Pick-up

It's exciting. It's original. It's crazy but believable. It's beautifully made and like most of Vina Delmar's popular novels, it's the woman who's the hero.

Sylvia Sidney is fabulous in this, she's perfect as the utterly likeable, intelligent and passionate protagonist determined to get what she wants. What she wants is respectability, security ....and George Raft. What she doesn't want is her violent, criminal husband coming back into her life. That unfortunately is exactly what she gets. What she also doesn't want is her boyfriend being seduced by Lilian Bond's sexy society 'it girl' but he's only human and she's Lilian Bond - literally throwing herself at him. It becomes obvious to Sylvia Sidney that Bond is simply using him as a sexual plaything. This is not something George Raft perceives because he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Some people have criticised George Raft for acting like a wooden plank in this but that's exactly what his character needs to be. He's not the lead player in this picture. He is the equivalent of the good looking airhead, the sexy bimbo. The male- female roles are cleverly switched. Like with her fabulous film which made her famous, BAD GIRL, Vina Delmar has written a story from the female perspective. It's Sydney who is calling the shots, it's her who is controlling the narrative, it's her who turns Raft into a success, into what she wants him to be. This isn't quite an early feminist anthem but her star is a strong woman which is exciting and refreshing to see in an early 30s movie.

The court case at the end by the way is both jaw droppingly stupid but also absolutely brilliant - it's got to be seen to be believed.

It's not quite a classic but overall, despite Sylvia Sidney perpetually looking like her cat's just been run over, it's a very positive, uplifting and thoroughly entertaining picture.