Dangerous Number

I have to agree with one of the reviewers here - this film was cut at the beginning. It probably was supposed to be an 'A' feature with someone like Franchot Tone or Robert Montgomery and when that didn't work out, they made it a B movie with Robert Young and Ann Sothern by shortening the time.

As a result, we walk in after the romance between Young and Sothern is over. Young is Hank Medhill, a wealthy man who manufactures an artificial silk product.

Hank has been in Japan, and when he returns, he finds out that his ex-girlfriend, Eleanor (Sothern) is at the altar about to say 'I do.' Hank interrupts the ceremony and the two take off.

However, the same problems they had before are still present. Esther is in show business and wants a career; Hank doesn't understand her, her friends, anything. On top of that, he's jealous. She's always greeting someone she's met once with a kiss.

The two fight like crazy and ultimately separate. Hank picks any name from the phone book and asks the woman who answers out on a date. And what a date it is, including gun play and a wild cab ride. Then Hank spots Eleanor in a restaurant with another man who claims to be her husband.

This is a wild movie, a screwball comedy, with both Sothern and Young in top form. Sothern has the voice, personality, and delivery to put over a quirky character.

The nice thing about Young is that he never played for laughs. He always did the part straight, which makes what happens to him funnier. Here, the poor Hank is out of his element surrounded by crazy show folk.

Very enjoyable, but we needed to have seen more of the romance when the two were getting along.

While there are a few good funny lines in this film, most of the dialog is wacky without humor. "Dangerous Number" probably set out to be a screwball comedy, but it turns out to be a mostly frantic run around, with very little humor. The cast are all good at what they do, but the screenplay just doesn't come off very funny. The frantic activity of the leads - Robert Young as Hank Medhill and Ann Sothern as Eleanor Breen Medill, becomes grating by halfway through the film.

The supporting cast has some tremendous actors, but they seem mostly miscast - again, due to the screenplay and their roles. Reginald Owen, who so often played British stuffed shirts for many laughs, is little more than a plain fixture here. Cora Witherspoon plays the usual giddy character, but goofy constant prattle is humorless in this film.

I think Young and Southern, and most of the cast gave it their all, but this is one plot that failed with a lousy screenplay. The writer, Carey Wilson, was not known for his work on comedies. He was uncredited on most of the few that he worked on, and only a couple of them fared very well. Here are the best lines from this film.

Eleanor Breen Medhill, "You know, Hank, I've never seen a cow."

Gypsy Breen, Eleanor's mother, "Where's that butler? I feel like kissing someone."

Eleanor, crying, "Oh, me a bride of three days, and my husband has 22 other women." Hank Medhill, "Eight and 16 are 24." Eleanor, "Oh, so now I'm dumb."

Eleanor, "Oh, Hank. I love you so much I've got goose pimples."

Eleanor, "Oh, you're trying to get rid of me." Hank, "I'm not trying to get rid of you, but I don't wanna stay around this Babylonian beer parlor."

Eleanor, "We used to have fun. Why, we did everything except light fire to city hall."

Eleanor, "Well, I didn't hear you screaming about my friends before we were married". Hank, "I didn't see 'em enough to scream about 'em. What's all right a couple of times a week is poison ivy three times a day." Eleanor, "Oh, so now I'm trying to poison you."

Gypsy Breen, "I never can think properly when there's a man in the room. Some way or another, my mind always seems to be on the man instead of what I'm trying to think about."

Gypsy Breen, "Oh, I always thought it all seemed very irregular, one husband in New York and another one in California. Oh, but now they're both in New York, and that makes everything all right."

Hank, "Vera!" Vera Montana, "Shut up!"

Actress Ann Sothern and silk importer Robert Young are madly in love but total opposites. The picture opens with Young returning from a business trip just in time to find Sothern marrying somebody else: Naturally, he crashes the wedding and he and Sothern run off together and get married themselves. That's where their troubles begin.

Young has business to attend to, while Sothern enjoys partying with her show business friends. Lifestyles clash, arguments ensue. And then they spend the rest of the picture breaking up, reconciling, and arranging fantastic schemes to make each other jealous. A madcap idea for a movie, maybe, but unfortunately it just isn't very funny.

Reginald Owen is Young's cousin and business partner, a scientific type who is working on an artificial silk product that he has yet to perfect. The silk business is relevant to the plot because Owen's latest attempt at a fake silk product looks nice but dissolves when wet.

Cora Witherspoon is fine if somewhat wasted as Sothern's showbiz mother. Both Witherspoon and Owen are capable of great comedy - but neither really has much of a role here except to stand at one side of the action and make the occasional silly comment.

The stars are all likable enough and the picture is certainly fast paced. However, loud and fast does not automatically equal funny. This is one of those comedies that just doesn't quite click.

My big criticism of Dangerous Number is that a huge chunk was apparently chopped off at the beginning and left on MGM's cutting room floor. There is an ongoing relationship with Robert Young and Ann Sothern that we walk in on the middle with.

Dangerous Number is a perfect example of the MGM pecking order. No doubt in my mind that this was offered and turned down by Robert Montgomery and Franchot Tone before Young got it. Still he does his best with it and he and Sothern do generate more than a few laughs.

Young is a silk manufacturer and Sothern a dancer who can't live without each other and do marry. But neither can stand each other's lifestyle of business and show business. There's also an ex-husband lurking in the woodpile played by Dean Jagger. Or is he really an EX-husband?

Best scenes in the film involve Young with trick short artist Marla Shelton. It's all a grand set up engineered by a jealous Sothern, but you have to see the film to see what's behind it.

Dangerous Number is a pleasant comedy from the Thirties and probably was a B feature for one of MGM's more prestige pictures.

Tired old screwball comedy of the "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em" variety. An insufferable couple (Robert Young, Ann Sothern) rushes into getting married, only to realize afterwards they're incompatible. But, wouldn't you know it, these two crazy kids just can't let each other go.

I really like Ann Sothern and Robert Young but this one was a no-go for me. The characters are very unlikable and you have no time to get invested in their supposed romance. The movie starts mid-plot and what we see of them together throughout is just a terrible bickering couple that shouldn't be together for any reason. It's interesting to look at some of its parallels to the later "I Love Lucy" TV show. Sothern wants a career in show business but Young doesn't like that. Sothern wails and throws tantrums to try and get her way, much to Young's frustration. All it really highlights is that, in the hands of the right people with the right script, even tired ideas can be successful. Lucy & Desi made it work; Ann & Bob do not. Oh, and Reginald Owen plays Young's friend, wearing a ridiculous fake beard. Presumably for laughs. Yeah, it's that kind of movie.