Party Wire

Many alleged Christians ignore or don't know the existence of the biblical injunction that to bear false witness is the same as committing murder.

"Party Wire" is a prime example of what can happen to an innocent person when gossipy people gleefully latch on to and help spread an inaccurate story.

"Party Wire" begins with a communications staple that is long out of date, the "party line" telephone. For younger people, this no-longer-extant situation consisted of several parties -- usually homes but possibly businesses -- being on the same line, usually connected through a patch-cord switchboard, and in the earliest days manually connected by a live operator.

When a father slightly in his cups makes a demand on a man who has been courting his daughter, the gossips overhearing are more than happy to spread a distorted report of what the conversation was about.

The misunderstanding sounds as if it could be funny, and in today's very different moral climate wouldn't even matter.

However, several lives are impacted, and the ripple effect almost devastates the entire town.

As someone else here commented, this story is dated, both by technology and by moral standards, but there actually is a good lesson here.

The acting is great, absolutely first class. Walter Brennan, for example, about ten years into his career, has an uncredited role, as do Lafe McKee and Si Jenks.

Victor Jory had a chance to play a hero, and his strength was put to good use.

The effervescent Jean Arthur, of whom Frank Capra said her voice was like a thousand tinkling bells, had an unusual role, not a bubbly, happy one, but she carried it beautifully.

Suspend your disbelief; ignore the script flaws. It's a good story despite some narrative glitches. "Party Wire" is definitely worth watching.

Enjoyable yarn that takes its inspiration from the party line, a concept that may be unfamiliar to many people today. In rural areas, many telephone subscribers would share the same telephone number. I actually had a party line in rural new Jersey as recently as the 1970's! Different households had different rings to distinguish one from another. However, nosy neighbors could listen in to each other's conversations, just like when a member of your family picks up the upstairs extension. As a result, gossip and news traveled fast in small town America back in the early part of the twentieth century. The plot revolves around an certain overheard conversation that leads to an ugly rumor. (Misstated, by the way in the review by Eva, who captures the gist of things in a review with many factual errors)

This movie features many of the great character actors of the thirties and is led by by the always-wonderful Jean Arthur. It has the fast pace typical of the movies of the period. A very well made time capsule of rural America between the wars. Worth a look.

PARTY WIRE is a quaint mixture of comedy and drama as small town gossip plays havoc with an innocent girl's life through a misunderstanding when her father (CHARLEY GRAPEWIN) exchanges a questionable phone conversation with her boyfriend. The boyfriend says he's leaving town, while Grapewin threatens him with a gun and tells him he has to "straighten out the mess you left my daughter in." Naturally, the town gossips jump to the wrong conclusion and all hell breaks loose.

JEAN ARTHUR is delightful as the girl who sees her reputation torn to shreds--first, when she loses her bank job and then disqualified from winning the $200 first prize at the flower show by the malicious woman (CLARA BLANDICK) who spread the gossip. VICTOR JORY is the town's most eligible, wealthiest bachelor who has a yen for Jean while being pursued by the young ladies for his money--and it's his mother (HELEN LOWELL) who puts an end to the gossip by showing up at a town meeting and disclosing the hypocrisy of all those who jumped to the wrong conclusions.

It's very dated stuff (Osborne had to explain what a party line was to today's audience of cellphone users), and the situations are the kind seen in numerous other such small town comedies. But it's refreshing to see that there's at least a glimmer of chemistry between Jory (who usually played bad guys) and Arthur, although it's easy to see why he was better cast in villainous roles throughout most of his career.

Summing up: A pleasant item, extremely dated but likely to find some appeal for JEAN ARTHUR's fans who enjoy her in this sort of thing.

In the late 30's and 40's many people did not have telephones and when they became available, most middle income people purchased a phone with usually three or more people using the same telephone line with an operator to make the calls on certain lines. This film deals mostly about this situation in a small town where people could listen in to your conversation with other people. Jean Arthur,(Margie Oliver) plays the role of a sweet young gal living with her father, Charley Grapewine (Will Oliver) who is drinking morning noon and night and never seems to finish painting his garage. Victor Jory,(Matthew Putman) is an owner of a large Dairy Farm business in town where most of the local people are employed and has recently returned to his home town and visited with his boyhood sweetheart, Margie Oliver. The use of a Party Wire in this town has caused a great deal of trouble for quite a few people and creates a very comical situation and also some drama. Some of the actors in this film appeared in the Wizard of Oz as well as many other great film classics. Victor Jory played a good guy in this film, but most of his film career was playing the evil one even in Westerns. Enjoy a great Classic film.

Party Wire concerns a small town. They are linked together by the same telephone line, a party wire. If one does not understand the way older telephones worked, with the total dependence on an operator and a switchboard, this concept is difficult to understand, which dates the film. However, suffice to say that everyone is able to listen in on everyone's phone calls, and others miss their calls often due to gossips tying up the line. In this small town, a visitor arrives, a man who used to live there by the name of Matthew Putname (Victor Jory). He is very wealthy so all of the young ladies of the town try to grab him, but the least interested one (Jean Arthur) happens to catch his eye. Gossips spreads through the town, not all of it true, and several dramatic things happen.

The film is based on a clever idea and contains several amusing sequences, but the main characters have no chemistry with each other and they themselves are lukewarm. It is difficult to care about their struggles if there is no sympathy. The best character plays Arthur's father, Charley Grapewin. He is lovable, funny, and a joy to watch.