New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford

"New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" (1931) with William Haines, Ernest Torrence, Jimmy Durante, Leila Hyams, Robert McWade, Guy Kibbee, Hale Hamilton, Clara Blandick, Walter Walker, and many others, continues the saga of con-man extraordinaire, Wallingford, and his con-men cronies, Blackie Daw and Schnozzle, a film based on the well-known short stories, plays, and novels of George Randolph Chester which were made into silent films twice, 1916 and 1921. Haines plays Wallingford who can't do anything at all without looking for the con angle against anyone and anything for any reason on any day in any year. Blackie Daw, played by Ernest Torrence, is equally a con-man, though he doesn't think the public is as gullible as Wallingford does, though in this film up front Wallingford pretty much shows Blackie that the public in general IS as gullible as he thinks it is. Schnozzle is played by the Schnozzola himself, Durante. Hyams and her mother and father in the film, Walter Walker and Clara Blandick, are at first foils, then comrades, Hyams a lover, then in the end just...well, you watch and find out. This is Con Games Unlimited to the hilt. A fun, if not fairly mild, entertainer for 95 minutes. Any longer would have been beyond the limit. Where it stands gives it a passable 7 out of 10. I'm not a huge Haines fan, but he's good here. Torrence is always good. Durante's Durante no matter how you cook. He's rarin' to go even when well done. Guy Kibbee's quite good in this, too; not up to his usual sugar-daddy shenanigans he usually played in the 30s. This one's professionals doing what they know how to do best. Could have been a stage play. The lack of cinematic fluidity is its main fault. Otherwise, it's a watch!

William Haines was an immensely popular actor and one of the top box office draws of the late 20s and early 30s. However, despite being popular (or, perhaps because of it), MGM kept putting him in the same sorts of films again and again. If you see one or two, you'll enjoy them....see a few more and you'll tire of the same old same old plots involving a cocky but very talented man (often an athlete) who ends up changing his attitude for the better by the end of the story. But "New Adventures of Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford" is a terrific film because it breaks with this formula and allows Haines to show off his comedic skills.

Wallingford, Schnozzle and Blackie (William Haines, Jimmy Durante and Ernest Torrence) are all crooks working together to swindle suckers...rich suckers. Again and again, the smooth and fast-talking Wallingford convinces folks to invest in his various phony schemes...all while staying a few steps ahead of McGonigal (Guy Kibbee) of the District Attorney's office.

Sadly, this is one of Haines' best films...and in only a few years he would be forced to retire from movies due to the new Production Code of 1934. To 'clean up' the film industry, gay actors like Haines were expected to go back into the closet and marry women...but he wasn't willing to live this life and chose retirement instead. I would have LOVED to see more movies like this one as it gave him a chance to be different....a bit like a Lee Tracy character.

So is it worth seeing? Absolutely! The story is entertaining and reminiscent of such movies as "The Lady Eve" or "Jimmy the Gent" or "Larceny, Inc."....and every bit as much fun. The only negative is that Wallingford's change of heart near the end seemed a bit out of the blue and hard to believe. Still, a very enjoyable picture.

James Rufus Wallingford, master swindler, returns to America - cheating suckers & dodging the law. But then he falls in love with the daughter of an old man he wants to defraud. He needs to watch his step, or there won't be any NEW ADVENTURES OF GET RICH QUICK WALLINGFORD.

William Haines was perfectly cast as a smooth-talking operator in this, his fastest-moving, most densely plotted film. Leila Hyams is cute as his love interest, but she doesn't have a lot to do but look pretty or distressed. Clara Blandwick, as her mother, acts like a tough old customer. Guy Kibbee is fun as the detective waiting for Wallingford to slip-up. As Haines' accomplices in crime, Ernest Torrence and pickpocket Jimmy Durante are especially good. This was Durante's film debut and he soon would be a top Hollywood star.

By the way, for many decades this movie (based on a character already established in short stories in Cosmopolitan Magazine & a couple of silent films) held the distinction as the Hollywood film with the longest title.

In this updated version of the book by George Randolph Chester, William Haines is con man extraordinaire Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford, Ernest Torrence is Blackie Daw, Jimmie Durante is Schnozzle, Wallingford's inept assistant, car thief, and pickpocket. Guy Kibbee is the cop who has been trying to put Haines in prison for more than a decade, and Leila Hyams the girl Haines falls in love with.

I have a weakness for cinematic confidence tricksters, and under the direction of Sam Wood, it's a pretty good modernized version of the first three episodes of the Wallingford book. Haines is a bright, breezy, and confident trickster, able to charm candy from a baby, and Torrence keeps up the pace very nicely. The big chase sequence at the end goes on a trifle too long, but there are some lovely sequences, like the barber shop scene, where the audience sees exactly what Haines is up to and actually rooting for him to takes the rubes' money. Hale Hamilton as the surly banker, Walter Walker and Clara Blandick as Miss Hyams' parents, and the usual excellent cast of a MGM production make this a fun and funny way to spend an hour and a half. Durante sings "Did You Ever Have The Feeling That You Wanted To Go?"

In 1931 William Haines was still a top 5 box office star and it's easy to see why with this fast and funny talkie version of GET RICH QUICK WALLINGFORD, which was filmed in 1921 with Sam Hardy.

Haines is perfectly cast as the fast-talking conman who meets his match in Leila Hyams. It's love at first sight for Haines as he and his team (Jimmy Durante and Ernest Torrence) descend on a small town so he can pursue Hyams and swindle the local banker, who is trying to swindle Hyams' father.

The entire cast is quite good in this early talkie and Haines is very handsome and funny as he maneuvers his swindle and closes in on Hyams. Durante is funny is a very early film role. Torrence, a big star character actor in silent films (DESERT NIGHTS) is also excellent here. Hyams is beautiful.

Co-stars include Guy Kibbee as the cop, Clara Blandick and Walter Walker as the parents, Hale Hamilton as the banker, Rober McWade as Tuttle, Henry Armetta as the barber, Lucy Beaumont as the cleaning lady, Charles Moore as the shoeshine boy, and Edwin Maxwell as the telegram boss.

This is a rare film but worth looking for to see the great William Haines in his prime.