ABSOLUTE QUIET (1936)

An odd duck of a movie. Lionel Atwill is a big-shot money man under lots of pressure from all sides; his doctor suggests that he get away for some peace and quiet, so he arranges to spend a week at his isolated ranch. But, of course, things wind up not so peaceful or quiet. A plane attempts to make an emergency landing near Atwill's ranch. On board are a starlet (Ann Loring) on her way to Hollywood for a screen test that had been set up by Atwill (her ex-sugar daddy, I assumed), a fading actor (Louis Hayward) traveling with Loring, a reporter (Stuart Irwin), and the governor (Raymond Walburn), Atwill's nemesis. Before Atwill can get his private airstrip lit up for the landing, a pair of escaped criminals (Wallace Ford and Bernadene Hayes) arrive, looking for a car. They force Atwill to leave the airstrip dark; the plane crash lands, killing the pilots; Walburn shoves Loring aside in a cowardly fashion to escape injury, and Hayward suffers major facial damage that he assumes will kill his career. The rest of the film plays out a bit like KEY LARGO as the motley group of good guys and bad guys interact. There is too much going on for a short B-film with limited writing and directing talent behind it. Atwill is good, remaining an ambigious figure throughout: sometimes likeable, sometimes reprehensible. Irene Hervey, who has accompanied Atwill to the ranch, seems to be a mistress figure (her husband is on his way to the ranch in another plane, piloted by a drunkard!), but she comes off more like Atwill's niece. Ford and Hayes are the most interesting characters; it turns out they're ex-vaudevillians who've become Bonnie & Clyde-type murderers. All this makes the movie sound more interesting than it really is. [TCM]