Double Harness

Really well done adaptation of the play to the screen. Rather wordy as was most early 1930's films, but quite charming nevertheless. And, indeed, rather risque for its day since there is a supposition at one point that Ann Harding's character, Joan, in trying to trap William Powell into marriage, is giving pre-marital favors and is actually caught in the process. The chemistry between Harding and Powell is quite good and it is unfortunate that the two were never paired again in another film.

This movie is an example of the kind of film that just can't be made anymore. At least not from a major studio. A compact, fast paced script that is based totally on character interaction. Ann Harding is cool as ice. Beautiful and smart, her character Joan Colby carry the film. William Powell doesn't have much to do except react to her, but he does it splendidly. He plays love interest John Fletcher with a world weary yet charming air, as only he could do.

The relationship between the two is introduced to the audience as a thinly veiled roll in the hay, interrupted by a father figure. Pretty racy for 1933 standards. From there, marital relations under the strain of a worsening economy drive the story. All very relevant today 70 plus years later. Even the quaint idea of "tricking" someone into getting married seems to fly here.

Well cast from top to bottom, each player does well to move the story along. The production value is somewhat above normal "B-movie" standards, with a few minor outdoor shots.

Watching this movie was almost like watching a ballet dance, with Ann Harding moving between each scene with so much grace she fairly shimmers. The other characters swirl around her, each flying by barely grazing her, in a well choreographed, almost clock like, movement. William Powell stays out of her way, literally and figuratively, till the end of the film.

If you love old movies this one is worth your 67 minutes.

Once again, the big thinkers at Turner Classic Movies have provided film buffs with a tremendous cinematic coup, this being the re-release of six films crafted by Merian C. Cooper as executive producer, and tied up in litigation over the screening rights for decades. Among these films is the social satirical gem, "Double Harness," which is available from TCM via those cable TV providers who have TCM On Demand.

The film is, therefore, free for viewing at the convenience of the customer and this one comes highly recommended.

In all honesty, it was not until the very final scenes of this film, that I realized it was set in San Francisco ( and not New York ), and that the entire production was a satire. The beginning and middle sections of this movie -- from a play by Edward Poor Montgomery -- seem to fit nicely in the oh-so-predictable slot of "melodrama." Just about every player in this film is a character carved strictly out of "upper crust" marble, with all the trappings of the idle rich in the '30s.

Not that the idle rich in the Depression years had it so good, of course, as they apparently had to cut back on the caviar before dinner at least once in a while. The alert film buff will realize that this story is strictly from "la la land" in the first scenes, where the two sisters Colby are viewing bridal dresses for the younger one, Valerie, who is about to be married. The bill for her trousseau comes to well over $ 3000 at a time when $ 100 per week was a lot of money for a family of four. And by the way, everybody smokes ... a lot.

Everyone in this movie is fabulously wealthy by the standards of the day, even though their interests are under pressure from the economic turbulence of 1931-1932. Losses from a bank failure are mentioned in passing in one scene, but the audience cannot help but be captivated by the opulence of the lives of these characters. This film also serves to further establish the absolute brilliance of William Powell, who is the lazy playboy named John Fletcher, heir to a shipping line.

Powell seems to play his character with an almost sublime restraint, and a barely concealed exuberance: it is as if he knew in his subconscious mind that this was an "Ann Harding" picture and it was his duty to bolster her performance and her presence. He does so, in the most magnificent fashion, and it adds power to the social satire which is the weave of this cinematic fabric. It all comes together at the end, where a most elaborate private dinner party collapses into a drunken disaster for the younger sister, and a fist-fight for the butler and the cook !! And there's a happy ending, too, of course.

The only thing this film lacked was more ... more of the luminous Ann Harding, more of how she was slowly capturing the real man inside the phony, shallow playboy Fletcher, and more of how William Powell brought that character into reality from a stiff and rather formal screenplay, the kind of "very talkative" cinematic fiction so common in that era.

Nine of ten, and since it can be viewed for free, On Demand, it is highly recommended to any and all film buffs.

Ann Harding and William Powell are terrific in this strange little gem of a movie which runs the gamut from Pre-Code Drama to Screwball Comedy! (the closing dinner party scene is worth the price of admission). John Cromwell directs with a sure hand, especially in a great tracking shot involving the two sisters.

It's incredible how modern films seem to lack any sense of sophistication and style in comparison with even lesser known films from the 30's like this one.

A pure joy to watch.

"He always has a drink," said my wife. She was speaking, of course, of William Powell's various characters, and I observed that he was always wealthy. Was he typecast? That is a question for seventy-years-ago; today, we just enjoy his work.

And it starred William Powell. (Isn't that enough?) In DOUBLE HARNESS, Powell plays John Fletcher, a playboy millionaire who is targeted for marriage by Joan Colby (Ann Harding). She gets her man, and this turns out to be to his immediate benefit. She gets him interested in running the company he inherited, and with her help, he's quite successful at it. He's a savvy guy, but she's clearly the woman behind the successful man. (Yes, such a thing still exists, some seventy years after.) Joan's sister Valerie (Lucille Browne) is something of a ditz with spending proclivities beyond her means. This leads to a disaster of a sort, but it's nothing Joan cannot handle.

The ending, which I shan't divulge, left me with a few questions, but the answers were not necessary and I was pleased with the film. William Powell fans, you don't want to miss the master at work.