Swing Your Lady

Swing Your Lady
1938 - Warner Brothers
Directed by Ray Enright



SYNOPSIS

A wrestling promoter (Humphrey Bogart) takes his sure-to-be-a-star find Joe (Nat Pendleton) to the Ozarks in search of competitors. After a search through several towns Bogie is only able to set up one match. But Joe's competition is a woman! Sadie (Louise Fazenda) is a big girl with an equally big heart... and is the town's blacksmith! The match is called off after Joe falls for Sadie and he refuses to fight. Then Sadie's beau shows up and he's fightin' mad!


MY THOUGHTS

This film clocks in at less than 1:20 but barely has less of a plot than your average 30 minute sitcom. The film is padded with musical performances by the Weaver Brothers. They play mostly novelty hillbilly songs.

Every rural stereotype is on display here (especially in the hoedown musical numbers.) Moonshine jug, fat guy in overalls, scraggly beard and hat... and that's just one of the extras in the film. The hillbilly element is almost as offensive as African-American stereotypes of the era.

There are a few jokes here and there in the weak script but most fall flat.

Bogart seems to enjoy himself in the role, although he would call this his worst film and I agree. It is worse than his turn as a vampire in The Return of Doctor X." Bogie was probably glad to get a break from his endless run of supporting gangster roles and violent death scenes, although the part doesn't showcase his talents at all.
Allen Jenkins and Frank McHugh play Bogie's assistants and are their usual funny selves, but the focus is rarely on them.
The character of Joe is annoying and seems to be a rabbit-less Lenny from Of Mice and Men. Except, he sadly isn't put out of his misery at the end like Lenny.
Sadie is also hard to take. She takes the brunt of the wretched script, delivering most of the painfully bad dialogue ("Well, shuck my corn!")
Out of nowhere towards the end of the film, Ronald Reagan shows up as a sports writer to cover the Joe/Sadie match. He's there for a few scenes than vanishes (hopefully to a better film.)

I would say the most telling testament to the quality of this film is the simple fact that home video has been around for 30 years, and Swing Your Lady has NEVER been released.
This film is for Humphrey Bogart completeists only... and even then, watch at your own risk.