Post by rmichaelpyle on Oct 30, 2009 13:40:47 GMT -6
Watched "Advice to the Lovelorn" (1933) last night, with Lee Tracy, Sally Blane, Paul Harvey, Sterling Holloway, C. Henry Gordon, and Isabel Jewell. A really terse, half-serious, comic filled, smart alecky romp in the newspaper business, in the end this is Depression comedy with very serious overtones. Lee Tracy plays the original "Miss Lonelyhearts" in this film as only he could.
In real life Tracy was every bit the same character you see in the movies. He was brash and smart alecky and not a real nice man. In the end it ruined his career and spoiled his life. His early films, though, are great examples of this fast-talking, brash, crude, rude, always in your face character. This one is no exception.
Sally Blane is nothing more than furniture for the set here. The sister of Loretta Young, she was better suited to "B" films like "Probation" where she could do some acting. These "A" film jaunts with her are more wooden. C. Henry Gordon as the baddie is typical fodder for him and he specialized in them like a spider weaving a web. Sterling Holloway gets to really shine here as Tracy's "assistant", and he's uniformly good as usual. Isabel Jewell is always worth the watch.
All in all, though, this was all Tracy, and it made for delicious entertainment for a couple of hours. I'd watch this one again very soon.
In real life Tracy was every bit the same character you see in the movies. He was brash and smart alecky and not a real nice man. In the end it ruined his career and spoiled his life. His early films, though, are great examples of this fast-talking, brash, crude, rude, always in your face character. This one is no exception.
Sally Blane is nothing more than furniture for the set here. The sister of Loretta Young, she was better suited to "B" films like "Probation" where she could do some acting. These "A" film jaunts with her are more wooden. C. Henry Gordon as the baddie is typical fodder for him and he specialized in them like a spider weaving a web. Sterling Holloway gets to really shine here as Tracy's "assistant", and he's uniformly good as usual. Isabel Jewell is always worth the watch.
All in all, though, this was all Tracy, and it made for delicious entertainment for a couple of hours. I'd watch this one again very soon.