I've Got Your Number

If you know who Warren William, Marian Davies or Archie Mayo were, then there's two facts about you: 1. Your taste in movies is not the same as everyone else and 2. You will quite enjoy this film. If you have no idea who those people are then you're either not over 130 years old or don't spend your time watching pre-code Warner Brothers b-movies......and will probably find this film a bit of a nothing.

Even for those of us who watch these types of movies, this is nothing special but it's got that familiar type of 'nothing special' which some of us have just got used to. Like smoking, you just get into the habit of watching nonsense like this. You watch the same people turn up and do the same stuff in all these types of film, they're almost like your extended dysfunctional family - you feel connected. I've Gone Your Number is not one of the best but it's still an hour and a bit of fun, silliness, suspense, sexism and wisecracks.

Why is it not one of the best?

You will wonder why Pat O'Brien isn't James Cagney because surely he'd do it better. Pat O'Brien could swagger it as well as Cagney but he's very much a second best choice. Although his character is meant to be a lad-about-town, even for 1934, he comes across as quite an unpleasant bully. These days, his 'courtship' of Joan Blondell wouldn't result in a romantic kiss but several months in jail.

Joan Blondell doesn't stretch her acting skills too much in this, indeed she's very much just the passenger. She's always trying to do the right thing but gets taken advantage of - we would rather see her in control, not just a helpless damsel in distress.

Even though she was not well when filming this, she is still the usual sparky, wisecracking, gorgeous and compassionate dame you expect. Whatever she's in, she guarantees to make you smile. Us twelve year old boys who were born in 1920 should be grateful that the censors failed to remove one little scene at the end, that's of Joan leaning over the bed in a very low cut negligee - golly! This scene was actually filmed at Joan's own home - she was recovering from an operation so too Ill to go to the studio. Even having a major operation was no excuse for slacking if you worked for Warner Brothers!

A harried switchboard operator & a ditzy medium get involved with a couple of brash telephone repairmen & a dangerous gang of thieves...

I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER was the sort of ephemeral comic frippery which the Hollywood studios produced almost without effort during the 1930's. Well made & highly enjoyable, Depression audiences couldn't seem to get enough of these popular, funny photo dramas.

Joan Blondell & Glenda Farrell are perfectly cast as the fast -talking female leads. Although Joan gets both top billing and the romantic scenes, - and they share no screen time together in this early pairing - both gals are as talented & watchable as they are gorgeous.

Pat O'Brien, obnoxiously cocky & self assured, appears as Blondell's persistent suitor. Whether tapping wires or tackling crooks, he is equally jaunty. Behind him comes a small parade of character actors - Allen Jenkins, Eugene Pallette, Henry O'Neill, Hobart Cavanaugh, Louise Beavers - all equally adept at delighting an audience.

Much of the dialogue & plot development indicates this film made it just under the wire before the imposition of the Production Code.

While never stars of the first rank, Joan Blondell (1906-1979) & Glenda Farrell (1904-1971) enlivened scores of films at Warner Bros. throughout the 1930's, especially the eight in which they appeared together. Whether playing gold diggers or working girls, reporters or secretaries, these blonde & brassy ladies were very nearly always a match for whatever leading man was lucky enough to share equal billing alongside them. With a wisecrack or a glance, their characters showed they were ready to take on the world - and any man in it. Never as wickedly brazen as Paramount's Mae West, you always had the feeling that, tough as they were, Blondell & Farrell used their toughness to defend vulnerable hearts ready to break over the right guy. While many performances from seven decades ago can look campy or contrived today, these two lovely ladies are still spirited & sassy.

I've Got Your Number (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely entertaining gem from Warner about phone repairman Terry Riley (Pat O'Brien) who falls for a beautiful blonde (Joan Blondell) but soon gets caught up in a robbery. I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER turns into a crime picture for the final fifteen-minutes but the rest of the running time is basically a romantic comedy and it's a very good one at that. I think it's pretty clear that the egotistical maniac, fast talking lead character was meant to be played by James Cagney but for whatever reason he didn't do the part so O'Brien stepped in. It seems whenever the Cagney-O'Brien team couldn't do a picture, the studio gave the lead to O'Brien and then they'd bring in either Allen Jenkins (as they did here) or Frank McHugh. O'Brien and Jenkins makes for a very good pair as the two work well off one another and make for a highly entertaining and very fast little picture. The two of them can mix it up extremely well and Jenkins certainly manages to bring a lot of laughs. Blondell is also very good in her role as she's certainly easy on the eye but she also manages to make you believe her in the part. Glenda Farrell has a brief but very funny part as a fake psychic and we also get a good supporting performance by the always entertaining Eugene Palette. There are countless highlights to this film but I think the greatest thing are the various pre-code elements with most of them dealing with sex. O'Brien's character, in today's world, would be called a stalker or sexual harasser because of the way he talks to women, pretty much follows them and forces them to go out with him. It's certainly played for jokes here and it gets plenty of laughs especially one scene early on where two sexually charged women invite him into the house and all sorts of innuendo is thrown around. These pre-code sex jokes are without question hilarious and help keep this film moving at a great pace.

While I must admit that I enjoyed watching "I've Got Your Number", I must also admit that the film had serious flaws. First off, Pat O'Brien's character was a real pig--a sexual harassing jerk. Second, the plot was a bit silly.

This film begins with O'Brien working as a telephone repair man. He is good at his job but he's also a pig--and sexually harasses his clients repeatedly. With one woman, he slaps her on the behind. With another (Joan Blondell), he's a bit of a stalker--a guy who won't accept 'no' for an answer. Back in 1934, he might have been seen as a cute fellow--today he would have been arrested! And, true to the ridiculous attitudes of the day, he was the hero--a guy who really was NOT very heroic. To make it worse, after sexually harassing Bondell repeatedly, she responded by falling in love with the guy!!! Today, it's a seriously screwed up relationship to say the least.

Overall, this is a film that IS enjoyable but also seriously flawed and stupid. Worth seeing if you love classic Hollywood--otherwise it might just seem trivial and silly.

.. like Joan's dependable sassiness and some funny bits from Allen Jenkins, but this isn't a DVD I'd put under anyone's Christmas tree. The plot, very briefly, revolves around Joan as a switchboard operator who is used (more than once) to help someone else commit a crime, and Pat O'Brien is a phone line repairman who (separately) becomes involved with her.

O'Brien's character is a sleaze, to say the least. We see early on that he treats women like samples in a meat market, but once he sets his sights on Joan, he goes all out, first insulting and bullying her into giving him a tumble, then eventually overturning her dining table so her dinner will be ruined and she'll then let him take her to a restaurant! (I kid not...) Joan gives as good as she gets, of course, but inexplicably, his boorish behavior wears her down and she falls in love with him. Okay, I realize this was made in the 1930s, but really!

As mentioned, I liked Allen Jenkins and his comic moments, one with a bogus palm reader (the great Louise Beavers), another when he's needed to listen in on dirty dealings by phone, and while there is mayhem going on he is there, fast asleep! His frequent delivery of the line, "Let's get outta here!!" in an exasperated voice is funny and doesn't get old.

Thumbs up to Eugene Pallette's performance, too. He sees O'Brien for the worm that he is and isn't shy about expressing it. I'd recommend it mainly for brassy Joan Blondell.