Blind Date (1934)

Very Cool!!!

Fantastic!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This mid 30's back and forth romantic drama has a humorous element. Some times a woman just thinks she knows what she wants. Ann Southern stars a the lovely Miss Kitty, that gets torn between two lovers. She off and on goes out with mechanic Bill Lowery(Paul Kelly); the problem with Bill is he loves his job too much. Actually it is the chance at making money that he places above all else; and that means standing up Kitty on the night of her birthday. She accepts a blind date with a considerably older wealthy clothing store owner Bob Hartwell(Neil Hamilton). Hartwell plies her with fancy clothes and even a job at his store. He even buys Bill's wrecker service/mechanic shop. When Kitty feels beholden to her first love, Bill; and wants to try over again with him, he breaks the relationship off. Now, what is a girl to do? Roy William Neil directs this 71 minute mini-soap opera. Veteran actress Jane Darwell plays Kitty's mother aptly. Other players rounding out the cast: Geneva Mitchell, Joan Gale, Spencer Charters and a young, but still growing Mickey Rooney.

This is a disappointing drama about a hard-working model (Ann Sothern) supporting her lazy family and torn between two men: an honest mechanic (Paul Kelly) who works long hours yet seems to be intent on dominating her once they get married, and a rather lecherous wealthy playboy (Neil Hamilton) whose intentions do not seem at all honorable. The lack of likable characters, with the exception of Sothern and a very young Mickey Rooney as the younger brother who hasn't had the opportunity to become like his parents Jane Darwell and Spencer Charters yet, makes this difficult to tolerate at times. All this family seems to do is bicker over nothing and makes no effort to resolve any conflicts.While this is certainly a good looking film, there isn't enough to recommend it past that. Ann Sothern is certainly a lovely heroine, but even though she had been in films for several years (mainly as a chorus girl), she was still too green in her acting to hold together an entire movie when everything else around her was mediocre. While Kelly tries to add some softer dimensions to his character, he never fully hits the mark. Hamilton seems to be just stuck in the rut of playing less than noble wealthy men, sort of a poor man's Ralph Bellamy who never got the girl even though he used every dirty trick in the book. Sothern would have better luck when she went over to RKO for some frivolous comedies and of course much more success at MGM with the "Maisie" series and a string of musical successes.

"Blind Date" is one of three stories-made-into-movie by author Vida Hurst. Lots of familiar faces in this oldie from 1934. Mickey Rooney as a mouthy little punk. He seems to be in the film for comedic and homey "family values". Jane Darwell again plays the strong-willed mother, just as she had in Grapes of Wrath and the Oxbow Incident. Ann Sothern is Kitty, who has been dating Bill (Paul Kelly), but meets up with rich Bob Hartwell, played by Neil Hamilton, who may or may not be better for her. You can certainly tell that this was made at the very beginning of the Hays production code -- at one point, Kitty says she can't be up there alone with him if there isn't anyone else in the house...what a change from just a year or two prior, when anything and everything was OK. Good solid plot, but a whole lot of conversation and mushy love talk. It raises the question over what a girl should be searching for in a man; should she hold out for a man with integrity who treats her nice, or just find a man with big bucks, as most of the movies from the previous 20 years had advocated...? and how do men change when their situation changes ? watch out for some violence in the strange dance marathon scene. TV viewers from the 1960s will recognize Hamilton as Commissioner Gordon from Batman..... Also some weird drama in the off-screen lives for some of the cast in this one --Paul Kelly had gone to jail for being accessory to murder in a love triangle. Mickey Rooney had an affair with Norma Shearer, who was 20 years older; Rooney ended up being married eight times. Tyler Brooke (Emory) and Spencer Charters (Pa) both knocked themselves off in real life. The title "Blind Date" has been reused many times, for films, TV series, and even cartoons, but none of them seem to have the same plot as this one.

The story is about a working girl (Ann Sothern) who has a pretty thoughtless boyfriend (Paul Kelly). This boyfriend is so busy trying to start his own business that again and again he forgets dates or shows up late. The final straw is when Sothern has a birthday and Kelly says he's too busy to take her out to celebrate. So, not wanting to just stay home, she goes on a blind date with what turns out to be a very rich young man (Neil Hamilton). Sparks fly but it also becomes apparent after Sothern breaks off her relationship with Kelly that new boyfriend Hamilton is a "love 'em and leave 'em" sort of guy. How all this is finally resolved is not too difficult to predict--just suffice to say that in the end everything works out just perfectly.This is a very modest little film from Columbia Pictures--with a relatively small budget as well as second-tier stars. It's clearly a "B-movie" despite there being small roles played by a Mickey Rooney and Jane Darwell--as both had yet to become famous. Now this is NOT to say that these are bad actors or the production isn't any good. In fact, given the production values, this is a pretty amazing film as everything seems to work so well despite having a pretty ordinary and somewhat predictable plot outline. That's because the actors and director did a really good job putting the story across. Plus the writers did a good job of humanizing the characters and making you care about them. The ending, in particular, is really sweet and practically had my tear ducts flowing! Because of these factors, the film earns a 7 of 10.