The Golden Fleecing

"I'm tired of doing things I wasn't cut out for," says a weary Lew Ayres at the end of this movie--and one can certainly sympathize. From the first frame Ayres is made to do things no one was cut out for--to act like a simpleton in an exaggerated fashion that is supposed to be funny. His hair is always tousled, and he is always looking sheepishly to one side or at the floor. If the movie had been made a few years later, one would have thought he had been told to imitate Red Skelton.

Hard to believe that S J Perelman was the author of this flat dialogue, which isn't helped by the slow pacing. And Ayres isn't helped by a fiancee played by Rita Johnson, who is as boring as she is common. The far more attractive and charming Virginia Grey is around, as a gangster's girl, but the goody-goody Ayres isn't tempted to change sides.

Aside from the bad opening scene (which was WAY overdone), "The Golden Fleecing" is a cute little B-movie and is well worth your time.

Lew Ayres plays Henry Twinkle, a very mild mannered insurance salesman who wants to make a sale in order to get a raise...and then he can afford to get married. Well, he thinks it's a shoe-in after making his latest sale. What he doesn't realize is that the guy who purchased the policy is a wanted criminal with a $25,000 reward on his head and fellow mobsters who want to silence him....meaning it's very likely SOMEONE will kill the guy and force the insurance company to pay. So, Henry gets the idea to look for the crook (Lloyd Nolan) and keep an eye on him....just to make sure he stays safe. Where this then goes is pretty crazy...but I'll say no more because I don't want to spoil it.

The film has a cute, clever script that kept my interest. Well written, but more importantly a lot of fun to watch.

Henry Twinkle (Lew Ayers) is a naïve life insurance salesman who unknowingly sells a $50,000 policy to a crook named Gus Fender (Lloyd Nolan). This puts a kibosh on his plans to marry his girl, secretary Mary Blake (Rita Johnson). When he realizes his mistake, he understands he has a vested interest in the continuing health of Fender, who is wanted dead or alive.

This is the comedic crux of the plot, which has the hapless Twinkle trying to salvage his relationship while dealing with the fugitive Fender. There are some good moments, like the scene where he tries to get arrested for speeding.

Johnson and Ayers are a good pair, though Twinkle's cluelessness is a little annoying. Fender is humanized by Nolan's portrayal, not just a ruthless rogue. He pairs well with Virginia Grey, who plays his intellectually superior moll.

At the time of this filming, Ayers was married to Ginger Rogers. And his career was all about multiple portrayals of Dr. Kildare ---quite a different character from Henry Twinkle.

The funniest thing in this movie is its title. 'The Golden Fleecing' has a similar premise to Danny Kaye's unfunny comedy 'The Man from the Diner's Club': a gormless hero, on behalf of his employer, extends financial obligation to a gangster, then must imperil himself implausibly in order to undo the damage. But 'Diner's Club', as dire as it was, managed to be much more plausible than 'The Golden Fleecing'.

Lew Ayres was a slightly talented dramatic actor with no flair for comedy; his success in a supporting role in the comedy 'Holiday' was down to Ayres's willingness to give a passive performance for a firm-handed director while allowing much more talented actors to play off him. Here, in 'The Golden Fleecing', Ayres plays a schlub insurance salesman named Henry Twinkle: I guess that this name is meant to be funny, but somehow I'm not laughing. (When I said he was a schlub insurance salesman, I didn't mean he sells schlub insurance: I meant he's a schlub who has a job as an insurance salesman.) Henry is engaged to Lila (the attractive but untalented actress Virginia Grey), and they hope to get married if only Henry sells a few insurance policies.

Henry sells a life-insurance policy to a man named Gus Fender (played by Lloyd Nolan, whose face does indeed resemble a bashed fender). Henry is pleased with the sale ... until he learns that Fender is a gangster, and rival gangsters have put a price on Fender's head. If this were real life, Henry's boss could just cancel the insurance policy on a technicality. But this is a movie, so ... exit credibility, upstage left, while implausibility runs riot.

In order to keep Fender from getting killed, Henry gets involved in some criminal schemes which become increasingly felonious and decreasingly plausible. Meanwhile, Lila can't figure out why Henry is acting so weird, and of course he can't tell her. Listen, sister: when you decided to marry a guy named Twinkle, you should have been prepared.

Part of the problem with 'The Golden Fleecing' is that Fender is so unlikeable, we actually want him to get killed off ... even though this would mean ruination for Henry. Lloyd Nolan was a very talented actor (more so than Ayres) whose unpleasant physiognomy kept him typecast nearly always as crooks or unsympathetic heroes.

There are some good supporting performances here. The trim and muscular Nat Pendleton (a former Olympic athlete) plays a guy named Fatso. Leon Errol plays a character named Uncle Waldo: just the idea of Leon Errol playing somebody named Uncle Waldo is funny, but Errol has little to do in the role. Spencer Charters, Ralph Byrd and the great William Demarest are excellent in small roles. It's nice to see Ralph Byrd playing a role that isn't Dick Tracy. I'll rate this weak movie 4 out of 10.

... in a role that seems like it would be a better fit for Red Skelton.

Ayres plays Henry Twinkle, and there is an extended bit at the very beginning of the film that shows that Twinkle does not know how to assert himself as he has to brave a herd of pedestrians as well as cars almost hitting him as he runs down the street. He's in a hurry to get a client to sign a 50K life insurance policy, and he easily seals the deal as the client is in the elevator on his way out of town. Unfortunately, the client is Gus Fender, a mobster, who is about to be arrested on a slew of charges. He is wanted dead or alive for 25000 dollars as far as bounty hunters are concerned, and the other mobsters he is in league with figure he will talk to get a deal, so they want to get to him first and kill him.

But Twinkle knows none of this and runs back to his insurance agency to show the check to the boss and ask for a raise so he can marry the boss' secretary. But then his boss sees the newspapers talking about Fender and is furious that their chances of having to pay off on that policy in the next 24 hours is about 100%.

But Fender is in trouble too, as he has to get enough money to raise bail so he can turn himself in and then skip the country. He has half of the money he needs - 25K. Fender is holed up in the rural jail of a corrupt town the heads of which he has over a barrel for all of their misdeeds.

Eventually Twinkle and Fender meet again and find a way for them to solve each others problems, but of course it is not going to be that easy. Between misunderstandings, freak occurrences in the stock market, and the naivete of Twinkle, nothing goes according to plans.

This one is great fun and deserves to be better remembered. Virginia Bruce is practically unrecognizable as Fender's girlfriend. Nat Pendleton is quite believable as one of Fender's tough guys. And Leon Errol adds to the zaniness of the proceedings as the uncle of Twinkle's fiancée who hasn't had a real job in years (maybe never?) but is always trying new compositions on his oversized xylophone. Extra kudos to Lew Ayres as Twinkle, who is playing a part about 180 degrees out of what he normally plays - the thoughtful serious guy, usually a physician.

I'd recommend this one for the fun of it all.