You Can't Beat Love (1937)

You Can’t Beat Love was a dull film. The only reason I DVR-ed it was because it is an early Joan Fontaine film. I was hoping since Fontaine was second billed that she would actually be in the film for more than five minutes but that did not happen.

            Jimmy Hughes (Preston Foster) is a local playboy that will do anything anyone dares him. One morning he wakes up, puts on an evening suit, and goes to dig ditches with the working men, which was a dare made by two of his friends. While working a campaign car come through seeking votes from the working men for Mayor Olsen. Immediately Jimmy begins to point out the things that have gone wrong with Olsen’s eight years in office. The girl handing out the cake is Trudy Olsen (Fontaine), Mayor Olsen’s daughter.

            By that evening the news is all over the papers that Jimmy is running against Olsen for mayor. Trudy decides that she made this happen and she is going to make it go away. She goes to Jimmy’s place that night with a cake since he did not get a piece that afternoon. Jimmy had no idea that even agreed to run for mayor until he saw it in the papers. He tells Trudy that he has no intention of going for the position.

            The next day, Trudy and Jimmy meet in the office of his reporter friends. The reporters say something to which Trudy replies that Jimmy would dare running for mayor. Well, that was the wrong thing to say because now Jimmy has to do it.

            Alright now here is the quick description of the rest of the film: the chief of police is corrupt and plans to smear Jimmy but all his plans backfire. One of the plans leads to Jimmy getting the dirt on the chief of police and using later on to get him fired. Trudy thinks Jimmy is corrupt because she heard part of his plan to get the chief of police arrested. We obviously know Jimmy is not corrupt and he clears his name and tells everyone to vote for Olsen.

            Blah was a boring film.

            As I mentioned before this was one of Joan Fontaine’s earlier films, I believe it was her third one if the source I read is correct. She is not in it very much but what scenes she is in she is completely adorable and perfect. The moment I saw Preston Foster as Jimmy I knew he looked familiar. It hit me that he was in Annie Oakley with Barbara Stanwyck two years prior. He was not a bad actor. I guess he made a lot of B movies in career I have never heard of him before Annie Oakley and You Can’t Beat Love was an RKO B movie. Herbert Huber plays a gambler in the film. He will always be Arthur Nunheim from The Thin Man for me.

            You Can’t Beat Love is a film I only recommend seeing if you are a Joan Fontaine fan. Even then, prepared to be bored with the story and the characters.