We're in the Money

Two lady process servers will stop at nothing to do their job - but then one falls in love with the man they are stalking...

WE'RE IN THE MONEY was the sort of ephemeral comic frippery which the studios produced almost effortlessly during the 1930's. Well made & highly enjoyable, Depression audiences couldn't seem to get enough of these popular, funny photo dramas.

Joan Blondell & Glenda Farrell are perfectly cast as the fearless, fast-talking females who will try anything to serve their subpoenas. Although Joan gets both top billing and the romantic scenes, both gals are as talented & watchable as they are gorgeous.

Ross Alexander plays Blondell's love interest and he does a very nice job. Remembered now chiefly for his appearance in the classic A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1935), this talented young man from Brooklyn was gifted with the good looks & acting skills which should have made him a major Hollywood star. Instead, Alexander ended up in mostly forgettable parts in obscure films. Tragically, Ross Alexander died a suicide in 1937, at the age of only 29.

Hugh Herbert, whimsical & wacky as ever, appears as the girls' boss. Whether driving a stolen car or piloting a speeding motorboat, he is equally hilarious. Behind him comes a rank of character actors - Henry O'Neill, E.E. Clive, Lionel Stander, Hobart Cavanaugh - all equally adept at wringing every smile out of any situation. Sharp-eyed movie mavens should spot an unbilled Walter Brennan as a witness at the wedding.

While never stars of the first rank, Joan Blondell (1906-1979) & Glenda Farrell (1904-1971) enlivened scores of films at Warner Bros. throughout the 1930's, especially the eight in which they appeared together. Whether playing gold diggers or working girls, reporters or secretaries, these blonde & brassy ladies were very nearly always a match for whatever leading man was lucky enough to share equal billing alongside them. With a wisecrack or a glance, their characters showed they were ready to take on the world - and any man in it. Never as wickedly brazen as Paramount's Mae West, you always had the feeling that, tough as they were, Blondell & Farrell used their toughness to defend vulnerable hearts ready to break over the right guy. While many performances from seven decades ago can look campy or contrived today, these two lovely ladies are still spirited & sassy.

EARLY Joan Blondell.. LOVE HER in Desk Set, but that was about twenty years after this. She and Glenda Farrell were silly working girls in all those black and whites in the 1930s and 1940s... Ginger and Dixie are process servers, and are trying to get out of such a dangerous business. Their boss has one last assignment for them, and after being offered a huge amount, this will be their last caper, serving the big mob boss who doesn't want to be served. Ginger has a beau Carter, played by Ross Alexander. Sadly, Alexander offed himself a couple years after this film was released. The Hays film code had just started being strictly enforced, and this clearly was not good news for Alexander, as his lifestyle could not be kept quiet, and this clashed with the studio big-shots. Silly, vaudeville man Hugh Herbert is the goofy attorney, and is clearly here for the laughs. Some fun cameos, or almost cameos... a young Lionel Stander (Max.. from Hart to Hart) has several spoken lines. Walter Brennan is a guest at the wedding, and according to IMDb, Mayo Methot's scene was deleted. Also several songs by actor/singer Phil Regan... he had quite the adventures after his acting days, if you look him up on wikipedia. This one is fun, and scurries right along. Story is pretty straight forward, and has some clever lines. I recommend this one. Pretty surprised at the low rating... only a 6.. but of course, only 140 votes so far. Hopefully TCM will show this one more often.

Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell are process servers for nitwit lawyer Hugh Herbert. Their current and last assignment is to serve subpoenas on Ross Alexander and his associates in a breach-of-promise case brought by Anita Kerry, who's French when she isn't talking like someone from the Lower East Side of New York. What Miss Blondell doesn't know is that the chauffeur she's in love with is Alexander, made up in the disguise by his lawyer, Henry O'Neill, to avoid be subpoenaed.

The comedy is securely carried by Herbert and Miss Farrell, both operating at a great pace, with Miss Blondell playing the more serious of the two young ladies. There's a lovely sequence showing the ladies at work as they subpoena various people for the case, only to be blocked by the calm cynicism of Henry O'Neill as Alexander's lawyer. The happy ending is a bit rushed, and the process photography that makes Herbert such a terrifyingly funny driver is a bit obvious, but the easy camaraderie of Miss Blondell and Miss Farrell, who appeared in five films together, help to make this a superior comedy.

Best parts of this typically so so Ray Enright comedy are the ones where Joan Blondell and Glendale Farrell are riffing off each other and, in the process, providing us with one of the more inspired comedy duos of 1930s Hollywood. Joan's ditzinness contrasts perfectly with Farrell's deadpan wisecracks, kind of like Harpo and Groucho without tiresome Chico. Their talents are at their best in the nightclub scene where they effortlessly combine to nail the oleaginous crooner with a jury summons. Other than that, though, the movie kind of drags with scenes that try too hard (throwing Joan overboard from the yacht, the gangster stuff) alternating with scenes that are more weird/distasteful than quirky/funny (the wrestling sequence). And a little of Hugh Herbert, kind of a poor man's Ed Wynn, goes an awfully long way. Give it a C plus.

... and if they had it would have likely been much better.

Dixie Tilton (Glenda Farrell) and Ginger Stewart (Joan Blondell) are process servers employed by attorney Homer Bronson (Hugh Herbert). They want to quit, but Bronson has a troublesome client, Claire LeClaire who is suing a rich man for breach of promise. There are four subpoenas involved, and the male servers who have attempted to do the serving have been beaten up. Bronson promises the girls a thousand dollars if they can serve all four, the idea being that a female process server will not be suspected. Ginger is in love with a chauffeur she has been meeting in the park and she only knows his name is Carter. He is, in fact, the object of the breach of promise suit. C. RIchard Courtney. He wears the chauffeur's outfit to throw process servers off the trail. Neither Carter nor Ginger knows who the other is, but since Ginger is going to end up serving him, you just know complications will ensue when the truth comes out about both of them.

As it stands it would have made a good three reel (30 minutes long) short. Or the plot could have been beefed up considerably and it could have been worthy of its 64 minute runtime. Instead it is stuffed with a wrestling match, a nightclub number, and a bunch of badly done overlong chase scenes both in boats and cars with third rate back projection while the actual dialogue and cast interaction is somewhat anemic. I will say this about it - Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell have great chemistry together and make a terrific comedic duo. It's no wonder they were teamed several times as they were a joy to watch.