Mon 9 Nov 2009
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: THE DARK HORSE (1932).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[5] Comments
THE DARK HORSE. First National, 1932. Warren William, Bette Davis, Guy Kibbee. Vivienne Osborne, Frank McHugh, Sam Hardy, Berton Churchill, Harry Holman, Charles Sellon, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Robert Warwick, Louise Beavers, Wilfred Lucas Photography by Sol Polito; director: Alfred E. Green. Shown at Cinecon 40, Hollywood CA, September 2004.
Guy Kibbee, the “dark horse” gubernatorial candidate of this political satire, is described by Warren William, his campaign manager, as “so dumb that every time he opens his mouth, he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.”
Bette Davis is William’s secretary (and long-time girlfriend), who plays a nondescript role with her usual intelligence, but it’s Vivienne Osborne, as William’s predatory ex-wife, who steals the female acting honors as she lures Kibbee into a tryst, where in a game of strip poker he’s getting down to essentials as the police and reporters close in on their hideaway, with William flying in at the last minute in an attempt to get to the love nest ahead of them.
Kibbee is a complete buffoon, completely innocent of anything that passes for intelligence, but he has a weak spot, an eye for a shady lady, and this pre-code film makes no bones about the unseemly nature of his relationship with Osborne.
William is a human weasel, willing to do anything to promote his candidate, with Davis his conscience who rather belatedly manages to salvage William from the eager hands of the law. Kibbee is elected with William and Davis finally united and leaving the state to its new governor and a corrupt crew of supporters.
I won’t be so crass as to suggest that this was selected as a less-than-discreet commentary on this year’s political slug-fest [2004], but astute observers will note some similarities with the contemporary scene. Sharp dialogue and frank treatment of the racy relationship of Kibbee and Osborne mark this as a pre-code script, and its quick footed pacing (and on the mark performances) made it a late-night favorite of the convention.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:13 am
William was always good in these fast talking roles that were about half Damon Runyon half Hecht and MacArthur. Kibbee one of the great character actors.
Bette Davis slaved a long while in fare like this, almost always better than the material she was given.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Sounds like an interesting late-night political movie. I enjoy political satire if it’s done well. I’m currently reading a very funny political satire called “Cancel Christmas” by author Rocco Leonard Martino. It uses humor to illustrate how power is abused in government and business. This book is a movie and video series in words.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Speaking of Warren William, who’s all but unknown today, how many other actors played Perry Mason, Philo Vance, Michael Lanyard (The Lone Wolf), and “Ted Shane” as he was configured in Satan Met a Lady (1936)?
I’m not sure how perfectly he matched my idea of any these characters, but he did them all, and other than that one small quibble, he did them well.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Though they had little to do with the character or the novels the William Mason’s were entertaining fast paced screwball mysteries. He was very good as Vance in The Dragon Murder Case, and I’m told fine in Gracie Allen Murder Case playing off Gracie.
His Lone Wolf films are consistently superior B films with he and Eric Blore obviously enjoying themselves. Lone Wolf’s Spy Hunt written by Jonathan Latimer with Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth in the cast is a standout.
Not much I can say for Satan Met A Lady, other than William probably does as much as can be done with the wrong headed take on The Maltese Falcon. Once or twice he manages a sort of manic playfulness that almost makes the film bearable. Well that and Alison Skipworth as Gutman and Arthur Treacher as Joel Cairo.
If you ever get the chance see him in The Match King based on the life of Ivar Kreuger, the real life match king. He was also quite good as Julius Caesar in de Mille’s Cleopatra and in Frank Capra’s Lady for a Day. He was very nearly a show stealer as a flamboyant American policeman battling Melvyn Douglas is Arsene Lupin Returns.
IMDb says his first film was in 1922, but in his Filmgoers Companion Leslie Halliwell credits him in the 1914 Perils of Pauline. Anyone know which is true? I do know his last film was 1947’s The Private Affairs of Bel Ami with George Sanders and Angela Lansbury, a fine closing to a good career.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
And somehow I forgot William’s swashbuckling D’Artagnan in The Man in the Iron Mask and his role in The Wolf Man. Heck of a career when you look at the films: Imitation of Life, Madame X, Doctor Monica, Lillian Russell, Arizona, Strange Illusion …