holly Ignore the haters that didn't appreciate this unpolished gem from the gold digger era. It's Cagney in a romantic comedy as a low-grade con man, against a mother-daughter team in matching outfits looking to bag a rich husband. When his scams profit, mother Ruth Donnelly thinks he's a perfect mate for daughter Mary Brian, but when his fortunes turn as they often do, the ladies switch polarity. Donnelly never misses an opportunity to kick him while he's down, meanwhile Brian's passion for underdogs cools when he's in the black. If you're looking for Cagney as a toughguy gangster this isn't it, although the film takes some timely, self-aware potshots at Cagney's image including grapefruit jokes. Here his schemes are mostly harmless like rigging a dance contest, and he's as likely to be scammed as he is to make a big score. I can see how his fans might be disappointed, but Cagney was also a song-and-dance man and a self-depricating comedian. Gold digger comedies, like crime-genre and noir, are filled with amoral characters and backstabbing frenemies but played for laughs. It's easy to forgive shady motives when the leads are wholesome Dick Powell and sunny Priscilla Lane. James Cagney on the otherhand has electricity and an edge that plays for darker characters. Here he's forced to rely on charm and guile - you may be waiting for him to bust up the joint and rub out his enemies, but gold digger heroes are lovers not fighters. This isn't his best fit, but "date movie" Cagney is the nicer guy who doesn't smash citrus in women's faces.Ruth Donnelly anchors the meandering plot as the most gold digger-y character in a gold digger comedy. What kills the film is the casting of elegant Mary Brian who mostly stands around looking pretty. Her "inverse barometer" reactions to Cagney's ups and downs would have played better with a more sexual screen presence. She represents the female sexual urge, while mother Donnelly represents the brain, conflicted over bad-boy Cagney's tumultuous circumstances. They dress alike because they metaphorically are one woman, but also because it's funny hanging a lampshade on their mother-daughter bear trap. The clever subtext is that Cagney can't win the girl until he figures out how to appeal to both women's sensibilities at the same time.

classicsoncall Thanks to "Hard To Handle", I now know that the grapefruit diet dates back at least seventy five years! It's always cool to catch a movie that delivers in an unexpected way, and here, Jimmy Cagney is at his best as a fast talking con man, er..., entrepreneur as it were, capitalizing on every opportunity to turn a profit from the expectations of a gullible public. Funny, but it never seemed like he was trying to make a bundle, it just kind of worked out that way. What makes the picture so delightful is the equally versatile Ruth Donnelly, portraying Lefty Merrill's (Cagney) future, whenever we get around to it, mother-in-law. Lil Walters is one track minded to a fault; she'll marry off her daughter Ruth (Mary Brian) to the highest bidder at the drop of a dollar bill. She also has some of the film's snappiest dialog, and it's a toss up as to who's quicker on their feet, Ma Walters or Lefty. As a result, Lefty's girlfriend is almost left in the dust in most of her scenes, she just can't keep up the frenetic pace set by Cagney and Donnelly.Say now, is it really possible that those Depression era dance marathons went as long as eight weeks or more?!!! That's how the picture opens while introducing the entire cast of principal characters. I thought it was a neat touch that the occasion had it's own marathon foot specialist. Kind of makes sense doesn't it?Throughout the story, Cagney's character comes up with scheme after scheme, making lemonade out of every lemon thrown his way. The entire film is a hoot, the only problem being it's not commercially available, so you'll have to be lucky to catch it on a cable channel or source it through a private collector. It's worth it though to catch an early Cagney flick, even if you have to rewind the picture a number of times to understand all the dialog. Cagney's lines are so quick you can't catch them all the first time around!

alanthebrown This film holds up really well and can still raise a laugh.The mother is hilarious as she sways to and from Cagney as a prospective husband for her daughter according to his financial position at the time. The film breezes along with some predictability but the sparkling script and entertaining cast more than compensate. A great pity that the film is unavailable but I recorded it on Channel 4 in the UK some years ago and was pleased that I have now finally got round to watching it! Set during the Depression era, the opening marathon dance scenes sequences capture the desperation of the poverty-stricken at that time who would do almost anything to get ahead.The power of advertising and the gullibility of the public are admirably portrayed with a tongue-in-cheek humour that constantly appearing throughout the film. I laughed out loud several times which has not always been the case when I have been watching so-called comedies of recent times!

MartinHafer This movie was never intended as a film that would change the world. No, instead it was like a lot of Warner Brother films--a formula piece with modest pretensions starring one of their "old reliable" actors. And, in this light, this is a very likable film--so good, I almost gave it a score of 8. The acting is very good and the direction provides a fast pace that holds your attention even though the plot itself is so very simple. As a result, the audiences got exactly what they paid for and left very happy.Jimmy plays an idea man--sort of like a freelance promoter. While the summary on IMDb says he was a "con man" this is not the case--his ideas were honest at heart--he just knew how to bend the truth a little to sell an idea! When the film starts, there is a dance marathon occurring that Cagney has organized. It's a great success and Cagney's girl (Mary Brian) is about to win. However, Cagney's unscrupulous partner absconds with the money and he is nearly torn apart by the audience. Throughout the film, Cagney comes up with idea after idea and sells them to companies that manufacture face cream or sell land. The only idea that fails is a promotion to encourage the public to frequent an oceanside pier--you'll need to see how it backfires yourself! Throughout all these ups and downs and schemes, Mary's mother, played by Ruth Donnelly, is a real schemer herself. Her number one goal is getting her daughter married to the richest man possible--regardless of what they guy is like. When Cagney is down, she hates him and won't let Mary give him the time of day and when he is rich and successful, he's her "favorite future son-in-law". This is funny for a while, but she was so transparent and one-dimensional (and obvious "funny" character by design), that I soon found her to be the weakest character in the film--becoming a bit too predictable and monotonous.But, whatever this character lacks or any other character for that matter, Cagney's intense energy more than makes up for it. And while the energetic and manic Cagney is all wrong for many films, it is perfect for this one (as well as movies like ONE, TWO, THREE). He single-handedly carries the film and is just a lot of fun to like. I really think his character works because while "full of blarney", he IS basically decent and honest! If he had been full of larceny, then his character would have been difficult, if not impossible to like--like Spencer Tracy was in The Show-Off (1934). And, in this case it was very easy to like him and want him to succeed.