Joe Gimlet wants to live a life of cocktails; instead, he’s stuck with a glut of cheap cigars. But he soon learns of the axiom: “be careful what you wish for”. Writer Ben Hecht’s Depression Era time travel fantasy is trite by contemporary definition but it’s marvelous in the way that it’s told, in the small details and character arc of its protagonist Joe Gimlet (Lee Tracey). Harold Rosson’s cinematography utilizes some rather distorted and surreal effects for the fantasy transition and allows long takes and a few tracking shots of Tracy moving and talking without need to cut. Lee Tracy is great in this role, imbuing his character with just the right amount vulnerability and compassion, so we slowly feel his emotional loss as he gains financial success. This is his film, and he owns it!
44-year-old Joe Gimlet owns a cigar store and by chance, his childhood friend Ted Wright (Otto Kruger) wanders in for a box of smokes. Ted is now very wealthy and married to Elvina (Peggy Shannon) who once offered Joe a chance to invest his life savings ($400) in her father’s swampland investment. But in 1913, Joe was in love with Mary (Mae Clarke) and he was saving the money to marry her. This is his current life-path, left on the outside of financial stability because of this single decision. That night after dinner, Ted offers Joe and Mary a chance to become rich if they invest their entire life savings of $4,000 but Mary is against it, looking out for their future stability while the country slowly heals from its nearly fatal collapse. They argue and Joe gets drunk and hit by a car, his traumatic brain injury propelling his perceptions backwards in time to 1913 with contemporary knowledge of future events! So, when the chance comes again, he invests the $400, marries Elvina, becomes rich and powerful, and lives a dreadful life of financial success amid emotional distress. Money can’t buy happiness indeed.
Some neat details. When he wakes up back in 1913, Joe approaches a mirror and sees a younger 24year old self. Rosson alters the lighting to reveal his much younger visage in reflection, and it’s a neat one-shot trick (no dissolves) like DP Karl Struss used on Frederic March in DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE two years earlier! When Joe sees his mother in the kitchen, obviously dead for many years to his 1933 self, his genuine affection is quite touching. He asks for orange juice for breakfast and his mother is confused. This is so ubiquitous to a 1933 audience (and us) that it’s strange to realize that in 1913 this beverage did not yet exist. It wasn’t until 1914 that Sunkist began offering it nationwide! Another interesting scene is the verge of America’s entrance into The Great War. Others give jingoistic speeches, but Joe is a veteran of the war yet to happen, and he knows what brutality these men will face. Many will not return. It’s a touching scene and one Tracy pulls off with his malleable facial expressions, portraying hidden angst and faux patriotism at the same time! We also get an unbilled low-key and uncredited cameo of the Three Stooges sans Ted Healy, with Curly making his debut! Joe tries to sing a jazz song not yet written (Hell, the genre didn’t even exist yet) and the confounded trio act confused.
Joe lives his fantasy life until March 6, 1933, which is the date the story began, and once he wakes from his coma, he realizes that he had it right the first time.
Final Grade: (B)