The Golden Arrow

Weak film about facial cream heiress Daisy Appleby (Bette Davis) and her escapades in Florida, where she lounges around her yacht in unflattering swimsuit, and gets herself chased around the Casino by all sorts of European barons and dukes after her for her money. When she meets a reporter (George Brent) who is such a normal, straight-laced, and somewhat handsome All-American guy, she quickly falls for him. Then, to get the fortune hunters off her back, she convinces him to enter into a "marriage of convenience" with her, but in actuality, she is in love with him - and, not completely who she seems either.

Well, this movie is pretty so-so. Bette Davis is great, as usual, but George Brent is a real stiff here, and the actress who plays Daisy's rival, "the richest girl in the world", is really, not a very good actress. Eugene Palette adds a spark of life to this film, but, unfortunately, only has a few brief scenes. Probably best for Bette Davis fans only.

The Golden Arrow (1936)

** (out of 4)

Pleasant, if rather forgettable, romantic comedy from Warner has a heiress (Bette Davis) growing tired of people controlling her life so she hits the town with a reporter (George Brent) who had previously tried to get a story from her. While out the duo have a good time and the rich lady requests that they get married for convenience sake but the reporter requests that he not use any of her money. The plot of this thing is rather stupid and goes in all sorts of directions. While the film remains entertaining thanks to the stars, one can't help but feel that their talents are being wasted in such a minor film like this. Again, if you're a fan of Davis or Brent then you're going to at least be entertained from start to finish but this is clear case where the studio factory was just pumping out material without putting too much effort into it. The film starts off well enough as Davis does a very good job playing the fun loving girl who's just wanting to get out from under the control that people have on her. I thought the scenes with her and Brent at the fair were a lot of fun and it really did seem as if the two stars were having a blast. The film certainly takes a nose dive after the marriage as the screwball elements start to come into play and they just don't contain any spark or laughs. I thought the material just wasn't strong enough and Brent's constant hissy fits were more annoying than charming. Both leads are very good together and we get some nice support from Dick Foran and Eugene Palette but the story lets them all down.

At first sight this movie doesn't look like a particular great one. After all a Bette Davis movies with only 166 votes on IMDb and a rating of 6,5 must be a rather bad one. But the movie turned out to be a delightful and original surprise.

You would at first expect that this is a normal average typical '30's movie with a formulaic love-story but the movie is surprisingly well constructed and has an unusual and original story, which also helps to make this movie a very pleasant one to watch.

The story is carried by its two main characters played by Bette Davis and George Brent. Their helped by a cast of mostly amusing characters but the movie mainly involves just around them two. Their character are involved in a most unusual and clever written love-story that work humorous as well. It makes this movie a delightful little comedy to watch, that is perfectly entertaining.

The movie is quite short (just over an hour long), which means that the story doesn't waste any time on needless plot lines, development and characters. It makes the movie also rather fast paced, which helps to make this movie a perfectly watchable one by todays standards as well. It does perhaps makes the movie a bit of a simple one at times but this never goes at the expense of its entertainment or fun.

A delightful pleasant simple romantic-comedy that deserves to be seen by more!

8/10

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Bette Davis plays a woman who is pretending to be an heiress to a cosmetic company, Daisy Appleby. George Brent plays Johnny Jones, a reporter. They become friends, and she convinces him to enter into a marriage of convenience. Her - to keep away fortune hunters, Him - to have finances to write his book. He is expected to play to her every whim, and appear in all the newspapers. Not liking this, he cosies up to Hortense, daughter of an oil tycoon, who informs him that Daisy is not all she seems. I don't really know alot about Bette Davis, but this is a delightful comedy, mostly due to the timing of both lead actors, and Bette Davis' facial expressions. She really does have expressive eyes, doesn't she?

Twenty-eight-year-old Bette Davis had been making films for five years, quickly working up to lead, and pretty much the same for George Brent. They would appear in about TWELVE films together in the 1930s and 1940s. Rich girl Daisy (Davis) meets reporter Johnny (Brent), in a case of mistaken identity. At first, she is angry at him, but they quickly hit it off. Eugene Palette is in here too, with his deep, booming voice. Some interesting bits about Palette's life, if you have the time to read it. The story here has ups, downs, around the mulberry bush, as they used to say. Rawtha a silly plot, but easy to watch, and its only 68 minutes long. One odd bit of timing... at one point, Daisy yells "If you don't stick to our agreement, I'll break my contract", and soon after filming "Arrow", Davis DID walk out on her contract. Showing on Turner Classic now and then. Directed by Alfred Green, who had directed some of the biggies in the business, starting in the days of the silents. Story by Michael Arlen, who had created the character "The Falcon", in all those films in the 1940s.