And Sudden Death

One thing you can't say about And Sudden Death. That Randolph Scott does not take his job seriously as a traffic officer. Most every cop I've ever known regards that as a duty to move out of, but Scott seems to have found a home in the traffic division.

Scott plays the officer in charge of a big city's traffic division and while giving a ticket to department store heiress Frances Drake he notices her and is attracted, but duty comes first. When the judge orders Drake to his traffic school Randy decides to get better acquainted. She's seeing automobile speeding in a new light, but her younger brother Tom Brown won't change his ways. That ends up in tragedy.

And Sudden Death has some good features, it was interesting to see how traffic enforcement was handled in 1936. But the film truly played like one of MGM's Crime Does Not Pay short subjects just given a dose of cinematic yeast. It's a sincere effort to address a growing social problem as America was only one generation into the automobile age, but sadly got way too melodramatic.

Years ago, my daughter used the term 'sledgehammer symbolism' when she was referring to a movie she watched. I asked her what she meant and she indicated that the movie she watched wasn't very good because too often it hit the viewer over the head with the same message and there was no subtlety at all. The film drove the point home so hard and so artlessly that she called it a film with sledgehammer symbolism. This term came to mind as I watched "And Sudden Death"...a film I should have loved but found its message had zero subtlety...none. And it is a shame, as I usually love Randolph Scott movies.

The story begins with an obnoxious and entitled rich lady (Frances Drake) driving 72 in a 30 mile per hour zone. When she's stopped, she is not just ticketed but brought in to face the Lieutenant (Scott) because it was her fourth ticket that month. He gave her a stern talking to and sent her to traffic school. Later, the lady's brother is drunk driving and kills a kid and injures many others in a bus. She, however, is thought to be behind the wheel and she is on trial for vehicular homicide. Will the truth come out eventually AND is her budding relationship with the Lieutenant doomed?

In addition to repeatedly hitting the viewer over the head that reckless driving is bad, the film also has a huge logical problem. Why would the woman let herself go on trial for vehicular homicide and NOT tell anyone she was not driving the car?! Why let her drunk brother get off scott free and risk a lengthy prison sentence?! In other words, why would anyone WANT to take the rap for this obnoxious little coward! It just didn't make sense...and the viewer doesn't care very much because she is reprehensible as well as her brother.

...Randolph Scott played the likable every man in films such as this. Here he plays Police Lt. James Knox, a traffic cop who is out to make an impression on drivers that speed kills. Now you might roll your eyes at such an obvious statement today, but back when the country and the roads were much less crowded and the common man owning an automobile was a trend that was only 10-15 years old, being consistent about traffic enforcement was still a bit of a novelty in many places.

Knox's attempt at cracking down on speeders immediately runs afoul of fast driving heiress Betty Winslow (Frances Drake). As a repeat offender she is ordered to traffic school - also a novelty in 1936. It is interesting to see that the syllabus for such a class hasn't changed in 75 years. Here the students get a lecture about facts and figures regarding speeding and to drive the point home, a trip to the morgue. At this point Betty has a change of heart, takes a less nasty tone with Knox, and they soon become friends on the path to becoming more than that.

After a day of fun, Betty separates from Knox as she must drive her drunken brother home. Knox is taken back to town by another couple. The next time Knox sees Betty is about an hour later in a professional role. Her car has hit a bus load of kids and there is a casualty among them - the son of Knox' best friend who also happens to be the officer that arrested Betty for speeding the first time. How will this turn out? Find a copy of this rare old film and find out.

Also of historical interest is seeing how car inspection was done in 1936. The police just set up checkpoints and see if any cars are particularly not sea-worthy. Other than that they have no way of knowing - annual state inspections of automobiles were still 10 years away in most states.

This film has a pretty predictable plot and none of the players are big names except for Scott, but I think it will hold your interest as it moves at a fast clip and packs a lot of story in its short 67 minute running time.