A Man of Sentiment

 "A Man of Sentiment" 1933 directed by Richard Thorpe, written by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan and Robert Ellis. Chesterfield Pictures.

Marian Marsh, Owen Moore, Christian Rub, William Bakewell, Emma Dunn, Edmund Breese, Geneva Mitchell, Pat O'Malley, Lucille Ward, Mildred Washington, Otto Hoffman, William Bailey.

As Dorothy Parker said, "This wasn't just plain terrible...This was terrible with raisins in it." The first ten minutes we see a hospital room with men who receive emergency patients and Herman, played by Christian Rub, is the nice and idealistic baring one. There is a lot of talk about coffee and limburger cheese then in comes Marian Marsh who was run over in the rain by William Bakewell. Oddly enough, she appears to have no wounds even though she was initially unconscious when she was brought in. Of course, she and Bakewell fall in love. She is a pianist, but we never hear her play, and he comes from a wealthy family who don't accept her. Owen Moore has few scenes as the older man who wants to keep her financially and help her career all without marriage.

The script is banal and trite, and everyone seems to use double-negatives and there are stereotypes discussed with Irish, Swedes, and Norwegians being compared. Therefore, it was nice to see a very attractive African American housekeeper played by Mildred Washington in a couple of scenes. She even had a couple of lines, and she showed a bit of sassiness. But what puzzles me is why Marian Marsh, who was big in pre-Code films at this time, be in a Chesterfield film? She is good, but not at her best, and Bakewell is easy on the eyes, but nothing more than that. Owen Moore is fine while Christian Rub is annoying. He defends any talk against Marsh saying she is "such a nice girl" and he is idealistic stating all will be well once they are married. We never see his home life but it is mentioned that he is a father, but he is obsessed with Marsh and Bakewell. "This was terrible with raisins in it."