It's good to change pace with a really outstanding movie dated 1934. By this stage, of course, Hollywood had fully recovered from both early talkie doldrums and experimentation.
What we have in Hide-Out is polished perfection. The photography (mostly the work of Ray June) shimmers; the direction (Woody Van Dyke) contrives to be both polished yet inventive; the script manages an abrupt plot and mood U-turn with admirable skill; and the players - whether current stars (Robert Montgomery, Maureen O'Sullivan), upcoming favorites (Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Patterson, Edward Arnold); a moonlighting Broadway fixture (Whitford Kane in his first of only eight movies); cheeky blondes (Lucille Browne, Muriel Evans, Roberta Gale, Louise Henry, Jeanette Loff); or beloved character charismatics (Edward Brophy, Henry Armetta, Douglass Dumbrille, Herman Bing) - are never less than entrancing.
(I would rate the Warner Archive DVD as at least 9 out of 10).
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