i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Films that are relatively unique deserve extra credit. And how many films do you see about power line repair men? This film also gets some extra credit for having a surprisingly strong cast: Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich, and George Raft star. Supporting actors include Alan Hale, Sr., Frank McHugh, Eve Arden, Barton MacLane, and Ward Bond.It also caught my attention because I had a cousin who did electrical work for Kodak, was electrocuted, and although he lived and was eventually sort of okay, at the time his head swelled up to almost double its normal size.I've always liked Edward G. Robinson, especially when he's not in a gangster flick. And he's very good here as a sort of common guy who is a power line worker who doesn't know how to charm women.I never cared much for George Raft, but more recently I've been reexamining him, and he was pretty good in certain types of films. And, he's very good here. They say he gave Robinson a hard time while making this film, but it doesn't show at all on screen. There's a great scene where Raft slaps Dietrich across the face...twice! It's extremely rare that I have enjoyed Marlene Dietrich in a film, but here I admit she does rather nicely, and acts like a real person.Alan Hale, Sr. is a pretty dependable character actor, but I don't feel that he shined here. And, in fact. his performance points to the biggest problem I have with this film. The electrical work crew (most of the supporting actors) act far too goofy. I can't really blame the actors, but I sure will blame the screen writers and director.When I was a kid I remember liking Frank McHugh. The older I get, however, the less impressed I have become, and he seems very limited to me.Eve Arden is here as a saloon gal, but the role is inconsequential. Barton MacLane plays the bad guy here, but his same old limited performance. Ward Bond, one of my favorite character actors, is here, too, but it's not a role with much depth.The ending of this film surprised me, and I'm surprised it was approved.

Is the movie a comedy with melodramatic overtones or a melodrama with comedic overtones. Sometimes it's hard to tell since exaggeration appears the way director Walsh has decided to pitch the material. The storms, the comedic byplay, Robinson's good-hearted working man—all are spread on pretty thickly and much of the time, I'm afraid, to a fault. At times there's almost a frenetic undercurrent as though the audience won't get the point unless it's shoveled on. Contrast Walsh's approach here with his tightly controlled direction of High Sierra (also 1941).All in all, it's a strange movie. For example, when I think "daughter of the American working class", I don't think of a 40-year old with a German accent, even if she does pop gum in one scene. Just how that queen of continental glamour Marlene Dietrich wound up in a Warner Bros. programmer is puzzling, to say the least, especially when the studio had that supremely soulful blue-collar girl, Ida Lupino, under contract. Too bad that the wooden Dietrich adds to the phoniness of a movie that already has too much.Of course, there are the thunder and lightning scenes that show what special effects in those days could do with a carefully lit soundstage. The storms are impressive, but they also make you doubt the sanity of anyone clambering around on 1,000 volt power lines. Falling appears to be the least of the hazards. Anyway, the movie's many conflicting parts produce an oddly awkward result, even if the very last shot achieves a kind of baroque poetry. Somehow, I suspect there's an inside story behind the making of this concoction that may be more compelling than the film itself.

Power-line repairman Edward G. Robinson marries prostitute Marlene Dietrich, but she finds herself enamored by hubby's best friend and colleague, a gallant George Raft.There is much to enjoy in Raoul Walsh's exhilarating melodrama, and although it adheres rather too strictly to a proved formula, Walsh, always a great master at this, gives depth and dimension to the action. Walsh paints a vivid and loyal picture of this blue-collar environment of camaraderie and pranks, and Alan Hale's repairman is the whole deal rolled into one, there is not ONE joke about high voltage that he doesn't know, or doesn't repeat, ad nauseam. Every workplace has one! 'Manpower' is full of the trademark Walsh dynamics, comparable to the electric power, the frequent thunderstorms and the high tempo. The action is engrossing, the film overall is smoothly produced, briskly edited, brilliantly lit, designed and photographed. Never did sleekly wet, black raincoats photograph more memorably.Robinson and Raft are congenially cast, but Dietrich is a long-shot as the prostitute turned housewife. "How's this dame stacked up?", Robinson asks of Raft, before he is introduced to her. Raft, waveringly: "Oh, just a dame ...". Well, she photographs like a goddess, and is impossibly glamorous. And quite improbably so.Don't expect another Walsh masterpiece, but brace yourself for a hugely enjoyable flic that just whirls by you.

A movie directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich and George Raft. Robinson and Raft play electricans who work on power lines and Dietrich plays the daughter of an old electrician who just got out of jail. Raft doesn't think much of Dietrich but Robinson falls for her pretty fast and wants to marry her. Raft tries to talk him out of it and he won't listen. Dietrich doesn't love Robinson but he talks her into it. She quits her job at the nightclub and moves in with Robinson. This is probably the only movie which has guys working on power lines and this movie also stars Ward Bond and Alan Hale as fellow electricians.Robinson and Dietrich do a pretty good job and Raft was never a very good actor but he is OK here.