Jimmy and Sally

James Dunn is the publicity man for Jed Prouty's meat-pacing company, and Claire Trevor is his girl and his assistant. Jimmy's got big, flashy ideas and an ego to go with them, but when a few of them blow up, he finds himself out a job and his girl in this decent but unremarkable Fox Film.

Given the characters' names, I suspect this was originally planned as another teaming of Dunn and Sally Eilers, Fix Film's young urban couple, Dunn sings a song at the beginning, and Lya Lys sings another, but there isn't much of it, and there isn't much to the script, once Dunn winds up on his heels towards the end; director James Tingling, one of Fox' competent but uninspired B directors goes through the script efficiently, nor does cameraman Joseph Valentine get to do much of interest; it wouldn't be until the early 1940s that his projects would become hits and he would get to work with important directors on important projects. His first Oscar nomination would come in 1938, and he would win a posthumous Academy Award in 1949 for JOAN OF ARC, after his early death at age 48.

Like many a Fox Film in this period, it shows the unfortunate lack of a good writing staff, with three writers failing to figure out whether the movie was about Dunn, Trevor or their relationship. Instead, it turns into another fizzled effort that I kept watching, hoping something interesting would happen.

The real highlight of this film is the great pop standard "You're My Thrill" by Sidney Clare and Jay Gorney. It's haunting refrain is initially sung by Lya Lys, playing a pampered mistress. Later on the refrain swells in the background while Claire Trevor and Harvey Stephens are night-clubbing. The story and direction are entertaining, but James Dunn's lead character is abrasive and just too cock sure of himself to sit back and enjoy. Although the story roots for Claire and Jimmy's romance -- the prospect of Claire and the charming Harvey Stephens character together is more appealing. Well done, but nothing out of the ordinary.