Private Number (1936)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

good back-story, and good acting

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

It doesn't take long to figure out who is going to be the archvillain. Basil Rathbone frequently played villains. For example, he opposed Errol Flynn in fencing duels in "Captain Blood", and "The Adventures of Robin Hood". Here, he plays the imposing dictatorial Wroxton, who functions as the butler in the mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Winfield. More importantly, he is given the authority to hire and fire other household functionaries, besides which he takes a cut of their salaries to insure his continued approval of their work. He is uncommonly stiff and formal, and treats the staff as a drill sergeant treats his recruits. He reluctantly offers Loretta a job. She doesn't accept right away, and is about to leave, as she can't imagine working under the thumb of the zombie-like Wroxton. However, maid Patsy Kelly, as Gracie, flags her down, and convinces her to give it a try. Patsy becomes her friend throughout the film. The son of the Winfields: Richard)Robert Taylor) is immediately smitten by Loretta's beauty, initially assuming she is a guest, rather than a maid. Soon, he's talking marriage, but she initially objects that a marriage between a scion of a wealthy family and their maid wouldn't be accepted socially. He nixes this objection, and eventually, she gives in, not telling his parents, initially. Meanwhile, evil Wroxton finally makes his move, proposing marriage. She flatly turns him down. Wroxton spends the remainder of the film trying to get Loretta in trouble with the family or the law. He announces to the parents, that one of the staff is going to have a baby, of which Richard is the father. Loretta admits such, but informs them that they are married. Wroxton's major success relates to an incident in which a broke Loretta hesitantly accepts a ride with an unfamiliar man((Monroe Owlsey, as Coakley),who supposedly stops to introduce her to his grandmother(May Beatty, as grandma Gammon), but it turns out to be an illegal gambling den. Unfortunately, the police stage a raid just then, and Loretta winds up at the police station, with no money. Loretta reluctantly calls Wroxton to take a taxi to the police station and pay her fine. This he does. Thus, he finds out about her entrance to the gambling den. When, he tells the Winfields about this, they demand an annulment of the marriage. Richard is not so demanding at first, and refuses to sign the annulment, but after talking to Loretta, he gives in and signs it. However, there has to be a trial. Her lawyer finds Coakley, who agrees to tell about his role in her being found in that gambling den. However, Wroxton pays Coakley to lie, and make it look like Loretta was the sleazy one, which seemed to cook her goose. But, Loretta's lawyer finds out about the dirty deal between Wroxton and Coakley, and tells Richard, who promptly socks Wroxton's jaw, causing him to fall over backwards over a desk: the most satisfying moment in the film! Loretta's lawyer called her to the stand once more, and she testified that she was only 17 at the time, thus underage to be in such an establishment This sealed Richard's mind to withdraw the annulment request........Besides the police raid, there was another episode of pandemonium when a guy who talked like a mobster got fresh with Loretta while she was seated in a nightclub. The big sailor with buck teeth, who hardly talked, got up and socked this guy. In response, his buddies came at the sailor, followed by various sailors coming to his defense. Soon, everybody was fighting, and Loretta's salary was stolen from her purse....... As always, Loretta is extraordinarily beautiful, with many closeups of her face, with those big soulful eyes. Robert Taylor was also in his prime, and made a very handsome groom.

This is a lovely 1930s film (1936 so not a pre-Code, despite some elements sneaked past the censors), with one of the most beautifully shot romances of cinema in this era.Both stars - Loretta Young and Robert Taylor - are of course radiant on screen, and the plot is sweet, never getting overly melodramatic. It's also reasonably plausible for film plots of this era (divorce lawyers may have some bones to pick with the court scene, but for a lay audience, it's fine).At the end of the film it turns out that Loretta Young's character is supposed to be 17. That's possibly the least plausible aspect, since she looks and comes across as far more sophisticated - she was 22/23 when she filmed this.The supporting cast are wonderful here too: others have commented on Basil Rathbone's sinister and villainous butler, but Patsy Kelly deserves a mention as the sparky friend.Very enjoyable and lovely to watch.

