Pick-up

It's exciting. It's original. It's crazy but believable. It's beautifully made and like most of Vina Delmar's popular novels, it's the woman who's the hero.

Sylvia Sidney is fabulous in this, she's perfect as the utterly likeable, intelligent and passionate protagonist determined to get what she wants. What she wants is respectability, security ....and George Raft. What she doesn't want is her violent, criminal husband coming back into her life. That unfortunately is exactly what she gets. What she also doesn't want is her boyfriend being seduced by Lilian Bond's sexy society 'it girl' but he's only human and she's Lilian Bond - literally throwing herself at him. It becomes obvious to Sylvia Sidney that Bond is simply using him as a sexual plaything. This is not something George Raft perceives because he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Some people have criticised George Raft for acting like a wooden plank in this but that's exactly what his character needs to be. He's not the lead player in this picture. He is the equivalent of the good looking airhead, the sexy bimbo. The male- female roles are cleverly switched. Like with her fabulous film which made her famous, BAD GIRL, Vina Delmar has written a story from the female perspective. It's Sydney who is calling the shots, it's her who is controlling the narrative, it's her who turns Raft into a success, into what she wants him to be. This isn't quite an early feminist anthem but her star is a strong woman which is exciting and refreshing to see in an early 30s movie.

The court case at the end by the way is both jaw droppingly stupid but also absolutely brilliant - it's got to be seen to be believed.

It's not quite a classic but overall, despite Sylvia Sidney perpetually looking like her cat's just been run over, it's a very positive, uplifting and thoroughly entertaining picture.

Sylvia Sidney had the unique ability to present herself as both vulnerable and tough as brass, and never more so than here. She is such a sympathetic character from the very first scene. Her Mary/Molly is no nonsense yet idealistic.

Happily paired with George Raft as Harry, she is touching and involving throughout. Harry is an underachieving cab driver who is "satisfied" with the his low-rent life. It is amusing to watch her shove him up the ladder of success even when he does not necessarily see what she's doing.

Because Mary is still married to a con she's afraid to divorce, she and Harry must live together, allowing others to assume they are married. The script does not blanch at this, nor at the heavy sexual aggressiveness of the rich gal who goes after Harry.

Raft, of course, is gorgeous as usual, but here plays rather less worldly and more gullible than is usual for him. Harry's been around the block a few times, but can always get suckered.

Well worth watching, and a nice warm-up for Raft and Sydney's later hookup "You and Me."

Just released from prison (her husband, to whom she is bitter for getting her involved in a badger game that had resulted in a suicide, still behind bars), a woman with no place to go and caught in the rain takes refuge in the back of a taxi. The cabbie, at first ordering her out of his hack, then relents and lets her come back to his place for the night. Things will slowly develop between them in this Paramount programmer.

Sylvia Sidney and George Raft star, and their presences are the chief distinctions of this fairly ordinary Depression era romance about a pair of people living on the edge. There's more involved in the story than that, of course. Sidney keeps her true identity and prison time a secret, though she eventually acknowledges to Raft that she is married. Getting a divorce would only cause undue publicity though she doesn't open up about exactly what that publicity would be. Raft, who loves her by this time, doesn't press the issue.

Complications arise from Raft meeting a free spirited society girl (Lillian Bond) who wants to use him as her play thing, and, even more so, Sidney's jealous, possessive former husband (she does manage a divorce, after all), played by William Harrigan, who gets released from prison and starts looking for her.

The film has a cute scene in which Raft is eating a meal prepared for him by Sidney. He only wants ketchup on his "he-man" food, he informs her, but she sprinkles some mushroom sauce on his steak. He tries it. "Well?" she asks. "It's great," he says, "Give me the ketchup."

I wondered about a few aspects of the film, though. In the next to opening scene when Sidney is in the warden's office for her final instructions before release there is a hard boiled newspaper reporter there talking to her, as well. The reporter gets on the warden's phone and calls in a report on Sidney's release right from that spot, his loud voice even interrupting the warden's conversation with the about-to-be-released inmate. What kind of media courting prison warden is this, I thought?

Later in the film, after Raft starts his own garage business and he and Sidney are doing a little better, they hire a maid (Lousie Beavers in an unbilled role) for their still modest apartment. A maid? They don't appear to be doing that well. Raft appears to be doing much of the garage work himself (still wearing a fedora, by the way, don't ask me why). Beavers, a likable actress, doesn't have much to do in her typical role as a domestic. She would soon, at least, get a better role and billing at the studio in Imitation of Life, one of the box office hits of 1934.

This was the first of three films that co-starred Sidney and Raft (the others being You and Me and Mr. Ace). Pick-up is watchable but there are no surprises. A party scene at Lillian Bond's house seems like unnecessary padding. The film does, at least, benefit from a sensitive performance by Sidney. Raft is still developing as an actor but he has screen presence.

Working-class couple Sylvia Sidney and George Raft meet cute, get together after initial misunderstanding, then move in together and start a successful small business. Pretty standard fare so far, except they can't marry because she still has a no-good husband sitting in prison. Then a spoiled society dame sets her cap for Raft.

What's perhaps most interesting is Raft's character, a working-class guy who's happy with his job and his life and doesn't even try to "take advantage" of Sidney when they first meet and they're down and out. In fact his chief concern is that she not turn out to be a "pick-up" which in this film seems to mean "woman of easy virtue" or worse. "Lovable" does not often spring to mind in describing Raft but in this case it fits both stars.

Anyway things build to an exciting climax and a resolution, as is often the case with pre-coders, that is not quite what you expect.

When the story begins, Mary (Sylvia Sidney) is getting out of prison. It seems her husband led her astray and she's determined not to make that mistake again and live the straight and narrow. During a rain storm, she meets Harry (George Raft) and things are looking up for her. But her ex- isn't about to let go of her...and while he's in prison, he's making plans for the two of them

In the meantime, Mary wants to see Harry make more of himself and thinks that he's just settling with his job. Harry is happy to just be a cab driver. Well, Mary is determined to help him be more...and manipulates him nicely to get him to work his way up in life. But without a marriage....how long can she hold on to him...especially when another woman seems very interested in him? And, what's next for this unusual couple?

This film is a good example of a Pre-Code film. For example, early in the film, Mary needs a place to stay and Harry lets her stay with him in his apartment...something you just wouldn't have seen after the tough Production Code was implemented in mid-1934. Additionally, later the two live as husband and wife, as she tells him she's married but isn't planning on getting a divorce...again, something they wouldn't have allowed in this film had it been made a year later. And, finally, there is a woman who is trying to take Harry away from Mary...and Murial isn't afraid to chase after Harry and is very aggressive..describing herself as 'wicked'! Again, something you probably wouldn't have seen during the Code era. In the Code era, women were NOT supposed to be so aggressive nor enjoy a little hanky-panky! This lady clearly enjoys having a good time and has no interest in marriage!

So is that any good? Yes. Sidney in particular is quite charming and does a nice job here. As for Raft, he's not the same sort of guy you'd see in later films....his character is less sure of himself and a bit dim compared to his other movies. As for the plot, well, it's a bit tough to believe where all this goes...but it IS very entertaining and never dull.