$10 Raise

My five stars for this film are for the perseverance of the cast in seeing it to the end. For, "$10 Raise" is a very slow moving film that many may soon find tedious. That's mostly in the character of Edward Everett Horton's Hubert Wilkins. Horton is a good actor and is in many fine comedies. If it were not for his exaggerated squeamishness in this film, one wouldn't even think it was a comedy. And, although billed as such, it's mostly a drama or slice of life movie about an overly timid man.

There's a little larceny in here in a former employee, Fuller, played by Alan Dinehart. The nasty-natured and pompous owner of Bates and Company, is played by Berton Churchill. Hubert has a sweetheart whom he hasn't had the nerve to ask to marry him, waiting to get a $10-dollar raise after 18 years with the company, so he could afford to marry. Karen Morely plays Emily Converse. And, Hubert has a true friend in a former employee who has been very successful in the world.

It all works out in the end - when good things often happen to people who are good. It happens here in spades, but not to the point of having Hubert change. Still, except for fans of Horton, this isn't a movie that most people would enjoy, let alone sit through

Here are the best lines in this film.

Hubert Wilkins, "Well, down the steps." Perry's Friend (Boothe Howard, uncredited), "No! Hatch!" Wilkins, "Oh, it's a chicken drink....chicken hatch." They all laugh and Perry says, "A good egg." He pats Hubert on the shoulder as everyone laughs more.

Hubert Wilkins, "I think you'll have to admit, Emily, that a man's judgment is better than a woman's intuition."