THE GIRL FROM 10TH AVENUE (1935)

At a high society wedding in New York City, Valentine is marrying John as Geoff (Ian Hunter), the man she broke up with, watches drunkenly from the sidewalk in front of the church. He creates a small scene and just as the police are called, working girl Miriam (Bette Davis) recognizes him and spirits him away to a café. His buddies Hugh and Tony find him and offer Miriam $100 to keep an eye on him for a while. Even though she’s about to be laid off at her sewing job, she is offended by the cash offer, but she does agree to watch over him. The next morning, he wakes up in her apartment to discover that the two of them, both drunk, got married at 3 a.m. the night before. She's willing to give him his freedom but he decides to stay with her and lay low until he gets back on his feet, socially speaking. Of course, soon Miriam truly falls in love with him, but when Valentine's marriage to John heads south in a hurry, she comes running back to Geoff, and the despondent John begins hanging out with Miriam. Complications ensue on the way to a happy ending. This is a cute romantic comedy very much in line with other mismatched-couple comedies of the era, but Davis is wasted in a fairly wishy-washy role—this is another movie like HOUSEWIFE and THE GOLDEN ARROW made before Davis won her first Oscar and Warners was putting her in anything. I very much liked British actor Ian Hunter, who isn't really cut from leading man cloth but who turns in a fine performance here, though the chemistry between the leads is only so-so. Colin Clive and Katherine Alexander are adequate as the other couple; more fun are Phillip Reed and John Eldredge as Geoff's friends, and Alison Skipworth as Miriam's landlady. A generally frothy comedy, undercut a bit by a rushed ending. Davis and Hunter are pictured above. [DVD]