Telephone Operator

I lived through the great flood in the San Fernando Valley of 1937. I even have some 16 mm home movies that my dad took in the big flood basins that now have the flood control dams. As I see this movie, I see what may be scenes from the same disaster. After all, I am sure that the studios in the area had lots of cameramen out taking movies for possible, and here is one, movies that could use those background scenes. The city scenes could easily have been the streets in Van Nuys and the fast flowing water along the Los Angeles River, which at that time was not the pretty looking concrete channel that it is now in the 2000's. We even have a movie showing a Whippet automobile in the flooded area; we jokingly remark that it was a bigger car and that it had shrunk in the flood.

Given this movie's solid rating, it obviously strikes a chord with those who see it, which means that I obviously missed something. Certainly, the movie gives a taste of the importance of telephone communication in the era. As Helen (the Operator) repeatedly spread news of the disaster as she connects with person after person ("the Riverdale dam is out!" over and over again) it reminded me a little bit of a primitive version of Twitter. The technical quality wasn't bad (although the version I saw was, I believe, heavily edited) and the scenes portraying the rising flood waters in town were pretty realistic (although the shots of the bursting of the dam itself seemed less so.) But still - aside from the basic soap opera like story of Helen trying to cover up her boss's wife's affair - the reality is that nothing much of interest (aside from a couple of pretty well staged fight scenes) happens until the last 10- 15 minutes of the movie when the dam finally goes, although in the end one has to appreciate the irony of the three heroes also being the three who got fired earlier in the film. 3/10

Lively, well-made programmer from lowly Monogram, with a great look at how telephoning used to work. Get a load of the old-time technology, back when calls had to go through switchboards with operators to plug you in to your party, maybe requiring row after row of nimble fingered women. It's quite a sight and contrast to today's magical cell-phones.

Seems Red and humorous sidekick Shorty are linemen who keep the phone lines operating across long distances. It's a heckuva job, climbing high poles in all kinds of weather. Plot-wise Red's got a crush on cutie operator Helen who's plenty distant at first. But of course things warm up when they battle to keep lines working during a monster rain and flood.

Happily, there's plenty of snappy dialog as the characters bounce off one another before settling down, while director Pembroke keeps things moving. Then too, the raging flood footage blends in skillfully with the dramatics to create a bigger budget effect. And catch the artful rising water in the phone office; that had to be studio sets, but you'd never know it. The humorous asides are also well modulated and smoothly inserted. It helps too, that the actors appear geared into their roles, especially Allen who centers the film.

All in all, for a programmer, it's extremely well-crafted, showing that budget need not determine quality when, thanks to a common effort, the elements come skillfully together.

This movie highlights the efforts of telephone operators in warning people when the Riverdale Dam breaks. Withers and Hymer play two linesmen (the best there ever were as they tell everybody) were sent to the town to string more lines by the dam. I disliked this movie almost from the beginning and finished watching it only to see if I could revise my early opinion. Another reviewer refers to the chronic sexual harassment in the movie and that it might ruffle a few feathers. The arrogant, overbearing lout played by Withers is thoroughly obnoxious. Early in the movie at a dance, Withers grabs Judith Allen who cries out in pain and asks him to let her go. He won't until another man comes along (who Withers ends up socking - what a guy). Evidently this abusive behavior was acceptable in the 1930s, so the audience would not have been surprised that Withers and Allen end up falling in love and saving the day. There were two good things about this movie, 1) the cute kid and 2) the flood footage. Oh, there's a third good thing – many minutes of this film are missing and it's now only 53 minutes long.

Grant Withers and Warren Hymer are two tough line men for the company. They come to Riverdale, where they set their sights on operators Judith Allen and Alice White.

Given director Scott Pembroke's grounding in comedy -- he was the director of Stan Laurel's burlesques of big hits, like RUPERT OF HEEHAW and DOCTOR PYCKLE AND MISTER PRYDE, you'd think the comedy bits in this early Monogram would be better; well, Miss White is pretty good, but the other actors are rather lugubrious. Until the big finale, it's all tough guys in leather jackets and fedoras pounding on each other, and slow-and-steady progress in the romantic plots.

The big set piece is the flood, and that's handled using stock footage of floods and ranks of telephone operators standing at their boards, while voice-overs tell people "There's a flood. Tell your neighbors." Oh, so that's why the third floor of my house is underwater?

Actually it's a decent movie until that repeated voice-over. Not bad for a Poverty Row Second Feature. Withers is typically fine. t's just that the finale goes on too long.