Rayon d'amour

Original title: Happiness Ahead

1934
Approved
1h 26m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Josephine Hutchinson and Dick Powell in Rayon d'amour (1934)

Society heiress Joan Bradford rebels against her mother's choice of a future husband by masquerading as a working class girl and dating a window washer.Society heiress Joan Bradford rebels against her mother's choice of a future husband by masquerading as a working class girl and dating a window washer.Society heiress Joan Bradford rebels against her mother's choice of a future husband by masquerading as a working class girl and dating a window washer.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

322

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins total

Photos31

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
According to the Hollywood Reporter's April 22, 1935 issue the Acme Window Cleaning Co. sued Warner Brothers for the use of the names Acme Window Cleaning Co. and Peerless Window Cleaning Co. Because the Acme company in the film was portrayed as unscrupulous, the real Acme Co. asked $100,000 in damages. The outcome of the suit has not been determined.

Quotes
Bob Lane: [angrily to Joan as he leaves] You know, I'm pretty good about that cheating business myself! And all that junk I fed you about being in love with ya was just a lot of conversation! Give me a buzz if you want some windows washed! I'm goin' into business! You know, you may not look so bad from the outside!

Crazy credits
Quite unusually for this era, there's a short pre-credit sequence: a complete refrain of the title song is sung before the main title card is shown. The First National logo zooms toward us out of clouds (just as the WB logo more familiarly does) then Dick Powell is superimposed over the same clouds singing "Happiness Ahead" directly to us.

Connections
Remade as Here Comes Happiness (1941)

Soundtracks
Beauty Must Be Loved
(1934) (uncredited)
Music by Sammy Fain
Lyrics by Irving Kahal
Played on piano and sung by Dick Powell

User reviews12

Featured review

7/10

Pop! Goes Your Heart

"Happiness Ahead" is a title that might lure a citizen into a movie theater during the depression. Dick Powell and Josephine Hutchinson are the couple paired to provide the happiness in this story about an heiress (natch!) who falls for a working stiff.

The story is very basic. Fortunately, Powell (as Bob Lane) has a nifty singing voice, so the script can allow him to vocalize at regular intervals. The happy couple base their relationship on the misunderstanding that Hutchinson (as Joan Bradford)is also a member of the working class--a misunderstanding that she promotes, and that drives the tension of this story, though things are not that tense. Lightheartedness is the order of the day.

Frank McHugh plays Bob's sidekick, whose antics are like a tame version of Curly Howard's--typical for his work. John Halliday plays the aristocratic father of Joan with a light touch that is appealing.

You can guess what happens to the two lovebirds in the end. The film is a pleasant diversion.