Love in the Rough

"Love in the Rough" is a cute little comedy-musical with a golf club setting, starring a callow Robert Montgomery (who sings and dances!). The first hour is quite winning, though the plot bogs down a bit in the latter reels. There is a nice visual fade at the very end, so keep watching. The film has a surprising immediacy since it was filmed open-air on a real golf course rather than being studio-bound. And it provides a nice portrait of innocent courtship (just holding hands is considered pretty erotic).

The film is really a showcase for the comic talents of Benny Rubin, who is hoodwinked into being Montgomery's caddy. A lot of movie history books state that Rubin could not find work in the movies after the early 30s because he looked "too Jewish". Probably what they really mean is that his stereotypical Yiddish character (God-given looks included) was offensive. Of course, Chico Marx, Henry Armetta, Mantan Moreland, etc., got away with coarse ethnic stereotypes for years, so maybe he was really offensive to the moguls. Anyway, he has plenty of entertaining shtick to display in this picture, the highlight being a hilarious Yiddish palaver with another Jewish caddy. He's also menaced by a crude Italian greenskeeper. The politically incorrect portrayals are trumped by Roscoe Ates's incredible take on stuttering. In this movie, he takes his "art" to the extreme (he even gets Young's character to catch the bug). The dancing – much of it comedic – is fine, especially an interlude by one Earl "Snake Hips" Tucker.

One thing that really gets my goat is the writers' obvious ignorance of golf. They think that yelling "fore" means to be quiet, and that if an opponent's golf ball is blocking your putt, you have to putt around it! The latter leads to the climax, where the hero cleverly finds a way to overcome the obstacle.

The film is actually a musical comedy remake of the 1927 silent film "Spring Fever", which starred William Haines and Joan Crawford. Montgomery plays the part of wise-cracking shipping clerk Jack Kelly who gets a holiday at a resort courtesy of his employer when the employer learns that Kelly is a great golfer and the employer needs help with his own golf game. At the resort Kelly meets Marilyn Crawford, daughter of a wealthy industrialist, and the two fall in love. They elope with Marilyn believing that Kelly is wealthy too, but Kelly's conscience soon begins to bother him about the false pretenses under which he has married his new wife.

This movie lacks the poignancy of the silent "Spring Fever". Montgomery does a good job as Kelly, but nobody can really replace Joan Crawford as the leading lady. In fact, you get the feeling that this actress was hired for her musical talents - she is pretty good in the musical numbers - and then as audiences began to reject musical films in 1930, MGM cut a bunch of the musical numbers and was basically left with an ineffective leading lady in a film lacking a good plot. In the original, Kelly is marrying to up his station in life. In this film, Kelly falls in love with a girl who just happens to be the daughter of a wealthy man. This film replaces all of the drama of Spring Fever with a musical comedy style. The musical numbers are catchy, but the comedy is somewhat dated. Released in September 1930, it is a good example of how entertainment was transitioning from the Jazz Age into the Great Depression. Recommended for those interested in films from this time period.

Only three years before "Love in the Rough", MGM made "Spring Fever" with William Haines. Why would they remake a film so quickly? Well, Hollywood OFTEN did remakes only a few years later...but most importantly they did it in this case since the original was a silent and this Robert Montgomery version had sound. In fact, because it was a sound picture, a few songs were added as well to take advantage of the new technology.

When the story starts, Mr. Waters is being a very grouchy boss and starts firing employees for the littlest things. Soon you learn why....he's angry because his golf game stinks. However, when he learns that the employee he just fired, Jack (Robert Montgomery), is an excellent golfer, he re-hires him and begs him to help him improve his game.

Jack and his friend, Benny (Benny Rubin), arrive at the club to play some golf. And, instead of focusing just on his golf game, he's entranced by a lovely lady who is also there. Now, instead of putting all his attention on golf, he's obsessed with Marilyn (Dorothy Jordan).

In many ways, the original film, "Spring Fever" is a better film. Sure, it's a silent but it as also an exceptional silent...one of Haines' best movies. This remake, however, suffers for many reasons. First, the songs don't help the film and the people singing really were NOT singers but were being forced to be. As my daughter said..."they kinda sucked"! Second, and the biggest problem, is that the father-son relationship of the first movie was completely removed from "Love in the Rough". It's a shame, as it was the best aspect of the first film and really gave the film depth...and depth is NOT something you'd notice in "Love in the Rough". To make it worse, Benny Rubin was strictly added as comic relief...again, something they didn't have nor needed in the original. Overall, it's very slight and lightweight....not bad but also not all that good nor memorable.

Love in the Rough is a B comedy film starring Robert Montgomery before he attempted more serious films. It also features Benny Rubin, a talented Jewish comedian, who was far more successful in burlesque and vaudeville than in early Hollywood films. The plot of an office worker becoming a ringer in a golf foursome is fairly different from the norm, and the filming of the episodes in the open air, rather than a studio, gives it an air of authenticity.

After about forty minutes, however, the film begins to lose its energy, and bogs down quite a bit. The end result is a pleasant, but not too stimulating comedy that captures the mentality of the 1930s corporate mindset for impressing others at the club.

A young, skinny, twenty five year old robert montgomery, in an early role. When the boss drags kelly along to improve his golf game, things get wacky. Kelly goes looking for a girl. This starts with a plain, simple story...it's a good print of a film from almost 100 years ago.. one of the early talkies. Sure, there are a couple of musical numbers, but they move right along and don't slow it down too much. A fun dance number by earl tucker, about thirty minutes in; sadly, he died at age thirty. Co-stars dorothy jordan. The middle part seems to be a bunch of vaudeville bits that don't really go anywhere. Kind of drags for a long time.... the women talk in high, squeaky, little girl voices that must have been desired in 1930. Directed by charles reisner. He had started in the early silents. This was based on the play by vincent lawrence. Honestly, not much of a story, really. It's just ok. I think part of the entertainment was just hearing people talk in films. Although i could do without those high squeaky voices that they seemed to use back then.