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Sadly Over-hyped

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Marion Gering's Thunder In The City (1937) is an utterly pretentious farce. It rightly belongs in the Fairy Tale genre as well.However, I enjoyed viewing this film tremendously. The entertainment value of this film for me is as high as it can get. Perhaps something in me not only as a film fanatic, but also just as a human being really related to the characters in this film. I wanted to be one of them. I wanted to crawl into the screen and be with these people as they played out this highly improbable tale. If this film is a fairy tale, then I guess that it is somehow my fairy tale too.This film is an example of good cinematic storytelling. Although it is a highly improbable story, and the acting overall, especially that of Edward G Robinson, is very pretentious, this story impacted me in a very favorable manner. The storyline is well thought out, and is not at all predictable.I will remember viewing this film for a long time, and will probably view it again soon in the future. I suppose that I just want to vicariously relive this pretentious, farcical, fairy tale again.

Advertising man Dan Armstrong (Edward G. Robinson) is fired because his ideas are seen as out-of-date and undignified by his bosses, who cite the English as having a respectable approach to business. He decides to go to England to visit relatives. While there he falls for pretty Lady Patricia (Luli Deste), who is considering marrying stuffy jerk Manningdale (Ralph Richardson) just for his money. Dan cooks up a scheme to help his financially struggling family as well as make himself enough money he could provide Patricia with more security than Manningdale.Pretty much any film with Eddie G. is worth watching and this is no exception. It's a fish-out-of-water story with the colorful American teaching and learning from the staid Brits. The funniest scene to me was when Robinson gets lost in the family manor. It's all genial enough and the cast is certainly a quality one. Robinson is great. Richardson is always good. Nigel Bruce and Constance Collier are fun. Interesting look at British/American relations and attitudes at the time.

The story behind this film is more interesting than the film itself. Edward G. Robinson was tiring of the constant gangster films that Warner Brothers was giving him, so off he went to England to make a different kind of film. This was the result. And it shows! Robinson is clearly having a great time in this film...and not a gangster to be seen. Unfortunately, the film was relatively unsuccessful at the box office, so it didn't do much to dissuade WB from plopping him back down into primarily gangster-related films. But if there is one reason to watch this film, it's to see Robinson enjoying himself so much here.As to the plot...well, it had potential. An over-the-top product promoter isn't appreciated by his American bosses, so he quits and goes to England to visit his distant relations...and gets caught up promoting a new metal which will revolutionize life...only to be outfoxed by a British entrepreneur. The script seems a bit shaky, as I often find in old films...but usually those made in the early 1930s. Additionally, I'm generally not a fan of British movies from the earlier days of the cinema...and this is no exception.Most of the cast doesn't mean much to Americans, but you will enjoy seeing Nigel Bruce in his typical buffoonery. And Ralph Richardson (with a rather young receding hairline) is here as the British entrepreneur that does the outfoxing.I doubt this one will find much favor among viewers unless they are die-hard Robinson fans (I'm a fan, but not a die-hard). But, judge for yourself.

I'd love to know how producer Alexander Esway landed Edward G. Robinson for this low budget British feature. Robinson plays a crafty American businessman who relocates to the old country in order to pick up a few pointers--in addition to teaching the locals a few tricks about wealth creation. Nigel Bruce is delightful (and typically fuddled) as the nobleman who sells his stake in some Rhodesian mines to Robinson, Ralph Richardson is nice and chilly as the villain of the piece, and sexy Luli Deste is adequate as the film's love interest. For a low budget effort, the film is very well made, and features a few impressive sequences, most notably a brief scene in the Escher-like Challoner Hall that seems to consist primarily of staircases leading nowhere. The old Madacy Video tape leaves a lot to be desired, however: their print is worn and washed out. Thunder In the City is no classic, but it deserves to get cleaned up for DVD.