Aggie makes men into her own image of machismo: physical yet tender, money optional. It’s refreshing to see such a strong woman who doesn’t pander to her paramour, belittling her femininity for male appeasement but lifts them up to her own standards! Director Mark Sandrich’s deft direction allows Wynne Gibson as the titular heroine to really shine (why wasn’t she more popular, she’s fucking amazing in this film!) and gives a substantial part to the wonderful ZaSu Pitts as her sister/cohort Sybby. DP J. Roy Hunt’s photography is excellent starting with the POV from the L-Train for the opening credits and then the long crane shot that begins on the upper floor of a tenement before settling on the first-floor café where a major brawl is happening. CUT TO: interior of café as fists fly, chairs are broken over heads, and just general pandemonium. What a way to start a melodrama!
The plot begins as fairly simple and the details become rather complicated as the story progresses, but the focus is always on Aggie and her survival instincts. After her beau Red Branahan is imprisoned in the opening riot for assaulting police officers she is left homeless. She adores Red and finds his pugnacious behavior endearing but has to survive in the depression era NYC. Sybby helps her snatch a few hours of sleep in a boarding house where she cleans for a living, but Aggie fails to awake before the occupant returns. Adoniram Schlump is a mild-mannered “Clark Kent” type (before Superman was created) who wants to help this homeless stranger and gradually falls in love with her. Aggie chucks his glasses, dresses him down, and teaches him how to speak tough: she even changes his name to Red Branahan! Antics ensue. Though the film is laugh-out-loud funny at times it is also deadly serious, never treating its characters as mere caricatures or demeaning them. The pugilistic original Red Branahan and the intellectual faux Branahan are two entirely different types of men, yet the film doesn’t make a hierarchical value judgement, as each change for the better: Red becomes a bit more sensitive and Schlumpy learns to stand up for himself (and his girl). It’s a neat little film though it still holds up patriarchal values of women making men better men, as opposed to women becoming more independent sans their male counterparts.
Final Grade: (B)