Reno (1939) User Reviews (4)

A moderately interesting B movie about Reno divorce law practice

[Michael-110 · 6/10 · 24 February 2001]

"Reno" is a decent B movie about about the life and times of a Nevada divorce lawyer. We first meet William Shear as the proprietor of a Reno gambling casino. Strangely he is found to have a crooked roulette wheel. At his preliminary hearing, we learn his story and ultimately determine why this previously honest and respected casino owner resorted to cheating.

Shear was a Reno lawyer who made a good living litigating mining claims. He turned to representing women who wanted quickie divorces after the miners left. Because the movie industry's production code prevented favorable treatment of divorce, the institution of Nevada divorces is very negatively portrayed. Shear's clients are all greedy, unhappy people and most of them try to seduce Shear even though he is married. The divorce practice and Reno lifestyle take a serious toll on Shear's marriage and his client solicitation tactics get him into deep trouble.

The picture is worth watching as an interesting treatment of the problems of divorce and mining law practice in Reno in the early part of the century. Shear's character is well developed and the competition between Shear and an established Reno attorney is also interesting. The plot contrivances, however, are very creaky and the female roles are shallow and unengaging.

I think I have a soft spot for Richard Dix...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 23 April 2011]

I am not sure exactly why, but I have always liked Richard Dix and try to see as many of his films as I can--even his B-movies and obscure films. Perhaps I like his movies because he was not all that handsome and didn't fit the Hollywood image of a leading man. Perhaps it was because although a rugged guy, he had a knack for being able to play vulnerable as well--such as in this film and "Ace of Aces". Whatever the exact reason, although he's practically forgotten today, I really like his films.

Here in "Reno", we have a moderately good movie and not a lot more--but Dix's performance manages to make it just a bit better. It begins in the present day and this part of the film is VERY hard to believe. It seems that he's accused of running a crooked gambling house but the entire rest of the film consists of Dix telling his life story and how THIS is the reason he arranged for one of his customers to lose. I could say a lot more but will suffice to say it's all been done to prevent this woman from making a mistake...the same sort of mistake Dix made decades earlier.

Well directed, a decent story and a nice amount of pathos and vulnerability make this a surprisingly good film--despite its relatively modest budget and scope.

Another Decent Richard Dix Programmer

[boblipton · 6/10 · 2 November 2021]

Lawyer Richard Dix comes out to Reno, Nevada, during the waning days of the silver-mining industry. When the mines close down, he becomes the first and most successful of the divorce industry.

Most of the movie concerns itself with his marriage to Gail Patrick, and its breakup due to the large number of attractive women getting divorces who seem to want to allow their husbands to divorce them for lack of faithfulness. Dix never quite falls, but he does neglect wife and child in his efforts to provide for them.

Dix remains one of RKO's true stars, but their efforts to vary his programmers -- this is one -- with an A picture every year or so had ended with the failure of 1935's TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL. He could still give a magnificent, scenery-chewing performance when the chance came along, but the studio was more interested in the profits the cheaper programmers could produce.... until they used him up and let him go.

Welcome to Reno...where fortunes are lost and romantic dreams are destroyed.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 6 May 2015]

"On the train to Reno", Norma Shearer declared in the same year's "The Women", a classic sophisticated screwball comedy where disillusioned wives headed from the Big Apple to the Big Worm of marital discord. RKO's "Reno" is a missed opportunity, because what starts off promising as a "San Francisco" like story explaining how Reno went from silver mining town to divorce capital of the United States, ends up simply a footnote in the history (told fictionally, obviously) of this now thriving Nevada city. It starts with a young woman (Anita Louise) plotting to expose a crooked gambling casino and the testimony of the casino owner (Richard Dix) which reveals the history of the city and explains his association with his accuser. As a young man, Dix was an ambitious attorney and married the secretary (Gail Patrick) of the mining company, but as his ambitions grew, his marriage fell apart, and the array of quick divorces in Reno soon lead to Patrick's filing (much reluctantly) and the unsurprising denouncement in the finale.

This could have been a little more detailed to have been less of a soap opera and given the viewer an opportunity to see the evolution of a town now known as "the biggest little city in the world". The performances are sincere and the detail which is there is excellent, but somehow it feels like a big chunk of the plot is missing. Also, the pretense of Louise setting up her potential downfall just to get even with Dix seems false. However, it is nice to see Ms. Patrick playing a basically nice character as opposed to the snooty or scheming socialites she had been playing for years. This is a definite curiosity, but sadly, one that had the potential to be so much better.