This 1936, hour-long B-movie has a rating of only one star in the film guide that pops up on the digital cable system I subscribe to -- which implies it's one of the worst films ever made. While it's slow paced and not terribly exciting, it includes some fun glimpses of a couple actresses we know from very different work. Leading lady Gloria Stuart had only been working a few years when she got star billing in this film -- and of course it would be 60 years before she was nominated for an Oscar in one of the great "comeback" stories in Hollywood history, playing "Old Rose" in the 1997 megahit "Titanic." Stuart does well with a mediocre script here, though she's not on screen as much as her billing would lead you to hope for. She plays a glamorous postal inspector, with stylish hairdos and daringly low cut dresses that showcase a sexy side that will surprise viewers who only know her as "Old Rose."
Stuart's love interest is played by Lee Tracy, who starred in an impressive slew of movies in the 1930s. There's no chemistry between him and Stuart making the predictable (and unnecessary) love story seem especially contrived.
An amusing subplot features game vaudeville comedienne Irene Franklin in a small role as a flinty blonde involved in a mail-order bride con game. She has a fun scene when one of her intended husbands corners her at the General Delivery window at the L.A. post office: Seeing the mustached, heavy-set sheep farmer, she cries out, "I'd just as soon marry a buffalo!" She tells a postal inspector, "I didn't intend any fraud, but I simply can't marry a sheep herder!" Her tune changes when she discovers just how many sheep he herds, and how much those future lamb chops are worth. It's one of those cases where it's a pity someone didn't realize the subplot could have been expanded into a better movie than the main story turned out to be.
The other actress worth watching for is Barbara Pepper, who has a small but flashy supporting role as Marge, a sizzling blonde bad girl, who also deserves a bigger part in the movie. Pepper is best remembered as the hefty, slovenly adoptive mother of a pig on the '60s sitcom "Green Acres" but here she's thin and gorgeous, and dripping in diamonds.
"Wanted! Jane Turner" contains some well-shot vintage exterior footage of Los Angeles, which adds some interest. And lots of the small roles like a crooked dog catcher are filled by studio contract players instantly familiar to movie lovers. Overall, it's certainly not one of the worst movies ever made, but it's more notable for what might have been than what actually made it on the screen.
