Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

MartinHafer In many ways, this film reminds me of another Warner Brothers film made just a few years later, "The Petrified Forest". Both are set at isolated gas stations in the desert and both involve gangsters who come there to seek shelter. However, the films are certainly different enough to make it worth seeing them both.Olga (Aline MacMahon) is a world-weary soul who has chosen to move into the middle of nowhere because she's tired of people. Her sister, Myrna (Ann Dvorak), however, isn't tired of people and yearns for excitement and men-- and the pair couldn't be more different. Into their very dull and predictable lives come an assortment of folks to stay at their gas station/motor court. One pair are a couple of divorcées on their way from Reno after their latest conquest. Another are a pair of crooks on the run from the law. In a coincidence you'll only see in a play or movie, it turns out the boss (Preston Foster) was once Olga's lover! What's next? See the film.There are two main things going for this film--Foster and MacMahon. Their characters are interesting and the final scene between them is something to see! Unfortunately, Dvorak's role is very whiny and annoying--and the character significantly impairs the film with her overwrought performance. Overall, it is worth seeing but is far from brilliant work from the studio.

ksf-2 ... must have been filmed around Joshua Tree or Lone Pine.. unfortunately, no locations listed as of March 2010. Warner Brothers shortie... but TCM host Robert Osborne mentioned that the Catholic League wanted changes made, so I wonder if the original play was longer or even naughtier. Also loved seeing Frank McHugh & Aline MacMahon... McHugh was toned way down for this part...he's funnier and louder in some of his other roles; MacMahon was the big star of this one.... as one of the female mechanics (sisters) that run the gas station, they come REAL close to being lesbians, whether or not that was the intention... Jerry, her ex says: "you're right... you changed plenty!" and when Myra goes out with a guy, her sister Olga gives her hell when she gets back. When the folks in the car insist it'll take a "darn good man" to get the radiator cap off, Olga opens it, no problem. Fun, quick story, even if i'm not really sure what we learned.. I thought it had a lot in common with Key Largo, but lesser known actors in this one.

SumBuddy-3 After reading several reviews that enjoyed the film, I almost did not write a comment.However, after reading the one comparing it to a poor man's Petrified Forest, I wanted to say that's just plain unfair.I, was not around for the New York Times drab review in 1934, like the previous reviewer, but I can form my own opinion. I really liked the movie. Aline McMahon, pulled off the difficult character of playing a woman mechanic/business owner, and Preston Foster played the crook on the lam quite believable for the situation he was in.I personally wish Ann Dvorak had more of a developed part, I always like her, but sadly hers was the least developed of the several interesting characters in the film. Obviously made on a small budget, it's just unfair to compare this to Petrified Forest. They are not the same film at all.

Neil Doyle If you can get over the unlikely pairing of ALINE MacMAHON and PRESTON FOSTER as former lovers and stand the desert heat at a motor court stranded in the middle of nowhere, you may be able to accept some of the melodramatics of HEAT LIGHTNING.Nevertheless, I have to agree with The N.Y. Times when it summed it up as: "Drab melodrama with occasional flashes of forced comedy." The forced comedy is supplied by RUTH DONNELLY and GLENDA FARRELL as two rich dames being chauffeured by FRANK McHUGH, and in an early scene, JANE DARWELL and EDGAR KENNEDY as a bickering married couple who stop by for car repair and a coke. Otherwise, it's pretty dreary stuff, with Foster trying to con McMahon and her sister (ANN DVORAK) out of some money in their safe.The downbeat ending only emphasizes the dreariness of the plot which seems to go nowhere fast.