Director:
William Keightley
Year: 1934
Rating: 6.5
Back in the 1930's Warner Brothers had two actresses who were great at playing
tough wisecracking dames - Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell. Joan was the
more popular and often got those roles over Glenda who ended up in lesser
B films. But there were a few films in which the two of them teamed up and
they are terrific as they trade whip smart barbs and sarcastic rejoinders
like a string of firecrackers going off. Their comic timing is spotless.
These films - We're in the Money, Miss Pacific Fleet, Widows of Havana, Traveling
Saleslady and this one were called Blondell-Farrell films and the audience
knew what to expect. The two of them were great friends off screen as well
which may contribute to their chemistry on screen.
It isn't often that I am upset that a film isn't longer but at 64 minutes
it is a shame. It whizzes by in a flurry of sharp dialogue, comic fast-moving
plotting and two great film personalities and suddenly it was over when I
wanted to see a lot more of them. There were a lot more opportunities for
comedy but a B film has rules and one is the length that it has to come in
under. Because as much as I enjoyed this it is in fact a B film. Neither
Blondell or Farrell were giant stars and neither were the accompanying actors
though Robert Armstrong was just coming off of his King Kong starring role.
The other main player is Hugh Herbert who shows up in many Warner comedies
as basically the same character - confused, inarticulate, gullible and straight-faced
often with a trademark laugh (though not so much here).
Blondell and Farrell are two manicurists in Kansas City looking for a wealthy
man to take them out of their drab lives. Farrell is very aggressive about
this but Blondell finds herself engaged to a poor big lug (Armstrong) on
the shady side of the law who has a much bigger bark than a bite. When she
loses his engagement ring to another man, she and Farrell decide they better
hightail it out of town disguised as young girls. With Armstrong chasing
after them. They all end up bizarrely on a liner to Paris where more hijinks
take place and I assume passports were not needed. Herbert is a millionaire
on the ship that Farrell tracks with her laser focused mercenary heart. Paris
is more of the same. Very enjoyable film but much too short and rushed.