Two Alone

"Two Alone" (1934) is definitely a pre-code film, although it's agrarian setting and well-meaning script would soon be the fallback position for the studios as the silly Hays Code was about to descend on them. The sophistication level of these pre-code films is quite startling and it is fun to pick out the scenes and sequences that would not have made the cut (pun intended) had it been scheduled for a 1935 release.

Jean Parker (fresh-faced and fresh-from-playing Beth in "Little Women") has the top billing and is on screen for about 80% of the running time. I didn't mind. She is paired off romantically with Tom Brown; known back then as the "Buster Brown Shoe Kid" because as a child he had posed in costume for their advertisements. It's one of the better young love combinations and the film's main strength. Parker's full face was more "interesting-beautiful" than it was "Loretta-Young-perfect"; and probably connected to viewers because of it's multi-dimensionality (she seems like an entirely different person with each expression). One thing to watch for is the surprising number of close-ups of Parker, more than I recall ever seeing in a film of this vintage. This technique gives the film a more modern look and should help viewers to quickly buy into Parker's character, and even bond with her.

Mazie (Parker) has been taken out of an orphanage to help out on a local farm. The farm family is appropriately named the Slag's and Mazie's position is much like that of "Cinderella" before she got her fairy Godmother. Beulah Bondi plays Mrs. Slag, a character not nearly as sympathetic as her best-known roles (Jimmie Stewart's mother in "Mr. Deed's" and "It's a Wonderful Life").

In a departure from "Cinderella", Mr. Slag has the hots for Mazie (I said this was pre-code), first revealed when they show him watching her bathe in a nearby pond. He chases away George Marshall, his farmhand and Mazie's only friend, when he suspects that there might be romantic sparks (a surprise twist will later explain this). And he tries to keep anything from developing between Mazie and Adam (Brown); a reformatory escapee who Slag exploits for free farm labor. That Slag is quite a guy!

Despite all the obstacles Mazie and Adam fall in love. When Slag learns that Mazie is about to be an unmarried mother he becomes unglued as the film speeds to its action-packed climax.

A very young Edith Fellows (a few years before she hit the big time as Polly Pepper) appears briefly in two scenes late in the film. Zasu Pitts gets high billing in the credits but is only in a couple of mildly funny early scenes; playing off her perpetually drunk father (Charley Grapewin who you may recognize as Uncle Henry in "The Wizard of Oz" and Grandpa in "The Grapes of Wrath").

There's not much comedy or overwrought melodrama here. But Parker and Brown make a nice couple and their romance feels right. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

"Two Alone" is not an especially enjoyable movie to watch, though it wasn't intended to be. In modern terms, it's a story about human trafficking. A horrid and vicious couple take in an orphan. But Mazie (Jean Parker) is never treated like a member of the family but as a slave...working almost constantly on the family's farm. Later, Adam (Tom Brown) runs away from a nearby reform school and when the man of the house finds him, he promises not to turn him in...and soon makes him a slave as well. Adam and Mazie have a pretty awful life and the only thing that keeps them going is their love for each other. Eventually, the pair run away after Mazie is practically raped...and during this time Mazie's long-lost father arrives looking for her! And, when the pair are eventually caught, they're returned to the farm and no one tells them about Mazie's father. What's next?

The acting by everyone is very nice and the depressing story is very strong and well written. And, fortunately, it does end well...and is worth seeing.

Not all films catered to either Adults or Children during the GOLDEN AGE of Hollywood. TWO ALONE, RKO (1934) clearly targeted the 'Youth Audience' which in the 1950s' would become 'The Teenagers'. The leads played by JEAN PARKER (Mazie) and TOM BROWN (Adam) make a attractive and likable couple.

Mazie, a orphan is assigned to work for Mr. Slag (ARTHUR BYRON) and his bitch of a wife, Mrs. Slag (BEULAH BONDI). Adam arrives and Mazie and him fall in love much to the disapproval of the Slag's. The rest of the picture is them overcoming their own awkwardness and innocence, the Slag's and the social conventions of the day.

The film being made in the 'code' year of 1934 had to skirt some issues which are evident to the thoughtful viewer. Pre-martial sex, pregnancy and the lecherous attentions of Mr. Slag are more hinted at then overtly portrayed. Non of this though distracts from this very watchable film which clocks in at 75".