Wharf Angel (1934) User Reviews (7)

"It ain't where, it's how."

[boblipton · 8/10 · 15 June 2019]

There's been a riot in San Francisco and the cops are looking to arrest Preston Foster for murder. He didn't do it, but waterfront dive owner Alison Skipworth hates the cops, so she sends him up to b-girl Dorothy Dell's room until things cool down. They talk, and Foster's youthful idealism makes her realize she can leave this life. Skipworth sends Foster out as a stoker to China, and he promises to come back for Dell. While on the black gang, he makes friends with Victor Maclaglen, and they become best of friends, talking to each other of the girl waiting for them.... not realizing both of them are talking about Dell.

It's a terrific Pre-Code, made just before the window closed. If Paramount offered the glossiest of settings, here's proof they could offer the sleaziest, especially under the co-direction of William Cameron Menzies, who spent most of his film career as a set designer, and knew how to use Vic Milner's camera for great pictures. Add in some great performances, including Maclaglen doing an early variation on Gypo from THE INFORMER and a great script, and you have a fine performance.

It's astonishing that Miss Dell is so good. This was her first movie. She was 19 when it was released, and her movements seem like someone who has been a major star in silents.

She would only make two more movies, alas. On June 8, 1934, she left a party in the company of Dr. Carl Wagner, who drove. The car left the highway, bounced off a palm tree and hit a boulder, killing her instantly.

A big heart in a body for sin.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 30 May 2017]

Dorothy Dell, the glamorous moll who took a shine to moppet Shirley Temple in 1934's "Little Miss Marker", priced herself to be quite the amazing leading actress in this shocking pre- code drama that makes no hiding of her profession. It's the oldest one, and there's no question that it's helped gee survive. But inside that life is a woman longing for respect, and in fooling wanted rebel Preston Foster, she finds a man she longs to make a home for. But when he gets a job stoking coal on a ship, he meets the tough Victor McLaglen, an old lover of hers and they have no idea that "their girl back home" is the same one.

There's more than just a hint of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie" here with the character of "Ma" played by Alison Skipworth, Paramount's answer to Marie Dresser. Dell may lack Garbo's accent, but it's obvious how she's survived, the first half of the film making no bones about that. There's a lot of tension of whether Foster will be caught for the murder he is blamed for (but claims innocence), how McLaglen and Foster will react to being in love with the same girl, and how each of them will deal with the revelation of what she does. Look for Mischa Auer in the part of the stoker whom Foster gets in the fight with. Amazing little sleeper with satisfying performances and a gripping plot.

Love vs Friendship in a Paramount Pre-Code

[melvelvit-1 · 7/10 · 7 September 2014]

Political activist Como Murphy (Preston Foster), on the run from a murder rap, ducks into Mother Bright's (Alison Skipworth) waterfront saloon on the infamous Barbary Coast and forms a fast friendship with Turk (Victor McLaglen), a stoker on a ship bound for Shanghai. When the cops close in, Como's directed upstairs where he stumbles into Toy's room (a sexy Dorothy Dell) and he spends the night there. The next day, he leaves a note for Toy promising to return and signs on with Turk's ship but on shore leave in the Orient, Como learns the gal Turk carries a torch for is none other than Toy. Como doesn't tell Turk he knows Toy and when their ship docks in Frisco, both men make a bee line for Ma Bright's where their romantic triangle comes to a deadly head...

Paramount's burly brawler Victor McLaglen had been playing variations on the "love & friendship" shtick ever since WHAT PRICE GLORY? back in '26 and handsome Preston Foster makes a good romantic opponent for him here. Paramount's back lot Frisco, all fog and shadow, was put over with a bit of panache by director William Cameron Menzies, who'd go on to greater fame as one of Hollywood's premiere set designers. Released just before the Production Code crackdown, it's obvious how Dorothy Dell earns her living at Mother Bright's and there's lots of snappy patter, too, such as "No tow-headed jane is gonna make a monkey out of me!" and Dell actually tells McLaglen to "flock off" at one point. The alluring Dottie also warbles a wistful blues ballad and a lean and lanky Mischa Auer makes the most of his role as shifty shipmate Sadik, replete with an earring and a turncoat temper.

