Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939)

The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt had so much potential. That is something I hate about films sometimes when they have the potential to be good and it is wasted. There are so many reasons why The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt had potential: a cracksman turned “spy-smasher” as the poster claims; Warren William, Ida Lupino, and Rita Hayworth; and some good comedic moments. And all of that fell flat.

            I did pay attention to the story when it began. But as soon as it got a tad bit boring my ADHD kicked in and my mind wandered mercilessly. That happens and it cannot be helped. Well actually it could if I kept my phone away from me so I am not tempted to scroll through Tumblr. Anyway, blah blah blah, here is what I got out of the story when I did manage to focus on it only because Tumblr was not loading.

             On a rainy night Michael Lanyard (Warren William) meets two men out on the street. The men put a blind fold on him and walk him into a house to an office. He is placed in front of a man at a desk in a dark room in order for the man behind the desk to remain unknown. The man behind the desk tells Michael he has a job for him opening a safe and he will be paid ten thousand dollars. Michael refuses and they let him leave. The man behind the desk is Jameson (*at least I think that is the correct character. Seriously my brain did not want to fully pay attention*). He is looking to steal plans from the military. Jameson intends on framing Michael because apparently he has an old score to settle with Michael. Jameson has one of his men smoke another type of cigarette for the night before they go off to steal the plans.

            The following morning detectives are called to the Department of War where the plans have been stolen. The detectives reveal that there are only two men who can crack a safe like the one that was broken into and only one of them smokes the brand that was found on the floor and that man is Michael Lanyard aka The Lone Wolf. The detective cannot wait to finally put Michael behind bars.

            When Michael comes home he is greeted by his very upset and very pissed off girlfriend Val Carson (Ida Lupino). Michael left Val that afternoon to go off with a blonde woman and stuck her with the tab. Not long after his return and subsequent lecture from Val, the detectives arrive to speak to Michael. He tells them about the blonde he went out with that afternoon for his alibi. His alibi winds up backfiring because the blonde comes to the house and Val threatens her pretty well.

            Val literally drags Michael to a bar after she put handcuff on the two of them so he would not run away so they can talk. Again Michael’s eye wanders over to a young woman at the bar who is staring at him like she knows him. The young woman named Karen (Rita Hayworth) comes over to the table and gives the story that they had done a job together in Budapest a few years previously. He leaves with Karen to discuss business much to Val’s frustration. Turns out Karen tricked Michael into coming with her to crack a safe that Jameson wants open. It is all part of Jameson’s plan to frame Michael.

            I did not write down in my handy dandy notebook where I take notes on the films I watch what happened at the end. I thought I would remember what happened but I do not. Just know everything is fine, Michael manages to get out of his jam using his intelligence and with some help from Val.

            The cast was not bad. Warren William I just love seeing in films. Put it this way, if I was alive back in thirties William would have been my older actor crush and I would have had it hard for him. The man was just so charming he was not handsome I just love the way he carried himself. The way I feel about Warren William is the same way I feel about William Powell. Neither man was particularly handsome but I just love their charm and personality. William usually played assholes while Powell played wonderful charming men (yes I know Powell started his career playing bad guys in silents). Ida Lupino, god I feel terrible for her in this film. Val was such an annoying character. I could not stand her at all. I will say Val redeemed herself a little in one scene where she creates a story to help out Michael with the detectives but that is it just one scene she was good in! Thank goodness Lupino would get better roles later not too long after this. Rita Hayworth as the bad guy was great. She was cast perfectly. I loved all her scenes.

            The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt was a letdown. I had been looking forward to watching it for the cast and the story sounds good in writing. Yet another film that had potential and blew that potential sky high. It was interesting to see Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth in early roles before their careers took off in the 1940s. They were both in their early twenties. Besides the cast The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt is really not that great. Or that could be my ADHD riddled mind and exhaustion talking. I would be willing to give this film another chance at another time when I do not have thirty million things going on at once.

 

Three On a Match (1932)

“Everything depresses me - including this house.”

            We all want to believe that having all the money you could possibly want and all the things that come with can make us happy. For some having money would be a blessing, like me for instance. If I ever won the lottery all my crushing school loans would be paid off, I would have a new car, a new computer, and move wherever the hell I want (either New York City, California or London would be nice). But sometimes having money and whatever you does not make people happy. They can be just as depressed and lonely than those who do not have money. Having everything one could ask for gets one woman in the 1932 Pre-Code film Three on a Match in serious trouble.

            Mary Keaton (Joan Blondell), Vivian Revere (Ann Dvorak), and Ruth Westcott (Bette Davis) had known each other since they were young girls in public school together. Mary was the wild girl always getting into trouble and no direction in her life, Vivian was the class valedictorian with the highest grades and the good girl, and Ruth was serious and knew she wanted to go to business school.

