I Like Your Nerve (1931)

Simply A Masterpiece

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Loose-structured little First National comedy is worth watching for its leads, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young, who appeared together several times and were always charming. She's an heiress in a Central American mythical country who's being forced to marry an old coot to pay off a debt, and is sidelined by Doug, an American adventurer whose behavior now looks aggressive and uncharming, but at the time was considered attractive American hi jinx. It's a William Haines sort of character, meddlesome and trickstering, but folks took it for appealing back then. And he certainly makes it as appealing as possible. Boris Karloff turns up spouting butler lines, and some nice Ernest Haller compositions make it look more expensive than it is. A time waster, but an attractive one, with two young stars who know how to look and know what they're doing.

Off to seek his fortune in South America, adventure-seeking scholar Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (as Larry O'Brien) cuts loose with alcohol and fast cars. This lands Mr. Fairbanks in jail, but confirmed bachelor pal Claude Allister (as Archie Lester) helps get him off. Next, a freed Fairbanks sights luscious Loretta Young (as Diane Forsythe) looking model-perfect under a parasol. Fairbanks wants Ms. Young, but she is engaged to wealthy old Edmund Breon (as Clive Lattimer), who has trouble keeping his bowel movements regular. Young's step-father Henry Kolker (as Areal Pacheco) has arranged the May-December marriage. Papa acts like John Barrymore. It all leads to kidnapping. The butler Boris Karloff (as Luigi) didn't do it, or did he...**** I Like Your Nerve (9/12/31) William McGann ~ Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Loretta Young, Henry Kolker, Claude Allister

I Like Your Nerve (1931) * 1/2 (out of 4)Far fetched, unromantic and unfunny romantic comedy has Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in a Latin country where he falls in love with Loretta Young even though she's to be married to another man. Several words like boring, insane and stupid come to mind when I think about this film, which is a major disappointment considering the talent involved. Boris Karloff has a small role as a butler.Loretta Young is my favorite actress but this is certainly one of her lesser films.

Just recently I was able to tape this wonderful film classic and enjoyed the great talents of Douglas Fairbanks Jr.,"Sinbad The Sailor" '47, when he was very very young as (Larry O'Brien) and enjoyed the funny romantic advances Larry played in order to keep Loretta Young (Diane, "The Bishops Wife"'47, from marrying a very horrible old man. There was a great deal of great comedy in this film and if you looked real close you would see an UGLY butler called Boris Karloff just starting out before his great "Frankenstein Film" debut. This great film classic lets future generations see the natural beauty of great film stars like Loretta Young and the great talents of Douglas Fairbanks Jr., who followed in his fathers FOOTSTEPS !