Heat Lightning

Heat Lightning (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sisters Olga (Aline MacMahon) and Myra (Ann Dvorak) run a small gas station in the Arizona desert where they fight about the youngest sisters wants when it comes to a different life. Throughout the day a wide range of people stop by the shop including a couple thugs (Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot) who are wanted for killing a couple men and one of them has a past relationship with Olga. This crime picture from Warner certainly isn't among their best but the nice cast and short 64-minute running time makes it a nice little gem as long as you don't go in expecting too much. The first starts off with quite a bit of innuendo around the older sister Olga and her constantly putting men down. The way she dresses, talks and acts, it really does seem like this could have been shown during TCM's look at gay and lesbian images in early Hollywood. Her behavior is explained as the film goes along but that is certainly one thing that really jumped out. For the most part the characters really aren't all that interesting and the only reason one would pay close attention to them is because the studio cast some very familiar faces and especially to those who enjoy their "B" movies. Both MacMahon and Dvorak are good in their parts of the battling sisters and both Foster and Talbot could play heavies in their sleep. The four have some pretty good scenes together and especially MacMahon and Foster when it comes to talking about their past. The cast also includes Glenda Farrell playing a sexy idiot, Frank McHugh her driver and we even get Ruth Donnelly and Edgar Kennedy in small bits. The screenplay is full of the typical stereotype characters you'd expect in a film like this but the most disappointing thing is that not much happens throughout the running time. The movie is certainly leading up to final showdown but nothing ever really happens and there just aren't enough twists or turns to keep any sort of drama going. The movie does include a terrific looking set as I thought the diner was good enough to offer up some terrific shots and especially those where the camera just looks around the insides and there being windows everywhere. This allows one to get a 360-look around the place. Some pre-Code elements add to the fun but the main draw here are the actors.