Happiness Ahead

This is one of those films so popular in the 1930's in which a rich person, either intentionally or through coincidence, is mistaken for a person of modest means. As a result of this, the rich person ends up falling in love with a person of actual modest means.

In this case Joan Bradford (Josephine Hutchinson) is a wealthy heiress who is expected to marry a wealthy heir in a manner that resembles a corporate merger more than a romance. On the night that the engagement is to be announced she escapes her parents' mansion and begins walking along the streets of New York City. She goes into a night spot where she meets a group of young people, one of whom is window washing dispatcher Bob Lane (Dick Powell). Bob offers Joan a ride home at the evening's end, and she accepts. She doesn't want Bob to know she is wealthy, so she picks a random boarding house and tells him to drop her off.

Now the problems of the deception begin. Joan has given Bob a fake name - Joan Smith - and Bob is expecting to pick her up for a date in a few days at an address where she does not live. So Joan rents a place there and furnishes it, only showing up on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays right before her dates with Bob, and going back to her real home after he drops her off. She manages to fend off her mother's questions with the help of her sympathetic father (Jack Halliday). However, Joan soon finds she is in love with Bob, and with him talking about the two of them having a future together, she must face how to let him know who she really is without him feel betrayed.

This film is a bit of a departure for Dick Powell's musical films. He is not playing someone with musical abilities who is itching to be discovered. There are no big musical numbers in the film, just Powell singing a few catchy songs. This is a very fun film if you like the Warner Brothers musical comedies from the 1930's.

In every episode of Three's Company, someone tells a fib, it snowballs into bigger problems, and it's all finally resolved in the end. There's the plot of Happiness Ahead, from First National. Rich girl Joan (Jo Hutchinson) doesn't want to marry her assigned boyfriend, so she goes to great lengths to chase blue collar worker "Bob" (Dick Powell) who opens the film by singing "Happiness Ahead". The nasal Allen Jenkins is in here as the butler... we usually see him playing the wisecracking gangsters. Frank McHugh is in here as Tom, for comedy relief. And Jane Darwell (Ma Joad !) is the landlady that clues Bob in to what's going on. Cute little film. Fun little love story. Nothing that will tax the brain... I could have done with less singing numbers, but that's what everyone was doing in those days. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who was six when the big quake hit san francisco. Quite an interesting tale.

"Happiness Ahead" is a title that might lure a citizen into a movie theater during the depression. Dick Powell and Josephine Hutchinson are the couple paired to provide the happiness in this story about an heiress (natch!) who falls for a working stiff.

The story is very basic. Fortunately, Powell (as Bob Lane) has a nifty singing voice, so the script can allow him to vocalize at regular intervals. The happy couple base their relationship on the misunderstanding that Hutchinson (as Joan Bradford)is also a member of the working class--a misunderstanding that she promotes, and that drives the tension of this story, though things are not that tense. Lightheartedness is the order of the day.

Frank McHugh plays Bob's sidekick, whose antics are like a tame version of Curly Howard's--typical for his work. John Halliday plays the aristocratic father of Joan with a light touch that is appealing.

You can guess what happens to the two lovebirds in the end. The film is a pleasant diversion.

Cute little movie with Dick Powell, Frank Mchugh. Any movie Dick Powell sings in is alright with me.

Dick Powell and Josephine Hutchinson star in "Happiness Ahead," a 1934 film featuring John Halliday, Allan Jenkins, Frank McHugh, and directed by Mervyn LeRoy.

This is a typical class system comedy, common in the 1930s, in which a rich girl, Joan Bradford (Hutchinson) poses as a poor one and meets a window washer, Bob Lane (Powell). The usual complications arise.

This film is a cut above, thanks to the beautiful singing of Dick Powell, as well as his boyish charm. Powell became success as a serious actor and producer, so my generation was not familiar with his early persona. He's marvelous, and overall, he was so multi-talented, he's probably underrated today.

Frank McHugh gives a lively performance as Bob's best friend.

What I loved about this movie were some of the prices given -- a New Year's Eve Chinese dinner for four, plus floor show, was $12.00 and was considered "the damage." It took three years for Bob to raise $700; and to start his own business would be $2000. There was also a shot of a suitcase -- everyone had this particular suitcase, beige with brown and white stripes down the middle.

Very enjoyable.