You and Me (1938)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Norman Krasna (story)
Virginia Van Upp (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 June 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Every time she says "I Love You"... she breaks the law!

Plot:

An altruistic department-store owner hires ex-convicts in order to give them a second chance at life. Unfortunately, one of the convicts he hires recruits two of his fellow ex-convicts in a plan to rob the store.

Plot Keywords:

Department Store | Ex Convict | Parole | Marriage | Disappearance

Cast

Sylvia Sidney	...	Helen Dennis
George Raft	...	Joe Dennis
Robert Cummings	...	Jim
Barton MacLane	...	Mickey Bain
Roscoe Karns	...	Cuffy
Harry Carey	...	Jerome Morris
George E. Stone	...	Patsy
Warren Hymer	...	Gil Carter aka Gimpy
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Taxi, Tough Lothario (as Guinn Williams)
Carol Paige	...	Torch Singer
Vera Gordon	...	Mrs. Abie Levine aka Mama
Bernadene Hayes	...	Nellie
Egon Brecher	...	Abie Levine
Paula DeCardo	...	Cigarette Girl
Harriette Haddon	...	Cigarette Girl

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Jerome Morris: My wife wanted me to collect stamps. I don't know why my hobby had to be idiots.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Phantom (1996)

Soundtrack:

Song of the Cash Register

They don't make 'em like this any more (more's the pity)

As a fan of both Sylvia Sidney and Kurt Weill, I have wanted to see this film ever since I read Leonard Maltin's description of it. It is apparently not available for home viewing, so Heaven bless the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which screened 'You and Me' a couple of weeks ago as part of its Kurt Weill centennial celebration (which continues as I write this).

According to an edition of Stagebill that was made available to audiences at the screening, Weill composed 23 music cues for 'You and Me,' but the Paramount brass did not care for his work and used only nine of them. (This was typical of Weill's experience in Hollywood.) That's a genuine tragedy, and there's no question that it does diminish the film. 'You and Me' still rates a 10 in my book, however, for the outstanding performances from the entire cast and its anti-naturalistic approach to gritty, "realist" subject matter.

The line between anti-naturalism and implausibility is a fine one, and the film crosses that line during its last 15 minutes or so. Still, I wonder if audiences in 1938 didn't understand that ending as a joke. They may have been more sophisticated than we are today.

In any case, if you get a chance to see this film, grab it.