Some regular tedg readers wonder why I'm spending so much of our time tromping through third rate 1930's movies.
Because so much of what we live in is cinematic ally defined and so much of that was worked out in the 30's.
The interesting thing about the thirties is that some films are just dead branches on the evolutionary film tree, These are no worse than the others, they're just experiments that failed.
Sex, naturally is of interest. None of us in the west can escape the cinematic walls of the maze we've built. So when you find a forgotten pre-code movie whose only reason for being is sex, you have to watch it. How else to escape.
In this one, the "meanest" girl isn't mean at all. That's some lost code for sexy. This is an actress (out of work) who puts on a sexy act to survive in a small town. So far, its ordinary, and most of the plot points are as well: she just starts doing manicures in a failing barbershop and soon has all the men in town slavering at the doors.
The story takes a bizarre twist at the end. An admirer kidnaps her, thinking mere possession will suffice. As he is chased by townspeople, she runs off with another admirer, a much slicker dude a traveling salesman who we know as the only other character at her level of con.
At the very end, she retreats back to town, beaten and prepared to do her bit all over again.
What makes this interesting is how her sex appeal is portrayed. There's no nudity, and essentially no mention or focus on breasts or legs, the usual candidates. Her appeal consists of three things: she emphasizes her butt when walking and the camera always follows it. She talks tough, something between Mae West (but without any of the suggestive lines) and Jimmy Cagney.
And there's the musical cue whenever she goes into her sexy act. It is the beginning of that familiar jingle we all know from the Laurel and Hardy movies. It signals: the act begins.
I'm pretty vulnerable to cinematic female appeal. And this notion of a girl putting on an act IS something that has stuck. (It is so strong a meme that when "Breakfast at Tiffany's" reversed it, we were all shocked.)
But all the tricks in this girl's bag fell flat. Flappers won. Girls-next door won. This lost.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
Because so much of what we live in is cinematic ally defined and so much of that was worked out in the 30's.
The interesting thing about the thirties is that some films are just dead branches on the evolutionary film tree, These are no worse than the others, they're just experiments that failed.
Sex, naturally is of interest. None of us in the west can escape the cinematic walls of the maze we've built. So when you find a forgotten pre-code movie whose only reason for being is sex, you have to watch it. How else to escape.
In this one, the "meanest" girl isn't mean at all. That's some lost code for sexy. This is an actress (out of work) who puts on a sexy act to survive in a small town. So far, its ordinary, and most of the plot points are as well: she just starts doing manicures in a failing barbershop and soon has all the men in town slavering at the doors.
The story takes a bizarre twist at the end. An admirer kidnaps her, thinking mere possession will suffice. As he is chased by townspeople, she runs off with another admirer, a much slicker dude a traveling salesman who we know as the only other character at her level of con.
At the very end, she retreats back to town, beaten and prepared to do her bit all over again.
What makes this interesting is how her sex appeal is portrayed. There's no nudity, and essentially no mention or focus on breasts or legs, the usual candidates. Her appeal consists of three things: she emphasizes her butt when walking and the camera always follows it. She talks tough, something between Mae West (but without any of the suggestive lines) and Jimmy Cagney.
And there's the musical cue whenever she goes into her sexy act. It is the beginning of that familiar jingle we all know from the Laurel and Hardy movies. It signals: the act begins.
I'm pretty vulnerable to cinematic female appeal. And this notion of a girl putting on an act IS something that has stuck. (It is so strong a meme that when "Breakfast at Tiffany's" reversed it, we were all shocked.)
But all the tricks in this girl's bag fell flat. Flappers won. Girls-next door won. This lost.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.