Notorious But Nice (1933) User Reviews

A soap opera film that is hard to believe yet enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 24 August 2013]

Provided you give this film a bit of latitude, you will find it enjoyable. When I say 'latitude' I mean that the film's plot is a bit far-fetched--and provided you just accept this and don't question this, you'll probably enjoy it.

Jenny Jones (Marian Marsh) is in love with Richard Hamilton. However, her boss is a bit of a nut. Although he has some reason to suspect Jenny's motives for dating Richard (since she lied to get the job), his behaviors are very strange--and he appears willing to bust up this romance so that his daughter can have Richard! Unable to obtain any damning evidence against Jenny after he has her followed by private detectives, the boss then decides to destroy her. He fires her, of course. But he also makes sure no one will hire her. And, when she's homeless and hungry, he has an agent set her up so that her fiancé thinks she's been running around on him. Unfortunately, the boss' son has little character and instead of seeking the truth, he automatically assumes she's a tramp.

A bit later, Jenny meets a guy (J. Carrol Naish) whose past is a bit shady. However, he's very good to her and loves her. Having no job, no boyfriend and apparently no future, Jenny marries him. However, when this new husband is killed, Jenny is framed for it! Can she manage to extricate herself from this mess and be found innocent of all blame in this weepy picture? What do you think? Does this all sound a lot like a soap opera? Well, it gets MUCH more soapy during the trial--and I am talking SOAPY!! The summation scene is laid on VERY thick. I would love to say more but don't want to ruin the film. Suffice to say, you learn a lot more about the boss--and WOW is it crazy!! Now I must admit that the last 20 minutes of the film is insanely improbable and even a tad silly--but it's also so full of the salacious and juicy stuff that made Pre-Code* films so doggone entertaining. Just turn off your brain and enjoy--the ending is like a roller coaster going out of control!!

*Up until mid-1934, Hollywood films were amazingly racy at times. Despite most folks today thinking that everyone was prudish back then, films of the 20s and early 30s occasionally featured nudity, homosexual characters, endorsed adultery, were very violent and occasionally the evil doers got away with it! The problem is that there was no rating system and some of this content obviously was NOT appropriate for kids. However, instead of a rating system like they developed in the late 60s, a public outcry resulted in a new, tough Production Code which banned, well, pretty much EVERYTHING! There is zero possibility that a film like "Notorious But Nice" would be seen in theaters between 1934 and decades later--unless there were a few changes in the plot. I know I am being cryptic, but the final bombshell you hear about in court in a VERY sticky and overdone finale is pretty much THE reason the film couldn't have been made just a year later.

It Works!

[boblipton · 6/10 · 21 December 2019]

Marian Marsh and Don Dillaway are in love. John St. Polis doesn't like it. Miss Marsh has been employed in his office, on the basis that she came from his home town, but there's no record of anyone by that name. She refuses to speak of her past. St. Polis would like his daughter Rochelle Hudson to marry the man. So he sends Dillaway out of town for a while, fires her, and blackguards her name throughout the city. Six weeks later, she collapses from hunger, and only Betty Compson stands by her. She gets her a job at a night club, where club owner and gangster J. Carroll Naish falls for her. With Dillaway out of the way, Miss Marsh marries Naish.

One evening, Dillaway and Miss Hudson come to the club, where Miss Marsh tries to talk to him. Naish has him thrown out, takes her back to his office and abuses her. From outside, a shot is heard, and when people enter, Naish is dead.

It's a bit strained, but it's still a well-performed and produced Poverty Row B picture. Miss Compson has a swell time, chewing gum in court, and Dewey Robinson has a rare sizable role, which he performs well. Even the idiot plotting points turn out to be well motivated. It's no world beater, but it showcases director Richard Thorpe's ability to run an interesting, economical production. He would get out of Poverty Row the following year, first at Universal, then a third of a century at MGM, where his efficiency, unusual at that studio, was prized. He would retire in 1967 and die at age 95 in 1991.

A Writer's Helping Hand

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 28 December 2023]

Sometimes I think movies do a little too much to make their plots work. I believe that was the case in "Notorious But Nice" starring Marian Marsh.

Marian Marsh played Jenny Jones (not the talk show host), a secretary who was in love with Richard 'Dick' Hamilton (Don Dillaway). For some unstated reason John J. Martin (John St. Polis) wanted desperately to prevent Dick from marrying Jenny. Ostensibly, it would seem that he wanted to prevent it so that his daughter Connie (Rochelle Hudson) could marry Dick--whether it was for love or for money.

John J. Martin was in charge of Richard Hamilton's late father's estate, which Richard would eventually inherit. When he would inherit it was unknown, considering Richard was already a grown man.

John Martin succeeded in preventing the marriage of Dick and Jenny through extreme and implausible tactics which included her being spied upon, him sending Richard out of state for mundane tasks, and even having Jenny's neighbor Millie (Betty Compson) steal her mail. He was even able to orchestrate a scene by which Richard saw Jenny with another man-and you know how that goes in most movies. Before she could state her case of why she was there Dick was already out of the door and on his way sailing (the escape of choice for the rich in the 30s).

It was another case of misunderstanding or miscommunication which separates lovers for an undetermined length of time until they find their way back to one another to reunite at the end. Things only got stickier for Jenny when she decided to marry Joe Charney (J. Carrol Naish), a gangster, without giving it careful consideration.

