Blind Date (1934)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Ethel Hill (screenplay)
Vida Hurst (story)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A Blind Date Opened Her Eyes To Romance!

Plot Keywords:

Mechanic | Birthday | Engagement | Marriage Proposal | Garage

Cast

Ann Sothern	...	Kitty Taylor
Neil Hamilton	...	Bob Hartwell
Paul Kelly	...	Bill Lowry
Jane Darwell	...	Ma Taylor
Spencer Charters	...	Pa (Charlie) Taylor
Joan Gale	...	Flora Taylor
Mickey Rooney	...	Freddie Taylor
Geneva Mitchell	...	Dot
Henry Kolker	...	J.W. Hartwell Sr.
Tyler Brooke	...	Emory
Billie Seward	...	Barbara Hartwell

Also Known As:

Her Sacrifice

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #69) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Hartwell, Sr.: [grumpily] Take a letter to Mrs. Hartwell. 'Madam: Your son is heading for another jam with one of my models. Suggest getting the baboon to Newport, if your bridge and golf can spare you. I can't manage a business and play wet-nurse to an idiot.' That's all.
[thinking]
Hartwell, Sr.: Add a postscript. 'I will not send a check to your empty-headed daughter.' Read that back.
Private secretary: [reading from pad] 'Dear wife: I fear Bob is getting involved with a pretty girl at the store. Knowing your tact and diplomacy, I suggest you invent some excuse that will take him to Newport with you. Lovingly, John. Postscript: Enclosed, find check for Barbara.' Is that all?
[...]

Soundtrack:

Three Blind Mice

Triumph of love

Working girl Kitty (Sothern) is engaged to Bill (Kelly), who neglects her by working long hours at his garage in order to save money for their marriage. After being stood up on her birthday, Kitty goes on a double-date/blind date, where she meets department store heir Bob Hartwell (Hamilton). She falls in love, but leaves him when his protestations of love appear to cover a desire for her to be his mistress, rather than his wife. Faithful Bill rallies 'round to comfort her, and at last she gives in to his repeated requests to reinstate their engagement, pressured in part by Bill's support of her family after she loses her job. When Bob returns, however, convinced that he wants marriage after all, will Kitty follow her heart or her conscience?

This film was a lot better than I'd expected it to be. The character of Bill at first comes off as the sort of loud comic Irishman type that Jack Carson played so often. But Kelly (and the script) infuse the character with real compassion and love, and Bill turns out to be the best person in the entire group. Viewers may find themselves rooting for him against the feckless Hartwell! The tone of the film wavers, however, between light-hearted romance and a much darker side, especially in the depiction of a dance marathon and a rather horrific accident at Bill's garage.

The cast is rounded out by the dependable Jane Darwell as Kitty's mother, an impish but not yet thoroughly obnoxious Mickey Rooney as Kitty's younger brother, and Spencer Charters as Kitty's ne'er-do-well father.