Barbara Stanwyck stars in this weird mix of
30's screwball comedy and anti-communist propaganda. It's caused a mini-riot when it was first shown in New York, when protests by left-wing students ended in arrests. It's interesting to
compare with the red-scare movies of the 50's that Hollywood later churned out. In fact it was retitled and re-released in 1953 as Runaway Daughter.
Stanwyck plays Drue Van Allen, the military General's daughter whose causing all kinds of embarrassment due to her scandalous behavior. She's
involved with the campus left-wing radicals, and plan on marrying
Leonard Arner, the lead communist agitator. Her father is having none of
it, and tricks (well, basically kidnaps) her into a trip south of the border to
Mexico.
From here, the story becomes classic comedy Hi-jinx. Stanwyck
tries to get to Washington with everyone chasing her, accompanied by an AWOL
soldier (Robert Young) who wants to go
the opposite direction. The script is full of one-liners, and the
plot is light and pacy through this middle section.
There's a hint of
Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, when Stanwyck and Robert Young pass
themselves off as a couple at a hotel (It was made the same year).
With her quick wit and pithy put-downs, Stanwyck character is strong, opinionated and
intelligent. Of course in the film, this is considered a major
problem. The movie can't allow her to have her own way, and everyone ultimately agrees with her father that she needs a good dose of "common
sense" and to settle down with the right man (The soldier who Stanwyck nicknames
Uncle Sam).
As all films are documents of their time, it's curious to see such support for American militarism before World War 2. It concludes with an impassioned speech by Young at
the Student Rally. He wins half the crowd
round with an appeal to their patriotism and causes a large
free-for-all brawl amonst the audience. In the confusion Stankwyck and Young get together
and Arner gets strong armed out of the country!
The film is presently on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR5WJhkEOVo
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