My Woman (1933) User Reviews (9)

A precode film with no real precode elements

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 2 January 2010]

Columbia made quite a few precodes that survive - some quite good such as "Child of Manhattan" and some seemingly pointless such as this one. Helen Twelvetrees plays Connie, a singer in a Panama café married to a self-described actor Chic Rollins (Wallace Ford). Connie works tirelessly to get into the good graces of a radio executive that comes into the café, to get herself and Chic to New York, to get an audition for Chic, and then to prepare his comic material for him so that when he gets his big break he is ready. Implausably, people seem to love this guy's routine, and Chic finds himself a star. Chic was lazy and shiftless in Panama as a nobody, and he's equally lazy and shiftless in New York as a star, but he is just as good at soaking up attention as he was at soaking up his wife's hard-earned money before his big break. Thus, one can truly say fame has not changed Chic Rollins. Thus when socialite Muriel Bennett (Claire Dodd) decides to have some fun pulling Chic's chains and making him think he is more important and talented than he is, he takes her seriously and soon his job and his marriage are on the skids.

Still, he doesn't repent, and probably won't until the socialite gets bored with him and cuts him loose, which is something we never get to see. Then without Connie he'd have no material, and without Muriel he'd have nobody to massage his ego. It's a shame we don't get to see any of this happen. However, you do get to see Connie's happy ending. She winds up with the guy we liked the best from the start, the radio executive that first got interested in her when he thought she was single, but when he found out she was married, gave her husband a break because he genuinely liked her and wanted her to be happy.

As you can tell from my description, the plot is strictly paint by numbers. However, there are a few funny scenes, primarily at the radio station. There are a series of "yes" men Connie has to go through to get to the radio executive she met in Panama, each one going to the next for an answer and none willing to take responsibility for anything. The other funny bit has to do with some radio auditions including a stuttering Walter Brennan doing bird calls and another guy who is trying to do something dramatic but gets confused by the cues he's given and ends up shouting.

A woman must choose between a crappy husband or a rich and successful lover.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 11 March 2010]

Helen Twelvetrees wasn't a terrible actress, but in this film she seems out of place. Her hair has been dyed platinum blonde and is highly reminiscent of Harpo Marx in this film. The film begins with her in Panama dancing a provocative dance and singing. The problem is that Miss Twelvetrees was far from a vampish sort of woman and seeing her moving her hips and acting sexy seemed a bit...well...creepy or comical. I honestly mean no insult--she just wasn't the type for this role. Fortunately, her performance after this is much more subdued and believable.

After this performance is seen by a big-time producer (Victor Jory), Twelvetrees and her husband (Wallace Ford) come to the States to make it big. They assume that Jory will give her a job, though they have trouble getting past his employees to see him. In the meantime, it starts to become apparent that Ford is a bit of an albatross to Twelvetrees--foolishly spending their money and acting more like an overgrown kid than a husband.

When Twelvetrees eventually is able to get to see Jory again, he remembers her well and is eager to see her. It's very obvious early on that he's very smitten with her. So, on one hand, she has a man who takes her for granted and a bit of a loser and on the other, a very important man is falling for her--and he can also make her famous.

During the middle of the film, there is a segment where you see people trying out to be on the radio. Look closely and you'll see Charles Lane (who was ubiquitous on TV in the 50s and 60s and only recently died at age 102) playing a rather funny agent as well as Walter Brennan when he was only a bit player (and with a very different voice).

