Hard to Get

It's hard to believe that this little Warner Bros. comedy was made a year before de Havilland played Melanie in Gone with the Wind. She is such a feisty, saucy little minx that it's no wonder Dick Powell has to tame her. Proof that de Havilland was not just a fluffy ingenue is the fact that three films later she was playing the demure, ladylike Melanie. Makes you wonder why Jack Warner never fully appreciated her talent. Anyway, this is an enjoyable comedy about a brash architect working as a gas station attendant who treats a spoiled heiress rather harshly when she has no money to pay for gas. She decides to turn the tables on him and therein lies the germ of a plot. Charles Winninger and Melville Cooper are delightful in supporting roles, as is Penny Singleton as a dim-witted maid in the wealthy man's household. Too bad this one isn't available on video. Like another early de Havilland comedy, It's Love I'm After, it deserves to be seen by viewers who don't have Turner Classic Movies on their cable stations.

What would Hollywood have done if "It Happened One Night" hadn't been made? After that, the movies were peppered with heiresses, one of which was Olivia de Havilland in 1938's "Hard to Get" starring Dick Powell, Charles Winninger, Roscoe Jenkins, and Bonita Granville.

Margaret (de Havilland), an heiress, runs afoul of gas jockey Bill (Powell) because she doesn't have $3.48 to pay for gas and oil. He then makes her clean some bungalows. Outraged, she complains to her father (Winninger) and demands that he do something. He refuses and tells her to take care of it herself.

Margaret returns to the gas station, and, pretending to be the valet's daughter, makes nice, flirts, and goes out with Bill, who proceeds to tell her about a business venture for which he is seeking investors. Margaret then sets out to extract her revenge. And guess what happens along the way.

I'm not as enthusiastic about this film as some others on this board. It's totally predictable and, in my opinion, not one of the better screwball comedies, though there are some funny sections, especially toward the end.

Olivia de Havilland was absolutely beautiful and excellent as the spoiled heiress, and Dick Powell was delightful, as was his singing of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" and his entertaining "Sonny Boy," as a Jolson impersonation (blackface and all). Winninger and his friends (Melville Cooper, Thurston Hall) are very funny on the construction site at the end.

The cast makes it enjoyable.

... and exhibit A as to why both Dick Powell and Olivia De Havilland ultimately fled from Warner Brothers for meatier roles. Still, it has its good points.

Maggie Richards (De Havilland) has just had a fight with her mother about not wanting to go to Newport for the summer, like most rich mothers and daughters did back in the day. As a result Maggie flees the scene by borrowing the valet's car and doesn't get far before she realizes she's out of gas. She stops at a gas station, lets the attendant (Dick Powell as Bill) fill up her car, and then tells him to "charge it", claiming to be the daughter of a wealthy man. The car isn't hers, she has no ID, and the money would come out of Bill's pocket if she never comes back, so he insists she return the gas or cough up the money, which she doesn't have since she ran out without her purse. When she tries to flee, Bill makes her make up the beds in all ten bungalows of the accompanying motor lodge to pay the bill, and hits her on the dernier with a broom when she tries to escape. Humiliated, Maggie vows revenge, but back home Dad (Charles Winninger) just is not interested in getting involved in this petty scrape.

Maggie returns the next day and gives Bill what he wants - a completely fabricated story about how sorry she is and tells him she is really wealthy Maggie Richards' maid. Bill buys this, dates her, and she tells him the password to get in to see Mr. Richards (Maggie's father), head of Federal Oil and Gas who might back his idea about building motor courts along with his company's gas stations. That password, however, was Mr. Richards' nickname in the oil fields when he started out in the business, plus Maggie knows her dad is really riled by strangers taking advantage of a password meant for old friends - much like a telemarketer calling an unlisted number. Mr. Richards gives Bill the business alright, but not the business Bill was hoping for. Maggie has her revenge, but she's starting to care for Bill and feel pangs of conscience about what she's done, but not before she has enlarged the ruse to ridiculous proportions so that if Bill finds out, she'll probably never see him again. How does this all work out? Watch and find out.

This could have been a better comedy, and it is pleasant enough as is, but there are some real inanities thrown into the situation, some funny some tiresome. One of funny parts is having Penny Singleton as the maid and Maggie switch roles for an evening. Penny is just perfect as a girl all dressed up like a plutocrat's daughter, but still with a working class demeanor and a rather limited and slanged vocabulary. This was the last film she did before she became famous as Blondie and she shows some of that comic flair in this film. The tiresome part of the film has to do with Mr. Richards, supposedly a self-made man, wanting to waste the day away with fifteen cent bets boxing, wrestling, and fencing his valet who always bests him. It's just not funny and seems out of character for a self-made man who had to be hard charging to get where he was. Why would he want to waste his time with such a silly pursuit? Recommended for fans of De Havilland and Powell, and for those great character actors who always added a touch of spice to these 1930's films.

I decided to give this one a go and wow, what a treat.

This cast was just A+ all around. Everyone had great lines given to em. That obviously means a good script. Even though the big names fronted the film, the supporting cast to me was the big difference. Really great character actors in this one.

Dick Powell is his usual comic-dead-on-timing self. Olivia D was good as a spoiled brat and watch out for her father played by Charles Winninger, he steals this entire film. His scenes with his servant/butler are the anchors of this film. Just flat out funny each scene.

Give this one a go, you'll love it

A spoiled rich girl wants revenge on the gas station attendant who humiliated her - he wants to sell his idea for auto courts across America; both are about to learn that some things in life are very HARD TO GET.

This is a wonderful, hilarious screwball comedy, boasting good performances, genuine laughs & fine production values. Witty & winning, it is a shame it is so obscure today.

Dick Powell appears to be having a terrific time as the young go-getter with the big ideas. As eager to please as a puppy dog, he enthusiastically hurls himself into the zany plot permutations. Whether impersonating Jolson singing ‘Sonny Boy,' or introducing the song hit ‘You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby,' Powell is never less than entertaining.

Lovely Olivia de Havilland is a pure pleasure to watch as she slowly bends to Powell's winning ways. Considered more of a dramatic actress, her considerable comedic talents are on full display here. The scene where she attempts to serve a fancy dinner while impersonating her maid is a quiet riot.

An unusually large cast of supporting players help move the fun right along: cuddly Charles Winninger as Olivia's physical fitness mad dad; Isabel Jeans & Bonita Granville as his insufferably snooty wife & youngest daughter; Melville Cooper as Winninger's long-suffering valet; Allen Jenkins as Powell's dimwitted buddy; Thurston Hall as a banker with a dangerous love of practical joking; Grady Sutton as Olivia's flaccid suitor; and Penny Singleton as a wonderfully unsophisticated servant.

Movie mavens will recognize Arthur Housman as a polite inebriate, and Arthur Hoyt, Vera Lewis & Jimmy Conlin as attendees at a flower lovers' banquet, all uncredited.

Rear projection screening was the bane of the cinema for years, as its patently fake visuals tended to distract from the action. HARD TO GET, therefore, deserves some credit for its splendidly vertiginous high-rise construction segment, which really does grab hold of the viewer's spine.