Four college friends want to make it big in New York City. Catherine “Fiery” Furness (Janet Gaynor) is determined to be a writer. Chris Thring (Charles Farrell) plans on a law career. Mack McGowan (James Dunn) sees himself as a radio singer. And Madge Roundtree (Ginger Rogers) has visions of Broadway stardom. While they are the best of friends, there are complications: Fiery loves Chris, Chris loves Madge, Madge loves Mack, and Mack loves Fiery. Who will have a Change of Heart (1934)? It's always enjoyable to see an actor at the start of his or her career. Here we have Ginger Rogers in a film released only five months before she appeared as Fred Astaire's partner in Flying Down to Rio (if you recall, the duo were second bananas in that film). We also have a glimpse of Shirley Temple, in the dialog-free role of a little girl on an airplane - released just before Ms. Temple became America's darling in Little Miss Marker. The titular stars of the film are Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, who were appearing in their last of twelve films together (Ms. Gaynor was the first actress to win an Oscar. It was awarded for two films in 1927 - Sunrise: The Story of Two Humans and Seventh Heaven, the latter with Mr. Farrell). (AFI catalog) Ms. Gaynor is an always engaging actress, and she gives her character's nickname multiple meanings. Katherine says that she is called Fiery because of her red hair, but Gaynor makes a character who is strong and determined. She takes the hand that is dealt her with little complaint, and makes it work.
Though Ms. Gaynor, who had successfully made the transition from silent to sound films, had a career boost when she garnered raves in A Star is Born (1937), she decided to retire in 1938. She married costumer Adrian in 1939, and they had a child the following year. They remained together until his death in 1959. She returned to films briefly (Bernadine in 1957), as well as doing some television work beginning in 1953. But, by and large she painted, and traveled - often with her friend Mary Martin and Martin's husband. In 1982, a car accident killed one person (Mary Martin's manager Ben Washer) and injured Ms. Martin, Ms. Gaynor's second husband Paul Gregory, and Ms. Gaynor herself. Though Ms. Gaynor lived for another two years, she never fully recuperated from her injuries and died at the age of 77. James Dunn is quite good in the role of Mack. He plays him as a
self-assured young man, who is very much the leader of his friends. Mack is the ringleader - he
is the one who urges them all to journey with them to New York City. One
particularly fun scene involves him trying to con a mother and daughter
to adopt an infant. He's quite engaging.
We also very
much enjoyed Beryl Mercer (Harriet Hawkins). Ms. Mercer made a career
playing motherly types, and she does not disappoint here. She is sweet
and sympathetic, and her affection for Fiery makes the audience warm to
her instantly. That she seems to know (and care) that the young Mrs. Mockby (Drue
Leyton) needs to adopt the baby Harriet has in her care also makes her
appealing. We trust her unerring judgement in what is best for her babies, and for the parents who adopt them because of Ms. Mercer's sincerity.
We were NOT familiar with Ms. Leyton (she only made 10 films, one of
which was uncredited, and two Broadway plays), but her life story is far
more interesting than her career. In 1938, she retired and moved to
Paris to marry Jacques Terrane (also known as Jacques Tartière, a French
actor). She began working on Voice of America,
making herself quite unpopular with the Nazi's. With the outbreak of
the war in France, her husband joined the resistance, and was shot while working with the Free French in
Syria. With the Nazi entrance into Paris, Ms. Leyton was arrested, but managed to
escape. She joined the French resistance, and used her house in Barbizon
to smuggle (in total) 42 downed Allied airmen out of France. She wrote a
book about her experiences - The House Near Paris. She died in 1997 at the age of 93.
