Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueJoe and Mary barely get by with their tobacco store. After an old friend returns now married to wealthy Elvina, Joe wishes he married her instead when he had the chance. Will he be happy whe... Tout lireJoe and Mary barely get by with their tobacco store. After an old friend returns now married to wealthy Elvina, Joe wishes he married her instead when he had the chance. Will he be happy when his wish comes true?Joe and Mary barely get by with their tobacco store. After an old friend returns now married to wealthy Elvina, Joe wishes he married her instead when he had the chance. Will he be happy when his wish comes true?
- Récompenses
- 2 victoires au total
- Reporter
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- Joe's Valet
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- Wedding Guest
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- 1925 Spokesman
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- Nightclub Patron
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- Reporter
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- Mr. Cradwell - Drug Store Proprietor
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- Wedding Guest
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- Effie the Dog
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- Nurse
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- Joe's Aide
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Avis à la une
This is not literally a time travel movie, and I kind of like that it's made clear this is all a dream (induced by anesthesia). But it still has a lot of dramatic impact. The idea of "what if I had my life to live over again, knowing what I know now" seems to have a universal appeal. The very clever screenplay spins several variations on this theme, and even if the "lesson" learned by the hero is predictable, there are enough plots twists to maintain viewer interest. And as another reviewer commented, the script makes great use of true historical event. This movie is actually a pretty good history lesson. Probably a lot of viewers are unaware that our entry into World War I was very controversial and not at all universally favored at the time.
The script is particularly clever in it's parallel construction between the "real" story and the dream. The roles of the rich guy vs. the struggling storekeeper are reversed, but in both cases, there is the concept of changing one's life with a bold and maybe risky investment of one's life savings.
My only quibble is that the movie seems to end abruptly after the Lee Tracy character regains consciousness and finds that he's still married to Mary and back to reality. I actually thought there would be another plot twist, with him discovering that Otto Kruger is a con man trying to get his $4,000, and not really a rich success. That would've added another wrinkle to the "be happy with what you have" message.
The only problem of the film is Lee Tracy's acting, which is rather exhausting, since he is constantly overdoing it. Maybe that was the fashion of actors in the early 30s, but today it's just annoying.
The other actors are doing alright, especially the two ladies and Otto Kruger, but it's the plot that is the main thing of this film. Who hasn't one time or another dreamt of reliving one's life and doing it over again but better? That's what happens to Joe Gimlet, he gets an alternative chance and really makes the best of it and everything he wanted to do different, and still it all goes wrong...
The most ingenious thing about the story construction is how it is combined with the story he left behind, he meets the same people but under different circumstances and making different careers, and so in the end he finds his best friend, president of the National Bank, in his own original position as a petty shop owner.
Ben Hecht was in his prime throughout the 30s, beginning with "Front Page", bringing forth a flood of script masterpieces, until he was allowed to make a film of his own, "The Specter of the Rose", an ambitious art film of ballet, very much ahead of its time, which flopped, so he was never allowed to make another movie. Still he continued writing excellent scripts, but his sharpest edge was lost.
Instead, he married girl next door Mary (Mae Clark), whose practical outlook on life is making him feel stifled and resentful. When he storms out into the street after an argument, it appears he may get his wish for all he missed out on, as he finds himself 20 years younger, and trading places with Ted. Joe breaks up with Mary and marries Elvina and proceeds to make his money/success dreams come true, while Ted marries Mary and seems content with the simple life.
And then the words "be careful what you wish for" come back to haunt him!
I think some parts were overdone, like Joe's drinking and shooting off his mouth, especially about things he remembers from the past/future that hasn't happened yet, making some people think he's flipped his lid. But all in all, it's an enjoyable film.
In this alternate reality, Joe takes up Pete Evans (George Barbier) when he offers to let him in on a real estate deal in return for his 400 dollar life savings. He marries Pete's daughter, Elvina, to seal the deal. And since he knows everything that's going to happen through March 6,1933, he's a tremendous success in business, becoming not only a rich but a powerful man. Among the bad things he knew - He figured that his wife would probably two time him since he saw signs of her two-timing Ted in 1933. Joe didn't think he'd mind, but it turns out he does. And then March 6, 1933 comes and he no longer has the advantage of prescience. Complications ensue.
It's not like anything in this film is a big surprise, although time travel was not common story material at the time. It's all about learning to appreciate what you have or, in the words of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz "There's no place like home."
The make-up job done is pretty impressive for the time - MGM really does make the lovely Mae Clarke look like a middle aged frump at age 23.
MGM really "got" what worked as far as Lee Tracy vehicles. Starting with "The Nuisance" when he came over from Warner Brothers, they always gave him parts that used his penchant for fast talking comedy while letting him show his dramatic chops as well. An example of the latter in this film is when Tracy realizes he's back in 1910, in his boyhood home, and goes downstairs to see his mother cooking breakfast. In 1933 she must have been dead for years, because here he embraces her like he hasn't seen her for years - he hasn't - and tells her he's never leaving her side again. It's a very touching moment that, if you've lost a parent, you can easily relate to.
Lee Tracy ended up throwing away his own career at MGM, as did Buster Keaton, but at least MGM gave Lee Tracy the sporting chance that they never gave Buster Keaton.
Director Edgar Selwyn and screenwriter Ben Hecht delivered a small masterpiece in 1933 that might seem familiar now to later generations. Everyone from Frank Capra to Rod Serling has used the same theme successfully - the lesson to be learned: you can't change the past without consequences, so maybe its better just to be happy with what you have.
TCM has this one in its vault, so see it if you're a Tracy fan. You won't be disappointed. Excellent performances by Mae Clarke and Peggy Shannon as well. Funny and dramatic with some of the delightful over the top stuff you'd expect from an early Thirties film, but fast and insightful at the same time.
Oh, and an uncredited guest bit with The Three Stooges as wedding singers!
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesTurn Back the Clock (1933) was the first film in which then known as "Ted Healy's Stooges"--Moe Howard, Jerry Howard (later known as Curly Howard), and Larry Fine--appeared together, but not as The Three Stooges. They sing "Sweet Adeline." Joe tells them to sing "something lively"; Larry volunteers that they know "My Old Kentucky Home." Forgetting the difference in years while drunk, Joe requests the Stooges sing "Tony's Wife" (a pop song from 1933), which the Stooges are unfamiliar with; it's Moe then asks "Tony's wife? Who is she?" Although they are not credited as the Three Stooges (indeed, they receive no screen credit at all), this marks the first time the trio appeared as a group on film without their former leader, Ted Healy. They would launch their long-running film-shorts career a few months later.
- GaffesPresident Woodrow Wilson's letter asking for Joe Gimlet's resignation misspells his last name as "Gimlett."
- Citations
Ted Wright: Oh, wait 'til I tell you about the time Joe and I made a blind date with two girls that called at the drug store.
Joe Gimlet: You mean the Chippeway twins.
Ted Wright: Ha-ha. The Chippeway twins. We called them Africans and they turned out to be Indians.
- ConnexionsFeatured in We Haven't Really Met Properly...: Clara Blandick as Auntie Em (2005)
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Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Site officiel
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- Det perfekta brottet
- Lieux de tournage
- Société de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
- Durée1 heure 19 minutes
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 1.37 : 1