Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Richard Chatten George Arliss does his usual enjoyable turn as a wily old patriarch running rings round the rest of the cast while adroitly covering his tracks in 'The Working Man', which takes him out of his usual historical fancy dress and instead places him at the helm of a very contemporary tale of post-Crash America; complete with a Thoroughly Modern young female lead in the form of Arliss's young blonde protégé Bette Davis.With America at the time sunk in the depths of the Great Depression, Arliss's extraordinary manipulation of two competing shoe manufacturers pretty much on a whim - played as good-natured force - provides a bizarre commentary on its time; and Arliss remains fun to watch over seventy years after his death.

mmipyle CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!Last night we watched our favorite George Arliss film, "The Working Man" (1933). This one not only has Arliss, but young Bette Davis (in her second film with Arliss, who more or less "discovered" her!), J. Farrell MacDonald, Hardie Albright, Theodore Newton, Gordon Westcott, and others.This one is about a rather dysfunctional late 20's/early 30's wealthy family where the father dies and his flapper age children let the business slide, besides putting a head manager in place who now runs the company poorly so that it will fail and be taken over by a buy-out plan in which he's secretly involved. The business is a shoe business, and it's in direct competition with George Arliss' shoe company. Arliss has now let his nephew into the head managing job in his own shoe business, and this nephew thinks that George Arliss is too old to run the company. Arliss "takes a vacation"; however, the "vacation" is really a ruse where Arliss goes to the competition, becomes a "guardian" of the children - legally - and teaches them how to run a business, besides - all this while never letting on who he is. The "vacation" becomes extended, of course. Meanwhile, Arliss "cleans up" his competitor's business by getting rid of the creep manager who's trying to undermine it, and in the end begins ruining his own business as a result. In the end, there's love - between Bette Davis and the nephew in Arliss' business, played by Hardie Albright - and a merger between the two companies. Believe me, this is a simplistic description of events. The truth is, the show is didactic. Most people today would simply balk at watching a didactic show. Frankly, I think it's the best comedy that George Arliss ever made. He was famous for his historical portrayals of famous men, but he also made a series of rather didactic comedies that are nearly unlike any other films ever made in English. I love them all. Actually, they probably portray the 1920's stage as well as any films ever made, a lost section of historical performance that makes itself come alive again in these Arliss vehicles.I not only highly recommend this, but for the viewer who wishes to see how Bette Davis became "discovered", this is the second of two (the other was "The Man Who Played God" (1932)) films she made where Arliss let her show her stuff, so to speak. These films have so much to offer to those willing to put themselves back into a period that is most unlike our own! Given that perspective, this will transport the viewer into another era and allow him/her to see a totally different kind of writing, acting, and format. There's just nothing out there today - at least in America - to compare to Arliss and his brand of film-making.A couple of years ago Warner Archive Collection put out a three film Arliss collection to let viewers re-acquaint themselves with Arliss who died in 1946, and who is nearly forgotten today, although he won one of the first Oscars for Best Actor in 1929 for "Disraeli". In the set were three Arliss comedies, "Old English" (1930), "A Successful Calamity" (1932), and "The King's Vacation", but none of his portrayals of historical figures. This was a curiosity in and of itself! It doesn't do justice to the man. However, the fact that "Old English" was included was a great choice! "The King's Vacation" has a very young Dick Powell in it, so it has some kind of "modern" appeal. "A Successful Calamity" has Mary Astor in it, so ditto what I just said. I'd love to see a second set out with "Disraeli", "The Man Who Played God", and "The Working Man" in it. These were very successful vehicles for Arliss in their time. A set with both the silent and the sound "The Green Goddess" (1922/1930) would also be fascinating. Arliss needs to be re-discovered!!

Michael_Elliott Working Man, The (1933) *** (out of 4) Extremely far-fetched but entertaining tale of a millionaire shoe maker (George Arliss) who decides to go work undercover at his rival's shoe factory. He wants to see if his nephew can really take care of the business but while undercover he begins to feel for the kids (Bette Davis, Theodore Newton) of the other shoe owner so he wants to teach them how to properly run a business even if that means he's going against his own. THE WORKING MAN has a very stupid story and I think the ending is pretty silly but at the same time Arliss is just so wonderful in the leading part that you can overlook the flaws with the story. I'm really not sure what the goal of the film was as it could have been to show young people what hard work is all about but it might also just be a story about one man caring for other people when he doesn't have any kids of his own. The story is very far-fetched but at the same time you can't help but enjoy watching Arliss play both sides against one another and in the end making everyone see what the most important things are. Needless to say, it's Arliss that steals the film with a remarkable and rather restrained performance. I really enjoyed how good Arliss was in regards to everything that the role called for. At times he had to be a strong disciplinary while the next scene might call for him to be a loving father type. He has to scream and shout to get the business going but then be caring enough to do what's best for these kids. Arliss nailed everything the screenplay called for and this was certainly a role the actor did justice for. Davis was still making a mark for herself so one shouldn't come to this film and expect to see that classic Davis. With that said she's still quite good here as you have no problem believing her in the part. Newton, Gordon Westcott and Hardie Albright add some nice support and horror fans will be happy to see Edward Van Sloan in a small role. THE WORKING MAN is certainly a message movie but while that message might get lost in some of the wackiness of the screenplay, what does stand is the strong performance by Arliss and that's reason alone to check this film out.

MartinHafer George Arliss stars in this film as the owner of Reeves Shoes--one of the giants in the shoe industry. However, upon hearing that his closest rival, he's in a bit of a funk--without this competition, his job is a lot less satisfying! Additionally he's in a funk because his nephew, who is the #2 man at Reeves is a fat-head. The nephew is reasonably competent--but he's also a very conceited jerk who thinks the company's success is all due to him. By chance during his vacation Arliss meets the son and daughter of his deceased competitor and he's not at all pleased. Instead of caring about the business, all they care about is partying. So, on a lark, he assumes control of their company and uses it to battle, anonymously, against his nephew! This way he can teach the two party-goers about the value of hard work and he can teach his nephew some humility.This is a very clever little comedy about the business world that works well due to a nice script and a lovely performance by Arliss--who just makes the picture glow. While Bette Davis is also in the film, it's an early role for her and she is competent but not much more. Apparently in real life she and Arliss grew very fond of each other and he taught her a lot about the acting craft--which makes sense since he was able to make his performance in this film look so effortless and charming.By the way, if you like this sweet business comedy, try watching the even better 1941 film "The Devil and Miss Jones". It's also great fun and is one of the best comedies of the 1940s. The two films would make a nice double-feature.