Telephone Operator

I lived through the great flood in the San Fernando Valley of 1937. I even have some 16 mm home movies that my dad took in the big flood basins that now have the flood control dams. As I see this movie, I see what may be scenes from the same disaster. After all, I am sure that the studios in the area had lots of cameramen out taking movies for possible, and here is one, movies that could use those background scenes. The city scenes could easily have been the streets in Van Nuys and the fast flowing water along the Los Angeles River, which at that time was not the pretty looking concrete channel that it is now in the 2000's. We even have a movie showing a Whippet automobile in the flooded area; we jokingly remark that it was a bigger car and that it had shrunk in the flood.

Whatever morals, standards, conventions existed before WW2 (see other review), this story is sweet and nostalgiac. Those days when telephone operators and switchboards were the latest in technology are shown for us to visit past times and lifestyles. The wardrobe and dance scenes are lovely. The acting is excellent. Characters who may at first seem sketchy and self-serving are challenged to step up to the plate and choose to do the right when called up, Their character transformation and growth in relationships is fulfilling and the ending is happy!

Not too heavy nor scary but some tense times. Some comedy and some romance. Delightful.

Not sure how this film is getting such a high rating, there are other films that would deserve a higher one and aren't going past the 6 out of ten mark.

Anyways, this is really dull stuff. I watch a lot of old cheap production of the day, most of this stuff is free domain and can be watched on archive.org. The majority involves the same formulas, but there is always something charming about them that really gets to you. Most of them, however, are simply cheap and dull.

This one film is based around the fling between two telephone operating ladies and two linemen, which takes place in the middle of a rainstorm that turns into a disaster when the dam breaks. I'm not into disaster films, I find them two dimensional crap, but when a film is so evenly divided into two parts - the cheesy romantic comedy with the usual sketchy characters, and the dramatic disaster flick which it turns into towards the end - it's hard to know why anyone would consider it worth watching. Furthermore, the lines in this film are not memorable at all, and seem to be the rejects from the famous one liners that were in films of the time.

Plus, speaking of dialogue, I realise the speech of those times was different, and I really do like it, don't get me wrong. But even I can get fed up of hearing 'gee that's swell' or 'that's fine' in the same tone of voice. Eventually you think everyone is trying to be a louder version of Humphrey Bogart (one of my heroes).

This movie highlights the efforts of telephone operators in warning people when the Riverdale Dam breaks. Withers and Hymer play two linesmen (the best there ever were as they tell everybody) were sent to the town to string more lines by the dam. I disliked this movie almost from the beginning and finished watching it only to see if I could revise my early opinion. Another reviewer refers to the chronic sexual harassment in the movie and that it might ruffle a few feathers. The arrogant, overbearing lout played by Withers is thoroughly obnoxious. Early in the movie at a dance, Withers grabs Judith Allen who cries out in pain and asks him to let her go. He won't until another man comes along (who Withers ends up socking - what a guy). Evidently this abusive behavior was acceptable in the 1930s, so the audience would not have been surprised that Withers and Allen end up falling in love and saving the day. There were two good things about this movie, 1) the cute kid and 2) the flood footage. Oh, there's a third good thing – many minutes of this film are missing and it's now only 53 minutes long.

Lively, well-made programmer from lowly Monogram, with a great look at how telephoning used to work. Get a load of the old-time technology, back when calls had to go through switchboards with operators to plug you in to your party, maybe requiring row after row of nimble fingered women. It's quite a sight and contrast to today's magical cell-phones.

Seems Red and humorous sidekick Shorty are linemen who keep the phone lines operating across long distances. It's a heckuva job, climbing high poles in all kinds of weather. Plot-wise Red's got a crush on cutie operator Helen who's plenty distant at first. But of course things warm up when they battle to keep lines working during a monster rain and flood.

Happily, there's plenty of snappy dialog as the characters bounce off one another before settling down, while director Pembroke keeps things moving. Then too, the raging flood footage blends in skillfully with the dramatics to create a bigger budget effect. And catch the artful rising water in the phone office; that had to be studio sets, but you'd never know it. The humorous asides are also well modulated and smoothly inserted. It helps too, that the actors appear geared into their roles, especially Allen who centers the film.

All in all, for a programmer, it's extremely well-crafted, showing that budget need not determine quality when, thanks to a common effort, the elements come skillfully together.