Wise Girls

Roland Young is pretty good as the other man in this comedy about a woman who marries the plumber and causes all sorts of fuss. It's based on the stage play "Kempy" by Elliot Nugent and his father, J.C. Nugent, and stars them.

Unfortunately, director E. Mason Hopper is constrained by the immobility of the camera and everyone speaks slowly so their words can be understood, so Roland Young's comic timing has problems. It's he who has the task of speeding up the thought processes of Elliot Nugent. Marion Shilling, who usually played pieces of fluff, is stiff as a board. In fact, everyone but Young is, which pretty much explains what happened to everyone's career. The younger Nugent became a respected writer and director, but not off this. It would require top-ranked actors to make this sort of dialogue flow.

This is supposed to be the first MGM talkie issued without a silent version. Considering how much dialogue there is, it's not surprising. Alas, the dialogue is not very good.

I read the other reviews and they make some valid points about quality of production and maybe a little stiff acting, but the pace was excellent, and the dialogue and story was so funny I almost peed my pants. I was laughing so hard, I had to keep pausing the movie so I could wipe the tears from my eyes and catch my breath.

JC and Eliot's comedic timing, delivery, and facial expressions were much better than I expect from a movie from 1929 (or even 2009, for that matter), and I absolutely fell in love with Marion Shilling. Anyone who loves the bawdiness of Pre-Code cinema will not be disappointed. There are sexual innuendos and double entendres that will make your jaw drop.

This is a movie I want to own because I want to see it another 20 times, but alas, no DVD as of yet.

It's not a 10 out of 10 movie, but I had to try and make up for the other reviewers low marks.

I needed something that expressed true, non-profanity and overly banal used laughs. I didn't expect it but this movie had me on a Rodney Dangerfield type, unexpected belly laughs. True wit and timing. Loved it.

Was able to catch this Gem on a TCM airing recently and found it to be a wonderful comedy. Stopped by here to learn if the Nugent authors were related. The dramatic hyperbole is part of the comedy, not to be critiqued as poor acting, but enjoyed like reruns of Dark Shadows with all the notorious set flaws. A talkie borne out of the silents, sans bad makeup, the dialog is intentionally over expressive, but the script is heartfelt small town Americana, and the casting is wonderfully touched. My favorite is the bewildered and berated "king of his castle" Dad, besieged by 4 women in his life... Ma, the older married daughter next door, the naivete "artiste du wannabe" Kay, and the youngest budding collegian Ruth. An overall excellent run around of 30's family values with many little lessons mixed into the porridge.

Hope to find this teams other creation and be able to be similarly entertained.

J.C. Nugent stars as a father whose life is annoying due to his grown daughters who live with him and the missus. They spend his money like he's some sort of millionaire and instead of out having lives of their own, they sponge off him. Then, one of the daughters marries a man she knew less than five minutes...and she expected to live at her parents' home with her new hubby! You wonder how long this will continue until Dad explodes...or loses his mind! I know I sure would!

While I enjoyed Nugent's realistic performances, this is his first film...at age 61! Sadly, despite doing well, he only made a few more pictures after this one and you wonder why, as he was very good and easy to like.

So it any good? Well, yes...but it's certainly a different sort of film. It's very quiet and slow-paced...but not bad. Much of the quietness is because in 1929 studios still didn't know how to use incidental music and accompaniment literally meant having an orchestra just out of camera range playing the music live! Not surprisingly, few films at the time used this klunky method. Overall, well written and entertaining...but not the sort of film most folks would choose to watch in the first place.