"Smarty" (1934) Joan Blondell, Warren William

[rmichaelpyle]

Last night I watched one of the single most bizarre films made in the 30's, "Smarty" (1934), with Joan Blondell, Warren William, Edward Everett Horton, Claire Dodd, and Frank McHugh. Exactly what the point of the film is is never made really clear. What emerges, however, is the fact that, yes, as Claire Dodd says at some point, Joan Blondell's character is "aggravating" - to the point that people hit her! And her husband, played by Warren William, does exactly that! He hits her in a scene at a bridge game, so nastily that she winds up getting a divorce. And her lawyer friend who was at the bridge game where the occurance happened - Edward Everett Horton - takes the case, admits that he loves Joan Blondell meanwhile - and then proceeds to marry her. But he also proceeds to find out that she wants to be around Warren William anyway, that she is a liar, and that she IS aggravating - only to the point that he wants to HIT her - and he does! Meanwhile, she now wants to divorce Horton and get back together with William - but only if he'll promise to - YIKES - HIT HER!!!!! The End

I'm not making this up. S & M in 1934. This was possibly supposed to be comedy, but I didn't quite see 'humor' in this at all.

Margaret and I were not amused. Indeed, I still wonder who the heck devised this thing and why? Why did Warren William let himself do this? Why did Blondell lower herself to such behavior? I will say this - I've never seen Blondell do such a change of pace in her acting. She obviously had talent to let this kind of character take her over and let her portray it. Indeed, I think she was possessed of the devil. The devil made her do it. Correct that: made all of them do it! I may be serious...

[Midge]

Wow, what a strange movie. I was wondering where you get all these obscure films, but this one deserves to remain in obscurity. It just goes to show how much societal attitudes have changed since the 1930's. Why did talents such as Warren William and Joan BlonSmarty? That's pretty simple, I think. They were studio contract players and had no choice. The studio told them which movies they'd be in. It wasn't until actresses like Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis stood up against the studio system that performers had any say in their careers.

I believe that Gary Cooper also free-lanced, though he didn't always make the best decisions about his career. He is said to have turned down the role of Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind, scoffing that it was going to be the biggest flop in history and that Gable would fall flat on his nose.

[rmichaelpyle]

Jan 9, 2012 16:00:00 GMT -6 Midge said:

Wow, what a strange movie. I was wondering where you get all these obscure films, but this one deserves to remain in obscurity.

Recently Warner Archive Collection released 5 Pre-code discs with 2 films each on them. This was one of them. Most were wonderful. Included in the selections were:

Havana Widows/I've Got Your Number - both with Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell

The Office Wife/Party Husband - both with Dorothy Mackaill

Smarty/Merry Wives of Reno -

and a couple more, three of the films of which were with Loretta Young.

[Midge]

Thanks for answering my question, R. Michael. I was guessing that you must have ordered them from one of those sites that sells rare movies. Good for Warners for making those precodes available!

Dorothy Mackaill was a big star in silents, though she didn't last long in talkies and is not well-remembered now. What a beautiful lady she was. She lived into her 90s, I believe, and spent her last years in Honolulu.

Merry WIves of Reno, that sounds like a fun movie!