Hard to Handle

Er, not quite this

Another of the movies that I had the chance to wtach off my DVR recently is the pre-code Hard to Handle. This one got a DVD release on one of Warner Home Video's Forbidden Hollywood collections, and last I checked is available for streaming at Amazon Prime.

The movie stars off at a dance marathon that has been going on for weeks, with just two couples left vying for the $1,000 prize. One is a married couple with an uncredited Sterling Holloway as the husband; the other is a platonic couple with Ruth Waters (Mary Brian) as the female half. The contest is being run by PR man Lefty Merrill (James Cagney). Lefty has become enamored of Ruth over the course of the marathon, but has to deal with Ruth's mother Lil (Ruth Donnelly).

Eventually Ruth and her partner win the contest, but when Lefty goes to the office to get the prize money, he finds that his associate has stiffed him, running off with all the proceeds from the contest, including the prize money. Lefty has to beat a hasty escape, although he goes to meet Ruth later. At this point we find that Lil is just as much a chiseler as Lefty, and will do anything to make certain that her daughter marries into wealth.

After some more failed schemes, Lefty decides he'd do best to get out of California, and high-tails it to New York, where he runs into Ruth again; she's now working for a famous studio photographer. Lefty hopes to win back Ruth, while Lil vacillates between suggesting Ruth marry the photographer or Lefty, depending on how well Lefty is doing financially.

Lefty tries some more schemes, one for a reducing creme, one promoting a college, and then one for the sort of land deal that was a stereotypical scam back in those days. That one bring him into contact with Miss Reeves (Claire Dodd), who could also be a romantic rival for Ruth. But perhaps the law may also catch up with Lefty.

As I was watching Hard to Handle, I couldn't help but think of a Warner Bros. movie from the previous year, High Pressure; that one has William Powell as a similar PR man whose schemes are of dubious legality. I think of the two, I liked Hard to Handle less, largely because the script requires Cagney to be even more of an obnoxious con artist than Powell was asked to be. I found it quite hard to have any sympathy for him. Cagney tries the best he can, and the script certainly isn't his fault. Ruth Donnelly plays quite well off of him, and gets a bunch of great lines.

Overall, Hard to Handle certainly isn't the first movie I'd recommend in any of the categories it could be put into -- pre-Codes, Cagney, looks at the Depression, or so on. But I'm glad it's available as part of a box set.