"The Working Man" was doing so well. It was cruising along just perfectly fine, then they had to do something so trite, cliché, and pretty much sexist to almost make it crash and burn. Had I not seen a similar occurrence in so many movies of that era, what happened would've been a throw-aside. It would've been a simple footnote. But, because I've seen this so many times before I couldn't ignore it.
The movie stars George Arliss, Bette Davis, Theodore Newton, Hardie Albright, and Gordon Westcott. George Arliss plays John Reeves, a shoe magnate. He owned and operated Reeves Shoes, and he was very effective. His biggest competition was Hartland Shoes which was run by his respected nemesis. When Hartland died, Reeves easily took over the shoe market. It was so easy that he finally decided to give business a break and go fishing with his cousin Henry (J. Farrell MacDonald), while his nephew Benjamin Burnett (Hardie Albright) ran the show.
While fishing he met two of the Hartland kids: Jenny (Bette Davis) and Tommy (Theodore Newton). John Reeves saw this as an excellent opportunity to get some inside dope, and perhaps even buy out the Hartland shoe company so that he would be the only player in town.
He went along with the Hartland kids as a pal and got to see their home and their factory. When he finally got to see the condition of their factory, and more importantly, the spoiled, debaucherous, and ruinous path they were on, he actually had a soft spot for them, and wanted to protect them from financial ruin. What he did next was very novel and is what made the movie so good.
He had never introduced himself as John Reeves when he met the Hartland kids. He had always gone by John Walton. Because he wasn't known by the Hartland kids as John Reeves he convinced them to make him a trustee of the Hartland estate and a parental figure for both of them. His intentions were nothing but honorable. He wanted to cut off the spigot of flowing money and make the kids actually do something worthwhile so that they didn't burn through their fortune and become a drain on society in the process.
He was able to get the trustee position which put him directly in charge of their funds, and gave him access to their business as well. He took the job very seriously, and he went about rectifying both the children and Hartland Shoes.
John Reeves operated with brutal efficiency. He started by firing the general manager, who was a shyster named Fred Pettison (George Westcott). He then went about rousing his sales team to get them in the mood to make sales, he spent more ad dollars, and did everything necessary to make Hartland Shoes a better brand, and to give them a greater share of the market. So great was their eventual share that they were on the verge of totally sinking his own company, Reeves Shoes! He was more than happy to do it because it was now being run by his conceited nephew who thought his uncle should just retire.
This brings me to Jenny (Bette Davis) and what she wanted to do in order to help out. She made reference to the fact that many women were executives now and that perhaps she could be one. I shuttered at that statement because it was patently false, unless the definition of "many" has changed. Her idea was to go to Reeves Shoes, get a job there doing whatever she could so that she could see how they operated, and perhaps bring that knowledge back to her own family shoe company and help it.
When she got there, she was about to be summarily fired within the first two weeks because she was totally inept. But, because she was so beautiful, the man who was now running Reeves shoes, Benjamin Burnett (Hardie Albright), was too smitten with her to fire her.
Another woman who secured a job because of her looks.
The inevitable happened after that, and when I say inevitable, I mean the 1930s inevitable. She fell in love with him.
Now because she loved her boss--the boss at a rival shoe company no less--she became very bothered by the work Hartland Shoes, HER shoe company, was doing to eliminate Reeves Shoes. She was so bothered that she went back home to her brother and John Reeves (who she only knew as John Walton) to censure them about their vicious business practices and to stop their assault because she now loved Benjamin Burnett and she didn't want to see him falter.
It was such a disgusting display. Another woman whose heart interfered with her ability to conduct business.
I have seen it in too many other movies, mainly and most notably in the movie "Female" starring Ruth Chatterton where she had to give up her control in a car manufacturing company because she loved a man. And the movie "Dishonored" starring Marlene Dietrich where she helped an enemy of her country escape because she fell in love with him.
A woman cannot be business minded or be successful because her heart will always interfere. No woman can possibly help but fall in love with her boss or subordinate, which happens in too many movies to count, hence no woman should be in any kind of authoritative position at a company because she will be betrayed by her heart and make the wrong decision. It just sucks to see that a woman, yet again, couldn't do a job effectively because she fell in love.
