I was expecting just another of those mildly amusing early thirties rom-coms, the sort of thing which would usually have someone like Ginger Rogers in it. This was refreshingly different....in a good way!
It's still in the 'mildly amusing' rather than the 'hilarious' category but being a little different it keeps you interested more so than a lot of these types of pictures. The original plot, which sounds like it could have been been used for a serious drama, concerns a young woman who's head over heels in love with a complete thug whose big thing is fighting. Funny how once upon a time some women found prowess with their fists an appealing trait in men - different times!
But back to the plot.... her pugilistic beau gets sent down the river then she stumbles on a naïve millionaire's son who's never met a girl before. She literally turns him into a her former lover, complete with his mannerisms, attitudes, accent and even his name. Then she inevitably falls in love with him. There's probably a psychological term for this and it could be made into something very deep but this is a comedy - a very silly and quite funny comedy. It's definitely worth watching.
Although enjoyable it's not a brilliantly made film. Director Mark Sandrich went on to make some of RKO's funniest romantic comedies of the thirties but he doesn't seem to have quite hit his stride by the time he made this. It feels a lot older than 1933. You could be forgiven for thinking that this was made three years earlier when actors and directors hadn't quite got to grips with making a talking picture. Charles Farrell and William Gargan would win no acting awards for this and even Wynne Gibson's acting is far from natural. But because the story is so silly, the poor acting doesn't matter too much. It's too much fun to worry about such trivia.
It's still in the 'mildly amusing' rather than the 'hilarious' category but being a little different it keeps you interested more so than a lot of these types of pictures. The original plot, which sounds like it could have been been used for a serious drama, concerns a young woman who's head over heels in love with a complete thug whose big thing is fighting. Funny how once upon a time some women found prowess with their fists an appealing trait in men - different times!
But back to the plot.... her pugilistic beau gets sent down the river then she stumbles on a naïve millionaire's son who's never met a girl before. She literally turns him into a her former lover, complete with his mannerisms, attitudes, accent and even his name. Then she inevitably falls in love with him. There's probably a psychological term for this and it could be made into something very deep but this is a comedy - a very silly and quite funny comedy. It's definitely worth watching.
Although enjoyable it's not a brilliantly made film. Director Mark Sandrich went on to make some of RKO's funniest romantic comedies of the thirties but he doesn't seem to have quite hit his stride by the time he made this. It feels a lot older than 1933. You could be forgiven for thinking that this was made three years earlier when actors and directors hadn't quite got to grips with making a talking picture. Charles Farrell and William Gargan would win no acting awards for this and even Wynne Gibson's acting is far from natural. But because the story is so silly, the poor acting doesn't matter too much. It's too much fun to worry about such trivia.