This is How Movies Should Be Made

Lack of good storyline.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

In a Film In Review article Ann Sothern was very reticent about her early screen work ("Hold Everything", "Whoopee") - MGM signed her to a contract under her real name of Harriet Lake but she only made one movie for them - "Doughboys" (1930) and was then dropped. Columbia signed her to a contract in the mid thirties and she made a series of light hearted programmers with co-stars such as Edmund Lowe and Gene Raymond. Even though Harry Cohn often boasted that by changing Harriet Lake's name to Ann Sothern he had made her a star, Columbia didn't really seem interested in promoting her and it was up to MGM to come up trumps with "Maisie".Kitty (Sothern) is the bread winner of her improvident family - as well as keeper of the peace and advice dispenser and she is getting pretty fed up with it. Especially her full of beans boyfriend Bill (I have never seen Paul Kelly so animated before)!! who puts work before romance!! When he stands her up on her birthday she listens to her friend and goes on a blind date where she meets debonair Bob Hartwell (Neil Hamilton). She starts to live the high life when he gets her a job as a model in his department store but when she dismisses his cave man tactics she suddenly finds herself out of a job. Of course the thing is, Bob is completely in the dark about things - his father has sacked her during cutbacks but requests the news be kept from his son. Bob goes on a cruise with his mother, not knowing that Kitty is desperately looking for a job. Bill comes to the rescue with a job for her father and the pressure is now on for Kitty to patch things up with Bill - even though she doesn't love him.Bob comes back but Kitty is determined to stick by Bill - he has been involved in an awful accident at work - courtesy of Kitty's father and a blow torch!!! Flora (Joan Gale), Kitty's sister over hears Kitty and Bob's tearful parting and wants to make it right for them. This is a really nice way to pass an afternoon with the "little" actors you get to know if you watch enough old movies. Matinée idol Neil Hamilton, most people know him from the Batman TV show as Commissioner Gordon but he had a huge career starting in the 1920s - he was a D.W. Griffith discovery. Mickey Rooney showed that even during his awkward age there were always roles to be had!!!

This was a strange movie, but I did enjoy it. My Tivo billed it as a comedy, but there were some quite dramatic elements, too. (Most notably, the car falling on Bill.) I thought I had this movie figured out (Kitty would do the right thing and marry Bill and then realize that he was really the one she loved all along).I really liked the twists thrown in at the end. (Bob buying Bill's shop to give Bill and Kitty money and then Bill being a jerk in order to reveal Kitty's true feelings.) However, all of it kind of fell flat for me. Ann Sothern didn't have chemistry with either of her leading men. I just couldn't believe that she would date (let alone consider marrying) either one of them. One reason I love classic movies is seeing the fashion and cars of days gone by. Blind Date did not disappoint in this regard. Sothern's dresses were all quite stunning, although a bit fancy for a working girl (specifically the dresses worn before she met Bob). While I enjoyed this movie, it would have been much better with some chemistry between the leading lady and her leading men. The script and supporting actors were solid, it was just the leading roles that could have been better cast.

The story is about a working girl (Ann Sothern) who has a pretty thoughtless boyfriend (Paul Kelly). This boyfriend is so busy trying to start his own business that again and again he forgets dates or shows up late. The final straw is when Sothern has a birthday and Kelly says he's too busy to take her out to celebrate. So, not wanting to just stay home, she goes on a blind date with what turns out to be a very rich young man (Neil Hamilton). Sparks fly but it also becomes apparent after Sothern breaks off her relationship with Kelly that new boyfriend Hamilton is a "love 'em and leave 'em" sort of guy. How all this is finally resolved is not too difficult to predict--just suffice to say that in the end everything works out just perfectly.This is a very modest little film from Columbia Pictures--with a relatively small budget as well as second-tier stars. It's clearly a "B-movie" despite there being small roles played by a Mickey Rooney and Jane Darwell--as both had yet to become famous. Now this is NOT to say that these are bad actors or the production isn't any good. In fact, given the production values, this is a pretty amazing film as everything seems to work so well despite having a pretty ordinary and somewhat predictable plot outline. That's because the actors and director did a really good job putting the story across. Plus the writers did a good job of humanizing the characters and making you care about them. The ending, in particular, is really sweet and practically had my tear ducts flowing! Because of these factors, the film earns a 7 of 10.

A mild but decent low-class soaper, well directed by under-rated B director Roy William Neill -- best remembered, these days, for the Sherlock Holmes series starring Rathbone and Bruce that he directed a decade later. There is a spiffy cast in this piece and they give good performances.It is interesting to compare this Columbia Picture with its Pre-Code contemporaries from the majors and contrast its constant moral tone with the sexier stuff produced by, say, Lubitsch at Paramount. Part of the reason, doubtless, is that a minor studio like Columbia didn't have leverage against the increasingly powerful Production Code that would swamp the sex comedy even at the Majors by the end of the year. But the most of it, I don't doubt, is that the Majors had an eye on the big cities and European markets, while Columbia still was concentrating on the smaller US cities and rural markets.