Party Wire (1935) Film Review - Jean Arthur

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Melodrama all set in the small town of Rockridge, where town gossips get their fix on the shared telephone line party wire everyone shares, eavesdropping on neighbor's conversations and spreading rumours like wildfire. Excitement hits town in the form of Matthew "Matt" Putnam (Victor Jory), back in town after seven years absence, with lots of money - and single! And apparently the only catch in town as all the young women - with mothers pushing behind them - are after him. But Matt visits his old pal Will Oliver (Charles aka Charley Grapewin), a man who likes to get drunk on his homemade applejack, and reunites (and sparks) with Will's now grown-up pretty daughter Marge (Jean Arthur). Marge's friend Roy is interested in her too, they both work on the church funds bookkeeping together (for some reason). But when Matt and Marge are seen going about town together, the gossip leads defeated Roy to decide to leave town - coincidentally, the same night some money has gone missing from the church accounts. Misunderstandings on the telephone leads the town gossips and old biddies to the mistaken notion that Roy was skipping town because he had gotten Marge pregnant! Many troubles loom for Marge, starting with her being fired from her job at the bank. All this leads her hero Matt to try and come to her rescue - by getting even with the whole town for doing her wrong.

Review - This is a real cute film, very entertaining. Okay, that Matt isn't exactly my ideal looks-wise, but he does seem like a pretty decent chap - of course, he actually has no interest in staying on in the tiny town (founded by his Gramps) until he meets Marge - and why not, she's Jean Arthur after all. As Matt's bedridden, ornery aunt tells him - "he's had his education, his fling, and his foolishness - now it's time to settle down - in Rockridge." The scenes of the old lady gossips getting their kicks listening in on everyone's phone conversations are kind of amusing, actually. Lots of really good character actors fill up this film, helping make this quite enjoyable. Of course, being the thirties, they never actually say the word pregnant or mention pregnancy - but we all get it anyway! Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Easy Living (1937) Film Review - Jean Arthur

Plot Summary - Screwball comedy starring Jean Arthur as Mary Smith, NYC working girl who ends up with a sable coat on top of her head as she rides the upper section of a double-decker bus as it drives by a penthouse where wealthy banker J.B. Ball - aka "The Bull of Broad Street" - has just tossed the coat out the window 'cause his wife spent 58,000 bucks for new fur (and boy is her closet full of it!). When Mary tries to locate the owner of the coat, she finds Ball and he not only tells her she can keep the coat but takes her to a shop to buy her a fancy new hat to replace the now feather-damaged one she is wearing - lucky girl. Now here's something weird - when she arrives at her job at a boy's magazine (where works a slew of old bitties) sporting the new fur hat and coat, she is fired, seemingly 'cause she took presents from some man! Meanwhile, the hat shopkeeper has come to the wrong conclusion and let's the world know that the famous banker Ball is keeping Mary Smith as a mistress. She is found and offered luxurious rooms (gotta love that tub!) at the floundering Hotel Louis to help bring in new business (and given a real break on the price - $7 a week, plus daily breakfast). With not much more than a nickel to her name though, she heads to a local Automat where the good-looking busboy (Ray Milland) - who, coincidentally happens to be the rich son of Ball, working in an effort to prove to dad he can be a success on his own - sneaks her some free food, gets caught by security, and fired. A fight breaks out in the Automat leading to the food compartments to all fly open with free food for the taking - oddly causing the (hungry?) masses to run wild and food to start flying! While she continues to be be given gifts like gowns as Ball's mistress, romance sparks between her and young Ball.

Review - Smart and stylish, with screenplay by Preston Sturges (yes, I'm a fan) this film is quite funny - with some slapstick, that really great Automat scene, and other humorous stuff that made me laugh out loud. Wonderful Jean Arthur is one of my favorite actresses from the thirties/forties - she is perfect for this role. Okay - Edward Arnold as J.B. Ball is absolutely great in this film - loud, aggressive, straight talking, really funny. Of course, I always enjoy seeing character comic actor Franklin Pangborn, who plays the hat shopkeeper, on screen. Ray Milland doesn't appear in this film perhaps as much as I'd like, but his charm is still showing. Now where can I go to one of those thirties Automat's - I wonder if there is still one in existence - hmm, here's an interesting site about an Automat history book.

Rating - 9/10 stars

Too Many Husbands (1940) Film Review - Jean Arthur

Plot Summary - Screwball comedy about a woman with, you got it, one too many husbands! First husband Bill (Fred MacMurray), washed up on an island after some sort of small boat adventure, is rescued a year later and heads back to New York to be reunited with his wife Vicky (Jean Arthur) - unfortunately for him, he has already been declared dead and Vicky is now married to someone else, his best friend/business partner Henry (Melvyn Douglas) no less. Self-described "lonely widow" while her first man was gone, this gal only waited six months to marry the other fellow! Now Vicky has two husbands - what to do? Indecisive (apparently both men are exactly the same in her eyes), she puts the two to sleep in twin beds in the guest room while she tries to make up her mind. They try to win her over, and she is busy getting a big kick out of the new attention she's getting from these two, formerly not-so-attentive husbands. The two "grown men" get into childish competitions to win her, like leaping over chairs, spelling hard words, and drawing lots for her. And she basically acts like she really would like to keep them both!

Review - Okay, this is a fun, goofy movie with three great stars to help keep things going. The plot is, yes, sort of familiar (like "My Favorite Wife") but is it's own too. The story does drag just a bit in the middle, the indecisiveness of Jean Arthur's character starts to get a bit old - but I do just love Jean Arthur. Rating - 7/10 stars

The Poor Nut (1927) Film Review - Cinecon 44 Screening

Plot Summary - Silent romantic comedy about a shy, geeky and bookwormish college student (Jack Mulhall) who, when he's not busy studying botany or pulling a cactus out of the ground for examination, has been writing love letters to the "college queen" of a rival school who he has admired via her picture in the paper. She writes back, under the mistaken impression he's a star athlete and in the best fraternity in college - not! Well, even though dating her own school's "college hero", she still seeks to meet her secret Adonis - and gets the opportunity when the two rival colleges hold a big track meet. Realizing this fickle gal is not going to like what she sees when she meets him, our man plots to really try and become an athlete - and goes out for the track team. Meanwhile, there's a pretty female botany student (Jean Arthur - hurrah!) who actually thinks our boy is the bee's knees. And guess what, when the college queen actually does see him in person for the first time - she, in fact, does think he's a wimp (ssssss and a big Bronx cheer on her).

Review - This is a cute film which I thought was pretty entertaining - and hey, I usually get pretty drowsy for films screened in the evening but, even though quite tired by the Saturday night of Cinecon when this was shown, this one did hold my interest (even when I'm home I almost never watch a silent film at night, but stick to watching earlier in the day when I can concentrate better). Okay, I probably would have preferred a more attractive leading man in this (it's just really hard to imagine Jean Arthur liking this guy so much). Shy, geeky and bookwormish is fine by me, but this guy just didn't make my heart go pitter patter - - perhaps Richard Barthelmess with glasses (just a dream). Rating - 8/10 stars