Blame It on Love

"Blame It on Love" is a strange sort of movie. This is because it clocks in at 46 minutes...way too short to be a B-movie. So why was the film so short? Why didn't they pad it another 5-10 minutes to make it a standard B? I had no idea...until it became a commercial for electric ovens! I kid you not!! However, the reason I saw the film is because it offers a look at a young pre-fame Alan Ladd, who appears unbilled as a director.

When the story begins, Terry (Joan Marsh) is a popular singer with a hit song. But as was the custom back in the day, when she fell in love, she was just expected to give up her career and be a housewife. As for her hubby, Jeff (John 'Dusty' King, of B-western fame), he comes from a rich family but wants nothing to do with the family fortune and business and he becomes a struggling aircraft engineer. Unfortunately, their life isn't as great as they anticipated....his job takes up all his time and she is a terrible cook. As a result, their happy marriage is on the skids. Do the pair have any hope of making a go of it?

So, despite a lengthy commercial being tossed into the picture towards the end, is it worth seeing? Yes. It's not exactly brilliant but you do get to see Ladd and the story has an interesting idea...that a woman CAN have it all if she just gets the right appliances! I am a house husband and must say electric appliances saved my marriage....well, except for all the gas ones I prefer.

By the way, it was interesting that Joan Marsh played a big band singer. This is because in reality, John King had actually traveled as the singer with a big band himself. It was also interesting to see Marsh's character singing on TV...a relatively new invention and which wasn't available to at least 90% of America...and only in a couple selected markets for a few hours a week at most. Also, Ladd also appeared in another ad for Hotpoint appliances, "Sauce for the Gander" and both films are available on YouTube.

I saw that nobody had offered comments on this short feature which is so seldom shown anywhere, so I thought I'd leap into the breach, trying not to give away spoilers which will kill the enjoyment of it. Give it a little while to get going and you'll be treated to something unusual, something unlike anything I've ever seen before from this time. This is because there is a gimmick, a reason behind the making of this film, which becomes evident about two thirds of the way in and is worth the wait. Patience will also reward those who are interested in movies that depict what the future world will become. It regales us with such subjects as the homemaker's role in the future as modern science improves her lot (!). There are also wild remote controlled or sort of controlled airplanes and even people in 1940 routinely watching television variety programming and even INFOMERCIALS. One is also treated to that perpetually smiling poverty row Jean Harlow known as Joan Marsh whose superior acting talent and passable singing have graced a number of 1930s films. She is always a joy to watch and one of those actresses who always enhances anything she is in. Not quite a glamour gal and this is near the end of her career, she is nonetheless a fine actress who can really handle a line or an emotion. John "Dusty" King is the poverty row Bruce Bennett and who provides a pretty flat portrayal of an airplane engineer who is in love with songbird Marsh. But then John King was dull and flat in everything he was ever in (usually westerns). I don't want to tell you more about what goes on as I think you should be careful to NOT read spoilers on this one but just let it unfold gradually until you begin to realize what is really going on. If you like 1930s low budget quasi-musicals (am I the only one?) and films that are unique in a slightly bizarre way and/or if you are a Joan Marsh fan as I am, this one is a real sleeper and it will sneak up on you and then hit you over the head with what it is really up to. HIGHLY recommended for old movie fans who should have lots of fun.