception of Sothern and a very young Mickey Rooney as the younger brother who hasn't had the opportunity to become like his parents Jane Darwell and Spencer Charters yet, makes this difficult to tolerate at times. All this family seems to do is bicker over nothing and makes no effort to resolve any conflicts.While this is certainly a good looking film, there isn't enough to recommend it past that. Ann Sothern is certainly a lovely heroine, but even though she had been in films for several years (mainly as a chorus girl), she was still too green in her acting to hold together an entire movie when everything else around her was mediocre. While Kelly tries to add some softer dimensions to his character, he never fully hits the mark. Hamilton seems to be just stuck in the rut of playing less than noble wealthy men, sort of a poor man's Ralph Bellamy who never got the girl even though he used every dirty trick in the book. Sothern would have better luck when she went over to RKO for some frivolous comedies and of course much more success at MGM with the "Maisie" series and a string of musical successes.

kidboots In a Film In Review article Ann Sothern was very reticent about her early screen work ("Hold Everything", "Whoopee") - MGM signed her to a contract under her real name of Harriet Lake but she only made one movie for them - "Doughboys" (1930) and was then dropped. Columbia signed her to a contract in the mid thirties and she made a series of light hearted programmers with co-stars such as Edmund Lowe and Gene Raymond. Even though Harry Cohn often boasted that by changing Harriet Lake's name to Ann Sothern he had made her a star, Columbia didn't really seem interested in promoting her and it was up to MGM to come up trumps with "Maisie".Kitty (Sothern) is the bread winner of her improvident family - as well as keeper of the peace and advice dispenser and she is getting pretty fed up with it. Especially her full of beans boyfriend Bill (I have never seen Paul Kelly so animated before)!! who puts work before romance!! When he stands her up on her birthday she listens to her friend and goes on a blind date where she meets debonair Bob Hartwell (Neil Hamilton). She starts to live the high life when he gets her a job as a model in his department store but when she dismisses his cave man tactics she suddenly finds herself out of a job. Of course the thing is, Bob is completely in the dark about things - his father has sacked her during cutbacks but requests the news be kept from his son. Bob goes on a cruise with his mother, not knowing that Kitty is desperately looking for a job. Bill comes to the rescue with a job for her father and the pressure is now on for Kitty to patch things up with Bill - even though she doesn't love him.Bob comes back but Kitty is determined to stick by Bill - he has been involved in an awful accident at work - courtesy of Kitty's father and a blow torch!!! Flora (Joan Gale), Kitty's sister over hears Kitty and Bob's tearful parting and wants to make it right for them. This is a really nice way to pass an afternoon with the "little" actors you get to know if you watch enough old movies. Matinée idol Neil Hamilton, most people know him from the Batman TV show as Commissioner Gordon but he had a huge career starting in the 1920s - he was a D.W. Griffith discovery. Mickey Rooney showed that even during his awkward age there were always roles to be had!!!

MartinHafer The story is about a working girl (Ann Sothern) who has a pretty thoughtless boyfriend (Paul Kelly). This boyfriend is so busy trying to start his own business that again and again he forgets dates or shows up late. The final straw is when Sothern has a birthday and Kelly says he's too busy to take her out to celebrate. So, not wanting to just stay home, she goes on a blind date with what turns out to be a very rich young man (Neil Hamilton). Sparks fly but it also becomes apparent after Sothern breaks off her relationship with Kelly that new boyfriend Hamilton is a "love 'em and leave 'em" sort of guy. How all this is finally resolved is not too difficult to predict--just suffice to say that in the end everything works out just perfectly.This is a very modest little film from Columbia Pictures--with a relatively small budget as well as second-tier stars. It's clearly a "B-movie" despite there being small roles played by a Mickey Rooney and Jane Darwell--as both had yet to become famous. Now this is NOT to say that these are bad actors or the production isn't any good. In fact, given the production values, this is a pretty amazing film as everything seems to work so well despite having a pretty ordinary and somewhat predictable plot outline. That's because the actors and director did a really good job putting the story across. Plus the writers did a good job of humanizing the characters and making you care about them. The ending, in particular, is really sweet and practically had my tear ducts flowing! Because of these factors, the film earns a 7 of 10.

boblipton A mild but decent low-class soaper, well directed by under-rated B director Roy William Neill -- best remembered, these days, for the Sherlock Holmes series starring Rathbone and Bruce that he directed a decade later. There is a spiffy cast in this piece and they give good performances.It is interesting to compare this Columbia Picture with its Pre-Code contemporaries from the majors and contrast its constant moral tone with the sexier stuff produced by, say, Lubitsch at Paramount. Part of the reason, doubtless, is that a minor studio like Columbia didn't have leverage against the increasingly powerful Production Code that would swamp the sex comedy even at the Majors by the end of the year. But the most of it, I don't doubt, is that the Majors had an eye on the big cities and European markets, while Columbia still was concentrating on the smaller US cities and rural markets.