Hands Across the Table **** (1935, Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy) – Classic Movie Review 6,757

Mitchell Leisen’s delightful hit 1935 romantic comedy film Hands Across the Table stars Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, who fizzle like firecrackers.

Director Mitchell Leisen’s delightful hit 1935 romantic comedy film Hands Across the Table stars Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, who fizzle like firecrackers. The film’s success was a big boost for their careers and that of talented Leisen, and led to three more films from the star couple.

The hands of the title belong to gold-digging fortune hunter Regi Allen (Lombard), who works as a hotel manicurist, and her customer, the bankrupt playboy Theodore Drew III (MacMurray), both out to marry money. This bubbly, exceptionally funny screwball romance is wittily written by the team of Norman Krasna, Vincent Lawrence and Herbert Fields, based on a story by Viña Delmar, and directed with polish by director Leisen.

Lombard and MacMurray form a hit team with crackling chemistry, both highly amusing. Ralph Bellamy and Astrid Allwyn put a lot of effort into the thankless roles of Allen Macklyn (a wealthy ex-pilot in a wheelchair) and Vivian Snowden (heiress to a pineapple fortune), the respective partners the couple have to decide to stay with or toss aside.

Also in the cast are Ruth Donnelly, Edward Gargan, Marie Prévost, William Demarest, Marcelle Corday, Bess Flowers, Murray Alper and Albert Conti.

Hands Across the Table is directed by Mitchell Leisen, runs 80 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Norman Krasna, Vincent Lawrence and Herbert Fields, based on a story by Viña Delmar, is shot in black and white by Ted Tetzlaff, is produced by E Lloyd Sheldon, and scored by Friedrich Hollaender, John Leipold and Heinz Roemheld.

It premiered in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 17, 1935 and was released on October 18, 1935 (US),

Although Lombard had originally sought Cary Grant, who was unavailable, she liked MacMurray immensely, going to parties at his house, and vice versa. They translated their relationship onto the screen under Leisen’s careful and sympathetic direction. MacMurray was a rather stiff actor who initially found it difficult to be humorous or sexy enough but Lombard and Leisen changed all that.

Lombard and MacMurray made three more films together: The Princess Comes Across (1936), Swing High, Swing Low (1937) (also directed by Mitchell Leisen), and True Confession (1937).

The cast

The cast are Carole Lombard as Regi Allen, Fred MacMurray as Theodore ‘Ted’ Drew III, Ralph Bellamy as Allen Macklyn, Astrid Allwyn as Vivian Snowden, Ruth Donnelly as Laura, Marie Prevost as Nona, William Demarest as Natty, Edward Gargan, Marie Prévost, Marcelle Corday, Bess Flowers, Murray Alper and Albert Conti.

The films of Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard’s 40 sound feature films

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,757

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