Back when the E.R.A. amendment was making the rounds, and ‘Women’s Studies’ were new on campus curriculums, this sharp little programmer, a sort of proto-feminist (Not So) Grand Rural Hotel, was being rediscovered. Time to rediscover it again. Taken from a George Abbott/Leon Abrams one-month B’way flop, it’s directed by Mervyn LeRoy in his best early ‘tossaway’ style, with Aline MacMahon & kid sis Ann Dvorak running a shabby desert oasis garage/lodge/café in the middle of nowhere. MacMahon, who’s also the mechanic and dresses for the job, has ‘had it’ with men; while Dvorak, desperate for a date & a dance, is hungry for any man. Into this set up come an unmatched set of well off triple divorcées & chauffeur; local guys interested in Ann & Aline; a bickering couple with car trouble; and a pair of big time thieves on the run after a botched robbery led to murder. Those two, nervous Lyle Talbot and charmer Preston Foster, smell a quick score in those yammering rich divorcées, but any move complicated by a past association between Foster & MacMahon back in the day. He pretends to still be interested; she pretends not to be. By the third act, half the cast is shacked up with the other half; a robbery goes wrong; there’s gunplay & someone gets off scot-free. Pre-Code heaven!; with barely three months to spare before the start of strict enforcement. The cast is pretty much all supporting players, all at their best; with great comeback lines that are howling funny or gasp-worthy dramatic, between frank take-it-or-leave-it sexual attitudes. MacMahon rarely got to show her full range or her surprisingly sexy Earth Mother figure. She’d soon grow matronly, but check her out here, a big-boned beauty and a simply magnificent actress. The whole film a treat, with loads of location work for that real desert atmosphere. Heat so dry, it doesn’t even leave a sweat stain. Essential viewing, and at just over an hour.
DOUBLE-BILL: Two years on, Warners made the somewhat similar PETRIFIED FOREST/’36, far more prestigious, far more successful, far more studio-bound; this unknown gem far better. OR: Try the indifferently received remake, HIGHWAY WEST/’41 (not seen here) with Brenda Marshall & Arthur Kennedy.
READ ALL ABOUT IT: Typically, in his auto-bio (TAKE ONE), the ever unreflective Mervyn LeRoy only notes the harsh shooting conditions and the film’s big commercial loss.
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