Boulder Dam

Boulder Dam (1936)

** (out of 4)

Predictable "B" movie from Warner has Detroit mechanic Rusty Noonan (Ross Alexander) accidentally killing his boss after being fired so he heads off to Colorado to start over. Once there he begins working as a construction guy at Boulder Dam while falling in love with a woman (Patricia Ellis) who befriended him but soon a man (Lyle Talbot) who knew him in Detroit threatens everything. BOULDER DAM is pretty much a by-the-numbers melodrama that doesn't have too much going for it. If you're a film buff you enjoys watching ever rare film that turns up on Turner Classic Movies then I'm sure you'll get some mild entertainment out of this thing but just about everyone else should stay clear. There are many problems with the film and the majority of them are in the screenplay. For starters, the opening few minutes features Rusty coming off as such a jerk that you really have to wait quite a while before you ever warm up to him. Another problem is that if you've ever seen a movie before then you really shouldn't have any problems figuring out what's going to happen long before it ever actual happens. This includes a few twists along the way and of course it never really makes sense why this woman would fall for this guy. And don't even get me started on the ending. Alexander isn't too bad in the lead as he has no trouble playing the jerk but he also doesn't have any issues when the character starts to change. Talbot delivers the fun performance you'd expect to see from him. Ellis actually steals the film with some good comic timing and the way she fights back at Alexander was quite funny. There's a minor action scenes at the very end of the picture, which is okay but all in all only film buffs are going to want to check this one out.

This mid-depression era film shows the hardscrabble nature of the 1930s. I felt the dirt in my own teeth while watching these dust caked characters struggle through life.

Ross Alexander is at home as the wisecracking jerk. My only complaint about his performance involves how believable he is as a changed man with that same dill-weed pompous twit showing through. Both Ann and Rusty Joe are attractive and believable, even when Joe starts making like Spiderman...I'm buying it.

The best part of this film is the depression era banter. There are several references I can't explain. I see film dialogue and music lyrics as lagging indicators of language in culture. The thirties and forties were replete with what was then hip, lingo. Here are my favorites from this film.

Top ten gaudy banter from "Boulder Dam":

10. Rusty- I got yellow and pulled a sneak.

9. Rusty- (to his boss) Wasamatter sweetheart, did I forget to kiss you goodbye?

8. Rusty- Don't forget, it's the old mezuma you're working for. (money?)

7. Ann- I'm liable to put some wrinkles in that pan of yours.

6. Lacy- If you don't I'll tip my mitt and send you over the road. (squeal?)

5. Rusty- Listen sister, put it on the cuff will ya and I'll pay ya when and if. (there's an interesting fill-in-the-blank)

4. Rusty- I had dames figured out the same way as I had booze, they were great when the laughs were going on, they were a headache the next day.

3. Pete- Every time that geek rolled over last night, he sandpapered my neck with his chin. (score one for the kindergartener)

2. Rusty- Thanks for the flop and the grub, I'll put it down on the books. (I love this line, Ann had to go some to beat it)

1. Ann- Butter yourself with embarrassment and forget it. (I'm determined to work this one into my own conversations)

Smoking ritual:

Two smoking references are worth mentioning. When Lacy sees Joe smoking next to his gas truck, he says, "In a hurry?" an odd reference the flammable possibilities. Later, when Ann and Joe are imagining their perfect dream home, Joe visualizes "lots of ashtrays."

The movie's first part is gritty and cynical, the sort of qualities that defined Warner Bros. of the time. Rusty's got a chip on his shoulder and because of that ends up joining thousands of other unemployed guys, except the cops are looking for him on a murder charge. These passages are riveting. At the same time, we don't so much identify with the surly Rusty as we wait to see what happens to him as he hops freights and stays in hobo jungles. A sense of the Depression-era 1930's is vividly conveyed in these scenes.

However, once Rusty meets up with Ann (Ellis), the movie settles into a more conventional love story, with construction of Boulder Dam as a background. The construction scenes are pretty well done, a mix of real footage of the dam, plus process shots for the more difficult staging. Also, we see how public works projects of the 30's, like the dam, were used to put lines of men back to work, perhaps a lesson for our own recessionary times.

I'd never seen Alexander before. Despite his slender frame, he manages to convey the needed amount of grit and toughness, though his Rusty is not particularly likable, an interesting departure from most movies. But it's really tall, blonde Ellis who impressed me. She projects a lot of no-nonsense personality right out of the Warner Bros. stable of tough dames (Blondell, Farrell, et. al.). Ellis had the talent and looks for bigger things, but mysteriously dropped out of sight at decade's end (IMDB).

All in all, the movie remains an interesting little slice of history that deserves more cable showings than it's had.

"Bolder Dam" is a lot faster paced and more action oriented than many 1930's films. Solid acting, snappy rat-tat-tat dialogue. ("I'm a civil engineer." "Well, you might be an engineer, but you're certainly not civil.") But what was most surprising was the Shirley Temple-like optimism of the Depression-era characters, although with a more adult perspective. The men who work at Boulder Dam are all very proud of their jobs and what they're building, despite the fact that they're at constant risk of getting killed on their unsafe job site.

There are constant reminders that the 1930's were a different world than today's. When the lead character applies for a job at the dam, the application form has a space for Color. He casually writes "W". There were no visible "B's" in the workforce during the movie.. And, of course, no women. Also, watch in awe as the lead actress invites a strange man to sleep in a bed with her 10-year-old son. (No funny business, needless to say.)

Sadly, Ross Alexander - the very capable lead actor in this film - shot and killed himself less than a year after this film was released. Reportedly, word of his homosexuality had been getting out, and the studio executives didn't want to deal with it, so they quit hiring him.

Anyway, the unique 1930's perspective, combined with.some nice dialogue and strong acting, make this a film worth watching.

Tragic Ross Alexander stars as an arrogant young man, who runs from his dark past until he meets The Girl (Patricia Ellis). Shot shorty after his wife's suicide and a year before his own, this melodrama is a vehicle for a rising young star, who burned out. It is set at a time when there were more workers than jobs in Las Vegas, building Boulder Dam, and in Hollywood, making movies.