Hold That Woman!

In "Hold That Woman!" you hear the term 'skip-tracer' a lot and because it's such a seldom used term, it would be best if I explain it before getting to the review. Like the words say, this is a person that looks for someone who has skipped out of town and is in hiding. The skip-tracer can be doing this for a variety of reasons, such as bounty hunting, process serving (court notices) and, in the case of this movie, it's someone who is looking to repossess items for which the owners did not finish making payments. Making such a person the hero in your story is a bit odd to say the least.

The skip-tracer in this film is Jimmy Parker (James Dunn). When out collecting a radio from a very unpleasant woman, he gets himself into trouble by breaking into her apartment. Sure, she's a crook but legally you cannot just break in to repossess the radio. The lady is very indignant and insists on pressing charges against him. But this is a ruse...she doesn't want him to have the radio because there is something hidden inside and she cannot let him have it. What is it and who else is looking for the radio?

This film was made by tiny little PRC Studio--one of the crappier small-time outfits of the day. Most of their films are very forgettable--with lousy stories, directing and acting. Here, however, PRC actually created, accidentally, a decent movie which still contained a few of the usual clichés (such as the leading guy who knows MUCH more than the dopey cops). Overall, this is a mildly entertaining mystery movie--with both a bit of comedy and some gritty violence (I like the drill sequence).

James Dunn is a skip tracer; today we'd call him a repo man. He's also engaged to Frances Gifford. He's trying to repossess a radio from Rita La Roy. What he doesn't know is she's part of a gang who have stolen movie star Anna Lisa's jewels. She's hired his firm to recover them, and is willing to pay extra for no police involvement and no publicity. The jewels have been hidden in the radio Dunn is trying to repossess.

It's a comedy, but a fairly weak one, carried only on Dunn's energy and his chemistry with Miss Gifford; they were in the middle of a four-year marriage, so there's some energy there, but also some insecurity. Although she had been getting some minor roles in major pictures, but this was her first lead, and it was for PRC, so there was no time spent trying to get better takes by director Sam Newfield.

I think that for today's audiences a little clarification is needed as far as terms used. James Dunn is described as 'skip tracer'. He is most definitely not someone who goes after dangerous criminals who break bail. Today what Dunn does would be better described as a Repo-Man. He just takes items bought on credit that buyers are late in paying for.

He's in some trouble at work because Dave O'Brien is the fairhaired boy of the boss because he repossesses more than the rest. And Dunn also is having woman trouble, his potential father-in-law who is a cop doesn't think he's the right sort for his daughter Frances Gifford.

But in a light and breezy paced comedy/drama Dunn gets himself an assignment to repossess a radio from Rita LeRoy who happened to stash some stolen jewels in it. She's the brains behind the mob and she's plenty smart and no one to mess with.

Dunn did this one for poverty row PRC Pictures and considering what a no frills outfit they were this one is pretty good.

Hold That Woman introduces an awful lot of characters for a one hour movie—skip tracers, policemen, gangsters, a couple of jewel thieves, a movie starlet and a policeman's daughter. It's a bit much for a while, but the story finally brings them all together for the last fifteen minutes—one after another, alone and in groups, all of the characters wind up at the house where a certain much sought after radio has arrived.

What's with the radio? Well, it's not paid for….and also a girl crook has stashed some jewels in it that were stolen from a movie star who is unwittingly mixed up with another crook.

Enter James Dunn, repo man, and Frances Gifford, the girl who loves him. Dunn is working at tracking down said radio, but finds time during this particular work day not only to spend some time with lovely Gifford but to marry her, buy a house, and also purchase a houseful of used furniture and order it delivered.

It all really doesn't make much sense, but honestly, there's so much going on in this picture—and it's all presented so good-naturedly—that it would be overly picky to parse details in search of logical gaps. Suffice it to say that Dunn and Gifford look like they're having a good time and the rest of the cast do their best to keep up.

Funny line from early in the picture—mother to young son: "You know, if you don't get an education, you'll grow up to be a policeman, just like your father." (To which the son replies, "Well, then I won't do my homework at all!") –If you chuckle at that, then this movie is for you.

Originally titled SKIP TRACER. this very entertaining, briskly paced comedy adventure features James Dunn, cast as Jimmy Parker, an agent for Skip Tracers, Ltd., who with his girl friend Mary (Dunn's real life wife Frances Gifford) find themselves embroiled in the midst of a burglary case concerning diamonds stolen from a movie star, bringing about their being arrested, shot at and chased by the thieves, yet finding opportunity to be wed and set up housekeeping, all during one frenetic day, thanks to a snappily penned script that neatly ties together disparate plot elements. A small budgeted production from producer Sigmund Newfield's PRC studio, the work is ably directed by his brother Sam, an old hand at such poverty row action pieces, assisted here as often by Holbrook Todd, editor, and cameraman Jack Greenhalgh who is accustomed to thinking quickly for this type of film, the trio joining to create smooth montage effects. That aspect of acting called "business", prominent from the 1930s into the 1950s, particularly in U.S. cinema, benefits this production, especially that employed by Dunn (who ad libs effectively) in conjunction with beautiful Gifford whose natural graces earn for the future star of serials the acting laurels here, although her native athleticism is sublimated for her role, while able turns are to be appreciated from Rita LaRoy, Paul Boyar and George Douglas as members of the gem thieving gang, and from Dave O'Brien as a skip tracer in competition with Parker. The DVD release from Alpha offers adequate sight and sound, with no extras.