Heat Lightning (1934)

Heat Lightning
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Brown Holmes and Warren Duff from a play by Leon Abrams and George Abbott
1934/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant

George: Want another barbequed sandwich?
Jeff: I can hear the warden ask if I have any last words before they turn on the heat and you ask if I want another barbequed sandwich?

Unbelievable amount of classic pre-Code plot packed into just 63 fun minutes!

Olga (Aline MacMahon) runs a gas station/cafe with her younger sister Myra (Ann Dvorak) in the middle of the Mohave Desert.  She has become a crack auto mechanic.  The sisters’ location seems to be designed to keep young Myra as far away from men as possible.  This strategy is not working well and Myra is itching to slip away to a dance in town with her new boyfriend, a cad.

Matters heat up quickly when a pair of bank robbers happen to drop in.  One of these is George (Preston Foster), from whom Olga was escaping when she moved to the desert. He thinks he still has a hold on her but she just wants him to go away.  Then a couple of rich divorcees (Glenda Farrell and Ruth Donnelly) arrive fresh from Reno with their chauffeur (Frank McHugh).  George has no intention of leaving the place without their jewelry.  Can’t a girl get any privacy?

This has every single trope one might expect from a pre-Code drama including oodles of snappy dialogue delivered by actors who know how.  Warner Bros. had the best character actors ever!  It’s so nice to see perennial  “best friend” MacMahon in the lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7F-bQi-j3k