Made on Broadway

This 1933 MGM comedy is a rarity. It was filmed before the Hays Code arrival, as Harry Beaumont, its director, shows a freedom that would be rare in movies about the same theme that were done after. "Made on Broadway" is a delicious comedy that as another comment points out, its heroine seems to have been a precursor for Roxie Hart, the heroine of the film of the same name that later served as the basis for "Chicago".

The strength of this film is Robert Montgomery. Mr. Montgomery was one of the best comedy actors working in the films of that era. He brought a lot to the role and runs away with the picture. As Jeff Biidwell, the actor makes a tremendous impression as the man about town whose wife can't put up with him. Jeff is dazzled by Mona, the girl he had rescued from a sure death when she jumps from the ferry that is bringing them to Manhattan.

Sally Eilers' Mona is a calculating woman who realizes the effect she has on men. Jeff enlists his ex-wife Claire, to guide Mona through the ropes in becoming a sophisticated woman who will make Jeff proud. Sally doesn't count with the effect she has on Ramon Salinas, her dance instructor, who wants more from her. The ensuing trial will give Sally an even higher status as she becomes front page news of all the newspapers.

Among the supporting cast we see the excellent Eugene Palette who plays Jeff's valet. The beautiful Madge Evans is perfect as Claire. Ivan Lebedeff plays Ramon Salinas, the dance instructor.

At 65 minutes running time, "Made on Broadway", packs a lot of action, something that would have required another hour if it had been done for today's audiences. Harry Beaumont had everything under control and got wonderful performances all around.

Interestingly enough, it has the same plot as "Chicago." A dame kills a Lothario who was getting a little too amorous with her, and her press agent has to spin the media and courts to get her off. A funny scene of a photographer shooting pictures of her holding a gun, and her desire to go into show business at the end to capitalize on the scandal would both be used in "Chicago" years later. Surprisingly funny, worth a rental, if you can find it; certainly worth catching on TMC. (There's also a 2003 French film called "Bon Voyage" which has a scene where a woman kills a man in her apartment, and calls her friend in the middle of the night to pick up the pieces.)

...which is Jeff Bidwell (Robert Montgomery). He is an agent and PR man extraordinaire, but absolutely nothing about this story has anything to do with Broadway or what is made there. Bidwell is so well known in New York that big shots just hang out in his apartment living room - where free drinks are served - waiting for him to come home and give them advice, which he does for a hefty fee. As he points out, when you look at his fees, he is really not the one paying for all of these drinks. Apparently his apartment doubles as his office. He has a strictly business middle aged secretary, and he also has a valet who for some reason is being played by Eugene Palette. Palette is really wasted here as he really has no opportunity to do much of anything.

One night on the ferry a girl who claims she is at the end of her rope, Mona Martine (Sally Eilers), jumps off of the same ferry that Bidwell is riding. He jumps into the water to save her. She claims to be just another girl down on her Great Depression luck wanting to end it all, but I wonder. The story Bidwell gives her to tell once the press shows up to ask what happened is not the story she tells. She has an alternative tale all made up, one that seems to make her look better than Bidwell's story did. Plus she was looking Jeff's direction when she jumped into the water. Did she plan this whole thing just to meet Bidwell? At that point, Bidwell's ex-wife, who is running a salon, gives Mona a make-over at Bidwell's request. Bidwell tells the ex-wife, that just as a strictly business kind of thing, he'd like to give the girl some elocution and dance lessons and see if she can get into the follies. He says it is a project of his. But through a series of bills shown the viewer, you can see this quickly becomes personal and then romantic and then maybe a bit obsessive. Bidwell takes Mona out, and man after man stops by and wants to dance or take her out afterwards. Jeff looks so disgusted. He wants to possess her just because he doesn't possess her i.e. marry her. He even tells his ex-wife that he KNOWS this is why he wants to marry her, yet she still draws him in.

Well, later that night Mona gives Jeff a frantic call. She has shot a man dead in her apartment, supposedly in self defense due to an attempted rape. Bidwell knows this is not true and later gets the truth out of her, but she convinces him that she loves only him, and so he gets to work trying to make the attempted rape story stick to get her out of a murder rap.

