Convegno d'amore

"One Sunday Afternoon" is a charming and little-known piece of Americana, the first filmization of James Hagan's play about a dentist named Biff Grimes (Gary Cooper) who has long tried to revenge on his old friend Hugo Barnstead (Neil Hamilton) for marrying Grimes' girl Virginia (Fay Wray) and leaving him with the charming and devoted Amy (Frances Fuller). The film opens with Grimes and his pal Snappy Downer (Rascoe Karns) singing and drinking. Barnstead shows up Grimes' home to get this tooth pulled. Grimes puts him on nitrous oxide gas, and then the film dissolves into a flashback as Grimes remembers their past, providing him with a motive for revenge.

"One Sunday Afternoon" was remade in 1941 by Warner Bros. and Raoul Walsh into a timeless and unforgettable classic, "The Strawberry Blonde", starring James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, and Rita Hayworth. Walsh's version is infinitely superior, but "One Sunday Afternoon" is worthwhile for Gary Cooper's superb performance.

I was pleasantly surprised that this film was aired on Turner Classic Movies. In The Films of Gary Cooper when Warner Brothers purchased the rights from Paramount for James Cagney's remake of One Sunday Afternoon entitled The Strawberry Blonde, it says that the Paramount film itself was purchased and buried. The author said that the original might not see the light of day again. It was interesting to see this version and compare it with Cagney's.

This is a much darker version and probably a lot closer to what you saw on Broadway. One Sunday Afternoon closed that year of 1933 after running for 332 performances, very nice indeed for the Depression era audience and pocketbook. Lloyd Nolan originated the role on stage and I'm sure it must have been closer to Cagney's interpretation.

I can see Lloyd Nolan playing this part a lot easier than Gary Cooper. For one thing, Cooper just was not an urban type. In fact two of his most successful roles in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Meet John Doe he was the country boy out of his environment in the big city. But Lloyd Nolan was not a movie name, in fact he'd make his screen debut shortly.

The story structure is still the same, Gary Cooper while about to pull a tooth of his rival Neil Hamilton thinks back to the old days with Hamilton when they were both courting Fay Wray. Fay had a girl friend played by Frances Fuller who was all aglow over Cooper, but he couldn't see her at all. When Hamilton and Wray elope Cooper literally settles for second best and marries Fuller.

The Strawberry Blonde was done with so much lighter a touch. Here the Hamilton character is far more directly responsible for Cooper landing in prison. He's a much nastier guy, much nastier than lovable blowhard Jack Carson was. In fact Hamilton commits outright perjury to land Cooper in jail where he finishes his correspondence course to become a dentist.

In fact Jack Carson played the same part again in yet another version that reverted back to the same title and starred Dennis Morgan in the Cooper/Cagney lead. That one was done as a musical and didn't get nearly the acclaim that the other two did.

There's not much to choose from with Frances Fuller and Olivia deHavilland. Both are the good girls of the plot and those were the kind of parts deHavilland was looking to ditch. But whereas Rita Hayworth turns out to be a shrew, Fay Wray is a tramp. Remember this was before the Code.

In this case the remake was better. The story required a much lighter touch than Paramount gave it. Still a miscast Gary Cooper gives it his best shot and One Sunday Afternoon is still entertaining.

But if you view this side by side with The Strawberry Blonde, I'm betting you'll what Warner Brothers did so much better.

... The Strawberry Blonde.

This film is much darker than "The Strawberry Blonde". Biff Grimes (Gary Cooper), aspiring dentist, has a bad temper, and really loves Virginia (Faye Wray). However when Hugo Barnstead (Neil Hamilton) elopes with her, he marries her friend Mary on the rebound and to save face. Hugo rises to the level of running the factory where Biff works and threatens to fire Biff if he doesn't spy on the other employees. In a face off with Hugo, Biff gets into a scrap with a cop and the cop's gun goes off, striking him in the leg. Biff goes to prison for two years and finishes his dental training through correspondence. Then "one Sunday afternoon" years later Biff encounters Hugo again when he needs to have a tooth extracted. Since he uses gas during such extractions, Biff sees an opportunity for paying Hugo back with murder.

Although this film plays out much like "The Strawberry Blonde" there are a few differences. "The Strawberry Blonde" was much lighter. Hugo Barnstead in that film was played by Jack Carson, who could always manage to inject just a bit of likeability into the cads he played. Cagney doesn't seem as angry in his rendition of Biff as Cooper does, and Cagney's Biff doesn't need to see what has become of his ideal woman (Virginia) years later in order to start appreciating his wife. Also, Cagney was innocent of any intentional wrongdoing in the crime that sent him to prison, where Cooper's Biff Grimes let his temper get the best of him in his downfall.

Gary Cooper plays a dentist named Biff whose former friend Hugo (Neil Hamilton) stabbed him in the back many times when they were younger and even wound up with the woman Biff loved, played by Fay Wray. Now Hugo has come to Biff to have a tooth pulled. While Hugo is sedated, Biff flashes back to how things went down between the two men. Good movie but later remake called The Strawberry Blonde is better. That one stars James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, and Rita Hayworth. It's lighter and funnier than this one, which is dark in parts. Cooper's great here and his support is fine but I'm not sure Fay Wray was quite right for her part. This is yet another movie from the early '30s where Neil Hamilton played a man that women go crazy over. Something must have been in the water back then because I just don't see any woman preferring him to Gary Cooper. I remember another movie where he was picked over Clark Gable. Insane!

The exposition that takes place in a dentist's office, before the flashback that constitutes the major part of this film, seemed rather long to me. And the main character, Biff Grimes (Gary Cooper), seemed to be the least likable. So, I thought this film was going to be a drag.

But as the story develops, one learns that Biff, though a dense, insensitive lout, has an interesting story to tell. And the first part of the film is necessary to fully appreciate what follows.

I have always felt that Gary Cooper is best suited for characters that are socially awkward. Biff is just such a role. Cooper is surrounded by actors who outshine him at times. But they form a solid ensemble for this adapted play (that would be remade two more times in the forties). Fay Wray, in particular, amazes with her transformations throughout the film.

This plot is a simple story about revenge that no doubt pleased audiences of the depression era who looked to champion the common man.