Hard to Get (1938)

In their own wacky way, screwball comedies like "My Man Godfrey," "It Happened One Night" and "The Awful Truth" somehow made sense. The problem with "Hard to Get" is that as much fun as it frequently is, you never believe that the shenanigans could actually happen. Would the head of a major oil company spend most of his time arm-wrestling and playing pingpong with his butler? Or take a forty story ride on a steel girder to meet a young inventor? And would his otherwise intelligent daughter pretend to be her clumsy maid to bewilder that same inventor? Then again, Dick Powell, Olivia de Haviland, Charles Winninger, Melville Cooper and even Penny Singleton (in a terrific sequence as de Haviland's real maid) behave as though the script had a nodding acquaintance with reality. Which makes it surprisingly entertaining.

What would Hollywood have done if "It Happened One Night" hadn't been made? After that, the movies were peppered with heiresses, one of which was Olivia de Havilland in 1938's "Hard to Get" starring Dick Powell, Charles Winninger, Roscoe Jenkins, and Bonita Granville.Margaret (de Havilland), an heiress, runs afoul of gas jockey Bill (Powell) because she doesn't have $3.48 to pay for gas and oil. He then makes her clean some bungalows. Outraged, she complains to her father (Winninger) and demands that he do something. He refuses and tells her to take care of it herself.Margaret returns to the gas station, and, pretending to be the valet's daughter, makes nice, flirts, and goes out with Bill, who proceeds to tell her about a business venture for which he is seeking investors. Margaret then sets out to extract her revenge. And guess what happens along the way.I'm not as enthusiastic about this film as some others on this board. It's totally predictable and, in my opinion, not one of the better screwball comedies, though there are some funny sections, especially toward the end.Olivia de Havilland was absolutely beautiful and excellent as the spoiled heiress, and Dick Powell was delightful, as was his singing of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" and his entertaining "Sonny Boy," as a Jolson impersonation (blackface and all). Winninger and his friends (Melville Cooper, Thurston Hall) are very funny on the construction site at the end.The cast makes it enjoyable.

Dick Powell works at an old-fashioned auto court (motel with gas station) when Olivia de Havilland stops for gas. When she says she can get the check (for $3.48) to him tomorrow, he doesn't believe her and makes her work it out, in making the beds and cleaning the rooms. She vows to get even. That is the basic premise in this lightweight fun-filled movie. Her father is Charles Winninger (who incidentally made a career of being Judy Garland's father in movies,) is indeed wealthy, but who passes the time wrestling and dueling with his manservant, Melville Cooper (who is excellent as always with his straight-faced delivery.) This subplot of their rivalry is very fun to watch and is reminiscent of Peter Sellers and his manservant fighting it out.Olivia goes to her father to get Dick fired, but, when he refuses and tells her to grow up and handle it herself, she says she'll find a way. Just how you'll have to see for yourself, but I can say Dick's rump must have stung pretty bad.For all those who've seen Olivia in her melodramas, you have to see this one. It's probably her best comedy, and this movie is the one that introduced the song "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" to the world. The ending is a bit awkward somehow, a little forced or manipulated; it didn't come off completely smooth. But, by then you've laughed yourself silly and it shouldn't hinder your enjoyment and true satisfaction of a great film. Can't anyone today make a truly funny (and clean) movie like this one anymore? That's the only thing "hard to get."

It's hard to believe that this little Warner Bros. comedy was made a year before de Havilland played Melanie in Gone with the Wind. She is such a feisty, saucy little minx that it's no wonder Dick Powell has to tame her. Proof that de Havilland was not just a fluffy ingenue is the fact that three films later she was playing the demure, ladylike Melanie. Makes you wonder why Jack Warner never fully appreciated her talent. Anyway, this is an enjoyable comedy about a brash architect working as a gas station attendant who treats a spoiled heiress rather harshly when she has no money to pay for gas. She decides to turn the tables on him and therein lies the germ of a plot. Charles Winninger and Melville Cooper are delightful in supporting roles, as is Penny Singleton as a dim-witted maid in the wealthy man's household. Too bad this one isn't available on video. Like another early de Havilland comedy, It's Love I'm After, it deserves to be seen by viewers who don't have Turner Classic Movies on their cable stations.