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Girl Said No, The (1930)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

I'm not sure how many people know this but William Haines made three films in 1930 and they were so popular that he was voted the most popular actor of the year. This was Haines first talkie after years in the silent era where he played obnoxious brats who would do anything to get his way. In this film, he plays an obnoxious brat who returns home from college and refuses to settle down in any way, shape or form. He reluctantly gets a job where he falls in love with the secretary (Lelia Hyams) but she wants nothing to do with him so he decides to bug her to death, kidnap her and torture her some more. Okay, we all know that THE JAZZ SINGER was released in 1927 and it pretty much had people wondering if silents would ever be needed again. I always point to 1928's THE WIND as proof that movies didn't need sound. This film here is my second bit of evidence in this theory because Haines is so downright obnoxious that you'll with the film was silent so you wouldn't have to hear him. Apparently MGM also released this in a silent version and I wouldn't mind seeing it because what we've got here is pretty bad on all levels. I'd almost recommend people to watch this just to see how bad it actually is. There are a couple good moments so I'll get them out of the way now. There's a pretty funny sequence where Haines pays a waiter to throw some onion soup on his rival (Francis X. Bushman, Jr.). Bushman, Jr. himself is pretty good here and there's also another decent sequence with Marie Dressler towards the end of the movie. Now, for the bad, which is pretty much everything else. For starters, Haines is so obnoxious that you won't be able to not hate him. Not only is the actor himself way too over the top but his character is such a mean jerk that you want to see him beaten to a pulp. That's not a good feeling to have for the lead actor. The scenes with him pretty much forcing himself on the girl and kidnapping her doesn't work because of how much we hate him. Hyams isn't any better as the female lead but the less said the better. The technical side of the film is also quite poor as there are several sequences with the actors moving where it becomes quite hard to understand what they're saying as they move further away from the mic. The opening sequence at the house is also pretty ugly to watch as several of the actors in the frame have their heads cut off. The biggest sin of this turkey is that there's just not enough laughs to carry a 91-minute movie. Perhaps had this been 60 or 65 minutes then it might have worked but not at this long time. It's worth noting that there's a joke where one character says he doesn't understand why people would be against birth control in regards to Haines. I'm not sure how many films this early mentioned birth control but the quote itself is something I have to agree with in regards to this character.

Haines was a top star from late 20s thru early 30s. He sailed from silent films into talkies and remained a star til he ran afoul of Louis B. Mayer. He is hilarious in The Girl Said No, starring in the "Haines formula" type of film: brash young man takes nothing seriously until tragedy hits, then he turns himself around and succeeds. Here he is a college boy returning to his wealthy home and causing riotous problems wherever he goes. Pop gets him job after job but he fails at all of them because he has fallen for pretty Leila Hyams. Plot is OK, but Haines is the whole show. There was never anyone quite like Haines, a comic actor who was not really a comic. His comedy is much broader than anything Cary Grant or Robert Montgomery did. Very funny film that co-stars the always funny Polly Moran, Clara Blandick, William Janney, Francis X. Bushman, Jr., Henry Armetta as the hapless waiter, and as mentioned elsewhere, the hysterical scene with Haines and Marie Dressler. Too bad Haines is all but forgotten. He was a wonderful star and one of a kind.

During the 1920s, William Haines made a string of films with very, very similar themes. In films such as BROWN OF HARVARD and THE SMART SET, he played a smug braggart that was immensely talented but needed to learn humility. He always found this out after he disappointed the team with his boorish behavior. However, late in the films, a humbler Haines then learns what it means to be self-sacrificing--once again allowing him to be the hero--and so ended each picture.

By the 1930s, Haines was essentially doing the same roles he'd done for years. The big difference was that with the advent of sound pictures, he not only acted conceited but you could hear him talking non-stop about himself--making people like me wish he'd stayed in silent films! Additionally, by the time he did THE GIRL SAID NO, his character had also changed--and not for the better. In the earlier films he was conceited but immensely talented. However in THE GIRL SAID NO, he was essentially an annoying idler with nothing to back up his boasting but his "charming personality". Well, to me this personality was not at all charming and I just wanted to bust him in the mouth!! An unlikable and sociopathic jerk is what he was in this film (such as sexually harassing a girl repeatedly, acting cruelly to everyone he came in contact with and risking others' lives) and I found myself loathing every second he was on film. This is quite a change, as I had liked many of his earlier films, but by this awful film he was simply too unlikable, too brash, too talkative, too selfish and just too much! Watching him was like watching an obnoxious four year-old who insists on entertaining guests--whether they want to or not!!

