Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Tuesday, Sept. 17 - Rhythm in the Clouds & The Chaser

Rhythm in the Clouds (1937)

Patricia Ellis stars as struggling songwriter Judy Walker. Thrown out of her cheap apartment, she wrangles a much nicer place using a letter she received from Phil Hale, a much more successful songwriter, the letterhead on his stationery, and a bottle of "ink eraser." Basically, she moves into his place while he is out of town.

The new apartment is awfully nice—an excellent place to work on her songs. There is, unfortunately, a loud neighbor next door; Judy and the neighbor quickly start a noisy war of banging on each other's walls. For the most part, however, Judy is set. She lounges on the couch drinking champagne, sharing high-toned conversation with her imaginary guests: "Mr. Gershwin, take it easy. Of course I'll help you write your new rhapsody….Mr. Berlin! Irving! Do tell the boys how many copies of our last number we sold....Now, Bob McKay—Let me see those lyrics of yours…." We assume that "Bob McKay" is another well-known songwriter; soon enough we learn that…

The guy next door with whom Judy has been fighting through the wall is indeed popular lyricist Bob McKay—a big star and an enthusiastic feuding partner. Naturally, it takes Judy and Bob a good chunk of the picture to discover each other's identities. Then Phil Hale returns.

The Chaser (1938)

An ambulance chaser, unethical and disliked by many, attorney Thomas Z. Brandon chases cases in the street, offering to represent clients on trumped-up charges.

A street-car company's owner, Calhoun, resents this practice and hires Dorothy Mason to go undercover to gain evidence against the attorney, pretending to be an accident victim. She sees how a doctor, Prescott, manipulates a client into memorizing certain false information to use in court.

Dorothy learns that Thomas has a good explanation why he's doing this and that Calhoun is actually unscrupulous himself. She perjures herself in court, and Thomas spurns her after learning of her deceit, but ultimately they fall in love and Thomas promises to act more ethically from now on.

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