Unter vier Augen

A bland title disguises this solidly-carpentered example of old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment, this film proves a largely successful hodgepodge of several disparate elements: a period piece, a romantic drama, a crime movie and a political thriller. Interestingly, though made by Fox, its protagonists – Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck – were both usually associated with other studios; their on screen chemistry here is palpable and eventually led to marriage in a couple of years' time. While a bit too young, Taylor is a dashing hero (a Marine personally appointed by President McKinley to uncover the culprits behind an organized clean-up of numerous banks); unsurprisingly, no sooner has he tracked them down (led by smooth Brian Donlevy and thuggish Victor McLaglen) that he falls for a chanteuse (naturally, Stanwyck) who has thrown her lot with the gang – although, truth be told, singing is far from being the actress' forte! Similarly, apart from having to prove his worth to make it into their fold, he has to vie with McLaglen for Stanwyck's attentions; by the way, the practical joker persona of the former reminded me a lot of Charley Chase in SONS OF THE DESERT (1933) which, incidentally, was likewise directed by William A. Seiter. Later on, Taylor is in two minds about involving Stanwyck in the impending bait and tries to offer his resignation to the President while eloping with the girl – but the jealous rival disrupts his plans. The robbery gone awry, we find Donlevy dead and the other two in jail; Taylor's hopes for McKinley's intervention – having meanwhile learned the identity of the elusive and obviously prominent 'inside man' – are seemingly dashed when the President winds up assassinated himself (a great plot twist, though the resulting eleventh-hour suspense feels contrived)! To get back to the film's jumble of styles, even if the vaudeville sequences are a matter of taste, the romantic triangle slows things up and it skimps somewhat on the thriller aspect, this emerges a handsome production indeed – with the actors already mentioned ably supported by the likes of John Carradine (who unaccountably disappears after just one scene!), Douglas Fowley, Sig Rumann and, as two American Presidents, Sidney Blackmer (the bubbly Theodore Roosevelt) and Frank Conroy (McKinley).

The script is not too logical, there are many blank spaces here, but the story is good, and it gets exciting towards the end. Barbara Stanwyck is the star here as always, and although a singer of the same parenthesis category as Marlene Dietrich, her acting is superb and totally convincing all the way as usual. Robert Taylor makes one of his first roles as a totally honest gentleman who gets into trouble and has a hard time getting out of it, while Victor McLaglen is the only fun here who constantly has hearty laughs at his own practical jokes on others, even when he is shortly to be hanged. Brian Donleavy plays a sympathetic gangster, while the main attraction and merits of the film are all the wonderfully recreated musical numbers of that time around 1901, when President William McKinley was shot and Theodore Roosevelt entered the White House - he is convincing enough and has a few scenes. The film is great entertainment and reaches some levels of excitement, so it is by all means worth watching.

1937's "This is My Affair" is remembered as the only costarring effort for lovebirds Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck (they wed in 1939), a diverting espionage tale if a tad overlong (working titles included "Living Dangerously," "Private Enemy," "The McKinley Case," "The Turn of the Century," and even "My Affair"). Taylor's Richard Perry is asked by President William McKinley to work undercover infiltrating a tricky band of bank robbers led by Batiste Duryea (Brian Donlevy), who miraculously avoid leaving any clues behind for the Secret Service. Perry allows himself to be charged for murder to get on the good side of prankster Jock Ramsey (Victor McLaglen), but his activities are frowned upon by pretty chanteuse Lil Duryea (Barbara Stanwyck), younger sister of mastermind Batiste. A terrific cast buoys this one considerably, with John Carradine in for one extended sequence as Ed, unassuming pigeon for Ramsey's tricks, and an unbilled Lon Chaney spotted as an FBI agent at the 72 minute mark, with a single line in a Baltimore bank: "this one's dead as a mackerel!" By an ironic twist of fate, Chaney and Carradine would both go on to enjoy parallel careers in the horror genre, here cast in the same film for the very first time, 12 more to follow until 1967's "Hillbillys in a Haunted House."

Did anyone watching this movie wonder if President McKinley got assassinated, because of his secret attempt to unmask one of his confidantes as the kingpin of a crime syndicate? It's a question that was left unexplored here, because, I take it, Americans of the thirties never saw the event as anything but the act of a lone fanatic instead of as a conspiracy. After all, audiences were still recovering from the aftermath of a Depression, and the movies of the time were more concerned with stamping out the Little Caesars and Duke Santees of the day than uncovering political corruption. Allan Rivkin ("The Farmer's Daughter") wrote an interesting story about a naval officer (Robert Taylor) who, in secret correspondence with McKinley, uncovers the linchpin behind a wave of bank robberies in the upper Midwest centered in, of all places, St. Paul, Minnesota. The screenplay gets sanctimonious in the hands of Lamar Trotti, and the script did not inspire William Seiter to more imaginative heights. Brian Donlevy plays the crime boss with his usual menace, while Barbara Stanwyck (of all people) as his half-sister is made to sing (She's barely on-key, like Marlene Dietrich in "The Blue Angel.") and wear big, floppy hats--even in her stage act. The only one I've ever seen on screen who could pull off wearing headgear like these is Mae West, and she was at least in on the joke. Stanwyck, on the other hand, is forced to be unswervingly sincere throughout. Her character Lil and the officer idle on Lake Como and get serious about each other, much to the dismay of Victor MacLaglen who's Donlevy's sidekick, prone to playing practical jokes, and thinks he has it in with her. The acting is uniformly bad; I guess Stanwyck and Taylor were too much in love at the time to care. The story deserved better than this. A secret only you and the President share you would think should take precedence over run-of-the mill movie romance. Unless it involves a cigar and a stained dress...

In 1937 Darryl Zanuck, who had recently moved from head of production at Warner Brothers, was trying to get his newly created company, 20th Century Fox off the ground and on a level playing field with his old bosses at Warners and the glitter palace at MGM. "This Is My Affair" was an attempt to cash in on the current success of historical films set around the turn of the century ("San Francisco" "In Old Chicago")and in retrospect he succeeded quite mightily. The plot is fascinating. A trouble maker but heroic naval officer (Robert Taylor) is given a secret assignment by President McKinley to uncover a ring of bank robbers that are paralyzing American finance. He finds the gang but falls in love with their female mascot (Barbara Stanwyck) and must decide between love and duty.

Not everything about this vintage film works well, but overall it is a good slice of studio film-making. The plot gimmick would be borrowed by Kurt Vonnegut for "Mother Night" (the lead role of that film of the book was played brilliantly by Nick Nolte) and seems quite believable, at least within the confides of studio make believe. As a fan of old movies I am always thrilled when I stumble upon one that I have never seen and "This is my Affair" was no exception.