Fri 25 Feb 2011
Movie Review: TIMES SQUARE PLAYBOY (1936).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[6] Comments
TIMES SQUARE PLAYBOY. Warner Brothers, 1936. Warren William, June Travis, Barton MacLane, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Dick Purcell. Screenplay by Roy Chanslor based on the play “The Home Towners†by George M. Cohan. Director: William C. McGann.
With a running time of only 62 minutes, Times Square Playboy still seemed to last three times as long as it should have, at least if you ask me, and if you’re reading this, you might as well be. Although I didn’t time it precisely, I’d say it’s fifteen minutes for sure before there’s an inkling of what the story’s about.
And I’ll make this summary as short as I can. A fellow from Big Bend back home, Warren William, has come to the big city — New York City, to be precise – to make good, and make good he has. And at the age of 40 he’s found the girl he wants to marry (June Travis), who’s currently working as a singer at hot spot night club.
When his best man (Gene Lockhart) comes to town, the latter comes to the immediate conclusion that the new bride and her whole family are a bunch of chiselers ready for the kill, which is to say to sponge off William for the rest of their lives. To make things worse, he tells the groom-to-be so, and in no uncertain terms.
The two of them fight, the bride-to-be and her family are told off, they storm out … and the best man has some planning to do before the wedding is back on again. Two and a half paragraphs and I’ve told you everything. Even My Little Margie sitcoms had more story to them than this.
When I think of Warren William, I think of a classy but solidly rigid fellow — aristocratic if not out-and-out patrician.
He’s certainly that in this movie, but in Playboy he’s also given a butler-cum-valet (Barton MacLane) who as part of his duties engages his employer in down-to-earth wrestling matches to try to soften his image up a little. It’s a good try, but MacLane seems to fit his part better than William does.
June Travis made 30 movies in four years (1935-1938) and even her good brunette looks and broad grin of a smile didn’t mean that she made many movies with more of a B-budget than this one, which is a shame. (She did play Della Steet in one of the Perry Mason movies.)
A short simple plot, though, I have to admit, isn’t a crime. But a comedy that isn’t funny might as well be. I got the wrong vibes from this one. I think Lockhart’s accusations could have hit an accurate target just as easily as not, and if so, then where would this movie have gone?
February 26th, 2011 at 5:05 am
More than any other genre screwball comedy has to flow naturally. When it doesn’t — when like this one it seems lockkneed, lockjawed, and stiff all over it just lands flat.
Still William had a pretty good record in the genre with the classic LADY FOR A DAY, even though he may not be the first actor you think of in relation to screwball comedy. For that matter his Perry Mason outings were pretty much modeled on the screwball school.
February 26th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
He’s very good in GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933. He starts off very stiff and patrician as Dick Powell’s older brother, but as soon as Joan Blondell gets a few drinks down him he’s falling all over the place. I think that a lot of directors tried to play against his rather serious appearance. Just think of The Lone Wolf, or the bloke who isn’t really Sam Spade in SATAN MET A LADY.
February 26th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
I confess that I was not thinking of this as a screwball comedy — mostly because I didn’t find it very funny, although it was supposed to have been.
In my review I compared it rather to a MY LITTLE MARGIE sitcom, and I kind of like the comparison, even though “sitcom” might not be the right word to use, not in the more traditional I LOVE LUCY sense.
It wasn’t the players’ fault as much as the fact that the story just didn’t have any legs, with nowhere to go.
February 26th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
MY LITTLE MARGIE is probably being kind to this one, but there are numerous screwball elements to the film (the wrestling matches with the butler) it just isn’t very funny.
Maybe the only true screwball comedy B programmer mystery series entry ever made is William in THE LONE WOLF’S SPY HUNT with Ida Lupino and Rita Hayworth. But then it also has a screenplay by Jonathan Latimer.
September 3rd, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Steve writes, “I’d say it’s fifteen minutes for sure before there’s an inkling of what the story’s about.”
That’s one of the elements that makes it so good: you can’t figure it out. This is not formula, but a tightly written play from George M Cohan.
The second scene has a cliched conversation between two characters. Later, one player takes the chat and puts a totally negative spin on it. The other actors show that everything he interpreted is opposite from the truth. This is like a good courtroom drama.
Other elements that make it great are Gene Lockhart and Bart MacLane at their best.
The comedy is funny, especially when Lockhart gets apoplectic. It has slapstick, and proves that a wrestling move taught in act 1 must be used in act 3.
True screwball, the best of all movie genres.
September 3rd, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Thanks, Donald. You make me want to watch the movie again!