Swing Your Lady

Sometimes actors are displeased with films for purely personal reasons. Harrison Ford positively hates Blade Runner (1982). Bogart disliked this one for his own reasons. But consider how few comedy films Bogart was cast in. His talent there was ignored in favor of the money-reaping tough guy roles, but his performance here is just cracking. Nat Pendleton (usually cast as the lunkhead tough guy cop) gets a deserved near-star turn as the lovesick wrestler with a childlike innocence. Penny Singleton (sometimes billed as Dorothy McNulty) gets to show a variety of talents that she only got to hint at in After The Thin Man (1936). With comedy, musical numbers, and character roles galore, this film is a great treat.

The main reason for my enjoying this flick is the ending. I was feeling a bit emotional today and was happy with the outcome of the film. I actually sat through all those songs that were performed throughout the film (and I detest most musical stuff). I think the best facet of this film was Louise Fazenda. She just tickled me with the way she presented herself and she was big in Mack Sennet films of yore. She just did everything asked of her without any problems. Bogie seemed totally our of school here, being pushed around physically and really over acting some of his situations. One the whole, for 1938, it could see why some people would see this to escape their every day drudge. I just finished reading a bio of Bogart and felt that he was just thrown in because Warner Bros. could do so. He showed up, did his shtick and went home.

I will just start by saying this was a funny and cute movie.

It stars Humphery Bogart as a Wrestling promoter who was come to the Ozarks with his wrestler Joe. Joe,a loveable dim-wit, has been entered into an exhibition match with the local Amazon,and black smith. Miss Sadie Horn, to whom Ed (Bogart) has instructed him not to meet untill the day of the match.

All things change when one evening Joe is out running and stumbles over Miss Horn working. He falls hopelessly in love with her and she is quite smitten by him. Much to the dis-may of her Beau,Noah.

The comedy insues,with this very odd triangle, and witty dialogue. a must see by all classic movie viewers.

My favorite line from this movie is:

(Joe is holding a horseshoe that Sadie gave him for luck)

Joe: (rubbing the horseshoe and looking very sad)

Man: what is he doing?

Ed: I don't know...maybe he saving up for a horse.

Ed Hatch (Humphrey Bogart) manages dim-witted wrestler Joe Skopapoulos. He discovers local strong hick Sadie Horn and comes up with an unusual match. Joe falls for her and refuses to fight. Ed uses all his underhanded lies to gin up another fight.

This is not necessarily for Bogie fans unless you're a completist. It's a musical comedy about rural wrestling with a strong woman. I don't find it that funny although I like most of the characters. Bogie is fine but it's not enough. I like the idea of wrestling Sadie but the movie turns away from that. I don't think it's as bad as advertised but that's not high praise.

Six stars. And that's rounded up. Why? Because Bogart could play anything and make it work (as long as a New York accent is okay). Even a crappy part like Ed Hatch in a crappy movie like this. And because, for all the absurdity of her character, Louise Fazenda also turned in a good performance. Everything else was strictly B-movie stuff. Including a 77 minute run-time that devoted at least 15 of those minutes to four over the top musical production numbers that were designed to make fun of the country hicks. In fact another real problem is that the tone of the film wobbles drunkenly between sneering at the yokels and code-approved "love conquers all" stuff. I won't go into the plot. Suffice to say it is a rural screw-ball comedy that is as ridiculous as the production can make it. But one final word of praise: When Penny Singleton showed up, I HATED her part. She comes in as another witless, annoying harridan. But then she got to do her song-and-dance stuff. And, as absurdly over-the-top as the material was, she was absolutely the real deal as a song-and-dance girl.

Bogart is my favorite actor. That's why I dug this one up. And it was probably a relief for him to get to play something other than a gangster in 1937. He also got to be the nominal star of the film. Pretty rare, at that point in his career. By my count, this was his 24th film. I've seen 18 of those, and Bogie was in the star in four of them. So I'm guessing he jumped at the chance for a starring role, even in a crappy B-movie comedy. If you're a HUGE Bogart fan, you should watch this. Otherwise, take a pass. 31 July 2024.