Up until the middle of the film, I saw the film as a very predictable sort of affair. I expected it would be like "A Star is Born"--where a lady makes it big but is held back by a has-been husband. However, I was quite surprised where it went next--and I like to be surprised. Twelvetrees is able to convince Jory to give Ford a shot on the radio. She tells him that he's a great vaudevillian and his stand-up act is a natural to succeed. Surprisingly, she's absolutely right--and he vaults to stardom. However, in the process his head grows about three sizes! And, he also becomes rather insufferable--and drives Twelvetrees crazy. She longs for the old man he used to be, not the "Good Time Charlie" who's been ruined by success. Jory warns him to stop drinking and believing his own press, but Ford is adamant that he knows exactly what he's doing! You just know that sooner or later, he'll crash and burn. Things only get worse when he starts running around with a spoiled society dame--who seems determined to ruin him. Where it goes next is a lot of fun to watch as Ford destroys himself and opens the door wide for Jory and Twelvetrees--who, at this point, the audience is rooting for to get together by the end of the movie.

Overall, an interesting film despite the silly opening number. It's different enough that it stands out from the average film of the day. The only negative is that Twelvetrees is simply too long-suffering and her patience with the rat of a husband seems limitless--it's hard to imagine any wife THAT patient with a no-good man. Fortunately, by the time the film ends, there is FINALLY the happy ending, as Ford has divorced HER!

Watch this and you'll be happy.

[1930s_Time_Machine · 7/10 · 25 November 2023]

This is wonderful! OK, I'll re-phrase that: for this type of film it's wonderful, possibly even perfect. If you like a well acted, cleverly written 1930s light romantic drama that's not slushy, you'll love this.

Why you'll enjoy this is because the characters are so likeable and believable. You can't help yourself instantly being drawn into their story. Helen Twelvetrees is like a female equivalent to William Powell inasmuch that she's the nicest person in the world! She's not just a pretty face, not just the adorable 'girl next door' type but she seems just so darned nice - but not is a mushy, simpering, staring wistfully into the distance sort of way. She's normal, someone you could be friends with.

Wallace Ford in this is also someone you'd like to go on holiday with. Although he's a bit of a rubbish husband, a lazy so and so and as the film progresses really quite obnoxious, you still just can't help liking him. Even Victor Jory, 'the other man' could be your best mate! It's that likeability factor which makes this so engrossing.

The story comes from the same mould as A STAR IS BORN - a happily married couple discovering different paths, discovering they want different things out of life. The acting, the direction and the overall look is a grade above what you'd normally expect from Columbia. This is very classy. Unlike a lot of early thirties pictures (especially with Helen Twelvetrees) which are horribly sentimental, this tells the story of a rocky marriage honestly but without ever getting too heavy. It's also SO 1930s!

A Mediocre Glimpse Of Old-Time Radio

[dougdoepke · 1 November 2016]

The plot's pretty familiar—wife Connie (Twelvetrees) sacrifices her show biz career so that hubby (Ford) can get a big break in radio. Trouble is success goes to his head and he gravitates toward smug socialite (Dodd). So what's poor spurned Connie to do.

I tuned in for two reasons. First to see the woman behind the distinctly unHollywood name of Twelvetrees. I guess I was expecting an exotic brunette. Instead, a blonde on the order of a Joan Blondell appeared, without the sass, but good enough to win my sympathy as the wronged wife. Second, I enjoy seeing old radio studios, having grown up with radio drama. To me, the best scenes are those in the studio, especially the awful auditions, though I thought the crooners were pretty good. But I guess the airways were saturated with would-be Bing Crosby's. Also, the obstacle course of offices Connie has to negotiate to get to the top is humorously revealing. On the other hand, it's a real stretch seeing how sensible Connie could be enamored with her rather annoying husband Chick, (Ford). It's not just his voice but his manner too. Plus, his comedy routine is about as funny as a sore throat.

Overall, there's nothing special here, unless it's the spiffed-out Victor Jory as a radio exec., a departure from his usual grungy tough guy roles. Anyway, I'd catch 12-trees again, though her real life story suggests a more interesting narrative than the movie's.

Routine programmer with Twelvetrees as ambitious singer from Panama...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 25 September 2009]

HELEN TWELVETREES is a platinum blonde singer in a Panama cabaret when VICTOR JORY shows up. She learns that he's a big radio producer and gets herself introduced to him. He tells her to look him up if she ever gets to New York and he'll get her an audition. He's under the impression that she's unmarried and doesn't know she wants the audition for her husband's act.

