Living on Love

B-movie remake of 1933's romantic comedy "Rafter Romance". This version features James Dunn as Gary, a struggling artist who lives in a basement apartment and owes on his rent - Whitney Bourne plays Mary, a woman who lives in the same building and hasn't paid her rent in over six months. So - - the well-meaning landlord (who, by the way, has no problem peeping into tenants rooms via the keyhole) gets this bright idea: the two of them can share the apartment and split the cost. He works the night shift, she works by day - so he gets the apartment in the day, she gets it in the night - they go ahead with this plan, but they have never actually seen each other. She immediately thinks he's disgusting (based on the looks of the room) and he thinks she's a spinster, a "small town hick" in town looking for love. They leave each other a series of nasty notes and play some really mean-spirited pranks on each other (like paint remover in his mouth wash bottle, and alarm clocks set all around the room to ring and wake her up). Well, the two of them finally do meet - at a local restaurant without any idea who the other one is. They actually bond via the fact that they both hate their roommate!

This film is mildly interesting, light fare - but lacks chemistry between the two leading stars. I didn't see them ever in this as much of a couple (he actually pronounces himself in "love" with her after just meeting her, but I sure couldn't see it), and the meanness of the tricks they play on each other just left me completely cold - - if this was meant to be funny - it wasn't. In general, this film is pretty so-so - not nearly as good as the earlier version of this, "Rafter Romance". Franklin Pangborn appears in this adding some much needed humor, playing the boss in charge of Mary's sales job selling electric razors. A weak film - mediocre at best.

Living On Love is a roadshow remake of Rafter Romance that William Powell and Ginger Rogers had done only four years earlier. Someone at RKO must have been stuck for an original story and recycle this one. The slightly less well known James Dunn and Whitney Bourne are in this film as leads.

It's a pleasant enough comedy concerning two people sharing a room at different hours. Whitney is a salesgirl working selling electric shavers for Franklin Pangborn who would like to get better acquainted and she works by day. Her night time roommate is Dunn who is an artist, but works at night as a truck dispatcher.

These two ships that pass in the night don't pass unnoticed and both have habits that annoy. But when they happen to meet there is an attraction that takes the entire running time of the film to bear fruit. Of course neither figure out that the other is the annoying roommate until almost the end of the film.

Living On Love is a pleasant enough screwball comedy with some other good supporting performances by Joan Woodbury as the daughter of the owner of a nearby restaurant that both leads meet at and who has an interest in Dunn. And best of all is Solly Ward as the landlord who for the want of a radio with all kinds of features rents that room with that arrangement to Bourne.

Some of the same comedy situations can also be found in The More The Merrier, a slightly better known film. Even with lesser known leads, Living On Love is your average screwball Thirties comedy much like it's predecessor.

TCM's "Lost and Found" series of RKO films continues with yet another remake of RAFTER ROMANCE (with Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster), the story of two people who never meet although they're roommates sharing the same flat. They never meet because they're on different work shifts. It's a story that worked its charm with Ginger but doesn't seem to have the same snap here.

It's familiar ground and this time serves as a vehicle for JAMES DUNN and WHITNEY BOURNE with some comic assistance from FRANKLIN PANGBORN and JOAN WOODBURY. Pangborn has the Robert Benchley role of the lecherous wolf but is slightly less credible with his prissy attitude.

These Depression-era comedies are really hard to relate to today, what with $15 a month rent being a hardship that has to be shared by another. It was a different world in 1937--and clearly, the Depression wasn't quite over. At any rate, this is practically a scene by scene remake of RAFTER ROMANCE with no noticeable improvement in dialog, style or pace. In other words, it's pointless.

Every aspect of the flimsy and familiar plot is badly dated, and the pranks that the two unknown roommates play on each other are more mean spirited than funny. The animal prank scenes (which did not take place in the original) are beyond ridiculous. Nor are any of the other changes an improvement under the feeble direction of Lew Landers.

Summing up: Watch the original and forget this one. It's a real loser.

James Dunn has quit his job and gone to work at lower pay on the graveyard shift. Whitney Bourne hasn't worked regularly, and is now selling electric shavers on commission. Neither can afford their rooms, so landlord Solly Ward lets them split a room: Dunn gets it in the day, Miss Bourne at night. They don't know each other and regularly send annoyed notes. When they meet in person, they fall in love, unawares of their living arrangements.

This remake of RAFTER ROMANCE takes the Cox-and-Box story and retreats int simplistic humor to keep it Code-compliant: lots of puns in the names (the apartment building is "The Venus De Milo Arms", two characters are "Ghonoff Brothers"), and 1930s-safe wolves like Franklin Pangborn as Miss Courtney's boss. But despite the plethora of comic talent, including om Kennedy, Chester Clute, and Jimmy Conlin, there's too much grouchiness in the script and performances to keep any but the most sadistic audience smiling. Consistently. The result is another decent timewaster from RKO during a rote era.

Last week, the long-lost RAFTER ROMANCE was shown for the first time on TV. This week, the long-lost remake by the same studio which was made just four years later was shown as well (LIVING ON LOVE). As a result, I had a rare opportunity to see the original and its remake just days apart. By the way, the remaking of films was very common in this era (especially by RKO and Warner Brothers) and often the films were remade as few as two or three years later! While the basic plot of RAFTER ROMANCE was intact, the remake was a pretty sorry film--offering no advantages over the original--NONE. The performances by all the leads were simply better in the 1933 film. Norman Foster and Ginger Rogers were the leads in 1933 and James Dunn and Whitney Bourne (who the heck was THIS?) were the leads in 1937--definite steps down in the acting and charm departments--especially since Ms. Bourne seemed really cruel at times in the film (like when she sold the artist's paintings). Plus, the original charming and cute landlord, George Sidney, was replaced by a comparatively dull guy in the remake. Because of these changes, the magic and sweet nature of the film was mostly gone. Still, it was watchable, but I strongly advise you to seek out RAFTER ROMANCE instead--I just can't imagine anyone preferring this remake.