Chance at Heaven

If you ever wanted to examine a case study of what it was like to be a contract player at RKO in the early 1930s, check out Chance at Heaven (CAH). Ginger Rogers had just made her breakout movie Flying Down to Rio with Fred Astaire. Both of their roles supported featured players Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond, but Astaire-Rogers are the actors who are best remembered from that film today. Their dance routine of The Carioca is the principal reason why Flying Down to Rio is recalled at all now. It was sensational!

What does RKO do to showcase Rogers as an emerging star who had just completed a hit movie? They immediately cast her in a relatively thankless part as Joel McCrea's long suffering martyr of a girl friend in CAH! The character Rogers plays is so good--so understanding---so generous in her self-sacrifice---that it defies belief and almost becomes a complete caricature. When she loses McCrea to ditzy rich girl Marian Nixon, we are asked to accept as perfectly normal that Rogers is willing to morph into a glorified domestic servant---and thrives at essentially becoming their "door mat.." Rogers had a naturally charming and often spirited screen personality that remained totally invisible in CAH. What a pity!

While Rogers, McCrea and Nixon gave the film their best effort, in the end---they were severely challenged by the overly familiar storyline and its many cliches. In the case of Ginger Rogers, she would have to labor at RKO for one more year and make five more undistinguished movies before she and Astaire starred in their seminal musical The Gay Divorcee and thus attained screen immortality.

The Studio System provided an excellent basis for neophyte performers to develop necessary skills and achieve interesting and popular screen personalities. They often went from one unsatisfactory part to another, and had little to say about the process. It often produced frustration and disappointment--but a contract was a contract! Out of all this stress occasionally emerged some truly unique movie talent. Particularly in the case of Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea---both went on from the rather inconsequential CAH to become movie stars of the first rank---and accordingly reached major success with top notch careers. As the saying goes---the longest journey begins with the first step (even if it is a minor one)!

Caught this on TCM this morning - a bit disturbing, really, considering the light-hearted tone in the early going. A poor sap mechanic (McCrea) is stolen from his girlfriend (Ginger Rogers) by a wealthy heiress. Can a marriage involving such a gap in class succeed?

Although McCrea and Rogers are charming enough to watch, there are some upsetting elements in this yarn that would be readily discernible by modern audiences: hence, I assume that the screenplay slightly pre-dates the crackdown of the Production Code. However, you might find the movie interesting if you like to delve into the evolution of 'mature subject material' during this era. TCM has championed this pastime. 6/10

Small-town mechanic Joel McCrea keeps putting off marrying his sweetheart Ginger Rogers. Then flighty rich girl Marian Nixon shows up at Joel's gas station and he drops Ginger for her. Disappointing drama about how the grass looks greener on the other side or some such. The characters are poorly written, especially McCrea's. Ginger isn't the right fit for her role. Yes she could play wholesome girl next door types but here she's a doormat. Also, it's hard for me to buy any guy who has Ginger Rogers looking for someone else. On the plus side, one of the little things I love about watching older movies is soaking up all the pieces of history on display. The clothes, the cars, the architecture -- it's all pretty fascinating to me. In this movie, for example, I really enjoyed seeing the old gas station with the pumps and stuff. This isn't a very good movie but it's watchable due to the actors' personalities transcending their crappy parts.

Chance at Heaven is a 71 minute shortie from RKO with Marge ( Ginger Rogers) and Blacky (Joel McCrae), as the young locals in love. Rogers made all those dance flicks with Fred Astaire, while McCrae is mostly known for his Westerns. These two would also make Primrose Path together in 1940. Blacky runs a gas station, and flirts with Marge, planning the future, at least until Glory (Marian Nixon)comes along, then the showdown begins.....Look for Andy Devine and his raspy voice as the slightly slow but love-able co-worker. He's along for the comedy. Too bad they didn't give him a few more lines - he could have zinged things up a little more. The girls are remarkably cordial to each other, in light of the situation. They sure cram a lot into 71 minutes, dealing with some heavy issues for 1933. The Hays film code would start being enforced the next year, 1934. Fun film, with a serious plot of love between the classes, plus some comedy on the side for seasoning.

A small-town mechanic (Joel McCrea) leaves his girlfriend (Ginger Rogers) for an heiress (Marian Nixon).

An early role for Ginger, Chance at Heaven is an enjoyable little bauble, coming in at just over 70 minutes. Ginger doesn't get much to do, but is very good as always, while Joel McCrea is a competent leading man. Marian Nixon is good as the heiress; however, her character is so scatterbrained it makes Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey look like Einstein!

The film itself is a little depressing, and it's hard to sympathize with McCrea because his character is such a sap. There's also a thinly veiled reference to abortion, one of the worst screen mothers in history and Andy Devine as McCrea's friend. Overall, it's nothing very memorable, but it's enjoyable.