She and hubby WALLACE FORD come to the big city but get the runaround for a few weeks by Jory's office staff. Finally, she bumps into him on the street and gets her wish for an audition. Jory is romantically interested in her, disappointed when she admits the audition is for her husband. Nevertheless, Ford gets his chance.

The balance of the plot is similar to every show biz story ever told. Ford becomes an obnoxious swellhead with fame and his wife falls out of love with him and into the arms of Jory. Nothing new or unexpected.

It's all dreadfully dated stuff with Wallace's radio routine supposedly establishing him as a successful comedian. Only reason I kept watching was to see what Helen Twelvetrees was like. The lady with the unusual name is a cross between Virginia Bruce and Glenda Farrell--pretty but nothing remarkable about her singing or acting. In fact, her singing only made me wince.

An unusual angle is seeing Victor Jory as the second romantic lead.

Strictly forgettable fluff.

Starring Ravishing Helen Twelvetrees!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 31 August 2010]

The snide remarks started even back then. Comments like "she acts like she studied acting with Helen Twelvetrees" and "she is Rin Tin Tin's favourite actress" must have bored her as much as anybody, but she was far more than that. Helen Twelvetrees had a wistful, fragile beauty and was a major find for Pathe in 1930. She quickly found herself trapped in "sin movies" which were so popular in the early thirties and titles like "Unashamed", "Disgraced" and "Is My Face Red?" didn't help. When she was given a chance with a role opposite John Barrymore in "State's Attorney", she proved she could hold her own and the critics gave her good notices. In 1932 she decided to freelance and "My Woman" made for Columbia took her back to the old tried and tested formula.

This movie finds Helen, once again, on the "mean streets" of Panama. Contrary to what other reviewers write she looks ravishing, with a mass of blonde curls. She plays Connie, a singer in her father's cafe, who has an unshakable belief in her husband's talent. When radio network owner, John Bradley (Victor Jory) comes to the club, Connie uses her charms to organise a New York audition - for Chick (Wallace Ford), her husband, who hasn't displayed any talent so far. Once in New York, Chick shows his true colours, preferring to loaf at the Vaudeville Club while Connie is wearing out shoe leather searching for a job. She finally manages to see J.B. and he hasn't forgotten her or a funny little song she used to sing - "My Mama". Finding out what a decent fellow he is, she comes clean - she is really Mrs. Riley and the audition she wanted was for her husband and not herself. J.B. is attracted to Connie and lets Chick's audition go ahead. The auditions are funny, including Charles Lane as Con, a frantic agent, trying to organise his clients and a young Walter Brennan as an animal imitator. Gossip has gone around the studio that Connie is J.B's girl (cad that Chick is, he also believes that but still continues to let the romance go on if it will lead to his success). Chick is given his chance and with his repertoire of corny jokes his programme is a sensation. Surprise! Surprise! he takes to the high life like a duck to water and starts to treat Connie like a maid. He meets high society girl Muriel - uh oh,it's Claire Dodd - things don't look too good for Connie. Muriel convinces Chick that he is a "creative artist" and would do better without Connie tagging along. This is the most unbelievable part of the movie - how on earth could beautiful Claire Dodd fall for Chick, who is nothing but second rate.

By the movie's end everyone gets their just deserts. I would have loved to see Helen sing more - she looked very sexy in that opening number but I suppose emotion was more in her line. Was there ever a more "vixenish" bad girl than Claire Dodd. Mostly playing Park Avenue socialites, she definitely brightened up every movie she was in. "My Woman" was filmed when Victor Jory was still considered a matinée idol. Of course the role for which he is best remembered came late in the thirties - "Injun" Joe in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1938). Early on Wallace Ford realised he would have more career longevity as a character actor than a leading man.

Highly Recommended.

From the studio that gave us The Three Stooges.

