Why doesn’t anybody say “swell” any more? Somebody should start a campaign.
I’d be interested to know how Hold Your Man ended before the morality crowd kicked in – but to be honest, we’re so used to watching films that have been subject to mid-shoot rewrites, re-shoots and changes in director/direction that the halfway point switch from caper to redemption movie doesn’t jar as much as it might.
This film has Jean Harlow’s improbable eyebrows joined by Clark Gable’s improbable grin – both working overtime in the first half, but given less work in the second. And even with the imposed inconsistencies, it’s a damn shame nobody’s writing like that these days – the first half zips along, every line counting, none of the excess that so often sinks modern, that great feeling of cinematic energy. (You know, it’s like Aaron Sorkin’s great walk, talk, quip, repeat sequences in The West Wing, only in the thirties they could keep it up for whole movies.)