He Couldn't Say No

Frank McHugh is mild-mannered office worker Lambert Hunkins. Timid, obedient and physically unimpressive, Lambert is an unlikely hero—until we see him display a unique single-mindedness concerning a life-sized sculpture and the girl after whom it's modeled.

Jane Wyman is McHugh's office co-worker and would-be girlfriend; when he gets a $10 raise, she brings him home to dinner where her mother (Cora Witherspoon) announces that they can now get married—to McHugh's quiet acquiescence rather than great delight.

Witherspoon and Wyman are intended as comic foils, minor villains of a sort; unfortunately, they both come across as more annoying than humorous. McHugh, too, in the early going at least, is a fairly pathetic creature—Stick up for yourself! we want to yell at him. Luckily, before too long he meets…

Diana Lewis, the model for the statue McHugh has purchased (to the shock and dismay of the mother-daughter team, who wanted him to spend the money on furniture). The beautiful Lewis is a bright spot—not only is her performance charming and lovely, but her character's appearance gives McHugh's character a much-needed jolt of energy.

Overall, there's not much to this picture, but it's easy to take….It would have been nice to see Frank McHugh given a little meatier role to star in, but he is likable enough in this very slight but moderately pleasant B movie.

I noticed that one of the reviews for this film says it's among the 10 worst films that they've ever seen. I can't understand this unless you just haven't seen all that many movies. I see it instead as a seriously flawed film but a decent time-passer nevertheless. It's the sort of nonsensical story you need to watch without thinking or complaining--just accept it for what it is.

The film begins with Frank McHugh playing a meek man (Lambert) who has a secret--he has an infatuation with a society lady, Iris Mabbey. You never really have any idea why--he just thinks she's the most beautiful woman on Earth. There is a woman who works with him (Jane Wyman) and she and her mother have just taken for granted that she WILL marry Lambert! And, while it looks as if Lambert doesn't want to marry her, he's so meek that he can't say no. Later he takes her and her super-obnoxious mother shopping for furniture at an auction. However, instead of spending his money on furniture, there's a statue that appears to be Iris--and he buys that instead. The two women are infuriated with him but for the first time he's clear--he MUST have that statue. Even when a blustering Senator (Iris' father) offers him a ton of money for it, Lambert isn't swayed--he MUST have that statue! Where all this leads, you'll have to find out yourself.

While the plot above is pretty silly and some parts of the ending are ridiculous, the film has a likable charm as well. No brilliant by any standard, still, I had a hard time disliking this cute film.

Lambert T. Hunkins (Frank McHugh) is a mild-mannered pushover office clerk. He is obsessed with socialite Iris Mabby (Diana Lewis), daughter of Senator Mabby. He gets a surprise promotion and an extra $10 a week. With that new money, his girlfriend Violet Coney (Jane Wyman) is getting pressure from her mother to get a marriage proposal. The brow-beaten Lambert doesn't have the courage to bid on auction items until they bring out a statue resembling Iris Mabby. All hell breaks loose.

I do have issues with this movie. This premise could do with a remake. First and most obvious, the statues need to be really nudes and not faux nudes. The other issue is nice girl Jane Wyman. They can't make her into a shrew. She's all wrong for the role. In fact, she would be a great Iris Mabby. On the other hand, Frank McHugh is the perfect Lambert. He is a complete pushover. It's actually quite compelling to have him stand up for himself. I really like this movie. It just need to switch out Wyman.

He Couldn't Say No (1938)

** (out of 4)

A weak story kills this film about a broke office clerk (Frank McHugh) who is getting pressured from his co-worker's (Jane Wyman) mother (Cora Witherspoon) to get married to her daughter. Things take a turn for the worse between the three when the guy goes to an auction and spends all his money on a plaster statue because it reminds him of a model (Diana Lewis) and soon all hell breaks loose due to this statue. At just 57-minutes there's certainly nothing overly bad or evil with this film but there's no question that it should have been much better. If you're a fan of classic Warner films then you've bound to have seen McHugh appear with some of the studio's biggest guys. It was good that the studio finally gave him the lead part in a movie but sadly the screenplay just can't pull anything off. There are some pretty funny moments including a one-liner coming back towards the mother during a dinner sequence and there's another good piece at the start when the clerk goes into his manager's office thinking he's going to be fired. The rest of the comedy pretty much fails because the comedy just isn't that funny. The second portion of the film deals with the model's father trying to buy the statue back and then we have gangsters getting involved. None of this stuff is funny and when he's offered thousands of dollars for this statue and refuses to sell, it's not cute but instead annoying. The screenplay really lets the cast down because everything is pretty good here. McHugh gives that comic performance like only he can deliver. Wyman is very good in the role of the girlfriend and Witherspoon is very believable as that annoying future mother-in-law. Berton Churchill plays the Senator trying to buy the statue and Lewis is simply divine in her part. HE COULDN'T SAY NO probably best sums up what went wrong with the story when someone didn't say no to it.

"He Couldn't Say No" ranks as one of the top ten worst films I have ever seen. Jane Wyman, a brilliant, Academy Award winning actress, is completely wasted in this film. There are brief humorous moments, but they are overshadowed by the cardboard plot and insufficient character development. Frank McHugh was well-cast in the lead, but the film is so unbelievable that this is the only point in its favor.

The basic "plot" (such as there is) is as follows: Lambert, a less than average looking fellow (McHugh), who is fascinated by the beautiful Iris Mabby (Diana Lewis), a senator's daughter, is engaged to one his coworkers (Wyman). His fiancé dominates him and has an overbearing mother (Cora Witherspoon) as well. The three of them go to an auction to buy furniture to furnish the apartment in which all three (!) of them will live after the wedding. At the auction, Lambert spends an outlandish sum on a nude statue that looks exactly like Iris Mabby, infuriating his fiancé and her mother. From then on, the film centers around his attempts to keep the statue despite a great deal of crusading efforts from numerous other people.

All of the actors in this film were far more talented than this film makes them appear. If you are a Jane Wyman or Diana Lewis fan, don't disappoint yourself by watching this pathetic motion picture. There are a great many far better classic films that you could be viewing instead.