Chance at Heaven

Caught this on TCM this morning - a bit disturbing, really, considering the light-hearted tone in the early going. A poor sap mechanic (McCrea) is stolen from his girlfriend (Ginger Rogers) by a wealthy heiress. Can a marriage involving such a gap in class succeed?

Although McCrea and Rogers are charming enough to watch, there are some upsetting elements in this yarn that would be readily discernible by modern audiences: hence, I assume that the screenplay slightly pre-dates the crackdown of the Production Code. However, you might find the movie interesting if you like to delve into the evolution of 'mature subject material' during this era. TCM has championed this pastime. 6/10

Chance at Heaven is a 71 minute shortie from RKO with Marge ( Ginger Rogers) and Blacky (Joel McCrae), as the young locals in love. Rogers made all those dance flicks with Fred Astaire, while McCrae is mostly known for his Westerns. These two would also make Primrose Path together in 1940. Blacky runs a gas station, and flirts with Marge, planning the future, at least until Glory (Marian Nixon)comes along, then the showdown begins.....Look for Andy Devine and his raspy voice as the slightly slow but love-able co-worker. He's along for the comedy. Too bad they didn't give him a few more lines - he could have zinged things up a little more. The girls are remarkably cordial to each other, in light of the situation. They sure cram a lot into 71 minutes, dealing with some heavy issues for 1933. The Hays film code would start being enforced the next year, 1934. Fun film, with a serious plot of love between the classes, plus some comedy on the side for seasoning.

Blacky Gorman (Joel McCrea) owns a gas station in Silver Beach, Massachusetts which is a resort town for the rich. He plans to marry his girlfriend Marge Harris (Ginger Rogers) and buy more gas stations. Rich careless driver Glory Franklyn (Marian Nixon) is new in town. She befriends Marge. She flirts with Blacky and comes between the couple.

I'm not enamored with the couple but I don't want them to split up either. I don't ship anybody in particular in the movie and that's a problem. I'm not actually rooting for any actual outcome. I just become a passenger. There is a home makeover and sister wives situation. Non of it is that compelling. Also somebody needs to stop that guy's annoyingly fake laughing. I don't care that much about the ending going one way or the other.

If you ever wanted to examine a case study of what it was like to be a contract player at RKO in the early 1930s, check out Chance at Heaven (CAH). Ginger Rogers had just made her breakout movie Flying Down to Rio with Fred Astaire. Both of their roles supported featured players Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond, but Astaire-Rogers are the actors who are best remembered from that film today. Their dance routine of The Carioca is the principal reason why Flying Down to Rio is recalled at all now. It was sensational!

What does RKO do to showcase Rogers as an emerging star who had just completed a hit movie? They immediately cast her in a relatively thankless part as Joel McCrea's long suffering martyr of a girl friend in CAH! The character Rogers plays is so good--so understanding---so generous in her self-sacrifice---that it defies belief and almost becomes a complete caricature. When she loses McCrea to ditzy rich girl Marian Nixon, we are asked to accept as perfectly normal that Rogers is willing to morph into a glorified domestic servant---and thrives at essentially becoming their "door mat.." Rogers had a naturally charming and often spirited screen personality that remained totally invisible in CAH. What a pity!

While Rogers, McCrea and Nixon gave the film their best effort, in the end---they were severely challenged by the overly familiar storyline and its many cliches. In the case of Ginger Rogers, she would have to labor at RKO for one more year and make five more undistinguished movies before she and Astaire starred in their seminal musical The Gay Divorcee and thus attained screen immortality.

The Studio System provided an excellent basis for neophyte performers to develop necessary skills and achieve interesting and popular screen personalities. They often went from one unsatisfactory part to another, and had little to say about the process. It often produced frustration and disappointment--but a contract was a contract! Out of all this stress occasionally emerged some truly unique movie talent. Particularly in the case of Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea---both went on from the rather inconsequential CAH to become movie stars of the first rank---and accordingly reached major success with top notch careers. As the saying goes---the longest journey begins with the first step (even if it is a minor one)!

Well, this little Pre-Code Soaper without the sobbing builds around a triangular romance plot involving the lovely, cheerful, eager-to-please girl next door, Marjorie "Marje" Harris (Ginger Rogers), her fiancée, the clean-cut All-American Blackstone "Blacky" Gorman (Joel McCrea) in his starchy white service station uniform, and the irresponsible, spoiled, wealthy, but perky Glory Franklyn (Marian Nixon), who arrives on the cape (Cape Cod?) in search for fun.

Mrs. Harris (Ann Shoemaker) and Mr. Fred Harris (Lucien Littlefield), of modest means, rear their daughter to appreciate life's simple, everyday pleasures with a sense of responsibility, which Marjorie gleefully accepts, as she plans her forthcoming marriage with Blacky, content with the notion of creating with him domestic happiness.

Mrs. S.T. Franklyn (Virginia Hammond), on the other hand, oversees the maintenance of her summer residence, on the cape, along with a staff of "accents," or foreign-born servants, as she plans her daughter's, Glory, engagement to suitor Sid Larrick (George Meeker), whom Glory deems as somewhat stuffy.

Al (Andy Devine) attempts to support his employer and friend, by attempting to offer unheeded advice, but Blacky somehow suddenly becomes smitten with the tempting Glory, who cares little, if anything of the feelings of others, such as Blacky's fiancée or the suitor whom her mother has selected for her.

But when Marjorie discovers that Blacky considers jilting her for a position of wealth and society with another, she stands beside him, by pointing out that marrying Glory could represent Blacky's one "Chance at Heaven." Marjorie then encourages Glory to concentrate upon domestic tranquility to please Blacky, instead of painting stenciled floral patterns upon the woodwork of Blacky's bungalow.

Marjorie's role, thus, shifts from romantic interest to trustworthy, encouraging neighbor, as Glory defies her mother and social circle to pursue Blacky, who, along with Glory, needs Marjorie more than anyone realizes, for much encouragement behind the white Pickett fence.

So, the moral of the story would have to surround the decision regarding which path could offer the gentleman the greater "Chance at Heaven?" -- the carefree life of wealth even if Glory may find herself disowned by her mother for associating with a lowly mechanic, or the stable life of virtue and sincerity with the innocent one who would feel honored to cater to the every need of a handsome and capable mechanic?