I've gotta admit something before I close. This is the first Haines film I didn't finish. I tried, believe me, but I simply hated the sight and sound of him and couldn't take it any more. I know that according to formula, by the end of the film he'll have changed, but I wasn't willing to wait plus someone this awful really won't change in real life.

I read a book some time ago about leading men at MGM and it said how Haines' career ended because Louis B. Mayer was a homophobe and pushed him out of films. I used to believe it, but with films like THE GIRL SAID NO, I am more inclined to believe that Haines just overstayed his welcome. With him performing essentially the same role again and again (and the character getting more obnoxious as the years passes), it's no wonder he was out of the business by the mid-1930s. I truly, truly hated him in this film and would rather gargle with glass then see it to the end!!

It seems like people either love this film or hate it. Personally, I liked it a great deal. The film doesn't stray far from the typical Haines formula - the character starts out brash, ends up humble. Haines plays Tom Ward, recent college graduate and oldest son of a bank president. He's been laughing his way through life up to this point, and seems to have no intention of changing. His dad sets him up with a job via a friend in the investment business, and Tom fritters away that opportunity and instead takes an interest in the firm secretary, played by Leila Hyams. His attempts to woo her away from an extremely unlikeable coworker sets up situations for some typical Haines tomfoolery. However, Tom's fortunes and attitude take a sharp turn when his father dies suddenly and the family suddenly finds itself penniless. Now it's a job selling neckties for Tom and a small flat shared by the entire family.

If you like Haines' silent films, you'll like this one, but I don't think anyone should be introduced to Haines via one of his talkies. For one thing, talking comedy was never something MGM did extremely well or with much finesse, and in this first year of talking pictures the studio was really groping for successful formulas as well as adapting their silent stars to the new medium.

The worst thing about this film is that Haines is a fast talker and the primitive sound recording has trouble picking up all of his conversation. He gets better at speaking clearly in later films, and the technology improves as well. The second worst thing is that there is no explanation of some of the turns of events in the film that would have been familiar to anyone in March 1930. Today, it is hard to understand why the death of the head of household might automatically lead to instantaneous poverty for the surviving members, especially if that head of household was head of a bank right after the stock market crash. None of this is explained in the film.

The best part of the film is a ten minute bit done when Tom Ward is trying to sell bonds to a wealthy woman played by Marie Dressler. Since Dressler's character agrees to see Ward because she believes him to be a doctor, it sets up some comical situations that leave Haines' character squeamish to say the least. Polly Moran is another good part of the film. She plays the Ward family housekeeper that loyally follows the family from mansion to poorhouse. It's one of the few Moran/Dressler films in which the two actresses don't interact, but they still do much for the success of the film.

Highly recommended for the fans of early talkies and of William Haines. However, if you are unfamiliar with the early sound films and the goofy style of William Haines you might not share my enthusiasm.

After viewing THE GIRL SAID NO, that's the question that haunted me. Apparently, he had no control over WILLIAM HAINES, who, at thirty years old, is playing a brash and rude college student who thinks he's what every girl should want in a man. He's obnoxious to the point of driving the viewer to exasperation and he's the center of the whole story.

It's rough going for anyone to sit through this dreadful early '30s comedy of ill manners. Others in the cast do what they have to do as competently as possible, but nobody can top the mugging and mincing of Haines at his worst.

The only segment that manages to be downright funny is the ten-minute sequence with MARIE DRESSLER. It's a howl. Too bad the script didn't afford Dressler and Haines other moments like this.

LEILA HYAMS is attractive as "the girl," HENRY ARMETTA is amusingly exasperated as the waiter who foolishly agrees to a prank suggested by Haines, and POLLY MORAN almost makes sense out of a poorly written and directed role as a housemaid.

It's really a total waste of time to watch Haines mugging constantly and thinking he's being irresistibly endearing as a comedian. He's not.

But I have liked him in other films of the "silent" era. But this attempt at comedy is unbearably unfunny.