Yawner starring Joan Blondell as a woman from the "wrong side of the tracks" who is desperate to get into high society and doesn't care much about what she has to do to make it happen. John Wayne plays a riverboat operator in love with Joan. All I can say is: P-U! What a stinker! One of Duke's most boring movies. He honestly had no business in this. Just listening to him talk in that oh-so-familiar manner of his while dressed up like a "dude" fawning over brassy Blondell...it's just nauseating. I love John Wayne but this role was just not a good fit for him. That isn't to say it would be a good film without him; it wouldn't. I don't see what other reviewers are seeing. There is nothing about this that I found fun and certainly nothing that would make me want to see it again. I love Duke and I really like Blondell (in her 1930s films at least) but this just didn't do it for me. I felt the two had no chemistry and I frankly couldn't stand Blondell's character so I wasn't rooting for her at all. Everyone else in the cast is forgettable. The story takes some dark turns but it never really gets exciting, in my opinion. John Wayne is the primary selling point to this but it probably isn't going to appeal to many people who watch it for him. It's easily one of his weakest roles.
Review of Lady for a Night
