User Reviews

(Flash Review)

I've seen more personality and emotion from those figures on restroom doors and they are faceless! This was a humble and straightforward story about a wealthy young lady looking for a husband and keen on finding one that doesn't know she comes from piles of money. So she takes a job selling mattresses and a regular bloke co-worker makes a move and isn't shy about popping the question after a few dates. Once married, the husband won't let his wife lift a finger as he struggles to provide for her and stay financially afloat. When the time comes to learn the truth of her family and wealth, how will the husband take the surprise? What direction will his pride lead him? This movie certainly shows its age with the classic stereotype that a husband can be the sole provider for the family. The story was clearly told but with little drama and the cinematography was on easy-street. It was so ordinary that it was inoffensive but completely forgettable.

Anne Nagel was a pleasant looking "B" actress who in the 1930's and 40's starred in a variety of programmers at Monogram, sometimes going over to Universal or even Warner Brothers. Not to be confused with the British Anna Neagle, she wasn't the greatest star, just a dependable young actress who was likable and realistic. In this drama, she plays a young heiress who leaves her grandfather's mansion and heads into Chicago where, pretending to be poor, she moves into a boarding house and finds work selling mattresses in a department store, because she knows (as the granddaughter of a mattress magnate) exactly how many springs it takes to make a mattress soft.

On her very first day at work, she becomes the object of young Weldon Heyburn's affections, and pretty soon has accepted his marriage proposal. Heyburn's actions today might be considered sexual harassment. In fact, many of his attitudes today would cause him to loose his job, although in the 1930's, there were not sexual harassment laws. When he makes a comment about how he expects his wife to be to quit her job as soon as they are married (because he smilingly tells her that he believes that the wife's place is in the home), I was reminded of an incident which took place at San Francisco's Castro Theater when I saw a screening of 1957's "Funny Face" there. Fred Astaire pretty much said something very similar to Audrey Hepburn, and the very political audience booed. In the case of this film, that audience might have gotten laryngitis from booing at Weyburn's dated attitudes.

While Nagel is sincere and believable, Weyburn blandly delivers most of his lines, showing little emotion and spark. The real scene-stealer in this film is the lovable Harry Davenport as Nagel's aging grandfather, still running the mattress business and initially opposed to Nagel's plans. You can tell through the sparkle in his eyes that he had a tremendous joy for life, and like his lively uncle to Merle Oberon in "The Cowboy and the Lady" (delightfully singing "A Tisket, a Tasket" to her) and grandfather to Judy Garland in "Meet Me in St. Louis", he commands attention every second he is on screen. One of the best moments is the unaware Weyburn's giving him a few dollars when Davenport spends the night with the newlyweds, looking down at the cash as if thinking, "Oh, this is what the smaller bills look like".

While the film has some definite continuity problems (characters who seem like they are going to be important to the storyline disappear quickly), there are some emotional moments too that make the film occasionally shine. Monogram made some real sleepers during their years as one of the top poverty row studios aside from the usual westerns, murder mysteries and horror films, and this ranks among them. It may not have changed the world of film as we know it, but its simple script of real people living real lives is a sweet tale worth being told.

(Flash Review)

This movie is a grain of sand in the vast beach of film. Easily forgotten but almost memorable for its blandness. A wealthy young lady looking for a husband is keen on finding one that doesn't know she comes from money. So she takes a job selling mattresses at department store and immediately a modest co-worker makes a move and isn't shy about popping the question after a handful of dates. As they kick off their marriage, the husband, who is full of pride, won't let his wife lift a finger as he struggles to provide for her and stay financially afloat. When the time comes to learn the truth of her family that his wife has been hiding from him, how will the husband take the surprise? What direction will his pride lead him? That acting was fine and the plot kept me engaged but it was so average and the husband became irritating and maybe that was the point. Fun to see normal life in the 30s.