Are You Listening?

This was a particularly enjoyable film for both the parts taking place in the radio studio and those taking place in the bachelorette apartment occupied by the three sisters. Additionally, Haines gave a totally convincing performance, both slightly comical and then quite serious, throughout the film.

However, contributors should pay more attention to what they are watching or learn a bit more about old time Hollywood. The following are needed corrections to the comments of mark.waltz posted only within the last month: 1) Joan Marsh did not play the 'horrendous wife' he refers to; Karen Morley did. 2) Karen Morley did not play the 'girlfriend'; Madge Evans did. 3)"Morley's" (actually "Evans's") younger sister does NOT "end up pregnant by a wealthy playboy" (she has simply had sex with him a night or two before in the belief that marriage was in the cards,and is ashamed of herself); 4) Felix Bressart is NOT in the film; the contributor may have meant Herman Bing, but Bressart did not even arrive in the U.S. until seven years after this film had been issued! 5) Hattie "McDaniels" should be Hattie "McDaniel".

William Haines, usually a leading man in light romantic comedies in silents and early talkies, has become a bit of a cult figure because his career may have ended because he refused to give up what for those days was a fairly open gay lifestyle, even if not known to the general public. Then again, he just may have outgrown that type of role and his career would have ended anyway. Don't feel bad, he became a renowned interior decorator to the stars.

In this, his last big film, it looks like the studio wanted to put him in a more serious role but couldn't quite decide if the film was a comedy, a romance, a soap opera, or something darker.

It's pre-code in the way the sympathy is tilted toward his relationship with his girl friend and away from his shrewish wife, who seems to have no function in life but to be frigid, criticize everything he does, and demand money.

The plot revolves more around the girl friend and her two sisters and their love lives. Most of the plot strands end up unresolved or resolved in unconvincingly lame fashion.

Not terrible but mostly for those like myself who find most pre-code films interesting for their style and historic interest, even the lesser ones.

I've never seen Williams Haines play it so straight in a MGM drama. Here he's radio comedy writer Bill Grimes who is deeply in love with one of the players there, Laura O'Neill (Madge Evans). The problem is Haines is married to a woman who has lost complete interest in Haines with the exception of his monetary support. She doesn't care what he does personally as long as he brings home the bacon. Meanwhile, Laura is a pretty sensible girl, but her sisters are another story. Sally (Anita Page) is becoming quite the player in New York City nightlife via connections she makes at work - she's also got a job at the radio station. Into town comes baby sister Honey (Joan Marsh), and Laura is concerned that Sally will teach their baby sister her eat, drink, and be merry ways.

The first half of the film thus has some heavy stuff going on, but it is lightened by the behind-the-scenes look at radio work in progress. Particularly amusing are the scenes with Grimes trying to get sound effects right such as him arguing with the props man that their avalanche does not sound like an avalanche or that the "sick dog" sound he is making is not right for the dog food commercial they need to make. Grimes loses his job after the comedy he writes begins to lose its edge, and things go downhill fast. Add an incidental shove that turns out to have deadly consequences, and you have quite a drama on your hands.

Harry Beaumont did a good job of keeping this film moving without letting it get away from him. With things moving back and forth between Bill and Laura's romance, then to the radio station, then to Honey and Sally's partying with both the new and old money of the city, this thing could have turned into an incoherent mess in a hurry. Instead it all comes together quite nicely at the end with the individual pieces of the story holding your interest on their way to their joint conclusion.

To see how well the MGM assembly line could craft a tale in the early 30's and to see William Haines hold his own in a serious role, give this one a try.

In one of his final films for MGM, William Haines seems rather subdued here in a film that starts out as a romantic comedy/drama but then turns into a murder melodrama. If nothing else, this film proves that Haines could play it "straight" and not always fall back on his "silly billy" character.

Haines plays a radio writer married to (but separated from) a sullen and greedy woman (Karen Morley) while he romances a co-worker (Madge Evans). Morley will not give up her meal ticket and bleeds Haines of everything he's got. But after he loses his job, Morley goes berserk and is accidentally killed.

In a subplot, Evans' roommate (Anita Page) who works at the radio station, takes in her kid sister (Joan Marsh) who goes wild in the big city and gets involved with older men (Jean Hersholt, Neil Hamilton).

In a neat twist, the radio, which is at first seen as a mindless form of entertainment, spoofed via the hokey shows Haines writes, turns deadly as a ruthless newspaper man (John Miljan) uses the radio to persecute and hunt down Haines after the death of his wife.

It seems like two films combined into one in a minor MGM film, but there are some interesting themes here. The ending is quite surprising.

As always, Haines is terrific. Evans and Page are solid here as is Morley as the nasty wife. Co-stars include Wallace Ford, Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Griffies, Herman Bing, Louise Carter, and Charley Grapewin.

The title comes from the catchphrase of early radio star Tony Wons.

Some Pre-Code Girly Imagery is on hand here as this rather Routine Drama is Enhanced by some Really-Cool looks inside the 1932 Radio Studio at the Machinations and Machinery, Technology and Radio-Art on Display that are Historic and Interesting.

It is that Backdrop that sets this Apart from the Routine as the Radio is also used as a Tool to Track the Couple on the Lam. Notice how the Announcer on Air calls Him a Killer and not a Suspect or Alleged Killer, that is Important as a Snapshot of the Media in the Early Thirties and is Priceless.

Slightly Above Average for the Aforementioned and is Certainly Worth a Watch in a Time Travel Cultural Context and the Production is Glossy and Slick. It's the Drama that is Pedestrian but it does have just Enough Entertainment Value to Pass as a Light-Weight Crime-Drama.