            Over the next ten years, Mary has gotten herself thrown in a women’s prison for two years, Vivian has gone to a private school, and Ruth to a business school to become a secretary. One day Mary is getting her hair done when she mentions to the hair dresser she ran into an old friend from school and mentions the school she went to. Another hair dresser comes in and says to Mary that the person she is with overheard the conversation and that she also went to the same school. When their sessions are done Mary and Vivian meet up. They get in touch with Ruth and they go out for lunch. Mary is an actress going by the name Mary Bernard, Ruth is working in an office, and Vivian is married to a lawyer but is bored and unhappy with her life getting whatever she wants. Before they leave, Mary lights a match to light her cigarette and shares the match with her two friends. There had been a write up in the paper how a matchstick manufacturer made up the idea that three on a match and one will die to boost his sales. The superstitious implanted idea did boost his sales.

            Vivian and her husband Robert (Warren William) come home from a party one night. He can sense that his wife is not happy. She tells Robert that she is unhappy and needs a change of pace and scenery. He wants to take her to Europe for a few months but she tells him it would be the same if he came. She wants to go alone with their son Junior. Robert sees them off on the boat but has to leave in a hurry because a settlement is falling through. Mary comes on the boat to see off a friend and invites Vivian to the party. At the party Vivian meets Mike. After this party Vivian leaves the boat and runs away with Mike with Junior in tow.

            For weeks Vivian is missing. Robert does not care so much about his wife than he does about his son. He is worried Vivian is bringing Junior into her mess. Mary knows that Vivian is with Mike in New York City. She knows how hard her friend has been partying and ignoring her son. Mary suggests to Vivian that Junior can go stay with Ruth and Ruth’s sister who has a small daughter but that does not go over very well. She then goes to Robert to say she knows where his wife and son are but that he has to be careful because if Vivian hears he is coming she might run off with Junior. Robert and Mary walk in on Vivian lying in a bed after drinking and doing drugs.

            Months go by. Mary and Ruth have been helping Robert out with Junior. He brings the two women with him to his beach house over the summer. He tells Mary that his divorce will be final the following day and he wants her to marry him.

            Three years go by. Robert and Mary are married and happy. Vivian sees Mary at a store. She was waiting for Mary to come out so she can ask her friend for money. Mary wants Vivian to come back to the house with her but Vivian does not want to do that. As she walks away Mike comes out from a spot where he was waiting for her. He needs the money to pay off some gambling debt to a man named Ace (Edward Arnold). Desperate Mike goes to Robert and tries to blackmail with information about Mary having been in jail for a while. Robert does not give in he yells at Mike that if any paper were to print that he would sue the paper for libel and throws him out of the office. When Mike walks out into the waiting room, Ruth is there with Junior. Mike gets the idea to kidnap Junior for the money and does so at the park.

            Vivian is furious about what Mike did to her son. Ace’s right hand man Harve (Humphrey Bogart) comes to their apartment. He lets Mike know that Ace has heard about the kidnapping and that he and Ace want in on the reward money. But things do not go smoothly. For ten days Mike, Harve, and a few other guys are holed up in the apartment. Vivian is going through massive drug withdrawal. Junior is left alone on the couch in underclothes in another room. Soon the police are coming around more often and no one can leave the apartment. Harve wants Mike to kill the kid so they could leave. Vivian overhears their plan. She tells Junior to go hide under the bed. She makes a fuss and one of the guys checks on her. He reports that Vivian is going crazy putting lipstick on her clothes. All the sudden they hear the window break as Vivian jumps out of the window to the sidewalk below. Before she jumped Vivian wrote on her clothes with the lipstick that her son was in the apartment.

            The cast was really good. It was the top tier of Warner Bros. actors. Well, Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis were still minor actors for the studio they still had yet to become big time actors. Joan Blondell was fabulous as usual. Her dry quick wit is always so much fun to watch and hear. Ann Dvorak’s acting I did not think was great but at the same time I think she was good at playing Vivian. Bette Davis really was not in the film too long. She did not have too many lines compared to Blondell and Dvorak. Humphrey Bogart had more lines than Davis did. It was nice to see Warren William as a gentleman I am so used to see him as a bad guy of sorts in Pre-Code films. Edward Arnold was only in one scene.

            Three on a Match is considered one of the quintessential Pre-Code films because of the content of a wife running away from her responsibilities as a wife and mother and falling into a drug habit. And also for some of the racy bits of clothing Ann Dvorak wears. The story was interesting with the good girl being the one to fall so far down the rabbit hole of drugs and alcohol. I love Pre-Code films, I have seen a handful and I can definitely see why Three on a Match is considered one of the Pre-Codes. If you can find Three on a Match it is definitely worth watching especially if you like any of the actors or are a fan of Pre-Codes. 

Upper World (1934)

So many films have been made where a rich man falls for a woman from the lower classes, mostly a burlesque dancer, and then the woman and usually her real boyfriend try to blackmail the rich man into buying their silence. Sometimes those films are comedies sometimes they are dramas. Upper World from 1934 is one of those films.