Did that completely ruin the movie? No. Was it a big nuisance? Absolutely. I don't want to end on a bad note because overall it was a good movie, but it could've been excellent.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
The movie stars George Arliss, Bette Davis, Theodore Newton, Hardie Albright, and Gordon Westcott. George Arliss plays John Reeves, a shoe magnate. He owned and operated Reeves Shoes, and he was very effective. His biggest competition was Hartland Shoes which was run by his respected nemesis. When Hartland died, Reeves easily took over the shoe market. It was so easy that he finally decided to give business a break and go fishing with his cousin Henry (J. Farrell MacDonald), while his nephew Benjamin Burnett (Hardie Albright) ran the show.
While fishing he met two of the Hartland kids: Jenny (Bette Davis) and Tommy (Theodore Newton). John Reeves saw this as an excellent opportunity to get some inside dope, and perhaps even buy out the Hartland shoe company so that he would be the only player in town.
He went along with the Hartland kids as a pal and got to see their home and their factory. When he finally got to see the condition of their factory, and more importantly, the spoiled, debaucherous, and ruinous path they were on, he actually had a soft spot for them, and wanted to protect them from financial ruin. What he did next was very novel and is what made the movie so good.
He had never introduced himself as John Reeves when he met the Hartland kids. He had always gone by John Walton. Because he wasn't known by the Hartland kids as John Reeves he convinced them to make him a trustee of the Hartland estate and a parental figure for both of them. His intentions were nothing but honorable. He wanted to cut off the spigot of flowing money and make the kids actually do something worthwhile so that they didn't burn through their fortune and become a drain on society in the process.
He was able to get the trustee position which put him directly in charge of their funds, and gave him access to their business as well. He took the job very seriously, and he went about rectifying both the children and Hartland Shoes.
John Reeves operated with brutal efficiency. He started by firing the general manager, who was a shyster named Fred Pettison (George Westcott). He then went about rousing his sales team to get them in the mood to make sales, he spent more ad dollars, and did everything necessary to make Hartland Shoes a better brand, and to give them a greater share of the market. So great was their eventual share that they were on the verge of totally sinking his own company, Reeves Shoes! He was more than happy to do it because it was now being run by his conceited nephew who thought his uncle should just retire.
This brings me to Jenny (Bette Davis) and what she wanted to do in order to help out. She made reference to the fact that many women were executives now and that perhaps she could be one. I shuttered at that statement because it was patently false, unless the definition of "many" has changed. Her idea was to go to Reeves Shoes, get a job there doing whatever she could so that she could see how they operated, and perhaps bring that knowledge back to her own family shoe company and help it.
When she got there, she was about to be summarily fired within the first two weeks because she was totally inept. But, because she was so beautiful, the man who was now running Reeves shoes, Benjamin Burnett (Hardie Albright), was too smitten with her to fire her.
Another woman who secured a job because of her looks.
The inevitable happened after that, and when I say inevitable, I mean the 1930s inevitable. She fell in love with him.
Now because she loved her boss--the boss at a rival shoe company no less--she became very bothered by the work Hartland Shoes, HER shoe company, was doing to eliminate Reeves Shoes. She was so bothered that she went back home to her brother and John Reeves (who she only knew as John Walton) to censure them about their vicious business practices and to stop their assault because she now loved Benjamin Burnett and she didn't want to see him falter.
It was such a disgusting display. Another woman whose heart interfered with her ability to conduct business.
I have seen it in too many other movies, mainly and most notably in the movie "Female" starring Ruth Chatterton where she had to give up her control in a car manufacturing company because she loved a man. And the movie "Dishonored" starring Marlene Dietrich where she helped an enemy of her country escape because she fell in love with him.
A woman cannot be business minded or be successful because her heart will always interfere. No woman can possibly help but fall in love with her boss or subordinate, which happens in too many movies to count, hence no woman should be in any kind of authoritative position at a company because she will be betrayed by her heart and make the wrong decision. It just sucks to see that a woman, yet again, couldn't do a job effectively because she fell in love.
Did that completely ruin the movie? No. Was it a big nuisance? Absolutely. I don't want to end on a bad note because overall it was a good movie, but it could've been excellent.
Free on Odnoklassniki.