Although Private Number is nowhere near as gritty as Midnight Mary, it is beautifully photographed (Fox Movie Channel's print is lovely), and Loretta Young is almost as gorgeous here as she was in that awesome precode classic, certainly more beautiful than she was in the 1940's favorites The Bishop's Wife and The Farmer's Daughter.Loretta looks especially beautiful with Robert Taylor in Private Number; they make a gorgeous couple. Did they ever have a romance off screen? They looked perfectly suited to one another physically.Favorite scenes take place up at a lake in Maine, although I can't understand why Loretta's character leaves her friend the maid's character (played with pizazz by Patsy Kelly) alone naked on the shore (friend had lost bathing suit in the water). Loretta, instead of helping her, takes off with Robert Taylor's character on his boat, abandoning her friend. I'd never do that to my friend!. In fact that was the most annoying thing to me about the film: Patsy Kelly was always supporting Loretta and Loretta never did anything to repay her.Basil Rathbone was downright scary as the butler. He was colder and more frightening here than he was with Greta Garbo in Anna Karenina, and that's saying a lot! I like the way Loretta shudders in the beginning after she first meets the butler. It made me laugh. Listen to your instincts, girl, leave! But no, she's coaxed into staying by Patsy Kelly's character, Gracie.Monroe Owsley has a small but impressive role as James Coakley, a weak scoundrel on the make. He was to die only a year later after a car crash. Jane Darwell and Billy Bevan put in appearances as servants. Marjorie Gateson did well in the role of Robert Taylor's mother. Also worthy of note is the beautiful large dog, Prince, played by "Hamlet". I would love to have an affectionate dog like that! I wonder who his trainer was? He was adorable. When he puts his paw up on Loretta at one point to comfort her, I sighed "Awwwwww!" 8 out of 10 stars.

I caught this movie on FOX . I love these old flicks. Lorreta Young plays a maid working for the woman of the house. You know there is going to be a problem because in the beginning Young runs into this man and they flirt with each other. It turns out he is the son of her employer. In the meantime we meet the Basil Rathborn character who plays the Butler, the supervisor of the staff. It doesn't take long for us to see what kind of weasel he is. You see he is pocketing part of the checks of the staff. One poor guy asks if he can not take any money out for one week because of a family problem, the weasel tells him no. But as soon as the Lortta Young character comes to get her pay we see he fancies her and is willing to help her. She goes out with a fellow maid played by Patsy Kely the sense and brains of the movie. THey go to meet a date and trouble ensues when one gets in a fight. Lorreta Youngs purse gets swiped and she is without any money to get home. The man who swiped her wallet offers to help her. They end up going to his "grandmas" some house of ill repute. ANother raid happens she gets arrested and calls the weasel to bail her out. He does..BIG MISTAKE. She goes to Maine with the family for the summer and she and the son fall in love and secretly get married. Here lies the problem the weasel is mad because Young rejected him so he has another girlfriend. He finds out about Young being pregnant and tells her employer. They are shocked to find out it is the sons kid. The mother seems pretty cool it is the father that is the real bastard. The mother likes Loreta Young only when the WEASLE tells the secret about him bailing her out does the mother get alarmed. Now the family thinks she is just a floozy looking for money and soon the son believes it too. She has the baby and seems to be doing well until Gracie, her maid friend, who quit when she heard her employers talking bad about Young shows her a newspaper about her being a gold digger. After she gets served with divorce papers. They begin a war now. Fire with Fire. I am not going to tell the end. All Iam going to say is that we get the usual march in time newspaper headlines and there is a trial. This is a good role for Lorreta Young and a very young Robert Taylor as the son. Basil Rathborn plays the perfect weasel and Patsy Kelly plays a friend we all would love to have. She is loyal and even risks her job for her friend. She sticks with her after she has the baby and gets her a lawyer and tells her to fight..her kid is being called bastards now. Patsy brings along her crazy friends for the ride. She is the star of the movie IMHO. Very good movie wish I could get on DVD. Also Lorreta Young is suppose to be 17 she looks around 27 This is a movie made after code but I am very surprised.