SnoReptilePlenty
Memorable, crazy movie
BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Intcatinfo
A Masterpiece!
winstonchurchill-93755
Heiress fins in the 30's are most always interesting and entertaining. The message is the same: rich bsd, poor good. He, it works. Bette Davis was a versatile actress who could pull off anything. George Brent made a good partner. 1929-1939 produced the most enjoyable films over other decades.
It's pathetic that TCM feels the need to apologize for non PC movies. Soon, movies that display human nature accurately may be banned. Enjoy them while you can. This is a fun one.
mark.waltz
In an era when Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Joan Bennett, Constance Bennett, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow and Carole Lombard were all making an effort to show the screwy rich girl trying to deal with wacky families, gold digging men and boggling business careers with relationships, the new big star on the block, Bette Davis, decided to join them. Fresh from her Oscar Winning role in "Dangerous", Davis had not yet set the box office world on its ear, although that was imminent. Warner Brothers, not sure yet how to handle the rising temperamental diva to be, tried her in a variety of types of films, and for a few of those, she went down "Screwball Lane" to show how those popped-eyed gestures could add oomph to witty wisecracks and wacky situations.Here, she's an heiress surrounded by typical social-climbing men and to get around them, she convinces a struggling reporter (George Brent) to marry her for convenience. She already has a fiancée, it seems, but he's too droll and effete to take seriously. Brent's the type who isn't above using a little manly force to keep his women in line, and while he agrees to the charade, he's not about to let her control him. She, it seems too, isn't above a little slumming, and in one of the film's most memorable scenes, ends up with him on a twirling ferris wheel. Later, there's confusion concerning black eyes which each of them get (memorably utilized on one of the film's posters), and it is obvious that this cave man stuff is exactly what she needs to bring her even slightly down to earth.While Davis is of course best known for drama, she had been tried out by Warners in comedy before, mostly supporting parts, and here, she is a game girl in a genre she would infrequently try again with sometimes mixed results. George Brent, who co-starred with most of the actresses I mention above (and frequently with Davis during their long stays at Warners), is as comfortable in this type of role as he would be in their romantic dramas, and it is the two stars who make this film worth watching. The rest of the cast (including major character star Eugene Palette) is pretty much wasted although they get brief moments to shine.
blanche-2
I often like to guess the year a film was made - this was an easy one - with a very young Bette Davis playing an heiress -- it had to be post-1934's It Happened One Night and before her really major late '30s work began.Yes, it's about an heiress and a reporter - I'd love to see a count of how many films were made post-1934 about heiresses and reporters, probably hundreds. In this case, Davis is a cafeteria cashier hired by a cosmetic firm's publicity agent to live the life of Daisy Appleby, heiress, with the idea that gossip about her will keep the Appelby name in the headlines.It's not long before Daisy is tired of being chased around, so she asks a reporter named Johnny (George Brent) to enter into a marriage of convenience with her. He needs money to write a book, and she wants to rest. Johnny, however, finds that the good life isn't for him. In fact, it's a big fat bore. He acts out by going after the daughter of an oil tycoon. And you can guess the rest.Davis is pert, bubbly, and expressive, to the extent that Brent seems a little stodgy for her. I would have loved to have seen her paired with someone like Joel McCrea or the boyish Henry Fonda. I think then it would have been a better film. As it is, it's okay, and she's always a pleasure to watch.If you like Davis in this, check her out in one of my favorite early comedies of hers, "It's Love I'm After," with Leslie Howard.
whpratt1
In the opening scenes of this movie a man shot arrows through his hotel room into another man's bathroom and blew out all the lights. This must have been very hep for 1936, but rather way way out and had nothing to do with the film, Robin Hood did not make an appearance as far as I could see. However, Bette Davis(Daisey Appleby),"The Whales of August",'87 was very young and attractive and performed one of her best roles in a long career in Hollywood. Daisey never stopped teasing or being very sexy with her nightgowns and so called swim suit on her yacht with George Brent(Johnny Jones),"The Spiral Staircase",'46. Daisey even proposed marriage to Johnny in a Ferris Wheel upside down and even got a black eye. Davis and Brent made a great couple, one suppose to be very rich and the other a very poor reporter. Off stage, Davis and Brent were having a real torrid love affair, which is good reason why there was sparks when these two appeared in this film. If you liked Bette Davis and George Brent, this is the film for you!
