La femme aux cigarettes blondes

I first saw this movie as a teen eons ago while my parents were busy playing cards at the home of friends, and have loved it ever since. Since my last viewing was over 20 years ago, I would love to have this on DVD to enjoy it again! I love all the characters, and lovely Joan Bennett indeed looked SMASHING as a brunette, which she kept for the rest of her long career. Very appealing was the insouciance of Fredric March's character, the smart humor of bubbly Ann Sothern's part, and the determined dorkiness of Ralph Bellamy's eager beaver character plus an interesting and engaging story.

Let's get this released, people that have the say-so!

Rich girl Joan Bennett is wanted by the police - it looks like she shot the man who ruined her sister's life. Thinking fast, Bennett drives her car into the San Francisco Bay, dyes her hair, and hops a boat for Hawaii.

The cops call in clever but unpredictable detective Fredric March, who follows Bennett's trail, easily catches up with her - and then instead of arresting her, falls in love with her.

Also involved in the chase is Ralph Bellamy as the detective sent along to assist March - he thinks he's pretty sharp but is always at least one step behind everyone else. Ann Sothern is March's secretary who is supposed to be home minding the shop but steadfastly follows the action wherever it leads, gradually befriending Bennett and then working up a little romance of her own with Bellamy.

The globe trotting story covers lots of territory and includes some fun travelogue-type footage. March and Bennett are both fine in the lead roles, although their inevitable romance is never too surprising. Sothern is outstanding as the unflappable secretary who refuses to be ignored, and Bellamy is hilarious as the super-confident dolt.

The plot is just okay, but enthusiastic performances make this one plenty of fun.

"Trade Winds" is a comedy-drama starring Joan Bennett, Frederic March, Ralph Bellamy, and Ann Sothern, directed by Tay Garnett.

Bennett plays Kay Kerrigan, a young woman who is out to avenge her sister's death and goes after her sister's ex-boyfriend (Sidney Blackmer). When Kay says she wishes she could shoot him, he hands her a gun and she shoots. Then she starts running for her life. To change her appearance, she dyes her hair dark. This turned out to be a boon for Bennett, who took on an exciting new look with the dark hair.

The police send one of their own after her, Ben Blodgett (Ralph Bellamy) and one of their ex-own, the womanizing, slippery Sam Wye (March), now a detective who spends a lot of time coming on to women. He's also romancing his secretary Jean (Ann Sothern). He agrees to search for Kay and manages to get away from from Jean and hop a boat. He gets a line on Kay, and when Jean next appears, she's an assistant to Kay. Then Sam finds out there's a $100,000 award on Kay's head. Small problem - he falls madly in love with Kay.

Fun comedy that slows up in the middle, with good performances by a relaxed March, a very funny Sothern, a lovely Bennett, and Bellamy as an overblown police detective. Not the best, but not bad - except for some of the process shots.

This isn't a serious movie, like the genres assigned by IMDb would suggest. It's first and foremost comedy and romance. Crime is only the background. In fact, the crime aspect is a bit rushed in the beginning so they can move on to the comedy and romance. So if you're expecting a serious film, this isn't it. Ralph Bellamy is total comedy through the whole thing, as well as Ann Sothern.

I did submit comedy as an additional genre to IMDb and explained why, but they declined for no reason, so I'm letting you know here, in this review.

If you watch it knowing it's a comedy (I had no idea, so I was pretty annoyed), it's not bad, but the pacing is off. The actors are very good in their roles though. Overall it's a bit of a strange movie with lots of silliness and traveling and some things that don't quite add up. But if you're looking for a laugh with a sort of held together story and good acting, this will suit.

Detective (March) goes on globe-hopping quest to return suspected murderess (Bennett) to authorities. He's aided by two bumblers (Sothern & Bellamy), at the same time he falls for his attractive quarry.

Not quite a sophisticated comedy, not quite a picaresque chase, not quite a murder mystery- - all add up to a not very good movie. Hard to believe this is from glossy MGM since the production values are nearly incompetent. In fact, I've seen better process shots from a Lash LaRue oater, and since these make up half the movie, you've got to wonder where quality control was.

I'm assuming acerbic wit Dorothy Parker and husband Alan Campbell were hired to furnish sophisticated banter for the two couples. If so, I must have missed it. What I did hear were subtle grammar gaffes from Sothern (e.g. 'whom for 'who') and clever malaprops (e.g. 'deduct' for 'deduce') from Bellamy, intended, I guess, to show their humorous pretensions, but hardly crowd-pleasers.

Also, it looks like Bellamy's buffoonish cop amounts to a typical example of 30's cops when Hollywood treated them as low-comedy relief. And whose idea was it to tack on the last 10-minutes of whodunit that sort of sticks out like a glued on appendage.

Where the movie does work is with the lovely Bennett and the comedically gifted Sothern. Still, it's a bit puzzling why the movie didn't turn out better given the talent involved, including ace producer Walter Wanger. Maybe it has to do with as many as four writers and who knows how many re-writes or with director Garnett's inability to forge a unifying style. But, whatever the reason, the film remains a somewhat unlikely disappointment.