Michael_Elliott I've Got Your Number (1934)*** (out of 4) Extremely entertaining gem from Warner about phone repairman Terry Riley (Pat O'Brien) who falls for a beautiful blonde (Joan Blondell) but soon gets caught up in a robbery. I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER turns into a crime picture for the final fifteen-minutes but the rest of the running time is basically a romantic comedy and it's a very good one at that. I think it's pretty clear that the egotistical maniac, fast talking lead character was meant to be played by James Cagney but for whatever reason he didn't do the part so O'Brien stepped in. It seems whenever the Cagney-O'Brien team couldn't do a picture, the studio gave the lead to O'Brien and then they'd bring in either Allen Jenkins (as they did here) or Frank McHugh. O'Brien and Jenkins makes for a very good pair as the two work well off one another and make for a highly entertaining and very fast little picture. The two of them can mix it up extremely well and Jenkins certainly manages to bring a lot of laughs. Blondell is also very good in her role as she's certainly easy on the eye but she also manages to make you believe her in the part. Glenda Farrell has a brief but very funny part as a fake psychic and we also get a good supporting performance by the always entertaining Eugene Palette. There are countless highlights to this film but I think the greatest thing are the various pre-code elements with most of them dealing with sex. O'Brien's character, in today's world, would be called a stalker or sexual harasser because of the way he talks to women, pretty much follows them and forces them to go out with him. It's certainly played for jokes here and it gets plenty of laughs especially one scene early on where two sexually charged women invite him into the house and all sorts of innuendo is thrown around. These pre-code sex jokes are without question hilarious and help keep this film moving at a great pace.

MartinHafer While I must admit that I enjoyed watching "I've Got Your Number", I must also admit that the film had serious flaws. First off, Pat O'Brien's character was a real pig--a sexual harassing jerk. Second, the plot was a bit silly.This film begins with O'Brien working as a telephone repair man. He is good at his job but he's also a pig--and sexually harasses his clients repeatedly. With one woman, he slaps her on the behind. With another (Joan Blondell), he's a bit of a stalker--a guy who won't accept 'no' for an answer. Back in 1934, he might have been seen as a cute fellow--today he would have been arrested! And, true to the ridiculous attitudes of the day, he was the hero--a guy who really was NOT very heroic. To make it worse, after sexually harassing Bondell repeatedly, she responded by falling in love with the guy!!! Today, it's a seriously screwed up relationship to say the least.Overall, this is a film that IS enjoyable but also seriously flawed and stupid. Worth seeing if you love classic Hollywood--otherwise it might just seem trivial and silly.

boblipton This one looks like it was originally planned as another inexpensive vehicle for Cagney, like THE PICTURE SNATCHER (in which he played a photographer) or TAXI!: ordinary Joe roles that the men in the audience could identify with, and when Jimmy snaps into action, they can imagine themselves doing it. After all, what's he got that I don't? But he again threatened to walk, so they tried O'Brien out in the role. He's an Irish sort of actor too. Maybe the audience won't notice.Unfortunately, I noticed and it became something of a chore to make my way through this movie when the top-billed actor doesn't get much screen time. As often happens in lesser Warner Bs, it's the supporting players that kept me watching, particularly Eugene Palette. But you can skip this one.

nomoons11 Watching this, if you didn't know, you would think that a telephone repair man back in the day could do anything. That's what makes this film so laughable.A tops in his field telephone repair man goes throughout his workday solving telephone related problems. Along the way he tries his suave ways on the lady clients he meets. In the midst of all this he meets a girl who finally falls for his lame charms. She in turn gets unwittingly involved with a scumbag who uses her to rob her boss of some bonds. Then...telephone repair man to the rescue.Words can't describe how lame this film is. Pat O'Brian didn't have much range as an actor and it shows in this. There are so many laughable moments I can only mention a few cause it would ruin for anyone who wants to watch this lame time piece.First off, what telephone repair man has the skills to cut any kind of live electrical wires? One scene has a building burning and for some reason they need him to get to the top of a burning building and cut telephone wires. Who knows what purpose this serves but in the process he decides there are live electrical wires and he just takes some pliers/snips and cuts them. This is beyond ridiculous. Not gonna happen folks unless he intended to make himself a charcoal briquette in the process.. After this he jumps off the building and lands in a fireman's net to safety. With this act he's the king of the day. LOL..what a joke.The funniest of all is the end fight scene. It could very well be the worst fight scene in film history. To set up this fight I'll start off with..they kidnap the repair man and are dragging him back to their car to leave and the whole of the telephone repairmen from the company come to his rescue. Mind you, all these crooks trying to take him away are all armed. When the repairmen arrive and decide to try and save him, all these crooks just run at em like it was WWI. I mean, these guys have guns and they decide to fight? Gimme a break. The fighting in this is so funny it's worth watching just for that. It's so bad you'll spit up you soda and chips while watching it. I will say this was an early 30's film so they hadn't gotten the realistic look of fighting by then but if your a filmmaker and want to do a film with fighting, watch this and see what not to do.For me, this was a real joke of a film. Not even funny or believable at any point. Bad script, stupid premise and 65 minutes of my life I'll never get back.