GOLDIE GETS ALONG (1933)


This little  film was a programmer like so many of the  sixty minute pictures made  yet if  you watch many of them you can  find moments of fun.   GOLDIE GETS ALONG (1933) stands out for the curious fact that its stars the one and only Lili Damita or  as  we  mostly know here  as  Mrs  Errol Flynn.    There are moments  of  genuine film making  supplied by Director Malcolm St Clair and a solid supporting cast.

The  story is one that had been done before in different variations of the  the young girl usually in a  strict family or small town who wants to go to the big city of  Hollywood. There is usually an act of  defiance by the  young  girl wanting the dream like staying out late or  forsaking duties. In this  film  Goldie stays out late to the  wrath of her family when after  a fight she finds out her mother  was a  ‘common” woman.  That is   last  straw and  Goldie leaves for Hollywood leaving her  boyfriend Bill Tobin very ably played  by Charles Morton.        Tobin  shows  Goldie a house that he  has bought where they can live and of course have  kids.  Goldie insists  that she  go to Hollywood with him even  more because  Tobin has a  college buddy who is  a big Director there.  He refuses  even forbids Goldie from going which of course results in the opposite happening.

The  difference  now is  that Goldie has  no money so she basically hitch rides her was to various adventures  even enters beauty contests along the route  each  giving a  cash prize or a  trip to Hollywood.

Goldie delivers  some  sassy dialogue to Sam Muldoon (Sam hardy)  who promises her the moon and beyond to   “go places with him’ Goldie  steals  the  car again only to find it is actually the  mayors  car.   The   two end  up in a  small town  jail escorted  by policeman Motorcycle Office Cassidy (Nat Pendlton).   Great  dialogue between Goldie  and  Cassidy later when  she asked   Do you really think I  could steal a car”  and he replies  I think you could steal a locomotive.”   Lots  of  nefarious goings on in beauty contests  as  Goldie is pursued  by Bill Tobin to bring her back make up the rest of  the film.

So why is  GOLDIE  GET ALONG  ( 1933)  so interesting?  One aspect is  the performance of Lili Damita as Goldie which is  spot on i f not  cliche not cliche now due to her  accent.  Damita has a  devastatingly bright  happy smile with wonderful  dark eyes which  play to the camera  quite well   almost  reminiscent of Jean Harlow. Her  accent  apparently is  what  doomed her career  as it  became  a novelty in early sound days  in Hollywood along with another female  Fifi de Orsay . The similarity   between  Damita and De Orsay was that Damita’s  accent was  real not a studio manufacture although De Orsey’s Parisian ancestry was a  creation.   De Orsey was  born Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier  in Montreal Quebec Canada  who went onto a long career while  Damita became more  known for who she was married to then what she did.

GOLDIE GETS ALONG (1933) features some  fun if not  routine situations for the time. Good cast which makes some vicious comment on the morals  of Hollywood  and  how a wholesome person should not go there.

It features people some of which had longer careers  such as  Nat Pendelton who went onto play muscle bound types  with hearts of gold or  gangsters.

 

Charles Morton who I always thought looked like a  “Ralph Bellamy” type had a career  cut short by sound which amazes me  as he  delivered  dialogue well .   Lili Damita was not  given a  far shake as  so many did and  became  a mother  to Sean Flynn who would disappear in Cambodia during the war.

Lili Damita is  the star of this one  even for a moment or  at least sixty plus minutes which  would  not be much like that again.  See  her smile  and those  eyes if you can

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