Two Against the World *** (1936, Humphrey Bogart, Beverly Roberts, Helen MacKellar, Henry O’Neill, Linda Perry, Virginia Brissac) – Classic Movie Review 5621

In 1936 Warner Bros remakes its 1931 movie Five Star Final, though the setting is transferred from newspapers to radio, with a title borrowed from an unrelated 1932 Warner movie. The tale about the muckraking media digging up dirt on innocent people is incredibly up to date but it is rather plainly, ploddingly and dully told.

Two Against the World was advertised as having ‘plenty of punch-packed action’, but really it is not that kind of film at all. However the movie is short, easy to watch and does pace up in the second half, delivering interest and finally impact. And it has a star we always love to watch.

Taking over Edward G Robinson’s tough New York tabloid editor role, Humphrey Bogart is now playing Sherry Scott, a wireless station manager who firmly opposes his station’s policy on digging up new revelations on a 20-year-old murder case in case it harms two women. Scott, in charge of programming for the entire United Broadcasting Company network, is supported by his secretary Alma Ross (Beverly Roberts) – they are the two against the world.

The UBC nationwide radio network owner Bertram C Reynolds (Robert Middlemass) is prompted by his marketing manager Mr Banning (Clay Clement) to chase larger audiences and decides to revive the memory of the murder case ‘in the name of public good’, with tragic consequences.

Helen MacKellar plays Martha Carstairs, who was charged with murder 20 years ago and tried but freed in court for the crime, and Linda Perry plays her daughter Edith, who is about to be married to industrialist’s son Malcolm Sims Jr (Carlyle Moore Jr).

Director William C McGann’s 1936 minor movie moves along quickly in its short running time of 64 minutes, and Bogart keeps it watchable, but even he cannot disguise the movie’s basic ordinariness. However it remains still intriguing, relevant and fresh feeling for such an old movie.

No wonder they were advertising ‘good selections of short features with all programs’ because this main Saturday night feature is only an hour long.

Michel Jacoby’s screenplay is based on Louis Weitzenkorn’s stage play, Five Star Final.

Two Against the World (1936, Humphrey Bogart).

Also in the cast are Henry O’Neill, Virginia Brissac, Claire Dodd, Hobart Cavanaugh, Harry Hayden, Robert Middlemass, Clay Clement, Douglas Wood, Paula Stone, Robert Gordon [Bobby Gordon], Frank Orth, Ferdinand Schumann-Heink, Bill Ellliott, Milton Kibbee, Edward Peil Sr, Emmett Vogan, Edwin Stanley, Jack McHugh, Paul Regan, Charles E Evans and Don Downen.

Two Against the World is shot in black and white by Sid Hickox, is produced by Jack L Warner, Hal B Wallis and Bryan Foy, is scored by Heinz Roemheld and is designed by Esdras Hartley.

It was called The Case of Mrs Pembroke in GB.

The Turner library print is titled One Fatal Hour, runs only 56 minutes and excludes various of the above actors.

Beverly Louise Roberts (May 19, 1914 – July 13, 2009) starred in 21 films from 1936 to 1939. She signed with Warner Bros the same day as Errol Flynn, but quit films after losing key parts to actresses including Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland. She was a friend of Humphrey Bogart.

In 1954, Roberts returned to New York City and started a new career as administrator of the Theater Authority and retired in 1977. Actress Wynne Gibson, whom she met filming Flirting with Fate in 1938, followed her to New York and they lived together in West Babylon, Long Island, and then in Laguna Niguel, California, until Gibson’s death in 1987. Talk about Two Against the World!

The cast are Humphrey Bogart as Sherry Scott, Beverly Roberts as Scott’s secretary Alma Ross, Linda Perry as Edith Carstairs, Carlyle Moore Jr as Edith’s fiancé Mal Sims, Jr, Henry O’Neill as Jim Carstairs, Helen MacKellar as Martha Carstairs, Claire Dodd as Cora Latimer, Hobart Cavanaugh as Tippy Mantus, Harry Hayden as UBC reporter Dr Martin Leavenworth, Robert Middlemass as UBC owner Bertram C Reynolds, Clay Clement as UBC marketing manager Mr Banning Douglas Wood as steel magnate Malcolm Sims, Sr, Virginia Brissac as Marion Sims, Paula Stone as Miss Symonds, Robert Gordon as Herman Mills, Frank Orth as bartender Tommy, Howard C Hickman as pastor Dr Maguire, Ferdinand Schumann-Heink as Sound Mixer, Bill Ellliott, Milton Kibbee, Edward Peil Sr, Emmett Vogan, Edwin Stanley, Jack McHugh, Paul Regan, Charles E Evans and Don Downen.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5621

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