Which brings us to Ginger Rogers. We know from the beginning that Madge is not the good girl - she's blowing bubble gum at her college graduation (instead of looking beatific like Fiery). Even with that image, Ms. Rogers presents Madge as problematic. She is ambitious, and willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants, but it's still hard to truly dislike her. You just want to give her a shake. As a result, by film's end, you are satisfied with the way it all resolves. The scenes of early New York City are always appealing to this group of natives. Change of Heart was surely filmed in Hollywood, but there is enough stock footage of NYC, circa 1934, to give us pleasure. While this is not a great film, it is enjoyable, primarily because of the two lead actresses. We'll leave you with this scene with Ginger, Janet, and the guys. You can also see Shirley Temple at the 1:08 mark (Don't blink. You'll miss her!)
This week, we returned to the pre-code period, and early to an Bette Davis effort (back when she was blonde) with The Big Shakedown (1934). Bette plays Norma Nelson, a clerk in the neighborhood pharmacy run by her fiancé, chemist Jimmy Morrell (Charles Farrell). Jimmy is an easygoing sort, who runs his store more as a local gathering place than as a business. He's not able to afford for he and Norma to marry, and he is being threatened by a large pharmacy chain that wants to buy him out for peanuts. Enter Dutch Barnes (Richardo Cortez), a bootlegger who is finding it hard to pedal his wares now that Prohibition is over. Dutch has a brainstorm - hire Jimmy to pirate PearlyDent toothpaste; Dutch will then sell the identical, but more cheaply made product for less money. Norma is furious when Jimmy agrees to the scheme, but Jimmy doesn't see the problems (he's making it, after all. He's not SELLING it). Things get complicated, however, when Dutch decides to branch out, first into cosmetics, but then into pharmaceuticals. And by then, Jimmy can't get out. The strength of Bette Davis' personality is a real plus in this film. Charles Farrell's Jimmy is so lackluster that Davis dominant personality gives the film the power that it needs. In this TCM article, the reviewer laments that Davis as the good girl is wasted, but we think not. Without the character's innate integrity and willingness to stand up for
what is right, the picture would flounder. You believe that Davis is
able to disregard Jimmy AND the mobsters.
One of the wiser choices of the writers is to begin with a fairly inane crime (counterfeiting toothpaste), provide it with some humor (a group of fairly dumb gangsters - including Allen Jenkins - taste testing the product), but then build up to the true crimes: blackmarket drugs, murder, and the destruction of a company. Besides Davis, we're treated to two of our favorites - Glenda Farrell as Lilly Duran, Dutch's mistress, and Ricardo Cortez. Farrell here gets to play both the ditsy blonde and the wronged woman. Where at first you think that Lily is rather stupid, you quickly discover she's quite smart and observant. She's also the wrong person to cross, to her misfortune.
Cortez provides a villain who is smart, disarmingly charming, and deadly. He's seductive, a human cobra sucking in anyone who peers too deeply into his eyes. Dutch knows how to gauge people's weaknesses, but ultimately his reach exceeds his grasp. Our group has a fondness for Cortez, an actor who, unfortunately, is not well remembered today. Born Jacob Krantz in New York City, he started in silents, with studio executives billing him as a Latin lover (to get in on the Rudolph Valentino craze). While that worked before pictures spoke, sound was a give-away that Cortez, with his Lower East Side accent, was not a Latino. So, while his roles changed, his popularity did not. He played more character parts; often the villain, though sometimes a good guy (see Ten Cents a Dance; he's quite good!) He even played Perry Mason at one point (The Case of the Black Cat, 1936). He appeared in over 100 films, and directed 7. By the mid 1940s, he was finding parts hard to get, so he "retired" and became a successful stockbroker (though he did appear in two films in the 1950s, and even was in an episode of Bonanza! Cortez died in 1977 at the age of 76. That this is a pre-code film is apparent, even though it came out as the Code was going into closer effect. A murderer is left unpunished, and our lead character (while he does have to pay a price for his deeds) really doesn't suffer all that much in the long-run. Fellow blogger at Pre-code.com disliked the film; New York Times, however, rather liked it. While this is not great literature (and drug counterfeiting plotnotwithstanding, it surely is NOT The Third Man), we think it is worth a look. The trailer below will give you a taste.
