A Man of Sentiment

Marian Marsh radiates intelligence and charm as the focal point of this lightweight romantic drama. She and her suitor, William Bakewell, (slightly prissy and stiff but looking like he was carved out of marble) meet not so cute -- he runs her down in his speeding car. The title character played by Christian Rub is a hospital clerk who is a sucker for sob stories. Persuading the driver not to confess to his crimes but woo the girl instead, he sets events in motion. After falling in love over Marsh's hospital bed, the lovers run into obstacles. She is an aspiring musician who was on her way to to accept her rich patron's offer of support, sans marriage, when she was convenently run down (and suffers no aches or pains afterward despite being brought into the hospital unconscious). He comes from a high society family that will not accept her. Edmund Breese is impressive as the hero's easy-going father. Owen Moore is second-billed in the part of Marsh's rich patron-to-be, but he has only a few scenes, which he discharges with freeze-dried wordliness and substantial lockjaw. The early hospital scenes are full of ethnic and sexual stereotypes and some lame attempts at comedy, but they do communicate well the atmosphere of the hospital receiving room, tedium and all. The apparently Jewish landlord of Marsh's building is another matter: a very offensive stereotype. Mildred Washington is delightful in her few moments as a pre-Code housekeeper (you can date the moment the Joseph-Breen-led Code came down in late 1934 by when slim, attractive black actresses were banished from the screen).