The Reckless Hour

"The Reckless Hour" appeared in theaters in August 1931. That was nearly two years into the Great Depression that had gripped the industrial world. Hollywood had always done a lot of comedy, but now it was cranking out comedy films along with musicals and other films with gaiety and laughter. Audiences that did or didn't have money to spend on entertainment, surely didn't want to spend it watching morose movies about gloom and doom. This was a time when people needed things to help lift their spirits. This may seem far-fetched to audiences of the 21st century, but it was very real for people of the 1930s who lost jobs, incomes, businesses, houses, farms, and, in many cases, hope.

Yet, Hollywood still produced some dramatic films. A common element of those included the wealthy, high society, and the fun life. Audiences could still dream about the good life – a life that most would never really achieve or see. And, mostly those serious films about the rich and worldly had a tragic element to them. The message was that all was not sunshine and gaiety at the top.

"The Reckless Hour" has the usual appeal to riches. The film seems to be set in a time when there wasn't a depression. I would guess that models and jewelry clerks would have been among the least employed during that time. Yet, here we have Dorothy Mackaill and Joan Blondell in just such jobs. Mackaill's Margaret Nichols is the model, while Blondell plays her sister, Myrtle. It's through Margaret's job that this film acquires its riches theme.

I won't divulge the story more here, but just note that this is a surprisingly good morality play. It bursts the bubble of the idea that wealth is everything and brings happiness. The title hints at what is to come. It's a story about hope, decency, mistakes, forgiveness, family, selfishness and charity, kindness and sacrifice. In its own way, this film could lift the spirits of audiences.

The attention given this film for being "pre-code" seems nothing more than a marketing effort today. While there is a situation that could be very scandalous in that day and time, it is only alluded to in the film. And, it's important to the plot, and as an example of the culture and mores of the time.

All of the cast give good performances. Mackaill was a dramatic actress who starred in many silent films of the 1920s. She made the transition to sound with several good films in the early 1930s. But, the rise of many new talented and attractive stars diminished her demand and she retired from films by the mid-1930s. Blondell, on the other hand, was more diversified, and her movie career would last until her death at age 73 in 1979. She played in many comedies, but was also very good in dramas, musicals and other genres. Walter Byron's career also started in the silent era and came to an early end by the start of the 1940s.

This is a good film for a look at these and some other good actors who graced many films into the mid-20th century, but who today are little known. Conrad Nagel, H.B. Warner and Claude King had very good careers in movies.

Dorothy Mackaill stars as Maggie, a sensible girl from Jersey City who works as a model in New York City but lives with her family. She's tired of dating ordinary men and one day meets a rich man (Walter Byron) who's eager to date. She enjoys the gifts and evenings at nightclubs but her parents are worried.

Meanwhile her younger sister(Joan Blondell) is dating the guy Maggie jilted. Her father (H.B. Warner) is having a tough time with his book shop, and her mother (Helen Ware) defends Maggie's dating the rich guy. Things start to go wrong, however, when Maggie discovers she is pregnant. She assumes the rich guy will marry her. After he dumps her, she's left to explain things to her father.

After some time in a "rest home," she meets another rich guy (Conrad Nagel). Has she learned her lesson? Will he be interested in "damaged goods"? Should she tell him everything?

Mackaill is terrific as Maggie and earns audience sympathy by being so nice. She's matched here by the snappy Joan Blondell who drops wise cracks every time she opens her mouth. Warner and Ware are fine as the parents. Byron is an appropriate louse. Nagel is fine as the nice guy. Also in the cast are Billy House as Jennison, Dorothy Peterson as his wife, and Joe Donahue as the sourpuss Hal.

As a pre-Code film, there are some surprises in the way the women act. A few years later, the Code would force certain behaviors and conclusions. There's one outrageous exchange when Maggie declines to go out with her drippy boyfriend. When Blondell's character jumps on her for standing him up, the mother says something like, "Leave Maggie alone. She's been on feet all day." Blondell (whose character works at Macy's) snaps back, "And where have I been all day? On my back?"

... starting with model Margie Nichols (Dorothy Mackaill) trusting socialite Allen Crane (Walter Byron) enough to go out with him and think him on the level after he basically insults her on first meeting. All dressed up in formal attire, he at first thinks her a fellow socialite and is very polite, but after he finds out she is a model in the dress shop his demeanor changes significantly, he gets familiar, and basically says she'll eventually sleep with him.

