Most people who know the name Cornell Woolrich recognize him as the tortured author of Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, Waltz Into Darkness, Deadline at Dawn, Black Alibi, and so many more. But Woolrich began his career writing "jazz-age" novels influenced by the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was only after his seventh novel failed to sell, and a failed attempt to break into Hollywood screenwriting, that Woolrich switched gears and began writing the pulp and detective stories for which he is justly known. Today he is recognized as one of the greatest crime writers of his time.
Two of these jazz-age novels made it into pre-Code films, Children of the Ritz, his second novel and the winner of a $10,000 writing prize, was filmed in 1929, featuring Dorothy Mackaill, Jack Mulhall, and James Ford. His sixth novel, Manhattan Love Song, was filmed in 1934. By the time the film was released, the jazz age had ended, America was in a Depression, and Woolrich had begun publishing storing in Detective Fiction Weekly and Dime Detective Magazine.
Manhattan Love Song concerns itself with two sisters, Geraldine (Dixie Lee -- Bing Crosby's first wife) and Carol (Helen Flint) Stewart, who, despite living in a posh New York City apartment, find themselves broke due to poor investments. Their servants Tom Williams (Robert Armstrong, King Kong, Might Joe Young, The Penguin Pool Murder) and Annette -- not sure if she has a last name -- (Nydia Westman) are about to leave when the sisters convince them that if they stay they will receive their back wages. They stay, but insist that the sisters do their share of the household work. Carol then elopes with a rich guy (Franklin Pangborn, a veteran of many Preston Sturges and W. C. Fields films), but this still leaves Geraldine alone with no money and only one job offer, as a stripper in a burlesque show. Alas, the show is raided and Geraldine is arrested. In the meantime, Williams is mistaken as a taxi driver by tourist "Pancake Annie" Jones (Cecil Cunningham -- don't let the stage name fool you, the actress was born Edna Cecil Cunningham), who has come to the city from Nevada to try to become part of New York Society. Pancake Annie offers Williams a job in Nevada, just as Geraldine realizes that she is in love with Williams.
A romantic comedy with no much comedy, but it still remains a sweet little film.
Directed by Leonard Fields, whose career involved more writing and producing than directing. Fields and David Silverstein adapted Woolrich's novel for the screen.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXVRQ5fon7o
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