            Alexander Stream (Warren William) is a rich railroad man with a family. He and his wife Hettie (Mary Astor) and their son Tommy have everything they could ever want in life.

            One day Alexander is out on his yacht when he notices a young girl swimming by the yacht and she is in distress. He saves Lilly Linda (Ginger Rogers) a burlesque dancer. Alexander takes Lilly back to her apartment in the city. He goes up with her and the two of them spend a fun afternoon just talking and eating and even singing some songs together.

            On the way back to the office, Alexander’s car gets pulled over. The driver and the assistant tell the officer that the car belongs to Alexander Stream. Officer Moran is unimpressed and even gets a little flippant. He issues the driver a speeding ticket. Later in the day Moran is told by his superior that the commissioner got a call from Alexander about the ticket. Moran is put on traffic control.

            When Alexander arrives home that night Hettie is throwing a costume party. He tells her that he is fed up with coming home every night and there always being an event happening. Hettie tells him she wants to be a social success just like he is a financial success. She wants him to come down to the party but he instead stays up in his son’s room to play with him.

            The following day is Alexander and Hettie’s fourteenth wedding anniversary. He makes nice plans to take her to a hotel room for dinner. Hettie tells him she already had dinner plans that night with another rich couple. While driving around the city Alexander and his driver see a poster with Lilly on it for a new burlesque show. They both go in to see it. Between acts Alexander goes backstage to see Lilly. He takes her to the hotel room for dinner. There is nothing romantic about their relationship he likes her company he is lonely.

            Hettie sends their son off to an exclusive camp for the summer to keep up with other socially prominent families. She herself is going on a yachting party for a few weeks with some of her friends. Alexander will be left alone in the house since he has work. He gets bored and gives Lilly a call. Her manager/boyfriend Lou is there when she takes the call. Lou gets the idea that she should take Alexander for as much money as possible. Lilly really likes Alexander as a friend she does not want to take anything from him. Alexander takes Lilly for a ride in his plane. The plane has to make an emergency landing in the woods. They are left alone while the pilot goes to look for help. He tells Lilly he is crazy about her and they kiss.

            Back in the city, Alexander keeps buying Lilly all kinds of expensive things. Lou still wants her to blackmail him for money. He decides to take Alexander’s letters that she keeps and send them to the papers. She tries to hide them but Lou catches her trying to. Lilly pulls out a gun but Lou is too quick for her he grabs the gun and smacks her to the ground and takes the letters. Just as he is about to leave Alexander comes by. Lou lies to him and tells him that Lilly had been playing him the whole time. Alexander is furious he will not listen to her when she says she really does love him she would never hurt him. Alexander wants the letters but Lou will not give them to him. He punches Lou to the ground. Lou pulls out his gun to shoot Alexander but Lilly steps in front of him and is shot dead. Alexander takes Lilly’s gun and shoots Lou. Before he leaves he switches the bullets to make it look like a murder/suicide. He switches the bullets in the gun.

            Outside the apartment building Moran is on his beat. He sees Alexander leaving. He manages to get a hold of the guns and he notices that there is a bullet from each gun in the opposite gun. Moran begs his superior to investigate he has a suspicion who the killer might be but he cannot say. The superior gives him forty-eight hours to get some evidence.

            Hettie finally sees how nothing in her social life is as important as being with her husband and family. She has a feeling Alexander may need her. He wants to go away as soon as their son comes home the following day but they cannot leave that quickly because he has a merger with another railroad company coming up.

            Alexander finds out that the janitor at Lilly’s apartment has given a description of him. He speaks to the janitor and tells the man he will be given one thousand dollars if he forgets everything. Of course the janitor agrees. Moran comes a few minutes later. He notices someone in the apartment. He takes the light bulb that Alexander touched to check for fingerprints. He goes to the police commissioner but the man break the bulb on purpose. Moran is furious that Alexander has his hands in law enforcement. He talks to a reporter and the reporter convinces his boss to get some detectives together to get some evidence. They all corner Alexander at his house and force him, in a certain way, to give his prints.

            Alexander is acquitted of the crime. He and his family sail off to England and to travel the world.

            I always wanted to see this film since Ginger Rogers is in it. It was one of her early films of her career. The year before this Rogers had just made her first film with Fred Astaire. Lilly is the type of role I love watching her play. I adore Ginger Rogers I love her early roles where she was risqué but still sweet. I was shocked to see her character get shot and killed! I was totally not expecting that! Warren William was great. It is always a treat to see him play a nice guy I am so used to seeing him in other Pre-Codes where he is the nasty bad guy. Mary Astor in her few scenes was alright. She was made to seem shallow and was the reason for her husband going astray. In the end she sees the error of her social-climbing ways and goes back to focusing on her family.

            Upper World is a decent Pre-Code. I did like how Alexander and Lilly were not really, really in love they were just good friends and he enjoyed the company that Lilly gave that he wife was not giving him. I caught Upper World on TCM. If the channel airs the film again give it a try especially if you like Pre-Codes or any of the leads.