A few years back I watched every Humphrey Bogart film I could get my hands
on - about fifty of them as I recall but this is one that escaped me until
now. It is a fun comedic poke in the eye of Hollywood. Bogart is third in
the credits behind Leslie Howard and Joan Blondell, but gets some solid screen
time and one scene that is pure Bogart, cynical and bitter as he spits out
venom ending with the line "Next time rattle before you strike" to his ex-girlfriend.
It was for the time an unusual role for Bogart - an ethical film producer.
So completely fictitious. He was stuck in one-note roles at the time - almost
always the bad guy who gets killed in the end. This led to an acrimonious
night out at a club when his wife at the time, Mayo Methot, began complaining
to Tay Garnett that "Why can't the best actor in the world get to play anything
but heavies? And what are you going to do about it?" and she proceeded to
throw plates at him and at Bogart. Her fights with Bogart were legendary
as both were big scale drinkers.
So when Garnett got the assignment to direct this film he lobbied for Bogart
over the objections of the producer Walter Wangler, who had to borrow Bogart
from Warner Brothers. Warners was happy to lend him out as they didn't know
what to do with their actor. The male star of this film is Leslie Howard
who had had a helping hand in Bogart's career just the year before in Petrified
Forest. The two of them had performed the play on Broadway and when Hollywood
decided to purchase the rights and hire Howard, he insisted on Bogart. When
they said no, he told them he was out then. They hired Bogart and he is brilliant
as the gangster Duke Mantee. Bogart later named his daughter Leslie after
Howard. Bogart thought his performance would get Warners to give him better
roles but if anything it solidified him in their eyes as the heavy. They
could not see him as a hero in films. And he is not a hero here - he is a
hard drinking producer sick of seeing the film company he works for go down
the drain.
Which is where the story comes in. Colossal is owned by a bank on Wall Street
that has had an offer to sell it to a scavenger investor for $5 million who
will tear it apart for its assets and put 3,000 people out of work. The owner
wants to do the deal as he sees Colossal as a losing proposition - but his
numbers man Leslie Howard convinces him that the studio can be turned around.
Howard plays a geeky never gotten laid accountant who believes math can solve
anything - even in the movie business. That he knows nothing about. He goes
to take over the management of the company and his immediately beset by scoundrels,
wanton women, undulating children, bootlickers and Joan Blondell who jumps
into his cab not knowing who he is. She is a former child star - and later
performs the Good Ship Lollypop for him - who is now only a Stand-In working
for the studio. A Stand-in (which seems a weak choice for the title) is the
person who stands in for the star between shots so that the director can
get everything lined up. Blondell is her usual bubbly big eyed bundle of
fun who for reasons only the script writer could tell us falls for Howard
who is as stiff as a cardboard box and pretty much immune to her charms.
The film can't quite hold it all together - the initial section in which
Howard comes to town not knowing who Shirley Temple or Clark Gable is and
being put upon by every scallywag about - the temperamental Russian director
(Alan Mowbray), the boisterous PR Man (Jack Carson), the talentless female
star (Marla Shelton) who tries to seduce him and everyone looking for a job
- is quite funny. But then you have the angry Bogart who is great but goes
against the light screwball mood of the film - more In a Lonely Place than
this - and then the final turn where it slips into pure Capra as Howard turns
into an everyman kind of guy who has a series of silly pratfalls makes no
sense really. And Leslie Howard should never do pratfalls. Each part on its
own is fine but tying them into the same film is not a good fit. But Howard
and Blondell have great timing together and are a pleasure to watch and there
are some wonderful moments such as a mother barging in with her homely little
girl to perform for Howard like a strumpet is classic.
