Thunder in the City (1937)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Sick of gangster roles, Edward G. Robinson entered into a fight with Warners and left for the UK to make "Thunder in the City" in 1937.The story concerns Dan Armstrong, a slick marketing promoter who loses his job in the U.S. because the company he works for thinks his methods are old-fashioned and low-class. They suggest he go to England to learn how civilized people market and advertise.Once there, Dan gets right down to it, inflating the value of stock to beat out a businessman (Ralph Richardson) who wants to buy it from the original owners (Nigel Bruce and Constance Collier). The product being produced is called magnelite but don't ask me or anyone else what it does.Robinson is always great, and even though this is somewhat low- budget, it comes off okay thanks to the talent. This is an early film for Ralph Richardson who is excellent as a man in competition for the product and for the hand of Lady Patricia (Lulu Deste), whom Dan has fallen for.Enjoyable and feel-good. Sorry it didn't do better at the box office. Robinson was a great gangster, but he was delightful in this as well.

Advertising man Dan Armstrong (Edward G. Robinson) is fired because his ideas are seen as out-of-date and undignified by his bosses, who cite the English as having a respectable approach to business. He decides to go to England to visit relatives. While there he falls for pretty Lady Patricia (Luli Deste), who is considering marrying stuffy jerk Manningdale (Ralph Richardson) just for his money. Dan cooks up a scheme to help his financially struggling family as well as make himself enough money he could provide Patricia with more security than Manningdale.Pretty much any film with Eddie G. is worth watching and this is no exception. It's a fish-out-of-water story with the colorful American teaching and learning from the staid Brits. The funniest scene to me was when Robinson gets lost in the family manor. It's all genial enough and the cast is certainly a quality one. Robinson is great. Richardson is always good. Nigel Bruce and Constance Collier are fun. Interesting look at British/American relations and attitudes at the time.

The story behind this film is more interesting than the film itself. Edward G. Robinson was tiring of the constant gangster films that Warner Brothers was giving him, so off he went to England to make a different kind of film. This was the result. And it shows! Robinson is clearly having a great time in this film...and not a gangster to be seen. Unfortunately, the film was relatively unsuccessful at the box office, so it didn't do much to dissuade WB from plopping him back down into primarily gangster-related films. But if there is one reason to watch this film, it's to see Robinson enjoying himself so much here.As to the plot...well, it had potential. An over-the-top product promoter isn't appreciated by his American bosses, so he quits and goes to England to visit his distant relations...and gets caught up promoting a new metal which will revolutionize life...only to be outfoxed by a British entrepreneur. The script seems a bit shaky, as I often find in old films...but usually those made in the early 1930s. Additionally, I'm generally not a fan of British movies from the earlier days of the cinema...and this is no exception.Most of the cast doesn't mean much to Americans, but you will enjoy seeing Nigel Bruce in his typical buffoonery. And Ralph Richardson (with a rather young receding hairline) is here as the British entrepreneur that does the outfoxing.I doubt this one will find much favor among viewers unless they are die-hard Robinson fans (I'm a fan, but not a die-hard). But, judge for yourself.

Nigel Bruce, Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes in the 1939 "Hound of the Baskervilles" and of the 1940s Holmes movies, was usually cast as a befuddled and kindly Englishman. The actual second son of a baronet, in this 1937 movie he portrays the English Duke who owns an African mine of useless metal no one knows anything about. Edward G. Robinson plays a brash American who gets involved in promoting the mineral. Ralph Richardson, later knighted by the Queen for theatrical excellence, makes an early film appearance. He later played Dr. Watson on British radio with Sir John Geilgud as Holmes. Arthur Wontner made 5 British Sherlock Holmes movies in the early to mid 1930s. Here he makes small but effective appearances as the English cousin of Robinson's returning American, the father of adult children and the owner of an enormous estate that Robinson gets lost in. This is not an exciting, complex movie, but serves a purpose in filmdom for bringing together Bruce, Richardson and Wonter in one story. I plan on winning some bets with other Sherlockians with this information. P.S. I liked the movie itself, it had all the content of an episode of "Friends".