Man of the Moment

A lot of the recent TCM rediscoveries (and U.S. premieres!) of Warners' British productions from the 1930's are turning out to be quite good movies and not the cheap, reviled "quota quickies" of legend. This is one of them, a charming British foray into the screwball genre with some of the same sexual cheekiness American productions of the so-called "pre-Code" era (1930-34): the heroine spends a good chunk of the film in male drag and the bridal suite actually has a double bed. It's quite a bit slower than a U.S. version of the same story would have been, Margaret Lockwood's crying jags get tiresome (she'd go on to be a major British star and is best known as the female lead in Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes") and some musical underscoring would have helped, but on the whole this is a clever and amusing film. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who in his American films in the period was sometimes cast in roles that were beyond his acting skills, is perfectly cast here and delivers a memorable comic performance, and after seeing (and being unimpressed by) some of Laura LaPlante's late silent and early talkie performances at Universal, I was pleasantly surprised by her work here and disappointed only by her utter lack of a British accent. (I kept expecting to hear a bit of dialogue explaining that she was an American stranded in Britain and forced to take a secretarial job there to survive.) Let's hope the other 27 surviving Teddington productions get shown here soon!

From 1923 to 1930 Laura LaPlante was the Queen of Universal Studios. She was a delightful comedienne and a fine dramatic actress. She was outstanding in the part-talkie epic "Showboat"(1929) though the film itself in its current form is mediocre at best. She left Universal in 1930 after two musical flops but found considerable success in England starring in half a dozen comedies for Warner Brothers-Teddington Studios. "The Man of the Moment"(Warner Bros, 1935) made its U.S. debut last night and proved once and for all that LaPlante should have had a great talkie career in the kind of films she excelled in the silent twenties. SHe makes a delightful pairing with the handsome young Douglas Fairbanks Jr.. The film is given a glossy Hollywood-style sheen, the script and direction is excellent, but it is these 2 stars at their charismatic best that makes this constant fun. Why Warner Brothers did not re-team these two is a mystery....The film never got a U.S. release though Fairbanks was a major star at the time. LaPlante's career was going into eclipse but she was still widely known by the public.

MAN OF THE MOMENT is a trifle about an impetuous woman who decides to drown herself (LAURA LA PLANTE) and a man who happens to be driving by when she's floundering in the water (DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR.) Naturally, they fall in love after he dives in to rescue her.

But not too quickly. The man is engaged to a young woman (MARGARET LOCKWOOD) and this is just one of several obstacles. Fairbanks plays his role in debonair style with good humor and a sense of comic timing, but Laura La Plante is a bit ungainly as the ditsy young woman, in the sort of role Claudette Colbert would have played with charming ease.

The comic situations are pretty lame and the film only becomes worthwhile for watching DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS, JR. in an early role as the happily engaged man. MARGARET LOCKWOOD as his fiancé is even more of an airhead than La Plante and shows no particular skill for comedy in an irritating number of crying scenes.

Summing up: Screwball British comedy is a trifle easily forgotten.

Both stars of Man of the Moment had started in silent films; The dashing Douglas Fairbanks Jr (Gunga Din, Stella Dallas) stars as Tony, who is about to get married. The film begins as Tony stops Mary from drowning herself. The girl, who he calls "Nuisance", is played by Laura LaPlante ( MANY silent films, Cat & the Canary, Showboat) The fun but typical hijinks and misunderstandings follow, and now his marriage to the silly, young rich girl Vera (Margaret Lockwood, Man in Grey, Alibi) is in jeopardy when her father gets involved. Fun romp, but the plot does involve suicide, gambling, drinking, and other violations of the Hays code, so that may explain why it's not shown very often, although other movies with those elements are shown all the time. The director Monty Banks, also plays the flirtatious doctor in the film. Ironically, the actor playing the father of the rich girl, Peter Gawthorne seems to have gotten his start in Hollywood much later than the younger cast, but always played positions of authority, the police captain, the Lord, the Judge. The writer of the play, Yves Mirande, had also written and directed the 1940 version of Moulin Rouge. There is also another film titled "Man of the Moment" from 1955, but it does not appear at all related to this film.

A screwball comedy with a British accent, Man of the Moment takes an original premise that is darkly realistic and carries it through to a madcap if predictable conclusion that satisfies more than anything because of the fine acting of its leads.

Mary,(Laura La Plante) is a secretary whose crush on her boss comes to a horrible end when he demotes her so he can promote a girl he's dating. Despondent, she resolves to throw herself in the Thames River. Along comes Tony, (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) to rescue her on the eve of his wedding . He now feels responsible for her and takes her home. She is still determined to end it all, so he can't let her out of his sight. Did I mentioned that he was getting married?

It's all predictable, but the acting of the leads and the comedy of the supporting cast make it enjoyable.

Fairbanks is, of course, charmingly dashing and sincerely devil-may-care, He is the perfect straight man for an assortment of comic characters. La Plante is a delightful surprise. She plays a kind of multiple personality that is part poor working girl and part elfin sprite. Her energy makes the improbable story probable. She even does a passable boy when she dresses in drag to crash Tony's stag party.

The rest of the cast - Claude Hulbert as a goofy friend in love with Tony's fiancé; Margaret Lockwood as a devious fiancé who cries at the slightest provocation and Peter Gawthorne as her long-suffering father carry the screwball element with something of a music-hall touch.

All in all a frothy bubbly harmless way to enjoy an hour or so.