Public Deb No. 1
Director: Gregory Ratoff
Year: 1940
Rating: 6.0
Poor Ralph Bellamy. He was always the nice guy
who didn't get the girl. In the same year as this, he lost Rosaland Russell
to Cary Grant in His Girl Friday. He had done the same thing three years
earlier in The Awful Truth with Irene Dunne. I understand losing a girl to
Cary Grant but losing Brenda Joyce to George Murphy. Damn. Five years later
of course Murphy would lose Joyce to Tarzan as she played Jane in five films.
Then she retired. Who could beat Tarzan?
This is a slight satirical anti-Communist romantic comedy. Not many of those
I expect. Kind of screwball. Kind of sweet. But takes a few fun pokes at
Communism and Russia. In a year or so of course, Russia would be our great
ally but it took Hitler for that to happen. Joyce plays Penny Cooper, the
heir to the Cooper Soup Company after her father died and is considered one
of the richest people in the world. There must be money in soup. They hire
a new Butler (Mischa Auer) who indoctrinates her into the cause of the working
class and down with the bourgeoise. A working class hero is something to
be.
The film begins with her leading a march with a poster of Stalin when it
gets broken up by the dirty capitalists. When the press reports that she
is a Communist, the public boycotts the soup and the stock plumages. Sounds
familiar. Miller beer. In a restaurant having a meal with Bruce Fairchild
(Bellamy), who is running for Congress as a Republican, she asks one of the
waiters what he thinks of Communism, he tells her off. That is Blake (Murphy)
and when she gets him fired for being rude, he picks her up and spanks her.
Photographers are on hand and he becomes a hero. There is of course no surer
way to a woman's heat than a good spanking in public.
The stock hits rock bottom and she decides that she has to get the stock
back up in order to sell the company and give it to the Communist cause.
To do that she enters into a pretend romance with Blake. You should know
where that is going to head. Best scene is of them in a dance hall. Murphy
was a professional dancer but she wasn't but does a terrific job. She is
about to sign away her company when the news comes out that Russia has invaded
Finland. In truth, that along with their pact with Germany was the turning
point for a lot of leftists at the time to desert Stalin, Russia and Communism.
Some nice small parts for a few character actors. Her uncle is played by
Charles Ruggles, Elisha Cook Jr. is the Communist in the courthouse, Franklin
Pangborn is the bartender trying to get everyone to drink his sherry-fizz,
Lloyd Corrigan is the potential buyer of her company, Maxie Rosenbloom is
her trainer and Elsa Maxwell is played by Elsa Maxwell. Maxwell was a famous
(her name is on the top of the poster) socialite who gave great parties -
as does her character here, She introduced Maria Callas to Aristotle Onassis
and Rita Hayworth to Prince Aly Khan. It is directed by Gregory Ratoff, who
was Russian and escaped Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution.