How will all of this work out? Watch and find out. Sally Eilers is great as the blonde Mona - she's a real piece of work and Bidwell has finally found his match in her, a match in profiteering and insincerity that is. The role of Bidwell the fixer is a real fast talking street wise part in contrast to the suave upper crust roles Montgomery usually played during this part of his MGM career, and he plays it well. Madge Evens has an understated role as Bidwell's classy ex-wife, Claire. They are still in love, and Claire seems to be waiting around for Bidwell to take a breath from all of the affairs that have come since, and maybe even before the divorce to figure this out. The question is, will he? I'd strongly recommend this as great Depression fun - Montgomery and Eilers make it so, even though I don't think they ever did another film together.

A cheerfully amoral pre-Code in which we don't actually see the shooting the plot turns on so we never really know to what extent justice has been served or perverted.

But it's fun to see the cynical hero's ex-wife (Madge Evans) function as the glamorous other woman.

"Made on Broadway" is a somewhat different plot from the many comedy romance films Robert Montgomery was making at MGM during the early to mid-1930s. In most of those, he's the dapper playboy or gentlemen that fits one of his Hollywood labels at the time - the best-dressed actor on the set. He's also usually a self-assured and bemused character. Well, he's all of that and more - or, more accurately, to the maximum in this film.

Montgomery's Jeff Bidwell is the most egotistical, proud, self-centered, in-control character one can imagine. It doesn't quite get to the point of grating on the viewer though, and that's only because of some of the other characters and the humor attached to his presence. There's another side to this story, and that's that he has very little scruples. He's THE master fixer of any problem in the Big Apple. He does it all with publicity. He's a wheeler-dealer who knows the ins and outs and all the right people to pull off a cover-up.

Bidwell has politicians, judges, millionaires, contractors, lawyers, reporters, doctors, professors, women and just about anyone with a scandal, crime or problem indebted to him. And their debts are premium fees.

At one time, Bidwell was married, but he and Claire (Madge Evans) divorced because he couldn't stand anyone who could match him thought-wise. There's still something between them, and they are friends and antagonists on and off. But when a new person comes into his life, things start working out differently. Mona Martine (Sally Eilers) is a different con-artist with a mind of her own.

The film is peppered with some snappy lines and occasional antics. But, its light treatment of a murder, and suggestions about various crimes that Jeff is able to cover-up or fix, is a bit of a problem. The film never rectifies that, and that's the only thing that the enforcement of the Hays Code starting the next year would be concerned with. While it's billed as a comedy and drama, I think it would better be labeled comedy and crime. Especially when one considers that a lot of what Bidwell did might be criminal - things like phony alibis, altering scenes of a crime, removing evidence, covering up details, planting phony stories, etc.

The ending is a little bit of a surprise. The title alludes to Jeff's handling of Mona, when he tells Claire that she was his creation. It could also very well be linked to the fact that Broadway was the centerpiece of acting, and that much of Jeff's work was all about directing clients to act with false stories and alibis, and changing and creating crime scenes.

Here are some of the best lines in the film.

Jeff Bidwell, "But she thought she was just as smart as I am. And there isn't a woman in the world, Mike, who has a right to be that conceited."

Jeff Bidwell, "I don't think a little fresh air'd do me any harm." Elmer, the chauffeur, "Sure. Take a chance."

Jeff Bidwell, "Say, listen, lady. There's one thing you gotta learn right here and now. When it comes to lying, don't try to make a chump out of the old master."

Claire Bidwell, "Why do you love her, anyway? Jeff Bidwell, "I don't know. Yes, yes, maybe I do. You see, when she jumped into that river, she was nothing. I dragged her out and I've made her something. Everything that she is, is me. She's my creation. My doing. Maybe it's just a touch of egotism, but she's mine just as much as if I'd made her out of a mud pie."

Jeff Bidwell, "Anyway, you're good. You're the best female blacksmith in the whole anvil chorus."

Claire Bidwell, "It's too bad someone doesn't invent a gun that shoots backwards."

Police Inspector Burke, "Funny how you gun-shy dames always shoot so straight."

Inspector Burke, "Well, I never heard it done better, even when it was true."

Claire Bidwell, "I've never been jealous of any woman. I don't have to be. I've never seen any woman you had that I've had any reason to be jealous of." Jeff Bidwell, "Oh, perfect, eh?" Claire, "Too good for you. You don't want a woman to be on the level. You want all your women to be phony. You want them to adore you, worship you without question or criticism. And if they're not quite stupid enough for that, you want them to pretend. All which means you can't bear the truth about yourself. And you're a liar and....