Poursuite

The only good thing this movie has is its title.

Apart from generally uninteresting performances and a ramshackle plot, it has two unforgivable ingredients: puppies being taken from their mother shortly after their birth and the three central figures in blackface.

It also has a plane and its renegade pilot. It has Scotty Becket dressed as a girl for most of the story. It has Mexico (an unlikely looking Mexico.) It has a car that catches on fire. It has a man and woman handcuffed together.

Henry Travers does turn in an amusing performance. But he can't save it -- even though his character has a dog named Perfume.

No, this little programmer from the 30's is not going to win any awards. But it is an entertaining, fast-paced action drama laced with sometimes amusing bits of comic relief. The two principals, Eilers and Morris are particularly winning, their chemistry blending nicely as they grow closer despite the odds. I was especially taken with Eilers whose verve and grit suggest an MGM version of Warner's great toughie Joan Blondell. On the other hand, for me, a little of the folksy humor of Henry Travers goes a long way, but I guess that's a matter of taste. And, of course, there's tragic little scene-stealer Scottie Beckett who later fell victim to the notorious "child star" syndrome. It's hard to believe his later life, seeing him here.

Anyway, an interesting part was seeing those old flivvers of the 30's racing down narrow two- lane country roads where I could almost see Bonnie and Clyde just ahead. Yes indeed, the writers manage to string together about every cliff-hanger gimmick imaginable. So, if you don't like this particular setup, wait, there's another one just around the bend. But when you think about it, a gimmicky format is not so different from today's f-x'ed movie fare that pretty much depends on the spectacular. All in all, this little programmer amounts to an entertaining peek back into a time when kidnapping was in the headlines and Dillinger was on the loose.

Needing the $2,000 payment offered, broke San Francisco pilot Chester Morris (as Mitchell) accepts an offer from child protective agent Sally Eilers (as Maxine Bush). They are to accompany cute little Scotty Beckett (as Donald "Donny" McCoy) to Mexico because his widowed mother has weak lawyers and fears she will lose her son in a custody battle. Since his plane crashes in the opening mishap, Mr. Morris decides to drive young Beckett to Mexico, with Ms. Eilers going along. Of course, Morris and Eilers become a reluctant romantic couple. Beckett is reported kidnapped, with a $20,000 reward offered for his return. It turns out to be a rocky trip, with movie serial-type cliffhangers...

A popular actor in the 1930s, Morris was favored in gangster crime dramas. The situation in "Pursuit" is serious, but his co-stars reveal Morris presented in a one of his lighter pictures. Cute and capable, Eilers never achieved her star potential; possibly, she would have had more luck if a single studio (like MGM) were handling her career. Morris and Eilers have good chemistry, but they're not Gable and Colbert. Fresh from the "Our Gang" kid series, Beckett is a little too sweetly layered, even without the lollipop. To hide from the police, Beckett dresses up as a girl. He also joins Morris and Eilers as a "black-face" family. The trio are inoffensive and Beckett is convincing as a little 1930s black girl.

***** Pursuit (8/9/35) Edwin L. Marin ~ Chester Morris, Sally Eilers, Scotty Beckett, Henry Travers