At home Margie has a rather difficult situation. Mom (Helen Ware) is dissatisfied with Dad's (H.B. Warner as Walter Nichols) income, with him owning a book shop and being happy with just that. She wants him to be bolder with his money and become an investor and a big shot, and she's constantly nagging on the subject. Margie is bored with her main suitor, Harry Gleason (Joe Donahue), but sister Myrtle (Joan Blondell), for some unknown reason, is just aching to take this zoot suited wise-guy away from her sister and drag him to the nearest JP. Conrad Nagel plays artist Eddie Adams with which Margie has a second course of reckless moments in the last half of the film after she becomes cynical about romance. She and the artist are a good match as he has become cynical too due to a faithless wife and his resulting failed marriage.

This is pretty much a precode with lots of conventional angles - middle class girl thinking she has found her rich prince charming only to find out he's a heel and that when it comes to his family the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, feuding parents with one parent lending a sympathetic ear to the troubled daughter and the other parent oblivious and self-involved, and a couple of colorful neighborhood characters to lighten up the melodrama just a bit.

A couple of things of note. Joan Blondell's mating ritual with Joe Donahue's Harry Gleason just had me thinking - I'd actually believe she found this character interesting if Harry was being played by James Cagney, who was also still a supporting player at this point. After all, it was the kind of street wise character that Cagney excelled at playing that Joe was obviously aiming at portraying, but instead he just seems like a street-wise wannabe braggart. There's also a very interesting scene at a club when Margie is out with Allen. When he's talking things over with Eddie as to his plans that evening Allen basically tells Eddie - with Margie standing right there - that he's occupied because the two are spending the night together. That Allen would talk about her like she was a piece of meat in front of a total stranger should have told Margie that this relationship was not on its way to the altar. Finally notice Ivan F. Simpson as Eddie's butler who also played similar roles in George Arliss' films.

I'd recommend this as a very typical precode of the era, but with interesting performances by those involved and a look at Warner Brothers in transition, as it would soon abandon the stars it started out with in talking pictures such as Dorothy Mackaill and H.B. Warner and turn more towards stars such as Joan Blondell.

Attractive department store model Dorothy Mackaill (as Margaret "Margie" Nichols) begins a relationship with suave and wealthy Walter Byron (as Allen Crane). Of course, she hopes he's marriage material. Her working class father H.B. Warner (as Walter Nichols) thinks Ms. Mackaill is making a mistake. Mackaill's lover teasingly promises "dishonorable intentions." This turns out to be no joke. Mackaill finds herself unmarried and in trouble. She turns her attention to suave portrait painter Conrad Nagel (as Edward "Ed" Adams). The attraction for Mr. Nagel seems more genuine, but he's stuck in an unhappy marriage...

During the later 1920s, Dorothy Mackaill was a successful second-tier star, impressive as Richard Barthelmess' love interest in "Shore Leave" (1925) and lending good support to "The Barker" (1928)...

"The Reckless Hour" finds her doing well in "all-talking" films, but her career faltered and Mackaill gave up the game. Here, she's a bit too worldly as the poor shop-girl, but gets stronger as her character matures. She and director John Francis Dillon have some fine moments - the highlight has Mackaill sneaking into her Jersey City apartment after spending the night with her lover in New York City. However, the director seems lax in spots - notably during the sequence where Mackaill's portrait is completed without fanfare. The supporting cast and crew are fun, with Nagel getting a chance to impress during the second half.

***** The Reckless Hour (8/15/31) John Francis Dillon ~ Dorothy Mackaill, Conrad Nagel, H.B. Warner, Walter Byron

Dorothy Mackaill, real life Ziegfeld Girl turned actress, might've become another Crawford or Davis had she come along seven or eight year later. Her early talkies are nearly-lost artifacts which shouldn't really hold up well today, yet her performances are always worth-watching. Here she plays a working girl who has to retreat to a "rest home" after getting pregnant by a wealthy playboy, driving her family into bankruptcy. Surprisingly fresh and fast-paced. Mackaill, as well as Joan Blondell as Dorothy's sassy sis, is "a real peach" and a natural comedienne. This is probably her finest showcase, based on the play "Ambush" by Arthur Richman. **1/2 from ****