This for me very unsatisfying movie seemed to change viewpoints half-way through. Most of it is just tepid fluff, but on occasion in the first part the magazine editor, played by Montgomery, makes a few short speeches about bringing down vapid politicians like the would-be one played by E E Horton, and big money, like Horton's soon-to-be father-in-law, Kennicutt. In that sense he sounds like a humorless version of Clark Gable's newspaper reporter in "It Happened One Night", which had been released just the year before. Most Americans were suffering through the Depression by 1935, when this picture came out, so there was a ready market for criticism of the wealthy, who continued to enjoy life while the rest struggled to keep their heads above water.
But as the picture goes on, Montgomery's character sounds angrier and angrier about this. And our way of viewing his anger is changed by Harding's character, who tells him that, while she originally saw him as a crusader, she now sees him as wanting to persecute the wealthy.
From that point on, Montgomery's character is presented as some sort of closet Communist because his father was killed by strike-breakers during a coal miners' labor unrest. And Harding's character, who has lived among the wealthy, does not want anything to do with that. The very ambiguous final scene leaves us up in the air on whether she will accept him as she has grown to see him - and told us to see him.
But how many in the audience would care? There is absolutely NO chemistry between Harding and Montgomery, none whatsoever. It does not help that she is made up to look much older than he, whereas in fact Harding only had two years on her costar.
In the same respect, she comes off as so understated in this movie that we cannot believe she had torrid affairs with many famous men. She really seems almost sexless.
There are minor faults as well, such as the Tennessee accents. The leads, except for Montgomery, are all supposed to be from the Volunteer State, and on occasion each attempts a slight Southern accent. But then it vanishes completely.
I got nothing out of this movie other than the occasional pleasure of Harding's voice when she spoke softly. That was really very beautiful.
The rest just became aggravating.
But as the picture goes on, Montgomery's character sounds angrier and angrier about this. And our way of viewing his anger is changed by Harding's character, who tells him that, while she originally saw him as a crusader, she now sees him as wanting to persecute the wealthy.
From that point on, Montgomery's character is presented as some sort of closet Communist because his father was killed by strike-breakers during a coal miners' labor unrest. And Harding's character, who has lived among the wealthy, does not want anything to do with that. The very ambiguous final scene leaves us up in the air on whether she will accept him as she has grown to see him - and told us to see him.
But how many in the audience would care? There is absolutely NO chemistry between Harding and Montgomery, none whatsoever. It does not help that she is made up to look much older than he, whereas in fact Harding only had two years on her costar.
In the same respect, she comes off as so understated in this movie that we cannot believe she had torrid affairs with many famous men. She really seems almost sexless.
There are minor faults as well, such as the Tennessee accents. The leads, except for Montgomery, are all supposed to be from the Volunteer State, and on occasion each attempts a slight Southern accent. But then it vanishes completely.
I got nothing out of this movie other than the occasional pleasure of Harding's voice when she spoke softly. That was really very beautiful.
The rest just became aggravating.