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Pretty Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Copyright 17 October 1934 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening. Australian release: 20 February 1935. 7 reels. 67 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A publisher's wastrel brother commits suicide. Why? Are the publisher's wife and his associates involved?NOTES: The highly acclaimed Priestley play opened in the West End at the Lyric on 17 May 1932, running a most satisfactory 151 performances. Not unexpectedly, the play did even better on Broadway - at this time, British shows were all the rage on the New York stage, often to the exclusion of native talent - opening at the Empire on 27 October 1932 for a set engagement of 210 performances. When the lease on the Empire expired, the play was still drawing such huge crowds, it was moved to the Waldorf, where it ran a further 93 performances. Naturally, such a huge success was eagerly snapped up by Hollywood, but by the time the film appeared, interest in the play had lapsed to such an extent that RKO was unable to secure a New York showcase, despite the film's top-drawer cast of popular players. COMMENT: I've always thought J.B. Priestley an over-rated writer. Mind you, he was admired - adulated even - by press and public in his day. Early in his career, he hit upon the device of playing around with Time. Everyone praised this little stratagem as a masterstroke of genius. What do you think?In Dangerous Corner, the action hinges on a valve. One of those gadgets like an elongated electric light globe that formerly powered radios. When one of these valves "blew", it was necessary to replace it, or the wireless wouldn't work. So what Priestley presents is two stories. In the first, he tells what happened to our merry group of partying characters when the radio was silenced and they were forced to sit around and tell a few home truths to each other concerning their relationship and dealings with a former partner of their publishing firm who committed suicide. In the second version of the same story, a replacement valve is available, the radio sparks back into life and the actors are silenced. The party continues...I'm afraid that, despite this novelty, it's all rather dull stuff of the talky, talky, talky kind. Your turn, Melvyn. Now it's your turn, Virginia. And now it's your cue, Betty, for your big dramatic revelation of the evening. Ho-hum.Beyond two prologue scenes, the adapters have done nothing to open out the play. Worse, Poverty Row director Phil Rosen, here making his first of three pictures for RKO, has handled the wearisome proceedings in a thoroughly pedestrian manner.True, the players do try their hardest to overcome both the heaviness of their dialogue and the disinterest of their director. Doris Lloyd succeeds best. But then she has by far the most colorful role. Melvyn Douglas is charmingly gallant, while Virginia Bruce - despite odd make-up, presumably designed to make her look older - and Betty Furness furnish "soul".

It's a little surprising to see that "Dangerous Corner" was released in late 1934, because it has the kind of openness, honesty and cynicism about love and marriage (and crime) that is usually associated with pre-code movies. Then again, if the IMDb trivia is true, there were even more daring elements in the play (like homosexuality and drug addiction) that were taken out of the film (and it probably is true - after all, Gordon is the one character whose "secret" we never learn and Martin acts too bizarrely to be merely "drunk"). It all starts fairly lightheartedly, but it soon develops into something deeper, as it removes layer after layer of superficiality and deception and reveals everyone's hidden self. The ending twist is awesome - something like a 1930s "Run, Lola, Run"! An excellent example of "chamber cinema", with fine performances in every role. Many people will probably see themselves in this movie - and then prefer not to talk about that! ***1/2 out of 4.

Plot— elite members of a publishing house gather for a celebratory evening only to find out one of their staff has apparently committed suicide. In the emotional aftermath, a number of hidden truths emerge.There are elements of a mystery in the story, but overall, the film amounts to considerably more. The narrative appears fairly conventional until the upshot. Then the threads that have accumulated are exposed in an unexpected manner, and we're left with considerable food for thought. As a lesson in "sleeping dogs" the film succeeds brilliantly; as movie however, the narrative requires real patience. There's no action and darn few scene changes. Instead, the cast stands around in evening clothes and talks and talks-- it is, after all, a filmed stage play. At least a few interesting personal embarrassments get revealed as the story moves on, but how interesting you find the characters themselves is, I think, a matter of taste. Except for actor Keith's overdone Martin, the acting helps by being nicely accomplished.Anyway, as a dramatized lesson in social truths, the movie rates highly. As a form of sheer entertainment, however, the movie's average, at best. My advice is to exercise patience because the upshot does furnish timely food for thought.

This film is a breath of fresh air compared to other films released immediately after the production code went into effect. It manages to retain a realistic depiction of human behavior without actually breaking the code.The film has to do with five young people working at a publishing concern. They are apparently good friends on top of everything else. Ann (Virginia Bruce) is "burning the publishing business at both ends" and has a frustrated and long term suitor in the person of Charles (Melvyn Douglas). Two of the other members of the firm are married, the final member of the firm, Martin, is unseen except in flash-back and is single. One of the members of the firm (Conrad Nagel as Chatfield) has forgotten his anniversary, and the other guys help him out by arranging a party at the office for the couple. While everyone is celebrating a call comes in to cash a government bond that is being held in the office safe. Chatfield asks Charles to get the bond from the safe. Charles opens the safe and declares that the bond is missing. Everyone at the party denies knowing what happened to the money and all four men who worked in the office had keys to the safe. Only Martin is not at the office that day, and Charles drives out to talk with him about the matter the next morning. When Charles arrives at Martin's house he finds him dead from a gunshot wound, ruled a suicide by an inquest. Everyone thus assumes Martin stole the money.A year passes and the young people running the publishing concern along with their wives are having another party. A tube in the radio burns out and there is no spare. The conversation then turns to Martin and the events of the year before. Confession follows confession as a true picture of what really happened comes together and friendships and marriages are smashed. We're then told via title card that what we just saw is what could have happened. What really happened is that there actually was a spare tube for the radio and the festivities continued unabated by probing conversation.What is interesting is that all that is being admitted here is that the conversation never took place - that doesn't mean that the dirty dark secrets in the alternate chain of events weren't necessarily real, it just means whatever secrets there are pertaining to the events of the year before remain unspoken. The movie raises the interesting question - if knowing the absolute truth does no good and only serves to break everyone's spirit and faith in what they hold fast to in life, does it serve a purpose in having it known? It's an interesting question that is left as open as the resolution of this film. Highly recommended.