It starts in Willow Junction, a fictional Indiana town, where a naive young man (Eric Linden) says goodbye to his dog at the train station. He's heading to New York City with money bequeathed to him by an aunt. The agent (Grant Mitchell) thinks he'll be back inside of a month and wagers a bet on it with an onlooker. Of course, we know that it wouldn't be a precode drama if big adventures and disaster did not await Mr. Linden in the Big Apple, so chances are he'll be back...only it doesn't take a month. More like a weekend, since he returns just three days later!
During those eventful three days in the city, he doesn't actually get the blues because there isn't enough time. He's too busy meeting up with a slick talking cousin (Walter Catlett) who quickly introduces him to some showgirls. Yeah, these gals are a far cry from the wholesome chicks back in the midwest.
Fortunately for Linden, one of the women (Joan Blondell) is not a wild partier. She's learned to do what she's had to in order to survive metropolitan life, but there is a softness about her that he finds attractive. A get-together takes place later inside Linden's hotel room, which the cousin arranges and to which is invited a motley assortment of urban types. Blondell comes to the party, and when the group goes off to another suite for awhile, they remain behind and get to know one another. She admits she is from a small town in upstate New York.
The rest of the group comes back, and trouble follows. This bunch includes a bootlegger (an uncredited Humphrey Bogart, already stereotyped by Warners); some drunken chorus girls; and another man (Lyle Talbot) who doesn't like Bogey putting the moves on his girl. Incidentally, Lyle Talbot is the most handsome actor in this film, more handsome than Eric Linden. One has to wonder why the studio didn't capitalize on Talbot's good looks and turn him into their very own Cary Grant.
Soon Talbot and Bogart engage in a brawl, the lights go out and the girl in question is killed when a broken bottle cuts her skull. Everyone scrams, leaving Linden to deal with the death on his own since this is his room. Blondell tries to whisk him away when a detective (Guy Kibbee), whom they met earlier, turns up.
The middle portion of the film has Linden on his own, wandering around the big city trying to make sense of recent events. He stops into a club and meets a wealthy older woman (the always superb Jobyna Howland). It is implied that she is on the prowl for a younger man and indulges gigolos.
She can see that Linden is upset about something. When he overhears patrons discussing a newspaper headline and realizes the police are still looking for him, he skips out. Soon he reconnects with Blondell, and they go gambling to get their mind off their worries. But the law will probably catch up to them.
He loses all his money at a high stakes gaming table. When he accidentally drops his hotel key, someone picks it up and knows he is the man the police are looking for...so he is apprehended and taken in, with Blondell in tow.
However, he is not arrested because the hotel detective has found Talbot in a closet, having hanged himself. The detective has also found proof in Talbot's possession- the top half of the broken bottle that killed the party girl- which clears Linden. Since Linden has run out of money, he must return to his family in Indiana but at least he is a free man.
There is a poignant scene where Blondell sees Linden off before he hops the train to the midwest. They will stay in touch and it is left open-ended that they may end up marrying someday. The last segment of the film has him returning to the station in Willow Junction, a good way to bookend the story, where he is reunited with his dog. The agent collects on the bet he won.
0 out of 1 found this helpful