Manpower (1941)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Lack of good storyline.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

. . . upon American Women, as the always prophetic Warner Bros. warn We Americans of (The Then) Far Future of the sort of HANDMAID'S TALE-like backlash doubtless in store for the female half of the U.S. Populace IF distaff dictators push their witch hunt PURGE of Real Life leaders such as Al, Roy, Charlie, Dustin, Richard, Woody, and Garrison any further. Everyone knows that women lived on a Real Life pedestal in the Early 1900s, when MANPOWER was made. Yet this flick begins with "Hank McHenry" manhandling his "taxi dancer," and the entire male cast is frequently shown "goosing" hospital nurses before "Johnnie Marshall" punches "Fay Duval" so hard in her face that she collapses in a heap! Though MANPOWER's contemporary audiences must have been stunned and totally perplexed by these then unheard-of events, Warner was primarily addressing the Ladies of Today's 2018 America. Warner advises these Modern Chicks that there's a Time and a Place for everything, and U.S. Men have NO intention of fading away quietly into the night (like the dudes who've gone AWOL on WONDER WOMAN's home island). Sociologists estimate that 80% of U.S. Men have copped some sort of feel during the past 10, 25, or 40 years (not to mention 96% of Women, when predator roles are reversed). None of these past hijinks will appear seemly under the glare of Today's Women-dominated media, Warner senses in MANPOWER. If the chick flick folks insist upon purging ALL of these guys, the resulting vacuum of Good Guys will invite a wave of New Founding Fathers whose rules will make Allred's life seem like a pleasant picnic by way of comparison, MANPOWER forecasts.

Manpower (1941) *** (out of 4) Power company workers Hank (Edward G. Robinson) and Johnny (George Raft) end up falling in love with the same woman (Marlene Dietrich) who not only tears their friendship apart but also threatens a lot more. This Warner B-picture shares a lot in common with TIGER SHARK as well as its remake SLIM so those familiar with either of those films won't find anything too original here but to be honest even if you're not familiar with either of them, you'll probably still find this not too original. With that said, the cast is so good that you really can't blame the film for its short comings and instead you will get caught up in the drama and find yourself having a pretty good time. As with many Walsh pictures, this one here takes the simple story and the director pumps it up with all sorts of loud action including various storms with the men trying to work on power lines and of course one thing after another goes wrong. We also get countless scenes with Robinson and Raft in bars, drinking, smoking and just acting tough like not too many can. Fans of the two stars will certainly want to check this film out even though neither men give one of their greatest performances. Robinson manages to come off very tough but also can handle the softer moments with Dietrich as she begins to rip his heart up. Raft has always been fun even when playing the sidekick and that's true here. Apparently he and Robinson had a few angry moments with each other while filming this and you can tell in a few scenes. Dietrich is pretty good but the screenplay really doesn't do her any favors. Both Robinson and Raft at least had well written characters but the same can't be said for Dietrich. Alan Hale and Frank McHugh add nice support. The screenplay follows all the clichés you'd expect it to and this of course leads up to a very silly ending that really doesn't work too well. With that said, as silly as the film is it's still fun for the cast.

This is film pretty much has soap opera written all over it. The love triangle between Robinson, Raft and Dietrich has been in every soap from "Guiding Light" to "General Hospital". Robinson really has a good turn as the soft hearted and naive Hank and Raft is great as the sensible Johnny, who tries to show Hank that his marriage to Kay isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Dietrich also puts in a fine performance as Kay. Frank McHugh is his usual wonderful self adding the comic relief to this soap. However, the ending is pretty standard at the end when Johnny and Kay walk off together pretty much to console each other and to start life anew.Also, look for an early performance by Eve Arden. She plays one of the b-girls in the club in the latter scenes of the film.

A movie directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich and George Raft. Robinson and Raft play electricans who work on power lines and Dietrich plays the daughter of an old electrician who just got out of jail. Raft doesn't think much of Dietrich but Robinson falls for her pretty fast and wants to marry her. Raft tries to talk him out of it and he won't listen. Dietrich doesn't love Robinson but he talks her into it. She quits her job at the nightclub and moves in with Robinson. This is probably the only movie which has guys working on power lines and this movie also stars Ward Bond and Alan Hale as fellow electricians.Robinson and Dietrich do a pretty good job and Raft was never a very good actor but he is OK here.