Things were going great guns for nineteen year-old Dorothy Dell at the time; the former "Miss New Orleans" and "Miss Universe of 1930" was plucked from the Ziegfield Follies by Paramount and groomed as its answer to Fox's Alice Faye. Dorothy had just made her mark in the Shirley Temple starrer, Little Miss Marker, and it looked like she had arrived when it all came to a sudden, tragic end on June 8, 1934. Returning from a party in the Altadena hills, Dottie and her date were killed in a car crash; their automobile went over an embankment, hit a telephone pole, and rammed into a boulder. Dorothy was killed instantly and her escort died a few hours later. Engaged to another at the time of her death, Dell was also romantically involved with crooner Russ Columbo who, along with Rudy Vallee and Bing Crosby, was making multitudes of female fans swoon as his velvety voice wafted over the airwaves.

Dorothy Dell in Her Feature Film Debut

[drednm · 13 February 2015]

At 65 minutes, this film seems to have the narrative substance of the fog that surrounds the San Francisco waterfront where a prostitute named Toy (Dorothy Dell) meets a man named Como, accused of murder (Preston Foster). It's love at first sight. But he must flee the cops and so ships out to China with thuggish Victor McLaglen who has eyes for Toy as well. When they return months later, Toy has gone straight in preparation for Como and is waiting for the freighter. But what to do about McLaglen? Interesting if familiar storyline is sparked by a good performance by McLaglen as Turk, who beneath his rough exterior lurks a rough heart. Foster is excellent as the malcontent who spouts political slogans against the world's injustices. Dell, in her feature debut, is also excellent as the gold-hearted tramp who tries everything in an effort to go straight. The scene where she sings in a saloon while the men throw insults and coins at her is a killer.

The sleazy bar is called "Mother Bright's" and Mother is played by the wondrous Alison Skipworth, a tough customer who's ready to fight for love. Co-stars include Mischa Auer, James Burke, Frank Sheridan, and David Landau as the cop. Among the horde of saloon girls are Alice Lake and Grace Bradley.

This was the first of Dell's three films made in 1934. The others are LITTLE MISS MARKER and SHOOT THE WORKS. She would have been a big star, but was killed in a car crash. She was 19 years old.

Unnecessary Drama

[view_and_review · 5/10 · 15 April 2024]

"Wharf Angel" is a movie that took place on the docks in San Francisco for the most part. It's a romance with unnecessary drama. I don't mean unnecessary in that a movie does not need drama, because every movie needs some type of drama to even be interesting. What I mean is that the nature of the drama in this movie was unnecessary.

At the very beginning a man named Como Murphy (Preston Foster) burst into a bar where he let them know he was running from the police. A patron named Turk (Victor McLaglen) and the proprietor, Mother Bright (Alison Skipworth) gave him refuge as they weren't all that fond of the police themselves. No one knew what he was running from the police for, but they helped him anyway.

While trying to hide, Como found himself in a flat belonging to a woman named Mary aka Toy (Dorothy Dell). Toy also gave refuge to Como. Her profession kept her on the wrong side of the law as well, so in Como she saw a kindred spirit.

For good measure Toy pressed Como about why he was wanted by the police. He told her that they suspected him of a murder he didn't commit.

Como and Toy had an instant attraction. He was a nice enough guy and she was available, so they fell in love on the spot. But Como could not stick around the docks and play boyfriend because he was a wanted man. As a result he decided to board a ship headed to China where he would work in the boiler room amongst a bunch of other sailors.

Como was one thread of the unnecessary drama.

