Her Man
Directed by Tay Garnett
Written by Tom Buckingham; story by Tay Garnett and Howard Higgin
1930/USA
Pathe Exchange
First viewing/YouTube
[box] Tagline: YOU’LL NEVER FORGET IT! The blood-firing romance of a girl WHO DARED THE WORLD FOR LOVE! She was tender, young and beautiful, but she knew LIFE in the raw, vivid, colorful, elemental! Daring and soul-stirring is the story of a girl who found real love in the crucible of flaming desire and elemental thrills![/box]
Unsung pre-code gem is a heady mixture of lowlife atmosphere and tender romance told to the tune of “Frankie and Johnny”.
The film begins in the chaotic world of a dockside dive in Havana. We see the interaction of sailors, hoods, drunks, and prostitutes. Gradually, the story focuses in on Frankie (Helen Twelvetrees), a tough but good-hearted bar girl who specializes in petty larceny while drinking with the clientele. She yearns for a better life but is squarely under the thumb of mean, evil pimp Johnnie (Ricardo Cortez).
Then Dan (Phillips Holmes) walks into Frankie’s world. He is immediately attracted to the goodness and vulnerability he senses from her. But Frankie must play tough to protect him from Johnnie. One beautiful day, however, Dan takes Frankie out on the town and she can resist no longer. The film closes with a nail-biter battle between Dan and Johnnie.
This movie really drew me in. I was so worried that it would end tragically that I could hardly bear to watch. I had fallen in love with Holmes and Twelvetrees and their romance. This is the first movie I have seen with Twelvetrees in it and I will be looking out for others. She was excellent. Unfortunately, her career did not much outlast the pre-Code era, Recommended.
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