...well, this is an interesting film for Ginger, in that of course she got to star with her soon to be hubby, Lew Ayres... so of some 'historical' value to Gingerologists...
...this is actually where they met, for better or worse...
...as for the film itself, it's a neat little low budget deal like most of the early 30's films were, clocking in at just over an hour (62 minutes, which is just under the shortest 'full-length' GingerFilm, Broadway Bad, which clocks in at 61 minutes...) - the plot is very predictable, as dude goes out and gets the 'knack' for winning at the horses, makes a heap, and then proceeds to lose it... kinda like M.C. Hammer, but without the horses...
...this is one of the first HueyReviews which went 'off the grid' a bit, and employed a 'parallel plot'... it was pretty fun to write all of it up... it's on this site, under the 'pages' tabs just under the header.
I also took GOBS of ScreenCaps, as the copy I have is fair-to-middlin'... most of the Gingerfilms prior to this one had poor quality, and/or Ginger just wasn't in them that much... so a good film in that respect.
Ginger really begins to show glimpses of what will become her 'signature moves'... and her role, while quite 'nice girl', had a few perky spots here and there... but the film as a whole... eh, just not extremely well done... folks did as well as they could, I guess, but quite a few of the lines were 'rigid'... probably just cranked this one out ASAP to move on to the next one... quite a bit before 100+ takes for a dance routine!
I have a lamp more or less like the one there by Ginger... and of course, she is really cute in that 'nail salon babe' getup...
Well, the story ends well (hopefully not a spoiler, but you'll see the ending about 20 minutes into the film), and almost seems to land on its feet... but the final analysis is this was one of Ginger's "B&B" pics from '33, and not all that much more... but as always, a MUST view for a Gingerologist, if only to see the 'interface' with Ayres.
Until the next time...
KIG, y'all!
Hu
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Short mention this time. During her movie career, Ginger played lots of different characters. More often than not those characters were friendly, charming, moral ladies whom one would love to have as a personal friend or relative. Somehow, Ginger amazingly was able to find ways to make each one of these characters her own unique individual. Seldom do you look at a Ginger character and think, "Hey, I'm watching Ginger Rogers." No, you think, "There's Kitty Foyle," or "Honey Hale," or "Jo Jones," or "Jean Maitland." Certainly it is a vital mark for a distinguished actor to be able to create characterizations so effectively! But for "Don't Bet on Love,".... We can see that Ginger and Lew "...had it bad for each other" ("Ginger: My Story," p. 122), and surely Ginger's sweet head was swimming clear through this four-week shoot. I wonder just how much acting she was really doing and how much of what we see here is the REAL Ginger Rogers? Level headed, loyal, loving, values-oriented, determined.... Characteristics of both the character Molly Gilbert and the real Ginger Rogers. Are we seeing the honest-to-goodness Ginger here? I'd like to think so. Ginger's not in this movie much (If looking only at the Ginger scenes, you can zip through it in no more than 20 minutes or so.), but what there is, is delightful. Filmed shortly before the ground-breaking "Flying Down to Rio" with Fred, this film makes us wonder if Ginger and Lew may have been teamed again, if only her career hadn't suddenly zoomed past his in this particular year.
ReplyDeletegreat thoughts, BA! I truly think Ginger was on a finer line than usual regarding her true feelings for her leading man... the only other place we get to see that is in "Twist of Fate / Beautiful Stranger" with Berg... I have viewed that one MAYBE twice, so more review is needed...but it seemed she was pretty 'glowing' in that one as well!
ReplyDeleteKIG, BA!
Hu
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