The other thread was Turk (Victor McLaglen). Turk was a big, gruff, brute who happened to believe that Toy was into him. He thought Toy's affections were a sign of something more than her doing her job, which was prostitution. He took her signs as actual love as though he was the best thing since sliced bread and she recognized it. The truth is he was a john, and the moment she found Como she forgot all about Turk and she forgot all about that entire lifestyle of hers. However, Turk was not ready or willing to let Toy go, but he had to board a ship so he had to leave her alone for at least the next six months.

That was the Turk thread of the unnecessary drama.

Aboard the ship, Turk and Como became the best of friends. Turk saw that Como was a real standup guy and he befriended him. What Turk and Como did not know is that they had eyes on the exact same girl. Como, for good reason, because she was truly in love with him, and he was in love with her. Turk, however, had no good reason to be waxing poetically about Mary when he didn't even know where she lived, who she was, or if in fact she truly loved him. You knew this would become an issue later and it did, and that's the biggest bone of contention I actually had with this movie.

The two threads intertwined when both Turk and Como docked back in San Francisco. The drama truly stemmed from Turk having this obsession with Toy and this bewildering understanding that she actually loved him and wanted him. He was an absolute moron, but I don't think he was so dumb as to take subtle signs of affection to be actual love and desire. It was like this guy had not been a sailor his whole life.

For whatever reason, he thought that Toy was not like other janes. Toy did not help matters when later, after Turk and Como returned from sea, she accepted money from Turk in order for her and Como to skip town. She had to know that Turk had serious feelings for her. He proposed to her God's sake! So, for her to then take money from Turk was none other than a clear sign to him that she at least had some feelings for him. Another woman--a smarter woman, less desperate woman--would've shut him down the moment he mentioned marriage. She would've said clearly and unequivocally that she was not in love with him, and that she did not want to marry him, but Toy was too shy or too distracted to do that.

It ended with Turk doing right by Como, but not until he had done wrong by him. It was a frustrating mess because of Turk's irrational behavior. There was drama to be had without Turk being emotionally stunted, the writers only needed to look a little harder.

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Creaky thirties A feature.

[Mozjoukine · 13 March 2012]

Great, atmospheric images, strong cast, literate dialogue - even if there is too much of it - and we still end up with a dreary movie.

Cameron Menzies was the movies' greatest designer but his attempts to direct all went belly up on him - outside THINGS TO COME, where Kordar had control.

This one looks for a while as if it will be the exception, with it's opening in Alison Skipworth's fog bound Barbary Coast dive, running to out of true walls and a clientèle of floozies and boozy sailors, into which radical on the run Foster bursts, with David Landau's bobbies on his trail.

There's curiosity value in seeing one of the few sympathetic depictions of a communist in a Hollywood movie and watching McLaglan doing a try out for THE INFORMER but the romance and buddy plots are drab and interest only picks up occasionally for atmospheric material like the pier at night or the shovels fight in the stoke hold, where Menzies' hand is evident.

Stokers

[GManfred · 9 December 2015]

"Wharf Angel" is a movie about Stokers, seamen who stoke the boilers on ships and the brutish lives the live. In between voyages they hang around in dive bars and drink too much, carouse, fight and often pass out on the floor. This one is called "Mother Bright's", on the Barbary Coast near San Francisco. When in port, "Turk" (Victor McLaglen) holds court and is also the star of the picture. One night Como (Preston Foster), on the run from the police, ducks in and finds a hiding place in a room upstairs; the tenant is Toy (Dorothy Dell), a prostitute with the proverbial heart of gold. Almost simultaneously, Como and Turk fall in love with her, and therein hangs the tale.

Too bad the tale is not as interesting as the players or the sets. The film is held together by the force of the actors, especially Dorothy Dell, who gives a superlative performance. It is all the more remarkable when you consider she was only 19 at the time. McLaglen is his usual overpowering self and Foster, minus trademark mustache, looks almost boyish. The director is set designer William Cameron Menzies, who doesn't have much of a chance due to the tepid story, but creates an atmospheric dive setting for the cast that is very realistic - it looks and feels extremely authentic. That said, there's not much else to recommend this picture. It's been done before and since, and better.