THE HOT HEIRESS (1931)

An odd little pre-Code romantic comedy that keeps threatening to turn into a musical. It certainly opens like a musical, albeit in an unusual setting: on skyscraper girders several stories up in the air, we see a couple of riveters (Ben Lyon and Tom Dugan) at work who lament their lack of romance by breaking out into song ("Nobody Loves a Riveter But His Mother"). In the middle of handling the red-hot rivets, Lyon gets distracted when he looks through a window of the building next to them and sees a half-undressed heiress (Ona Munson) lolling about in bed. A stray rivet winds up causing a small fire in her bedroom, so Lyon throws a plank over to her window and saves her. Despite their very different social worlds, the two begin dating, but problems arise when Munson tells her friends and folks that Lyon is an architect, without telling Lyon. When the truth comes out at a fancy house party, Lyon leaves her, but thanks to Munson's determination, she wins him back by the end. Aside from the opening, the other high point here is the song, "Like Ordinary People Do," which includes a cute special effects shot of Lyon and Munson singing from inside a painting. Lyon, best known as the aviator in Howard Hughes' HELL'S ANGELS, is looser and more carefree than I've ever seen him; Munson looks the part but is a bit stiff; Walter Pidgeon plays her mean-spirited fiance; Inez Courtney is good as Dugan's romantic interest. My partner noted that this seemed like the kind of movie that Don Lockwood and Kathy Selden might have starred in after "Singin' in the Rain." [TCM]