Hands Across the Table (1935)

A loafer and a manicurist, both planning to marry money, meet and form an uneasy alliance.

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Viña Delmar (from a story by), Norman Krasna (screen play),

Stars:

Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Carole Lombard	...	Regi Allen
Fred MacMurray	...	Theodore Drew III
Ralph Bellamy	...	Allen Macklyn
Astrid Allwyn	...	Vivian Snowden
Ruth Donnelly	...	Laura
Marie Prevost	...	Nona

Storyline

Hotel manicurist Regi Allen is a cynical golddigger who meets her match in Theodore 'Ted' Drew III. After a date with Ted, she lets him sleep on her couch when he's too drunk to go further; but what is she to think when he wants to extend the arrangement?

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Plot Keywords:

manicurist | agreement | apartment | playboy | barber shop | 

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Taglines:

A Little Fortune Hunter...A Bankrupt Playboy...Both Out to Marry Money..And Laugh at Love! (original ad)!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

18 October 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

Candidata a Milionária

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many cast members in studio records/casting call lists did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Katherine DeMille (Katherine Travis), Nell Craig and Alla Mentone (Salesladies), James Adamson (Porter), John Huettner (Shoe Clerk), 'Rod Wilson (IV)' (Piano Player), Mary MacLaren (Chambermaid), Herman Bing (Proprietor of Delicatessen) and Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian (Taxi Driver). A Hollywood Reporter production chart included Russell Hopton in the cast, but he was not seen in the movie. Many of the listed cast are barely visible and have no lines.

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Goofs

On the DVD menu, the picture is of 'Carole Lombard' and Clark Gable from No Man of Her Own, not Lombard and Fred MacMurray.

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Quotes

[Ted suggests temporarily becoming Regi's platonic roommate]
Regi: Well, I'm not *that* unconventional.
Ted Drew: Aw, don't be old-fashioned. What are conventions anyway? Just a bunch of salesmen sitting around and telling stories.

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Connections

Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Seul le cinéma (1997)

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Soundtracks

"The Morning After"
(1935)
Music and Lyrics by Sam Coslow
Sung partly by Fred MacMurray (uncredited)
Played often in the score

User Reviews

HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE (Mitchell Leisen, 1935) ***

Carole Lombard was one of Hollywood's finest comediennes; she worked best when she was backed by an equally strong male lead – in this case, it's Fred MacMurray, with whom she must have clicked because they appeared together three more times (two of these films, THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS [1936] and TRUE CONFESSION [1937], are also included in Universal's 2-Disc Lombard collection and I should get to them in the next couple of days).

The comic style of the film falls somewhere between sophisticated and screwball: lavish settings and stuffy aristocratic characters are mingled with the often zany working-class (keeping their chin up during the Depression but, in Lombard's case, harboring a desire to marry into money); the title refers to her job as a manicurist. Typically for this type of film, when she sets her eyes on a gentleman of title – who's young and handsome to boot (MacMurray) – he turns out to be engaged to an even wealthier lady (Astrid Allwyn), because he's himself penniless! Running after her (the term is put lightly here, since he's actually wheelchair-bound) is an ex-air ace played by the actor who cornered the market around this time in "Other Man" roles, Ralph Bellamy, who's naturally got a lot of money and thinks of Lombard as a perfect match – but his love goes unrequited.

The mixture includes slapstick, wisecracks, romance, drama and even a bit of sentimentality (Lombard spends a good part of the last act sobbing). Still, as always in these more innocent times (where, for instance, a woman has to turn around when the man she's living with – albeit platonically, for the moment – is about to wear his pants!), none of the characters are really unsympathetic…so that we don't even despise the jilted lovers, who are understanding enough to know when to give up. The ending of the film is a classic: Lombard and MacMurray cause a traffic jam to look for a missing penny on which they've staked the course of their future! Appearing in one scene as a prospective boyfriend of Lombard's (whom MacMurray scares away) is future Preston Sturges regular William Demarest.

The film was shown in the early 1990s on late-night Italian TV in its original language with forced Italian subtitles, but I had missed it (the same thing is true for the afore-mentioned THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS and MacMurray's other film with Leisen – TAKE A LETTER, DARLING [1942]); I did, however, acquire some of the director's other great work this way – most of which is, regrettably, still unavailable on DVD...