Blonde Crazy (1931)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Bert Harris (James Cagney) is a bellhop at a small town hotel. When a looker (Joan Blondell as Anne Roberts) arrives, he arranges for her employment in the housekeeping department.Bert is a schemer who is loose with the truth and has a love of the ladies. He says, "The world owes me a living." Despite the fact Bert is "not a collar ad", Anne is intrigued by his persona. But she is a good girl, immune to his advances. Still, they become partners and use a small-time frame to finance their move to a larger city.Being a fan of films about grifting, I really enjoy this film, which includes multiple examples of the con. The stakes get higher as the story continues. One con is reminiscent of "The Sting".It is also fun to watch pre-Code films, with their peculiar characteristics and their vernacular. Bert, though a criminal, displays an odd code of ethics that is central to the story, though unacceptable by Hays' standards.Cagney displays his usual bluster and bravado. Blondell is charming. Watch for the very young Ray Milland.

Aside from an ending that just seemed too vague and too abrupt, this is a very little enjoyable film from Warner Brothers. In some ways, it's very much a Pre-Code style film but it's not as salacious as some of the more extreme films during the era. Sure, there is a some sexual innuendo and the main characters are awfully amoral, but it other ways things are bizarrely chaste--and it's something you really need to see to appreciate.The film begins with Ann (Joan Blondell) looking for a job at a hotel. A slick bellboy, Bert (James Cagney) helps her get a job and almost immediately begins pawing at her. He's also a guy who is a bit of a huckster--and he schemes and pulls off petty grifter schemes for extra money. Want an example of the sort of dialog in this part of the film?Bert Harris: Now, you play ball with me... and your worrying days will be over. Ann Roberts: Yeah? How about the nights? Bert Harris: (smirks) Well, I'll see what I can do about those too, honey!As I said, there is a lot of innuendo. However, unlike films like "Red- Headed Woman" and "Platinum Blonde", the leading lady in this one seems to have her virtue intact throughout the film. Ann is willing to go along with some of Bert's schemes but keeps him at a distance throughout the film. Eventually, the pair get tired of penny ante stakes and quite their jobs to travel the country cheating boobs here and there. The trouble is that in the process, the pair obviously become quite fond of each other. But Ann doesn't want this sort of life forever and eventually falls for a stockbroker (Ray Milland). What's in store for Bert? Well, watch the film for the super-bizarro ending to see for yourself. I don't want to give it away but suffice to say it seems to come from out of no where and the ending of the film is incredibly vague and a bit unsatisfying-- hence my score of only 7 when it easily could have earned a higher rating up until then. The overall moral of the film seems to be EVERYONE is corrupt and what you get out of life is what you can take--a thoroughly Pre-Code moral in every way! Still, despite its dubious life lesson, the film is well acted and paced, quite enjoyable to watch and offers Cagney a part to play one of his strangest characters. This isn't the nasty criminal sort he played in "Public Enemy" nor the heroic sort he played in Post- Code films, that's for sure.

Who knew that when James Cagney and Joan Blondell started out in the quite dramatic "Sinner's Holiday" they were going to be remembered (as a team) for smart and snappy vehicles like "Blonde Crazy" and "Footlight Parade". As usual, at the Warner's factory, Joan, who had only started out in films the year before, had already made 12 movies by the time she appeared in "Blonde Crazy". From best friend duty in "The Office Wife" and "Millie" to eye catching moments in "Night Nurse", she called herself a "studio dame"!!This movie ticks all the right boxes, being a funny, sexy, slap happy romp with a sprinkling of pathos at the end. "A leading hotel in a small mid western city" is where Cagney, as Bert, struts his stuff - as resident bell hop, part time bootlegger and full time "blonde watcher". When he gets Ann (Blondell) a job as a maid, he expects some payment but she is strictly A.P.O (ain't puttin' out!! - see "Other Men's Women") - except with the slaps which she delivers with gusto!! She wants real love and commitment and she doesn't think she will find it with Bert. Wisecracks fly thick and fast - "the age of chivalry is dead, this is the age of chiselry"!!!They finally form a working partnership and when Rupert Johnson Jnr. (Guy Kibbee) comes to the hotel and seems keen on Ann, the stage is set for an elaborate hoax with Nat Pendleton doubling as a conscientious cop, Ann as a lady in distress and Burt as an eager to help witness. This little piece of work nets them $5,000 and with it they flee to "the leading hotel at a big city" where Bert falls in with Dan Barker and Helen (Louis Calhern and Noel Francis) a pair of racketeering con artists who suck Bert into a phoney counterfeiting trick - needless to say Bert gets fleeced!! Meanwhile Ann meets and falls for Joe Reynolds (an extremely young Ray Milland), a debonair young fellow who works for a New York brokerage firm but it is a case of better the con man you know than the crook you don't.There are so many little cons Ann and Bert get up to - the movie is so much fun (there is even a spontanious little dance Cagney does when he and Joan go out for a night on the town). Ann even works out her own little scheme to get even with Dan - "where's Helen", "Oh, I sent her packing", "so she was strictly on the installment plan", "yes and all I forked out was the down payment"!!! There was nothing cheap about Noel Francis, even though she spent most of her career playing gangster's girls. She was a Follies girl and first came to the movies in a musical "Movietone Follies of 1930" where she even sang a song!! She made her last movie in 1937, in a Buck Jones western "Sudden Bill Dorn" and then seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. Try as I might, I can't find out anything about her but with her luminous blonde beauty she deserved a bigger career.

This film is great - very under-rated. Cagney really fires - and he hasn't yet developed all his famous mannerisms so he is very different to what you may expect. Blondell is certainly his match - and this movie is very very naughty! Don't miss it!