Watch Hold That Woman! For Free

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Just perfect...

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I think that for today's audiences a little clarification is needed as far as terms used. James Dunn is described as 'skip tracer'. He is most definitely not someone who goes after dangerous criminals who break bail. Today what Dunn does would be better described as a Repo-Man. He just takes items bought on credit that buyers are late in paying for.He's in some trouble at work because Dave O'Brien is the fairhaired boy of the boss because he repossesses more than the rest. And Dunn also is having woman trouble, his potential father-in-law who is a cop doesn't think he's the right sort for his daughter Frances Gifford. But in a light and breezy paced comedy/drama Dunn gets himself an assignment to repossess a radio from Rita LeRoy who happened to stash some stolen jewels in it. She's the brains behind the mob and she's plenty smart and no one to mess with.Dunn did this one for poverty row PRC Pictures and considering what a no frills outfit they were this one is pretty good.

I'm simply astounded by what used to pass for movie entertainment back in the Thirties and Forties. In this one for example, the picture's leading man (James Dunn) marries his girlfriend (Frances Gifford), buys a house, and fills it with furniture that will wind up being repossessed by the company he himself works for - Skip Tracers Ltd. Not only that, he solves the case he started working on that same day, the recovery of some jewels that were stolen from a glamorous movie star. And are you ready for this - it all happens in the space of a single afternoon! Oh well, can't be too critical. This was done more as a comedy than an actual crime drama, with the leading players an affable enough couple. However I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that a pretty gal like Mary Mulvaney (Gifford) would ever go for a guy like Jimmy Parker (Dunn), and then I find out that the actors were actually married in real life! Sometimes you just can't account for taste.Anyway, this is a fairly fast paced and frenetic story that's all over the place with car chases, stake-outs and other assorted hi-jinks before it's satisfactorily wrapped up by skip-tracer Parker. You have to keep an eye on that radio with the hidden jewels as the central plot element. When Jimmy recovers it from Lulu Driscoll (Rita La Roy) the first time, he unplugs it from the wall in her apartment only to be arrested by the time he makes it down the stairs of the building. By the end of the picture, the film makers dispensed with that little inconvenience; when Jimmy grabbed it near the end of the story, it didn't even have a cord!Well I guess this didn't have to make too much sense as long as it was entertaining. Which it was for the most part if you don't think about it too much. Filmed by Poverty Row movie company PRC (Producers Releasing Corp.), I was intrigued by one of the opening credits that mentioned it was filmed using Western Electic's 'Noiseless Recording' process. Who would have thought?

James Dunn was a complete actor. He could play anything from crime to comedy. He first came to public notice as Eddie Collins in "Bad Girl" (1931) - a tale of the ups and downs of a young married couple in New York. After a couple of other films with the beautiful Sally Eilers, he was then teamed with cute Claire Trevor in "Jimmie and Sally" (1933). After yet another pairing with Trevor in "Baby Takes a Bow" (1934) he was then teamed with the film's star - Shirley Temple. "Hold That Woman" (1940) was made during a time when he was down on his luck and battling the bottle. Even with all his problems he still makes the film completely enjoyable. His leading lady was the beautiful Frances Gifford, who was his wife at the time.Jimmy Parker (James Dunn) is a "skip tracer" - a repossession agent. When he is given the job of repossessing a radio - things get complicated. The lady, Lulu Driscoll (Rita La Roy) refuses to relinquish it and everyone ends up at the police station. She has hidden some jewels that were stolen from a famous actress, in the back of the set. The famous actress, Corinne Hill (Anna Lisa) has problems of her own - she has just discovered that her fiancé is a thief and is mixed up in the robbery of her jewels.When Jimmie goes back to retrieve the radio, he finds Lulu has moved and all her furniture, including the radio, has gone into storage. He goes to the warehouse but the radio is not there. In the meantime he has proposed to Mary (Frances Gifford) and they go to see a widow who is selling a houseful of furniture for a song. Needless to say she is pulling a "swifty" as all her furniture is due to be repossessed!!! Everyone heads to Marble Cliff Drive where Lulu is living, along with her radio and the jewels. Miles Hanover (Dave O'Brien), the skip - tracer's "golden haired boy", goes to the house to make a deal - if Lulu hands over the jewels to him, he will leave - no questions asked. He comes to a sticky end, much to Jimmie's amusement.It was a very enjoyable film and Frances Gifford proved she was a talent sadly wasted. Recommended.

The accent is on comedy capers rather than mystery and noir in this remarkably involved yet fast-paced and light-hearted gangster yarn about stolen diamonds which a sleazy blonde has hidden in a cheap portable radio.Although this movie was made right in the middle of a down cycle in James Dunn's remarkable up-and-down movie career (he would bounce back with a vengeance in 1945 when he won universal praise for his brilliant performance under Elia Kazan's tutelage in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), it's quite an entertaining little offering, despite the actor's haggard appearance in some shots. It's also of interest to see the lovely Frances Gifford (Dunn's wife at the time) and a fine collection of support oddballs including Dave O'Brien and Rita La Roy.For once, director Neufeld/Newfield (alias Sherman Scott here) has handled the proceedings with pace and even occasional flair, making deft use of a large number of real (if not particularly picturesque) L.A. locations. The director also manages the difficult feat of balancing many disparate plot elements in an extremely complicated screenplay so neatly and with such finesse that even a backward audience can always follow the plot.Mind you, a farcical script that creates such a frantic fuss over a portable radio set that looks as if it's worth ten bucks at the most, is hardly believable. But with players like Dunn, Gifford, O'Brien and company, who cares?