I would've liked "Notorious But Nice" more had not so many different situations been contrived. As a viewer, I want to be able to suspend disbelief, but I need help from the writers and the director. When writers have, what seems to be, too much of an interfering hand it takes away from the enjoyment of it all. We want to believe that the events that happen on screen are more than simply plausible, but somewhat realistic. The only time we will accept implausible events is if it's a true story, or the movie is clearly being absurd.

Every major event that happened in this movie seemed artificial and too convenient for the plot, up to and including the murder charge against Jenny Jones. I can accept one, maybe even two plot devices to move the story forward, but it looked like just about everything done in this movie was a well placed plot device for the purposes of the story moving forward.

Free on YouTube.

From top to bottom to the top again in a topsy turvy world.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 26 January 2016]

This film takes almost half of its running time to get off the ground. I thought that it was me at the beginning, distracted by something but not really getting interested in this low budget pre-code drama of SIM and scandal. Marian Marsh is a down on her luck secretary whose love affair with an up and coming business executive eventually gets her fired by the ruthless and ultra sexist big boss. Falling almost into the gutter, she ends up involved with a big shot nightclub owner (J. Carroll Naish) who might not be on the up and up. Marsh becomes a victim of his jealousy which leads to murder.

As I began to see what the plot was really about, I realized that it wasn't me, that the wild, convoluted set-up was dragged out much more than it needed to be, only coming alive as the film creaks towards the middle.

Marsh is lovely and sincere, but this plot is as old as melodrama and might remind people of the real drama behind the play and musical "Chicago". It's also very similar to the Ruth Snyder trial which became a classic play, "Machinal". The stories are quite different but quite similar in the fact that they take down on their luck dames and put them near death row thanks to some nasty man. The best performance is by Betty Compson as Marsh's worldly pal, the type of friend that every struggling jazz baby should have. Donald Dillaway is a bore as Marsh's true love. While definitely of a pre- code mentality, it never really heats up until Carroll is introduces, with the few exceptions of when Compson is on screen.

A really first-rate cast in this well-produced courtroom drama

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 4 December 2013]

By the humble standard of quickie director Richard Thorpe, this is an engrossing little melodrama – thanks to some unique plot twists and a number of very solid performances led by Marian Marsh (as Miss Notorious but Nice), Betty Compson (as heart-of-gold Millie), Don Dillaway (as Dick short-on-brains Hamilton, whom Miss Notorious is stuck on), John St. Polis (as Dick's ruthless guardian, an employer with a heart of ice), J. Carroll Naish (as the friendly gangster), and Dewey Robinson (in a sizable part for once as a number-one henchman who rats on his chief). Add Henry Kolker as the impassioned defense attorney, Robert Ellis as the prosecutor and Wilfred Lucas as the judge, and you have a first-rate little melodrama with great acting and sizable production values. Available on a very good Alpha DVD.

Hazards of Being a Poor Working Girl!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 4 March 2014]

Marian Marsh had been personally picked by John Barrymore for the role of Trilby in "Svengali" and later that year she appeared opposite him again in "The Mad Genius". She was a doll like blonde but when given the chance (ie the grief stricken daughter in "Five Star Final") she proved she could handle heavy dramatics. Warner Bros. believed in her but not even being named a Wampus Star of 1931 could counter the big flop of "Under 18" (which was given a huge publicity build up) and after Marian started grumbling about better parts, the studio let her go. She then accepted films at studios like Chesterfield and lost her prestige. Her co-star in "Notorious But Nice" is the gorgeous Rochelle Hudson (also a 1931 Wampus Baby Star) who was having her own woes - she had made an impression in the teen movie "Are These Our Children" but was never able to capitalise on it - she was locked into the Bosko cartoon series and she seemed to voice dozens of them.

Of course with roles like this, she was never really going to be noticed. She plays catty Constance Martin, a spoilt rich kid determined to break up the romance between dithering Dick Hamiltion (Donald Dillaway) and dewy eyed office worker Jenny Jones (Marsh), as she wants him herself. Her father is more than eager to make Jenny's road in the big city as rocky as they come, he sacks her after having her shadowed and realising she has lied about her home town past. Betty Compson, always making the most of any part thrown to her, is Millie Sprague, initially a shadowy figure eager to lure Jenny into the life of a hostess but in reality an operative who has been hired by Martin to dig up any sort of dirt on the girl even if she has to cake it on herself. Thanks to Martin, Jenny finds it impossible to get employment and it seems that every strange man in the city is in Martin's pay - a kindly man in the park (Robert Frazer, fresh from "White Zombie") who takes starving Jenny to a café is just another rat who has been paid to put her in a compromising position.

Millie comes back into the picture, as a "hostess with a heart of gold" and helps get Jenny back on her feet and she also introduces her to notorious but nice racketeer Joe Charney (J. Carroll Naish). They marry and he seems to sincerely love her but someone has to exit and as Marsh is the star, Joe is the one found slumped over his desk, Jenny standing over him looking confused but with a smoking gun!! Of course she is innocent but she is headed for the electric chair even though she still has to make her shock confession which has been simmering in the background for the last hour.

J. Carroll Naish did as much as he could with his role of Joe, initially nice then inexplicably having to turn into a brute so his murder wouldn't be mourned. Did Betty Compson ever stop working, it didn't appear so - from 1915 she had continuous employment. Talkies were no headache for her and she was not above stealing a role from a green newcomer!!