Have a Heart

A crippled dancer and a brash ice cream man show they HAVE A HEART when they become the answer to the other's romantic dreams.

This unfortunately obscure little film starts off as a lively comedy, but quickly takes a turn into very serious drama before finally settling into its final shape as a gentle love story -- with a bit of crime action thrown into the mix. The movie will be more than acceptable to those viewers looking for a soap opera with a bit of a punch.

Jean Parker is terrific as the valiant young lady whose life is changed forever as the result of a terrible fall. Love finds her in the unexpected form of James Dunn, very good as the quick tempered but good natured fellow who woos her without knowing of her disability. They make a fine on-screen team, each character filling the void in the other's life.

Pretty Una Merkel, the Southern belle whose prickly presence perked up many a film project in the 1930's, shines as Parker's tart-tongued friend. Laid-back Stuart Erwin is funny as her card-cheating boyfriend. Samuel S. Hinds plays Miss Parker's kindly doctor.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Edward Brophy as Dunn's pal at the ice cream factory.

Sally Moore (Jean Parker) teaches dancing to little kids. All she cares about is dancing and her wedding to boyfriend Joe Lacy. An accident leaves her disabled. When Joe shows hesitation, Sally lets him off the hook. She ends up fixing dolls for kids from her home. Jimmie Flaherty (James Dunn) is a "Have a Heart" ice cream man who often passes by her apartment. She needs $500 to fix her limp. Her best friend Joan O'Day (Una Merkel) vows to get it for her.

Joe Lacy at the hospital is so brutal. That's a devastating scene. It makes the romance so much more sweeter. This is a case where the meet-cute isn't only the scene where the couple first meet. It's a continuation from the hospital scene. The combination makes this a solid meet-sweet. The movie is also very manipulative in pulling all the heart strings. It probably needs some raunchy humor from the best friend to break up the sincerity of the primary romance.

This is a romantic comedy that is funny in parts, but the romance story does not hold up well. Jean Parker plays a young woman who has an accident which causes her fiance to run out on her. James Dunn is the hero who woos her next and is not turned off by her "handicap" (according to the film). A very busy plot that was too melodramatic to hold my interest all that well. Una Merkel (fast-talking cynical dame) and Stu Erwin (country bumpkin oaf) are the comic relief, and they are as good as ever. But otherwise poor acting. Still, well worth seeing once - I caught it on TCM.

I absolutely love early 1930s movies, but this one I thought was just awful. It has a quality of having been made up as the actors went along (perhaps it was made up as the writers went along!), and doesn't realistically address the problem of a disability, even for 1934.

Jean Parker has a speech pattern similar to Una Merkel's, and in appearance reminds me of Mary Martin, but somehow her personality lacks the spark that would have made me care more about her character's plight. I've always loved Una Merkel, and the film would have been deadly without her, but this wasn't anyone's best performance. It certainly is a cornucopia of character actors, though, as an earlier commenter said.

Thanks to Turner Classic Movies I saw this film today. Una Merkel is billed below Jean Parker, but of course she steal the show without even trying. She's just that kind of actress. Jean Parker plays her younger sister and they sound amazingly alike in accent and inflection. I checked on IMDb to see if they were really sisters. They are not. Good performances by everyone, including James Dunn as Jean's Love Interest and Stuart Erwin, who, along with Una, have the best lines in every scene. Besides the credited actors, the movie is full of great supporting actors you'll instantly recognize: Edward Brophy, Tom Dugan, and Pat Flaherty, among others.