[Irie212 · 4/10 · 26 September 2009]

Let me explain: "My Woman" comes from the same studio as Moe, Larry, and Curly, and what they have in common is minimal production values-- though less effort was, of course, put into Three Stooges shorts than into feature films, even one as tossed-off (and poorly titled) as this one.

According to Wikipedia: "During the 1930s, the eight majors averaged a total of 358 feature film releases a year." That's about one movie from each studio every eight days. "My Woman" was from Columbia, which wasn't even a major in the 30's, so they had even fewer resources, and it shows in their products, which were cranked out like jelly beans.

Among the victims of Hollywood's factories was the star of this film, Helen Twelvetrees, a cute and competent platinum blonde from Brooklyn. She made 33 movies in her brief 10-year career, and none were much more famous than this one. She died, aged 49, a suicide.

The plot is so ordinary it hardly bears revealing-- wife helps husband with radio career, husband gets famous and insufferable, wife has to choose between him and lusting producer. Roughly.

There was only one scene I really enjoyed, an extended comic riff about half an hour in. The omnipresent character actor Charles Lane (350 screen credits!) brings a batch of clients to audition for some very bored radio executives. One audition is worse than the next, but the most preposterous by far is a young (39 at the time) Walter Brennan as a stuttering actor whose act is animal noises. Reeaallly lousy animal noises, which cannot be easy to perform. He's halfway through his South American fauna when he's yanked. "You're off the air old man," the stage hand says when he takes the mike. "Nerts to you," stutters Brennan.

He's the only character I wanted more of.

Everything screams pre-code in this, except most of the script.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 3 March 2024]

It takes a long time for this one to get going, starting off okay in Panama with the Panama lady from the year before (pre-code stalwart Helen Twelvetrees) a singer who gives up everything to help husband Wallace Ford after they return to the states. Ford, a decent singer himself, becomes a radio star, with Victor Jory the station owner. But fame goes to his head, and he turns out to become a drunk, as well as seeing Claire Dodd on the side.

While much of that sounds like typical pre-code, this Columbia film lacks the spark of others, taking forever especially in a lengthy montage with other radio acts being shown, some comical ones truly horrible. The best performance comes from Charles Lane as an extreme enthusiastic talent agent, with Warren Hymer having some good lines as Dodd's very tacky butler. Twelvetrees continues her trend of suffering in sin, but like her character, my high hopes for this film were quickly dashed. The ending doesn't really even have a conclusion.

A Lot Like "Crooner" (1932)

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 16 January 2024]

"My Woman" is a lot like "Crooner" (1932). They both are essentially about a rising star who, thanks to his significant other, got the break he needed. After making it big he falls due to his own hubris and mistreats the one woman who believed in him the most.

Chick Rollins (Wallace Ford) was a two-bit act performing in Panama with his wife Connie (Helen Twelvetrees). When the president of the American Broadcast Company, John 'Jack' Bradley (Victor Jory), paid a visit to their small club, Connie cozied up to him to try to get her husband, Chick, an audition for the radio. She went by the name of Ms. Riley in hopes that her being single would get her closer to John Bradley. It did.

When John told her that he'd love to give HER an audition she told her husband she landed HIM an audition in New York. The two packed up and went to New York looking for fame. After a few weeks Connie finally got some face-to-face time with John. He was impressed with her for more than just her talent. Eventually, after a long evening, Connie told John that she was married and that the audition was for her husband. John was disappointed, but he was a good sport about it. He let Chick have the audition.

Chick did a comedy routine that Connie had written and it was a smashing success. He took off like a rocket. The only thing bigger than his name was his head, but that could be seen coming from a mile away. He was already unbearable before he was a star. Once he became a star and fell for the charms of Muriel Bennett (Claire Dodd) he became totally insufferable.

Chick Rollins story was a classic case of pride cometh before the fall. The movie was very plain in that respect. It was a straightforward movie without any real wrinkles. Nothing too special, nothing I'd bother to watch twice.

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